We are the Kyre family,
Pete, Suzanne, Brad, Chad, and Jacob. Our family was looking for help funding the adoption of a 5-year-old girl, Irina, from Russia and we found A Child Waits Foundation.
Pete is a service technician and I am a Kindergarten teacher. We were married on November 11, 2000. Pete brought with him Brad (now 15) and I brought Chad and Jacob (now 11 and 8) into the marriage. The ceremony was a celebration of our family. Each member of the family now wears a family medallion to symbolize the joining of the two families, our commitment to each other and our commitment to God.
Our family grew closer and decided we would like to add another child to our family. Since Pete and I are unable to have children together we decided to adopt. Our family researched different adoption possibilities, infants, and older children, international and domestic adoptions. As we learned about the different needs of the orphans as well as the needs and desires of our family, we decided a girl 3-5 years old would fit well into our family. We felt a tug on our hearts when hearing about the children in Russian orphanages.
We were introduced to Irina through the program Camp Kids Hope. This program brings orphans to the United States who are looking for families. Camp Kids Hope is sponsored by Adoptions Abroad of Houston, Texas. We explained our desires to the program organizers and we met Irina for the first time in Ft Myers, Florida. Irina spent about three hours with our entire family getting to know each other. Irina was so cute and played well with the other children. She won the hearts of all three of the boys as well as Pete and I.
We were able to have Irina in our home for four days. Everything went very well, in the beginning we had some language problems but she did well adjusting to our home. She loved our two dogs and had a great time playing with the boys. We noticed that Irina was very possessive of the food she was given. When given a cut up apple Irina would hold all the pieces in her hand so no one would take her apple. She would cry if she thought someone might be coming to take her plate away. Irina was also able to visit for a day in my Kindergarten. She did very well with the structured setting of the classroom. I was surprised at how well she colored and traced her letters.
Irina is a healthy child. However, she has a lazy eye,
needs glasses and her teeth are rotten from poor nutrition. Irina lived in an
orphanage outside of St. Petersburg, Russia. Irina's mother left her family
and Irina's father put her up for adoption. He was unable to care for her financially
although he was able to keep Irina's older sisters. Our family has fallen in
love with Irina and there was no doubt that we wanted to adopt her and Irina
was in need of a family to love and care for her. I believe that God has placed
us together.