We adopted our daughter Maya from Russia at the age of 14 months. Although they informed us of hip dysplasia, bleeding in the brain at birth, and complications from a premature birth, Maya came home 100% healthy and very intelligent for her age.
Before we went to the orphanage, we were told to be prepared for the worst, but we were very pleasantly surprised at how clean the areas we were able to see were. The friendliness of the staff was also very high. We felt very comfortable during our visits and our daughter seemed very well cared for, and seemed to have bonded with her caregivers and vise versa.
We did some research about the country, and tried to learn some of the language to get by. I think both were greatly appreciated by the people. Everything went pretty much on schedule, according to our agency's plans.
When we saw our daughter for the first time, we were overwhelmed with emotion. We both cried. We couldn't believe we finally were seeing her instead of staring at a picture on the fridge. We were able to finally touch her! She was handed to me, and I hugged her so tight, and she gave me the biggest smile. (Her smile has become her trademark.) After that moment, there was never a question in our minds, that this was our daughter. It felt perfect from the first moment.
She was very interested in us, watched us very closely, but not in a bad way. She played for almost an hour and a half with us. For never seeing a man, she took to her new daddy-to-be extremely well. Interacting and giggling with us both. At the end of our first visit she was getting tired, so she put her thumb in her mouth, and I rocked her, quieting her the way a friend from Russia taught us. Maya obviously felt as comfortable with us, as we did with her.
When we went back to Russia for our second trip, we were so excited to get to the orphanage to see our daughter again, (we waited 5 months between trips) that we left our luggage, (the one with all our clothing) at the airport in Moscow. We had no time to go back and retrieve it, so it was on to St. Petersburg for a week with no clothing.
Women are definitely treated differently in Russia. It took some time to get used to the door slamming in front of me, instead of being held, as we are accustomed to in the U.S. Also realizing that the woman should always let the man go first through a doorway, or even at the breakfast buffet!!!
Maya has really slipped right into her new family life with no problems at all. She basically slept through the night, with maybe 1 or 2 short whimpers at night for the first week. She never skipped a beat with eating. (Will eat and try anything.) She is a happy, happy baby!
It has been 5 months since we arrived home. Maya is a very
well adjusted, healthy 19 months old. She has caught up to her age level and
gone beyond. She is the apple of everyone's eye. She loves outdoors, her big
brother Alec (9years old) and her 1½ year old boxer "Chloe".
She has an amazing personality, which everyone adores. We still can't stop looking
at her!
It was the most amazing experience of our lives. The process took us from start
to finish 1½ years. There were many times we thought it would never work
out and felt like giving up. We had two private adoptions fall through and an
International Country switch that we had to deal with, but looking back, and
seeing our daughter smile, (which she does all the time) it was worth every
bit of what we went through.
Someone once told me, international adoption is like a roller coaster ride, there are ups and downs and curves, and to hold on tight for the most amazing ride of your life. And they were right.
A sincere thank you to A Child Waits Foundation for providing us with this most amazing opportunity.
The Lindgren's