The first thing I want to do in this letter is Thank you, A Child Waits Foundation, for your generous grant to help us adopt a five year old special needs child from Ukraine. As we set out on this adventure a year ago our weekly financial status was good, but we certainly did not have the finances for this great undertaking. Thank you! Thank you, and thank you again!
Perhaps I could tell you something about our family. Mary
and I have been married for forty years. We have a biological son and daughter-
Greg age 38, married with four children, and Laura age thirty three, married
with two children and living in Ukraine. We have an adopted son, Peter age thirty,
married with one child.
Laura has been a missionary in Ukraine for thirteen years. She does some work
with orphanages, and we visited some orphanages when we visited her through
the years. Five years ago we adopted four children from Ukraine, a sibling group.
Their names and ages today are Sergey, fourteen, Victor and Natalya, twelve
(twins) and Inna age 9.
We thought that we would not consider adoption again (at our ages), but more
than a year ago Laura told us about this little boy named Kareel whom she and
her husband were spending time with in an orphanage. There were doctors In Ohio
and Michigan who might be willing to operate on him, but his greater need was
for a family to adopt him. We helped to get the word out, but time went by with
no response. One day my wife and I shared with each other that independently
we had been thinking and praying that ours might be the family for Kareel. So
we contacted the agency we had used before- Reaching Arms International in New
Hope, Minnesota, and began the process.
There were many delays in the paper work process, but we were
finally able to go to Ukraine in November and Kareel came home with us on December
13, 2004. We celebrated Thanksgiving Day with our daughter and family in Kiev.
In fact, we spent every evening with her during the three weeks that we were
in Ukraine. Kareel was actually released for adoption and legally became our
son on December 3rd, my 61st birthday. He was not only a very special birthday
present to me he is a very wonderful gift to all of us in my family everyday.
Kareel has Treacher Collins Syndrome, a genetic condition mostly affecting the
head. He has only the ear lobes, but scans indicate that the inner ear components
are well formed. Ears can be fashioned from the cartilage of his ribs and the
canals opened. He has cleft palate, a drooping eyelid, and lacks cheekbones
and properly formed eye sockets. So there are many surgeries ahead and we are
beginning to set things up and determine priorities.
We think Kareel is very bright. He sees something we do and he does it. He communicates
with enthusiastic and humorous hand motions and a mix of words, some of which
we understand. He can learn reasonably well and has a hearing aid which he wears
sometime.
Kareel loves to play outside with our other children. We are amazed at his endurance and determination. I think that life in America has been very exciting for him. Our children our delightful, we are blessed.
Yours Truly
Stanley & Mary Slager