A JOURNEY WORTH TAKING
Once adoption is placed in your heart, there is no turning back.
Recently I read something I had written in 1995. (It's interesting that is also the year our daughter was born in Kazakhstan.) I wrote that I had a "desire to adopt a child from an overseas orphanage". Sometimes, we wonder if those "dreams" will ever come to pass. Well in Jan. of 2005, my husband decided that he also had this desire. Since our son and daughter are now in their twenties, we wanted an older child.
So, the process began. Dina with Adoption Ark was a great help, so we made an excellent choice to go with Adoption Ark. By May, our dossier was complete for Russia, but by August, we felt we needed to change to Kazakhstan.
So, another dossier! That was completed in September...but the beginning of October, Kazakhstan "announced" there would be new requirements for documents. This meant a wait before the changes and additions would even come out.
Did I ever doubt if this would ever really happen? YES!
Did people say, "...maybe it's not meant to be"? YES!!
Thank God for Alla with Adoption Ark who was so great to work with. Alla's hard work and efficiency is amazing. Alla encouraged us to keep going ("...there's a child on the other side of the world waiting...") Those are powerful and true words!!
Encouragement and advice from another adoptive mom, Christy, who adopted with Adoption Ark (from Kazakhstan) helped me through the emotions of the process, too! Finally, in November, we had new requirements for documents and we completed them by December of 2005. We got our Letter of Invitation in March, traveled to Kazakhstan in April, court on May 10, and on Flag Day, June 14, 2006, our Elena Kate Cooper was finally home with us! We are so blessed. Elena (we call her "Laney") is more than we could ever have imagined as our daughter. We love her so much, and she is such a sweet and happy girl. We were told most children from Eastern Europe adapt easily. That has definitely "rang" true with Elena. "Laney" has been with us for only a short time, yet it is as though she has always been with us. Well, come to think of it, since 1995 (when Elena was born), she was already in my heart.
Also, the timing was perfect. Elena became available for international adoption in August of 2005, the same time we changed countries to Kazakhstan.
Elena was waiting for us, and we were waiting for her!!
I want to add that travel to Kazakhstan turned out so much better than we ever thought. Orphanages there are great, we felt safe, and had delicious food! We were also very well taken care of by the Kazakhstan people working with Adoption Ark, and we met other adoptive parents (from Canada and U.S.A.) that we will remain friends with!
Would we be willing to go a second time? YES!
With Blessings,
Jill Cooper