Our Adoption Story
Christmas 2004 was a season of miracles for my husband Greg and I as we celebrated Christmas in the southern Siberian city of Russia. It was the first of two trips that we made to this region to adopt our twelve month old daughter Abigail Nadia. This precious little girl is truly a gift from God and is more than I had ever dream possible.
Our adoption process was a long journey filled with many unexpected twists and bumps along the road. Originally we had intended to adopt an older child from an orphanage in the Ukraine which is supported by our church. However after several months when that option did not prove feasible we then tried to adopt independently from the Ukraine. After eight months and most of the paperwork completed for the Ukrainian dossier I realized that without the right connections in the Ukraine our adoption would probably not be successful.
Completely frustrated with the whole adoption process, after nine months I gave up my dream of adopting a little girl. However, because we had already completed our homestudy and had INS approval I would periodically look at the internet at adoption sites. At the end of October, I found the Adoption Ark’s website. Within about six weeks of working with Elina to update our paperwork we were headed to Russia on our first trip to the region.
Christmas 2004 was spent in the region of Russia due to problems in being able to get a return flight. Our facilitator, translator and driver were exceptional and many times they went above and beyond what was expected to make our adoption a wonderful experience. They made Christmas special for us by taking us sight seeing and to a traditional restaurant for Christmas dinner.
In March of 2005, after about three months we returned for our second trip to the region to adopt our daughter. Despite some complications in the court proceedings on March 17, 2005 we adopted our twelve-month-old daughter Abigail Nadia. Ten days later we were on a return flight to Moscow with her. Four days later, after completing additional paperwork in Moscow, our new family was heading home to Georgia.
We would highly recommend Adoption Ark to anyone who was interested in adopting from Russia. Elina was always available to answer the many questions that came up concerning the dossier, traveling in Russia and Russian culture. She was invaluable in translating and explaining the Russian medical and was available by phone when we were in Russia. There are many adoption agencies to choose from, however, we feel that Adoption Ark truly cares about the children and the adoptive families.