Our Christmas Miracle

By Jim and Gale T.

Let me tell you about the experience of a lifetime. When my husband, Jim, and I decided to get married over 20 years ago, we thought it would be nice to have two birth children and adopt a third. Two sons were born and then the years went by as we were so busy raising Dan and Kevin. Since we were getting older and had one son in college, it looked like adopting a child was never going to happen. Until Christmas time last year, when I brought up the subject for one last try. This time the family was ready! At our 2003 Christmas Eve dinner my family decided to adopt a little girl.

Initially, we were scared. We weren't sure we were able to tackle all the problems that could arise. We decided to take it one step at a time. Every day it became clear that we were doing the right thing. We attended several Wide Horizons information sessions to select a program. With input from our sons, we decided on Russia. Then WHFC offered us another option - the Russia Summer Host program. Since this seemed the fastest way to adopt a child, we decided this was right for us.

In May 2003 our social worker, Cathy Brown, called us to tell us she had pictures and video of our host child, Tatiana. After watching the video at the agency office, I looked over to see my 15 year old son crying happy tears and saying "That's my sister!" Little did I know I would be crying many happy tears for the next year. Tanya (Tatiana's nickname) arrived on July 17th and we spent a wonderful three weeks together. Believe it or not, when she returned to Russia at the end of the summer program it was not heartbreaking to say good bye. I think because we all knew we had lots to do to bring her home and we were anxious to embark on that journey.

Jim and I had a wonderful trip to Russia with many highs and many lows. Seeing Tanya again after being apart for four months was so wonderful. We spent several afternoons with her at the orphanage located about 70 miles east of Moscow. We saw the children rehearse a New Year's play and met all her friends and caregivers. We toured the facility, which offers two swimming pools, a theatre, computer and home economics rooms, a beauty salon, an infirmary, and a physical therapy area. If you had to be in an orphanage, this was the one!

The time came when we had to say good-bye to Tanya, thinking we wouldn't see her again until mid-January. The next day, Christmas Eve, we appeared in court for a 45-minute hearing. The judge poured through every document in the dossier and asked lots of questions about us. One surprise was a request from Tanya's uncle, her only living relative, to meet with us. The social worker testified that she had observed us with Tanya at the orphanage and recommended the judge grant us the adoption decree. The prosecutor told the judge her opinion to waive the customary 10-day appeal period. When the judge came back from his chambers, he granted us immediate custody of Tanya. We all screamed and cried. It was a moment I'll never forget.

The next day was Christmas Day and we returned to the orphanage to pick her up. What a Christmas present! We were a little fearful that her uncle might want to appeal the adoption, however, he was very supportive of the adoption and only wanted to give us pictures and say good-bye. The next worry was that we wouldn't get all the processing done before the holidays and would have to stay in Russia until the offices re-opened mid-January. The WHFC Russia staff were so dedicated, professional and efficient that we got it all done on time and smoothly.

We flew home on Wednesday, December 29th. It was a very emotional nine days and truly was a case of "it is not over until it's over." We arrived at the airport to a wonderful friends and family reception caught on the local news channel and newspaper. Then we arrived home to a house all decorated with welcome home banners, balloons, dinner, cake and champagne! We topped it off with a ribbon cutting ceremony because when Tanya left last summer we tied a yellow ribbon on the oak tree in the front yard. Tanya cut the ribbon to signify we are now reunited as a family.

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