An Honest to Goodness True Miracle for Meg

From the moment Dasha came into the room that frigid December morning, we have loved her as our own. Since Putin signed a law banning Americans from adopting Russian orphans six days after we returned home from Russia, we have done every single thing in our power to bring Dasha home to us. With her clock ticking (just 20 months until she is transferred to the dreaded mental institution), we decided to reach out to one of the few countries on earth that can adopt children with special needs from Russia. We did an article in the National Post in Canada at the beginning of August. Miraculously, a wonderful Canadian family has contacted us and is now starting the process of adopting Dasha! They saw her pictures in the news article and knew she should be part of their family. (As a side note, they also happen to belong to the same religion as us. What the what!? Crazy awesome!) While this is not the ending we’ve prayed for for our family, it is, more importantly, the ultimate ending we’ve prayed for for Dasha. She is going to have a family!! The only thing that could stand in their way is money. It will cost them roughly $60,000 to complete the adoption. While this is a staggering number, sweet Dasha’s life is worth more than all the riches in the world to us. I know so very many of you have given generously to our adoption of Dasha. I’m asking, begging, praying, and pleading for you to give to her again. She’s worth it and you would literally be helping to save her life. There are not enough thank you’s in the world to express the gratitude we would feel! 

Click Here to Donate to Dasha Meg's New Canadian Family!!

It's the Hardknock Life

Nobody every said it's easy to be an orphan. We know Cooper was malnourished most of his life. We found out he was hospitalized from May to July with pneumonia/malnutrition. The official report was that he died of a stroke, though apparently that's a common "we don't really know what happened" diagnosis of death from China. After speaking to our pediatrician, we believe Cooper most likely had an undiagnosed heart defect. He was only 11 pounds at his one year appointment. We knew he wasn't well, but we had no idea he was so sick. Poor little buddy! I just hope he wasn't in too much pain and I definitely hope he wasn't scared. I know if he were not an orphan, he most likely would be alive today. If he were to have received specialized and individualized care, he would have been so much better off. It makes me so horribly sad to think about. I am happy, though, that I know Cooper is with his Heavenly Father. He came to earth to get a body and returned home a perfect and unspotted soul. This comforts me so very much to know!

As members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we believe that families are forever. My husband and I were married in the temple, and we believe that because of the covenants we have made, we will be a family forever (as long as we keep the promises we made, of course!). When children come to your family biologically, they are automatically sealed to the family. When children are adopted, you go to the temple with them to have them sealed to your family. They then become part of your forever family, as if they had been born to you. To learn more about our church, you can visit this site! After feeling so terribly sad about Cooper's death, I learned that if you were in the process of adopting a child and the child passes away, they can still be sealed to you! This has made me feel SO much better! He truly will be part of our forever family!

We have been working on becoming pre approved in China for another little guy with Down syndrome. He has a repaired heart defect, but is still very fragile. I'm extremely nervous that something is going to happen to him before we get there. I'm also nervous he could be quite ill when get gets home. I do know that he desperately needs a family, though, and we're hoping to be that family! A different agency currently has his file, so we're working to see if they'll release it to our agency. We know it will work out however it should, it's just nerve wracking!

And Dasha. Oh, Dasha! She has never felt so very far away. Syria, Russia, China, the U.S....it's putting me on edge. I can't even fathom that this is happening. What are the odds that the U.S. would be on the brink of war and the main opposition would be Russia and China. Seriously!? Of all the countries in the world, it has to be the two we're trying to adopt from?? I don't know all the answers here, but I'm praying like crazy that we don't bomb Syria. This world we live in! It's all so very, very depressing. We continue to pray for another family to adopt Dasha. That spunky little muffin is going to make some family very, very happy some day. I just know it!