Faith - Sam's Adoption Story

Being that it is National Adoption Month I started searching my blog for one post with Sam's story. Guess what? Couldn't find it. I don't think this has anything to do with him being the second child. I think it is because the whole reason I started this blog was to share his story from the very beginning. Therefore not one post exists but many tell his story. This is an attempt to condense all those entries into one.

Scott and I always wanted children and felt blessed beyond measure to have our sweet Sophie. She was, as I have said many times, many prayers answered. But as with most families we wanted to add another child. Sophie was also asking for a baby brother. After a job change and move we decided it was time. This was in the winter of 2007. We quickly completed our paperwork. I mean really quickly. I think it surprised our case worker. I guess having been through it before we knew what we were doing. On May 17, 2007 Scott called me with the news that we had a referral for a little boy who was 9 months old. I could not believe what I was hearing. He was in Baby House #1 in Novokuznetsk, Russia. The same baby home that had taken such wonderful care of Sophie. And to top it off his birthday was one day after hers. We were told he was healthy and more fair than Sophie. We would receive more information the next day. So this was all I had but was thrilled with this news.

I could not wait for the packet from our agency. It came with enough information to assure us that this was our baby. It also came with one teeny tiny grainy picture. But it was all I needed. I could see his little face. Of course we accepted the referral and we were told we would travel very soon. Sure enough we traveled the first week of June. I will admit it was so very hard for me to leave Sophie. I cried and cried and cried. Once she was dropped off with my parents I regrouped and looked forward to meeting my son.

It was so strange (in a good way) to be back in Russia. What was completely overwhelming was walking through the doors of the baby home again. Wow! It looked and smelled the same. The same director, doctor and caregivers were there. I could not believe I was there again. About to meet another precious baby. So after meeting with director we were taken into a small room with stars on the wallpaper and a very sleepy baby was brought to us. I was smitten the moment I saw him. He was so affectionate and happy even though it was his nap time. After a while we went outside to play. He was just perfect. I could not imagine what I had done to deserve so much goodness. So after several visits it was time to return home. I will never ever forget saying good-bye to this sweet little boy. I blew him so many kisses while a caregiver carried him away.

Oh how my heart ached. I did not know how I could wait to bring him home. We were reassured that it would only be about 8 weeks until we returned for court. We knew this was only based on averages and it could be longer. We had no idea what was ahead of us all.

We returned home excited to share this journey with Sophie. She was thrilled. We talked about Sam every day. Multiple times a day. Prayed for him every night. As days turned into weeks Sophie could not understand what was taking so long. Neither could we. We kept getting told everything was fine. So needless to say in early October (4 months) after our visit with our baby we were told that Sam (as well as many other children) had somehow been left off the national data bank. What did this mean exactly? Well children in Russia are placed on a data bank for 6 months before they are eligible for international adoption. This time also allows family members or other Russian families to adopt. So because of some computer glitch in Russia we would have to wait on Sam and Sam would stay in Russia and wait for his family. To say I was devastated would be an understatement. I felt numb. How? Why? My baby?

During the months that followed I became even more aware of my faith in God and His plan. I don't think God intentionally made about 30 children live in an institution for more months but I do believe that I was given some time for something. Time to pray and trust. Time to be more thankful for Sophie (if that was possible). Time to show her that sometimes things do not go the way we plan or the way we think they should go but we have faith that God has His arms around us and that it will be ok. I had to have faith that if it was not meant for us to have Sam that it would be ok. I found that my faith was stronger than I knew.

I won't pretend that there were days that I just did not understand and I cried. But I will honestly say that because of my faith I did better than I would have expected. I knew that with every bump in the road to Sophie she did come home and it was what God had planned for us. I knew that God would see us through this too.

So on June 8, 2008 in Kemerovo, Russia the very same judge that granted Sophie's adoption granted Sam's. We were overjoyed. What we expected to be 8 weeks between trips turned into 10 months. 10 months. But just as God planned Sam was ours!

Now my precious boy is 4 and happy and home. He is the perfect reminder of my trust and faith in God. He is such a joy and never fails in making me smile!!