Randolph History 104: The Great Adventure

After a wonderful hosting experience with Daria, who preferred to be called Dasha, our hearts were tender and we had to seek guidance as to what our next steps would be. Grant had taken to Dasha and they'd learn to speak the same language - play and laughter. We definitely had the opportunity to adopt Dasha but that would cost LOTS of money (which we still didn't' have) and require international travel.

God quickly showed us which paths to choose and we began traipsing through the the red tape called the international adoption process. Ironically, another family from our church was going to adopt a child that lived in the same orphanage as Dasha so we had another family to muddle through the process with!

Our church family pulled together and helped with several benefits which raised the money we needed for the legal costs. Ironically, the family we were adopting with worked for Delta so they graciously gave us Buddy Passes. Not only did we get a free flight to Moscow, we got to ride first class! Yee-haw! I'd always wondered what went on on the other side of that mysterious curtain!

We made our first trip to St. Petersburg in May of 2005. What an emotional roller coaster. I'd never been away from Grant for more than a couple of nights and I'd never been out of the US. Let me give you a suggestion, if you want to be an international traveler, don't start with Russia! The other dramatic part of the trip was this... Since we were flying on Buddy Passes, we had to go stand-by. We didn't get on the first flight with our friends. There was one seat left and I was completely mortified by the thought of landing on international soil with Eric! We ended up calling a friend who bought us tickets (we didn't have a credit card with that much room and we sure didn't have that much cash) to Moscow. Upon landing in Moscow, we met up with our friends who had some "connections" in Moscow who helped us navigate our way back to the train station and onto a train bound for St. Petersburg. Trains are much cheaper and I don't know how I'd rate their safety in comparison of the small planes which fly between Moscow and St. Petersburg.

Moving on... We finally arrived at the orphanage only to find out that Dasha had be quarantined for a respiratory infection at a hospital about an hour away. While fighting back the urge to scream, cry, and just over and sleep, we visited with the other children in the orphanage. Though it was heartbreaking, it was encouraging to see how well the staff interacted with the kids. We knew that Dasha had been well cared for.

The next day, our driver took us to the children's hospital so we could see Dasha. She was in a room by herself with a portable potty (full) and a bowl of mush on the table. Dasha had convinced the staff that she was near crazy! She wouldn't speak to them and was lethargic. However, when we arrived, she greeted us with Mama and Poppy and lit up! The staff was amazed. Our driver was our interrupter and helped us promise her that we'd be back to take her home to the US in a few months. (We knew that we'd simply be filing paperwork on this trip). We left her with some new hair barrettes and a doll that spoke both Russian and English. Then we left. Eric and I both cried all the way back to St. Petersburg.

The next morning, we were told that the hospital had agreed to release Dasha to our care for the next two days due to her reaction to us. Thank you, God. We were staying in a old two-bedroom flat with the other family. Their son, Elman, had been released to their care for the remainder of our stay, as well. After a long and eventful day of signing papers and promising people that we weren't crazy, at least legally, we went back to the orphanage and picked Dasha up. We spent the next day experiencing Russia with her. She was not able to walk but Eric was more than happy to carry her everywhere.

When we returned Dasha and Elman to the orphanage the next day, our hearts were broken but we knew that we'd return soon to take the kids home for good.