SWEET Sixteen

This week we celebrated Cassandra's 16th birthday which has given us the opportunity to look back on God's goodness in placing her in our lives.

We first met Cassandra--along with her siblings, Speedy and Jaynie--in their orphanage in Bryansk, Russia, in July 2001. 

Cassandra had just turned seven the day before.

We quickly saw that she was a vibrant, happy child, full of curiosity.

She entered into every activity the day held with delight...

...including getting to say "Здравствуйте" (hello) to her soon-to-be siblings in America.

We spent about seven hours with Cassandra and her siblings. The very, very hot day was invested in finding ways to have fun together despite the lack of shared language. The buildings and grounds were nearly deserted because the other 300 children were away at summer camps.

As evening brought our short window of introduction to a close...

Jaynie, Cassandra and Mr. Beaver in front of the orphanage's "apartment"

...the kids were taken by their caretakers back to their dormitory-style rooms.The two of us spent the night in a small dwelling on the orphanage grounds.

More than two months would pass before all the paperwork required by two governments was completed and we could return to Russia, go to court, and bring these siblings home. We had no idea what the children's response to us would be when we returned. For weeks we anticipated the reunion with some trepidation. 

However, Cassandra quickly put us at ease when she greeted her new papa with unmistakable wonder.

The awe in her eyes as she stroked her new father's face communicated:

Did you really come back?
Did you really come back for me?
Are you really going to be my papa?
Are you really holding me?
Are you really letting me touch you like this?
Am I really going  to have a family?
Am I really going to have a home?
Do I really get to leave this orphanage?
Are you really going to adopt my sister and brother also?

Cassandra entered our home with an open, eager heart, a willingness to learn and even a desire to serve. At sixteen these same characteristics still mark her personality, but they have matured and ripend. Her gentle, always-happy spirit, her frequent, easy, musical laugh and a soul-deep desire to do whatever she can to make the lives of others easier make her a daughter who blesses and blesses and blesses.

The Father of the Fatherless reached down into an obscure orphanage in a rural village in Russia and rescued a child who had no hope and no future, and, in so doing, gave our family a gift of inestimable worth.

Happy 16th birthday, Cassandra!