I Have a Reason to Go Back

Tomorrow is my ninth anniversary of having been adopted. As I've approached that milestone, I have thought a lot about my time at the orphanage and the other children there.

My dad and me on the evening he'd gone to court in Bryansk, Russia
in September 2001 to make me his daughter.



When Mom and Dad first visited us in our orphanage,

Cassandra, Speedy and I felt hope growing in us as we realized we

might not always have to live here. We had the hope of adoption.

We were soooooo happy! They even brought toys just for us!
We didn't have anything that was OURS.
Even the clothing we wore was traded among
the orphans from one washing to the next.

 

As Mom and Dad and the women at our orphanage were working on paperwork,
these kids were watching Cassandra, Speedy and me as we interacted with our parents-to-be.


Not everyone had our hope yet. They'd been called to the director's office to have
their photos taken. Perhaps someone would see the pictures and adopt them.

These girls...

...and these kids...

...were some of my closest friends at our large orphanage of about 300 kids.
Most of them were a couple of years older than me. I wonder what ever happened to them.
Did they get adopted? Or are they living on the streets of Russia somewhere?

This is Marina. I loved her! She took care of me and was like a mother to me.
She was 16 and already too old to be adopted;
even though I was only eight I sensed how hopeless her future looked.

 I have been radically blessed by being adopted by wonderful parents and being brought into a family in which I have eight amazing siblings (soon 11). I have so many blessings, and I would like to bless other orphans with the blessings I have been given. The best way to do this is to adopt and I would like to adopt in the future. However, until I have a husband and am ready to be a mom I would like to go to Russia to work with orphans. I want to do more than ensure they have food and clothing. I want to do more than help them to be placed in a family.

The sad fact is that most of the orphans in Russia will never be adopted. And when they age out of the system between ages 16 and 18, statistics show that most turn to things like prostitution, drugs and alcohol, things that will ruin their lives and most likely lead to more orphans.

I would like to help them see that they can still be rescued even if they’re never adopted by human parents. I would like to tell them about Jesus, Someone I never heard about in Russia when I was an orphan there. I had never heard about Jesus or God until I was adopted and brought to America. I would like them to have the opportunity to know Christ. I want to use the blessing of my adoption to tell orphans that they too can be adopted, if not by earthly parents, then by the Heavenly Father. I want to tell them they have a hope that is greater than earthly adoption. The Heavenly Father will never fail them.

As I look back on the past nine years I see more and more that God blessed me so much by sending Mr. and Mrs. Beaver to adopt me and my other siblings. But God did not bless me just so that I would have a better life. He blessed me so that I would live to bless others through the gift of telling them about Jesus. (Psalm 67: 7 “God blesses us that all the ends of the earth would fear Him.”)

~Jaynie