So many negative stories about adoption reach the media, but rarely do adoptive parents get to share their joys. Christmas day has lent itself to some of that very special adoptive-parent joy for Mr. Beaver and me. As adoptive parents we get to experience some pretty amazing "firsts." Today we got to watch six-year-old Oksana's happiness as she played with and nurtured her first doll that is all her own, not the communal property of her orphanage.
It wasn't long before an older sister got a blanket out for Oksana's new baby, and Daria immediately helped her swaddle her "kookla" (doll in Russian). From what we could gather from Daria, swaddling is an important skill, perhaps even an art form in Russia that all Russians must know and be able to do. Daria was astounded that Alexander had never been taught.
The swaddling left "La La," Oksana's name for her baby, hungry. The new mother was happy to oblige.
All day long we were delighted by Oksana's delight. What a blessing to be the ones that the Father of the Fatherless has asked to bless her.
P. S. We just learned that Daria, who is almost 16, has never owned a doll either. She was willing to be vulnerable with us and told us she would still very much like to own one. That's enough to bring grizzled, gray, extremely experienced adoptive parents to tears. Following the Sabbath tomorrow, you'll find Mr. Beaver and me scouring the depleted shelves of the stores for just the right kookla.
6 comments:
Merry Christmas! I know that you feel as we do - that we are very blessed to have the opportunity to be parents of children born so very far away. I tell my children that God new they were to be our children many years before even we were born- it was all His plan.
Thanks for having a heart for older children! God Bless -
Tony B.
This post has Layne and I in tears at 2:22am as we just finished packing for Ethiopia. What are we doing reading your blog at this hour?? But we were sooooo blessed to see those pictures and hear about your doll shopping tomorrow!! Praise the Lord for his love and mercy.
I am so touched by this story, I was working in Zhukovka orphanagage 1999/2000 and have regularly visited it many times over the last 20 years, it has always saddenned me that the children don't have anything of their own and it is so beautiful to read your story about this.
Must remind myself to grab the tissue box when I visit the blog! So precious.
Merry Belated Christmas!!!!
We will celebrate for another two weeks since the Russian Christmas is on January 7 :)
Dear Kawaii - We are amazed at God's work in connecting us with you. In April 2005 we found ourselves on a flight from England to Russia with a group of English people who were going to work at an orphanage in Zhukovka (your church, we presume?). We were on our way to adopt our 2nd trio of siblings from the Bryansk region. That connection was amazing enough, as our 1st trio of adoptees came from that Zhukovka orphanage! Now God has connected us again with the fellow believers in Coventry. He is amazing! Thanks for your words of encouragement.
That was probably me in the group in 2005 it would have been me, my dad and some others from the church. Its so exciting. Valentina from the orphanage called me yesterday we are in touch most of the time, I have a newborn baby now which means I won't be travelling to Zhukovka for a while. Its so exciting. One thing that really has blessed me is that through facebook I am in touch with so many children who were adopted from Zhukovka to America, its lovely to see how they are all doing.
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