Birthday Thanks to Our Twins {The Role Siblings Play in Adoption}

Mrs. R:

Happy 23rd, John and Alison! Our family has been wildly blessed by the two of you in ways too numerous to count. 

However, on your special day, I want to acknowledge a role you have played in our unusual extra-large bio-adoptive family. You two are the only ones who weren't added to our family through adoption. As the biological children, you could have tried to claim a special place in your parents' hearts. At times it would have been easy to mock or demean your other 10 siblings. But you haven't--ever. As your older sister, Anna, met her birth parents after she turned 18, you were in her corner cheering her on and praying for her.

In addition, each of the three times we adopted three children from Russia, you demonstrated the constancy, patience, love and encouragement your new siblings needed so much to adapt to their new lives in America. You lived sacrificial love like no one outside our family could possibly fathom. And you did so without a word of complaint. In fact, each time we considered adoption, you were in the forefront of the crowd encouraging us. You saw children who needed a family and helped give us the fortitude to take the steps of faith needed to be that family for them. And then you followed up with day-in, day-out love and support for them as they adjusted. You lived Christ-like love before you knew much about the theology of it. 

This time around I'm only posting photos from our first adoption of a trio of siblings, but each of these pictures is worth 1,000 words. These photos were taken in the first six months after the adoption of Zhenya, Sarah and Matthew. Despite the short time your new sisters and brother had been your siblings, their security in your all-embracing love shows in their eyes and their smiles. Although there are no photos here from the adoptions of your other six siblings, the story is the same. Your sacrificial love made an incredible impact from the start and, your dad and I firmly believe, has been a key factor in the reason they are all progressing so well years after their adoptions.

Thank you, twins, for making all the difference in the world.

With much love,

Mom

Alison (rear) age nine and Zhenya age eight -- December 2001

Matthew age six and John age nine -- December 2001

Matthew age six and Alison age nine -- Christmas Day 2001

Matt age six and John age 10 -- Spring 2002

Sarah age 7 Alison age 10 and Zhenya age 8 -- Easter 2002

Zhenya age 8 and Alison age 10 -- Spring 2002

Remembering as We Look Forward

Mrs. Beaver...

In some ways we're at a daunting point in the adoption process. We're close...oh-so close...to adding new children to our family. Being close is wonderful, something prayed for and worked toward for a long time. And, yet, while close is wonderful, there's also an element of the nearness that could easily promote a descent into anxiety. After all, we're close to adding new members to the family. Everything will change. Some of the changes...okay...many of the changes will be hard.

Today, however, the Lord has helped me to remember. He's helped me to remember that bringing children into a family brings amazing rewards. This photo taken two years ago on our first full day together as a family shouts to my heart, "THE HARD IS WORTH IT!"

Just look at the pure joy on these brand-new sisters' faces as our family explored the streets of Moscow. Anna (left) and Lissie (right) had been stretched outside of their comfort zone as God added a teenager to our number. Yet their faces radiate with the pleasure of doing something that is pleasing to the Father. And Daria? Her countenance beams with the soul-deep satisfaction of inclusion. For the first time, she had siblings. Isn't God good? The hard is worth it! Jesus is worth it! Adoption has been and is good for our family. In fact, I love our life and our calling! Russia here we come!

Milestone Celebration

Mrs. Beaver:

Today is our 18-month anniversary, and looking back can be so healthy. The Lord has brought us so far! His faithfulness is unfathomable! Thank you from the bottom of our hearts to those of you who have cried out to God on our behalf! We're more grateful for your prayers than we could ever express!

Here are some random photos of the sculpting God has done on the 15 of us (I'm including our beloved son-in-law, Aaron) to turn us into a family utterly committed to one another:

  

 

Was that Post Right?

Mrs. Beaver:

Two years ago we were immersed in our last adoption. In September of 2010, Mr. Beaver and I wrote a post about our reasons for being willing to adopt a teen.

At the time our words were really just a statement of faith in God's trustworthiness. We hadn't experienced that about which we wrote. Now, however, we're 1-1/2 years into parenting a girl adopted just four months before she turned 16. Now, we can unabashedly say that we were right in what we wrote. It is truly do-able to add a teenager through adoption. There's a special magic about it, in fact. A orphaned teen has suffered for years. As a result, when ensconced in a the safety of a family, a teenager who is a former orphan really "gets" the blessing of being set free from orphanage life and loved by parents and siblings. Daria overflows with gratitude to us for making her part of our family. She is deeply and openly affectionate. She tells us many times a day that she loves us. She loves to kiss and hug and cuddle.

The challenges of adopting a teen are real, but the rewards are..well...so rewarding. Daria has brought fun, creativity, and humor into our home. We daily thank God that He challenged us to step beyond what was comfortable (adopting children ages 3 to 11) and trust Him by adding a much older child.

For her 17th we surprised our horse-loving birthday girl with four horseback riding lessons.

Her are some photos from her last lesson:

Daria learned how to sit on "Pinches" while Pinches sits

Both Daria and Pinches were willing to smile for the camera!

Daria and Pinches balanced on a small red platform. The horse trainer standing nearby insisted that Pinches pull her ears forward for the final touch.

Here Pinches and Daria are causing a teeter-tauter to flop forward and back just by a slight movement of one of Pinches' front legs at Daria's signal

Not surprisingly, Daria fell in love with this cooperative, amiable horse that has trained about 2,000  beginning riders in her 15 years.

Also, not surprisingly, Daria's parent's were deeply gratified to see their daughter so happy, as a simple birthday gift fulfilled a life-long-dream! God is good and does good!

Inside the Kremlin in Moscow

Mr. & Mrs. Beaver:

It was our last day in Moscow in November 2010. Our family had traveled to Russia to bring home our newest members through adoption--Daria (15-1/2), Alexander (11), and Oksana (6). We went inside the Kremlin to see the beautiful churches hidden to the world by the tall walls. The weather was lousy--a cool damp drizzle--but even so the domes on this church seemed to glow without the help of sunshine. The tiny mosaic tile which wrapped each column was a work of art all in itself.

While we were awed by so many beautiful sights within the Kremlin, as parents we only had eyes for our new teenage daughter. For her these famous tourist draws represented the colorful, unique and beautiful culture she would be leaving as a result of agreeing to be adopted. Daria was suffering with the knowledge that the next day she would be say farewell to all she'd ever known and loved. Our normaly vibrant daughter was as droopy as the weather, and our hearts just ached for her! Truthfully, we couldn't imagine what it would be like to lose language, foods, smells, just to mention a few of the losses she would experience. We longed to listen to her heart on this last day in her motherland but since we didn't share a language yet, all we could do was move through the Kremlin at the pace set by Daria, with tissues handy as tears fell.

Daria dipped low this day and again several times once she was living in America. Each time we gave her space in our attempt to treat her the way we would want to be treated. After she'd had time to grieve the loss of Russia, she'd emerge caustiously ready to embrace being a member of our family in mid America. God's grace saw all of us through these difficult times, which now are nothing but a distant memory. She still loves Russia deeply, but now her ties are to our family here in America. Even more importantly, Daria also now belongs wholeheartedly to Jesus Christ and is investigating ways she can spend her life serving the Father of the Fatherless who has rescued her twice.

Desert Beauty

Mrs. Beaver:

This weekend Mr. Beaver had a business trip to Tucson. I was blessed to be able to go along. This was our first time to get away for longer than one night since we adopted the most recent trio 15 months ago. Following each of our three adoptions of older children, we have waited until the new children seem to have developed a sense of stability and security before we travel without them.

Here are some of the sights we saw. Our first clue that we weren't in the upper midwest came when palm trees flanked the drive-through lane at a fast food retaurant that southwesterners rave about.

 

View out our sliding glass door

flowers within our patio area

Flowers-of-a-sort within our patio area

These red blossoms were the hummingbirds' favorites

Another bit of gentle color with in our room's courtyard

Outside our patio area, not everything looked quite as hospitable

The entire area is dotted with saguaro cacti, their sizes varied greatly

The back of our hotel

 More to come.