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| Thursday, February 01, 2007 |
| Surprise Letter!!! |
I have not mentioned much about the bwins' background. I have mentioned trying to get letters to their babushka. The boys' mother is alive, but has never been a part of their life to much extent. From what we understand, she is plagued with addictions that many Russian woman have and has never taken any responsibility for her children. Their father is virtually unknown. They had his patronymic, Ivanovich, but that is all we know. From our understanding, the boys lived with their babushka until they were almost 3 1/2 years old, when she had the mother's rights terminated and put them in the orphanage.
The boys have a half-sister that is 11, almost 12 years old. She has a different patronymic name, therefore, a different father. In court, they said that she really has nothing to do with the boys and that there was no sibling bond there. She lives with their grandmother. They also asked us in court if we would be willing to have contact with their grandmother. We said we would. Therefore, on the last day at the orphanage, we asked for her address. We have sent several letters to her and some gifts to their sister.
In late December, we received a letter from their babushka saying that she was wondering how they were, that she hadn't received anything from us since our original letter. We were, of course, concerned as to where our stuff was that we sent them. We then learned that we shouldn't send pictures or anything else in the letters because the government would rip it open and take whatever was in there and never deliver the letter. At that time, we sent a one page letter and one page of photo-copied pictures registered mail. It cost about $9 to send it but it guaranteed that she would have to sign for it to get it.
That was at the end of December. I have been anxiously opening the mailbox the last few weeks hoping to find the returned signed paper that would indicate that she received the letter. On my way to the gym yesterday, I got the mail. In it was not only the signed paper, but a letter from grandma. The best part was not just the letter, but what was also enclosed in it-- pictures!!! We had asked her for any pictures she would be willing to share with us. The boys didn't understand why we had all of the other kids' baby photos and none of them. Babushka sent not only a baby pic of them, but also several pictures of their sister, Darya, and a picture of Darya(Dasha), Babushka, and their Russian Mama Olga.
We showed the boys the picture of all three of them. They had no reaction. We asked them who it was. L said, "I don't know." El said, "No clue." After a few pics of Darya, El said, "That's Dasha." They said they thought they had seen their babushka before, but they had no idea who the mother was. They said they'd never seen her. I asked if they had lived with Dasha and Babushka, they said, "No, just dietsky dom." They said that Dasha had come to the dietsky dom in a yellow car, brought some balls to play outside with them, and then went home. That's all they remember of her.
  Up until yesterday, these were the earliest pictures we had of the bwins. We estimate they were almost 3 1/2 years old in these pics, taken when they entered the orphanage. These pics were taken off the Russian databank website.
Yesterday, this is the pic we received. I felt like I had been given a special gift from God. I never dreamed we would have a baby picture and I had grieved about it many times. As I looked at this picture, I was filled with so many emotions. These were my babies who I never held, never changed a diaper, never was able to comfort at night. My arms ached to have that time, but my heart was so glad they were here now. I also couldn't see how anyone could give up such precious babies.
 Here's a cropped-in close-up of my angel babies. They were 7 months old in this picture. They look much younger. L is on the left, El on the right. It doesn't even look like L could hold his head up or sit up unsupported.
 Aren't they precious? Thank you God for this surprise gift! I am soooo grateful! |
posted by 6blessings @ 6:19 AM  |
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| 17 Comments: |
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CONGRATS! WHAT A WONDERFUL SURPRISE!!!!! THE BWINS ARE SOOO CUTE. CC
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What a wonderful surprise. How special those pictures will always be. So glad she wrote back.
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I am so happy for you and for the bwins! When we went back on the second trip we were given a "surprise gift" of a picture of Marina from when she was two months old. It meant alot to me and I think it will to her some day, too.
Oh, I read this about "M sitting" on Lauri's blog and wondered if you had seen it? Does EL "M sit?" It talks about ambidexterity and I remembered how I said not to encourage one hand over the other. Starting to think that may not be the best advice for a post institutioalized child. Any way, thought the article and post might be helpful for you. The blog is titled "Leap of Faith"
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Oh my goodness. What a blessing. They were so beautiful and they look just like themselves. (That sounds weird, but you know what I mean.)
I'm sitting here in tears because I know how you must feel. If I had been able to adopt Peanut I wouldn't have had anything from before his 6th birthday (his grainy orphanage entry photo). That bothered me so badly. I kept thinking of times when you're asked for a baby photo. Like, when I graduated from high school we had this ceremony and pictures of us as babies and our graduation photos were flashed on screen. If Vladimir ever had a situation like that, he'd have nothing to submit.
But your boys do. I'm so glad.
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What a blessing to have a baby photo! And how cool that the grandmother wrote back. I know how you feel. For us, we don't even know Bonnie's birth date. Its "estimated" based on a bone scan. I always wonder how she'll feel when asked for a baby picture for school, etc. also.
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Oh Kim,
What a blessing! I am so happy for you. The bwins baby picture is precious. God is so good!
-Penny
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Our prayers have been answered as we were praying Grandma would receive your letters. Then, God gave you additional presents....those wonderful pictures!!! We cannot imagine how thrilled you must be and now the boy's pictures can hang on your baby wall of fame! Praise God!
K
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Oh my gosh, that is WONDERFUL!!! You must be feeling so much joy right now. I frequently feel sad that I have no pictures of my kids before the age of 2. Luckily, even thought we adopted Vika at the age of 4, the orphanage had several pictures of her that they gave to us. I would love to have some baby pictures though, as well as one of their birth-mom.
What a tremendous gift the bwins Russian grandmother gave to your family! I cannot imagine how much those pictures will mean to the boys as they get older - they are a priceless memento of where they came from.
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Quite an amazing story. I've just shared it with other readers on my Russian Adoption blog this morning.
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How wonderful for you all.
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How wonderful. Those are cute pictures. Now they have pictures from their past too. I wish we had someone to contact, but K has lived his whole life in the baby home and no mother has been heard from.
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Priceless! What a precious gift!
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I've been in contact with my son's birthfamily also. It is such an unexpected gift. I'm glad you had a good experience also.
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Wow, what a wonderful gift and, I'm sure, an answered prayer. They are beautiful (handsome) children and they were beautiful babies!
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K, The e-mail address thatI gave you isn't exactly right. Instead of .com it is .net. Please tell Jen too in case she needs to leave us a message. Hope everything is going OK. Love, Mom
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What a wonderful gift from God to have these pictures! Praise God for Babushka! :o)
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Oh what a priceless gift - for you and for the bwins as they grow!
Thank you for sharing it with us!
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CONGRATS! WHAT A WONDERFUL SURPRISE!!!!! THE BWINS ARE SOOO CUTE. CC