Success Stories
Please forgive us for writing such a long story, but we have to tell how sometimes love turns to sorrow, and then to love again. And we want to share our joy, and thank Olga, Diana and the folks at Faithful Adoptions. We began our adoption journey with Christmas prayers asking if we might have a child to share Easter blessings with. We began a blind search with shaky hands mouse clicking the internet without direction, but hoping someone, somewhere would guide us along our way. By sheer luck (was it chance alone?) a webpage flashed on our screen and suddenly the weary, yet determined eyes of a little boy stared back at us. We knew we’d found him! (Or did he find us?). We contacted Valerie Kudina, Olga Grunburger, and the folks at Faithful Adoptions. We didn’t know it then, but that boy would change our lives forever, even though we were never able to bring him home. The good folks at Faithful processed our paperwork and made sure we could find our way to Siberia to meet this boy, and sure enough it seemed that God would honor our schedule and we’d have him home for Easter. We were so happy and we made sure every detail was just right as we painted our little guy’s bedroom. We framed and hung Brother Bear pictures. We went shopping for clothes, even if we had to guess his size.
Then, we flew half-way around the world and met him, and fell in love. It was amazing to see Yegor awaken from his long slumber. The social worker suggested that a great transformation was occurring inside of him since our visit. Love is a physical need, just as air and water is a physical need, and Yegor’s little heart began to be nourished. “I have seen many miracles,” our adoption agent suggested. But, it just wasn’t meant to be.
A few weeks before we were scheduled to bring Yegor home, a tragedy that killed a little girl from North Carolina, became our tragedy as well. Our minds whirled as we tried to understand how people can hurt the little ones, and we worried selfishly that what happened to this little girl, adopted through the same region and judge as our Yegor, would affect us. We scoured every resource for information and cried out to Olga for answers and demanded responsibility when adoptions slowed, and then came to a halt in this region of Russia. Our hearts were broken and we were lost. We cried for Yegor, and we cried for ourselves. The only thing that kept us going was the kindness and understanding of the other families and staff at Faithful Adoptions. Without them we really don’t know what we’d have done. Agonizing weeks, months, and then even years passed. Somehow Olga was always patient with us as we pricked her for news. Her sure and steady faith became the beginning of our new hope. She put us in contact with Diana Skaggs from the Taiwan program.
Slowly we regained courage and built renewed faith in ourselves and others. We decided to try again. After struggling for so long and losing Yegor, (have we lost him, no we think we may never give up) it was relatively easy to bring little Sinyu home from Taiwan. Let me tell you all- It was worth every tear, every renewal of fingerprints, and every urgent phone call to Olga, Diana and Sergey.
Our little girl Sinyu has brightened our lives so much that we need to wear sunglasses. Our home is so filled with her happy skip and dash, that sometimes we all get dizzy and fall into each others arms. When she’s sleeping you can still hear her laughter echo off the walls, and think that she must have woke up. Have you seen the world through the eyes of a child? We have now. It is so colorful and magical. Sinyu calls the sun Mr. Dania. She taught us to face the sun and thank him for coming up in the morning, and to wave goodnight at the end of the day. Then, the moon and stars come out to play. “Look Mama, look Papa- Why,” she asks. Sometimes we still don’t really understand what’s happened. And it’s OK that we don’t understand. I guess God wants it that way. It seems easy enough to comprehend for Sinyu though. She simply counts us at the dinner table. We hold hands and thank God for each other and today and Sinyu counts, “Mama one, Papa two, Sinyu three, Amen.” There is so much love in the world again.
Thank You Sinyu. Thank You Olga and Diana. Thank You to all the families that have supported us….Thank You Yegor (we have your picture above our fireplace and we think of you often).
The Hedglen Family
