Our adoption journey began with someone else's adoption journey. My friend Grace adopted a little girl named Sam from an orphanage in Bulgaria. Adoption from Bulgaria involves 2 trips. The first is just a visit to meet the child and the second is when the child comes home. I went with Grace on her first visit to meet Sam. Grace had spent months prior to our journey telling me about the crazy horrors of the orphanage but I didn't really let it in until I was seeing it myself.
(read my blog posts from the start here, just keep clicking newer and you can see all the posts from my trip with Grace.)
Just two weeks before we left on our trip the government in Bulgaria went into the orphanage where Sam lived and found a 16 year old girl who weighed 10 pounds. The reason the government finally found out what had been going on really stems from one adoption. Susana adopted Katie from this orphanage and she later became the evidence the government needed to prove that these kids weren't small because of their disabilities...they were small because they were not being cared for or fed properly. Katie was 9 years old and weighed 9 pounds when she was adopted. After only 5 months she weighed in at 26 pounds. So I guess Down Syndrome kids can grow....IF YOU FEED THEM!!!! Please read more about this story here:
http://theblessingofverity.com/2012/04/going-public-in-bulgaria/
Because of all the publicity the director of the orphanage was fired. When we arrived there was an interim director and because of this we weren't able to see much of the orphanage. A new director was put into place and we believe that she is doing her best to improve the care that the children receive. We have seen some evidence of kids gaining weight since she has been in office. But please do pray for her as I have heard she is growing discouraged.
It was hard to leave all those kids behind....knowing that they are voiceless, locked in crib sized prisons, day after day for years, with very little human contact. People have risen up to adopt children from the orphanage but it isn't enough, there are so many kids that each one of us is leaving behind. God is doing a work here, a huge work, but more and more labors, adoptive parents, are needed. When we left I felt so helpless, how could this be going on and what could I do to stop it??? Grace told me I could make a difference for one child. My husband and I began to pray about adopting and we have followed the peace through this journey. It has been hard but I have seen the Lord doing great things through it. He will bring Simon home.
As I write this Sam has been home for about a month (Sept 2012). She is doing amazing, her institutional ticks have been melting away. She has been gaining 1-2 pounds per week and she has no problems drinking bottles and eating. She mimics her mom and gives her kisses, she is learning how to crawl and will soon walk. So much of what the orphanage said she was incapable of was just not true at all. She can eat, she can swallow, and she can be loved. The love and eye contact that Grace gives her has given her the ability to become a whole new person. I just wish she wouldn't have had to spend 6 years in a institution being ignored and abused.
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| Grace and Sam, June 2013 (home for almost 1 year) |
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| August 2014 on Tony's pick up trip!! |
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