In December of 2004, we
first learned of 8-year-old Sanjar through friends from
church who had adopted two babies from Kazakhstan.
During the adoption trip to Karakastek for their baby
girl, they met a boy in the orphanage who desperately
wanted a family. He had always been passed over for
younger children and babies. He felt that nobody wanted
him despite the assurance that if he was a ?good boy?
somebody would adopt him.
These
words haunted my husband and I as well as our three
biological children.
Later, we heard how he
chased the van that was carrying his good friend to her
new life in New York, leaving an indelible impression as
he called to her ?
?Tell your mother to take me too?
my mother isn?t coming back for me.?
True, his mother had
relinquished all parental rights at birth.
Our friend?s kept an
ongoing blog, featuring Sanjar?s story. These blogs
touched my entire family in a way that was difficult to
explain and was impossible to ignore. After weeks and
weeks of prayer and discussion, we decided to pursue an
adoption of Sanjar.
In November 2005, along
with my husband and our son who is the same age as
Sanjar,
I
was on a plane to Kazakhstan to meet and bond with our
new son. I shall always carry the memory of this
grinning, undersized boy, running as fast as his spindly
legs could carry him, yelling ?Mama, Papa? as he flew
into our eager arms.
For several weeks in
Kazakhstan we made the mandated first trip visits to the
orphanage. During these times with Sanjar, we wanted him
to feel special and loved. By January 2006, we made our
second trip to finalize the adoption and bring Sanjar
home.
Sanjar is bright and
loving. He plays soccer, is a cub scout, and can now
speak English in complete sentences. So many things
still make Sanjar stand wide-eyed, just staring, almost
in disbelief. He literally had nothing to call his own ?
even the clothes on hisback had to be left at the
orphanage. He also left his empty heart.
To find our how you
can adopt from our Kazakhstan adoption program
