You Must Really Want That Baby!
The Adoption of Amelia Olga
Bush
“You must really
want that baby!” our young nieces exclaimed after hearing our
thorough responses to their numerous adoption-related questions.
At first, the girls’ questions were simple and easy to answer:
Are you adopting a boy or girl, how old will he or she be, have
you chosen a name yet? Further into the discussion, the
questions became more complex: Why are you adopting, will you
ever get to meet the birthmother, how will you tell the baby
about his or her adoption?
We
learned from the girls how to answer the tough questions that
adoptive parents often face. More importantly, our conversation
with the children reaffirmed we did indeed want “that baby” more
than anything in the world. The baby for whom we had waited so
long, a lifetime in fact, would soon become one major
fulfillment of God’s divine plan for our lives. Although our
amazing adoption of Amelia Olga commenced in September of 2004
and finalized in June of 2006, our adoption journey began long,
long ago.
As children, the
idea of adoption was planted in our hearts and minds by the
stories from Christian missionaries. In college, I traveled on a
mission trip to Monclova, Mexico, where I assisted in the
building and refurbishing of a children’s camp. There, I met
sundry children who were living in extreme poverty. Many of the
children were orphans.
A year after my
mission trip, I returned to Mexico to attend an intensive
Spanish language program in Guadalajara. When Greg came to visit
me, I pointed out the need, and he instantly agreed that we
needed to do something to help less fortunate children.
Post graduation,
we married and discussed having our own children. How delighted
we were to find that we were both pro-children and pro-adoption!
Although we were open to having children naturally, we agreed
that we would adopt at least one child. One of our missions was
to “to care for orphans in their distress” James 1:27. To
“defend the cause of the fatherless” Isaish 1:17, was our
calling. It was no coincidence that God had created a passionate
desire to adopt in both of our hearts and then brought us
together so perfectly!
Understanding that
God’s hand, although seemingly invisible or intangible at times,
was working busily in our lives helped us immensely as we
trekked through our twenty-one month adoption of Amelia. When we
submitted our initial application to Children’s Hope in
September of 2004, we expected our adoption to be a relatively
quick process of less than a year. Unforeseen events, however,
began to occur. Our home study took longer than we had
originally anticipated due to circumstances beyond our control.
Then in December
2004, Russia put a hold on international adoptions. We couldn’t
believe our adoption would be delayed. We were so ready to meet
and bring our child home. Little did we know this pause would be
exactly what we needed. In those months of waiting, I lost both
my oldest sister and my grandmother. This unscheduled and
underappreciated “pause” turned into a great blessing for us.
By the end of May
2005, Russia resumed the adoption process, our lives had become
more settled and optimistic, and we had submitted our dossier to
Russia. Only days before we mailed our paperwork to Russia,
unbeknownst to us at the time, our little girl was born in a
small Russian town. God had the exact child chosen for us, and
we would have to experience even more “delays” until she was
available for international adoption; per Russian law, baby Olga
had to remain on the Russian database before her availability
status could change from domestic to international. We, in turn,
had to wait out shifts in adoption policy in three different
regions of Russia.
Our dossier first
went to Chelyabinsk, a town in the Ural Mountains. Although we
were excited about adopting from this historic location, we
decided to transfer our dossier to a brand new region for
Children’s Hope, one with only two other waiting families. Two
families, in our mind, meant a quick referral. Our consultant at
Children’s Hope informed us of the risks involved in adopting
from the new region, Ulyanovsk, but we decided that the risks
were worth taking. After our dossier remained in Ulyanovsk for
approximately six months, Children’s Hope strongly recommended
we move our dossier to Moscow or Astrakhan due to Ulyanovsk
international adoptions policy changes. Although we were sorely
disappointed by the news, we found strength in knowing God was
in control of our adoption. After much prayer and consideration,
we chose to adopt from Moscow.
Within
a month we got the call! On April 22, we traveled to Russia and
the next day we found out that our baby was a girl and we
unquestionably agreed to meet her. On the way to the orphanage,
we held hands and whispered quietly to each other, “We are
finally going to meet our daughter. This is it!”
That day we
discovered love at first sight really does exist! On the way
back to the hotel from the orphanage, we held hands again but
this time exclaimed, “She’s perfect! Beautiful! So sweet! We’re
the luckiest people alive!”
While in Russia we
existed on pure adrenaline resulting from the love we
immediately felt for the soon-to-be newest member of our family.
A week later we bid our sweet baby farewell, told her that we
would see her soon, gave her lots of love and hugs, and sadly
sojourned back to the U.S. to await our court date. During the
six weeks between trips (Adoptions from Russia require two
trips), God continued to bless us by showing us clearly that we
would definitely be able to afford one parent to stay at home
full time with Amelia. The timing of our adoption was
impeccable!
After our court
date in Russia, we immersed ourselves in our daughter’s culture
by spending our ten day waiting period in Kolomna, a small town
two to three hours from downtown Moscow. To stay in Kolomna was
perhaps one of the most rewarding decisions we made regarding
our adoption.
In addition to
being able to see Mila (a Russian name that we have chosen to
use as a shortened form of Amelia; the nickname appropriately
means “dearest” or “sweetest” one) every day and getting to know
her much better before the long trip home, we grew to love
Russia and its remarkable culture.
We learned to
communicate with and truly appreciate the wonderful and
beautiful Russian people. We rode the buses to and from the
orphanage, toured the historic buildings, strolled through the
parks, and shopped in the markets. We ate the local cuisine, and
we enjoyed the live music outside our hotel. We learned the
Russian way of ordering food at McDonald’s: the employee holding
up the flag will assist the next customer. We never again
underestimated the importance of saying please and thank you in
Russian.
One of the
Children’s Hope Moscow translators spoke of us as being “so
brave,” because we willingly ventured alone into a small Russian
town, one in which English was almost nonexistent, on our own;
we are so thankful that we did! We will always have the memories
of our child’s hometown to share with her. On July 1st, after
three extraordinary weeks in Russia, we entered the U.S. as the
proud and highly elated Bush family of three.
The
last nine months have proven to us that we should always rely on
and have faith in God’s sovereignty; He is in control! We simply
cannot imagine our lives without Mila. Every day with her is a
testament of God’s abiding love for us.
Our adoption has
educated us on how to persevere in difficult times: to trust
God, to lean on each other, to find comfort in family and
friends. It has also taught us to appreciate the process, to “be
still and wait” happily; we have learned to enjoy the moment and
place in which we currently are.
Most strikingly,
adoption has shown us the great distances (literally and
figuratively) to which we will go for love. Our adoption has
given us grateful hearts. We are very thankful for God’s (not
our!) perfect timing, for the unwavering love of our friends and
family, for the tremendous support from our church and
community, for the careful and considerate assistance of the
Children’s Hope staff during all stages of our adoption process,
for the strength and contentment of our marriage, and for our
beautiful and precious daughter.
As one of our
nieces recently stated, “Mila is a blessing to our whole
family!” We can hardly wait to adopt again!
–Greg and Gina
Bush, GA
A
story of adopted
Children’s
Hope
