Our Story

After enduring several years of infertility my husband and I made the life altering decision to adopt.  We did extensive research on adoption agencies then we finally signed on with CHI in January of 2003. My husband and I were looking to adopt a healthy boy or girl under one year of age.  By June of 2003 we finally completed all our paperwork, now the difficult waiting game started. 

On September 4, 2003 the long awaited phone call came, there was a baby boy for us!  We will never forget the day our wonderful CHI translator and driver took us to a small town in Moscow to meet our son.  Our son was living in the baby home in Orekhovo-Zuyevo, we were impressed with the cleanliness of the home and you could tell that the staff really cared about the children.  When the orphanage doctor brought in the tiny baby boy we could not believe this baby could be ours.  He was so happy and alert and just loved all our attention.  We fell instantly in love with him and I could not believe this could actually be happening.  We knew right away he was the one that was truly meant to be our son.  He was pale and undernourished but loved to laugh and smile.

It was so difficult to leave, but we then had to return home to wait for permission to return to adopt our son.  The wait was truly excruciating, we worried so much and prayed that our son would stay healthy.  After five weeks we returned to Moscow.   On November 9^th, 2003, we went to the Moscow court to officially adopt our son, Daniel Alexander Schaffer.  We returned home to Illinois on November 11, a family at long last.

Today, seven months later, Daniel is healthy, happy and the light of our lives.  He is 13-months-old now and we cherish everyday with him.  He brings smiles to everyone he meets.  It amazes us how quickly he changes and grows, learning new things every day.  He has brought unbelievable joy to our whole extended family and our lives center around him.  He is the most wonderful baby in the world and he is ours!