KAZAKHSTAN REFERENCE FAMILIES

Kincaid was adopted by Scott and Lara from a Karakastek baby house, right outside of Almaty in the
fall of 2004. They have just recently returned home with their daughter, also adopted from Kazakhstan.
 

My Story

My life began on May 19, 2005. All big events in my life to this point shrank to a grain of salt compared to that day. There were no fireworks, no melodic music in the background, no shrieks of joy and running into outstretched arms - just one small, scared little boy, with his head facing the floor, walking into a room to a stranger that would take him away from everything that he knew and loved. On May 19, 2005, in a tiny white office in Almaty, Kazakhstan, Alexander Jacob Buuck walked into my life.

The events leading up to this point were difficult. There were countless bumps along the way - paperwork and timelines, INS mistakes, extremely long waiting periods, grueling plane rides and the arrival in a foreign country where I felt alone and isolated - but these all faded when I found this one person who would show me what it really meant to love someone.

I was allowed to visit him for two hours a day at the orphanage. It took three days for him to lift his head and look into my eyes and another for a true smile to come out, but every second was worth the wait. Sashka, as he was known then, was extremely shy and detached. We fumbled along trying to figure out what we were doing together, were we meant to be a family and could we love each other the way a mother and son should. I kept thinking that I would fail as a mother because there was no rush of love that instantaneously flooded my heart when I met him. But I knew I wanted the chance to love this boy. I wanted the chance to teach him all the things that were out there for him. I wanted to know him.

We were back home in Louisiana when one day I walked in his room to check on him sleeping when the most astonishing thought filled my head. I looked at this innocent child and I couldn't imagine myself loving anything more deeply in the world. There was no epiphany moment or lightning bolts. Just a gradual build of a love so strong that it could conquer anything. And I prayed and thanked God for May 19, 2005, the day Alexander Jacob Buuck walked into my life, now a vivacious, outgoing child who is merely a shadow of that scared little boy I met.

Our Journey to Annika

Some people say that all roads lead to home.  I guess in a way its true, even if that road takes you half way around the world to Kazakhstan.  It is on this road that Annika found her way home.

It was December 1, 2005 that Annika finally slept in a bed that she could call her own, in her very own room, in her very own house.  Annika was 2 ½ when she came home from Kazakhstan. 

Adopting Annika was every bit as much about her becoming our daughter as it was about Annika becoming a little sister and our 8 year old, Kathryn, becoming a big sister.  

When we first met Annika on October 17, 2005 at the Taldykorgan Baby House she was shy and reserved and did not speak.  We were told that she was speech delayed and hardly every spoke.  Getting her to smile was a major feat.  Less than a year later Annika talks non stop and is hardly ever with out a big smile on her face.  In fact she is now quite the comedian and loves to make others laugh.

Our journey to bring Annika home was not without it’s road blocks, but Children’s Hope made sure they were there every step of the way to help us through the bumps in the road.  Although our journey was difficult at times I believe that Annika’s journey was even more so.  For any toddler to spend their first 2 ½ years in an institution, even the best one, is nothing less than heartbreaking.  But to watch her blossom into a vibrant little girl is nothing less than heartwarming. 

Annika, along with her big sister, bring smiles not only to our family, but to everyone they meet.  With this journey under our belts, I am happy to say that our families’ life long journey has just begun.

The Hirt Family
Oregon

A Family for Sanjar

In December of 2004, we first learned of Sanjar through friends from church who had adopted two babies from Kazakhstan. During their daily visits to the baby girl in the orphanage, they met this boy who desperately wanted a family, but was always bypassed 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. His words haunted us. 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 you mother to take me too, my mother isn’t coming back for me.” True, his mother had relinquished all parental rights at birth.

This couple from church kept an ongoing blog, featuring Sanjar’s story with pictures. His story touched us in a way impossible to understand (let alone explain) and impossible to ignore. We have three biological children, two daughters and son. Nevertheless, we all wanted to add him to our family.

In November, after weeks and weeks of prayer, discussion, a mount of paperwork, expense, frustration, persistence and relentlessness we could only attribute to God, we, my husband, son, and I found ourselves on a plane to Kazakhstan to meet and bond with Sanjar. I shall always carry this picture in my mind 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 we made the arranged mandated trips to the orphanage, getting better acquainted through gifts of food, toys, games, sign language and hugs. We had to return to the United States and make a second trip in January, at which time the adoption was finalized and we all came home January 15, 2006.

Sanjar is bright, loving, adapts well, is learning English, loves to eat, especially tomatoes and watermelon, adding new American foods like French fries, ice cream, and spaghetti. He has gained over ten pounds, has his own bike (a gift from his teacher), plays soccer, and can speak in complete sentences. He is also learning about God and Jesus, and he loves to say grace at meals and prayers at bedtime. He very much appreciates his bed, which is big enough to stretch out in vertically! So much we take for granted makes him stand wide-eyed, just staring, almost in disbelief.

We are all learning, day by day, and have come to realize how much we take for granted. Sanjar had literally nothing to call his own. Sanjar continues to teach us about life in ways we could have never imagined. Truly in giving, we receive!!!