Jonah’s Russian Adoption Story

Tomorrow is Jonah’s birthday, a double-digits birthday, as he turns 10!  I’ve never shared his full story so I thought now would be a good time.

When we decided to adopt again, Jacob was just about 2 years old.  We knew we wanted to adopt again from Russia and we knew we wanted another boy.  At that time I was working for the adoption agency that we had used for Jacob and knew that the demand for little girls from Russia was high.  We loved having a boy so we thought another boy would just add to the fun.  Oh, BOY does it 🙂

Adopting From Russia Again

We had it all planned out, we would adopt from the same region where Jacob was born.  We knew the routine and the area, and it would make going back for a future homeland visit so easy if we only needed to visit one region.  We might have to wait a bit longer since we were narrowing down our region, but we were okay with that.  

We dove into the paperwork, social worker visits, and all the other fun stuff that comes with an adoption.  It wasn’t long and we were sent a referral video of a blond haired little boy. We looked over the paperwork and watched his video and then noticed that he wasn’t from the same region as Jacob.  I was sure that the paperwork must be incorrect, because “my” plan was that the boys were going to be from the same region!

We watched the video again, okay probably 50 times, and I can’t believe it but we hesitated because he wasn’t from the same region.  Then my mom said “he’s too good to pass up!”  She was more than right and she said just what needed to be said.  We quickly said yes to Jonah.

It was a good lesson for me to realize that God’s plans are so much better than my own. 

When we were in the very early stages of our first adoption, Bob said his dream was to go to Russia in the middle of winter and really experience a Russian winter.  I was thankful we didn’t do that the first time around, but wouldn’t you know he realized his dream with Jonah. 

Back to Russia 

We flew to Russia in early December to meet Jonah.  I remember how surreal it was to land in Russia again.  We had a short first visit.  Jonah wasn’t too thrilled with us.  No smiles, nothing.  Total overwhelm.

We came home to celebrate Christmas and learned we would be going back in January to bring Jonah home.  We spent two weeks in Russia in January.  One week in St. Petersburg and one week in Moscow.  As much as I wasn’t really excited about a Russian winter, I’m so glad we had the opportunity.  St. Petersburg is such a gorgeous city, it was cold, really, really cold.  But a wonderful trip.

This time as soon as Jonah saw us he gave us a big smile and really was a perfect angel the entire trip.  

Once he got settled, he was on the move and he hasn’t stopped moving since he arrived home 10 years ago! 

Jonah is a sweet, thoughtful, caring son and brother.  He’s our nature lover, creature lover, people lover.  We fully expect his life to be one adventure after another.  It certainly has been so far and we are so thankful that God saw fit to permit us to come along for the ride.  Happy Birthday Jonah!

I recently wrote more about Birthdays and Adoption

I’m so frustrated and saddened about the state of adoptions from Russia right now.  I don’t understand why innocent children have to suffer in a political game. I pray that someday adoptions will re-open and children can once again find permanent, loving homes.