The Hatch Family

Our Second Blessing

In the fall of 2006, my husband and I began considering adopting again. We had adopted our son (Charles) from Russia in the summer of 2004 and knew that we wanted another child. We weren’t exactly sure where our next child was. We contacted CWA and began compiling documents for a Russian dossier. The Russian program at that time was awaiting accreditation so we were in no hurry.

Around the same time, CWA began a new program in Kyrgyzstan. My initial thought was that was great, but it never entered my mind that we should switch or that our child might be there. I had never heard of Kyrgyzstan, couldn’t find it on a map, and definitely could not spell it correctly. A few weeks later we got an email that there was an initial list of children that were already waiting in Kyrgyzstan. Out of curiosity, I requested access to the list, scanned it, prayed for the children and continued working on our homestudy for Russia.

Then one Friday in late September I glanced back over the list while bored at work and there was our daughter’s face. There were several children that had been added and I was drawn to her immediately. I then knew that our second child was not in Russia, but in Kyrgyzstan. My husband and I stared at Aylin's picture all weekend. On Monday, we accepted her referral, switched programs, and put our homestudy in high gear. We were finally done with the paperchase by the end of November and on December 15 we were officially declared the parents of our precious daughter. However, in Kyrgyzstan the court ruling is not official for 30 days. So we waited, then we waited some more, while the Kyrgyz government worked out a passport glitch. Then, FINALLY, we left for Kyrgyzstan on February 23, 2007. We had our daughter in our arms on February 25. We walked into her orphanage that day and we knew her, she was a part of us, even though we had never met. She brings us all so much joy every day.

We are so thankful to CWA for working so hard to bring families together. Ours would definitely not be the same without their efforts. And, by the way, we can now spell Kyrgyzstan forwards and backwards in our sleep.

Robert & Andrea Hatch