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Our Road to Russia

The Smith Family

Our road to Russia officially began August 20, 2010 when we mailed in our application to Christian World Adoption stating our intent to adopt. However, our journey to our son started much earlier that summer. My husband and I always felt as though God would call us to adoption, and the summer of 2010 we knew He was calling to adopt internationally. As I prayed during my quiet time I felt God give me such a peace about adopting from another country and began researching what seemed like thousands of agencies.

I was originally interested in CWA because of their Christian beliefs, but thought it was out of the question because we lived in another state. Feeling frustrated we decided to put our research on hold and give it more prayer. Within days we received an e-mail from CWA informing readers that they were in need of families to enter their Russia program with a September 1 application deadline. This was the answer from God we had been waiting for as I realized you could use an out of state adoption agency!

My husband and I filled out the application and sent it in not knowing what the next few months would hold. We were quickly assigned a region in Russia and access to the online planner. The online planner was so helpful and served as a guide through the mountains of paperwork and offered many good resources. Due to us living in a separate state from CWA we had a separate Home Study Agency who was able to complete our home study during the month of September. Our caseworker, Anya, was always very prompt in returning e-mails, many times answering them within minutes.

Once our dossier was completed and sent to CWA they quickly transported it to Volgograd. Within a couple of weeks we were notified that our dossier had been registered in our region and were given a sheet with expiration dates to ensure that our paperwork remained up-to-date. The day we were notified that our dossier had been registered was the day before Thanksgiving. What a blessing to be thankful for! At the time my husband was on a mission trip to Romania and ached in his heart knowing he was so close to our child. We continued to work on the rest of our court documents and knew all we could do was wait for “the call.”

After much waiting and anticipation we received a call from Anya on Friday, February 11, 2011 stating there was a 10 month old little boy ready for a home if we were interested. Even though there were a couple of families ahead of us waiting for a child, we were able to receive our referral so quickly because we did not specify that we strictly wanted a Caucasian child. Our handsome son’s birth mother was from Uzbekistan which gave him beautiful Asian features. Anya e-mailed us the medical information they had on him and two pictures.

My husband was at work and rushed home to view the e-mail with me. Before opening the e-mail we prayed asking God for clarification as to whether this was our son. The moment we viewed his picture we knew he was ours. We were able to travel the middle of March to meet him. We were able to be with him as he turned one year old. Our translators and facilitator while in Volgograd were excellent and we remain in contact with them even now. There were absolutely no questions about the process that the staff could not answer. Our translators aided us in paperwork while we were in Russia and assisted us at the orphanage and airports.

After we arrived back home we waited anxiously for the federal data bank letter to travel from Moscow to Volgograd. There was a possibility our court date would be set for May, but due to the delay in our letter our court date was postponed to June 7, 2011. The week before we were to fly to Russia we were notified that the federal data bank letter had still not arrived in Volgograd. Anya worked so closely with our facilitator in Volgograd and kept us up to date daily via e-mails and phone calls. We were also experiencing difficulty with our home study agency, but Anya was always working to keep things running smoothly. She would constantly be in contact with me to inform me of what we needed to do to make sure court was a success. Anya was able to call us the morning before we were to fly out to inform us our data bank letter had arrived in Volgograd. We felt as though we were finally able to relax a little as we prepared for our long flight to Russia.

Once again, our translators met with us and explained court in the exact manner it was conducted. After waiting the 10 days after court we were able to pick our son up from the orphanage on June 20, 2011. What an awesome day! I’ll never forget the way he so easily came to us that day and the way it felt to walk out the orphanage doors knowing it was for the last time. We spent a total of 26 days in Russia and flew home on June 30, 2011.

CWA was there for us every step of the way. I always felt as though I could completely trust everything they told us. Even when my husband began to run a fever in Moscow our translator put us in contact with an English speaking doctor and brought us medicine to take. We cannot express our gratitude enough to the workers of CWA for the work they do and for helping us bring home our son. The entire process for us was around 10 months and we have a very healthy, happy 16 month old. We cannot imagine our lives without him and know God placed CWA in our lives at the right moment to lead us to Jeremiah. We would gladly use Christian World Adoption again to adopt from Russia.

Thank you CWA and may God continue to bless the work you do to bring home sweet, precious children to their forever families!

Sincerely,

— Zeth and Laura Smith