Six years. Six! I can’t believe it. I remember the day so clearly. It started so slowly, breakfast at the hotel, driving around town collecting necessary papers, and then back to the hotel for lunch. All I wanted was to hop in the car and make the three hour drive through the sprawling, fridged, snow covered, Siberian countryside to the orphanage, but Oliver had a schedule to follow and pick up was set to be after his nap time. Orphanage doesn’t care your mama is coming for you…they’ve got a schedule to uphold!
The signs of a former orphanage life have left him. Signs of attachment issues from loosing his first family and then the orphanage family, signs of neglect from 17 months of living in an institution, signs of malnourishment, signs of a vitamin D deficiency, and signs of terror when faced with water (over corrected), they have all melted away. The goal isn’t to forget about adoption, the goal isn’t to ignore your first 20 months and just focus on the 6 years, the goal is to live your awesome life despite the cards you were originally dealt.
That’s who Oliver is. He loves his family, he adores his friends, he loves to travel (his current favorite place is the Blue Lagoon in Iceland), he enjoys learning new things, he works hard at school and is rewarded with good grades, he is an amazing reader, a great artist, and a prefect big brother (it’s a delicate balance between “Lydia let’s go play, and Lydia leave me alone”) and he’s mastered it. 20 months was a lot of months for him to be in limbo and 20 months was a lot of months for us to miss, but it’s all part of our family story, and we love it.
Cheers to six years as a family man.
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| No judging improper car seat usage...this is Russia. I was just lucky my driver had a car seat. |
The signs of a former orphanage life have left him. Signs of attachment issues from loosing his first family and then the orphanage family, signs of neglect from 17 months of living in an institution, signs of malnourishment, signs of a vitamin D deficiency, and signs of terror when faced with water (over corrected), they have all melted away. The goal isn’t to forget about adoption, the goal isn’t to ignore your first 20 months and just focus on the 6 years, the goal is to live your awesome life despite the cards you were originally dealt.
That’s who Oliver is. He loves his family, he adores his friends, he loves to travel (his current favorite place is the Blue Lagoon in Iceland), he enjoys learning new things, he works hard at school and is rewarded with good grades, he is an amazing reader, a great artist, and a prefect big brother (it’s a delicate balance between “Lydia let’s go play, and Lydia leave me alone”) and he’s mastered it. 20 months was a lot of months for him to be in limbo and 20 months was a lot of months for us to miss, but it’s all part of our family story, and we love it.
Cheers to six years as a family man.
Love it!
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