Sunday, June 20, 2010

Kazlings Invade Orlando

We spent last week in Florida with 9 of the coolest kids in the world - and all adopted from Kazakhstan, most from the same baby house as Sasha! We've blogged in the past about this astounding community of adoption, but I honestly don't think we had a clue just how good we have it.

Spending a week with these 6 families and our fantastic translator Oxana from Karaganda was both surreal and amazing. It was like a family reunion with folks we've emailed, cried on the phone to, exchanged photos and cards and gifts with, and blogstalked - but (with one exception) never met in real life! There's a very real bond between us of shared experience and the intertwining histories of our kiddos. I was astounded by the ease with which we all got to know our online Karaganda buddies.

The very best part was meeting the families who poured so much love and attention and affection into Sasha before we even knew she was out there waiting for us. These are the families who petitioned the baby house and agency for Sash to become available for international adoption, whose daughters held Sash's hand through the bars of the crib, who mourned to leave Sasha behind even through the joy of leaving the baby house with their own daughters. These are beloved families to us.

Their joy at finally seeing Sasha home, chubby, eating everything in sight without difficulty (remember, when they left Sash, every meal was a challenge for her), and beloved by her family was an astounding thing. Our daughter was and is exceedingly well loved.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I thought I saw little Sasha in the Cuales photos. Sounds like a great time. Angela and Mike have been our heros on this journey. And they have given us a lot of baby stuff! Coming by tomorrow with high chair and travel goodies for Ethiopia. Hope you had a lot of fun!

Amelia said...

That's awesome! Do I recognize Andy & Olivia in those pictures? You have spent more time with them than we have and we live 20 minutes away! Glad you had a great time and got to connect with the Kaz families.

Jstar said...

Roger that, Amelia, and Shannon's back as well! It was a fantastic trip

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