Sunday, January 23, 2011

Nine Months

Alina has been home for nine months, today.

In the span of a typical pregnancy, this little girl has worked her way into our hearts and lives like she has always been here.  

Alina asleep in big brother Kyle's arms
Now that we know Alina, it is extremely hard to think about the years she spent without a family of her own, and even harder to think about her fate had we not come for her.  

Alina will be four in a few months.  Her paperwork would most likely already have been in place for her imminent transfer from the baby home to a remote, regional mental institution, where the care is poor at best.  

I can't put into words how it feels to know that she was so close to having to experience transfer and life in an institution.

She is a child--a beautiful, sweet, funny, curious and sensitive child--who is very aware of the world around her.   

She has so much to offer, and we are so very grateful to have her in our lives.  

8 comments:

  1. Aww, love this. And SO bizarre because I have a very similar post drafted to post about Nika, just have to add the pics. Nika would have been transferred out of the baby home already ... ugh.

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  2. I know what you mean....Artiom would have gone to that same institution.

    We're so lucky he wasn't already transferred being that he was 5.

    Alina is soooo beautiful.

    I think I'll always remember your journey to her. And that video on the train, with that hauntingly beautiful song....(that I was never able to find by the way)

    Blessings,
    Jodi

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  3. sleeping beauty, precious child, Lisa, you have a beautiful family and a heart that is as big as the world itself. Alina, so glad you came into our world, it's a much happier, brighter place with you in it.

    Love finds a way,
    Renee
    chasing-moonlight.blogspot.com

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  4. alina is one lucky little girl to be a part of your family... and i know you all feel just as lucky to have found her. what a blessing you are to each other. and i love that she is asleep in her big brother's arms :)

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  5. Oh happy day! What a sweet post! I was so happy and tearful reading it! I can,t wait to be on that side! I LOVE pics of little sweeties sleeping like this!

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  6. yes. lucky, lucky girl... if only they could all be so lucky. xx

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  7. I almost used your "Saving Normal" post for my blog but was finally inspired to write my own. Your words (as usual) were incredible and poignantly written!

    Then this one about 9 months and Alina. Wow! It seems so much longer than that..almost a lifetime ago that we were knee-deep in the paperwork, questions, and anxieties about travelling, etc.

    Ready to go back? I had a dream about a week ago that you were going back for a boy. I kid you not!

    Love you friend!!!

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  8. Just amazing how God had a hand in her life... His timing is perfect!

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