Tamara's Story
On April 27, 2001, Katya was born as a 1 kilo (2.2 pound) preemie. Her mother abandoned her in the hospital annd Tamara took her home. Katya's father was exposed to turberculosis and so, in order to protect Katya, Tamara told him that he could never see his daughter again. Tamara cared for Katya exclusively for the first six years of her life. She was finding it more and more difficult to meet Katya's needs and desired that her granddaughter have a hope and a future. As Tamara was aging, she knew that the chances of Katya having a happy and productive life in the years ahead without any family, were pretty slim. And the older a child gets, the less likely that child will be adopted. So, Tamara made the incredibly difficult choice to place Katya in the orphanage.
In March 2008, Tamara signed all the papers for her to change her status from that of a "social orphan" to that of a "pure orphan," except for one - refusal of guardianship. This is the paper that Tamara thought she was signing on March 4 of this year but there was a glitch and now she has to do go back through the process again, except now there is a bit more red tape.
It's been a week since we heard of this glitch and we don't have any more information, but we are moving ahead with faith and hope. The remaining papers of our dossier will travel with David, Dasha's Dad to Ukraine when he travels back to pick up his daughter. Here's how you can pray:
* Tamara's heart as she goes through this process again
* Bureaucratic miracles that bring glory to God - red tape being cut through more quickly and efficiently than seems humanly possible
* The timetable to remain the same. The adoption could be delayed until later in the summer or fall. This would be challenging because of our schedule. But the worst possibility is that it would be delayed for 14 months. I can't even begin to go there.
*For Dima (our facilitator), Liliya (Katya's English tutor and our hands and feet to care for her needs), Nina (the orphanage director), and the lawyers as they work through the situation
Tamara is not shrinking back from her conviction that the most loving thing for her to do is to release Katya to be adopted by our family. She is encouraging US by her example of perseverance. Thank you, Tamara!