Over the course of the 3 1/2 years since we started our adoption journey, I have been blessed by being "virtually" surrounded by a group of phenomenal adoptive parents or prospective parents, many of which have become dear friends. I say virtual because the majority of my interactions with these people have been via email, yahoo groups and telephone conversations. These new friends live throughout the United States, Canada and Kyrgyzstan but in spite of the distance, they were always just a moment away if I needed them. Tragedy has an interesting way of bonding people together and I am so grateful to have found such an amazing support system. I want to share some blog posts from two of these very special people.
The first is John Wright. He and his wife, Julie, are missionaries that fell in love with the people of Central Asia and in particular, Kyrgyzstan. Over the years they have made it their life's mission to help the underserved of this area. They have inspired me, and many others, with the amazing work that they are doing there, which include providing support to several orphanages, an old person's homes, the homeless and the medically needy to name just a FEW. They have opened their hearts and minds to the needs of the people that have surrounded them and in response have made an tremendous impact. At times, their work has been close to miraculous. The majority of us "met" John through the yahoo group for people interested in adopting from Kyrgyzstan. Through that group, he helped families get medicines and other supplies to the orphanages. When I realized that Altynai had developed hydrocephalus, John was one of the first people I contacted. She needed a CT scan, a neurosurgeon and a shunt, ASAP and I knew that he would, at a minimum, be able to point me in the right direction. Long story short, in a short period of time ( based on Kyrygyz standards : ) ) she had everything she needed. I will never forget picking up my phone one afternoon, and low and behold, it was John ( and Ann - Kyrstina's mom) calling me from Kyrgyzstan to let me know that he found a way to get her the shunt she needed. Not only that but he paid for the shunt out of their own funds while he was waiting for our money to make it to him. Like I said, miraculous considering that she was just an orphan that few people seemed to value! John, thank you, thank you, thank you!!! If you want to be truly inspired by what the Wright's have done and are doing in Kyrgyzstan, or to hear his side of Altynai's story, please check out his blog post on September 2nd at: http://actofkindness.blogspot.com/2011/09/altynais-legacy-adoption-fund.html.
The second person I owe great thanks too is Cindy Lajoy. She is the mother to five adopted children; four from Kazakhstan and one from Kyrgyzstan. She created and moderated the initial Kyrgyzstan adoption group, back in it's heyday when adoptions were actively occurring. It didn't take a member long to realize after reading her posts or following her blog, that she was someone very, very special. Her compassion and wisdom would resonate throughout her statements and for many of us, when we needed individual advice, she was more than happy to help. When the adoptions ceased, Cindy remained part of the waiting parents group and actually contacted me after Altynai became ill. It was over the next several months that she provided me with the advice and understanding that I deeply needed. Although, my friends and family were aware of my fears, grief and guilt and multitude of other feelings, they were at a loss as to what to say. None of them had adopted before and to be honest, a lot of them could not wrap their heads around why I was so attached to this little person that I had only spent a week with. Not to mention, the dramatic rollercoaster ride that I had been on for several years had made most people annoyed enough that they steered clear of such conversations. It is for those reasons that the adoption community is so closely knit and supportive of each other. It is also why my conversations with Cindy had such an impact on me. I will never forget her telling me although we may believe that we are supposed to become a given child's parent, God often has very, very different plans for us. We are often involved for a variety of other reasons, whether it be to open our hearts to new possibilities or to delay things so that the child that is supposed to be ours, can be placed in our path instead. She was often quick to remind me and many others, that the delays and the guilt that we often place on ourselves when things go horribly wrong, are not our faults to bear, for we are often truly just along for the ride. Cindy also wrote a beautiful piece about Altynai's fund on her blog. Please take time to read it at http://lajoyfamily.blogspot.com/2011/08/childs-legacy.html
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