Daughter Adopted from Belarus

The Keswick Family

The journey to meet our daughter took us half way around the world to an orphanage in Belarus. Makenna was eleven months old in 1999 when she and her three sisters were brought to the orphanage. Her birth name was "Nadia."

We stayed here (typical apartments).	Our first meeting was a joyous, tearful event.

She was very reserved when we first met her. But after she was with us for a few days, she began to blossom into a happy, loving beautiful child.

Vic shows Makenna a toy brought from home.	Makenna's sisters (left to right) Svetlana (4yrs), Yekaterina (5-1/2 yrs), and Anastaseta (3-1/2 yrs).
Makenna and her group at the orphanage.

My wife Victoria and I began our quest to become parents. We tried on our own, then sought help with infertility treatments. Unsuccessful, we slowly began to consider adoption.

In 1997 Victoria turned 40 and we got serious about domestic adoption. We were chosen by a birth mother and in March of 1999 brought home a baby boy. We had baby Alex for six weeks before the birth mother reclaimed him. As you can imagine, it was devastating. But we pulled ourselves together and tried again. After a close call with another birth mother who changed her mind, we decided against domestic adoption. Throughout our ordeal, we had been attending Saddleback Church's Adoption Support Group, headed by Jim Molter of God's Families. Now we were ready to try international adoption and chose Jim. We continued to face incredible challenges, but Jim persevered and pulled us through.

On Wednesday, April 5th, 2001, we arrived at LAX and began our journey half way around the world to meet our daughter. Jim arranged for Sergei to meet us at the airport in Belarus. He is an incredible person and I would trust him with my life. He navigated us through an unbelievable sequence of events and never stopped encouraging us. Everywhere we went his family and friends welcomed us as their own and made us feel safe and cared for. He was our rock.

On Saturday morning, we met our daughter for the first time. Jim advised that she might not warm up to me right away because there are no men in the orphanage. But as soon as we entered the room, she laughed and ran up to us, throwing her arms around me! Both Vic and I were overcome with joy and tears.

Within minutes, Makenna began to realize that her life was going to change and she withdrew. By the end of the day, we were convinced by the staff and by her demeanor that something was very wrong. That night we were afraid and confused. We called Jim and he helped us formulate a plan. He arranged for a top doctor to come to the orphanage to examine Makenna. This was no small feat-a six-hour round trip on a Sunday! Before we tried to sleep that night, we prayed to God, asking him to give us a sign, that this child was meant to be our daughter. And the next day he did.

On Sunday morning, we noticed a change in Makenna right away. After her exam, the doctor explained that she was healthy and very intelligent, but upset and afraid. "She wants a Mama and Papa, but doesn't know exactly what it means. She only knows that other children have left with new parents and did not come back." By the end of the day, Makenna was playing with me, laughing and talking, in Russian of course. When it was time for us to go, she burst into tears saying "Don't go-don't go!" We asked Sergei to tell her we would be back tomorrow morning and she stopped crying. Now we know in our hearts that our child was going to be all right.

On Monday morning the administrators arrived, saw how the three of us had bonded and offered us a room in the orphanage. Makenna slept in the room with us in a crib they provided and our relationship with her grew quickly. By Tuesday morning, she was a different child, confident, happy, play and loving. We were overjoyed.

Sergei continued to amaze us throughout our court hearing and exit process. He coordinated all the paper work and walked us through the bureaucracy every step of the way.

We are thrilled with our daughter and cannot imagine life without her. She is healthy, smart, funny, happy and loving. She has healed us and made us whole. I thank God for her, and I also thank God's Families. Jim Molter prayed, encouraged and fought for us, from beginning to end. Because of him Makenna has a home and we are a family.