Russian Language at the Beach

I'm on vacation, but while playing on the computer, I realized it has been over a month since my last post. If I don't post now, my usual pattern of lack of follow-through will consume this blog. So, a vacation blog. We are at the beach - much needed vacation. Shawn and I with our younger two children, Jon & Naomi, plus 4 Duggins children - Hannah, Ruslan, Lydia, Albina. Out in the water today, I heard "Vada kholodnaya". Russian! Since returning to the US, we don't hear Russian much - when we do, our ears tune in and our hearts leap. It was a teenage girl speaking to a boy. Then she spoke typical teen-English to the other boy. So I introduced myself. Turns out, she was adopted 7 years ago from Kazakhstan! The Russian-speaking boy had been adopted just 5 months ago, along with a biological sister, also from Kazakhstan. This family then has two biological children. So we got to speak some Russian to the kids, then visit with the parents. The kids had come from near Pavlodar, a few hours north of Karaganda where we'd lived.

As we spoke with the parents, it reminded me of the many adopting parents we had known over the years. It is a grueling process, a real emotional roller coaster with the excitement of bringing home children mixed with the complete dependence on the whim of the local officials, who often see opportunities for personal financial gain. I congratulated these folks on going through it twice. It was good to see these kids - a happy ending to the story.