RUSSIA - International Waiting Child Adoption
lnga's Journey - By: Jennifer Petry
To tell the story of the adoption of Inga Danielle Petry properly, I need to go back several years when my husband and I moved to Connecticut. We moved into an apartment belonging to the Dennehy family who had three biological children and two adopted boys, from Romania and India respectively, both born without arms. I am a music teacher and soon the three oldest Dennehy children were taking lessons from me. At that time, Sharon Dennehy asked if I would please teach George, her older adopted son, to play the cello. I had great reservations about teaching a seven year old to play the cello with his feet, and many colleagues advised me just to teach him to sing. My obstinacy kicked in and both Sharon and I kept at it. Soon George had learned to hold a bow and then began to play! I discovered that he could actually do just about anything that he put his mind to.
Dan and I discovered that same year that we are both infertile, a heart-breaking piece of news since we are both teachers and love children. We prayed for a child, prayed over the prospect of adoption, prayed for strength and patience with each other and with others who couldn't know or understand our situation. I confided in Sharon Dennehy about our desire to adopt and shortly afterward, she told me that Susan Myers from LSS had contacted her about a little girl in Russia who had been born without arms. Sharon gave me the LSS telephone number when she came with her children to their music lessons, then left. I went inside to pray.
When Dan came home we talked about it and prayed some more, such a decision and not at all what we had expected we would ever consider! We read _icles and watched a video about people without arms who have made their way ~ccessfully in the world. We considered all of the difficulties that having a special needs child would bring, but we also considered what we knew about George and James. We thought of the future of a child who was already waiting in Russia, a child who was nearly two years old already. She couldn't make herself younger; she couldn't wait for us to have a "normal" child first, she was already born and living her life and could soon be on her way to an orphanage for the handicapped. We called LSS and left a message of inquiry. By the next day we had decided to adopt the little Russian orphan, whose name we learned, was Inga.
We completed a home study with the LSS office in Connecticut and the adoptive placement through LSS of Wisconsin. Everyone was very friendly and quick to respond. We did the required paperwork, and lots of it. But it was worth every ounce of work.
With three other adoptive families, we traveled to Novosibirsk, Siberia. It was encouraging to have others along with us who were going through the same experience we were. LSS made sure we had guides and translators throughout our trip and our Russian host families answered our questions and showed us around.
We met our daughter after she awoke from a nap, dressed in a pink dress with a large floppy bow wrapped around her head. She stared and stared at us, but as time went on she warmed up, playing little games and then finally smiling at us! After a week she called us Mama and Papa and cried when we left.
Inga is a cute child with a joyful and sunny personality. The orphanage workers adored her and she was especially well cared for. Yet when it finally came time to go, Inga seemed to understand exactly what was happening and she clung to us as we left the orphanage, while waving goodbye to everyone with her feet and saying excitedly in her new language "bye bye"!
From then on she was completely attached to me and wouldn't let me out of her sight for a second without intense panicky screaming. We slept together and ate together. I couldn't do anything apart from her - nor did I want to!
Three months later, Inga is thriving and is a charming and talkative two and a half year old. She plays with her toys, eats, drinks, and draws with her feet. She tells stories to anyone who will listen. She loves to play with other children, including her friends George and James. She now tries to play the cello when I am not looking and sings medleys of American and Russia folk songs whenever she feels like it. God has certainly blessed us with this child, our Inga!
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