Saturday, May 15, 2010
Rita's Birthday: An Email From Russia
Last Tuesday was Rita's 9th birthday. At work, I received an email message in Russian ...
С днем рождения
Привет из россии!Из города Великие Луки.Поздравляем Маргориту с Днем рождения,желаем здоровья,счастья, успехов в учебе.Татьяна,Ирина.
(Breathe! Breathe!) Who is Russia is writing to me? The message was not from Polina, our foreign exchange student; or one of the students who helped on our trips.
I am thinking "Who is this? Is this going to change our lives forever?" Before I passed out, I remembered my Russian alphabet and looked to the end of the email and read who the email was from ... Tatiana and Irina.
Tatiana was the orphanage caregiver who fostered children every summer to make sure that they were "adoptable". Before we met Rita in November, she had lived with Tatiana from February to September. We met Irina on our way out of the orphanage - she cried, hugged, wished us well and she gave us her address.
Happy birthday
Greetings from россии! From the city of Velikie Luki. We wish Margarita happy birthday, we wish health, happiness, successes in study. Tatyana, Irina.
Greetings from россии! From the city of Velikie Luki. We wish Margarita happy birthday, we wish health, happiness, successes in study. Tatyana, Irina.
Back in 2008 soon after we were home, we sent two different letters/pictures with families traveling to Velikie Luki. I had them translated into Russian, and included my home address and email address. We had not heard back from these letters, so almost 2.5 years later this was a wonderful surprise.
So that night after birthday dinner, while opening presents I gave Rita her letter from Tatiana and Irina. Of course, she couldn't read the Russian but she guessed right away who the message was from. She bounced up and down on the sofa, squealing and cheering. It was wonderful.
8 Comments:
Adopt A Child.orgAdopting from Russia
Eastern European Adoption Coalition, Inc
Embassy of the Russian Federation
Families for Russian and Ukrainian Adoption
Karen's Adoption Links
Older Child Adoption
Russia Adoption Blog
Russian Adoption Medical Services
Russian Family Search
Russian Toys
Vernissage Press
Ronda
I don't know why I didn't get this update on my blog reader, but I saw your comment on Melissa's blog and thought, "wow I wonder how Rita and fam are doing?" So... here I am. I was so sorry I couldn't meet up with you and Rachael in Chicago. Next time you're here, I will move mountains if I have to in order to meet you girls IRL. (I'll probably be graduated from med school then, so I might have a bit more flexibility in my schedule. lol)
Anyways, I'm glad to see an update. Not sure if you have our blog address... or if you still read adoption blogs. I changed ours to: http://WithTwoPugs.blogspot.com
We're waiting for our referral! :)
Christen
(Olive You)