View Message

Question: If the family is all or mostly adopted, does it always have to be a baby?

---

UN: Cassandra Grace Logan
Type of Family: All-adopted/mostly adopted (leaning more towards all ATM)
LN: Roth (though DW occasionally uses maiden name listed below)
DH: Ariel Shai Roth "Ari" (30)
DW: Dr. Julia Sergeyevna Ivanova (26)
--DS: Mikhail Sergey Arievich Roth "Misha" (3) - (Russia)

---

Ari and Julia recently went on a trip to Russia to visit the orphanage they grew up in, as they do at least a couple times every year. They always bring plenty of donations from home, things like clothes, toys, food, medical supplies, and all sorts of other things. Ari loves watching Julia helping care for the babies and older children alike, and imagining how amazing a mother she would be. Julia enjoys seeing her Ari joining in games with all of the kids, kicking around a ball in the small courtyard and helping with schoolwork. The children always love climbing all over Ari, who gladly picks them up and gives them piggy-back rides.

---

On the third day of their visit, Julia first went into the orphanage's infirmary to help unload some of the medical supplies they had brought while Ari went with the children to the back courtyard. When Julia finished unloading and went outside, she saw something that made her smile (and take a picture for the memory). Ari had laid on a hammock and started to read a book to a little boy, and they had both fallen asleep. The little boy's head rested on Ari's chest while Ari had one arm around him. As Julia looked, she realized that Ari had been playing especially with the little boy, Mikhail or "Misha", every day since they had arrived. They had always discussed adoption, and it made perfect sense to her to pick at least one child from the place they had both lived in. When Ari finally woke up and laid Misha gently on the hammock, Julia brought up the idea of bringing the little boy home with them. Ari was ecstatic because he hadn't been sure how to mention the idea to her.

---

As most of their information was on file already, Julia used some of her father's contacts at the American embassy to help make sure everything was in perfect order. Then the two went to talk to Misha about having a new mama and papa. The boy's small Russian/broken English vocabulary would have been hard for an outsider to understand, but his smile said it all. One of the last pieces of paperwork to fill out included the name of the child. Ari and Julia decided to keep his name as Mikhail. Since Misha never had a patronymic, Ari suggested they give him the middle name Sergey after Julia's father. Julia agreed, but only if they could also give him a patronymic after his new papa.

---

Sergey and Madeleine Ivanov and Elior and Maya Roth were ecstatic when Julia and Ari informed them of their new grandson, 3-year-old Mikhail Sergey Arievich Roth. Little Misha was spoiled to no end with a grand welcome party and all sorts of gifts.

---

Here's a pic of Ari and Misha sleeping on the hammock.

This message was edited 7/3/2010, 11:07 PM