Our Adoption Story

We have had many questions about our adoption of Svetlana from Arkhangel'sk in Russia. We thought it would be helpful to put a little information on our site.

The Beginning

After much prayer and many discussions, Cheryl and I decided to adopt a girl. We talked with our sons, David and Christian, and they said that they would love to have a sister.

Our next step was to find an agency and decide whether to adopt domestically or from a foreign country. After reading many books, researching the internet and talking with others, we were leaning towards adopting a girl from Russia, between ages 2 and 4. We also decided that Adoption Associates was an agency with integrity and was the best choice for us in our adoption.

In October 2003, we set up an appointment to meet with Michelle Dykema from Adoption Associates. Michelle gave us all the time we needed. She answered all of our questions on the requirements and what we would experience during the adoption process. We also received information on the various countries where adoption was possible. We confirmed that we wanted to adopt from Russia.

Then the paperwork began. Cheryl filled out all sorts of forms and I believe she got every piece of paper in our house notarized. We found that adopting complicated process and we can't thank Michelle enough for all the help and assistance she gave us.

The News

In January, Michelle called to inform us of a referral. She provided us with all the information she had on the child. She also forwarded an email with a picture attached. It was of a beautiful girl named Svetlana, from the Arkhangel'sk region in Russia. Svetlana had turned two in September. Michelle said our first trip would be in early February 2004.

We now had plans to make and were both excited and nervous. We wanted to take along David and Christian to meet their possible sister. We were very thankful when Cheryl's parents decided to go along with us to be with David and Christian during our meetings in Arkhangel'sk.

The First Trip

We knew that we would have to make two trips to Russia. The first trip was to meet the Svetlana, after which the Russian Ministry of Education would have to approve the adoption. I can go into details about the legalities and the paperwork in Arkhangel'sk, but the Adoption Associates website has great information about the details.

On February 14, 2004, we flew from Chicago to Paris and landed in Moscow during the evening of Sunday, February 15. On Monday, we toured the fascinating city of Moscow and waited until we could meet Svetlana.

Svetlana

On Tuesday morning we flew to Arkhangel'sk. We met our host, Helen, at the Arkhangel'sk airport. Helen was kind enough to get two drivers to take all six of us and our luggage to the Hotel. After dropping off David, Christian and Cheryl's parents, Helen took us to meet Sveta (everyone in the orphanage called her Sveta). She was a very little green polka-dotted girl. She was being treated for chicken pox and very unsure of us. She was hearing a language she had never heard before and was not feeling very well. We were a little of unsure of ourselves also.

The next day, Helen helped get approval to let David, Christian and Cheryl's parents visit also our little green girl. It was so much fun to watch David and Christian trying to get Sveta to roll a ball back and forth. We spent four days in Arkhangel'sk getting to know Svetlana a little better each day. We could tell that Svetlana did not feel very well during our stay. She often would fall asleep in our arms. e would meet her at 10 am each morning and then she would go have lunch and a nap. We could come back and visit again from 3 pm to about 5 pm in the afternoon. David, Christian and Cheryl's parents all fell in love with the little angel.

We had a big decision to make; we considered how she would fit into our family and how our family would change. While in Arkhangel'sk, we talked to Helen, long distance to Michelle and spent time in prayer. Our final visit was on Friday afternoon. We said "goodbye" and "see you soon" and took the evening flight to St. Petersburg.

We spent Saturday, February 21, touring St. Petersburg with two boys who wanted to have snowball fights and touch everything in the Hermitage. You can view those pictures also. We flew home on Sunday.

We had told Michelle and Helen that wanted to pursue the adoption of Svetlana.

Waiting Some More

Waiting began for a court date in Arkhangel'sk. We were told that we could not put any information out on our website about the possible addition to the family. So instead we put sightseeing pictures of our trip. In May, Michelle informed us that a court date had been set: 10 am MSK, Tuesday, June 1st at the Regional Court of Arkhangel'sk. We had reservations to make. Michael's parents said they would watch David and Christian for the two weeks that we would be gone.

The Second Trip

We left on Friday, May 28 and landed in Moscow on Saturday morning. We flew immediately to Arkhangel'sk and were greeted by the Helen's friendly and the familiar face. She took us to the hotel and the orphanage where we saw Svetlana who played with us and then fell asleep. She had a cold. On Monday, May 31, we met with Tatiana in the Adoption Center who prepared us as to what we might expect in court.

It snowed on the way court on June 1st and Helen let Cheryl borrow her coat. We got to court and waited briefly for the judge. We were very impressed with the thoroughness of the court. The judge treated us with respect and confirmed that we were well aware of Svetlana's history. He also wanted to make sure that we would be good parents. He asked us a number of questions about how we would raise her. He wanted to be assured that we knew what we were getting into. After about an hour, we officially became the parents of Elizabeth Svetlana Bos. We wanted to keep her Russian heritage, so we kept the name she knew, Svetlana. Svetlana means light in Russian. We still continue to call her Sveta (or Svetlana).

Our Third Child

Helen took us to lunch and then to the hotel. She would let us know when Svetlana might be ready. At 3:30 she called and said that we could pick Svetlana up at 4 pm. We were overjoyed. We dressed her in the clothes we had taken along, said goodbye to all the great people at the orphanage and took her back with us to the hotel. We ate in the room, played with some of the toys we brought and finally went to sleep. We found that her cold had not gotten any better and she snored louder than any of us. But we loved her for it.

The next few days Helen helped us with our paperwork in Arkhangel'sk. We secured Sveta's birth certificate, her travel certificate and passport. We said goodbye and thank you to Helen at the airport and left for Moscow on Thursday, June 3.

Moscow

We were taken to the Hotel Mir, where we met Alex from Adoption Associates. Alex arranged for a doctor to visit us early (and we mean early) Friday morning. The doctor came and was followed by Alex who took our paperwork to the US Embassy. In the afternoon, we went to the US Embassy and received a sealed envelope. Alex took more paperwork and began the process of registering child with the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He said that it would be finished by Wednesday and would be able to leave a day earlier than planned.

We had five days to spend in Moscow. We learned that Svetlana loved to walk and read books. We went for long walks, saw the zoo, went down the Moscow River on a ferry, walked to the Kremlin and Red Square and rode the metro. It was a long five days, but we were thankful that we got to spend some good time with Svetlana. We had to find places to eat. The Hotel had a good breakfast, but the dinner was a little too much for a 2 year old to sit through. So we wandered around, ignored a McDonald's and looked for a Hard Rock Cafe we had heard about. We found it and it fit our needs perfectly.

Our daily routine in Moscow went something like this: Got up, showered, went down to breakfast, walked around the city, ate lunch in our room, Sveta napped while we watched the French Open on television, played and read with Sveta, walked to the Hard Rock Cafe, returned to the room, played and read some more, bathed Sveta, put Sveta to bed and watched the BBC World News.

Going Home

On Tuesday, we learned from Alex that our paperwork was complete. He took us to the airport on Wednesday and we boarded Delta flight 31 from Moscow to New York, the first of our three flights, and were on our way. We got to New York and went through customs and immigration, where we gave them our sealed envelope. We got on our flight to Cincinnati and it was delayed. We missed our flight in Cincinnati, spent one more night in a hotel and then found an early flight to Kalamazoo where we had our family waiting for us. Svetlana looked a little overwhelmed at all the people, similar to when we had first met her.

We put her in the car and she didn't like the car seat much, but when we finally got to our home, she spent the first hours laughing, giggling and running around.

Our Thoughts

We cannot tell you how much we love having Svetlana in our home. Her bubbly personality and big smile bring us much joy. We want to thank our families for all their love and acceptance and for helping us with all the details that get overlooked. As I said to a few people when we got back, it was a hard journey, but it was a good journey. We learned so much along the way.

We also want to thank Michelle and Helen, who were patient and so very helpful to us.

If you have any questions, please feel free to let us know. Michael and Cheryl Bos (michael at michaelbos.com or cheryl at cherylbos.com)

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We have many pictures of our adoption pictures on the site.
As I said before, if you want detailed information and particulars, the Adoption Associates website has very accurate information about adopting from Arkhangel'sk.