story1196.xml

story1196.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2002-08-19

My husband and I were in Rostov, Russia completing the adoptions of our baby girl, Isabellah Monet and our baby boy, Nash Stephen. The morning we actually went to the orphanage to pick up Isabellah was the morning that the twin towers were attacked. We cannot explain the bittersweetness in our hearts that day. Here we were in Russia adopting our only children and that day was to be the happiest day of our lives. When we walk into the home of our host family, there were tears in the eyes of other adoptive parents. We had a new baby girl in our arms and were so elated to have her when we heard the news and saw on the television the devastation of the attacks. We could not believe what we were seeing. We immediately wanted to fly home with our babies and to be in our own country to mourn with our fellow Americans but then we were not able to do that due to the airport closures and plane groundings all over the world. We felt so helpless. What got us through the ordeal was that we had a new babies in our arms to keep us occupied until we could finally fly home after 3 weeks in Russia. The Russians were very empathetic for America and its citizens. GOD BLESS AMERICA!