Planes, trains, speeches, and a very cranky toddler…

After being up more than fifty hours in a row, I finally got to sleep last night.  Our trip to Siberia was physically exhausting for me personally.    I really can’t complain.  Our flight overseas was terrific.  Our accommodations onboard the Singapore Airlines 777-300 were better than any economy class cabin I have ever seen.  They were even much better than any domestic business class I’ve seen.   Once in Moscow we stayed in a hotel at the airport for six hours to sleep before our next over night flight.  For some strange reason, I couldn’t sleep.  I laid in bed for 5 hours while Krista and the girls got some much needed sleep. 

So we arrived in Tomsk yesterday morning and had a full day of medical examinations (8 doctors!) and then had to dress up for an 1 1/2 pre-court session with our judge.   I was also informed that I would have to give a half hour speech on why I am petitioning the court to adopt Valera.   At that point I had been awake nearly 48 hours straight, so I figured I would attempt that task after some sleep.   We were also informed that because of some strange rule on the way they count the 10 day waiting period, we may not be able to leave when we anticipated, so we may need to extend our trip even further.  This is obviously not great news because we will have to spend at least three extra nights in Moscow and change airline tickets for four people with three different airlines…ouch.

We did get a chance to play with Valera yesterday for just a short time.   We returned today with more time to visit and were prepared with some of his favorite toys.  We have noticed his disposition has changed quite a bit.  He has been very cranky.   He has thrown several fits when we take objects away from him, but he also clearly knows who we are.   In fact, he recognized Krista the first time we visited him, and even tonight when we left he cried.   These are difficult situations to deal with emotionally, but we are also encouraged that he is showing some signs of emotional attachment.  At the same time, we also think he is trying to communicate some of the frustration of his confusion about what we are doing and why we come and go.  

We ask that you pray for specifically for Valera’s emotional well being.   I also would like ask that you pray for us to have favor with the court in the morning.   I would like to share the speech that I have prepared for the court in the morning:

“Your Honor,

I, Christopher Stephen Lusey, and my wife, Krista Kay Lusey, petition the court to adopt Valera (full name).

My wife, Krista, and I have been married for 17 years. We met at the University and were married within a year of meeting each other. Soon afterwards, we had both of our children Brittany and Alyssa. We made a decision soon after Alyssa’s birth that we would join a local church to provide the best possible environment for our family to raise our children with good moral and ethical values. We love both our daughters and are very grateful for the opportunity to be their parents. While we were still in our twenties Krista and I made a decision to not have any more biological children in an effort to be able to provide for our daughters and give them the attention we believe they deserve.

Over the years we have developed hundreds of good friends through our church and community. Krista and I have become very active members of our church and for many years have provided encouragement, support, and counseling to young couples with children. We have lead classes on parenting, marriage, and other social and emotional issues. Over the years of working in our church and our community we were specifically impressed with one man. His name is Ken Surritte. Mr. Surritte founded an organization called Hearts and Hands International that builds and supports orphanages in many countries across four continents. Mr. Surritte is a good personal friend and his example gave us a desire to do more for children around the world. Over the past five years we have supported Mr. Surritte’s organization financially. During the time Mr. Surritte was founding his organization, my wife and I also had friends that had just completed an adoption from St. Petersburg, Russia and we had an opportunity to meet their son. Soon after we saw their example of love towards an orphan, my wife and I had a conversation about adopting a child as well. We decided to pray about the decision and after just a few days we knew that it was what we wanted and also that we were supposed to do. Weeks later, we discussed our decision with our daughters, and to our surprise our oldest daughter left the room and returned with a journal showing us that she also had been praying for four months that we would adopt a little boy. We were grateful for the confirmation and excited to begin our journey toward adopting a little boy.

My wife and I choose Russia to adopt from not only because of the example of our friends, but also because my grandfather, Appollon Stephen Marisov, was born to Kyrill Marisov from Tiflis and Olga Antonov from St. Petersburg. Their family fled Russia during the revolution in the early 20th century and my grandfather was adopted by an American, Alghan Lusey, in China at the age of 18 and moved to the United States. Adopting a child from Russia seemed very appropriate considering our family history. My father, Rod Lusey, Appollon’s son is very proud of our decision and is excited to meet our new Russian son.

Krista and I made our decision to adopt in November 2004. We have waited through two different reorganizations of the Russian Federations’ Ministries that oversee international adoptions. We have also changed agencies, and have submitted our documents to four regions within Russia. Many of our friends have asked why not consider adopting from China or another country. We have always been confident that our desire and commitment was to complete this process regardless of the time, effort, or money involved. We have a sense of duty to this calling in our lives and have seen it through to be an example to others. We believe our daughters have learned a lot about love, sacrifice, and commitment because of our patience and obedience.

Our family lives in Edmond, Oklahoma. We are considered upper middle class within the United States and have a nice home with four bedrooms, two living areas, and two dining rooms. Our neighborhood has a park, playground, lake, and swimming pool for residents. I work for the largest communication company in America, AT&T. AT&T is considered one of the top 100 best companies to work for in the world and allows me to provide the best health care and insurance available to my family. I have been very successful in my career and have a lot of respect not only my employer, but also the hundreds of customers that I have worked with for many years. I was recruited to work for AT&T just over a year ago and they understood and were willing to allow me to have extensive time off to complete this adoption. I am here on paid time off.  My wife, Krista is a successful Real Estate agent, but we have already begun to have her work less in preparation for our adoption of Valera. It is our intent for her to remain in the home to care for and love Valera. I will be able to support our family entirely from my income.

Our friends and family have been extremely supportive of our decision to adopt. After our first trip to Tomsk, our friends held a party to provide gifts for our adoption of Valera. During our first trip to the City Baby House we noticed the children were well taken care of, but also noticed that some things were outdated and in poor condition. We shared this story with our friends and family and they have given us more than $2000USD of their money for the purpose of purchasing shoes, clothing, and any other equipment the Baby House needs. We have already shared this information with the Director and she will assist in selecting the equipment she thinks will most benefit the Baby House. We will purchase these items and keep a record that we will share with our friends and family so they can be a part of this adoption and also to encourage them to meet the needs of orphans.

We have worked with Dr. Julia Bledsoe in the United States who is a pediatrician that specializes in adoptive medicine from Russia as well as an expert on Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. Dr Bledsoe travels to Russia nearly every year to work directly with Baby Houses and with Russian medical professionals in an effort to provide the best medical counsel possible. She consults with more than 500 families per year and also has two adopted children herself. When we received the picture of Valera and his brief medical history we consulted with Dr. Bledsoe and we discussed his prematurity and other health conditions. We agreed that while we had some concerns about his prematurity and potential health risks, his medical report didn’t indicate any condition that would prevent us from adopting him. Our intent has always been to adopt a young boy that we could raise as our own. My wife’s University degree is in Education with a specialty in emotional disturbances. Because of our exposure to children that have been institutionalized during Krista’s 12 year career teaching in institutions, we have always been aware and ready to accept the challenges that are possible with any child that has lived in an institution. Because of this knowledge, we have asked to adopt a young boy that had mild to moderate health conditions. We have reviewed Valera’s medical records extensively and our family is prepared to provide for and love Valera. We fully understand and accept the responsibility associated with adopting an orphan with little information about his family medical history.

After consulting with Dr Bledsoe, my wife and I travelled to Tomsk, Russia on 09Jun09 to 13Jun09. We met with the Baby House Director and Valera on 09Jun09 for the first time. Valera was very reserved at first, a very good sign regarding his emotional well being, and then began to bond with my wife and I within the first 30 minutes we played with him. We visited Valera seven times during our first visit to Tomsk. Valera seemed to really enjoy playing with Krista and I. When we arrived for our third visit with Valera, he was playing outside with his group and when he noticed us walking up, he cried out and climbed to the top of the playpen reaching out for us. That moment brought tears to both our eyes. We brought toys to share with him and played many games including his personal favorite, chase. He loves to run and look back to make sure you are going to follow him. As our visits went by quickly, I began to realize how emotionally attached we were to Valera. I was also concerned that Krista would not be able to leave him here. Two nights before we were scheduled to leave, we had a long conversation about the possibility of allowing Krista to stay until it was time for us to return for our court date. It would have been an enormous expense, but we were willing to consider due to the bond we all formed on the first trip. We realized Krista could not stay because of the Russian Federation’s visa requirements. Travelling back to the United States without Valera was much more difficult than we could have possibly imagined. We looked at his pictures and videos from our visit to Tomsk everyday and tried to keep busy by continuing to get his room ready in our house. As you know, we also worked with our agency and even purchased tickets to travel here this week without your final permission and we are grateful for your consideration to hear our petition.

We have also already had contact via email with the family that has adopted Valera’s older brothers. We have expressed a desire to allow them to have contact with one another and are grateful that they have shared their experience with us. We were happy to learn about their family and read their post placement reports. We commit to not only complete all required documents for post placement, but have already began planning a return trip to Tomsk as early as the summer of 2011 to allow Valera to stay in contact with his home town and allow us to continue to build upon the relationships we have formed here in Tomsk. It is our intent to not only teach him about Russia, but to also allow him to experience it for himself. I was personally raised a good portion of my childhood in Western Europe and have already taken my wife and daughters there on many trips to learn and experience other cultures. We intend to provide the same for Valera and allow him to learn as much as possible about his own culture as well. Both of our daughters are here with us on this trip because Krista and I felt it was extremely important for them to learn about and experience the culture that their brother is from. We believe also getting to spend time in the Baby House will have a positive impact on them and encourage them to have compassion for orphans and follow our example in their own lives as they will soon become adults.

I would also ask the court to consider waiving the ten day waiting period, but not for the reasons of travel or rearranging our schedules. The court has already been extremely accommodating and we are extremely grateful. We fully respect the due process of law and will accept any judgment made by the court. We would like to ask for the waiver because our youngest daughter, Alyssa, is scheduled to work at a camp to serve younger children starting 03Aug09. She has prepared by going to many training classes this summer and has been looking forward to making a difference in these younger children’s lives. Unfortunately, our agency has informed us because of the way days are counted by the court, we will not have our documents in time to leave and still return to the United States before 03Aug09. Even if the waiting period is waived we do not intend to leave until 29Aug09. We believe it is in Valera’s best interest if we allow for a more gradual transition before we leave with him. I think it is also clear that Valera’s mother is the only known relative that could appeal and she has clearly taken no interest in his life. Please understand I only present this request to honor my daughter’s efforts and recognize that we are proud of her willingness to serve others.

I conclude by asking the court to give permission for my wife and I to adopt Valera. Although we are also asking to legally change his name, we feel it is important for him to keep his first name, Valera. At this time, he owns very few things, and we want to honor who he is and where he comes from.

Thank you for your consideration.”

Thank you again for your love, support, and prayers.

Chris

Js 1:27