Our Four-Foot Home Expansion

Our adoption story began in June 2003, while my husband, Robert, and I were looking to move to the Washington, D.C., area to begin new jobs. While on a house-hunting trip in the area, we visited a local church and learned about several Russian children who were being hosted by Adventist families for the summer in hopes of finding permanent homes here in America. Although my husband and I had occasionally discussed adopting, it wasn’t until that Sabbath that the idea crystallized in our minds.

Because we were in the middle of a major move across the country, we couldn’t adopt right then, but we kept the thought in the back of our minds as we continued to search for a house. By God’s grace we finally found one that was in our price range, close to both our jobs, and had two extra bedrooms. We moved in on August 15, 2003. Little did we know then that about a month later a mother in Russia would give birth to twin boys who would eventually become the answer to our prayers. But let me not get ahead of the story.

The Journey Begins

In January 2004 we started the adoption process. We chose to adopt through Russia, where adoptions were processed in about six to nine months. When we saw how complex the process was, we knew we weren’t likely to repeat it a second time in a few years for another child. So we increased our request to two children—a sibling group at that! We reasoned that the two siblings would have each other to assist them through the adoption process, making the transition easier for both of them and us as well!

During the next few months we made appointments for a home inspection, health certifications, psychological evaluations, background checks, and various safety clearances. Next, we had more forms that the Russian government required us to complete. After several months we had completed our dossier and submitted it to our adoption agency here in the United States. We began praying that God would be preparing the right kids for us, as He was preparing us for them. Then we waited for several months before anything happened.

Unexpected Delays

In January 2005, already a year after we started the process, the continual delays discouraged us. Foreign adoptions in Russia had practically stopped because of rumors of adoptions gone bad here in America and heightened concern for previously adopted children. As a result, new rules and safeguards were put into effect, prolonging our wait even more. By May of that year, adoptions were starting to move again, but for us the wait continued as we kept wondering and praying about the children God was preparing for our home. 

In June 2005 we hit rock bottom when our paperwork started expiring. We were asked to resubmit some of the same forms we had already completed, getting them renotarized, recertified and reapostilled—a process that the Russian government requires. Although discouraged, we kept trusting and praying that God was preparing two special children for our family.

We’re Having Twins!

About a month after we began updating our paperwork, we received a call from our adoption agency, saying that they had 2-year-old twin boys who were becoming available in August in the Novosibirsk, Siberia, region.

Although we were excited to get the call, we were also nervous about what to expect. How would we know if these were the “right” kids for us? We had already turned down two previous referrals for children that required more ongoing medical attention than we felt we could provide. Would we have what it would take to parent them? What if they had such unforeseen issues as developmental delays, neurological issues, learning difficulties, or other major health challenges? Were we ready to care for these children for life should there be a developmental concern?

We acquired video footage and information about each boy and shared it with a pediatrician who specialized in child development. She assessed each boy’s developmental age based on the video footage. After talking with the pediatrician at length, we felt comfortable proceeding with the adoption.

The specific region where these boys were living in Russia required two trips to complete the adoption. The purpose of the first trip was to meet with the government officials and present ourselves of sound mind, financially secure, and worthy of adopting two of their Russian children. It was also to officially meet the proposed children. The purpose of the second trip, ideally four to six weeks later, was to get legal custody of the children, obtain passports and travel documents for the boys, and bring them home. Easy! Or so it seemed . . .

The First Visit

Our first trip was scheduled for September 4, 2005. After two days of travel we finally reached Novosibirsk, Siberia, and were taken to Novosibirsk Baby Home 3. As we drove into the gated compound, about 15 children who had been playing outside stopped and rushed our van, calling out, “Mama, Mama, Mama.” Did each of them think we were coming for them? Turns out that “Mama” was the term they used to refer to their caregivers.

The two boys we came to meet, Daneel and Bakrom—their Russian names—were introduced to us, and came to us without hesitation. We were both surprised at how little they were! Yet neither one smiled. We took them for a short walk around the grounds and enjoyed spending time with them on their playground. It was hard to believe that after so long of a wait we were actually with them!

For the next four days we spent about two hours each day with the boys. We went on walks around the baby home and spent time playing with them in their playroom, watching them eat, and interacting with other children. Every day after our two-hour visit Robert and I would return to our hotel room and review every minute of our time with them, sharing with each other what we had observed or experienced. We also started working on what names to give them. We decided to give them American names and keep their Russian names as their middle names.

The boys had been living in this baby home since they were about 6 months old. The baby home cared for about 100 children, ranging in age from infancy to 4 years old. The children were divided up by ages into groups of about 15. Each group of 15 kids lived together as a family, ate together, played together, and slept together. Although there were 100 kids in the baby home, not all of them were available for adoption. Some were there temporarily until the family could care for them again, or until they were in the custody of another family member, or for other reasons.

Shadow of Doubt

After our four-day visit had ended, the baby home needed to know our intent to adopt or not before we returned home. They gave us papers to sign, which we did. Despite doing a fair amount of research about Eastern adoption challenges and attachment issues, and feeling confident moving ahead with these two boys—even spending all of eight hours getting to know them—no amount of groundwork could have prepared me for the cloud of doubt and uncertainty that flooded my mind after signing those papers. What had we just done? I thought. I had knots in my stomach the whole flight back to Moscow. I remember waking up the next morning and asking my husband, “Are we crazy, traveling halfway around the world, paying thousands of dollars for two kids who could potentially sentence us to a lifetime of problems?”

After we arrived home, I still doubted our decision, but we kept praying for clarity. A church member friend suggested that we read a chapter called “Doing for Christ,” based on Isaiah 58, in volume 2 of Ellen White’s Testimonies for the Church. That friend and her husband had adopted two girls of their own from an Asian country. Not until reading that chapter did I feel the peace that only God can give. As I read, the Holy Spirit softened my heart and comforted me.

“There are orphans that should be cared for; but some will not venture to undertake this, for it would bring them more work than they care to do, leaving them but little time to please themselves. But when the King shall make investigation, these do-nothing, illiberal, selfish souls will learn that heaven is for those who have been workers, those who have denied themselves for Christ’s sake. No provisions have been made for those who have ever taken such special care in loving and looking out for themselves.”[1]

This is what God was calling us to do, and He would provide for our every need.

The passage continued: “You may have thought that if you could find a child without fault, you would take it, and care for it; but to perplex your mind with an erring child, to unlearn it many things and teach it anew, to teach it self-control, is a work which you refuse to undertake. . . . But Heaven has placed just such ones in your way. They are blessings in disguise.”[2]

Later in the chapter: “If you engage in this work of mercy and love, will the work prove too hard for you? . . . Oh, no; God has carefully removed all doubts upon this question, by a pledge to you on condition of your obedience. This promise covers all that the most exacting, the most hesitating, could crave. ‘Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and your health shall spring forth speedily.’ Only believe that He is faithful that hath promised. God can renew the physical strength. And more, He says He will do it. And the promise does not end here. ‘Thy righteousness shall go before thee; the glory of the Lord shall be thy rearward.’ God will build a fortification around you. The promise does not stop even here. ‘Then shalt thou call, and the Lord shall answer; thou shalt cry, and He shall say, Here I am.’ . . . ‘The Lord shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought [famine], and make fat thy bones: and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not.’ ”[3]

After reading that chapter, I had no doubt that we were doing the right thing, and nothing was going to stop us! This is what God was calling us to do, and He would provide for our every need, even granting us good health.

Adoptions Stopped

Shortly after we got home from our first trip to see the boys, all adoptions in the Novosibirsk region were suspended for roughly six weeks. What should have been only a four to six week wait turned into two long, difficult months. We wondered whether the boys would still remember us. We had left photo albums with pictures of us, our home, and their new bedrooms, hoping the caregivers would share these pictures with them to keep their hope of having a family alive.

December Court Hearing

Finally, in early December, we received a court date for December 20. We would be spending Christmas in Siberia! Even though we would have preferred to go at another time, we received the best Christmas present we could have ever hoped for. 

After gaining custody at the hearing, we returned to the baby home one last time to pick up the boys, dress them in the new clothes and snowsuits we had bought, and brought them to our hotel for the next nine days as we waited for their passports and visas to be processed. We knew that if we could survive those nine days with two two-year-olds in a hotel room, then we could handle anything that came after.

Before traveling, a local Adventist pastor offered to take us to church on December 24 while we were in Novosibirsk. We thought it would be great for the boys to experience a church service in their own language (what they knew of it) before we brought them home to America. In Russia the baby dedication is done on the first Sabbath that a child comes to church. So the pastor offered to have a prayer of dedication for us and the boys, and we agreed. We felt privileged to have this done in the boys’ hometown. After the service many church members were supportive and wished us well.

Home at Last

The final hurdle was navigating the plane ride home with the boys. Because of excitement they did not sleep for the entire trip from Moscow to Washington, D.C.—except for 15 minutes before landing at Dulles International Airport on Thursday, December 29, 2005, at 4:00 p.m.

At that moment Dillon Daneel and Dawson Bakrom officially became U.S. citizens. We were extremely grateful to come back to our own house and begin life as a family, away from the scrutiny of Russian officials and the confines of a hotel room.

I’m grateful to say that both boys are now thriving as young adults. Dillon will be graduating with a B.S. in criminal justice from Southwestern Adventist University in May 2026, and Dawson graduated from the CORE Evangelism program in November 2025 (with the Pennsylvania Conference) and will be completing his CORE internship within the first six months of 2026. 

The journey with our boys over the years has not been without roadblocks, detours, or bumps in the road. But through each experience I can testify to God’s goodness and provision for us. Despite the doubts I had after our first trip, the Lord removed any question that He had prepared these boys specifically for us and us for them. He has blessed us beyond what we could have ever imagined. He has been our guide, satisfied our souls in drought, and strengthened our bones. His mercies have been to us like a watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail (cf. Isa. 58:11).

[1] Ellen G. White, Testimonies for the Church (Mountain View, Calif.: Pacific Press Pub. Assn., 1948), vol. 2, p. 27.

[2] Ibid.

[3] Ibid., p. 35.