By Marcia Blomer
Special to the Citizen
What could be better than hearing the news from your children that you are about to become a grandparent again? We received that exciting phone call last month from our son, Brian, and his wife, Christen. However they are not expecting a baby in nine months....they have decided to adopt three little orphan girls from Ukraine! They are siblings: Lisa (12), Faith (7) and Mary (3). They are currently growing up in a remote orphanage with little hope for their future. They do not have the loving care of a family and the statistics are not in their favor. Without intervention, 60% of the girls from orphanages end up in prostitution and sex trafficking. Another 15% commit suicide with the first 2 years of being on their own after they leave the orphanage. Shockingly, most children “graduate” from the orphanage at the age of 14!
Lisa and Faith, the two oldest girls, traveled to our son’s home in Chicago from Ukraine to live with them for five weeks this summer. They came as part of an orphan hosting program through a non-profit organization. They arrived the last week of June with nothing more than a backpack that contained a few clothing items. During their stay in America they received extensive dental work, eyeglasses, clothing, and the love of a family.
Their third week in America, they all traveled to Florida to spend a few days with us. We couldn’t wait to meet them! Although they spoke very little English, with the help of Google translate, a lot of charades, and our silly attempts at Ukrainian, we were quickly communicating with ease! It did not take long to learn what they loved—pizza, ice cream, horses, swimming and hugs! We knew immediately that these girls had at long last found their forever family — Brian, Christen, and their two daughters, Jordyn (4), and Emery (2). And we are their family too!
The hosting program ended the first week in August and the girls had to go back to their orphanage in Ukraine. Since then, Brian and Christen have been working diligently with an agency to get the approval to adopt these girls. They anticipate their first trip to Ukraine in early 2016. They will have three trips total, but are hopeful the girls will be home to stay sometime in the spring of 2016.
On the other side of the world, eight time zones removed from us, are three little girls, longing for a family, desperate for love and seemingly without hope. Yet Brian and Christen believe they have been called to change their destiny. They are eagerly pursuing them and anxious to be reunited. And we are so excited to see our granddaughters again!
You can support their adoption by attending the Blomer Adoption Fundraiser Dinner/Dance to be held Sunday, Nov. 8 from 5 to 9 p.m. at the beautiful Palm Grove Club inside Oak Run. It’s BYOB, with music by the Sounds of Time. We have plenty of exciting raffle items including two-night stays at some of Florida’s top beach resorts! Get your friends together for a great cause and a fun evening out! Tickets are available by calling 352-425-9795. Let’s help Brian and Christen add those precious little girls to their loving family!
For more information about their story and how you can help, please go to their webpage at:
https://www.youcaring.com/blomeradoption
Two of the Ukrainian sisters are Faith, 7, bottom left, and Lisa, 12, sitting on the horse, Sonny, at the home in Countryside Farms. The blond girls are granddaughters of the Blomers, Emery, 2, on the horse, and Jordyn, on the ground holding the horse.
