Adoption Story
Mark and Paula Gough were married in June of 1973, and
hoping for a large family, gave birth to sons in 1974, 1976, 1983 and
1986. During the years between 1977 and 1983 we were foster
parents to newborns and started exploring adoption. Every door
closed as fast as it appeared to open.
In 1998 Paula took a position with Northwest Airlines, which
required that she live in Detroit 20 days each month with a lot of “down time” in which she
started exploring adoption agencies. She discovered a little agency doing adoptions in Russia.
This time the green lights remained on and we proceeded with a Russian adoption.
In April of 1999 we arrived in Russia to adopt Alanna.
We were shocked when we first met her because at 8.5 months she
weighed 9 pounds and had been in and out of the hospital with
pneumonia. When Paula first saw her she did not think we could get her
home alive, and I fell in love. We proceeded with the adoption. On the
day we went to pick her up at the orphanage we discovered she had been
admitted to the hospital once again. We went to the hospital only to be
told we could not visit her and that she would be in the hospital for at
least three weeks. Each day we would receive a call from the hospital telling us what
medications to purchase and bring for Alanna’s use. Because of some missionary friends, we
were introduced to an American missionary doctor who agreed to intervene for us and try to get
Alanna released from the hospital so we could travel. Dr. Amy examined Alanna and told us
that if she stayed in the Russian hospital under the treatment methodology for three weeks we
would never take her home because she would not survive. After much prayer and a lot of
pushing the authorities we got her released and headed home arriving in Fort Wayne on Mother’s
Day 1999.
Alanna recovered with the help of God and good antibodicies. She is now a healthy 9
year old.
We knew we wanted a baby sister for Alanna, so less than a year later we traveled to the
Ukraine. When we arrived at the adoption center in Kiev, Ukraine we were told that there were
no little girls in all of the country for us to adopt. Our agency told the people at the adoption
center there was a little girl with a heart problem in a small city called Cherkassey.
We met Natalee - Paula fell in
The Ukraine had experienced
when we arrived with Alanna and our
started an investigation. They taped
were living, followed our car and tried
forward and were awarded Natalee.
when the plane left for the US.
Page 1 of 3 – Adoption Story
love and I had a lot of questions.
corruption in the adoptions and
paperwork wrong, the authorities
the phone of the apartment we
to stop the process. We moved
We breathed a great sigh of relief
We were told that Natalee would need heart surgery once we arrived in the United States.
When we arrived home and took her to the cardiologist at Riley Hospital we were told that she
would not need surgery and that the problem with her heart was healing spontaneously. Again
we believe God intervened and has brought a progressive healing. While she still has some heart
problems none of them will create life long issues.
We continued to support Natalee’s orphanage in the Ukraine, and on a humanitarian trip
in March 2001 Mark spoke to the
orphanage director about our hopes of
adopting again the next year. She
asked what we were requesting, and he
said the greatest desire was twin
girls. She said nothing, but led him to a
room where she placed identical
girls in each arm. They were not
available to be adopted
internationally for another year, so we
were sitting in the Ukraine on the
exact date in 2002. It was the smoothest
adoption we had encountered. We
did it all ourselves: no agency,
facilitator, or lawyer.
With INS approval for 3, we were hopeful of finding another child while we were
adopting the twins, but the child simply did not appear. In the summer of 2002 Paula read a post
on one of the adoption digest from a United Methodist pastor for South Carolina who had just
completed the first US international adoption independently in a region in Russia. Upon his
return Mark contacted him and we flew to Russia to explore the possibilities. The Minister of
Education told us we were too old to adopt an infant, but when we told her we would adopt a
child with a medical condition the answer was yes.
By the end of November we and another family were in Russia meeting Caroline. She
was our Christmas baby all dressed in red and ready for the season. We
both knew this was the child we were waiting for.
While updating our medicals for adoption Mark discovered during
the routine blood test that he had prostate cancer. He had surgery in
December of 2002 and is now cancer free. Without the adoption of
Carroline who knows if the cancer would have been discovered in the early stages and be
completely eradicated.
We returned in March of 2003 and after waiting almost 30 days in Russia for a court
hearing brought Carroline home in early April.
Carroline had one heart surgery at 5 months of age in Russia, and we were told she would
need another before the age of 2. In August her cardiologist at Riley Hospital announced all the
holes in her heart had “spontaneously” closed and that the artery which was banded would not
need to be unbanded. She will not need any further care for her heart. We treated her for
Tuberculosis and she is now clear of all medical issues.
While we were signing to adopt Caroline we were told of her sister Valentina. She was
10 years old and living in an orphanage in Gubkin, Russia. We visited with her but were unable
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to adopt her because of the refusal of the judge to give us a court date
before our INS approval expired.
We returned to Russia in March of 2005 to complete the
adoption of (12 year old) Valentina – now – Vallory Faith Gough. She
is now a freshman at Northrop High School in Fort Wayne, Indiana and is learning to speak
English. Vallory is very active in the youth programs of the area.
We knew God was calling us to provide a home for additional children so in April of
2007 we submitted our papers to the adoption center in Ukraine. Again our home study approved
us for 3 children. We were invited by the adoption center to
come to Ukraine in October. When we arrived they presented us
with a family group of three and 4 sets of twins. We chose
Evangelynn and Elijah in the city of Zaparazha. They presented
with a medical of heart troubles for her and hydro-syphily for
him. We borught them home two days before Thanksgiving.
What a joy they are becoming as they learn the language and
begin to grow.
We have been truly blessed with the family God has placed in our care and are looking
forward to the addition of additional children. We are approved for two more. We love the
children God has given us. We still face many future issues. Four of our six adopted children
have been diagnosed with FAS. We still have attachment issues with the oldest and will continue
to face the health and development problems of the twins, born premature and small. God is
good and we continue to grow and develop.
I am the Director of Connectional Ministries for the United Methodist Church in Indiana
and Paula is a Flight Attendant for Northwest Airlines. We arrange our schedules so the children
are under our care 85% of the time. The last picture is of our total family.
Our Children from left to right: First Row. . . Alanna, Natalee, Lareesa, Julienne, Carroline,
Evangelynn and Elijah. Second Row. . . Joshua, Tyler, Gavin, Nathaniel and Vallory.
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