Wednesday, May 5, 2004

From Russia with love By J. FRANK LYNCH jflynch@TheCitizenNews.com When Brent and Wendy Jackson brought home their fifth baby boy, Canon, from the hospital in 2002, the couple decided that their “team” was complete. Brent is head boys basketball coach at Whitewater High. Five sons meant having enough boys under one roof to fill out a game of pick-up game out on the driveway for at least a generation or more. But last week, the “Jackson Five” became the “Jackson Six” with the not-so-sudden arrival of the couple’s sixth child, Caralina Brittan. Yes, it’s a girl. “I never thought I’d be getting a permanent substitute,” Brent laughed April 13, just days before he and Wendy boarded a plane in Atlanta bound for Kemerovo, a dreary city in Siberia within a few hundred miles of China. Brent made the same journey in March to meet his future daughter for the first time while Wendy stayed home. An orphan, the quiet 19-month-old with dark hair and wide brown eyes was living with dozens of other children abandoned at the state-run “Baby House No. 1” in the heart of Kemerovo. After arriving in Siberia April 16, the Jacksons made their first court appearance the following Monday, April 19. That was followed by three days of “waiting” in the region for the adoption paperwork to be processed. After that, the Russian authorities required the Jacksons to fly to Moscow to remain another week. Visits to the U.S. Embassy as well as to Russian state offices to obtain Caralina’s medical records and birth certificate extended Wendy’s stay even longer. Five older brothers stayed home in Fayetteville, anxiously waiting to meet their baby sister for the first time. Brent flew home ahead of Wendy to return to the classroom, as well as to prepare the boys, Cole, 10; Case, 9; Cory, 7; Cale, 6 and Canon, 2. Caralina’s room, painted pink of course, was ready and waiting last Thursday when she and Wendy flew home to Atlanta. The boys “were very excited about getting a little sister,” said Wendy. So far they are behaving like model older brothers, she said. The adoption was made through a Georgia-based Christian agency, Genesis Adoptions. The organization handles many of the complicated legal matters associated with adopting a baby from halfway around the world. These days, said Brent, nearly every flight returning to the U.S. from Moscow is occupied with American couples and their newly adopted children. Russian authorities see the American adoptees as providing a future and hope for the children, rather than robbing the still-struggling nation of a future generation. At least two other couples in the Jackson’s church, Fayetteville First Baptist, have also adopted orphaned Russian babies through Genesis, and there could be a dozen or more families in Fayette County who’ve felt the call to bring one of the Russian children to America. “We absolutely are not adopting this child just to get a daughter,” Wendy said, responding to a common misconception. “We’re adopting this child to save her life.” Added Brent, “When they adoption agency asked us if we wanted a boy or girl, we just said, ‘a child.’ They chose a girl for us, but it would have been a lot easier to raise another boy.” The Jacksons said they were “done” growing their family following the birth of their fifth son. Then last summer, while attending a leadership conference for Fellowship of Christian Athletes in North Carolina, they heard a testimony given by Van Hallinger, strength and conditioning coach for the University of Georgia football team. Hallinger and his wife, like head coach Mark Richt, had felt God’s call to adopt children from former Soviet-bloc and communist nations, which still suffer from the ill-effects of years of government negligence. “The Lord just really spoke to us that night,” said Wendy. “God put it in our hearts to do this. It was a huge step of faith for us, and that’s fully how we were looking at it.” They also credit their faith and support of friends for making Caralina’s adoption possible (they wouldn’t say how much it costs, but air fare and Russian court fees alone would likely be well into the thousands of dollars). Brent also thanked Greg Stillions, his boss and principal at Whitewater who had been so willing to work around his schedule to make two trips to Russian this spring. In exchange, Brent has included their personal saga in his geography lessons. “They know exactly where we were going on the map,” he said. As a result, the ninth grade students are as excited as the five brothers that Caralina Brittan Jackson is finally home. “The biggest question they ask now is if I’m going to bring her to school,” said Brent.