January 7, 2002
Couple brings Russian orphans home for Christmas
___By Russ Dilday
___Buckner News Service
___Bob and Donita Potts remember the first time they saw their son and daughter. It wasn't in a hospital bed or a delivery room. It was on a page of Buckner Today magazine shared by an acquaintance.
___But from the moment they saw the photos of Pasha, 13, and Natasha, 12, who were available for adoption through Buckner International Adoption, they knew they were their children. And on Dec. 3, they realized their dream of a family, just in time for Christmas, when a Russian judge approved their adoption.
___"For years, we had been thinking about adopting a baby from China," Potts explained. "Throughout the summer of 2000, I felt I might be getting too old to adopt a baby. So we decided we might never have kids.
BOB AND DONITA POTTS grin for the camera with newly adopted children Pasha and Natasha in front of the Christmas tree. The Russian adoptees were featured in the Baptist Standard and Buckner Today as part of an appeal for Texas Baptists to open their homes as adoptive parents.
___"It was really funny," Mrs. Potts added. "We talked about it off and on. We wanted a family, but we were never really motivated about doing the baby thing. It was just kind of something to put on the back burner."
___The couple also was concerned about the expense of adopting internationally. She works in information technology for a title company, and he is a homebuilder. "We would wonder where we would ever come up with the money. We never had a clue how to do it."
___But the Potts family kept returning to the thought of adoption.
___On Potts' birthday, Nov. 8, he went to lunch with his family. "My sister said that one of her voice students brought in a magazine with some pictures of kids. They were looking for someone to adopt these kids."
___The voice student is the daughter of Jerry Gabbert of Dallas, who is active in supporting Buckner Orphan Care International. "It was through the Gabberts that we found out about these children," she said. "It was their magazine that was given to us."
___That issue of Buckner Today, along with issues of the Baptist Standard, featured the profiles of several older children available for adoption from Russia through Buckner. Potts took the magazine to his wife later that day.
___"I showed her the picture of Natasha and Pasha, and she said, 'I think these are the ones.' It was like God said, 'OK, these are the kids.' Before we even got out of the car, we called the number."
___Buckner staff members were cautious, noting that by the time the Pottses had completed their home study, the brother and sister might not still be on referral or that the couple might qualify for one child but not a sibling group.
___They were undaunted.
___"We felt God had said these were our children," he emphasized. "In my mind, I believe God said this. I didn't know if God said this to make us get off our duff and make us start moving. We had always talked about adopting one kid, not two."
___"We had a lot of peace about it," she added. "We felt like these two kids were supposed to be ours and that it was up to God to provide a way."
___Finances also figured in. Mrs. Potts hosted a kitchenware party. Buckner offered a scholarship. A family member gave them a gift that allowed them to go through the paperwork and home study. Another helped with their travel. They sold cookbooks through their prayer group. They held a garage sale and even emptied the money jar in their bedroom--anything to bring them closer to their children.
___"I knew if God was in it, the money would come in," she said.
___Close friends also came up with innovative fund-raising ideas. One friend donated her time as a masseuse on a Saturday afternoon and got someone else to donate time to do manicures. They raised $700 in one afternoon.
___The Pottses also enlisted prayer support. "We started by telling the group that meets in our home every-other Friday night that we believed God had these two kids for us. We asked them to start praying for the Lord to direct us and supply the money."
___They believe those prayers led them to other funding sources, including an anonymous donor who provided a matching $7,500 grant for the adoption--if the couple could raise a matching $10,000 in a three-month period. They did.
___While in the process, the couple only had photos and a video of the children.
___"Every time I saw their pictures or a video, I felt I was watching my kids," Mrs. Potts said. "I never felt like I was watching potential kids. I always felt these were my kids."
___By late spring of 2001, they were ready and had been matched with Pasha and Natasha. They made their first of two mandatory trips to Russia in September, where they met the children for the first time.
___"They brought them to the airport to meet us when we first got there," Potts said. "They came into customs, kind of busting through a line they shouldn't have, and Natasha was giving us hugs. She ran up and said, 'Momma, Momma!'
___ "I felt pure joy," Mrs. Potts recalled. "I had been praying we would connect. They immediately latched on to us."
___"Knowing the kids were as big as they were, we even talked about whether the kids would call us Momma and Papa," he said. "We didn't know what they would call us. But hearing them call me Papa was the greatest thing in the world."
___The newest additions to the Potts family arrived home with their parents Dec. 12. They entered a home filled with warmth, love, their own rooms and decorated for the Christmas holidays.
___"The big thing is that God had a plan for them and for us," Potts said. "Even when we couldn't see how it would all happen, God kept putting all the pieces together."
___They both point out that their children are the final story of a questionnaire they filled out years ago during pre-marital counseling.
___"Bob wrote down that he wanted two children," she said. "My response was, 'Sure, if they are walking, talking and potty trained," she remembered saying.
___"Who would have thought they were going to be walking and talking in Russian?" he added.
___
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