50 Most Inspiring Adoption Stories with Beauty Revived: Part 17
Beauty Revived has joined with Adoption.com to bring you the 50 Most Inspiring Adoption Stories. We have found 50 amazing photographers with big hearts to donate a session to tell the story of an inspiring adoption story in their community.
Want to learn more about Beauty Revived and see the rest of the pictures? Check it out here and on Instagram.
Photography for this session by Luke & Ashley Photography Website
Adoption is such a powerful act of love. It is giving someone hope and a chance to know and feel what love is. It is about accepting their past and giving them a future. Adoption isn’t just about the the adoptee. It is also about the whole family. The family that embraces them and makes them their own. A void in the family is filled once the new member is welcomed in.
Steve & Karen were meant to be parents. They have a love and passion that was meant to be passed down from generation to generation. However, they were not able to bear children of their own. God had a different plan for them. A plan that would take them all the way from Virginia to Russia. There in Russia was a little girl. A little girl who needed them. A little girl who lived in an orphanage with 11 other children. God had a plan for this little girl. Natalie was meant to be their daughter.
The care in many Russian orphanages is very minimal and the health and wellness of the child is not a priority. The children who survive these conditions age out with very little education. They are unprepared to live alone. On the outside looking in, the future looked dark for little Natalie.
Anyone who knows Natalie knows that she is special. She embodies grace, love, tenderness, and wisdom in her little 8-year-old body. She never lets anyone sit alone and never leaves without a hug. This little girl is truly inspiring and, because of her adoption, she has a promising future ahead.
It’s amazing how God orchestrated the events that would bring the Clark Family together. Through all the paperwork and procedures, health concerns and other barriers, Steve and Karen never lost hope for the day that they would be able to bring their baby girl home. On June 7, 2008 the judged ruled in their favor, and they officially became parents to little Natalie. Shortly thereafter they were able to bring her home, and their lives have never been the same.
The Clarks are whole. They are a family full of life and love. Natalie needed them, and they needed her, and God brought them together—all they way from Russia!
