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Every weekday Shawn Patrick sheds some light on some good news with His Good Vibes Story. Here is today's...
A family in New Jersey with six biological children has adopted seven siblings from Ukraine. Wade and Michelle Torppey of Wantage recently completed the adoption of the orphaned siblings. The connection with the Ukrainian siblings, ages six to 17, started through a program at the Torppey’s church where orphans from Ukraine and Latvia spend Christmas and summers with families in the U.S.
Five of the seven siblings, whose parents had both died in recent years, had spent some time with the family through the program and the Torppeys traveled to Ukraine to spend Christmas with them in 2018. By that time, the Torppey’s knew they wanted a permanent adoption, but that process is long and complicated. And a global pandemic made it take even longer. But the adoption was eventually approved and in July of this year the kids became U.S. residents.
Language continues to be a challenge, but things are improving since the kids are in school learning English. Some of the Torppeys have also studied Ukrainian and Russian to help bridge the divide. "If anyone asks what the primary language in the house is now, I say charades," Michelle says. "When all else fails, there's Google Translate on the phone." But everyone is adjusting and making the best of the situation. "It's tough at times and a bit of an adjustment,” Wade says. "We certainly have no regrets."