Customer Reviews

Adopting Alesia: My Crusade for My Russian Daughter

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Probably what enthralled me the most was Dee Thompson's vivid descriptions of Khabarovsk, Russia. I've neither read much about it, nor ever considered it on my long list of places I'd like to travel to someday. She made a cold, hard place seem downright enticing.

Her adoption plans, initiated in a dream, fulfilled surprisingly quickly as she immediately and literally met the specific girl in her dreams, and then slowly succeeded against all odds in adopting Alesia.

Adoptive parents often fall in love with a potential child through adoption photolistings of waiting children or babies, yet nearly every time, the parent is immediately discouraged by experienced and well-meaning social workers to not get their hearts set upon a particular child, as there are often formidable roadblocks in one's quest.

Added to the struggle equation was the cold, hard, stark reality that no American had ever been able to adopt a child from Topolevo.

Not ever making the reader feel as if this were a pie-in-the sky dream, instead Dee Thompson literally embarked upon a crusade, a single-minded mission to get this one particular older child, Alesia, out of a bleak orphanage with few options in her future.

Weaving in stories about her own life back in Atlanta, the challenges of being a 40 year old single woman with the obvious need to support herself and any future children, and a bit of a love life, readers will find themselves devouring the story, hoping and praying both for Dee and Alesia to be reunited and living together in the United States at some point, to begin their life together, as it truly seemed not only inevitable, but absolutely necessary.

I've had the unique opportunity for the past several years to be peeking in the windows of Dee's home that she now lives in with her two children and her mother via her blog The Crab Chronicles. I knew how the story would end, yet I was breathless with anticipation for Dee to return to Russia in order to bring Alesia home to Atlanta, where it seemed she was destined to live someday, if this headstrong woman had her way.

It made me think about how many more children could be adopted, or how many more orphanages could be helped, or how many more adoptions could be financially facilitated if more people would follow Dee's lead and pour themselves into some sort of a mission somewhere.

A motivating, feel good book with a happy ending, however once fraught with difficulties this journey seemed to be filled with along the way.

Adopting Alesia is a powerful read.

This book is an incredible story of one woman's faith, determination, and love for a child she "meets in a dream"; a child she is determined to save from the sickening fate of most older unadopted children in Russia. A child she is determined to bring home as her daughter. I found the story from almost the beginning to the end absolutely riveting. About one-third of the way into it I found myself hanging on to each twist in the story and rooting for the author and her soon-to be-adoptive daughter.
The photograph of Alesia on the front cover made me pick this book up; though I really had no idea what sort of a read I was in for.
I am sure this would be a great book for anyone to read who is considering a foreign adoption, as it is a vivid account of both the emotional and bureaucratic hoops adoptive parents must jump through.
But for me, it was also a great story of faith, love, and the mysterious threads that tie all us, as humans, together.
Also, it's nice and short so you can read it one or two sittings!:)

Dee Thompson has written an inspiring book about the struggles and joys of adopting her daughter, Alesia, from an orphanage in Russia, describing the overall experience in vivid detail. Every aspect of the adoption process is beautifully told in this book from the very beginning when Dee first saw Alesia in a Russian orphanage until the happy conclusion when Alesia is finally in her new home. Dee remained steadfast in her determination to bring her daughter home when others would have crumbled under the difficult circumstances she faced along the way. This is an engaging and uplifting read. Anyone who is contemplating adopting an older child from another country should read this book! I also highly recommned Ms. Thompson's other book, Jack's New Family, about a young boy from an orphanage in Russia adapting to his new life after being adopted.

Being a parent is an amazing thing. I always wanted to have a child, and I was blessed with an amazing, funny, rambunctious boy who smiles and my heart melts. I love him more than I can ever explain. And I thank the dear Lord for the blessings he has given me. But what if that had not happened? What if I hadn't met and married a wonderful man and had my son? Would I have been brave enough and determined enough to find and adopt a child who helped complete my family?

Dee did. I met Dee Thompson online. We live in the same city but only through the power of the Internet did we become friendly. She sent me a copy of her new book when it was published and I just completed it. It is about her struggle and journey of adopting a beautiful 12 year old girl from Russia. Pregnancy lasts only nine months, but Dee's work and labor lasted 18 months. Can you imagine? Knowing you'd met your child, but have to wait that long to make her part of your family.

Dee had a dream one night; a dream that showed her a child. She met that child very soon afterward at an orphanage in the town where her choral group was performing -- in Khabarovsk, Russia. Through much soul searching, faith, prayer and hard work Dee found the will and strength to make an adoption that, at first, seemed impossible. Her memoir of this time in her life shows her character and conviction, her love of God and belief in family.

This memoir chronicles her journey with actual conversations, journal entries, emails and letters written to and from Dee, Alesia and the adoption agency. It has a great deal of information on international adoption, adoption issues, and Russian culture. I had no idea what adoption entailed, let alone how much more difficult international adoption and adoption of an older child could be.

Have you ever had a dream come true ? Well this author did !She was trying to get some sleep on a narrow , hard bed , while on a choir trip to the other side of frozen Siberia. She dreamed of a small blonde girl. She met that little girl the next day !
What follows is the tale of faith , hope , and perseverance while coming face to face with a different culture.

A very enjoyable look at the author's sometimes difficult journey from single adult to the proud mother of a young teen girl from Russia. It is an amazing story,well told and engaging.

The title of this book is very apt, as Dee Thompson's pursuit of adopting Alesia indeed became a crusade. Against seemingly insurmountable odds, and as doors kept closing Dee shares with us how she refuses to quit, how she stood in front of the doors and kicked them in with her modest, low heeled footwear (anyone who has been to Russia will understand THAT joke! The high heels there, whew!)! Although under circumstances that are quite different in many respects, it might be obvious to many why I can relate so well to such a well told story.

For those who have yet to travel to adopt from any of the former USSR countries, the vivid descriptions had me chuckling with their accuracy. This would be a wonderful book to get a strong sense of the environment, the attitudes, the cultural differences that you will experience.

Utilizing actual saved emails which are sprinkled liberally throughout, Dee weaves her crusade tale expertly and the authenticity of those communications lends itself to helping the reader feel very "present" as each part of the story unfolds.

As the months drag on, as the wait extends far longer than anticipated, you can feel the author's roller coaster emotions, something that will resonate with many adoptive parents who find themselves in the same leaden shoes as they wait for what seems an eternity for their adoption process to be completed. The descriptions of seeing children who have changed over the time it has taken to adopt them and they have grown ever-older were personally touching for me. I've been there, I've felt that, I know what it is like.

I find that reading stories such as "Adopting Alesia:..." help me as I work through our own adoption processes. Let's face it, though international adoption is not exactly an unheard of oddity these days thanks to Angelina and Crew, it still remains an experience that most of us are unable to fully share with anyone in our mommy cliques unless there happens to be someone nearby who has also adopted internationally. When one considers that fewer than 5% of all international adoptees are over 5 years old, the odds of running into someone whose life experience mirrors your own is very slim...and our experiences as parents of older internationally adopted post-institutionalized children is a very, very unique one with a distinct set of fears and challenges. Reading Dee's work was a great reminder that I am not alone in how we formed our family, that others have done it and the horror stories that non-adoptive "friends" always want to share with us to warn us of the train wreck coming our way are not ALWAYS true! There are many Alesia's out there, and there are many families like Dee's and mine who have successfully adopted older children and would do it again in a heartbeat if the opportunity presented itself.

No, "Adopting Alesia" is not a 20/20 expose on the nightmare of adopting older children from Russia. Sadly, stories like this one rarely get the airtime that the others receive. I say that not to deny the very true reality that many families face of emotional issues with their older adoptees...sure, those stories are out there and are part of the larger mosaic of the story of internationally adopted children. But it is refreshing to read a story that more closely fits with the overwhelming vast majority of stories I have heard directly out of the mouths of mothers and fathers for years...children overcoming incredibly difficult pasts to embrace a new life and a new family with gusto, adoptive parents going to great lengths to bring their children home and provide them with the tools they need for success.

Read this well written chronicle of a mom's resolute and relentless pursuit of her child. You will come away shaking your head in admiration for both mom and daughter.

I heard about this book on an e-mail list and read it in a weekend. I was very disappointed. The author re-hashes every aspect of her attempt to adopt a child who first appeared to her in a dream. The author's degree in creative writing is not apparent in this totally prosaic telling of her experiences, complete with a level of detail that no one but a mother would care about (like the author's losing her coat in the airport somewhere and arriving in frigid Russia without it). And the inclusion of every e-mail exchanged between the writer and her daughter-to-be is tedious (and hard to follow in the beginning, when the translation of the Russian e-mail messages was strained and odd-sounding). This would have been a much better book if the writer had done some research on the plight of teenagers in Russian orphanages, and what happens to them when they "age out" of the care system. Interspersing such information with the more personal story would have given this book a much-needed broader perspective, and would have made the personal story that much more compelling.