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Stafford families providing homes for Russian orphans.

June 23, 2004 1:21 am

But he knew the distance between Russia and America was immense. He would probably never see his friends again.

His farewell party was bittersweet. In one hand, he clutched his newest prized possession--a small photo album with pictures of daily life in the Schaller household.

Around his wrist, he carried the ponytail holder of a friend named Sonia, a small possession to remember a friend he'd never see again.

Artur couldn't have known, as he left the orphanage and boarded a plane next to a woman he barely knew, that his new mother would turn his friends into a personal crusade, bringing many of them from 46 to Stafford County.

Joyce Schaller, an English teacher at Stafford High School, already knew about painful farewells. She, her husband, David, and two young daughters hosted Serik, a Russian orphan, the summer of 2000 as part of a program that brings orphans to the United States to attend summer camp and find prospective families.

David Schaller had confessed to his wife, on the way to the airport to pick up Serik, he couldn't truly love a child not biologically his. Joyce Schaller knew they were going to only host Serik for a few weeks, find him a different home.

But those few weeks changed the Schaller family for good. The Schallers learned they could open their hearts to an older orphan. Joyce Schaller knew she wanted to adopt.

The couple, both teachers, didn't know how they could afford to adopt, when an international adoption could run close to $20,000.

The price tag bothered David Schaller more. He soon grew tired of his wife asking when they could adopt another child.

"If God wants us to adopt, he'll show us the way," David Schaller said Jan. 3, 2001.

The next day, Joyce Schaller got a call. There was an 11-year-old Russian orphan named Artur. His adoption plans just fell through and $8,000 had already been raised for his adoption. Were the Schallers interested?

"The day before, David had said, 'If God wants us to adopt' and shazam!" Joyce Schaller said.

They began filling out paperwork and raising money. The couple never looked back.

But Artur sometimes did. He didn't want to remember the orphanage. He was happy with his new family, though sometimes his younger sisters irritated him.

But what about his friends?

Joyce Schaller couldn't get Artur's friends out of her mind either. But how could she help? The Schallers couldn't adopt all of the kids in 46.

Then the Johns family got in touch with Joyce. Ian talked his parents, Pam and Randy Johns, into adopting a child. The family wanted to adopt an older child. The couple wasn't interested in diapers and bottles again and hoped for a playmate for their teenage son.

Pam Johns had a friend who worked in a bank who'd notarized papers for the Schallers during their adoption process. She got Pam Johns in contact with Joyce Schaller.

Artur's mother remembered a girl she'd met during the farewell party.

The Johns looked at photos of Katya and wanted to bring her home. Over a year ago, they adopted the 13-year-old, who now goes by Kelly.

A biology teacher at Stafford High School also wanted to adopt. LoriAnn Maffia and her husband originally wanted a young girl, someone a little bit younger than their now-6-year-old son, Connor. They found a Romanian girl and fell in love. But Romania began having adoption problems and closed down foreign adoptions.

"It almost felt like a death when we couldn't get her," Maffia said.

She talked to a fellow faculty member who also knew the heartache of not getting a child she'd hoped for.

Joyce Schaller recommended Maffia switch to a Russian adoption. And while she was adopting from Russia, why not adopt from 46? The orphanage had a lot to offer. It boasted a magnet school for gifted students, so children were handpicked for 46. The orphanage was also cleaner and nicer than most and the school provided a good education.

"[The orphanage personnel] treat the kids well, they feed them well, they give them every opportunity for activities," Pam Johns said.

Maffia had met Artur and was impressed with the young man. She decided to give 46 a try. She and her husband were looking at pictures, trying to pick out an orphan when two sisters showed up on the screen.

"As soon as we saw the girls, we knew they belonged to us," Maffia said. "I mean, we knew it as soon as their pictures popped up on the screen."

The Maffias went through the long process of adopting the sisters and brought their two daughters, now called Kristen and Caitlyn, home in February.

"They're our daughters. They just happened to be born in Russia," Maffia said.

And those daughters can't wait to meet the newest arrival from 46.

Stafford resident and Park Ridge Elementary School teacher Susan McGreevy arrived home June 4 with the fifth kid from 46 to make a home in Stafford--her new son, Nikita.

Nikita shyly greeted his old friend, clearly overwhelmed after his long journey and probably missing his biological grandmother, a woman who cared so much about Nikita she insisted on meeting his new mother. McGreevy met Nikita's grandmother and cried with her as the grandmother told McGreevy she would miss Nikita but knew he was going to a better life.

Nikita soon settled into that better life, discovering video games and visiting Artur. When the two boys play together, they seem unaware of the magnitude of their reunion, the rarity of five children from the same orphanage ending up in the same town.

And Joyce Schaller hopes it doesn't stop with just five. As coordinator of Virginia Family Hope, a summer hosting program that's part of the California-based adoption agency International Family Services, Joyce Schaller will bring 12 more kids from 46 to the area.

The summer program helps families make the difficult decision to adopt older orphans. The orphans stay with interested families for a few weeks, so the family can see how the child will fit in with the family.

Some orphans from 46 will go to Texas this summer. But Schaller was disappointed to learn the Texas families didn't want anyone over the age of 10. She wondered why so many people are hesitant to adopt older kids and wonders what is so special about Stafford, where she found so many people eager to include the older orphans in their families.

Joyce Schaller hopes all 12 of the kids coming to Stafford this summer will be adopted.

But even if they aren't, there's still good news for Artur.

His bracelet, a token from Sonia, has long-since disintegrated.

After she gave up her ponytail holder, Sonia watched her friends leave 46 and wondered why she couldn't go, too.

She wasn't cleared for adoption when Joyce Schaller saw her at Artur's farewell party.

But she is now.

The Waitjens, another Stafford family, are in the process of adopting Sonia and hope to have her home by Christmas, said Hans Waitjen.

To reach AMY FLOWERS UMBLE: 540/374-5000, ext. 5764 aumble@freelancestar.com