Our story starts like so many others, so we will fast forward to the moment that we decided to
adopt. Lori had a co-worker that had adopted a little girl from Russia. She strongly suggested that
we use EAC. Lori's co-worker gave her the email address of an EAC representative in the area. We
learned through the representative that she was conducting a seminar in Austin the following
Saturday. What timing! After listening to all the wonderful stories, meeting with parents that had
adopted and seeing their beautiful children; we decided this was the agency for us. Within the next
couple of days we were getting the funds together and filling out the online application.

Our application was submitted and we were assigned a caseworker. She was awesome! We could call
(and did) anytime with any questions. After filling out all the necessary paperwork and completing
our dossier, we waited for our referral. A couple of months went by. On October 25th, we got the
call. A photo and medical history was being sent to us the next day. We were so excited that we
barely slept. The following day, Lori went home at lunch and brought the package back to work (we
work at the same hospital). We took a deep breath and opened the envelope. We knew at first sight
that this was our son. We accepted and agreed to continue with the adoption process. Two weeks
later we were landing in Moscow.

While in Russia, we were greeted by the EAC Moscow staff. Our representatives, driver and
translator were some of the kindest and warmest people you will ever meet. We spent the night in
Moscow and would be traveling to Smolensk first thing in the morning. It was a five hour van ride
to our son's orphanage. Seeing him for the first time is a moment that we will never forget. We
were able to spend time with him and play with the toys that we brought. We spent the night in
Smolensk, so we were able to meet with him again the following morning before driving back to
Moscow. That was one of the hardest things we ever had to do, but we knew that we would be back
soon.

We waited one month before returning to Russia for our court date on December 19th. We brought
Aaron home Christmas Eve 2007. It was exactly seven months to the day from the seminar to our court date.

At court we learned that Aaron had a younger sister that was in a different orphanage and not yet
available for adoption. A few months went by and we couldn't stop thinking about her. Even though
they had been raised in different orphanages and had never met, we knew that they should be together. We called EAC with the information we had and they were able to locate her. Here we go
again! Six months later we were back in Russia. We met the same wonderful staff in Moscow. Our
driver, Michael, even remembered us and asked about our son by name! They truly love these
children. Our court date for our daughter was thirteen months and two days after our son's. We
brought Elena home on January 24th, 2009. Remembering how Aaron gave his sister a big hug and kiss at the airport still puts a lump in my throat.

Aaron was twenty-six months old when we adopted him. Elena was the exact same age when we adopted her. They are eleven months and fifteen days apart. They are both happy and healthy beautiful children. We can't remember what life was like before we adopted Aaron, and we can't imagine what life would be like if we hadn't returned for Elena.

This is way over due.
So to you Margaret and the entire EAC staff we wanted to say Thank You for giving us the greatest
adventure of our lives!

Todd, Lori, Aaron and Elena Smith
New Braunfels, TX