An update on the Hamiltons from Jamestown, California. (The family, like with most of my characters, are fictional; the location is a real place.)
My name is Tabitha (Tabby) Hamilton, and our children, all eight of them, keep us both pretty busy. (My husband's name is Scott. He is a hardware store owner, and I am a part-time dental lab technician.) We live in Jamestown, California, which is near Sonora. We've both lived here in Jamestown all our lives.
Our children haven't though: in fact, our children weren't even BORN to us. They were adopted, all eight of them, and they were all born in Russia! It has been quite interesting, to say the least!
Our children range in age from two on up to nine, and they are all special-needs. All but one are children with Down's syndrome; the remaining child (that is Dmitri, who is seven) has spina bifida and walks on crutches and leg braces (or uses a wheelchair for longer trips). The Down's kids are all mentally disabled, to varying degrees, and they are all loving, gentle kids who wouldn't harm a soul.
Our other kids are Alex (Aleksander; he's the big kid of the group; he is nine), Aleksei (8), Ioseph (6) (the boys), and the girls: Galina (5), Ludmila ("Millie"; she's 4), Natasha (3), and the baby of the family, two-year-old Raisa. The older ones are all learning English at a very rapid pace, but the younger ones still speak primarily Russian with a basic English word or two. We have learned Russian, thanks to our Russian neighbors, Ivan and Svetlana Turinova; they have been teaching us basic Russian, ever since we first found out that we were getting the children; and they have been an invaluable help to us.
The kids are all pretty well behaved, but Mitrie is the handful of the bunch. He is always coming up with some form of mischief, and he is always teasing his little sisters until they cry. We tell him not to do this, but he never listens. He spends more time in time out than do the other kids, it seems!
We have been busy preparing to go to court to finalize the adoptions of our kids, and it is hard to believe that our lawyer has gotten everything done so quickly. It seemed that we would never get our kids, but once they came to America, things have been happening at breakneck speed, and we don't have much time for ourselves because between our work and raising our family, we just have but a brief reprieve. Our lawyer has been very helpful and caring.
Scotty and I haven't been in the least bit sorry for adopting the children we have; it seems so hard to believe that they were once unwanted because of their being older and disabled; but they are all good kids with loving hearts and personalities. And they are all quite smart and are able to learn. They may be slower than average, but they CAN learn, and they have learned so much already since coming here to America from Russia!
I agree with Karla, I dont know how you keep your characters straight either... As alwaus though this is an excellent piece... I love that their from Jamestown California :D If you'd like more info on Jamestown I can give it to you, I am quite familar with it LOL
God Bless
~Michelle~
Very touching. I am interested in overseas adoption myself in about 10 years possibly. By then my future husband and I will be married and will have lived together for awhile.
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My name is Tabitha (Tabby) Hamilton, and our children, all eight of them, keep us both pretty busy. (My husband's name is Scott. He is a hardware store owner, and I am a part-time dental lab technician.) We live in Jamestown, California, which is near Sonora. We've both lived here in Jamestown all our lives.
