In January, American Government teacher Matt Watson and his wife Keli had a choice to make. They were ready to expand their family. They began to evaluate their options. Matt and Keli liked the idea of an addition of two more little feet and 10 more little toes to the family. They contacted the Small World Adoption Foundation for more information on how to go about adopting a child.

“We decided adoption was the best option for us,” Keli said. “And international adoption is quicker. Also in Russia they have the youngest children that are up for adoption.

The process of adopting was very stressful on Matt and Keli. For three months they had to go through endless paper work, countless interviews and extensive FBI background checks. Although 3 months seemed like a long time, when it comes to adopting a child it can sometimes take up to six years.

“It only took 3 months which is very fast,” Keli said. “We actually set a record in our agency for the fastest complete adoption.”

The paper work that they had to fill out had many different types of questions that asked about their childhood and their current lifestyle. Despite the questions, Matt and Keli felt they had nothing to worry about.

“There are many things throughout the process that we don’t understand,” Keli said. “But in the end it results in this child.

Before they had the chance to meet, or let alone see a picture of any children, Keli recieved a call at work from the agency. They told her they had a boy named Evginey from Russia who was under 18 months old and that she and Matt had 24 hours to make a decision before they moved on to the next family.They were traveling blind. They jumped at the opportunity and went with their gut feeling.

“Overall it took two trips to get there and mountains of paper work,“ Matt said.

Keli and Matt visited the boy at the orphanage almost everyday from June 12-19. There they met 11-month-old Lincoln Steven Watson, as they would later name him.

“He was all smiles,” Keli said. “It was actually a weird experience. We Americans respect our alone time, that doesn’t happen there. We couldn’t believe this was it, it felt like just another visit.”

They agree that all the stress was worth it and they would definitely do it again. It has now been 2 months since Lincoln came home and has been doing wonderfully since. He has even bonded with Cesar, the family dog.

“Although he loves his mommy, he is definitely a daddy’s boy all the way,” Keli said. “We love being ‘Mom and Dad’.”

Morgan May