Destined to Remain Connected!!

So if you weren't a believer of fate and universal connection, well this story should convince even the strongest skeptics!!  This past weekend, we hosted a get together with 3 other couples who have adopted or will be adopting from India. The picture on the left is Bela with her new friend AJ and her OLD friend Usha. Yes, Usha and Bela knew each other at the orphanage they were at! How this all happened is a pretty amazing story, which only gets better.

Back in April of this year, Ryan and I met two families at the Holt Agency picnic (which is held once a year, in Orange County). To our surprise, one of the families there adopted a little girl who was from the same orphanage as Bela! We recognized Usha from a distance and after a few minutes, we realized that she was there at BSSK (the orphanage) when we picked Bela up from India. In addition, during that visit, we actually witnessed Usha viewing a video of her parents! What are the odds!!!??? It turns out, Usha's parents picked her up just a few weeks after we picked up Bela. We have pictures and videos of Usha playing with Bela and the other kids. And now 3 months later, Usha is at the same picnic as Bela in California!! It's probably normal that they didn't remember each other however they got along great at our house. They played really well together and I'm sure they felt each other's energy - even if they physically didn't recognize each other.

So while the meeting with Usha could be considered coincidental to some skeptics (I happen to believe everything happens for a reason), this will blow your mind! The other couple that came to our house was invited by AJ's parents as they are about to pick up their son from the same city that we picked up Bela. When they arrived, they immediately recognized Bela. That was a little strange but we figured AJ's parents must have filled them in before they got here. Nope. After some discussion, it turns out that the child they are bringing home was Bela's best friend, Varun, from the orphanage she was at!!! Yes, best friend. In many of our reports about Bela, and in many of their reports about Varun, the orphanage noted just how close these two were with one another. Each one of us even wondered how we could adopt both Varun and Bela together so we could keep them together - that's how close they were! While they were at our house, Ryan bought up the videos we took and when we reviewed them we both noticed how Bela immediately gravitated toward Varun when we arrived to pick her up. In fact, the video shows that later in the day, to make her stop crying during eating time, we were asked to place Bela next to him to calm her down. Kismet!!?? So Varun is now coming to Orange County as well - literally only 30 minutes from our house. We can't wait for Bela and Varun to meet again. Even if they don't remember each other, I know they will feel each other's spirts. Afterall, they are destined to remain connected! 

According to Unicef, there are 25 million Indian orphans. Of those, only 400 or some to the USA each year. So the odds of both Usha and Varun coming to the US, within 30-60 minutes from our house, is simply amazing. Varun's mom said, "How funny is it that our kids have known each other longer than we have?" I think that statement was very intuitive and just sums up how special this really is. Bela will always have an amazing story to share about her life and it will be even more special knowing she will have childhood friends from where she was born to grow up with; something most adopted children never experience.