We, Mark and Sondra, met in Worcester, MA and were married on May 27, 1995. We were both married one time previously. Mark has two boys from his first marriage, named William and Brian. Sondra was never able to conceive any child.

William and Brian were very open to the idea of getting a little sister. Yes, we really wanted a girl. They are both great with her and they both continue in their lives goals as always planned. Both boys are working towards becoming teachers.

After many years of marriage and several tragic losses and failed pregnancies we decided to adopt.  Having two older boys already we didn’t want to go all the way back to diapers and late nights.  We also wanted to give someone a home that otherwise would be considered “hard to place”.

As you may know, or suspect, older children have the most difficult time finding a solid family.  So, we searched within the United States and considered the conditions of International adoptions for girls between the ages of three and five.

Mark works as a teacher and track coach, and Sondra works in computer web technology.  We were both pretty flexible and ready for an addition to our family!  However, we didn’t know just how ‘flexible’ we were going to have to get…

After making our decision to adopt internationally we quickly chose Romania.  Romania had some of the worst conditions [as we saw from American television], but they also had one of the quickest adoption cycles.  We were forwarded a video, photos, and medical reports of Dorina Rostas. Also at this time Romania was closing its boarders to international adoptions due to a changing government and rapid corruption in the entire adoption process.  As it turns out Dorina was the very last child to come out (legally adopted – that is guided by the Romanian government). 

Follow our story in the pages of "Thru the Years" section of the site!