We are a family from Ukraine, from the city called Dnipro. Our family started in 1988 when we got married as students. During these long and happy years, we went through a lot, but one of the most important decisions we made together was the decision to welcome a child into our family that had been orphaned. At that time, our own son was 17 years old, he was already becoming independent and he no longer needed our help. Due to the fact that at that time we were helping government city orphanages, collecting money for gifts for this kids and helping organise various holidays for them, we saw children who needed parents and we wanted to become these parents. Our son was very supportive in this decision. So in 2008, our firstborn, Svyatik, came to our family, although not born by us, but very long-awaited and eventually became happiness for our whole family. He was almost 3 years old at that time. I do not know if we would have decided to have more children if it had not been for our firstborn, Svyatik. It was a great pleasure to give and open up to him a world that he had not yet seen. Over time, we saw the results, as from a sad and self-contained child, it was impossible to recognize him. He performed at concerts, sang, danced, played with children and showed results at school. He liked everything, he enjoyed learning everything, and we were happy to see how he was changing and that he was our son. And now there are already 13 children in our family, many of whom have already become adults, and some of them are just getting to know this wonderful world. And I thank my husband for being my support and support all these years with me. And I also know that my children have grown up to be very good people who respect adults, know what they will do in the future and are confidently moving towards their goals. And they will definitely have families and they will do everything to make their children happy. All the years of our existence, as a family with foster children, Dnipro Kids, our loyal friends, with whom we traveled all over Ukraine, were with us. They were also often guests at our family celebrations. And from the first day of war, they supported us and gave us hope for our future life in a situation when we didn’t know what to do and where we could feel safe.
