About

About Sasha

Здраствуйте! My name is Sasha.

Quick Facts

• I was adopted from Russia when I was 17 months old. I have a mild form of Cerebral Palsy. 
• I am the oldest of nine internationally adopted daughters. My sisters also have special needs including: Cerebral Palsy (including spastic quadriplegia), profound deafness with a cochlear implant, failure-to-thrive, spina bifida, PTSD, and traumatic brain injury. 
• I'm an adult-adoptee, positively reunified with my birth family in Russia.
• I've traveled internationally on adoption and missions trips to: Taiwan, the Philippines, Bulgaria, Ukraine, and China. 
• In May 2019, I graduated from Bucknell University (summa cum laude) with my Bachelor's degree in Creative Writing and Russian Studies, and am currently pursuing a master's degree.
• I speak advanced-conversational Russian.
• I am the Administrative Assistant for Ting Ministries, my family's non-profit organization that serves orphans and families in the Philippines, Bangladesh, Ukraine, and China. 

Why I Write

• When I was sixteen years old, I visited my sisters' Ukrainian dom invalid and saw what my life would have been like as a disabled, teenage orphan in Eastern Europe. Since then, the Lord has given me a passion to be a Voice for the Voiceless (Proverbs 31:8-9). 
• As an adult-adoptee who maintains a positive relationship with my birth family, I hope that my (rare) successful story of reunification serves to encourage adoptees, adoptive families, and birth families, to see opportunities for God-given forgiveness and redemption. 
• As an older sister to special-needs siblings and an individual with a physical disability myself, I possess invaluable experience and knowledge of Disability in everyday life and special-needs adoption. 

What I Do

• I aim to encourage and inform individuals, adoptees, adoptive families and others about orphan care, special needs, adoption, and healthy biological-adoptive family relationship, using the gifts and talents the Lord has given me.
• I reflect upon God's Word and its central importance to leading a life of joy and service, which reflects the love, sacrifice, and grace of Jesus Christ.
• I seek to serve and provide help to others through my writing and other gifts. 

In Christ,

Sasha

I will praise Adonai with my whole heart.
I will tell about all Your wonders.
 I will be glad and rejoice in You.
I will sing praise to Your Name, Elyon! ~Psalm 9:2-3