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Father's Dream Brings Russian Orphans To Central Fla.:Posted By: Martha Buffett A miracle is defined as an event that can't be explained by the laws of nature, and a miracle is exactly what a Lake County man claims happened to him.Rick and Stephanie Silanskas had four almost-grown children and thought their family was complete, WESH 2 News reported. But on a December night in 2002, Rick had a dream so vivid it changed their lives. "I felt like a father whose child had been abducted or missing. That's the only way to describe this to you," he said. Rick dreamed of a sad little girl reaching out to him for help from a hole in the wall of a dark basement. "I reached down and I picked her up in my arms and she put her arms around my neck, and I'm gonna tell you something -- I have never felt anything like that in my life. That child knew she was safe," he said. Rick's dream became an obsession. He got a police sketch artist to draw the little girl. He filed papers with an adoption agency that specialized in Russia, where Rick believed the girl was living. For weeks he searched an obscure Web site featuring Russian orphans until it happened. "The child that I held in my arms on Dec. 23 was looking back at me, and nothing ever affected me more deeply than that," he said. Rick believed the girl he saw in his dream was the same child who now appeared on his computer screen. So, he and his wife headed for the orphanage in Russia where she was living Her name was Nadia and Rick said she acted as if she'd known them her whole life. She'd been abandoned at birth and they were amazed to learn that Nadia's mother had signed over her parental rights on the exact day and hour Rick had his dream. They were told Nadia didn't speak but within minutes, she called them Mama and Papa. Three years later, Nadia plays piano with her new dad at their home in Lady Lake. She's grown to a vivacious 5-year-old. Nadia loves playing with her big sister, Yulia, who's also adopted from Russia. But it's Nadia who openly commands the spotlight. During a recent playtime, she offered a song. "This is the day. This is the day that the Lord hath made," she sang. Rick said finding Nadia wasn't the end of a miracle, but the beginning. He's started a foundation to help Russian orphans and soon, he'll release a major motion picture to tell Nadia's story. The child Rick says hugged him in his dream now hugs him every day. His life's passion is to inspire a drastic change in the sad lives of Russia's millions of orphans. "This isn't President Putin's problem. This isn't President Bush's problem. This is our problem. We're either going to care about one another or we're not," he said. For more information about Rick's foundation to help Russian orphans, visit www.projectanna.org. To comment on this story, send an e-mail to Amanda Ober. Courtesy Of: Yahoo! News The information reported above is property of Yahoo! inc. and reprinted or modified with legitimate permission. We thank Yahoo! inc. for the kind cooperation with us and other shareholders. |
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