Finding Another Voice

One of my instructors once told me, back in my musical days, that even though I lacked the technical expertise and natural gifts of some of my fellow performers, I had it in me to outplay all of them because I had lived more fully than the average college student. "You can't play emotions you've never experienced," he said.

I took that statement to heart, and continued to live more fully than most in order to feel every feeling the world had to offer. Though I may never have played every emotion, I'm pretty certain I'll be able to write them all before this adventure is over.

I keep coming back to the "I'm not a parent" thing, and I promise I'll tell that story soon, but when I first read Katrina Morriss' Facebook posts about an adorable little girl stuck in an orphanage in Russia because of a political ban on adoptions by Americans, it struck a chord in me. I'm no stranger to the heartbreak of a failed attempt to adopt, but for Katrina and her husband, the fight to bring Natasha home has been going on every day for the past five years. Her story speaks straight to the heart of everyone who has ever longed to be a parent, or bonded with a child. Natasha is Katrina's child, regardless of who gave birth to her, or where she resides, or even what the law says is currently possible. There's a hope and faith and ferocity in this mother's love that sees an obstacle and instantly takes action to overcome it. Katrina has literally travelled to the ends of the earth and back to try to find a forever home for Natasha, from Washington, DC to Moscow and everywhere in between, in every venue from newscasts to Congressional hearings and nonprofit outreaches.

Though I can't change the laws and fulfill Katrina's desire to bring her little girl home, I could offer up the words to help her tell her story and share some of the gratitude (yes, gratitude) that she feels toward the countless strangers, both American and Russian, who have stepped forward to help her maintain contact, send gifts, and improve the quality of life for orphans with Down syndrome like Natasha.

Back to the magic of the connections of I Run 4 - through an IR4 friend who you'll also hear more about later, since her sons are the inspiration behind my first screenplay, I got in touch with Todd Civin and Jason Boucher, an amazing writer and illustrator who have worked on several phenomenal children's book projects for Rick and Dick Hoyt and Ainsley's Angels, just to name a few. They agreed to work with me to help Katrina create a children's book about Natasha as a project to raise money for Downside Up, a Russian Down Syndrome advocacy organization that helped her to stay in contact with Natasha's orphanage.

The story is not yet finished, but neither is Katrina and Natasha's. Katrina remains hopeful that the new administration in DC may be able to make some progress in negotiations to lift the adoption ban and allow the families who already had adoptions in the works to complete these processes and bring their children home.

Our hope is to let Katrina's voice be heard through this book, and that one day she'll be able to share those words and illustrations with Natasha, to let her know just how much she's been loved by so many people who want nothing more than for her to come home to her forever family.

Photo provided by Katrina Morriss