Two new faces join lone community
VOL. 123
NO. 29
Two new little girls,
Babaii Renee Peterson, five,
and O la R ietm ann, 15
months, have joined the lone
Bea aie ï'etzell
U of 0 Ne«a?aper Libro..;/
community. Babaii is the
Eugene, OR 97403
daughter of Joel Peterson
and Lea Mathieu and Ola is
the daughter of Gregg and
Shelly Rietmann.
The
M athieu-
P eterso n and R ietm ann
fam ilies have been good
friends for many years and
have talked about adoption
in the past. Both women had
also talked about wanting
little girls to help balance the
“maleness” in their families
and give them someone to
go shopping with. About a
year-and-a-half ago, the two
families decided to embark
upon the trail of adoption.
To
begin
her
journey. Mathieu looked on
the Intern et at the Holt
In tern atio n al C h ild re n ’s
Service’s website. There she
read a description of a little
girl from India nam ed
B abaii. She called her
husband in to read the
description and they both
decided that Babaii sounded
wonderful.
They contacted Holt
and began the process of
filin g for in tern atio n al
adoption. Mathieu said the
process was filled with lots
o f paper work and very
rigorous screening.
“We w eren’t even
allowed
to see a picture of
Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon
8 Pages
Wednesday, July 21, 2004
Babaii until we were quite
far along in the process,”
commented Mathieu.
Yet it was all worth
it, when after flying to India
the end of April, they were
able to see Babaii at her
orphanage in Pune on May
3. They were then able to
return as a family on May
New elevator goes in at courthouse
4
10 .
Joe HofTman, with Gentry Homes, works on smoothing out the concrete in the newly constructed
elevator shaft at Morrow County Courthouse.
After many years of
w orking to in stall an
e le v a to r at the M orrow
C ounty C o u rth o u se in
H eppner, the project has
finally become a reality.
Construction on the
elevator shaft began two
w eeks ago, with G entry
H om es in charge o f
co m p letin g the shaft
construction and Schindler
E lev a to r
C om pany
providing the elevator car.
The elevator is being
installed so that services in
the upstairs portion of the
c o u rth o u se,
in cluding
courts, district attorney, etc.,
can be “ in d ep en d en tly
accessed” by persons with
disabilities in accordance
w ith
the
A m erican
Disabilities Act. Currently,
services have been relocated
to the low er floor when
accessibility is needed.
A large portion of
the funding, $90,000. came
from the Court Securities
Fund. The fund is comprised
of monies collected from
fines im posed on law
v io la tio n s. The Fund
com m ittee as well as the
county commissioners had
to approve the use of the
funds. The Morrow County
general maintenance fund is
providing the extra $17.000
needed to co m p lete the
project.
Ì
Due
to
the
courthouse being a national
h isto ric a l b u ild in g , the
e le v a to r w ill not be
protruding on the outside of
the building, and the interior
architectural features are
being p reserv ed . The
w indow s w ill receiv e a
“black out” treatment, that
w ill m ake them ap p ear
darkened when looked at
from outside.
“ We are e x cited
about this project, it has
been a long time coming,”
stated A nd rea D enton,
personnel director at the
Courthouse.
Construction of the
elevator shaft is expected to
be completed by Sept. 1,
2004 and installation of the
elevator car is estimated to
be completed by the middle
of September.
Local man commands Guard unit
Captain Terry Chinen
C ap tain
Terry
C h in en , H ep p n er High
School graduate of 1990, is
the commander of G Troop,
82nd Cavalry, a National
Guard combat unit recently
activated for service in Iraq.
The 150-man unit is
currently in Fort Bliss, TX,
for training. They will be
deployed this October for
service in Iraq for 15-18
months.
Chinen and his wife
Kelly, who is also in the
G uard and w orks at the
R edm ond A rm ory, are
expecting their first child in
December.
C hinen receiv ed
both his college degree and
m ilitary co m m issio n at
Eastern Oregon College.
His current address
is: Capt. C hinen, Teruo,
M RCS/116 BDE/G Troop
82nd Cav, Bldg 2444
Cassidy Road. Fort Bliss,
TX 79916.
B abaii, who was
born Sept. 6, 1998, joins
b ro th ers, Gus P eterson,
eight, and Oskar Peterson,
seven.
She
w ill
start
kindergarten this fall, and is
excited about meeting new
friends. She has a good
grasp on English, due to
attending preschool in India
where they taught English,
and attending Bible school.
“Babaii is not only
beautiful, she also has a
terrific personality; she’s
sm art, funny, loving and
imaginative. She’s very fun-
loving and has an infectious
belly laugh,” said Mathieu.
“She’s the most wonderful
d au g h ter we could ever
imagine.”
Joel, who farms in
the lone area, and Lea, who
is a teacher at Riverside
High School, said they both
loved India and look
forward to returning. They
had a chance to spend time
in Delhi, Agra and Pune and
were able to visit sights such
as the Taj Mahal. Red Fort,
G a n d h i’s M em orial and
many o th e r in terestin g
historical sites.
“We were impressed
by the friendly warmth of the
people and the delicious
food," commented Mathieu.
In
five
years,
M athieu hopes to teach
overseas and take all three
children with her so they can
learn to be citizens of the
world. She also hopes that
when Babaii turns 16, the
two of them will be able to
Babaii Peterson and Ola Rietmann
return to India to volunteer
at orphanage.
Babaii will receive
her citizenship in January or
February o f 2005. India
requires post-home visits to
ensure the safety of their
children and also requires
the family to send reports on
the c h ild ’s pro g ress for
seven years after the
adoption.
The
R ietm ann
fam ily took a slig h tly
different road, which lead
them through many trials,
but eventually brought them
to their precious Ola. For the
first six m onths, the
R ietm anns looked into
domestic adoption, but were
then
lead
tow ards
international adoption.
A fter
much
research, they came upon an
ad o p tio n agency called
Journey of the Heart. The
Rietmanns had originally
been cleared to receive twins
from Romania. However,
due to a political skirmish
between Romania and the
United States, children are
not being released to
Americans.
After much waiting,
and belief that they would
still receive the tw ins, it
became a reality that the
Rietmanns would have to
look tow ards an o th er
country for a child. They
then looked at either Russia
or the Ukraine and chose the
Ukraine so as to not have to
make two out-of-country
trips.
After a year-and-a-
half of going through the
process of being approved to
adopt, and then not being
able to bring home the twins,
the R ietm anns left their
farm, and two sons. Tanner.
11 and E van, nine, and
headed to the Ukraine for a
child, hoping to receive a
daughter.
The difference for
the Rietmanns, as opposed
to the Mathieu-Petersons, is
they traveled to the Ukraine
not knowing which child
they would receive. Shelly
explained that they arrived
in Kiev, Ukraine and the
next day w ent to the
National Adoption Center.
At the A doption
Center, the Rietmanns were
given large notebooks filled
w ith
p ictu res
and
descriptions of children who
were adoptable. “It was very
hard going through the
books,” said Shelly. “You
felt like you were rejecting
a child as you flipped the
page.” After many hours of
searching, and being drained
emotionally, the Rietmanns
were given a file of children
who had just recently been
released for adoption. On
the top of the file was a
picture and description of
O la, w ho had ju s t been
released that day.
The Rietmanns felt
that she v\as the one for
them. They were told to
return to th eir hotel to
prepare for a 10-hour train
ride to the orphanage. After
the long jo u rn ey , the
Rietmanns were finally able
to meet Ola.
However, their trials
did not end there, due to less
stringent medical practices
in the Ukraine, many times
doctors speculate about a
child’s health conditions.
O la’s medical record was
full
of
sp ecu lativ e
diagnoses, which caused
some concern fo r the
Rietmanns. They returned to
their hotel and Shelly called
Pioneer M emorial Clinic
and talked to the nurses and
doctors there about what
was said in Ola’s file.
“It was wonderful to
be able to call all the way
from the Ukraine and have
our family practice doctors
take tim e for u s,” said
Shelly. “We were able to
determine that many of the
th in g s they listed ju st
weren’t true.”
Another obstacle the
Rietmanns faced was that it
is custom ary to have to
spend 30 days in the Ukraine
before taking a child home.
However, they were able to
plead hardship, citing their
need to return to their farm
and children along with
other things, and had the 30
days waived.
The Rietmanns were
able to return to the United
States with Ola in just two
and a half weeks and have
alread y received her
citizenship certificate.
Shelly said that
while a few parts o f the
Ukraine were beautiful, she
would not want to return due
to the horrible living
conditions, including the
poverty and pollution.
Yet, even with all the
trials and hardships the
Rietmanns had to face along
the way, they are thankful
and believe it was meant to
be. as Ola had not even been
born when they first started
the process.
Both families said
they have also been blessed
with the lone community’s
excitement and the support
that has been shown to them
throughout the past year and
now that the g irls have
arrived.
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