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How are they doing
By GAIL HOLLENBECK INVERNESS -- With the end of 2001 approaching, I wanted to update two of the stories I reported this year. In January, Adam and Anne Jones shared the story of how, through the anonymous giving of members of their church, they adopted a baby girl who had been abandoned in India. They poignantly recounted their feelings of being smitten long distance with little Sashika, only to learn that she was showing signs of a disability. Adam Jones candidly told how he grappled with his emotions about adopting a special-needs child and how God gave him such peace that he determined they would adopt Sashi and "no other." A year later, the Joneses are enjoying their new daughter. "Sashi is doing well," Anne Jones said. "She's made a lot of progress since January." Sashi, who has cerebral palsy, celebrated her second birthday in September and began crawling fully that month. In October she was fitted for braces. "She's walking with us holding her hands or behind her little shopping cart with assistance, and that's going great," Anne Jones said. "She is not really speaking words that we understand yet, but she has a lot of little baby jargon that sounds like nothing I've ever heard before. So she's just made great progress." "For a lot of families it's probably a lot harder," Adam Jones said. "We've been blessed to see her make so much progress." The Joneses rave about the therapists at the Sertoma Center for Developmental and Rehabilitative Services in Citrus Springs for their work with Sashi. "That's probably one of the biggest blessings for her, has been Sertoma. I can't sing their praises loud enough," said Anne Jones. "She has three therapists that are so enthusiastic and very gifted. They're very motivated and also encourage me to be in there with her so I learn a lot watching them work with her and then I can come home and do more." Anne Jones said they go to eight therapy sessions a week. Adam Jones works with Sashi as well. "When she was learning to crawl, we worked with her at home almost every morning, stretching her and doing all the things that they asked us to do. When we reached that milestone of crawling, it was just such a great blessing because we didn't know what she could do. Once she started doing that, she began to do a lot of other things. She's more curious and crawls around the house and likes to open and shut cupboards and doors." The Joneses have two older children, Sarah, 10, and Samuel, 8, who have adapted well to their little sister. "Sashi hasn't slowed Sarah and Samuel down. Sarah shares a room with her and is very patient with her when she is being a typical 2-year-old and demanding her way and crying in her crib. Sarah's a little mother with her and puts up with a lot of noise, and we appreciate that. And Samuel just dotes on Sashi, just smothers her with love." The future, says Adam Jones, is in God's hands. "With Sashi the future is more open ended than with the other kids," he said. "I think Sashi will be independent when she's older, but I don't know how independent. But that's all right. We're definitely more dependent on God. It's interesting how God has given me a different level of compassion for those who are handicapped and their families, because I have a little bit of a taste of what they have, but not nearly. "Paul talks about God displaying his glory in weak things, and in a very real sense for all the brokenness in our world, Christ has provided our restoration in full. That includes our physical bodies in the new heavens and the new earth. So it just kind of makes you understand what was at stake when Christ gave up his life for us." E-mail from Russia: Busy man, busy timeLast July, Denis Khokhlov, a seminary student from Panino, Russia, visited a Citrus County pastor and preached his first sermon in English. The sermon, which was well received, was also his first sermon in America. He is now back at Zaokski Theological Seminary and preparing for the upcoming holy days. "Soon we are going to have Christmas holy days," Khokhlov said in a recent e-mail. "You have to know that in Russia we have Christmas on Jan. 7. Orthodox Church celebrates it on that date. So this Wednesday I am passing my last exam on history of the Seventh-day Adventist Church and going home." Khokhlov said he would spend the holy days with his family and would be working with the Greek New Testament as well as studying Hebrew and Spanish. "I have to prepare for my graduation exams and because of it, all my free time I study," he said. "It will be good, because it will be home. Certainly I will have some rest. I need it especially on New Year's Eve." In Russia, New Year's is celebrated more than Christmas, Khokhlov said. "It was because of Soviet period in Russian history. But anyway it is nice time, though it is always cold here." In earlier e-mails, Khokhlov wrote that he enjoyed his time in warm, sunny Florida and had many experiences to relate when he returned home. When he isn't studying, he said he works with computers and reads. "Also I play guitar and sing. The last I do mostly for myself." In an e-mail written on Sept. 18, Khokhlov said, "All the world was sorrowful" because of the Sept. 11 attacks. "The first time when I heard it, to tell the truth, sounds like a joke, but then all changed and till the time of close our dorm, I watched it. Bad things. And so sad that too many died just because of fanatics. You might know that for them to die for an idea or for Allah is a way to paradise. But I can say that they still have people that have a good (mind) and they will never do such bad things. In Russia we had a lot of terrorist acts, you might know. A few houses were bombed and destroyed in Moscow and other cities. And because of it was a war with Chechnya. "The other day was a celebration of the school year beginning, and it was delayed because of all things which took place in States. We had a prayer for the United States and for the people whose relatives died there, and for all the world which has never seen such act of vandalism or terrorism." In his most recent e-mail, Khokhlov said next year will be a hard one for him. "I am going to graduate from Zaokski Theological Seminary and it will be hard time because of graduation exams. After graduation I am going to do something, actually I do not know what it will be, but I am sure that I will work in Seventh-day Adventist Church. Future for me closed and I do not know what it will be and how. But I trust the Lord and he is leading me on his way."
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