Page 2A
The Kings Mountain Herald
August 15, 2002
JUSSE
From 1A
“I asked, don’t you mean
2000?” Kim recalled,
“because we were expecting
a baby 18 months old. She
said no. We were very sur-
prised, but very glad.”
The Hughes went to
Russia for the first time on
April 5, 2002 to meet Jesse
and found him with blue
medicine all over his face
because of a case of chicken
POX.
But, they didn’t care how
he looked. It was love at first
sight.
“We didn’t care how he
looked or what he had
wrong with him,” Kim said,
“because we knew he was
the baby that God intended
for us. He was chosen.”
And, the bonding between
parents and son was instant.
“The first time I picked
him up, I put him up to my
face and he was grinning,”
Kim said. “I never heard
him cry.”
“Everybody says he looks
like her or me,” added Jeff.
“They know he’s adopted
but they can’t get over how
much he looks like us.
People that don’t know us
would never know.”
Unfortunately, because of
adoption rules the couple
could spend only about
three hours a day with the
child and could not adopt
him on the first trip. Because
{i
Jeff and Jesse Hughes outside orphanage in Siberia
a Ce EE SR
“We want him to know that he was chosen
by God for us and that he grew in our
hearts.”
Kim Hughes
of his illness, they couldn’t
take him off the grounds of
the crowded orphanage.
Leaving him that first time
was almost more than they
could stand. It was like leav-
ing their own baby in a for-
eign country. The plane ride
was especially tough
because they saw other cou-
ples with their adopted chil-
dren.
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They returned to Russia in
early May to find Jesse very
ill with a respiratory infec-
tion. The adoption was
approved on May 7 in a
court in Kemerova, Siberia
but because Russia was cele-
brating three major holidays
they couldn't catch a flight
back to the U.S. They finally
landed in New York on May
14, two days after Mother's
Day.
While in Russia they
feared Jesse’s disease could
be serious but were able to
get clearance from a doctor
there to start him on antibi-
otics.
Jesse was still weak and
coughing when he got to his
home off Dixon School Road
near Kings Mountain. On
his first trip to the pediatri-
cian he weighed 10 pounds
and was 24 inches long and
the doctor said he was in the
10 percentile for children his
age. Now, three months
later, he weighs 22 pounds,
is 28 inches long, and look-
ing at him anyone can tell he
18.00 longer in the 10 per-
centile. He is a ‘typical “Ali
- Americarsboy” who is i
crawling, pulling himself up
to tables and cabinets and
beginning to say words like
“daddy” and “mommy,”
“me-maw,” and “bye-bye.”
The trips to Russia were
bittersweet in a way for the
Hughes. Of course, they
couldn’t wait to see Jesse but
at the orphanage they also
saw some deplorable condi-
tions.
The orphanage was locat-
Demo executive
committee to meet
The executive committee
of the Cleveland County
Democratic Party will meet
Monday, August 19 at 7
p.m. at Jackson's Cafeteria .
in Shelby.
The group will discuss the
September 10 primary and
elect the House, Senate, and
Judicial committees for the
November elections.
For more information call
Betsy Wells at 739-1585.
ed in an old building, with
many babies in each room
and no curtains on the win-
dows. In the afternoon,
babies were irritable because
of the hot sun shining
through the glass. They pro-
vided money to buy materi-
al for curtains, and older
girls who also lived at the
orphanage made curtains
that were hanging on the
windows when they made
their second trip in May.
“There were children there
from age one week to 17
years,” Jeff noted. “On their
17th birthday their care
ends. They say they try to
find them jobs or try to help
them get in school, but I
wonder.”
The cloth that was left
over from making the cur-
tains was used to make
clothes for some of the chil-
dren.
The Hughes, members of
their church, Bethany Baptist
in Grover, and friends and
neighbors also provided
over-the-counter medicine
for them to take back on
their second trip.
“You're not supposed to
take it,” Kim said, “but we
had medicine strategically
packed in every piece of our
clothing.”
Water was so scarce, they
said, that about 30 children,
took baths in the same tub of
water.
“The second time we went
over there Jesse had some
type of respiratory problem
and his fever was so high
and he was so sick,” Kim
said. “We doctored him for
three days and wondered if
we hadn't gotten him when
we did if he had died.
“We wondered if we
should talk to the translator
about getting him some
Hunt manager
of bank at mall
‘Robert L. Hunt has been
elected a
vice presi-
dent and
appointed
Managing
Officer of
the
Cleveland
Mall office
of Carolina
National
Bank.
Hunt is a
native of Lawndale. He is a
HUNT
ART ALIVE MINISTRIES
- Mr. Vince Tharpe
presents
“The Stone Rolled Away”
Sunday, August 18th
10:00am
at
. Resurrection
Lutheran Church
Don’t miss this
opportunity for you
and your children to
hear the story of
Jesus resurrection as
stroke by stroke the
scene unfolds by -
producing pictures
that seem to come.
alive with lights and
sound. The
community is
always welcome at
Resurrection.
600 Crescent Circle
Kings Mountain
704-739-5580
medicine, because we were
afraid that they might make
us come back home without
him. But we were so con-
cerned for him we did it
anyway. She contacted the
doctor and brought us some
medicine. When we left
Siberia it was the most won-
derful feeling you could
imagine.”
The area where Jesse lived
was very poor, Jeff noted.
His natural mother listed as
the reason for giving Jesse
up was that she was “not
able to financially provide
for him,” Kim said.
“It’s a real poor area,” said
Jeff. “It’s awful the way they
live. It’s like an old commu-
nist building with 15 fami-
lies on a hall sharing one
bathroom.”
It’s hard for the Hughes to
explain the feeling they had
when they first laid eyes on
their son. They had seen pic-
tures of him, and their pic-
tures were sent to the
orphanage in Russia. They
were told the agency tries to
match up children that look
like their adopted parents.
In this case, they did an
excellent job.
“To see him in person...it
kind of melted you,” Jeff
said. “But seeing the envi-
ronment they were in was
real sad. They did the best
they can but just knowing
how they lived was really
sad. It was hard to come
back home the first time.”
“We left knowing in our
hearts that we were leaving
our baby in Siberia,” Kim
added. “I had waited'm
whole life for the secon
when I would see my baby,
and we had to come home,
without him.”
Communicating with
adoption officials in Moscow
was easy because they had
translators, Jeff explained,
and he feels like that was
one reason the adoption
process went quicker than
expected. But communicat-
ing with people in Siberia
was tougher because 99% of
them did not speak English
and, of course, the Hughes
didn’t speak Russian.
They had to do a lot of
ointing for things the
Baia to buy,’ ed lat ight
stayed HERE HOt too
and lived on “cheese and
bread, Coca-Cola and
water,” Jeff said.
They had a TV, but it did-
n't do them any good
because all the programs
were in Russian. At their
hotel in Moscow, which was
located across the street
from Red Square, there were
plenty of programs such as
CNN broadcast in English,
and there were many
graduate of Burns High
School, the University of
North Carolina, the North
Carolina School of Banking,
and the East Carolina
University School of
Commercial Lending.
the 22-year veteran of the
banking industry is a resi-
dent of Grover. He and his
wife, Cathy, have four chil-
dren and attend First
Baptist Church. He is
President of Hearts and
Hooves, and is a member of
the Kiwanis of Shelby, the
Masons, Shriners, and the
Board of Review for the Boy
Scouts of America.
Carolina National Bank, a
branch of First National
Bank of Rocky Mount, VA,
has offices in Forest City,
McDonald's restaurants.
When they boarded the
plane this time, Kim said the
feeling was just the opposite
from the first trip. :
Stewardesses couldn't wait
to see the baby they’d heard
so much about on previous
flights.
“When we landed in New
York it was overwhelming,”
Kim said. “When we
touched the ground he was
an American citizen.
“When we landed in
Charlotte there were about
30 people waiting for us. It
had been 22 hours since we
left Russia and it was 54
hours when we finally went
to bed.”
The past three months
have been the most reward-
ing of their lives, and it gets
better every day, they said.
“I don’t know how we
ever lived without him,”
Kim says. “The adoption
process was chaotic at times
but you wouldn't go back
for anything.
“I know all kids love their
daddies and mommies, but
he has both of our undivid-
ed attention,” she added.
“He holds onto both of us.”
Each day, it seems, little
Jesse is learning something
new.
“He loves to do every-
thing but sleep,” says Jeff.
“It breaks his heart when he
has to go to bed.”
Asked what his dreams
are for his son, Jeff simply
said, “I want him to turn out
to be a good person, and be
happy.”
The Hughes are glad they
took the international adop-
tion route. They've often
heard about parents in
America adopting children,
and later have the natural
parents want them back.
They're confident that will
never be the case with Jesse.
The birth certificate that was
issued May 7 in Siberia lists
them as the natural parents.
Jeff says if they were
younger, they would consid-
er adopting another child.
They said they would defi-
nitely adopt Jesse's sister if
for some reason her natural
parents can’t keep her, and _
they hear about it.
“We'd go right back and
get her,” he said.
They would welcome the
opportunity for Jesse to
know his natural sister and
eventually, his parents.
“We definitely want him
to know that he’s adopted,
and when he’s old enough
we'll tell him everything.”
Kim said. “We also want
him to know that he was
chosen by God for us and
that he grew in our hearts.”
Bostic and Shelby.
Area students
make honors list
Area students were
recently named to honors
lists for the spring semester
at Limestone College in
Gaffney, SC.
Robin Mathis Scoggins of
Kings Mountain was named
to the dean's list. She :
earned a grad point average
of 4 on the college's 4.0
scale.
Pam Wylie Anderson of
Grover was named to the
honor roll. In order to make
the honor roll, students
must earn a grade point
average of 3.75 or higher.
ELECT CHARLIE HORN
DISTRICT COURT JUDGE
ASHE
Friday, August 27th, 2002
6PM at Jack & Ruby Hunt’s Cabin
74 West to Peachtree Road- Look for Signs
Tickets available at:
Coldwell Banker Horn & Associates
213 S. Dekalb Street, Shelby
103 W. King Street, Kings Mountain
Also Available the night of the Fish Fry
Paid for by the committee to elect Charlie Horn