Photos by Bi ll Hansen

The cake honoring Marh's
heroes: Batman and Robin.

Mark Siegel
celebrates his first
birthday ever.

- --mew

"4041110-w 441, -4P,.....40tr:4*.*

LONNY GOLDSMITH
Staff Writer

1ff ark Siegel never knew
what it was like to have
a birthday cake, let
alone blow out the can-
dles.
Born in Moscow, he was placed in
an orphanage at 18 months when the

Mark gm a hugfrom parents
Kent and Judy Siegel

5/15
1998

8

state terminated his mother's parental
rights.
When Kent and Judy Siegel chose
to adopt him, he was one month shy
of his fourth birthday, the age at
which he would no longer be eligible
for adoption.
Two days before his fifth birthday,
last Sunday, his parents threw him the
first birthday party he'd ever had.

"It took him a while to warm up to
the idea that the party was for him,"
Kent said. "He wanted the party, but
it took him a while to get used to
everyone descending on him."
The Siegels arrived home with
their son, whose name was changed
to Mark when he was adopted, on
July 26, 1997. He was welcomed at
the airport by his new sister, Terri

Stearn, and her husband, Todd, and
three couples who are family friends.
They came home to a surprise party
thrown by 70 friends and family.
Adopting Mark was an arduous
process. The Siegels keep a three-
inch-thick binder of the paperwork
they completed to qualify for the
adoption. It includes everything from
the transcript to the exhausting eight-
hour home study that was done, to a
receipt from the updated rabies vacci-
nation on their cats.
"We were told to do everything
ourselves and keep everything orga-
nized," said Kent. "This became a
full-time job for three months."
Before he was to be picked up,
Mark knew exactly what was going to
happen.
"He was given our wedding picture
so he knew we would be his parents,"
Judy said. "They were supposed to
give it to him 24 hours before we
came to get him, but they showed
him six weeks before."
The six weeks were an eternity for
Mark, who watched his friends get
adopted and leave him. Judy said, "We
were told he was crying to them, 'Tell
my mom and dad to come get me.'"
The orphanage, which is in Yoskar
Ola, in the Russian province of Mari-
el, was an 18-hour train ride from
Moscow. Neither Kent nor Judy slept
on the overnight ride.
"We decided that if he wasn't per-
fect in every way, we would turn
around and go home," she said.
When Kent and Judy walked in,
Mark saw them and ran to them with

c/x