Meet
Majken Celine,
Kian Levi,
Esperanza Jaquinta, and
Alexei Vasily.
Kian and
Majken are 7-year-old boy/girl twins from Sweden.
Majken was born with a congenital heart defect, and had a heart transplant when she was 3 weeks old.
Kian is very protective of his sister, and feels as if he is her guardian. Their mother was a single mother who decided to place them for adoption as soon as they were healthy enough to leave the hospital because she realized she had neither the financial nor the emotional resources to care for them. They are both Christians, though Majkan is a devout believer while
Kian believes in both science (for example, that the theory of evolution ties in historically with the Bible) and Christianity. They are both very intelligent, but
Majken is very creative and artistically-oriented, while
Kian is inventive and mathematically and scientifically inclined. They both speak English and Swedish.
Esperanza is a 9-year-old girl from Spain. Her mother grew up in a poor, rural area of Spain and used alcohol and drugs while pregnant with
Esperanza. As a result,
Esperanza has some learning disabilities, like dyslexia and ADHD. However, she is still a bright and happy girl, and is fully capable of keeping up intellectually with her siblings. She is agnostic and looking into Christianity, which
Majken is more than happy to teach her about. Her mother died in a car crash when she was five, and her father got shot to death when she was three. She is exuberant and naturally curious, and like
Kian, loves working with her hands, and like
Majken, loves to create art as well as dance. She speaks Spanish and English, though she cannot read or write either. Her talents are more kinesthetic.
Alexei is an 8-year-old boy from Russia. He was born deaf, and his parents didn't want to raise a disabled child because they felt it would be too much of an imposition on them. He is highly intelligent and loves to read, and is very introverted and introspective. He is very advanced in math and wants to be a physicist someday. He is also a
Christian, with beliefs much like
Kian's. He cannot speak, but can knows Russian Sign Language, American Sign Language, and can write in both Russian and a English. He is learning to read lips, but much prefers signing or written communication.
They are all very excited to meet their new family! Please keep me informed on how they are doing and how
Laia is coping with raising five children on her own.