A Garage Sale in Bristow for a Little Girl in Russia

There is nothing out of the ordinary about the stereo systems, clothes, dishes and lamps that Kyle and Bethany Balsis of Bristow hope to sell at their garage sale this weekend. But what they plan to do with the proceeds is help cover the costs of adopting a young girl with Down syndrome from Russia.

The couple's main reason for adopting a child with the chromosomal anomaly is equally surprising. They already have one. Since the younger of their two children, Peyton, was born with Down syndrome 2 1/2 years ago, the couple have considered her a blessing, saying she has changed their perspective on what is important in life.

"There are other things out there besides a job and material things," said Kyle, 34, of what his daughter has taught him.

Bethany, 33, described her daughter as "very outgoing," recalling a recent family outing to Chili's. Peyton stopped by every table she passed on the way out to wave and say hi.

"She does stuff like that all the time," Bethany said.

Before Peyton was born, Bethany said, the couple had planned to have three children. But she got interested in international adoption after reading on the Internet about the treatment of children with Down syndrome elsewhere in the world.

In Russia, Bethany said, they are often abandoned at birth because society does not accept them. If not adopted by age 4, she said, many end up in institutions.

"It's stuff like that that makes you want to do your part, no matter how small it might seem," Bethany said.

She and her husband soon decided to help one of those children and began the adoption process in May.

The couple plans to file the paperwork in a few weeks, then travel to Russia in late September or October to meet the child they are paired with. They will return to Russia for the official transfer of custody. They said they hope to have the child, whom they plan to name Addison, home by Christmas.

The process is not cheap. The adoption agency will waive its fees because the Balsises are adopting a child with special needs, but they have to pay the Russian agency and cover the costs for food, travel and interpretation. Kyle estimates that the whole process will cost them close to $20,000.

"At the end of the day, it's all worth it if you can get a child out of where they shouldn't be and get them in a home," he said.