Grande Ronde Hospital | Life & Health | Spring 2019

A JOURNAL DEVOTED TO HEALTHFUL LIVING —Continued on page 2 SPRING 2019 When OB-GYN Dawn Knight, MD, and Ram Tanguturi met and then married 16 years ago, they shared a bond over ministry in third-world countries. Together they spent time working with orphanages in Cambodia and in India—Ram’s home country. As Christians, they believed God’s purpose for their family was always going to be international adoption. They just didn’t know it would be another 15 years before it happened. Over the course of their marriage, Ram and Dawn have accomplished much as individuals and as a couple, but last year, they became parents. “People ask, “why now?” And I say, it was always our plan, but the timing was His,” Dawn explains. The couple wanted an older child with minor disabilities and chose China to start searching for adoptable children that met that profile. Dawn explains that China has a very advanced adoption program, which makes it one of the easier countries to work through the extensive process. International adoption in some foreign countries can take many years. “Ram and I both prayed a lot and—interestingly—we had both had dreams about her. I didn’t see her face, but I saw her walking toward me in my dream. We both knew Kristina was the one we had dreamed of when we saw her profile,” says Dawn. On March 12, 2018, after months of working with the Chinese system, the couple finalized adoption papers in China to bring 13-year-old Kristina home to La Grande. Dawn believes the timing was purposeful, and whatever life lessons the three of them needed to learn to bring them to that moment were all part of God’s plan. “Kristina’s birthday is in April. If we had been three weeks later, her ability for adoption would have ‘timed out’ and we would have had to start over. In China, when a child reaches 14 and is still in foster care, that child is no longer available for adoption,” Dawn explains. In Kristina’s case, she had been in the same foster home for 12 years. As is the custom with foster children who reach the age of 14, Kristina would have been removed from that Dawn and Ram with Kristina (center) having fun and getting to know each other at a safari park in southern China while awaiting finalization of the adoption process in March 2018. And Kristina makes three OB-GYN celebrates Mother’s Day with reflections on her family’s international adoption