Abigail Warren ’16 | Staff Writer

While most kids were worrying about if they colored inside the lines or not, at age 7 Lana Temrowski ‘16 dealt with a move into a whole new life, country and family.

She stayed at the Volodarka Orphanage and Boarding School located in her hometown Kiev, Ukraine before she was adopted,Temrowski said. Her biological parents were not financially capable of raising another child, so putting Temrowski up for adoption was their only other option.  Aside from her biological parents, she also has four biological brothers.

“I fully understand and appreciate why they put me up for adoption,” Temrowski said. “It was for the best in the long run.”

On Apr. 26, 2005,Temrowski was adopted when she was 7 years old by Julie and and Dan Temrowski, a Grosse Pointe couple.They have two biological boys of their own Matt and Mike, Lana said.

“Mr.Temrowski and I decided to adopt after eight years of discussing this. We had fertility issues and were blessed with two twin boys, and I still felt that we were missing something in our family,” Julie said.

Lana adapted to the United States quite well, Julie Temrowski said. The most challenging thing for the Temrowski’s was that Lana spoke only Russian and a bit of Spanish at first, but nothing could change their love for Lana.

“We all immediately loved her,” Julie said.  “God sent her to us and completed our family.”

Last year at South, Temrowski met a foreign exchange student named Dasha Verevkina who transferred for the year from Ukraine. Verevkina introduced Temrowski to a Ukrainian social network site. Temrowski was hoping to find some of her siblings or parents and ended up finding two of her four brothers.

Shortly after they messaged one another, they planned to Skype, but Temrowski said she had no idea what to expect.

“The first time I Skyped my brother, I was a nervous wreck,” Lana said. “I was all giggly, and my hands were sweating. I was so happy. It was an amazing experience to finally talk to my brother.”

Lana  was only able to have two Skype sessions with her family due to timezone difficulties. She talked with her brother and her grandmother. The conversation with her grandmother was much more serious than the one with her brother. Her grandmother was very apologetic and sorry for giving Lana Temrowski up for adoption, but he was also told some tragic news.

[quote_center]“I found out my father died,” Lana said.[/quote_center]

Temrowski said that despite the utter shock of hearing the news, she found a way to cope with it.

After talking to her biological family, Lana said she  has a great desire to someday meet them in person. She knows they gave her up for good reason, and does not hold that against them whatsoever.

From the years being in the United States, Lana has grown as a person in many ways, Julie said. For some children, adoptions can have a negative  impact on their livelihood as they grow up.  But for Lana, the adoption made her the person she is today.

“I believe with everything in me that Lana is one of the strongest young women anyone will ever meet,” Julie said. “Living in an orphanage until age seven, being adopted, brought to America, not understanding where she was going, or really who we were, has made her who she is today.”

Aside from her family, many have grown close to  Lana here in the U.S. Her boyfriend, Jack Wittwer ‘16, said he  sees both positive and negative effects of the adoption on Lana Temrowski.

“It goes without saying that everyone who has been adopted feels pain now and then, especially when you’re like Lana and not super young like most children who are put up for adoption,” Wittwer said. “Lana was 7 years old, so she still has vivid memories of her home country.”

Wittwer also admires the beautiful and strong woman Lana has become through this adoption, he said.

He said, “She’s one of a kind.”