About Us

I grew up in Amarillo, Texas. I am married with two beautiful daughters, Maggie and Rachel. Both of our daughters were adopted from Romania. God has revealed one of his greatest blessings to our family through international adoption and it is our passion to share these blessings with families around the world. Since the inception of this organization I have never considered my position here as a job, or work, but as an honor to serve all the Little Miracles families. I know that God has shown his purpose for me here, and has led the growth of Little Miracles, an organization that I consider a ministry to others.

I have always been fascinated by other cultures and countries and have put an extensive amount of time into research of religion, customs, geography of other people and places. I have dear friends around the world. I have a background in laboratory technology and paramedicine. Previously I worked in the non-profit management field for about nine years. I enjoyed the sector I worked in with teens coming from foreign countries on scholarships to enrich their education. I concentrated my work with the US Government program called Freedom Support Act and participated in the first ever Eastern European Students coming to the US after the fall of communism. These lucky students were carefully screened and tested and were the students that were at the top of their classes in high school and university. I was responsible for orientation, supervision, mediation, problem resolution and debriefing of all the students arriving from the former Soviet Union, living and departing from their American Adventure.

I participated and led some humanitarian missions numerous times in Mexico with other teams from different areas of the US. These missions had a haunting impact on my heart and brought me close to the compassionate heart of God . Always, as I held the poor, sick, malnourished, and hungry children, my thoughts would go back to Romania...Russia...and the former communist nations' oppressed children imprisoned in orphanages. I had previously seen the news documentaries about Romania in the early 90's and they had touched something deep inside of me. I would envision the precious contents that the understaffed, under financed and degenerating orphanages contained, inside the walls of peeling gray paint and crib lined rooms. A haunting self-rocking child in a semi-fetal position would appear and I would see this vision over and over. I would see children crying alone, without sound, without voices, without tears. I knew God was trying to tell me something!

I founded Little Miracles International in 1999 after our adoption of Maggie in December of 1998 who was 4 years old at adoption. We began to discuss not only helping with humanitarian aid, but to assist families to adopt. Little Miracles International was then licensed in the State of Texas. In December 2002 we adopted our second Romanian child, Rachel, then 10. In 2002 LMI assisted in the opening of the House of Angels in Romania, an Emergency Reception Shelter for children 0-3. From 2002-the first of 2004 we have seen 78 children find a permanent placement in Romania through our center, without the assistance of international adoption! We continue many humanitarian programs in other countries as well, and bring children to the US for medical treatment on medical visas.

Working with the LMI adoptive families and seeing their dreams realized, has been the most rewarding thing I’ve ever done in my lifetime. I cherish every moment of assisting families, through challenging times and happy endings!

Certified Texas Christian University Institute of Child Development, Trust-Based Relational Intervention Professional Training Program®

Please feel free to contact Lori if you have any questions about our agency or adoption!

"For this child I prayed, and the Lord hath granted me my petition which I asked of him"
~I Samuel 1:27~

I was born in Oklahoma, but lived in Wisconsin from the time I was five. As a young adult, I moved several times until I settled in Amarillo, Texas. I have one daughter, Meliea, who is married and four wonderful grandchildren, Mariah, Wesley, Alyson, and Jessica. I am the agency’s administrator. I also do home studies and post-adoptive reports for families, as well as review and approve all home studies completed for LMI families.

I graduated from West Texas A&M University with a Bachelor’s Degree in Social Work and from the University of Texas at Arlington with a Master’s in Social Work. I am a Licensed Child-Placing Agency Administrator, as well as a Licensed Clinical Social Worker. I have worked in the adoption field for a number of years, starting with domestic adoptions and foster care, before coming to work for Little Miracles with International Adoptions. I have been doing home studies, post adoption reports, and post-placement reports for the past 16 years. I also worked for several years in the Mental Health field. Prior to getting my Social Work degrees, I worked in the business world doing accounting. I am a TBRI practitioner and certified in Mental Health First Aid.

I am a firm believer in adoption as an alternative way to build a family. Whether in the domestic or international arena, there are children who need families and families who want to love and nurture children. I count myself blessed to be able to assist in the building of families through adoption. Our family has been blessed by the adoption of two children by my cousin and her husband – one as an infant through private domestic adoption and the second an older child adopted through foster care.

I am a member of the Alpha Nu Chapter, Phi Alpha Nu National Social Work Honor Society. I am a member of the Alpha Chi National Honor Society. I am actively involved in my church. I am, also, an advocate for local animal rescues. I enjoy spending free time with my grandchildren and supporting them in their academic and extracurricular activities.

My name is Nina Kalandadze, originally I am from Georgia which is one of the former USSR republics. We moved from Georgia in 2001, and spent two years in North Carolina before moving to Amarillo.

I have wonderful loving family. My husband works for School of Pharmacy at Texas Tech University. I have two beautiful children, a 12 year old son and a 7 year old daughter.

I graduated from Georgia State University in 1987 with a Bachelors degree in Georgian languages and literature and the Masters in Linguistics. Prior to moving to the US, I worked as a language instructor at Georgian Technical University in the department of Georgian and Russian Languages, Literature and Journalistic. I enjoyed my job very much because we had a different groups students: Georgian,Russian and foreign. We had students from different countries, different cultures and religions, so, there was so much excitement to work with them, and we had a lot of fun together.

Other than working at Little Miracles, I am also teaching Russian language at Amarillo College and volunteer at my son's school, teaching Russian. I also teach Russian to our LMI families ,who have already adopted Russian kids, or are in the process of adoption. It is a joy working with everyone and getting to know each family. We are having a lot of fun and anyone can join us. I think it is very important for adopted children when their Mama and Papa can understand and speak with their mother tongue if possible. Our biggest job and mission is to do everything to make them happy, so, anyone who needs any kind of consultation or help from me, please, feel free and call or email me.

My Job at Little Miracles is the Kazakhstan Program Director. I communicate daily with the Kazakhstan foreign team to prepare for our families arrivals and to coordinate the daily activities and paperwork.

Now I live so far from my country and I miss it very much, but I have found my place here. I have found wonderful people and I work in a very friendly and professional atmosphere, which is great. I love to do my best for this wonderful organization and I am confident that my previous experience, communication skills and my big love for children, will help our families make their dreams come true and also help our Little Miracles in finding their new loving families.

God bless us!!!

I have had the joy of working with families from start to finish through adoption since 2004. Each and every family teaches me something new about life, and reminds me why this job means so very much to me! I have telecommuted from Chicago to the LMI office in Texas all these years....still no Texas accent!

My husband and I adopted our daughter, Haley, from Kazakhstan in 2003 (adding a son, Mitchell soon after). Immersed in the Kazakh culture for nearly a month, every bit of that trip was life-changing for me. A little boy approached me at the orphanage, and asked if I would be his Mama. That one question.....game changer! So many children wanted what my new little girl was getting: a family. I settled into motherhood, and changed course from paralegal to adoption coordination and education.

Haley is now 12, and Mitchell is 9. They are our lights and our hearts. Neither of my adoption journeys was predictable so my goal is getting you ready for different scenarios as you work toward your child. Based on all of this, I am able to tell you with certainty that the right child will come to your family. Keeping the faith is important. I want to help your family see and enjoy the light at the end of the tunnel!

Greetings!

I attended university in Romania and studied Foreign Languages, International Relations and European studies. I'm fluent in Romanian, French and English. I am currently the president of a Real Estate Company in Bucharest and the founder of the House of Angels Emergency Shelter which is the temporary home of 45-50 children from the age of 0-3 in Dambovita County Romania.

Being born and raised in Romania I have known the hard reality and economic deprivation of Romania orphans for the past twenty years.

I decided to start this project after I first visited a local Romanian orphanage five years ago. I remember the dirty bedrooms with no curtains on the windows, and sad children waiting for the dinner bell to ring. No smile on their faces, no joy in their life. I felt a tiny hand grasping my leg and when I looked down I saw a little boy with his big green eyes wide open saying: “Will you be my mommy, please! I promise I’ll be a very good child.” Any further words need not be said.

Without a doubt, the single greatest cause of the high orphan rate across Eastern Europe today is financial hardship. Far deeper than any financial woes families are used to in the West, the collapse of Communism in Eastern Europe, and the entire economic structure upon which it was built, has left large segments of East Europe’s population totally destitute. It is from this segment of society’s most poor, where starvation, poor health and no proper housing are common, that most orphans come from.

Cara Bella currently raises funds along with LMI for continuing its unique project, “HOUSE OF ANGELS” aimed at repatriating economically deprived children who have been abandoned in hospitals due to their family’s financial hardship back with their loving families or to find a permanent placement for the child in qualified foster homes run by the state government. As adoptions have ceased in Romania, our project is more important than ever.

Despite an outpouring of worldwide humanitarian efforts to salvage the situation, there are few Romanian-based government and private programs directed at improving the plight of these lost children. Foreign programs, funded with charitable dollars and operating against incredible odds, are losing steam. The children’s plight still draws a trickle of foreigners trying to help Romania’s forgotten children to reduce their suffering as much as possible.

We accept financial donations through Little Miracles International, and they are necessary for our daily work with needy children in Romania. We depend on monthly sponsors for everything we do here.

At all times our children always come first. Their health their happiness and every aspect of their well being. When we have done both of all these successfully, then we know we have done the Lord’s work and our mission, for a brief moment, is complete.

If you can find it in your heart in any small way to assist us with a monetary love gift for the House of Angels, please use the button below.

I was born and raised in Maplewood, NJ but spent most of my adult life moving every few years as a military spouse. My last move to Mid-coast, Maine from Heidelberg, Germany in 2010 has proven to be a lasting one. Since 2004 I have worked with families living abroad, helping them navigate through the home study process. I am a graduate of Syracuse University with a B.S. in Producing for Electronic Media. I have two grown children; a daughter in Cambridge, MA and a son in Northport, ME. For fun, I enjoy the increasingly popular winter Olympic sport of curling.

I am an Adoption Social Worker living in Rome, Italy. I earned a Bachelor of Social Work from the University of Cincinnati in 1998, a Master of Science in Social Work from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1999, and a Juris Doctor from Brooklyn Law School in 2005. Admitted to practice law in New York and Ohio, my career has centered around advocacy and social services. Since 2017, I have been working in adoption, providing home studies and post-adoption services to families living abroad. This work is particularly meaningful to me as I adopted a little boy, Teddy (5), from Ethiopia in early 2018. With a first-hand understanding of the adoption journey, I am passionate about assisting others in pursuing their adoptive dreams.

I grew up near Dallas, Texas. I am married with two daughters, one in college and one in high school. I have always loved adoption. My mom, aunt, and cousin are all adopted so it was a very natural topic in our family. I have a Bachelor’s Degree in Social Work from the University of North Texas and a Master’s Degree in Social Work from the University of Texas in Arlington. Prior to working in the area of adoption, I worked with hospice patients and also taught Social Work courses at the college level. I always knew adoption was calling me, and I began working in the adoption field in 2003. I love working with adoptive families throughout their adoption journeys and seeing them grow after they bring their children home. My work experience includes completing home studies and post placement studies for domestic and international adoption, writing and presenting education courses for adoptive families and professionals in the field, and working with birth parents and developing agency programs. Working with families through their adoptions is an honor and joy.

Kristen graduated from Abilene Christian University with a Bachelor of Science in Education in 1999. She earned her Master’s Degree in Education from Southwest Texas State University in 2001. Kristen taught school for 6 years and thoroughly enjoyed the experience. While teaching, she mainly worked with underprivileged children and grew to love them dearly. Kristen has worked in the adoption field since 2004. She has experience with counseling birthmothers and with completing home studies for domestic and international adoption. Kristen and her husband have 3 children; Ben, Hannah, and Emily.

I was fortunate to be exposed to the world from a young age. My father’s work trips throughout the USA and the world were a ‘unique’ and rather special part of my upbringing. It ignited in me a love of travel, learning about other countries, people, customs and lifestyles. After attending George Washington University for my Bachelors of Arts and Temple University for my Masters of Social Work (MSW), I began working in the field of social work, more specifically, with children and families. Soon after, I married my Dutch husband and we moved to the Netherlands in 1998 to begin our lives together. Our son, Jordan, was born in 1998 in the Netherlands. Having worked in an adoption agency when I was in college, I was aware and curious about adding a child to our family through adoption. In December 2000, our daughter, Maya, born in Kazakhstan, joined our family at the age of 8 months old. Living in Amsterdam, the Netherlands at the time we adopted our daughter, brought unique challenges to our situation, however, the amazing experience of adding to our family through adoption caused me to want to help others, who wished to do the same in building their families through adoption. Thus began my work with families living abroad who wished to adopt children internationally and domestically from the USA.

Since 2000, I have been working with US citizens residing abroad, who wish to adopt children domestically from the USA and internationally from various countries around the world. I have been privileged to travel to over 60 countries on six continents, visiting prospective adoptive families and adopted children. Assisting adoptive families throughout the adoption process, providing information, education, connecting adoptive families abroad with other prospective adoptive families abroad, providing home study and post adoption services and ongoing support throughout the adoption process and beyond are just some of the services I so enjoy providing to families residing abroad. My most important goal is and always will be to ensure that prospective adoptive families are well prepared for adding an adopted child to their family and feel supported throughout and beyond their adoption process as well as to ensure that adopted children are being provided the best possible care and love that they deserve in their forever families.