Nancy’s labor pains were harsh and long, close to seven years, in fact. Conceived by Ukrainian parents, her two adopted children, Alyona and Alec, began their rebirth six years later in an American city near the East Coast shoreline.

Healing Emotional Wounds-A Story of Overcoming the Long Hard Road to Recovery from Abuse and Abandonment is a compelling chronicle of metamorphosis that gives testament to the power of love, encouragement, and resolve over the desperate circumstances of abuse, neglect, and abandonment. This unvarnished story recounts the tumultuous road to recovery of two six-year-olds adopted from Ukraine and takes the reader through a mosaic of emotions from anger and frustration to laughter and bewilderment.

This action-packed drama of the family’s first seven years reads like fiction, but it’s real. The high-stakes adventure is replete with volatile behaviors, love, intrigue, sadness, police intervention, unwavering faith, doggedness, emotional fluctuations, and humor. Three main characters emerge, along with a large supporting cast of friends, family, neighbors, and community: 1) Alec, born prematurely to a substance-abusing mother, who spent the early part of his life swathed in a blanket cocoon almost devoid of human touch; 2) Alyona, found on the streets at age four or five and returned to the orphanage by her Italian adoptive family after only six weeks due to her aggressive behavior; 3) Nancy, a single, early fiftyish professional who feels called to adopt these children. The antagonist in this saga is the history of abuse and abandonment, but the real heroes are the children, who emerge from the abyss of hopelessness to live lives of confidence, love, and expectation.

Healing Emotional Wounds-A Story of Overcoming the Long Hard Road to Recovery from Abuse and Abandonment affirms the hope of healing through commitment, hard work, extensive family and friend support, a “never quit” attitude, and an unyielding resilience and focus.