New daughter fulfills O’Fallon pair’s prophesy

BY BOB BLANCHARD Special to the Post-Dispatch

O’FALLON — Katerina Nicole, the cheerful, bouncing 13-month-old daughter of Jim and Patti Borgren, is considered a shining example of a successful international adoption.

Born three months premature in Russia on Jan. 4, 1998 - the very day the Borgrens submitted an application to the adoption agency - ‘Kat’ arrived in the United States in November and has fit in well with the family, including her new brother, Zach, 13, and new sister, Mandi, 10.

Her new parents believe Kat is also a fortune-cookie-prophesy-come-true story. A month before Kat’s birth, they were given a fortune cookie with a message that reads, “You will win success in whatever you adopt”. They have saved the little message.

The Borgrens report she has become thoroughly Americanized, even to the extent of being a fan of the Teletubbies. The Borgrens changed her name slightly, from Ekaterna Nickolvena to Katerina Nicole.

Patti Borgren, who spent three weeks in Russia arranging to bring Kat to the United States, said she bonded with her at the orphanage where she had been left at birth. Under Russian law, there is a 10-day waiting period to allow adoptive parents an opportunity to change their mind.

But Borgren knew immediately when she saw Kat that she would bring her home.

“The orphanage was very clean, and the kids are healthy, loved and well taken care of,” she said. “My agency made it a wonderful experience. I really love the Russian people - they are very proud, very polite. Unfortunately, their economy is so bad, they have to put infants up for adoption.”

She said that what she saw was a sharp contrast to some television news magazine shows depicting dismal conditions and unhealthy children in foreign orphanages.