Trevor Littleton, pastor of First Church of Christ in Painesville, Ohio, has been reunited with one surrogate daughter who had been living in Ukraine. The whereabouts of his other surrogate daughter are still unknown.
Littleton and his wife share nine children, five of whom were adopted or surrogates from Ukraine. When news of the Russian invasion of Ukraine broke, Littleton immediately thought about his daughters Dasha, 20, and Nastya, 26.
“We know the places that are being bombed. We’ve eaten there. We’ve slept there. We’ve been with children who are there. The orphanage that the children grew up in was destroyed last week. We discovered that,” Littleton told Fox 8 News. Later, Littleton discovered that the man who helped them adopt their children was killed while defending his home.
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Earlier this month, Littleton told his daughter Dasha to flee to the Poland/Ukraine border and that he would be there to personally meet her.
“I was afraid she might not do it. I was afraid she wouldn’t have the courage, because it’s terrifying,” Littleton told WOIO. “But I promised her, get to the border, I will meet you there. I will get you. You will see me personally. I will get a plane, I will fly over, I will meet you there.”
After what was presumably an anxiety-filled detour to Arkansas to expedite the renewal of an expired passport, Littleton fulfilled his promise. He met Dasha at the border, where she had received safe harbor through the facilitation of a network of U.S. based churches and missionaries.
When Littleton and his wife first met Dasha, she was 16 years old and they were not able to formally adopt her. Nevertheless, they consider her to be their daughter and talk nearly every day.
“I’m thankful she’s very safe now,” Littleton said.
Despite his joy at reuniting with Dasha, Littleton is still gravely concerned about his other surrogate daughter who was in Ukraine when Russia invaded. The last time Littleton and his wife heard from Nastya was over two weeks ago.
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