Masha immediately embraced the chance at a new life, declaring upon first her meeting her adoptive parents that she liked sausage, hated fish and wanted to go to school. The Muzzeys would happily comply with all three demands. “Masha was sweet and lovable from the first moment,” Muzzey says. 

So after two trips ― both hampered and expedited by Covid restrictions ― the Muzzeys brought Masha and Stella home to Florida in 2020. The couple quickly got to work on their new daughters’ medical care, especially Stella’s. She desperately needed a G-tube for feeding, but the local hospital refused; Covid, they insisted, was too dangerous.