At the time of Kendyl’s first birthday Feb. 13 in Manahawkin, her parents, Andrii and Mallory Gladish Shtibel, knew the Russians were lined up on the border of his home country, Ukraine. They were “worried” but not expecting what was to come. On Feb. 24, Mallory lingered awake, watching the U.N. General Assembly meeting after everyone had gone to sleep. Putin gave the order to start bombing Kyiv.

“I woke him up,” Mallory recalled. “I was like ‘wake up; it’s happening.’”