Whewwww..

Well we've completed our psychiatrist evaluation test. Wow, 567 questions. All I'll say is that in the end...we are "normal", but I wouldn't wish this test on anybody. Enough said.
We still have not heard of anything from our agency. I'm keeping my fingers crossed it's soon.
In the meantime we had a fabulous dinner party here last week with my wonderful neighbors. We do a monthly rotating dinner and September was our turn. My friend, Rosemary, graciously gave me 8 lbs. of fresh Alaskan salmon she had just caught fishing in Alaska. Beyond kind! Thank you, Rosemary! And, of course my neighbors are the best. So supportive and kind, as well. We all had a wonderful time.

Waiting Longer

Well, I received an update from our adoption agency rep. Sadly, she said their coordinator in Russia said there are no toddlers available at this time. I am so bummed. This means an even longer wait than I was expecting. Actually, I don't know why I thought we would get a referral so quickly--I just did. I had a great feeling about it. Boy was I wrong. Sooo our wait now becomes 3, 6 or even 9 months until we hear of a referral. I really hope it won't take longer than that because after the first trip there's still the 4 - 6 month wait again before we go back to bring her home on trip 2.

What else do you do while you wait...

You go to Disneyland, of course.  Well...my sister and her husband had recently decided to take their little boy (my nephew Ryan) to Disney for his 8th birthday.  We decided to tag along.  And what better way to practice becoming parents.  Although he is a bit older than a toddler, he still cannot independently do as he pleases.  Needs to be entertained and watched over to a degree.  We all had a great time. Ryan was a champ and went on practically all the rides.  And a big shout out goes to my sister for FINALLY being brave enough to also go on most of the rides.  Yea sis!  It was a quick weekend but a good one.  Hopefully next time we go, we'll be able to bring "our daughter" with us.  No information to update on the adoption, although I do have a call in to our adoption agency rep. I'll just leave with a few pictures of the weekend.



Ryan LOVED his Birthday balloon hat!


3D glasses for the new Toy Story ride

Welcome To Our 1st Blog

In addition to keeping in touch with many of those we don't see on a regular basis, we also thought we would start this blog as a keepsake for our daughter.  She'll have a chronological, emotional and factual account of our journey to her.

As we've discovered over the months, an adoption is a bit more complicated than we originally thought.  Frightening at times because we have no control over it  (especially now with tensions between our countries mounting).  Russia changes its requirements almost daily it seems when it comes to the requirements of paperwork (ok, a bit of an exaggeration but you get the point). Everyone's experience there seems to be somewhat different, but nonetheless they seem to find new paperwork that needs to be done or documents that need to be updated or changed.  Those not familiar with an adoption from Russia, well...it kinda goes like this... our preference is for a girl between the ages of 2 and 4.  We would also accept siblings between the ages of 2 and 5.  With Russian adoptions there are two trips required.  Our first trip will take place when we receive "The Call" (a referral).  We will only have 3-4 weeks notice before we travel to meet her.  If all goes "ok" medically, we sign the petition of acceptance and fly home to wait for the judge to petition us to come back to court (meanwhile filling out more paperwork).  In our region, it typically takes 3 - 6 months after we arrive home from Trip 1.  Then after receiving the next call, we fly back (this time 2 - 3 weeks notice) to appear in front of a judge.  We get drilled with questions then wait for his approval.  If granted, there is a 10-day waiting period before we can take the child out of the orphanage.  However, we can visit her daily at the orphanage.  THEN, we finally get to pick her up and fly to Moscow for a few days in order to go to the US Embassy for her passport and visa to fly home.  Whew! There it is in a nutshell!