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!