Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Russian Meeting Tomorrow

Tomorrow is the scheduled day for the meeting between the US representatives and Russian authorities. I have to admit that I have been feeling very nervous and uneasy today. I worked with a group of single women this week helping to collect Russian single parent adoption stories to send to the Russian representatives. I hope that these stories show them that most single mothers would never do anything to hurt or abandon their children. We received some wonderful and very uplifting stories that certainly will make a difference. Due to the fact that Ms Hanson, the woman who "returned" her son to Russia, was a single parent, many regions have been closing to single parents or delaying court dates until after this meeting tomorrow. I hope and pray that all goes well and that realistic and appropriate changes can be made to the process. I do feel strongly that God will open doors for me to find the child that is meant to be mine, but I certainly hope that these two beautiful little girls are the ones. My heart will be broken for myself, other adoptive families and especially the Russian children if this meeting doesn't go well.

On another note, I will be running in my 3rd Half-marathon this weekend. My training has not be very consistent but I am still hoping to finish in a reasonably decent time. I am looking forward to the race and would strongly encourage anyone who has ever thought of running one to try it. It really is a lot of fun! Things have been extremely hectic at work because we had a big computer upgrade two weeks ago and then I had to go to a management seminar for three days last week. This is the first week in a while that has been somewhat calm and I am certainly enjoying the "catch-up" time.

I will post again once I hear something about what happened at the meeting.

Thursday, April 15, 2010

Recent Events in Russia

I have received several emails and phone calls from friends/family about the recent events happening in Russia so I would like to update everyone as to my status. Last week an American woman sent her adopted Russian son back to Russia alone with a note stating that he had problems and she no longer wanted to parent him. As would be expected, this woman's actions have greatly upset Russia and the US adoption community. There have been several reports that Americans will no longer be allowed to adopt from Russia or that adoptions are on "hold". As of this moment, these reports are not true. Next week there will be a meeting between the US and Russia representatives to try to address concerns and come up with an agreement as to how adoptions should be handled. I sincerely hope that an agreement can be reached and adoptions can proceed. Please keep me, the girls (plus all other Russian orphans), and all the other families currently adopting from Russia in your prayers. Until the meeting occurs, no one is really sure what the future holds for Russian adoptions. I pray that I will have good news to share with you all in the coming weeks.

Wednesday, April 7, 2010

Update on Trip 1

I just wanted to give everyone a quick update because everyone keeps asking me if I know anything about my travel dates. I spoke with my caseworker this week and she informed me that Russia has my estimated travel date as September. While I am certainly hoping the trip comes sooner than that, most likely I will not travel until then. Please continue to keep the girls in your prayers and pray that my trip 1 date will come sooner. I will keep everyone updated if I get any new news.