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.

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.

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.

May You Be Safe

Here is a poem I heard and really liked.

May you be safe while you're waiting...

Author: Anonymous

May you be safe and sleep soundly through the night

May you be safe as you wake to the morning's light

May you feel my love from so far away,

May it comfort and protect you throughout each day.

I will pray for you my little one,

Until our time of waiting is done.

I will pray that the Lord keep you safe from harm,

Until the child of my heart becomes the child in my arms.

Thank you to Carrie

I was so excited yesterday about posting my first blog that I totally forgot to thank my good friend, Carrie, who spent lots of time designing this blog for me. I think she did a fantastic job and I can't begin to thank her enough for everything she did. She also has a beautiful little girl adopted from China and has been a huge support to me since I started this adoption.

Just a quick update. I received a little bit of a disappointment today. I originally thought that I would likely travel around the beginning of May. Unfortunately, adoptions in Russia are a little slower than normal this year due to the murder of a Russian born child by his American adoptive parents. What that means for me is that I most likely won't be able to meet the girls for several more months and possibly even into the fall. I keep hoping that things will go faster than that because I know they are getting older each day. Until I have them both home, I ask that everyone pray that they are healthy, happy and well-taken care of by their caretakers. I will let you know once I get another update.

How It All Started

Let me start off by saying that this is literally my very first time to blog. I have decided to start a blog as a way to keep family and friends updated about my adoption experience. Since I am not 100% sure what to say, I will just start off with my story. I have always known that one day I would adopt a child. I didn't know when I would do it, but I have always had the desire to. So about nine months ago I started to feel like maybe the time was right. I discussed it with my family and gave them time to warm up to the idea. I continued to bring up the idea until my family agreed that they too were excited about the prospect of having an adopted granddaughter/niece. Initally, my mom and I spent some time looking into domestic adoption and both eventually agreed that the right choice for me was international adoption. I guess it was around August when I really started researching different countries and adoption agencies. I was able to get the country search down to Russia or Kazakhstan fairly quickly but choosing an agency was much, much harder. I was in the final stages of picking the agency when I started talking with a good online friend of mine from the adoption community. She told me about her experiences and recommended Adoption Ark to me. She had such wonderful things to say about them that I felt I had to consider them. I spoke with one of the caseworkers and felt really good about them so I signed up and the process started. I initally decided to go to Kazakhstan because there was a waiting child there I was hoping to adopt. Prior to getting my paperwork in, she was adopted by another family and I decided to change to Russia. After many months of working on the paperwork, I finally submitted it all approximately one month ago. I was given an estimated wait time of 12-18 months. To my extreme surprise, I received my referral last week for two girls. It took a day or two before it all felt real. Not only was it a whole lot sooner than I expected but twins! I couldn't be more excited and can not wait until the day I get to meet them. I am currently spending my time preparing for a trip to Russia, taking care of things at home & work, and trying to learn a little russian. So, that is pretty much my story. I will try to keep everyone updated as I wait for my trip 1 travel dates.