Finally some good news for the holidays

Afternoon all,

First, let me catch everyone up on the events of the past few weeks. We've suffered two losses in Greg's family (I'll spare everyone all the medical details).

First, on November 25th, his mom of 80 years of age, fell and broke her left leg in two different places. This put her in the same hospital as Greg's sister Annette who was battling cancer. Annette died the next morning. She was 58 and was laid to rest on November 29th.

The break on Greg's mom's leg didn't heal due to poor circulation and diabetes. On December 12th the decision was made to amputate her leg on the 17th. She passed away peacefully December 14th and was laid to rest on the 17th.

So, a little good news will go a long way!!!

And...we have it!

We have just received travel dates for our first trip to Moscow. We're departing January 23rd and returning January 31st.

Greg, Mary and Katie

Remember my Roller Coaster analogy?

Roller coasters are so much fun! All the twists and turns and those loops are killer! Throughout the ride people experience a wide range of emotions. Fear one moment can turn into moments of shear enjoyment the next. Everyone comes off of roller coasters with a wide smile on their face.

Well, our roller coaster ride continues...

So, we are indeed registered with Moscow. That's a huge step forward.

But...now they've once again closed their doors until January 2009.

This isn't so bad. We weren't really looking forward to trying to fit so much into December. Between the holidays, FRIENDS Christmas party, my niece graduating from college and other things going on in the family, it was almost going to be more than we could fit into the month.

At least now we can enjoy the holidays, rest up and be prepared for travel sometime in January.

That is, unless this roller coaster has more loops it wants to throw at us.

G, M and K.

We are registered!

So for everyone keeping up with what all is going on, you'll appreciate the irony of all this...

Just when we thought that nothing else would happen this year, and that it would be 2009 before anything would break loose...everything changes!

! We are now registered with the Ministry of Education
in the Moscow region of Russia !

We're being told that the Moscow region realized that they had room for two more families to be registered in their region by end of 2008. So as of Friday, 11/14/2008, we're registered there!

So, what does this mean? Our dossier is now in the hands of the Russian officials there in Moscow. Typically, once you are registered, you're looking at 3-6 weeks before you receive word that you are to travel to the region to meet the child they have matched you to.

We've been told, based upon recent turn around times, that could translate to us traveling to Moscow, for our first trip, either the week of December 7th or December 14th.

Of course the bummer would then be that because of the holidays we probably wouldn't get a court date until middle January at the earliest. Russian Christmas holidays are spread from late December to early January. Most of the country pretty much shuts down until 2nd week of January.

So, the roller coaster ride continues... At least now it's moving in the right direction...

G, M and K

Russia has called a timeout!

For those of you keeping up at home, you'll remember that several weeks ago we heard that Russia was in the midst of an 'internal audit' regarding adoptions. Turns out part of the outcome from that audit is the realization that they have adopted out too many children through international adoptions for 2008. So, they have 'closed their doors' to any additional adoptions for this year.

This includes any families:

• Making their first trip to meet with potential children
• Making their second trip to court

So, we'll cool our heels for a while.

bummer...

G, M and K

Update

Sorry it's been a few weeks since we updated the blog. Now that we have the FRIENDS Buddy Walk behind us, we can focus more on other things in life.

(For those of you that are interested, we raised over $24,000 at this year's BW. We estimate we had somewhere over 700 participants this year)

So, where are we on the adoption?

The day before the BW (10/3/2008) we got word about the potential for a referral from Saint Petersburg, Russia. There is a little boy who just turned two that meets our criteria. Carol with CSS asked us if we would like to pursue this potential referral. Of course the answer was an immediate "YES"...but...we knew there would be some hurdles to overcome.

So, what are the hurdles? Well, each region in Russia has the right to have a different set of paperwork requirements for parents adopting from Russia. Saint Petersburg (SP) has some 'unique' requirements. Some of them are:

1. Even though Mary and I have been through very thorough background checks by both the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation and the FBI...they also want the local sheriff's office to do a background check.

2. In addition to the photos we submitted with our original dossier, SP wants a notarized letter from our social worker stating that she had been to our home and that the photos presented with our dossier are indeed photos of our home. What's the reasoning behind that? Apparently the judge in SP has openly asked during previous adoptions "well, how do I know these photos are of this family's home? Maybe they broke into someone's home and took these pictures." (Writers at SNL couldn't make this stuff up...TOO FUNNY!)

But wait...there's more. This is the part that really 'fumes us'! Before we were allowed to proceed too far with this potential referral, we had to get special permission from the judge in SP. Previous families that have adopted from SP that have children with special needs have encountered resistance from the judge. We got word this week that the judge would have no issue with us as a family proceeding with an adoption in SP.

So...we sit and wait. We keep hoping each day that we'll get a call from Carol one morning and she'll have information for us. We've heard many good things about the orphanages in SP. Many people have told us that all children that come from SP are of exceptional health. Another advantage of getting a referral from SP is that we'll get some medical information regarding the child. I've already prepared Dr. Tasker on this...he's ready to pour over any and all information they give us to help us make an informed decision.

So...that's the update. More as it happens.

Greg, Mary and Katie

The rollercoaster ride continues

Ok, so it appears that we're back to the waiting game. The referral that was being filed in Tula wasn't for us. ;<

Tula currently doesn't have any children that meets our profile for a child. Apparently there are some that will eventually, but that will be 3 months from now. The children have to be 'in the system' for so many months before they can be adopted out.

We're also being told that Kaluga (pronounced Ka-lu-ga) has no referrals for us either.

So, we're back to Moscow.

The big Russian Federal Audit we've been hearing about is actually happening this week, so CSS staff in Moscow are focusing on that. That's on Thursday of this week (10/2/2008), so it will be early next week before they get back to working on finding referrals for waiting families.

What a ride!!!! ;>

G, M and K

This could be the week for a referral!!!

Things have been quiet for a while. I spoke with Carol of CSS week before last and she indicated that things may start moving this week. Here's what we know:

1. Carol with CSS has been checking the Tula region for us for a referral. She knows that a family recently tried finding a child similar to one we're desiring from Moscow and they had no luck.

2. Carol informed me that Svetlana of their Moscow office was going to Tula on business and that she would check with their orphanages for a child that matches our desired profile.

3. We have been in touch with a family who was in Tula last week with Svetlana. They know that Svetlana registered a dossier in that region for a family who was 'near the top of the list'. THAT COULD BE US!!!!

So, we may be putting too many stories/clues together and arriving at an incorrect assumption...but...this could be the week!

We will update everyone as we get information.

Greg, Mary and Katie.