I'm Thankful

I'm thankful for so much in my life. Everyone has their trials and hardships but I know that ones character is shaped by these and God leads us through.

We have this magnificent, beautiful child that came to us through adoption. It was a 7 year journey through infertility and the hurdles and uncertainty of international adoption but the blessings of Connor can't be expressed in words. He healed us from our heartache - God healed us.

I'm thankful for Connor's hugs and those out of the blue "I love you's".
I'm thankful for his smiles, laughter and silliness.
I'm thankful for those oh so kissable cheeks.
I'm thankful for his singing.
I'm thankful for his mischeivious-ness and grumpiness too!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Broken Record spinning round and round

OK, so you probably guessed from the title that we have no news on a new appointment date. It was the same reaction from the DOE in Russia - "come back next Tuesday". No info period. I wonder how long they can/will keep this up? I can think of a million catch phrases: Stuck in the middle; Falling into the abyss; Our hands are tied; Going around in circles; Now all the sudden I have that Howard Jones song in my head "no one is to blame". I really like that song but I don't want it to pertain to my life :) lol

We really hope to travel before Christmas to meet our daughter. For that to happen, we really need some positive news next week. We were joking that they will probably give us an appointment the week of Christmas just to spite us. It definitely wouldn't be ideal but we would work around it. We would have to call the north pole and ask Santa to come early to our house. :)

DAY 50 - we still haven't met her....

I wish I wouldn't have just counted the days but it has been 50 days since we received our referral. Another week has past with no good news. We are beginning to have our doubts that we will ever meet this referral. At this point we aren't even certain that we still have a referral.

This Tuesday our rep in Moscow provided, in writing, information on how our agency prepares adoptive families for Russian adoption. This was done per their request. They took the information and would not discuss anything else. They stated that next week they will talk about referrals and dossiers.

So, next Tuesday we are hoping to get some positive news. It is a helpless feeling not having any control over what happens. At this point we can only take things one day at a time.

Another Week

There isn't any news on the adoption this week. We hope we hear something positive on Tuesday. It is a helpless feeling when you have no control over what happens. So, we pray and we keep hoping.

One good thing that came out of our cancelled trip is that we were here for Halloween. Connor had a ball this year. He was Dash from the incredibles. We had almost 200 trick or treaters. It was a record. We love to count the kids each year.

So, as we wait, I am trying to keep occupied. This weekend I am going to move some stuff out of A's room. No, we don't have a name picked out for her yet. A is the beginning initial of her Russian first name. The closet in her room is a decent size walk-in. I have been using it to store all of the holiday decorations along with other stuff. For now, I will clear out a section. I wonder how long it will be before she claims the whole closet? Tween or before??

Two other things I want to do-- Learn the cyrillic alphabet and get a Russian phrase CD. I was thinking if she is almost 3 she should have more language development than Connor (Connor was 26 months when he came home). Kids pick up language so quickly. The sad thing is that they lose their first language more quickly than they learn their new language. So, a few phrases in Russian will be good to use especially in transition.

Well, I hope the next post will bring some good news....