No International Travel any time soon

Wow, it has been a while since I have blogged. I was hoping I would have some good news to post but there really isn't any GOOD news regarding the adoption.

We waited through the holidays and were told that our dossier was going to be submitted (again) on January 20th - last Tuesday. Well, instead we got some bad news from our agency. They told us that the Moscow City Department of Adoption (DOE) received a letter from the office of the prime minister asking them to drastically limit Amercan Adoption agencies working in their region. So essentially, our agency has been banned/kicked out of Moscow City.

This is all due to a tragic ending of a recently adopted boy's life. The little boy had been home for around 3 months when the father forgot to drop him off at day care and left him for 9 hours in his SUV in the sweltering heat. He recently went to trial and the Judge aquitted him. Russia saw this as a slap in the face and felt the father should have been punished. There were a lot of opinions expressed on the subject in the chat rooms. Some of those opinions were frowned upon by the Russian authorities.

http://loudounextra.washingtonpost.com/news/2008/dec/17/father-acquitted-manslaughter-sons-death-car/?local

The past week has been trying. We are trying to decide our next steps. Waiting it out is very hard. We also can clearly know now that our first referral is gone. We hope that she is adopted by a loving family. I took her picture off of our refrigerator this week as it is a constant reminder of our situation.

Please pray that adoptions in Russia continue- for the children and their forever families.

Spring Fever?

All this waiting makes me feel like it's late January/ February and I'm ready for winter to be over already. On one hand it is hard to believe Christmas is one week away - on the other hand time seems to be dragging waiting for news on our referral and travel dates.

There really isn't much news. We know that our dossier will be resubmitted on Monday December 22nd. We don't know what they will do after that. We could (probaby not) get a referral then or end up waiting several more weeks. Russia closes down for the holidays December 31st through January 11th. They should be open the 30th which means we have 2 more chances to hear some positive news before the end of the year.

I am almost ready for Christmas. I have some last minute shopping to do either today or over the weekend. Then of course a bunch of wrapping. I really don't enjoy wrapping gifts. I'm not sure why but I have never liked it. Connor has to see Santa yet. We are running a little late on that one but he will get his "order" in before Christmas.

"Is it Christmas yet?"

This is the question I seem to be getting every morning from Connor. He is just a little bit excited this year ;)

Here is a picture of Connor holding up a soft baby doll that we are taking to Russia for his little sister. This photo will also go into a photo album with pictures of us, our home, her room and the rest of our family. We will leave the album and the doll with her while we wait for our court date.

Hope?

Well, I feel more optimistic than I have in a while about things proceeding. Our agency feels that our dossier should be resubmitted the week of December 16th. We should receive a new referral or get our original referral the week of Christmas along with a travel date. Anything could happen but at least there is some positive news. It would be a great Christmas present that's for sure!

Moscow in January... BRRRRRRR! Hope so!

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.