July 29, 2007

I received the Family Fun magazine yesterday. There are so many creative and fun things to do with kids online and in their magazine. And no, I don't have anything to do with the company! There are a ton of ideas and crafts, I just can't wait to start buying things and creating their playroom and bedrooms. But my hubby won't let me start decorating, painting or anything until we meet them. I totally understand it but I'm definitely not a patient person and this is killing me!

July 26, 2007

To answer my cousin Monica regarding Americans not being allowed to adopt Russian children: As of May 2006, the Russian government decided to implement a non-expiring accreditation for agencies working in Russia. To complete this process, the first step is to register with the Ministry of Justice. This must be completed by all agencies in order to continue their work in Russia. There are 115 agencies awaiting reaccreditation.
Once our agency has permanent reaccreditation, we'll be registered in Kemerovo and will await matching.
Hopefully, this will happen very soon.
Our dossier is in the translation stage right now - it takes them ~2 months to translate the documents and it will become a 500-700 page dossier.

July 24, 2007

I have been reading what everyone else is doing (see my blog roll) just waiting for our turn so there's not a whole lot to say. We know that God has a plan for us so we're just kicking back waiting to see what's going to happen.
The first thing that has to happen is that CHI needs to get their permanent accreditation. They are well on their way, but these things take time. THEN, we'll be matched up with a sibling pair.

So we wait. Patiently.

Here are answers to the questions we get most often:

1. Why Russia? Jim's mother was from Russia and Jim has a Russian Language degree from UT so we feel a special bond with the country and its people.

2. How long does it take? We really don't know. The average wait is around 8-12 months, depending on if you want a girl or a boy. In our case, we've requested 2 siblings under four years old so it really just depends on who's available at the time our dossier is registered.

3. How much does it cost? A lot! But we know the value of a family is priceless so we're willing to make some sacrifices to make this happen.

4. Will the children be biological siblings? Yes.

5. Why 2 children? Because we didn't want an only child.

Feel free to ask more questions - I'll answer as best I can!

July 20, 2007

Here are some pics of my four-legged and flying children... Hope to have some two-legged running around here soon!

Our Path to Parenthood

We have begun the long journey of International Adoption.
Our dossier officially went to Russia on June 11, 2007.

I'm starting this blog to document our thoughts and feelings during this process... It's just the beginning!