For your viewing pleasure

Since I began doing all of my research on agencies, countries and results, I've found so many wonderful people who have been incredibly eager to share their stories with me in an effort to help me along. Here's a little youtube video made by a couple who were particularly helpful.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QWa2TsPLqnI

Enjoy!

K

Who's K you ask? Well, she's our adoption consultant assigned to us by our agency. It's the first thing to happen since we signed the contract so it feels like a big deal. Looking back I'm sure this will seem like a somewhat insignificant event. But, as I promised, I'm going to keep you up to date. Even if it's a boring, minute detail. So, K's job is pretty much to walk us through this whole process, step by crazy step. She'll tell us what to do when we're totally confused. She'll tell us what forms we need and what we've forgotten. Dotting the i's and crossing the t's, if you will. Today, to kick things off, we spoke on the phone. She got some basic info about us and asked some questions. Heres a basic summary of the conversation.

K: How many kids are we looking to adopt?
Me: One. (There are sibling groups available which would take half the amount of time but cost double the amount of money. Also, they'd be older. So, just one for us.)

K: Boy or girl?
Me: Boy (for every one girl in a Russian orphanage there are 14 boys. Besides, we just want a boy)

K: Preferences regarding what the child looks like?
Me: As close to us as possible.
K: Blue eyes or brown?
Me: Don't care.
K: Brown or blonde hair
Me: Don't care.

It's crazy to me that we have that much control. But seriously, I want there to be at least some element of surprise here.

K: Are you ok with flying to another region in Russia once you arrive in Moscow?
Me: Uhhhh....is there a reason why we wouldn't want to do that?
K: Are you afraid of flying?
Me: Most definitely yes.
K: Well, if you're afraid of flying in the states you'll be terrified of flying in Russia. They have different planes in Russia. And they don't follow the same regulations.
Me: Say no more. No flying in Russia for me.
K: No problem. There are plenty of regions accessible via car or train.
Me: Hallelujah.

And that about sums up my convo with K. The next step is starting our homestudy, which can take 2-4 months depending on how diligent we are. I'm anxiously awaiting a packet to arrive in the mail which will get us started. In fact, I can't do anything until I get it. So, until then there's not much left to report.

Its official. I blog. Oh ya, and we're adopting a kid from Russia.

   
I said it would never happen. I said I'd never be a "blogger". Who wants to hear about my life in any great detail anyway? Facebook gives you all the quick bits you'd ever want to know. We watch a lot of tv, love our pets way more than most people and do a bit of traveling from time to time (which is documented primarily on facebook). I maintained that I would only blog if my life somehow became interesting. If I had something worthy of blogging about. Well, its possible that I just might.

So, for most of you this is old news. But it probably deserves a bit of explaining anyway (in the event that anyone else ever reads this blog). For about three going on four years Connor and I have been hoping to start a family. And to make a make a long, detailed story short, it ain't happenin. So, on to the purpose of this blog. Connor and I have decided to adopt......from Russia. Ya, that's right. Russia. I could list all the events, conversations and research that led us to this decision but they're just details. What matters is we're doing it. It's the one thing since this whole crazy mess began that has us really, truly excited. So it's on. Like donkey kong. The agency is chosen, the application is completed and accepted, the contract signed and most importantly, the check is in the mail. In about a year from now, after two trips to Russia,(and apparently a mountain of paperwork) we'll have a little boy. Finally. I've read so many blogs as of late dealing specifically with Russian adoption. They've been so informative and encouraging that I figured I better start one too. I'll document everything here and keep all those who care to know in the loop. So keep checking in to see the latest. Wish us luck!

Here we go.....