Happy Halloween

Now that we know who he is, we can't help but think about what he would be doing if he were here. How would he dress for halloween? For some reason I picture him a Buzz Lightyear fan - all dressed up in the white outfit with a Woody doll in his hand. Maybe he is more of a tigger type? It's fun to think about - what he will like, do, who he will be. It also begs more serious questions that we often ponder as well....what will he be like? Is it nature or nurture? How much of who he is has already been wired and how much will he be influenced by us?

I found this poem in my collection of adoption stuff. It says author unknown, but whoever wrote it defintely had a heart for adoption. It puts in words what we, and many other adoptive parents feel:

Once there were two women who never knew each other,

One you do not remember, the other you call mother.

Two different lives, shaped to make your one.

One became your guiding star; the other became your sun.

The first gave you life and the second taught you to live it,

The first gave you a need for love, and the second was there to give it.

One gave you a nationality; the other gave you a name.

One gave you a seed of talent; the other gave you an aim.

One gave you emotions; the other calmed your fears.

One saw your first sweet smile, the other dried your tears.

One gave you up...that's all that she could do,

The other prayed for a child and God led her straight to you.

And now you ask me, through your fears, the age old question unanswered throughout the years...

Heredity or environment, which are you the product of...

Neither my darling, neither...Just two different kinds of love.

Author unknown

And we wait....

We've known about our little one for two weeks now. We've memorized his features... his big blue eyes, his little mouth trying to smile, but unsure of what is going on...the corduroy overalls and too big blue shirt... the train he has a desperate grasp on.... I think we will expect him to look exactly that way when we get to Russia, toy train in hand, still in his little overalls.

I'm not sure how long we will have to look at pictures and dream of him, until we can pick him up and hold him in real life. We are still waiting on travel dates. Our agency is trying to determine if we should travel independently or wait for them to get reaccredited. Their preference is for us to wait, so that our adoption and their accreditation are not put at risk. Evidently recent rumblings in Russia are anti-independent and it has shifted our agency's plan for us. We understand that, and yet we want to go and meet our little one.

At this point, it is totally out of our hands, so we will continue to pray for a quick resolution in Russia, and that our future little boy receives the emotional and nutritional support he needs to continue to develop.

We can make our plans, but the final outcome is in God's hands. Proverbs 16:1

Miracle in the form of a phone call

I was expecting a call last Wednesday from our agency about paperwork. I didn't just get "a call" I got THE call. Our caseworker said the last words that I expected to hear - We have a referral for you! My jaw just dropped. With the recent news that we would be able to travel as independents, we thought we might receive a referral by Christmas. But to our suprise, we have a referral for a tiny little tyke. He is 24 months old, weighing in at only 23 pounds! He's a bit older than what we expected, but that is ok. We sent the medical information and pictures to two of the best International Adoption doctors in the U.S. - Drs. Julie Bledsoe and Dana Johnson. Both thought that everything looked good. We have told our agency that we would like to travel as soon as possible to meet him.

We now just pray that we will be able to travel quickly on trip one so that we can officially petition to adopt him!

We're becoming independents!

At least in the adoption arena. The MoE of Smolensk is allowing us to continue our adoption as independent adopters. What does this mean - not exactly sure of the detals - but I do know that it means that we can receive a referral without waiting for our agency to be reaccredited! It also means more paperwork, but that is ok. I don't mind doing paperwork if it gets us closer to traveling to meet our child! So far, the paperwork looks easy and we should be able to get it completed, notarized, apostilled, translated and to the MoE fairly quickly!