Our Little Russian Peanut

As it turns out, blogger saved the beginning of the "lost post", so I'll attempt to finish it!




How many orphanages are in Iz? Good question, one I don't have a good answer to! From what I can tell, there are 3 major cities in the Udmurt Republic: Izhevsk, Votkinsk and Glasov. We aren't quite sure which part of the Udmurt Republic will be going to. I've read quite a bit about all 3 areas and it seems as though the children are in great hands! That was an encouraging tidbit to find.

Merry Christmas - from our family to yours...

Once the holiday craziness settles down, I'll actually post something of substance. Maybe even tomorrow night! We had my family over for dinner tonight and so tomorrow it will be just the 3 of us. It's our first Christmas morning together - so it will definitely be memorable. This is Alex's first Christmas without his mom. I'm sure he's so sad inside, but on the outside he's nothing more than a 15 year old boy who's dying to open presents. My Christmas wish is for him to not hurt and for him to just be able to be a "kid". Hopefully I can help make that come true!

I hope everyone has a safe and happy holiday!

Much love -

Becky (and Keith and Alex)

Well, I had a LONG post typed up. I mean long and FULL of information.

Then I hit save. And it didn't seem to want to do that.

Then I hit Publish Post. And it freaking logged me out.

Then I lost my post. My really long post that was FULL of information.

So now I'm going to bed because Blogger won't play nice.

Tomorrow, after I'm done fighting with everyone at the mall since I haven't finished, I mean started, my Christmas shopping I will attempt to be witty and re-type my post.

Goodnight to all!

I just can't not tell you what's going on. I was trying to wait until I had lots more info but I'll just give you what I know. It's not THAT exciting (like a referral or something), but it is exciting none-the-less. And no, it's not accreditation. And no, we didn't switch agencies. So what could possibly be left??

We're moving to a new region - Izhevsk!! We received a call from our agency asking us if we would be willing to switch to a new region - one caveat - we'd have to increase our age range to be up to 3 years old vs. the 2 years old we originally requested. Oh and another caveat - they needed to know that day. Oh and one more - region paperwork had to be completed, notarized, apostilled and to the agency by Thursday morning. Talk about an instant panic attack!

I called Keith and talked to him. I honestly can't remember what he said - if anything. :-) He was absolutely fine with the age range increase (it was something we had been considering anyway). I called my sister and she listened to me rant but didn't really know what kind of advice. Then I called Rachel and she listened to me rant. And weigh the pros and cons. And rant.

Why would we move our dossier out of Krasnoyarsk? Great question and I'm not sure I have a really good answer except that it felt right. We were told we'd most likely travel at the end of January, beginning of February. Rumor has it the time between trips 1 and 2 is..... drum roll please.... 1 month. That was kind of the clincher for me. Now comes the disclaimer: This is international adoption. Anything said is subject to change at any millisecond. Any pattern is subject to change at any time. Any region is subject to make their own rules at any given point in time. And with that in the back of our minds, we decided to be adventurous and change regions. Those of you that know me, know that I don't have an adventurous bone in my body.

Last night I completed all of the region docs. Today my coordinator reviewed them and - yep - I had a mistake. Keith was on the complete other side of town. We ended up meeting at the bank, getting everything notarized and headed to the Secretary of States office to get the docs apostilled. Low and behold, the notary didn't notarize 2 of our docs. I thought I might lose it right then and there. Keith calmly told me to sit down and he'd be right back. Back the bank he went and I sat and read US Weekly. Thank goodness. By the time he was back I was calm, cool and collected. He took the docs from my hands and sent them to St. Louis!

I so hope we made the right decision. I woke up around 4 this morning in a panic. "What if my child is 3? Do I need a crib? A high chair? I need to learn Russian because my child might speak it! Will a month between trips be enough time to pull things together?" And on and on and on the mind went. Thankfully, I think I'm out of panic attacks.

So, that's my news... As the disclaimer says, anything can happen, but this is what is happening right this very second!

P.S. Now that I posted this, you all had better look at the next post down and check out my crazy cat. :-)

Like the 1 red bow that's left? Or the lack of ornaments on the front? Yes, that is Callie - the Cat That Stole Xmas - in my Charlie Brown tree. :-) (I promise the tree WAS pretty after it was decorated.)

Stay tuned for some exciting changes in our adoption world. I'd post about it now, but I just can't steal the limelight from the crazy cat.

Well, I've played with blogger all I possibly can. If someone can tell me what size I need to make the picture to the right so it fits in the box, I will love you forever and ever. I like the new header - bright and cheery. See that piece of mail in the mailbox?? I'm fairly certain that's my future referral. Unfortunately, the envelope says "do not open yet, but be patient little one!"

A Callie, "The Cat Who Stole Christmas", update... only 3 silver bows remain on the tree. We've lost quite a few ornaments and the tree is tipped slightly to the right. We've decided to not put anything back up until Xmas Eve. I'll be sure to post before and after pictures! She's quite the crack-up! I would say it's good training for having a toddler, but I'm hoping my toddler won't fly head first into the top of my tree.

I was thinking today about my adoption ups and downs and what it is that keeps me going when the going gets tough. There is definitely one thing that keeps me motivated and it's reading everyone's blogs and the comments y'all leave! There are so many people that have traveled on 1st trips and 2nd trips over the past month - more than I've seen since I started blogging! Also reading about families first holidays together and birthdays is so uplifting. It shows that somewhere there is light at the end of the tunnel. Speaking of the end of the tunnel... the Marlowe's are on their way home with their baby boy! Chris and Danica are on their way to Moscow with their girls and Ryan and Amy are nearing the end of their trip. How exciting is that? I'm sure there are more I'm forgetting but I just read they're blog updates so their at the front of my mind.

2008 will bring great things... I feel it and I'm ready for it! :-) Now I just need to survive work for the month so I can actually get to January.

This weekend should be fun and crazy. Tomorrow I'll have the wonderful opportunity of meeting Laura's little boy, Mateo. For those that don't know, Laura and I "met" on the GA International adoption yahoo group because I posted something about our company building a daycare. Turns out, we both work for the same company and she is only 2 floors above me! We became fast friends and have kept each other from going nuts a time or two (or three). Saturday night we'll be headed to an Xmas party at one of Keith's customer's house. Sunday is breakfast with my family and Alex will be headed to a Sweet 16 party. And then comes Monday....

On to more news (which I forgot I had!). We received an email Bright Horizons, the company that will be providing daycare services at the center being built at work. WE'RE IN! We have secured a spot in the toddler room for whenever the Peanut comes home. I work 45 miles from home (which can take 45 mins or an hour and a half depending on the day). Alex's school is about 20 miles from the house and 20 miles from work. We tried to decide if it would be better to put the Peanut in daycare near the house or near work. Work has won - at least for the first year. I would just feel so much better knowing I can go take a peek whenever I want. It will also help when trying to get to Alex's games. The company thought there was going to be so much demand for the daycare and would have to do a lottery system. Apparently not! I'm definitely not complaining... of course, my wallet will be complaining eventually.

Alright - I think I've jumped from topic to topic and y'all are probably dizzy now!
Have a great night and a great weekend!
Becky

... just haven't had much to post about. I'm exhausted so this is gonna be a short, bulleted update.

• The Wilsons received their referral! They are going to the same region as us, so this should be exciting to watch (also means that there is an ounce of movement!)
• Laura and Andres are finally home from Colombia with their son Mateo!
• Still no accreditation and not really any rumors on FRUA, which is never a good thing.
• Alex's football team made it to the 3rd round of the playoffs and then lost a tough game to a good team. He was ready for it to be over, but was disappointed that they didn't make it to the Georgia Dome for the semi-finals. That was Friday night. Saturday he was at the swim meet. Yea... we don't waste time around here. :-)
• Alex swam GREAT at the swim meet. Beat his last years times... I'm so proud!
• Work is work. Had 2 days worth of meetings that really wiped me out. Also had our Holiday Dinner last night so that was exhausting!
• The Christmas tree is decorated and it's become Callie, the kittens, favorite thing to "play with". She likes to climb onto our entertainment unit and dive into the tree. I'm totally not kidding. We come home at the end of the day and find bows and Christmas balls missing from the oddest part of the tree. Last night we came home to a gaping hole in the tree (it's artificial) - she had unhooked 4 sets of branches. Gotta love it!
• I've got most of Alex's Christmas shopping done. Still need to (need to interject - Keith just picked Callie out from the middle of the tree again. I can't help but to laugh out loud) Anyhoo... still need to shop for Keith.
• Can you believe I asked for a can opener for Christmas? How boring am I? Oh, and the Black and Decker Scumbuster. See what I do with my spare time? :-)

Alrighty... night night for me!

Edited to Add: Yep - my header is a disaster, but I'm too tired to figure out why it's blurry. I'm trying to wade my way through HTML on not enough sleep. Y'all get the jist of what it's supposed to look like through the blur :-)

Becky

Some agencies were accredited on 11/22 (congrats to those in that batch!). Was ours one? Ummm... nope! I'm tired, mad, sad, frustrated, irritated, confused and annoyed (just to name a mere few of the emotions I'm going through right now). There were supposed to be 12 US agencies and there were 4. Who knows what will happen with the other 8. If I hear "2 more weeks" in regards to another batch of accreditation I think I might go postal. I hate "2 more weeks". It's kind of like the 2 week wait when you're trying to get pregnant. Nothing good comes from "2 more weeks" - at least not when it comes to me and having a child.

I was so down and out after seeing the list and have promised myself I will not get excited about each bit of rumored good news. I need to be guarded. No more big ups until when/if/ever this accreditation mess gets resolved.

So then I come home to a big box. What is it, you ask? It's the freaking truck bedding for the little Peanut. So what happened, you ask? I started to get excited again.

A girl just can't win for losing sometimes.

*** edited to add:
The reaccredited agencies on the 22nd of November are:
315. Alliance for children (USA)
316. Wide Horizons for Children (USA)
317. VZW Adoptiedinst HORIZON (Belgium)
318. Nuova genitori insieme di associazione per l'adozione (Italy)
319. Atid Haieladim (Israel)
320. Life Adoption Services (USA)
321. Tzivos Hashem (Canada)
322. Adoption Horizons Inc. (Canada)
323. Happy Families International Center (USA)

A big THANK YOU to Susan for giving me the Blogger Flame of Fortitude Award! What is this prestigious award you ask? Well.... here is the description:

You are receiving this honor because you have embodied perseverance in the face of difficulty and shared the journey of your experiences with others proving that a single voice can both be a light of support and a source or humor for those in the midst of their struggle. You are acknowledged here today for allowing others to share in your personal story and providing camaraderie through the power of your words.

I am so honored and I really do hope that I have helped at least one person out there in blogland somehow, someway! I can honestly say that blogging my thoughts, feelings, the chaos in my life and every day happenings is what keeps me going through this adoption process. I have made so many great friends and have followed some many blogs - laughing, crying and, in the end, being so darn excited for those that have made it through this daunting process. It helps to know you're not the only one going through this!

While there are so many special people in the adoption world, there are two people that gave me the courage to begin our adoption and the strength to keep going with it. They have been given the greatest gift of all - two precious little boys. So, without further ado, I'm awarding Melissa and Adrienne the Blogger Flame of Fortitude Award. Thank you both for your support, for sharing your stories, for keeping us going and for allowing us to see that this long dark tunnel is worth it in the end! I think I speak for many people when I say that you both have been an inspiration for so many of us and we appreciate you (especially all of those cute pictures and video you keep posting!)!

Pray for good accreditation news this week! Wouldn't that be the BESTEST Thanksgiving ever??

Yep, they like trucks. Big trucks, little trucks, restoring trucks, going to truck shows, washing trucks, driving trucks and dreaming about trucks. Sounds a bit extreme, but they really do love trucks! At any given time Alex has a picture of some "cool" truck he found as his cellphone background. Keith's screen saver is all of the pictures he took at the last F-100 truck show. He owns more trucks then I have earrings and I'm totally not kidding! He owns 4 F-100's waiting to be restored, a 1974 Bronco that he's restoring, a 1991 Bronco that he drives from time to time and a 2002 Ford F150 Lightening. (And no, these are not all stored at my house!)

I must admit... the truck thing can drive me crazy (especially when I find a new one in my driveway or one that goes into the shop for a day and comes back with something different done to it), but it's a family addiction that cannot be denied. That being said, I think it's pretty safe to assume that the Peanut will be a truck lover. He'll come by it naturally. I've hemmed and hawed over what kind of bedding to get for his crib and tonight I bit the bullet and ordered it online. 3 guesses as to what the theme is? And the first 2 don't count.... TRUCKS!

Here is a sample view of what the whole ensemble looks like. I only purchased the quilt, sheets, bumper, dust ruffle and window valances (from JcPenney - it was on sale AND I got free shipping!)

Here is a close-up (although the colors look a bit off - it's brighter like the picture above) of the quilt.

The room is currently an olive green on two walls and a brownish/greenish on the other two. I didn't really want to repaint so I thought this would be a good way to add some color, but also keep it kind of subdued and calming. I plan on accenting the rest of the room with the bright orange and, as of right now, I'm pretty sure the furniture will be that dark espresso color. That's still up in the air though.

So, it's my first BIG Peanut purchase! :-)

Have a great weekend everyone!

Becky

I’m having such a hard time concentrating at work today! First and foremost, I’m exhausted… we went to the Trans Siberian Orchestra concert last night and didn’t get home until midnight-ish. I’m too old for that! :-) It was a very good concert, but I do have to say that my favorite part was the light show. Wow, wow, wow! It was like nothing I had ever seen before. Absolutely amazing! Alex loves them so we took him and went with our neighbors. Of course, once we got home, Alex had to do homework so it was after 1am before we went to bed!

The second reason I’m having a hard time concentrating is because I’m letting myself get EXCITED about these accreditation rumors! Oh my goodness, oh my goodness! Rumor has it 12 agencies are being issued accreditation and they can expect their certificates in the next 2 weeks. Our agency hasn’t said that exactly… but…. I’m doing my best to read between the lines!

It has been about 3 months since I’ve been able to get excited about this adoption! I'm back!!! For the first time in those 3 months I’ve started thinking of my lists again – things to pack, things to buy, things to do. This weekend, I think I might actually DO some of those things. Now, now… I need to reel myself in. This accreditation could or could not happen. That fabulous saying “Anything can happen” is the motto of my life. I keep trying to tell myself to chill out, but can’t a girl get a little excited about something she’s been waiting a long time for?? Why yes, yes she can… as long as there is someone to pick up the pieces if things turn sour. :-)

Today we had our childcare center information session (they are building a childcare center next to our building). I filled out my pre-enrollment registration, wrote a nice letter explaining the unknowns of our situation and took it downstairs (with my check, of course). I wound up having a great conversation with the 2 directors. I explained my fabulous story of not knowing my child’s name, date of birth, age, when he’s coming home, etc… As much as I think they may have been thinking “ut oh”, they made it seem like it was not a problem at all, which left me feeling very good.

I told them that we may accept a slightly older child and could potentially have to work on the transition from Russian to English. I mentioned that, if so, I’d most likely want to have someone come in and work with my little boy on speech/language, development, etc… Their enthusiasm surprised me! Not only were they more than willing to have any specialist I needed come in, they also asked that the specialist(s) work with them for a short while so that can understand key words, signs, emotions, etc… It was very comforting to know that they’ll give my child special attention, if need be, but then also ensure he won’t be treated differently because he’s adopted. It’s a fine line.

Well, this weekend should be a bit tamer then the past few. I sometimes wonder to myself how I’m going to be able to juggle a toddler with everything else going on. Honestly, I have no answer, but will hopefully figure that out. I am learning that I need to say “no” more often when it comes to things that over extend me. What’s that saying? Knowing the problem is half the battle? We have a football game tonight (last regular season game which determines our playoff spot) and then nothing big planned! For that, I am very thankful!

It’s 1:50 and I’ve been at work since 9. Do you think it’s time for me to do some work now? Hmmm… I’ll just check blogs and FRUA first. I’m sure a lot has changed since I last checked it. 10 minutes ago. THEN, I’ll get to work. I promise.

... if you get here and it's all funky, please just ignore. I'm playing with the template a bit.

... now back to green. I couldn't handle all of that purple so I've decided to compromise. Yes, I compromised. Shocker! Don't tell Keith - I wouldn't want my uncompromising reputation to be ruined. He'd think I am becoming flexible in my old age. :-)

The text is purple. The header has purple in it. See, I do still support National Adoption Awareness Month! FRUA is still a-buzz with accreditation rumors and being the pessimist that I am, I'm slightly optimistic. Scary, very scary. I knock on wood each time I become hopeful and throw up a little prayer. Come on people! This has to happen!!!

It's almost FRIDAY!!! We have another football game tomorrow night and a busy weekend ahead! Have a great weekend, everyone!

Beck

November is National Adoption Awareness Month and I've seen quite a few blogs "going purple" for November! Floating all across blogland, is a logo created by Elle. I went over to her website and read all about it. So, here I am in blogland with a very, very purple blog (Thanks, Elle!). :-) Happy National Adoption Awareness Month, everyone! Let's hope things keep moving so more and more of us can bring home our kiddos.

**FRUA Rumor Alert! If you are trying to stay away from accreditation rumors in order to maintain some level of sanity, stop reading here! And no, I'm nowhere near sane.**

Speaking of which.... the FRUA chat board is HOPPING with some news. So far, two agencies are reporting that the MOI (Ministry of Internal Affairs) has sent a letter to the MOE (Ministry of Education) telling them that the signatures on the accreditation documents IS valid and acceptable. To recap, rumor has it a lower level official at the MOI signed off on accreditation documents and it was questioned as to whether or not he/she should have the authority to do so. Soooo... that being said, IF those rumors are true then at least 2 agencies are a few weeks away from having their accreditation certificate in hand! As with everything accreditation-rumor-related, take it all with a grain of salt. ANYTHING can happen.

We haven't heard anything from our agency... mums the word until their certificate is in hand, which I can respect. Thankfully, other agencies share news and people post them on FRUA. Otherwise we'd all be very much in the dark. :-)

I don't have much energy to type anything else tonight. I don't know about y'all but it's been a LONG week so far. Maybe it's because the time is changing this weekend or the temperature has gotten colder or because it's dark when you wake up and dark when you get home... not sure what but boy oh boy... I'm ready for that extra hour of sleep this weekend!

Oh and the teenager broke up with the girlfriend (you probably heard me cheering from wherever in the US you are) and has moved on to another... ahhh... to be young again. So far, the new one has met my minimum requirements and scrutiny, which is not easy to do. Maybe this will be a "long-term" relationship and last more than 3 weeks. :-)

Night!
Becky

P.S. HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

... and I'm just now posting! Wow! Either I've been busy or lazy. Maybe both?

There are so many adoption things to update you on! None of them earth shattering, but I feel a little bit more at peace with our adoption going n.o.w.h.e.r.e. Let's start with what set me off. For a while now, I've been feeling a bit uncomfortable about the lack of communication coming from our agency. I kind of let it pass and then began to see some people leaving our agency and going to another. Obviously, when you see things like that you start to get worried that other people know something you don't know. Not wanting to be last to know, I decided it was time to give the Russian Program Director a call, introduce myself and find out where things stand.

I didn't learn much more than what I already knew, but it was nice to express my concerns. I explained my frustrations, asked how things were going in our region and things like that. Things aren't moving in Kras, but they aren't standing still if that makes sense. Basically, there isn't a "reason" we aren't getting referrals, we're just waiting for them to come in. He said the same thing our coordinator said a few weeks previously - that we're in a good region, with a shorter "line" and once things start moving, it will be a great region to be in. We talked briefly about accreditation - no big news... still waiting!

After talking to him, my coordinator called and I had a good talk with her as well. I told her some of the same concerns and she was receptive. She encouraged me to call anytime I want a status of things. I told her we were open to be a "pilot" family if/when they open new regions. She said she is really excited about Kras and she had some info to share since she had a chance to talk to the 2 families that completed their adoption.

Some new things I learned about the Krasnoyarsk region:

~ Even though it's the "Kras Region", the city name is actually Abakan which is to the southwest of Krasnoyarsk in the Republic of Khakassia.
~ Abakan is the city they can work in while awaiting accreditation.
~ When flying to Abakan, you can get their directly from Moscow on Vladivostok Air.
~ We'll need an in-country 8 doctor medical which will be about $350 per person.
~ The judge in Abakan is a adoption friendly.
~ They seem to be waiving the 10 days in Abakan but we all know that can change at any given point in time! :-)
~ When the families were there it was "dump water on your neighbor" day and everyone was running around dumping water on each other. No, I couldn't make that up. It's true.

There isn't much info on the Internet about Abakan but I did find a very itsy bitsy Abakan yahoo group that I joined. I haven't had much time to read through the archives and post anything yet, but I will as we get closer.

So what are our next steps? We continue to wait! Thankfully we have the holidays coming up to keep us busy. We're going to give ourselves until the beginning of the year to see what happens with our agency and referrals. We love the agency, that's why we chose them! It's where we want to stay, but we want to bring the little Peanut home too! We'll do whatever we need to do, but no crazy spur of the moment moves for us. We'll take time to think, enjoy each other and Alex (while he still likes us) and on January 1st we'll see where we are headed!

In happy, happy news one of my work friends is in Colombia picking up her son!!! Congratulations to Laura and Andres!! It's so much fun to watch someone go through this process (especially a different country) and see such a happy ending. She'll be in Colombia for 5 weeks and I've made her promise to post while she's there. :-)

Off to bed.... busy 2 work days coming up. Not looking forward to it! Hope everyone is doing well!!!

Atlanta traffic is horrible. That's H.O.R.R.I.B.L.E. Horrible. On any given morning, my 42 mile commute can be 45 minutes or it can be 2 hours. It all depends on how well my fellow commuters are driving. In order to pass time in traffic, I listen to my favorite morning show - "The Bert Show" on Q100. It's the only thing that gets me through my commute. Well, that and a large diet coke.

Anyhow, what does this have to do with anything? Well, the morning show is putting together what they call "The Big Thank You". "The Big Thank You" is their campaign to collect 375,000 thank you letters for deployed military personnel. This will ensure that each person has a letter to open on Thanksgiving morning, thanking them for everything they are sacrificing to give us the freedoms we enjoy. I think it's safe to say that no matter what your personal feelings are about the war, (and I don't want to get into that debate) each and every one of us are grateful that these people are there to protect us, especially when it means missing holidays with their families.

I'm going to take 10 minutes out of my day and send a letter. If anyone else would like to participate, please see the guidelines on the q100 website. This would be a great thing for your kids to do as well!

And there is your public service announcement for the day...

In other news, apparently I had a sinus infection. Lots of meds later and I'm feeling pretty good! Went back to work today (stayed home Mon and Tues) and was just a bit tired but I think that's from the meds.

Besides that... nothing new! Alex is going on a school trip this weekend (Williamsburg, VA) so it should be nice and quiet at our house! I SHOULD be using that time to get a lot done. I'll probably just nap. :-)

Another post on Friday... the 3 month anniversary of our dossier being in Krasnoyarsk! Yes, we ARE still adopting... betcha you forgot that was what this blog was "supposed to be" about, huh? Yeah... the wait is killing me too. :-) Hang in there my dear faithful readers... we'll get through this long journey in one piece, I promise! (Where, oh where, did that optimism come from??)

Hugs!
Becky

It's Sunday, 3:10pm EST and we're on our way home from Nashville. Thanks to modern technology (and thanks to my techy geek husband), I am sitting in the passenger seat blogging!! This is, again, a win-win for Keith. I stay occupied so I don't complain about his driving and constantly grab my door handle and gasp when I think we're gonna hit someone. Keith IS a good driver, I'm just a paranoid passenger.

We had a great weekend in Nashville. It didn't go quite as planned, but what ever does?? We were very late leaving Atlanta. Alex's game ran over (they lost, boo hoo) and we were stuck trying to get out of the parking lot for quite some time. We then had to take Alex to a friends 45 minutes away in a different direction. Long story short, we did't leave Atlanta until about 10:45 pm and we had a 4 hour drive ahead of us. I was feeling a bit under the weather and driving up into the mountains was not fun. By about 12:30, I was ready to stop and spend the night somewhere. My ears kept filling up and the pressure was horrible. I found us a hotel and then proceeded to get us lost finding said hotel room. For an hour. Yes, an hour in east-bumble trying to find a hotel. I had a mini-breakdown. Finally, at 1:30 we laid down to go to sleep and I couldn't sleep because I couldn't breathe. I finally got out of bed at 5:15 and stood in a steamy shower. By 6:00 we were on our way to Nashville again. For anyone counting, that's 4 hours sleep for Keith and no more than 2 for Becky.

The rest of the ride to Nashville was great, we found CHI and attended part of the class. At the class we met Carey and Norman! Love them (thanks guys, for carting us around all day!)! Unfortunately, Rachel and Troy weren't able to meet up with us, so Carey, Norman, Keith and I decided to go meet Rachel and Troy! Carey showed us some great video and pictures of their little girl. It was so exciting to watch and boy is she a little cutie.

After that, we (Carey, Norman, Keith and I) headed to lunch to meet Carrie and Michael and Adrienne, Jim and Owen at Chili's. These are friends that I have been talking to for months. Adrienne's blog was the first one I had ever read. It was her blog that started me blogging and it's her strength that I go back to each time I wonder why I'm doing this and wondering if I'll make it through in one piece. Carrie is in the same boat we are, but much further ahead in the wait process. We were "the waiters" at the table. It's so refreshing to talk to someone that is in the middle of the wait, facing all of the unknowns we are now faced with. Thankfully, we sat next to each other so we had lots of time to talk about things.

The husbands were great! They realized us girls had lots to talk about so they became fast friends and talked sports and more sports. Every one in a while, they'd pop into the adoption talk (mostly reminding us to have patience) and then back to sports talks. I loved being able to meet everyone and their signifcant others! And then there was Owen......

WHAT A CUTIE! :-) He was so well mannered and so happy go lucky. He's definitely figuring those little legs of his out again and wants to go, go, go! It is so obviously how much he loves his mommy and daddy. He's signing like Iliya and I love watching that - they are so smart!

After lunch we got back to the hotel and were out cold. I woke up sick - this is no longer a cold. Blech. We were supposed to go to PF Chang's for dinner and I just couldn't even make it out of bed. Instead we ordered room service and watched Ratatouille! What a cute movie. Well, I missed the end cause I fell asleep (I have to take advantage of the moments I can breathe).

We woke up this morning and met Rachel and Troy for a breakfast of yummmy bagels. Rachel and I had some time to chat which was so nice! We've emailed so much over the past 4 months that it was just like meeting an old friend. I was worried I wasn't going to get my "Rachel-time"! Troy is just as sweet as I thought he'd be and they are just the cutest couple. We talked dogs... we love our four legged kids!

And here we are - back in Atlanta and time for me to call it a day. I'm heading straight for the couch. My ears have finally cleared but now it hurts to swallow. Keith offered to drill a hole in my head to relieve some sinus pressure. I decided to pass on that sweet offer.

A special thanks to all Carey, Carrie, Adrienne and Rachel for being such good friends during this time. I hope we are all able to meet up again (under healthy circumstances, of course!) - maybe even with all of our little ones in tow.

Hope everyone had a great weekend!
Becky

P.S. My plan to wear neutrals in the picture backfired. Since I was sick, I had no color in my face so now I'm a washed out mess. I'm just gonna stay BEHIND the camera from now on. :-)

Tomorrow is Friday... and we're off to Nashville! I've been looking forward to this weekend for a while now. First, it's a weekend away. Second, it's Nashville and I love Nashville. Third, and the most important reason, I get to meet some blogging friends in real life! We'll be having lunch with Rachel and Troy, Carey and Norman, Carrie and Michael and Adrienne, Jim and the infamous Owen! We're hoping Brandy and Coby will be able to join us also. They just returned from meeting their little boy.

On Saturday morning we'll be going to our agency's office for a seminar. I'm not too sure what it's about, but I'm sure it will be good. There are quite a few of us going, so it should be fun regardless. It will be nice to be able to talk to people from the agency face to face and maybe even get some answers to some questions we have.

Of course, prior to heading to Nashville we have an exciting night of FOOTBALL! I know that's a shocker! I find myself really getting into this football thing. Alex had a JV game tonight and instead of wincing every time Alex is on the field and saying a silent prayer, I'm yelling things like "HIT HIM", "GET HIM, ALEX", "AWESOME! NICE HIT!". Alex had an awesome tackle tonight - 2 of our guys were trying to bring down the ball carrier and Alex came out of nowhere and mowed all three of them over. Ahhhh... to be a proud step-mom. (Note to all: I really am a caring, kind person. I just happen to love contact sports.)

Here are some action shots of Alex (#16). He typically plays safety and every once in a while plays QB.

Isn't he just a cutie?? I told Keith tonight that each time I see him on the field I feel like he has grown even more! He's becoming more and more adult (and more and more like a teenager). His mom would be so happy of the man he's becoming. As much as she drove me crazy from time to time, I miss her and it breaks my heart knowing how much of Alex's life she will miss. I can only hope that she's up there somewhere working some magic in Alex's life.

Anyhow, I need to call it a night. Fighting the flu and I CANNOT be sick this weekend. Oh, and for those of you that care, I've packed all neutral colors for this weekend. I want to be sure I match everyone in the picture, unlike when we met Melissa and Nathan for the first time. :-)

Like Debbie, I was asked if I would like to read Mishka: An Adoption Tale and then post a review on my blog. I received it this weekend and loved it. I was home alone when the package came (and who doesn't LOVE getting mail other than bills!). I wanted to read the book, but for some reason reading a kid's book just isn't the same unless you read it out loud. Well, who was I going to read it to? In walks Callie the kitten. Yes, I sat on my kitchen floor with a kitten in my lap reading out loud. :-) Believe it or not, she sat still and whatever causes this kitten to sit still gets 5 stars in my book!

Anyhow, Mishka: An Adoption Tale, was a great read. The author, Adrienne Ehlert Bashista, does such a great job describing the process of adoption and allowing the Mishka (Russian for bear) feel the same emotions the child goes through. Adrienne has another book When I Met You: A Story of Russian Adoption. I haven't had a chance to read it, but I will definitely be buying it.

Mishka is such a light hearted book. It shows that the fear, the excitement, the anticipation and, ultimately, that happiness that a child feels when going through an adoption is natural and okay! What small child wouldn't love to know that this sweet little bear knows how he/she feels? It also talks about the parents feelings, letting the child know how hard the time between trips was for the parents too. I will definitely be getting my little Peanut a "mishka" of some sort to hold on to between trips 1 and 2.

This would be a great purchase for you and your little one!

Details:
Website: http://www.drtpress.com/
If you pre-order Mishka now (it's not available until November 1st) you'll get 10% off AND free shipping! Also, 5% of all proceeds from books purchased through this site will go to adoption charities.

Have a great rest of your week!
Becky

Well, kids... it's was 5 years ago today (actually right about this time of day too!) that I was standing behind the closed church door with my daddy waiting for it to be my turn to walk down the aisle. I wasn't sure I was going to make it (it was a long aisle and I was really nervous!) The doors opened and I think my dad and I bolted down. I couldn't do that slow walk thing, plus my dad was cracking jokes the whole time trying to get me to chill out. "Don't trip", "Left, right, left"... I love my dad. Keith was waiting at the end with a smile on his face and Alex was to his right. That was all I needed to see!

We had a great ceremony (although a tidbit too long for my liking), headed to Piedmont park for some pictures and then to Park Tavern for a very hot reception. Yes it was October, but it had to be somewhere around 90 degrees. The walls to the reception room were all glass and the sun was setting. Hot. Very Hot. We had a blast and it was over before we knew it!

I'm going to blog-lift (similar to scrap-lift for you scrapbookers or copy for you non-scrapbookers) Rachel's post about her and Troy.

10 Things You May or May Not Know About Keith and I:

1. We met in 1998, over the phone. We both worked for the same company. He was one of those guys that you just knew you liked from the get go. I think we talked on the phone for at least a year before we met in real life.
2. The first time I knew I was going to meet Keith in person, I was a nervous wreck. I had this "picture" of him in my head and had no clue what to expect. I was like one of those gopher things and kept popping my head out of my cube to catch a glimpse without getting caught... boy he was cute! :-)
3. The first time we ever went out (and still barely knew each other) I managed to spill an entire Killian's Red draft beer alllll over him. Yes, girls, that is the true way to a guys heart.
4. Keith is a pure optimist, a dreamer. I am a total pessimist, sometimes a Debbie-Downer.
5. Keith collects trucks (you read that right). Unrestored early Ford F-100s. Someday, in his spare time, he'll restore them. (Hmmm... was there pessimism in that sentence?)
6. We love to go on road trips and house-hunting. Back in the day, when we had time (where did it all go)?, we would just hop in the car and go wherever we wanted. On a sunny day in early spring you would definitely find us driving through every road around the lake dreaming about the house we'll one day own.
7. We LOVE naps. A successful weekend includes a big fat nap. We're not talking an hour - usually 4. See #8 for the reason why.
8. Keith owns his own company and works wayyyy too hard. Alex has declared him "insane". 4 hours of sleep is in the norm. 6 hours is a good day. Thus, the naps. (No, I don't need a nap, but why would I not support my husband if he wants to take one?! hehehehehe...)
9. We're handy. I've cut down bushes with a chainsaw and love powertools. Keith can fix pretty much everything. He's the Bob Villa of our house. We love HGTV and do-it-yourself projects and have been known to start something before we finish the 1st. Next up? Kitchen counters.
10. Alex is the light in our lives. We parent so well together. Keith is calm, cool and relaxed. I am.... not. We make good-cop, bad-cop seem like an art. (of course, the teenage years may be a different story! Let's hope not.) We're so excited for the little Peanut because we know, together, we can give this little one a loving home and even raise him relatively well. :-)

Happy Anniversary to us! In today's day and age, 5 years is a milestone. I look forward to many more good years. We've been through so much together - there is nothing we can't make it through and knowing that is so comforting.

Well, I slept from 11:00 last night until just about 1:00 today (see, my husband does loves me!). I think I may have needed it! We're heading to one of Keith's customers and then to....... a football game! Where else would we go on our anniversary?!?! :-) We don't have any big anniversary plans, but I think we'll go to dinner at the Melting Pot tomorrow night. Nope, not alone, but with Alex and his friend Blake (our second child). I think, when you celebrate an anniversary and have a step-child, you're almost celebrating the anniversary of a family. Alex seems just as excited about it as we do, so why not share it together?

I leave you with some pictures... don't laugh at my hair. I wasn't a big fan either. :-)



I hope everyone has a great weekend! GO SPARTANS!

Hugs -
Becky

A big...................

I was going through my daily blogs and came across Debbie's post. Please go check it out - it made me get all choked up (and maybe a tear or two fell)!

Hugs!
Becky

P.S. I think this is my shortest post. EVER.

We have a very sleepy household so this is going to be a quick post! I think I'll bullet it!

• Good adoption news! The first 2 couples (the pilot families) have had their court dates and all went well! They even had their 10 days waived. My coordinator said not to expect the 10 days to be waived in the future - it was a rarity and not expected. What does this mean for us?? In theory, it means that referrals should start moving! Our coordinator wasn't able to give us an exact time frame but she seemed hopeful that things will start trickling in and those waiting the longest should start seeing some action.
• Accreditation - no news yet! It sounds like our agency is in a good position to receive their accreditation certificate but so far.... nuttin'.
• I was in Las Vegas last week for work - first time there! It was... ummm... interesting! :-) I was there for 5 days which is a LOT of time in sin city. Two days would have been good. I learned how to play blackjack at a table ($5 table) and played a lot of video poker. It was fun spending time with some co-workers (not so fun to spend time with other co-workers) but I was very, very ready to be home!
• Mini-milestone #2 (or is it #3?) is coming up! Next weekend we head to Nashville for CHI's Pre-Adopt II class. I'm not sure what we're going to learn, but I'm sure it will be helpful regardless. I'll also get to meet some of my best blogging buddies! I'm going to need to dedicate a few scrapbook pages just for my visits with my blogging friends!
• My darling step-son has a girlfriend.... ugh... enough said. I'm not ready for this. Nope, nope, nope. Not at all. I promise I will let him play video games each and every night for hours and hours and hours if he would just go back to thinking girls are "icky". Let's just say I just ordered an audiobook on how to raise a teenager - when to say yes and how to say no. I need the "how to say no" part. Of course, if you ask him, all I ever say is no! Melissa, Adrienne, Carey and the rest of you with little boys... cherish the "girls are gross" part of your boys lives. The girlfriend thing is not easy. Now, if you got to hand pick the girlfriend......
• My 5 year anniversary is Friday! More on that on Friday.
• My cousin is due with her first child on Thursday!! Checking my email constantly for the good news!

That's about all I have the energy for... hope everyone is having a fabulous, fabulous week! It's only Monday kids... we have a long week ahead of us!

Hugs - Becky!

Can you believe it's taken me 3 posts to tell about my weekend? I think I've come to realize that I'm just a wordy individual and can't summarize things. Must. Give. Details. How annoying!

So... the highlight of our weekend trip to Alabama was our visit with Melissa, Nathan and Iliya (and Melissa's friend, Ginger, who was so sweet!). We headed straight to Melissa's (about 45 mins from B'ham) after the IA clinic was over. Melissa was kind enough to make us dinner (yummy taco soup and chili!). She must have known that those are 2 of my husband's most favorite fall meals. If he could eat taco soup everyday, he would. Anyhoo... there I go with the details again!

As soon as we walked in we saw this little ittle bittle guy toddling around. No introduction was needed - I would recognize that face and little belly anywhere! It was Iliya. Ladies and Gents, let me just brag on Melissa and Nathan for a second. He is so comfortable in his surroundings, knows who/where mom and dad are, is communicating with sign language and seems so well adjusted! We brought him a few gifts - some books and Little People stacking blocks. What he loved more than the gifts was the packaging everything came in. He took his time shredding tissue paper and then wore the packaging from the Little People on his head as a hat and boy was he the cutest!

We sat down to have dinner and I was amazed at Iliya's communication while he ate. He signed "more" "please" and made sure to open up his mouth to prove his food was all gone before was given more! He signed when he was ready for a drink and was such a good little eater. After dinner he entertained us by showing us how he climbs up and goes down the slide - I think that was the highlight. All eyes were on him and we all cheered him on with a big "GO" and when he got to the bottom we all said "YEY!!!". He was so delighted at all of the cheering.

Melissa and I talked about their adoption, getting through airports, strollers, slings, etc... She showed me pictures from their 1st and 2nd trip (can you believe she has them all in albums already!?!?!). Iliya helped flip the pages from time to time. :-) What a cutie. When bath time came, Iliya definitely wanted his mommy to get started - what a great sign of attachment. We took some pictures before we left (at the top) and I really wish I knew it was "primary color" day... boy do I clash with the Alabama Red and Keith's orange shirt! :-)

I am so grateful for my blog friends! There is no one else in this world that "gets" you more than those that have been through it. THANKS, Melissa, for being my first meet-in-real-life blogger person! :-) Couldn't have asked to meet a sweeter family.

Being at Melissa's and seeing little Iliya made Keith and I realize even more how excited we are to have a little boy of our own. Just watching the little things Iliya did amazed me and I can't wait to see my own child do the same. Iliya's attachment and demeanor helped ease Keith's mind. I realized that I read so much about adoption and I always tell him the bad, scary stories.

After we left Melissa's we headed to our hotel (a new one - not the same one as Friday night - ut uh, no way). It was a full service Marriott. I loooovvveeee full service Marriott's. We splurged and bought a bottle of wine, watched the rest of the Alabama/Arkansas game and then crashed! I don't think either of us got through a full glass of wine. We were out cold and slept about 12 hours. This is unheard of for Keith - the boy usually sleeps 5, if that.

We woke up to a flat tire (big nail in it), had some Mexican for lunch and then headed on home. It was such a great weekend. I think I needed time with my husband, we both needed sleep and Alex needed time without us. A big thank you to my sister and brother-in-law for entertaining Alex all weekend. I know he was soooo happy to get away from his nagging step-mother. :-)

So... that's it for the weekend. I swear. :-) Thanks for sticking around for Pt II. :-)

Have a fabulous night!
Becky

Our weekend was quite the fun and interesting one. Apparently my project at work has caused me to lose common sense. It started out on Friday, after work, when we were heading to Alex's football game. I saw the location was "Marietta" so we went to Marietta HS, paid to get in and low and behold - that wasn't our team playing!! Yep - I took us to the wrong school. To top that off, once we got to the game, we were sitting two rows back from the field. I see a back-up quarterback warming up and I said to Keith "Who is that quarterback? Look! Someone else is warming up - who's going in Who's #16?" He looks at me weird and laughs. I said "WHO is it?" He said "Are you serious? That's Alex!" Ummmm... he was 10 feet away, I've been to 4 games, he has the same number as last year and I still didn't know it was him. THAT set the tone for the weekend. :-)

We arrived in Birmingham around 2am (EST), checked into our hotel and crashed about 15 mins later. We had some hotel room problems - not to bore you with details - so bottom line is I got the night refunded. We headed to the church where the clinic was being held and dove right in. They broke us out into groups - little kids and older kids. Obviously, we were in the little kids group. Dr. Chambers started the discussion and went through the medical side of the UAB Clinic.

I loved Dr. Chambers from the start. She is an adoptive parent (2 girls from China) ** ETA: Thanks Melissa for pointing out by boo-boo! CHINA not Russia! I have Russia on the brain! As a matter of fact, everyone that spoke was an adoptive parent. It really gave you comfort knowing that they've been through what you're about to go through AND they have the science and training to know what to do about it. She described what they would do with our referral. Since we're most likely traveling blind, we would give her what little information we have when we leave and then send her a questionnaire (provided) as well as photos and video. She will review it and get back to us within 24/48 hours. We'll have an on-call number as well. She also took some time and went over common skin rashes and how to treat, things to take with us and the prescriptions that she'll prescribe for the Peanut for Trip 2.

UAB also does post-adoption medical. They communicate very closely with your pediatrician to ensure your child goes through the least amount of agony when it comes to shots and blood draws. They do an extensive medical screening and also rule out/confirm any strange diagnoses on your child's medical. She went over FAS and told us what they look for and what kind of pictures she'll need to check out facial features.

Next up was Leigh Anne Harrington a Clinical Social Worker. She talked a lot about attachment and bonding. She was gave us realistic expectations for some of the things we may face when we come home with the Peanut. There were so many handouts included in our packet - things to do to encourage eye contact, how to encourage attachment, a letter to give family and friends discussing guidelines for promoting attachment, pre-travel tips and info and an article on how to raise sound sleepers. She talked about post-adoption depression and encouraged us to call her office immediately if we feel overwhelmed or like we're getting depressed. She said it's so much more common that anyone realizes.

Closing out the day was Jill Barnhart, Developmental/Education Specialist. She talked about sensory integration and how children react to being outside of their orphanage surroundings. It was either Jill or Leigh that told us that some children spend (brace yourselves) 20 - 22 hours PER DAY in their cribs with nothing more than themselves and a stuffed animal or toy. I'm sure that is the extreme, but to think that many of these children don't leave the four walls that surround them for months at a time just blows my mind. Jill gave us a handout on developmental milestones, language issues and how that affects future issues in school and baby sign language. The baby sign language really intrigued Keith and then when he saw Iliya signing (see tomorrow night's post) he was sold. My husband now signs "more" quite regularly. :-)

All of these doctors were so good to listen to. They absolutely LOVE their jobs and that means so much. We will definitely be using them for our evaluation as well as for our post-adoption visit. It is a drive for us - about 2 hours - but worth it if you feel confident in the evaluation you are given. I spoke with Dr. Chambers and she said that since we're from Atlanta, they could combine our 1st and 2nd visit into one visit to make it easier for us. It would just be a 4 - 5 hour day at the clinic. Keith and I are open to taking two trips. I suppose we'll see how good the little one is in the car before deciding. :-)

I know I didn't cover details regarding attachment, bonding, sensory integration so if you have specific questions, please just leave them in the comments. For those of you with CHI, you probably had to take the 10 hours of education on DVD and that covered a lot of those topics. I will tell you that I got a LOT more from this UAB seminar then I did the DVDs. It reinforced a lot of what I had already heard about but it gave us a look into what the majority face - not the extreme cases. It was more about educating you and calming your fears.

Coming up tomorrow night on "Sweet Alabama Pt 2" - our visit with Melissa and family, 12 hours of sleep and a flat tire!

Let's start with the good, shall we? After all, it is over the hump day which means there's only 2 more days of this looonnnggg week left!

A big THANKS to those of you that ordered a magazine from Alex. He has met his goal, thanks to all of you!

Congrats to Laura and Andres! They received their referral from Colombia this week.

Congrats to Brandy and Cody! The also received their referral and their travel dates for their first trip to Kemerovo.

Good luck and safe travels to Carey and Norman who are on their way to Vladivostok to meet their little girl!

And a special "thanks" (insert sarcasm here) to President Putin for dissolving the Russian government. Ohhh... wait. That's not part of the good. Enter the bad.

Virginia tells it best on her blog, but the jist of it is this. (Disclaimer: This is summarized in "Becky-speak". If you're not familiar with "Becky-speak" it's a bunch of jumble with lots of opinion thrown in) The entire Russian government resigned. Everyone apparently woke up on the wrong side of the bed and said "ya know what?!? I've had it with this place. I'm gonna quit and talk everyone into quitting with me." Yeah, right. The prime minister stepped down as did the minister of education. Stepped down with a little bit of nudging, I'm sure. For those of you not married to the Russian adoption process, the Ministry of Education (MOE) is key. They are the governing body that has the ability to grant accreditation to the remaining agencies. They issue referrals, process our paperwork, etc...

Putin has announced his new choice for prime minister, Viktor Zubkov, and he'll most likely be Putin's successor in the 2008 Presidential elections. Keith told me that this same thing happened back when Boris Yeltsin was on his way out of office. Who did he choose as the new prime minister? Why, Putin of course! The real important question is who will head up the MOE and what will that person do going forward.

I'm really getting a crash course in geography, history and politics with this adoption. Those that know me, know how much I hated those subjects in high school. As I'm getting older, I find I like to learn these things. Don't ever tell my high school history teacher if you run into him. I can't ruin my image.

On Friday night, Keith and I are taking a little road trip to the great state of Alabama! We have our International Adoption Clinic on Saturday from 9 - 3. I'm very excited about it. Knowing what I know now about wait times for referrals I kind of wish we were going later in the year, but the good thing is that we can go back again for a refresher. We're going to spend the night in Birmingham on Friday and we're playing Saturday night by ear. Part of me wants to spend another night just so we can go to sleep at 7pm without dogs or having to nag a teenager to write his language arts paper and oh yeah - QUIT TEXT MESSAGING! :-) And to spend a weekend with my husband, of course. :-)

Say a prayer, wish on a star, hop up and down on one foot - we need this situation in Russia to work itself out for the best. Good luck to everyone waiting for referrals, court dates and the like! I know there's definitely been a pick-up in activity lately which is a GOOD thing!

I'll be back Sunday to post about my IAD appt. I'll take copious notes and be sure to entertain you with everything I've learned about assessing a referral. I know you can't wait!!

Hugs!
Becky

Happy Tuesday! So very glad to say that instead of "Happy Monday!". I hope everyone had a fabo weekend and is nice and rested. Me? I'm not rested! I just don't get it. I think I'm going to feel a suddenly ill one of these days so that I can stay home alone and veg out. Not that I don't love my family, but there is nothing that beats an empty house and HGTV/TLC all day long.

I've spent a lot of time catching up on blogs and reading things on FRUA (Families for Russian and Ukranian Adoption). FRUA is such a great resource for those of us adopting. There has been some chatter about the next round accreditation. It seemed as though things were getting resolved (there was an issue with Interpol and background checks - if you want more info, let me know, otherwise I won't bore you with the nitty gritty) but then I log in this morning, so excited to see some more good news and I hear "POP POP POP"! That was the sound of my bubbles bursting. According to someone's blog (and who knows if this is true since noone knows how this person gets their info, so take it for what it's worth) accreditations are at a complete standstill with no end in sight. This what life is like as a PAP (pre-adoptive parent) - a big UP and then a big DOWN. The good news is that I think I've gotten a bit used to the accreditation roller coaster because I just find myself rolling my eyes and moving on.

Something else I found on FRUA was a post about what to pack. I jotted down some things that made me go "Hmmm..." (okay - who's singing that song now?? "Things that make you go hmmm...") and decided to share them with you. This list is all mixed up - some things for Trip 1 and some for Trip 2 and some for both! Keep in mind, this is not an all encompassing list - I left off the obvious (like cold medicine, tylenol, etc..)

• Cleaning stuff: Febreeze or wrinkle release, packages of woolite, antibacterial cleaner
• Small packages of kleenex (carry them around in case you need TP)
• Short extension cord with 3 outlets so that you can charge everything at once (digi camera, camcorder, etc...)
• Rubber Stopper for the tub or sink (for trip 2 when you have to wash clothes in the sink)
• Twine (to make a clothesline on trip 2)
• ziplock bags in all shapes and sizes (for dirty clothes and things like that)
• Masking Tape (this is a good one! Used to "childproof" your hotel room - cover outlets, tape cabinets and drawers closed, section off the room, etc...)
• ear plugs (I think I might invest in those noise canceling headphones for the plane ride)
• Meds: Ambien (or some kind of sleep aid), Dramamine (driving in Moscow is not for the faint stomach), bug wipes (for the fall, spring, summer - no A/C so windows will be open)
• Food you can pack: pull top meats (tuna, chicken, etc...), oatmeal, cup-a-soup, ramen noodles, hot chocolate, peanut butter, crackers, nuts, beef jerky

A few other little tips:

• Don't pack one suitcase for you and one for your husband (I learned this going to Paris when my suitcase was there but Keith's decided to go to LA (because THAT'S on the way to Paris from Atlanta, right??)) - Anyhow, back to my point, 50/50 in each suitcase in case one gets lost.
• There is no such thing as a carry on suitcase in Russia - they all get checked so carry a backpack on the plane.
• Pack food in your backpack just in case you get stuck somewhere for a while
• On trip 2, take a DVD of your animals (dogs in particular) to show your little one on the way home over and over and over again so he/she can get used to the sounds and sights of your furry kids.

We're still waiting to hear any news about the Kras families waiting for court. We're also about to approach Mini Milestone #1 - Clinic with the International Adoption doctor which is Sept 15th. Well, I guess Mini Milestone #1a comes first but we're trying not to think about the horrible vaccination shots we're getting on Thursday. I have Milestone #3 to add to the list (#2 is the Pre-Adopt class at CHI in Nashville in October). My project management class for the Masters-Program-That-Never-Ends will be over November 1st. It's at this point I'm hoping and praying and wishing on a star that we'll have seen some serious movement in Kras.

Well, there's my update for the night! I'm sure you'll be hearing from me after my wonderful experience on Thursday unless my arm is too sore from all of those shots!

Toodley-do!