Our Little Russian Peanut

I have been tagged by Kathryn! What a fun thing to answer! I got a bit held up by the "5 songs I know the lyrics to" but then it all came to me :-) And now all of those songs will be stuck in my head in random order for hours and hours.

5 things I was doing 10 years ago:

1. was in my junior year of college
2. going to 50 cent Honey Brown draft night every Thursday :-)
3. was working at Registration and Records at my college
4. driving my mommy-mobile (a red ford Taurus wagon with a duck taped Mercedes sympbol on the hood)
5. at some point I’m sure I did some homework!

5 snacks I enjoy:

1. chocolate
2. dark chocolate
3. chocolate covered pretzels
4. peanut m&ms
5. brownies

5 songs I know all the lyrics to:

1. It takes 2 (Rob Base)
2. Ice, Ice Baby - not as good as Shannon though! (Vanilla Ice)
3. Friends in Low Places (Garth Brooks)
4. Paradise by the Dashboard Light – Col rocks this song at Karaoke though, especially with the “real” Meatloaf signing beside her! (Meatloaf)
5. Sweet Caroline – bah, bah, bahhhh (Neil Diamond)

5 things I would do if I were a Millionaire

1. Pay off debt
2. Adopt more! (okay – let’s get through the first one, right?!?)
3. Build my dream house on the lake
4. Teach elementary school – something I’ve always wanted to do
5. Travel

5 bad habits:

1. eating too much chocolate (see above)
2. hitting my snooze alarm
3. procrastinating
4. stacking things all over my house instead of putting things away (thus, procrastinating)
5. having to take 15 minutes and lots of deep breaths to become rational about something that makes me mad

5 things I like to do:

1. Read
2. scrapbook
3. go out on the lake
4. Travel
5. spend time at home

5 things I would never wear again:

1. Banana Clips
2. slouched socks in alternating colors
3. teased hair (to the point of not even needing hairspray)
4. bright blue (and I mean BRIGHT blue) eye shadow like my mom wore
5. a bikini (Agreed, Kathryn!)

5 favorite toys:

1. digital SLR
2. laptop
3. My scrapbook stuff
4. boat
5. my animules!

I'm going to pass this little questionnaire on to Rachel!

First, and most importantly - HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my daddy! :-) Today he turned 30 all over again. :-) Love you, dad!

Alrighty - it's a big YES on the vaccinations! Here is what I found out we need to get (now keep in mind you may already have some of these, as for myself, I haven't a clue!) Hep A, Hep B, Typhoid, Tetanus, Diphtheria and Rabies (if you're going to be in rural area and outdoors a lot). I also need to have my chicken pox vaccine (Jenn - I haven't had chicken pox either!).

Sooo... I called my lovely insurance company. I figured the vaccinations aren't covered because it's travel related, but I wanted to hear them tell me that. The lady I had on the phone couldn't tell me unless I had a CPT numbers for them to look up (the billing code for each vaccine). Well, now I have a choice - stick with the same dr or take this as an opportunity to find a new one. I've decided to go with the later since I haven't been thrilled with the current one for a while. I have narrowed my list down to two and I'm going to call their offices and see how cooperative they are with helping me get the CPT numbers and answering my questions. We'll see how well that goes. I really miss the days of going to a drs office and there being one doctor and one nurse. I guess I would need to move to a small town again, maybe??

I have finally made my LISTS! I think I'll follow Rachel's lead and post my to-do's in the sidebar of my blog. It'll keep me honest, maybe? Or at least be a constant reminder! Of course, I purposely put things on my list that I knew I could cross off ASAP. :-) hehehehe.... how's that for stacking the deck? I've also made lists of things to buy for the Peanut. Boy, the "start-up" costs on a child are pretty steep! :-) I suppose that doesn't change for, oh... at least 18 years, huh?

Night, night!
Becky

P.S. Why would an insurance company not pay for the vaccinations? Wouldn't it make more sense to pay for that vs. treating someone with one of the diseases? Ahhhh... the common sense.

I took Alex to the drs today to get his sports physical. It turns out he needed a meningitis vaccination and on the way home that got me to thinking! What about vaccinations before we travel to Russia? I remember reading about it somewhere - maybe the Russian Adoption Handbook? I know the CDC recommends the Hepatitis vaccines, diphtheria and some others. I can honestly say that until I read about the vaccines in whatever book I was reading, it hadn't even crossed my mind!

For those of you that have BTDT (been there, done that) did you get vaccinations prior to going? Or those of you that are in the same spot as me - are you going to get vaccinated?

Things that make you go hmmmmm.....

Night!
Becky

P.S. Thanks for all of the nice comments about my blog! I'm still not in love with it, but will will at least tie me over for a few more weeks.

P.S.S. All of those pictures in the header are from Kras. No clue what they are, but someday I should be able to tell you! :-)

In case you can't tell, I get antsy with this blog. I get bored very easily and have this crazy urge to change it again and again. Let's see... 8 - 10 months until a referral that's at least 8 or 10 more face lifts! :-) Hopefully, I can figure out how to use Photoshop CS2 which is something I've been wanting to play with for a while!

We have a new little addition to our family. Let me start off by saying that I'm not the crazy cat lady. I swear. I do love animals though and just can't say no! I walked into the vet Saturday morning because Brownie had to get her ears checked (double ear infection!). I think they knew I was coming because I opened the door and didn't even get a "hello!". Instead I heard "Isn't she cute? We almost had to put her to sleep! She's only 5 weeks old and she needs a good home. Don't worry about calling Keith, he'll be okay with it - just take her!" Well, nothing like being the vet's go-to-gal! I called Keith, he wasn't there, came home, we talked about it and headed back to get her. Her name is Callie and someone found her with a big lump in her neck. They thought it was something terminal but just turned out to be a worm of some kind. Sounds gross, I know... but don't worry - she's since been dewormed.

Callie is the sweetest. She had a big ol' belly and has NO fear. Skipper, my 120 pd dog, is no competition for Callie. :-) She'll bat him in the face a few times and almost half smile - it is the cutest. Ya know, I really hope the Little Peanut isn't allergic to animals cause we're going to have an itsy bitsy problem.

On to adoption stuff... I'm reading another book (yes, I have 3 going simultaneously) - it's Baby Bargains. It's basically a shopping guide for everything baby! They have reviews, websites and practical shopping advice. I decided to start to take the bus to work to save some money and protect what little bit of sanity I have left and it's proven to be a great time to catch up on reading. Now, I just need to start making my lists!! Laura and I met for lunch and started a list, but unfortunately I haven't gotten any further. Laura, Carrie and Rachel are being the list queens and I'm feeling like a slacker! :-) Soooo.... the next bus ride will be a list making ride!

Besides that, nothing adoption related is going on. Waiting for the next round of accreditations. I'm also having a hard time finding people that are adopting from Kras or have adopted recently. I've met a few people through email, but they are all in the same place I'm at - waiting. I guess this is par for the course with a new region! There seems to be tons of info on a yahoo group, but a lot of it is older. I will tell you that the kids I've seen on the Kras group are PRECIOUS!

Well, it's a late night and I have a busy day tomorrow. Alex has his physical and of course there is that thing called work.

Becky

We received an email from CHI on Friday confirming that our dossier is on it's way to Russia. Here is a snip-it from that email to give you an idea of all that has to happen next:

Once your dossier is in Russia the following happens:

§ Translation of all documents
§ Notarization of all documents
§ Documents are apostilled at registration office
§ Paperwork is submitted to guardianship office
§ Dossier is registered by guardianship office (keep in mind this varies from region to region. Some regions register dossiers when the paperwork is submitted. Other regions do this step only when a child is to be referred to a family.)
§ Request is made to local ministry of education regarding child’s availability
§ Orphanage is contacted
§ Family is invited to travel to meet the child referred to their family
§ After first trip – Federal Ministry of Education is contacted by the Regional Ministry of Education to request the data base release letter for your child.
§ Release letter sent to local guardianship office to be presented with dossier
§ Children’s Hope representative and guardianship office representative go to court to submit dossier
§ Court official sets court date

The estimated time frame stated in the email is 8 - 10 mths for a boy < 24 months.

In other news, 8 more agencies were accredited last week. 5 American agencies and 2 others (1 from India, Spain and France). Congratulations to the families of these agencies! It's so exciting that things seem to be moving.

ETA: CHI was not one of the agencies accredited. The 5 US Agencies were Adopt-A-Child (AWAA), European Adoption Consultants, Wyoming Children's Society, Gift of Life and Adoption Associates.

Hope everyone had a great weekend!
Becky

2 more days until our dossier is on it's flight to Russia! :-)

Someone asked me about the wait time... great question and one that is not easily answered! The projected wait time that our agency quotes for a referral for a boy less than 24 months is currently 8 to 10 months. WHOAAAAAA, you say! Please keep in mind there are a lot of factors that play into that 8 to 10 months. Accreditation, the number of people in front of you in line, how quickly the region hands out court dates, etc... Unfortunately, I have no concrete answers/time lines for any of those.

I think that one of the leaps of faith you take when going to a new region is just trusting the unknown. Trusting that it will happen when it happens and you'll have ample time to prepare both mentally and physically. Trusting that you're in good hands with your agency. Trusting that, in the end, everything will work out for the best. I suppose that is just adoption in general though.

Planning is the hardest part because you JUST DON'T KNOW! Right now, I'm preparing for 3 months. I figure that gives me enough time to have the "What I need to do before my first trip" list done (which I haven't even started), enough time to make sure I have the finances in place for trip one and gives me a nice 5 - 7 month buffer to relax (ha!) if it truly takes the 8 - 10 mths the agency quotes. I'd rather be over prepared then under prepared.

I'm having lunch with Laura tomorrow. She and I are going to work on our lists. Either that or gripe about how everything is taking too long already! :-)

Melissa has made it to Vlad! Yea! She and Nathan were getting to see Little I again today for the first time in 17 weeks!

That's all for tonight, folks!
Becky

Notarized! Apostilled! Fedexed!

What am I talking about? The Krasnoyarsk region-specific papers! CHI should have them tomorrow afternoon. I also managed to round up the family (a lot like herding cats) and we got our passport photos done so I'll be mailing our visa apps to CHI and passports tomorrow. Did anyone have a hard time letting go of their passports for such a long period of time?? I was told I can hang on to them until we get closer to travel, but I'm afraid I'll have to rush around then and I don't need anything else on my to-do's.

I spent most of Sunday cleaning out the closet in my office which is soon-to-be Alex's room. Boy we hoard a lot of stuff! We've decided to have a yard sale. I haven't had a yard sale since I was a kid. I remember having my own money box for my toys and getting a quarter here, quarter there. I felt rich! We're going to pick a weekend towards the end of September and just do it. That gives me about 8 weekends to clean every nook and cranny in this house. Yikes.... nothing like pressure!

I've also decided to take time during this wait to make lists. A list of things to do before Trip 1, things to pack for Trip 1, things to do between Trips 1 and 2, things to pack for Trip 2 and finally, things that need to be done and ready for when we return home from Trip 2. I love lists, can you tell?

I think I'll be having a blog post for each list after I've made my preliminary list so that I can get everyone's advice. I tend to over pack which I know is a bad thing when adopting so I'll need a reality check.

Okay... enough rambling for the night!
Becky

This weekend we had a great weekend with some out of town family - my aunt and uncle! We met them for ice cream on Friday night and then headed out on the lake (despite the threat of rain) for a nice ride and some swimming. We hung out around our house and then went to a yummy dinner at J. Alexander's (yes, Adrienne, I had the carrot cake again and even managed to share!)

It's so nice to have family come in from out of town, especially family you haven't seen in a while! We talked about everything under the sun, laughed about old stories from when my mom and aunt were younger, were able to catch up on the goings-ons in VA and my cousins! We definitely don't spend enough time keeping in touch with our family and it's really bothersome! So, my July 15th resolution (just like a New Year's Eve resolution, except made on July 15th, duh :-)) is to keep in better touch with family - those close and far away.

We have some great memories of vacations when we were kids - down in Florida, Long Island, Virginia - you name it. So much fun! My sister found an old video from a trip to Florida and I'm going to try to make copies of it for the family. They will get quite the kick out of it! Speaking of which, who has the video of Mandy, Matt, Gretchen and I swimming with the dolphins?? Hmmm... I'll need to find that because we were all quite gorgeous back then!

Anyhow, THANKS to my aunt and uncle (waving to you from the blog!) for coming all this way to visit us! We loved it (especially Brownie who already misses UB!) and hope maybe you can stop on your way to Florida from time to time!

Hope everyone is having a great weekend! I'm looking forward to sleeping in tomorrow... plllleeaasssee sleep late doggies, please!!!

Becky

• We liked the idea of going to a "new" region. K was feeling especially adventurous and thought it would be cool to go there and I really couldn't find a reason to disagree!
• The list for this region appears to be relatively short. I'm not sure if I should post where would we be on the list, but I'm comfortable where we'll be.
• Although this is a "new" region, there are 2 families that have already gone on their first trip so we feel we have someone paving the way (Thank you to the two families, whoever you are!)
• I spent hours reading through a message board about Kras adoptions. I was very comfortable with the success rate, the health of the kids, the conditions of the orphanages, the hotel accommodations, court and many more things.
• The paperwork required for the region was easier to complete. As mentioned about, they were basically the same forms we filled out for our dossier but region specific (questionnaire of the candidate, post placement, registration, etc...)
• The in-country coordinator is very well talked of and is a neuropathologist. Thought that was interesting!The major deciding factor?? Gut feeling. I would say gut feeling and movement within the region were the two top things that led us to Kras.Not to mention the fact that I unknowingly put the Peanut in Kras on the map was pretty cool. :-)

A little info about Kras:

• It's a 5 hour flight from Moscow, located in central Siberia.
• There are 5 baby homes (orphanages) throughout the region - one right in the city, one 2 hours away, one 4 hours away and 2 others somewhere in between.
• They believe the wait time between trips one and 2 will be about 6 weeks. I've done some research and I really can't substantiate the 6 weeks and I think that's because of the lack of accreditation, seems more like 12 weeks.
• They do not waive the 10 day wait and time in the region during the first trip is 3 days and the second trip is 17 days.
• From what I've read (and this isn't set it stone) it seems as though, during the 10 day wait, you can visit your child as much as you'd like.
• The average temperature in Kras in January is -4*F. Yes, -4. Want to know what the record low was? -68.8*. I kid you not. The average temperature in July is 64.4*, with a record high of 96.8*.

That's all I have for now! I can't begin to tell you how excited I am! You spend all of this time doing more and more paperwork and all you know is "you're going to Russia". Once you know where you're going and you learn about your child's home it becomes SO much more real. I'll be posting a lot more about Kras in the coming months and hopefully, after I talk to a few other families, I will have a rough draft timeline for bringing the Peanut home!

Hugs!

What an exciting day it's been! You would have thought I had gotten the call for my referral when M called today to talk to me about regions! I was hyper as can be! Drumroll..... We were given the choice of Astrakhan or Krasnoyarsk.

We're pretty sure we've made our decision, but I still have some more research to do! I want to make sure we make an educated decision. Astrakhan is an established region with CHI and Krasnoyarsk is a brand new region for CHI. Two families just returned from their first trip in Krasnoyarsk and so I hope to talk to one of them and get their feedback. It's so tough making a decision like this because you want to make the "right one" even though you just have to go on your gut!

This is going to be a short post today because (a) I'm tired and (b) I need to do more research tonight so that I don't get fired for surfing the web at work all day tomorrow. I'd love any feedback anyone has on either of these!

Night!
Becky

P.S. You can see Astrakhan circled on the map (it's a 2 1/2 hour flight from Moscow) and Krasnoyarsk isn't listed on the map about but it just so happens to be right about where the little Peanut is standing (it's a 5 hour flight from Moscow).

** Side note: anyone having problems putting a title on your blog? It seems to be a bit hit or miss.
I had some time to myself tonight while Alex was at football practice. I sat in my car and read - oh how nice that was! Anyhow, I was reading "The Russian Adoption Handbook" by John H. Maclean. Granted, it was last updated in June of 2004, but there sure is some great stuff in it! For those of you waiting for your first trip, there is great info on what to pack, the child's medical, airfare/airlines, regions, etc... For those of you waiting for your second trip, there is great info on what to pack, how to get through the wait, the plane ride, etc... And for those of you just starting out you can find info on CIS, documentation and the process in general. Just keep in mind, some of it is outdated! The book is very informative and John has a very witty sense of humor. I found myself laughing out loud.

I'm also reading "What Size Shoes Does She Wear?" by Denise Harris Hoppenhauer. I've only read a little bit so far, but will give a full review once I get into it. From what I've read so far, it's more for people that have never gone through the toddler years before.

And for fun, I'm reading the new James Patterson, The 5th Horseman. It's great so far. Did you know that one of the major networks is going to have a new show in the fall based on the "Women's Murder Club" in these books? I hope it's going to be good, because the books are good.

Much to everyone's surprise, I did NOT get the closet cleaned out this weekend. I did start to clean the closet out, but my sister and I got all caught up in going through a box of things that were my mothers. Long overdue, slightly emotional BUT my closet is one big box lighter! I was so glad to send the cleaning bug to Rachel and Troy, unfortunately now I feel like I should have done so much more! Maybe that has inspired me to clean again?!? Boy, this is a vicious circle. :-)

I am wayyyy late in posting a big CONGRATS to Melissa and Nathan who received their court date and will be going back to Vlad to pick up Little I! It's going to be so exciting to follow them the rest of the way and to finally see pictures of the little guy! I would think that one of the hardest things between trip 1 and 2 would be having to keep pictures to yourself. (For those of you that aren't knee-deep in the adoption world, the Russia gov't frowns upon posting/emailing any pictures of your little peanut until after you've gone through court and received the judge's verdict.) Anyhoo.... good luck to Melissa and Nathan! Happy travels!

Not too much more to update.... 2 more days until our coordinator is back in the office! Maybe 3 days until we know a region?? This waiting is practice... hahahaha... practice for the big show! :-)

Happy belated 4th of July to everyone and what an exciting day it was in the adoption world! The first wave of accreditation was given to 8 agencies - 7 US agencies and 1 French agency. Our agency wasn't one of them but from what we hear, this is the first wave of many. Fingers crossed! Congrats to those of you whose agencies were approved. This has been long coming and I hope to see a lot of referrals for everyone in the coming months!

A very kind person at the CHI St. Louis office reviewed our dossier for us since our coordinator is on vacation. It was perfect! The agency now has to add their documents to it and hopefully this time next week we'll know what region we're going to and then everything can be sent off to be translated. Rumor has it, translation takes about 2 weeks and then we'll be registered in the region we've chosen. Hopefully, by August 1st, we'll be registered!

There isn't too much else going on around here! We had a nice cookout yesterday with my dad, step-mom and brother-in-law. Alex is at a youth convention with church in Orlando, FL, K is working a ton and I, thankfully, have tomorrow off! There will be an attempt to clean out a closet, but more than likely I'll be laying on my couch napping or spending time with my poor neglected "kids" (3 dogs, 2 cats). There will always be time to clean the closet, right?

P.S. MandyJo - I love part 2 of your story!! I can't figure out how to comment on your blog or maybe you don't allow comments? Regardless, I just wanted to let you know that so far, it's a GREAT story!!

We passed our tests, so we are done with all of the requirements needed to submit our dossier.

This weekend was a great one! Went to the lake on Saturday and then to the Keith Urban concert on Saturday night. It was a GREAT concert! He played for over 2 hours and sounded just as good (if not better) live. Very, very impressive! Today I slept late, took a nap, did 90 loads of laundry and just chilled out! Just a really, really nice weekend.

Toodles!
Becky