Where is Kemerovo, Russia?

Some additional information for those of you who are curious. Vitaly is from the Kemerovo Region of Russia. This is basically in the South-Western corner of Siberia. I attached a picture. Its about a 4 hour flight from Moscow. (love that flying...) Interestingly enough the airports in Beijing, China, Seoul, Korea, and Delhi, India are all closer than Moscow.
I found a website that shows pictures of the Baby Home (or "Detsky Dom" in Russian) in Prokopyevsk, which is where I think Vitaly lives. The same website gives some interesting information about the area too. I would have posted the link but it doesnt seem to be working. Here is the web address in case you want to check it out... http://kemerovo.tripod.com/adoptingfromkemerovo/id16.html

This weekend is Fathers Day. I am so excited to think that by this time next year, Jason will be a Father! Yeah!

The news we've been waiting for!

I had to go to Rhode Island for work this past Tuesday. The plane landed around 1:15pm (EST) and I immediately turned on my cell phone to text Jason that I was still alive. (I'm a nervous flyer) About 2 minutes later I saw that I was receiving a call from Adoption Ark. For a brief minute I thought, what if this is about our referral... When I answered it was a lady named Maeven who was covering for our caseworker. (She was on vacation) She said they had information to give us about a little boy! His name is Vitialiy. He was born on May 30, 2008 so he is just one year old. We received several pictures, which we can't post until we have adopted him. He is perfect! He has big eyes, he is totally bald and is 100% beautiful! He only weighs 16.9 lbs. He is definitely a little guy!

After speaking with an International Adoption doctor we discovered that there may be a few concerns with his development. He requested more information to help us make a solid decision about accepting the referral or not. I called Maeven and asked her for the update, which she is trying to get. Today though, we decided to move forward with the referral regardless. There is never a guarantee for a perfect child, and really how fun would that be anyway? I told Jason the biggest issue I have is that I already feel like he is ours. I already love him and I hope it all goes well and we can bring him home before Christmas. How fantastic would that be??

Keep praying for us. We hope to receive an invitation to travel for Trip #1 by the end of July. I will update everyone when I get more news!

YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

10 Months Now

I emailed our adoption caseworker to find out how long couples are waiting currently and where we are at on the waiting list. Not surprisingly the wait time has increased. She assured me the increase in time had nothing to do with the fact that our check had cleared and the contract was signed. Hmmm.... When we started the process they said 6-9 months for a boy and 12-16 for a girl. Now the wait time is 10 months for a little boy and 12 months for a girl. Our paperwork went in at the end of April so 10 months from then would be February. At that point we wouldn't even travel until March for the 1st time and May-ish for the 2nd (final) trip. So its looking like we are about a year out now from bringing our baby home. She also let me know that we have 25 families "in line before us". I guess thats the best way to put it. I bet I'm a pain to work with. I'll email her again in a few weeks and ask her both questions again. Jason thinks I'm going to make her mad and she'll make us wait longer. I don't think so. I'm very polite. :)