Talked to Anna

What an angel my caseworker is. She answers the same questions over and over. I called her today to ask what exactly we are waiting on. She said that our letter still hasnt arrived from Moscow and that they may wait to send them in a bulk shipment to the region. There were lots of families who traveled around the same time as us. She said that the coordinator has already translated our documents and when they get the letters things move pretty quickly. Unfortunately everyone is shutting down next week.

Jason and I spent the weekend downtown shopping for Christmas. It was great! I miss the city. Sorry Mom, but one day I would love to move back down there. We were able to meet up with Sandra 2 for breakfast. :) We traveled with her to Russia on Trip 1. Its a great kinship now, makes me feel closer to Maks just seeing her! :) I think all of the families waiting feel exactly the same, anxious and impatient.

We got our crib from Buy Buy Baby yesterday. Our chair is in at Little Deb N Heir and now we're just waiting for the dresser. We put the crib together and put the sheets/bumper/blanket on it. The room is starting to look more and more ready.




We're leaving for Florida soon so I probably won't post any more updates until January. Lets hope that we get some GREAT news in mid-January!!

Other Families

We received word that the 2 families who had court on Monday both passed. One family even had the 10 day waiting period waived! That is fabulous for them! They will be arriving home on Christmas day. I'm not sure what they did to have the waiting period waived. I'll need to ask when they get home, that would be a dream come true!

Waiting Until the New Year

One of the families traveling this month was kind enough to take our note and bottle of lotion to Maks. It makes me feel better that they will be there in his baby home. I wish they could see him and give him a hug for us. Or send me pictures so I could see if he's changed much in the past month.

The Russian court system is about to shut down for the year again. They won't open back up until January 15th or something like that. So the earliest we will travel is February. Maks will be almost 21 months by then. I'm so sad that I could miss that much time with him!

On another note, I accepted a new job. Its still with the same bank but I'll be working in a different line of business. It will still give me a good challenge, but provide more flexibility in my schedule. I was reading that parenting book again last night. (I think I should stop) and I got to the section that gives advice on working parents after an adoption. They basically said that you should do whatever it takes to have one parent stay home with the child for a year or two. She said, take out a 2nd mortgage, get a family loan, but try to stay home. Apparently day care is a bad thing (too similar to orphanage life), family care is a bad thing (bonding with someone other than you) and multiple care givers is a bad thing (obvious bonding issues). So Mom, you need to give me a loan. :) Just kidding.

All you can do is live your life and hope for the best!

Updates

Four families got court dates in Kemerovo for December. I'm not sure if they were families that traveled right before us or not. I talked to our caseworker this week and apparently all we're waiting on is the letter from Moscow to the region. They can't set up the court dates until they get that letter. Apparently that takes between 2 weeks and 2 months.

We got some baby lotion for Maks and are sending it to the orphanage. The lady who is helping us learn Russian translated a note for us to the Orphanage director. Mak's poor little legs were so dry, I don't want him to go through this winter like that. Hopefully they'll get the letter and lotion in a few days. Sending stuff to Russia is super expensive! It cost us $160 to Fed Ex our documents.

Hopefully we get some great news soon!