Discovery Health TV

Jason and I discovered (no pun intended) that Discovery Health TV has a show called "Adoption Stories." Its similar to the Baby Story and Wedding Story shows on TLC. There really aren't many recently taped ones but they show different families adopting from different countries. There was one recently about a family that adopted 3 different children from Russia. We saw one yesterday about a family that adopted a little girl from Korea. If we adopt again (likely) we would absolutely consider adopting from Korea next time. Its a great program and the babies are adoptable at 6 months old. Anyway, if you are interested check it out. Gives a good perspective.

You can go to www.health.discovery.com and search "Adoption Stories" for the schedule.

Maksim Vitaliy Peterson

I decided I would post the name we chose for Vitaliy. After a lot of thought we have decided to change his birth name Vitaliy to his middle name. We really wanted to keep something Russian to help him always connect with his roots, but make it something a bit easier for an American raised little boy. We decided to go with Maksim Vitaliy Peterson. Maks for short.

We have already told our family and we refer to him now as Maks. So I want him to know if he ever reads this when we decided and why. And I want all of his friends and family to know what to call him.

His initials are M.V.P. Couldn't be cooler.

Our Room Construction

Jason and his friend Gene painted the 2nd bedroom and put up wainscoting. It turned out super cute. We picked yellow paint and the bedding from Pottery Barn Kids with the Dr. Seuss theme. Its not overly "character-y" but is still cute. Don't worry, we haven't completed the whole nursery yet. Just the painting so far! Many of you know that Jason and I are also exploring the use of a gestational carrier. One of my amazing friends has decided to help us also try to have a baby. I would say "baby of our own" but that doesn't seem right. Vitaliy seems as much of "my own" as a genetic child would. The bottom line of my tangent is that we had to choose gender neutral bedding and colors as we don't know if the surrogacy option will work and possibly end with a little girl! Oh to have such problems!! Life would be good.

This has been a rough week for me. Not sure why. Sometimes when I think of Vitaly in Russia I get so excited and sometimes I get so sad. This week is a sad week, just wanting him to be home with us. Not sure what determines which way it will go. Hormones I guess...

Trip Update

So the latest word from Alina (our caseworker) is that the Judge in the Kemerovo region goes on vacation for the entire month of July. The judge has to approve all 1st and 2nd trips into the region for adoptions. So the coordinator in Russia won't assign dates for travel for the families who accepted their referrals in June until the end of August. The first travel dates will likely be in September. However, there were 10 or so families who accepted referrals around the same time as us and the travel dates will be assigned out. We are hoping that we will be traveling in September for Trip 1. If that happened we would still have a chance to bring him home before Christmas! Jason is very reasonable about the whole thing. I'm sad that this could now be pushed out until next spring or so, but as he told me, that is when we expected from the very beginning. What a roller coaster ride this has all been! And really we are only at the beginning!

We heard from another recently adoptive mom who just traveled to the same baby house to adopt her son, about what she suggests that we donate to the orphanage. I guess they are low on shoes, socks and underwear. When they went to meet their soon-to-be son he was dressed in a cute little boy outfit, but then had purple socks and pink shoes! Poor little guy. The family that traveled with them to meet their 3 year old little girl found that she had underwear on that were way too big underneath her tights. She recommended that we buy white tennis shoes in sizes from 3-9 and socks for children 6 months to 3 years. They will only accept new items, nothing used. Not even gently used. I'm sure we can find LOTS of places though here to buy inexpensive shoes and underwear. I wonder how much it would cost to ship a bunch of those things to Russia?

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. :)