Addison ... we've got a date!

We received information today that we have a date with a judge in a Russian courtroom on November 12, 2008! Can I get a wahoo?! I really did not expect our date to be that soon, but I'll take it! We have to be in Russia on November 10, meaning we leave here November 9.

My mind is going a mile a minute right now ... what to do first ... set up bedrooms, pack, find plane tickets, find lodging, watch for money to fall out of the sky ... the list is endless!

Sorry to leave you hanging ...

I've had so many people asking, "When are you going back?" The honest answer is that we do not know ... not exactly, anyway. We had been told that we would probably go back in November, but we didn't want to get our hopes up.

A little about the process ... after we signed off on our referral indicating that we intended to adopt Addison {we did this while we were still in St. Petersburg}, the paperwork had to be sent to Moscow to be processed. We were told this could take weeks before it would be sent back to St. Petersburg.

Well ... today we found out that the paperwork is back from Moscow and we are ready to have a court date assigned. We are praying that our coordinator in Russia can get us a court date quickly ... please jump on that prayer bandwagon! I'm hoping to get there and be home by Thanksgiving, but that could be pushing it. We'll see ...

Our Apartment {Trip One}

I know, I know ... I said I would post these pictures like a month ago. Oops. So here it is ... the anticipation is over ... our apartment in St. Petersburg, Russia ... our very small, humble studio apartment ...

The main door to our apartment building off Nevsky ... this door is as heavy as it looks ...

After walking up about three flights of old, raggedy cement stairs, you see this door ...
After going through the aforesaid door, you end up in this little hallway with three apartments, one of which was ours. This little area has been remodeled and there is a washer and dryer in the hall closet.

In order to get through those first two big, metal doors ... you have to use this round magnetic key ... nifty, eh? The other key was what we had to use to lock and unlock our apartment door ...Ta da ... here it is ... our temporary abode ... looks cozy, eh?

Bathroom {with a really small shower ... the picture is deceiving} to the left of the entrance ...

The kitchen, I guess? LOL. Complete with mini fridge and microwave ...And no kitchen in my house can do without some Mt. Dew! This was the only Mt. Dew we found while in Russia ... it tasted a little different and check out the florescent green bottle ... strange!

Our ongoing list of thank yous

Thank you so much to everyone who has supported and prayed for us throughout our adoption. We would like to give a special thanks to {please forgive us we if missed someone ... we have tried hard to keep it updated} ...

*Ecki, for your monetary donations
*Maddy and Ella, for the money you made from your lemonade stands
*Amy Gwinner, for all the items donated to our garage sale and your monetary donation
*Shawn and Brian, for your garage sale donations and your monetary donation
*Shay and Jeremy, for all your support, the items donated to our garage sale and your monetary donation
*Christina Evans, for your very generous monetary donations and your help with our hotel
*Leigh and Marty, for all your fabulous donations for our garage sale
*Beth Rice, for your monetary donation
*Natalia Dennis and family, for your garage sale donations
*Beth Skoletsky, for your garage sale donations
*Dawn Dempster and family, for your garage sale donations
*Theresa Burdick, for your garage sale donations
*Chris Compher, for your garage sale donations
*Brian Ray and family, for your monetary donation
*Mindi Nelsen, for your monetary donation
*Martha Lipscomb and family, for your monetary donation
*Luciana Brown, for your monetary donations
*Chris Kurz, for your monetary donation in honor of Cadence
*Carmen Morales and family, for your monetary donation in honor of Cadence
*Renee Parker, for your monetary donation
*Janine Andersen, for your monetary donation
*Sharon Burnett, for your monetary donation
*Ken Goltara and family, for your monetary donation
*Shelley B, for your monetary donation
*Mark Needham and family, for your monetary donation
*Angela Schultz, for your monetary donation
*Kayla Glascock, for your monetary donations
*Peggy Macko, for your monetary donation
*Brigitte Van Nice, for your monetary donations
*Debbie Bosman {my mom}, for your love, support, help with our garage sale and your monetary donations
*Kristin Clark, for your monetary donation
*McKenna Powell and family, for your incredible support and monetary donation
*Missy Landsness, for your monetary donation
*Meeghan Loomis, for your monetary donation
*Kari Kruchten, for your monetary donation and donations to our garage sale
*Brenda McClure, for your monetary donation
*Tina Domask, for your monetary donation
*Carola Cronauer, for your monetary donation
*Kristie {my sister} and Casey Jones, for your incredible support, help with our garage sale and monetary donation
*Heather Keno, for your monetary donation
*Christina Litchfield, for your monetary donation
*John and Charissa Urban, for your monetary donation {and your inspiration}
*Elizabeth Roush, for your monetary donation
*Dolores Wynkoop, for your monetary donations
*Jennifer DeYoung, for your monetary donation and for honoring us for Cadence's birthday
*Marlene Prange, for your monetary donation
*Karilyn Teague, for your monetary donation
*Renee Garcia, for your monetary donation
*Jody Campbell, for your monetary donation
*Andrea Roberts, for your monetary donation
*Shylo Ulcak, for your monetary donations
*Melissa Hartman, for your monetary donation
*Nicole Morales, for your monetary donation
*Lori Harris, for your monetary donation
*Amanda Wilson, for your monetary donation
*Kristen Faulkner, for your monetary donation
*Joanne Charland, for your monetary donation
*Lori Kirby, for your monetary donation and donations to our garage sale
*Donna Sherman, for your monetary donation
*Jodi Ridings and family, for your support, your monetary donation and donations to our garage sale
*Corcoran family, for your incredible amount of donations to our garage sale
*Tammy and Marcus Krohn, for your donations to our garage sale
*Linny and Chip Burroughs, for your donations to our garage sale
*Kimberly Grover, for your monetary donation
*Tina Knutson, for your monetary donation
*Ute Gallant, for your donations to our garage sale
*Bill Kays, for your donations to our garage sale
*Melinda Sawyer, for doing the bake sale and your monetary donation
*Dorothy Knapp, for doing the bake sale and your monetary donation
*Debby Myers, for your help with our garage sale and lemonade stands
*Rebecca Bates, for your donations to our garage sale
*Jimmy, for your donations to our garage sale and your monetary donation
*Carol Hawkens, for your monetary donation
*Pete Stephenson, for your monetary donation
*The Ostrowski family, for your monetary donation
*Krissy Fulton, for your donations to our garage sale
*Vesna Feltes, for your donations to our garage sale
*Laura Guidotti, for your donations to our garage sale
*Jess Stultz, for your donations to our garage sale
*Sarah McPartlin, for you donations to our garage sale
*Lani Carnill, for your donations to our garage sale
*Jen Harkness, for your donations to our garage sale
*Maryann and Mike Taylor, for your monetary donation
*Jenna Palomino, for your monetary donation
*The Hanzely family, for your monetary donation
*Michele Bedjai, for your monetary donation
*Jennifer Schrad, for your monetary donation
*Teresa Mantilla Abascal, for your monetary donation
*Ellie Codding, for your donations to our garage sale
*Lindsay Swab and Nathan Ewing, for your monetary donation
*Ribbies Clippies, for your monetary donation and donations for the raffle
*Janie Trego, for your monetary donation
*David Bowers, for your monetary donation
*Laurie Goltara, for your monetary donation
*Mary Shatzer and family, for your very generous monetary donations and for being our travel partners!
*Robert Brannock, for your monetary donation
*Teresa Saiz, for your monetary donation
*Asher Avery and family, for your monetary donation
*Denise King, for your monetary donation
*Tom and Sherry Fitzsimmons, for your monetary donations and your help with our garage sale
*Cindy Combs, for your monetary donation
*Pamela Moore, for your monetary donation
*Amy Monroe, for your monetary donation
*Heather Kirkland, for your monetary donation
*Aimee Zembruski, for your generous monetary donation
*Sara McGovern, for your monetary donation
*Rachel Finley, for your monetary donation
*Meg Wegmueller, for your monetary donation
*The Mom Crowd and everyone that participated in the raffle they hosted

Dear Addison ...

Happy birthday sweetheart! Your birthday has already begun in Russia, since you are eight hours ahead of us. Your Daddy and I are sitting here wondering if you are awake yet ... do you realize that you are two years old today?! Our hearts are broken that we cannot shower you with kisses and gifts today ... we trust that your caregivers will do that for us. Soon baby, soon ... soon we will have you in our arms forever and we will never leave ... that is a promise. We hope you have a great day today and that you are made to feel like the princess that you are.

Until next time ... hugs and kisses from afar ...

Another special family ...

One of the most amazing things that has come from having a child with Down syndrome is the friendships that I have made. Meeting other families that are similar to ours that are on our journey ... it is really hard for me to put into words just how special of a bond we have with them. It is instantaneous. It is different than a regular old friendship ... we get each other. We are experiencing the exact same things in life. We understand what the other is going through. When can talk to each other about PT, OT, ST, AAI, EI, IFSP, DS, IEP {and the list goes on} and know exactly what all those things mean and why each one of them have such a huge impact on our lives.

One of those friends that I have made is McKenna. Even though we live half way across the country from each other, we talk on the phone every day and we have been lucky enough to meet up a few times. I think she is my long lost twin ... it is pretty scary actually. She is amazing ... equally amazing is her little girl, Darah, who happens to have a little something extra in the chromosome department.

Not only are McKenna and I on the Down syndrome journey together, we are on the road to adoption together. McKenna and her husband are adopting a little girl from Eastern Europe ... everyone, please meet Reese ... isn't she sweet?

Grab This Button

Tell me about yourself and your family.

DJ and I have been married for 5 1/2 years and have two children. Connor is almost 2 and Darah just turned 4. Darah has Down syndrome. We are pursuing the adoption of a 9 month old little girl who also has Down syndrome and a cleft lip and cleft palate.

Tell me why you decided to adopt a child with special needs?

Having Darah has opened our eyes up to a world we didn't know much about. Having a child with special needs brings so much reward and joy to our lives. We also know that around the world, so many children are abandoned because they have special needs. We feel that adopting a child with special needs will not only enrich our family, but save a precious child in the process.

What special needs does she have?

Reese has Down syndrome. She also was born with a cleft lip and cleft palate. In Reese's country, she is not eligible for the very simple procedure to repair her cleft lip and cleft palate. While it may look shocking, she will have surgery to repair her cleft lip and palate when she comes home. She will be in the hospital probably only overnight for the lip repair and probalby only two nights for the palate repair. She is able to eat right now with a special bottle and we are very encouraged at how chunky she is because that tells us her caregivers are taking the time to make sure she is nourished! Neither Down syndrome or cleft lip/palate are a scary thing! While Reese will have to have surgery and will probably have delayed development and some extra developmental therapy a lot of children do not need, we know that our every day lives will not be that much different than anyone else's. We can't wait for her to come home to our family!

What would be your advice to anyone wanting to adopt?

The main thing I want to tell people is that we are not special people. We are making a big decision to adopt a child, but we're not any different than any other family. We were afraid of the adoption process and the fundraising and now that we are in the process I'm learning it's not as big and scary as I thought it would be. If you are wanting to adopt, I encourage you to spend a lot of time in prayer. I also encourage you to find some people who have been through the process and start asking all your questions! That was the best thing I did before we committed to Reese. I also encourage you to consider adopting a child with special needs. These children are at the biggest risk of being sent to institutions around the world. 80% of them die within the first year of being transferred to an institution. A lot of countries are not accepting of individuals with special needs and it is important to send the message to these countries that these children ARE WANTED and ARE LOVABLE and more important to save these children from dying in awful institutions! Find someone who has a child with special needs and spend some time with them. I truly believe that every family should know the joy of raising a child with special needs. Having a daughter with Down syndrome has enriched our little family in so many ways and made us all better people! I am an open book with our adoption process and happy to share anything about our journey with anyone!

If you would like to follow their journey to Reese, click here to be redirected to their blog. If you would like to help them in their fund raising efforts with a tax deductible donation, click here. I'd like to leave you with The Starfish Story, a favorite of this family ...

The Starfish Story
Original Story by: Loren Eisley

One day a man was walking along the beach when he noticed
a boy picking something up and gently throwing it into the ocean.

Approaching the boy, he asked, “What are you doing?”

The youth replied, “Throwing starfish back into the ocean.
The surf is up and the tide is going out. If I don’t throw them back, they’ll die.

”Son,” the man said, “don’t you realize there are miles and miles of beach and hundreds of starfish? You can’t make a difference!”

After listening politely, the boy bent down, picked up another starfish,
and threw it back into the surf. Then, smiling at the man, he said…”
I made a difference for that one."

Greeting Addison

I took this video on day three {I think} of visiting Addison ... it is taken as we walked in the door of her "family unit". I wanted to video her because at a prior visit, she saw us come in and came crawling super fast across the floor to greet us ... it was SO cute. This time she was in the middle of getting dressed, but her waves in this video are so cute and funny, that I wanted to share. Watching this is really making me miss her badly ... and I think I've forgotten how much of a little tanker she is! Check out the rolls on her arms! I can't wait to get back to Russia!

Just a little Russian history on adoption

The exponential rise in international adoptions from Russia parallels that for China over the past 12 years. Russia opened for international adoption as the Soviet Union disintegrated. The sudden availability of white children and the closure of Romania for international adoption rapidly accelerated interest in Russian adoptions. American parents were also enthusiastic about the provision of video tapes of the prospective child as part of the referral packet, first offered by a few agencies working in Russia in the early 1990s. Viewing video tapes of the prospective child made it easier for parents to connect with the child and also (often with professional assistance) to identify potential problems.

NUMBER OF IMMIGRANT VISAS ISSUED TO ORPHANS
COMING TO THE U.S.
FROM RUSSIA

FY 2007 FY 2006 FY 2005 FY 2004 FY 2003 FY 2002 FY 2001 FY 2000 FY 1999 FY 1998 FY 1997 FY 1996 FY 1995 FY 1994 FY 1993 FY 1992 FY 1991

2,310 3,706 4,639 5,865 5,209 4,939 4,279 4,269 4,348 4,491 3,816 2,454 1,896 1,530 746 324 12

The Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation is the central authority in Russia for international adoption, although officials and judges in each region have considerable autonomy to determine the actual legal process for adoption. As of 2000, the government required accreditation of all foreign adoption agencies in Russia. Accreditation was offered only to those agencies with 5 or more years of experience in Russia. Accreditation obligates agencies to hire separate, salaried employees, to submit regular reports on their activities and income, and to pay taxes in full. If you are just beginning the adoption process, it is recommended that you seek out an agency for which accreditation is current. A list of accredited adoption agencies is available at the adoptions page of the U.S. Embassy's Website at http://moscow.usembassy.gov/consular/consular.php?record_id=adoptions.

Agencies rely on local facilitators; previously some facilitators had simultaneous relationships with multiple adoption agencies and attorneys. Some unscrupulous facilitators then offered children to multiple agencies, placing the child with the agency able to pay the highest fee. Shortly after taking office in 2000, Vladimir Putin signed a series of laws related to adoption practices. The laws were intended to halt corruption, child-selling, and other illegal activities related to international adoption.

About 600,000-650,000 children reside in institutional care in Russia, with the number growing by approximately 100,000 each year. More than 90% are "social orphans" - children living in orphanages despite having parents. Foster care is virtually nonexistent. Children are usually abandoned at birth, and enter residential care after a period (usually weeks to months) in the children's hospital or maternity home. Orphanages for young children, known as "baby homes," are usually under the jurisdiction of the regional health department. Older children reside in orphanages supervised by the regional education department. Children leave the "baby home" at about age 3; they are then assigned to a particular orphanage on the basis of results of a medical and developmental assessment. Some children enter state care after termination of parental rights. The type and quality of care vary enormously among different settings. Two exposes of conditions in Russian orphanages attracted considerable media attention to the plight of institutionalized children in Russia. Some orphanages have far less than 50 U.S. cents per day to feed each child. Other orphanages have plentiful food, multidisciplinary highly trained staff, and low caregiver-to-child ratios.

In most regions, the process of international adoption now requires adoptive parents to make 2-3 trips before the adoption may be finalized. The purpose is first to identify the child and initiate legal proceedings and second and or third to complete the adoption. A databank listing of available children (currently numbering 80,000) is maintained by government authorities. In theory, three Russian families must refuse the child before he or she is offered to foreigners. Russian law requires that a child be registered first on a local databank for one month and a regional data bank for a month plus six months on the federal databank. Therefore, the total amount of time before a child is released for international adoption is usually eight months.¹ Adoption proceedings must be completed before the immigrant visa is issued for travel to the United States.

The eligibility requirements for adoptive parents are as follows:¹

1. Married couples may adopt.
2. Single persons may adopt but there must be at least a 16-year age difference between the prospective parent and the prospective adoptive child.
3. Russia also has medical requirements for adoptive parents. Persons considering adoption in Russia should consult their adoption agency about medical conditions that may disqualify them. These include TB, active and chronic; illness of internal organs and nervous system; dysfunction of the limbs; infectious diseases; drug and alcohol addictions; psychiatric disorders; and, any disability which prevents the person from working.

Note: Due to frequent changes in the adoption procedures in Russia, the information on this page may not be up-to-date. Please check with your agency for the most current regulations.

Intercountry Adoption News
The latest news affecting adoptions can be found here: http://travel.state.gov/family/adoption/intercountry/intercountry_482.html

{Source: www.adopteducation.com}

One special family

{Miss Masha}

Coming in to our adoption, I always knew that adoption was expensive ... but good grief, I'm not sure I realized just how expensive it is. As you know, we have been doing a lot of fundraising to help off set our costs ... and we have lots more ahead of us.

I would like to introduce you to a very special family who in the process of trying to adopt Masha, a little girl that has Down syndrome from overseas. They have had some major hurdles to jump to bring their angel home. These hurdles have been very expensive and they almost had to walk away from their adoption because of it. So far, they have remained committed to bringing this little girl home.

In an effort to off set some of their adoption expenses, they are holding a $5 raffle for a pretty awesome prize ... a Dell Mini Inspiron Laptop ... pretty cool, eh? I know many of you are probably sick of hearing about raffles, but I figure if I can put out $5 to help a family that is doing a great thing ... and get a chance to win a laptop ... then why not? Click here to read more about the laptop and for information on how to purchase a raffle ticket.

Thank you for helping this great family!

October is Down syndrome awareness month!

Unringing the Bell is hosting the 2nd annual 31 for 21 blog challenge ... and I'm playing over at my other blog, Life with Bubba and Chicky. The goal is to blog everyday for the month of October. 31 days to raise awareness of Down syndrome (a.k.a. Trisomy 21). Get it? 31 for 21! Technically I can blog about anything my heart desires, but I plan to include plenty of awareness about Down syndrome ... just because that is what is most important to me!

Uh oh ... I'm it

I've been tagged by Janine at Finding Emily and Barb at Holm Sweet Home ... the task at hand is to divulge six random facts about myself that others might not know ... hmmm ...

1) I work for the federal court system. I also own The Polkadot Platypus and do that in my free time on the side.

2) I suffered infertility and had four failed IUIs before getting pregnant with my son via IVF. With my daughter we went straight to IVF, which worked the first time.

3) As a youngster, I was a die hard New Kids on the Block fan ... and now that they are back on tour, I continue to be a die hard fan. I love Jordan! LOL.

4) I partied hard studied Spanish in Mexico during my senior year of college. I lived with two different families in Guadalajara and Mazatlan.

5) I think there is a ghost that lives in my house. My dog has been let out of her cage several times during the night and no, none of us are sleep walking. My television turns on by itself and it is often on when we return from being away for a few days. The kids' royal potty sings at night after we have left the seat down {it only sings when the seat is up}. Random toys play music at night {as in toys we never play with that are in the back of the toy box}. No joke folks.

6) I was born in New York. I've also lived in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota.

Well ... that's all about me ... gosh, I feel like that is such boring trivia. LOL. Now it's my turn to tag six more people ...

McKenna
Carmen
Shay
Jamie
Kristen
Jen

If I tagged you, here are the rules ...

1. Link to the person that tagged you.

2. Post the rules on the blog.

3. Write six random facts about yourself.

4. Tag six people at the end of your post.

5. Let each person know they have been tagged.

6. Let the taggers know when your entry is up.

I love her eyebrows ...

Our brief stay in Amsterdam

Interesting ... I think that is the best word to describe it. Interesting ... and maybe a bit scary? Although our hotel {which was the coolest hotel ever, by the way ... more on that later} was near the airport, we took the train downtown. The train was very nice, clean and easy to use. Bonus ... things were going well! We walked out of the train station and I almost got hit by a trolley bus train thing. Note to self: there are not cars in Amsterdam, there are trolley bus train things ... everywhere. Watch out, because they come up on you quickly and quietly. Oh, trolley bus train things and bikes ... bikes everywhere. Everyone rides a bike ... the whole family rides one bike. Craziness.

The masses of bikes ...

The train station ...View of part of the downtown area ... and a trolley bus train thing headed for us ...

So ... it pretty much smelled like marijuana everywhere. I guess that stands to reason since it is legal, but I'm sorry ... barf. I was like, "Get me the heck out of here!" Yuk. Sorry folks, but I don't walk on that side of the street. LOL. Kyle's analogy of what it was like there was Mardi Gras, without the boobs and beads. There were people everywhere ... partying it up. As we walked past one street bench, we noticed a gathering of people. What else would they be gathering for, but to watch three girls vomiting all over the place! Seriously people.

And this would not be a blog entry about Amsterdam without mentioning the men's restroom ... err, the men's outdoor urinal. Disgusting. Interesting how all the guys who walked by thought it was the coolest thing ever {including my husband, apparently} and all the girls were completely disgusted. LOL.

Random building ... I have no idea what it is ...Random church ...
Street entertainer ...

Another newspaper article ...

We had another article written about us and our adoption ... this time in the Bull Run Observer. There is not an online link, so I'll try to type it up in my spare time. ;)