Updated info on submission to region

Long version:

I was standing in a store yesterday, talking to a friend of mine- about kids, first days of school and, of course, how everything was processing with our adoption. As we were beginning to wrap up our conversation, my cell phone rang. I jokingly said, "Please excuse me, I know I shouldn't expect a call for a couple of months, but I still wonder with each call :)"

So, I answered the phone- and- you guessed it, our family coordinator, Kristen from AWAA was on the line. I was surprised and pleased to hear from her- especially when she went on to tell me that they were beginning to submit to the baby homes in the region!!! Our submission and subsequent referral are delayed just a bit, due to a piece of paperwork that turned up missing somewhere over the Atlantic. (I choose to believe that, possibly, our baby is not quite ready, so God, in His infinite wisdom, used this way to delay our submission just a bit more.) Kristen laughs when I tell her- "We have to get the time machine running, since we have to go "Back to the future" to get our baby." (Krasnoyarsk is 12 hours ahead of us, as you can see on the clock above.)

Well, you can imagine my excitement. I was really dealing with being "bummed out" that it would possibly take so much more time. Then, suddenly, we hear this great news. God is so awesome. We will probably receive a call as early as September. (I'm praying for early Sept- but narrowing it down to a month is phenomenal at this point!)

The referral process is going to be different now. As our program director at AWAA said today-

The process has changed to matching children with a particular family in order to receive the official referral. If a family chooses not to pursue this referral, the family will need to write a letter explaining that they are not accepting the referral and provide the reason for not accepting the referral. The family will then wait for the next available referrals, which may take a few months (this time frame is uncertain), and the child will be referred to a different agency. The previous process was not as concrete in matching particular families and children, and did not require families to write a letter when they did not accept a referral.

Previously we shared that there were fewer children available, and a lower number of girls, due to the measures taken over the last year to increase domestic adoption. We are now hearing that the referrals we will received are more likely to be male and to have some health concerns, since Russian families are provided the children deemed healthiest. I would note that Russia does not consider any child in an orphanage to be healthy, and that it is difficult to know the true health of these children until they are examined in person by a medical professional. For example, in Krasnoyarsk, all children are listed as having perinatal encephalopathy and pyramidal insufficiency, which are vague diagnoses, without exact definition in Western medicine, and of which we have seen no corresponding diagnosis when children come home.

So, that is the latest update. I keep trying to remind myself that all the things I want to get done are really peripheral right now, and it is very important to continue to enjoy life and not stress over the details. Time to spend with Tim, as the 2 of us will become 3 or 4 soon :)

Continuing to praise and thank God for a forward movement in our Russian Adoption process. Also, praying for all families involved with this process. Thank you for sharing our joys with us!


Short version- Should be getting a phone call on a baby as early as September.

Neutral news on the timeline

I say neutral, because it is neither good, nor bad- just news.

I spoke with our family coordinator today. She said, in the past, it has usually taken 2-3 months to actually "submit" a dossier to a region- meaning actually assigning us to a baby home (orphanage). - So we have almost officially 1 week in for that waiting time :)

Once our dossier is submitted to a home, we would be matched up with a "referral"- our baby. We would then have 1 week to decide nyet or da (no or yes) and travel to meet our child within 1-2 weeks after that.

Krasnoyarsk has typically had a 3-4 month wait between trips one (where we go over and meet the baby and sign the initial paperwork) and trip two (when we are called back by the judge for a court date to finalize the adoption and bring our baby home).

Soooo, we are praying that, since there have been very few children placed in the last year, that these wait times will be decreased, the children would be placed in their forever homes much more quickly and we can finalize our adoption and be home before Christmas.

I know God is ultimately in control, and I can trust in His unfailing love- He knows the plans He has for us- plans for a hope and a future. I am really hopeful that this future doesn't have renewing our paperwork a 3rd time in it :) But what ever He has planned and willed for us, He will give us the strength to accomplish.

So- good news- don't have to jump everytime the phone rings, thinking it may be about the baby- bad news- see above- (don't have to jump everytime the phone rings, thinking it may be about the baby) :)

Time and distance

My sister Amity sent a really cool webpage-
http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/city.html?n=372

I went a few clicks further and found this:

Distance from Krasnoyarsk to Columbus
Distance is 9351 kilometers or 5810 miles or 5049 nautical milesThe distance is the theoretical air distance (great circle distance). Flying between the two locations's airports can be longer or shorter, depending on airport location and actual route chosen.
Heading from Krasnoyarsk
Latitude:
56° 05'
North
Longitude:
92° 46'
East
Initial heading:
356.7°
North
Final heading:
182.4°
South
Heading from Columbus
Latitude:
39° 59'
North
Longitude:
82° 59'
West
Initial heading:
2.4°
North
Final heading:
176.7°
South


Check out the map at the top of our blog :)- or check it out on the following page- it is a map of the world- showing Columbus, Ohio (roughly 45 min from where we live) to Krasnoyarsk, where our baby lives.

http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/distanceresult.html?p1=372&p2=805

Pretty cool stuff!!

We got a Region!!!

The long version--- (scroll down for the short version if you don't have time for this....)

Thursday was your typical day at the pharmacy. Not too busy, but not very slow either. I was keeping up just fine :) The phone rang, as it had been all day long, and as I answered it, I had very little suspicion as to how this particular phone call would change my day.

"Roseville Pharmacy, this is Debbie, how can I help you?" I asked of the caller. "Debbie," the caller said, "This is Kristen Dillow from America World." I still hadn't guessed the reason for the call- I knew a paper that we had updated for our dossier couldn't be found. I was thinking, maybe, this was the reason for the call- but was I in for a great big surprise!!

"Debbie, I just got off the phone with Dr. Dobrovsky," who is our coordinator of all things in Russia, "and he told me you have been placed in the Krasnoyarsk region! Congratulations!!!"

It is amazing how many things went through my mind all at once. Part of me wanted to scream, shout, turn around, touch the ground and shout praises to God- but the other part of me- the professional, employed part, that realized I had several customers in the store, wanted to just stand and absorb it all. After a surreal few moments, I'm sure Kristen was wondering if the connection was lost, I felt this deep abiding peace surround me, filling me, calming me, allowing me to ask questions in a calm manner on the outside, while marvelling on the inside at the calmness I felt. I asked all sorts of questions, Kristen answering what she could, until I knew I had to go- after all, people still need their medications!!

I called Tim as soon as I could, and when he picked up and said, "Hello," I almost lost the tenuous hold I had held so firmly just a few moments earlier on my emotions. As I gave him some of the most exciting news we've had in almost 18 months, a tear slid down my cheek- then another. My coworker, Teresa, was priceless. She had figured out what was going on and was as excited as I was. She couldn't wait to give me a hug and do the happy dance with me!!

I'll post a few sites about Krasnoyarsk below, if you are as interested as I am to see what it looks like. It is in south central Siberia- the 3rd largest city.



Short version-----

We found out thursday that we have been assigned to the Krasnoyarsk region for our adoption.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krasnoyarsk


http://www.waytorussia.net/Siberia/Krasnoyarsk/Map.html


So, you may be wondering what all this means? It means that our search for our child that we have been on since Feb of 2006 has been narrowed down from the vastness of Russia, to a region called Krasnoyarsk. Our next "phone call" will be to let us know that we have been assigned to a specific baby home (of which there are many in Krasnoyarsk and surrounding areas) and we'll receive a "referral," which is adoption talk for the info on your child :)

Until next time- we continue to pray for the staff at America World Adoption (www.awaa.org) which is our agency, Dr Dobrovsky and his team- who are in Russia right now sorting all the paperwork for many families and arranging all our travel, translators, etc while we are in Russia meeting and bringing home our children, the judges and court systems in Russia-that everything goes smoothly for the families) the many families who have been so patiently waiting for so long to be united with their children, and of course the children who are waiting for their "forever homes."

Greetings and Welcome to our blog!

Wow, has it really been since April that we first posted? Such exciting news- after 14 months of waiting, our agency in Russia has achieved accredidation. Now, for those of you who are not in the process of adopting- you may ask- what does that mean? Let's back up to May of 2006.

In an effort to remove corruption and be able to provide follow-through on adopted children, the Russian government shut down the accredation process, putting everything on hold until it could be revamped. They created a whole new "ministry", similar to a department in our government. By doing this, any agency wishing to place a child internationally into a family had to now seek approval from 2 different agencies. This newly created agency granted what is called "NGO status"- or non-governmental organization. Our agency received this approval in January. We were sooo excited- we were looking forward to hearing more on our child.

As often happens when revampting a system, there have been more delays. However, on July 19, 2007, we received the incredible news that, after 14 months of nothing, our agency is now accredited!!!!!-(this being granted through the original agency- the second I mentioned )Whhoooo Hoooo!!!! It was such an exciting moment for us both- as Tim stood there calmly with a big smile, I jumped all around, clapping my hands, crying, and praising God for the first movement we've seen for sooo long.

We then got the exciting news that, since our dossier (the completed paperwork required to adopt- it was almost 5 pounds when we mailed it in) was just newly updated and in great order that we may be able to go ahead and have it placed in a region very quickly. Again, you may ask- sooo, what does that mean? It means that in the vastness of Russia, we will have our search narrowed down to a particular region. (like a state in the USA).

Once we have a region, we will find our search narrowed even more, to a specific baby home and then we will receive that long awaited phone call, telling us that our child has been found- the one that God has placed in our hearts for so long!

I must admit, if I were comparing this to a NASCAR race- I'd say that we've been red flagged for 14 months, we've just gone back to yellow and we are looking forward to very soon having that green flag waving, as we soar ahead and finish the race God has set before us.