tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-290635082011-07-07T16:55:08.288-07:00Steveghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15882273128137856294noreply@blogger.comBlogger2911100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29063508.post-44240377762606218612008-03-10T23:52:00.000-07:002008-03-11T10:56:10.031-07:00

Well after flipping back and forth and then finally committing to my original decision to no longer blog, Stef has decided to pick up where I leave off. She is going to try out blogging about our new life with our little man.Please take a minute and check out the new site...http://ourlittlesuperhero.blogspot.com/

Steveghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15882273128137856294noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29063508.post-45792199120000943062008-01-16T15:11:00.000-08:002008-01-16T15:18:36.926-08:00

Well in the words of Jim Morrison, this is the end. Of course Jim sang it much better than I could. On the other hand he died of an overdose at 27, so I feel like I've done a bit better than the Doors great.The point of this blog was my (a man's) view of our journey through international adoption to get our first child. And to that end we successfully achieved our goal. It took longer than

Steveghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15882273128137856294noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29063508.post-75861044224788860932008-01-09T21:23:00.000-08:002008-01-09T21:29:28.704-08:00

So I just have to show a couple more photos.The first is Andrei doing a party trick. Yes, we're teaching him how to show Loser! with a big "L" on his forehead. Well, you should know by now that we're pretty twisted people.And the second is my homeboy hangin' out in his pimped out ride (a Honda minivan).

Steveghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15882273128137856294noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29063508.post-53025568269726558052008-01-08T22:38:00.000-08:002008-01-08T23:00:59.746-08:00

Well, I'm having a really hard time posting even with my self imposed closing of the blog in a couple of days. Partly it's because I'm busy but also because this blog was more about what the adoption journey was like for me and not what my life with my son is like.But I noticed I don't post any pictures with the posts I have had the time to write, so I've decided to just make this post a mini

Steveghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15882273128137856294noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29063508.post-71194329527716428982008-01-05T08:28:00.000-08:002008-01-05T09:46:57.244-08:00

The cool thing yesterday was our first visual sign of Andrei's growth. He has these jeans that we were rolling up the legs because they were too long (basically that's the situation with all his pants). Anyway, yesterday I noticed that I didn't have to roll them up! We also had bought one of those wall growth charts in Russia so it's in centimeters with some writing on it in Cyrillic of course

Steveghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15882273128137856294noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29063508.post-49037328172656747002008-01-03T20:02:00.000-08:002008-01-03T20:46:01.023-08:00

We took Andrei to a Gymboree class today. Yes, that's the clothing store folks. They actually started as a "play center" chain nearly 30 years ago and didn't get into clothing until the late 80's. Anyway with the foul weather during the winter here in Northern California (cold and very rainy), we can't really head to the park. So we took the opportunity of their free class, sort of a try

Steveghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15882273128137856294noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29063508.post-19689147770663557742008-01-02T22:55:00.000-08:002008-01-03T09:29:21.675-08:00

Well it's a new year and we're working on some new things for Andrei. It actually started on New Year's Eve (or more precisely the day). We had our friend Gillian over with her two boys, J who is 5 and R who is 2 1/2. It was very cool because it was Andrei's first taste of kids outside of his orphanage experience. He was a bit gun-shy at first but eventually got into the swing of a playing

Steveghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15882273128137856294noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29063508.post-15393282550577809992007-12-30T19:52:00.000-08:002007-12-30T22:08:05.626-08:00

Andrei continues to grasp the English language much faster than I thought he would. When I say grasp I mean that he's understanding us and responds correctly. For example if we ask him if he wants more juice and he does, he'll shake his head "Yes" and open his mouth (hey, he's a toddler). If he doesn't he'll shake his head "No". He's not yet hitting English words perfectly (except for his

Steveghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15882273128137856294noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29063508.post-39734953831882869952007-12-28T13:21:00.000-08:002007-12-28T13:23:32.949-08:00

Good SleepSo last night Stef and I were talking about what happened the day before on his nap, which by the way are getting better, that I wanted to blog about. First let me say that his first English word is "bye". Which he uses at every possible time you can use the word "bye". When we leave a store Andrei says and waves "bye" to everyone. And of course most people think it's cute to see a

Steveghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15882273128137856294noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29063508.post-88657800206867457322007-12-27T19:16:00.000-08:002007-12-27T19:20:47.871-08:00

The holidays for us were I guess typical for most people: lots of fun and a bit of "work" too (or any other word you may choose to substitute). It's nice to have family around but when entertaining guests it's also quite a bit of work. And with only having Andrei with us for about a week before extended family arrived (and that week we were all sick) it was especially a challenge for both Stef

Steveghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15882273128137856294noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29063508.post-59867727257379388492007-12-21T20:48:00.000-08:002007-12-21T21:30:10.843-08:00

Haven't been writing mainly because when we're not having fun with Andrei or learning how to be parents (obviously going to be a long process btw) we're trying to take it easy as we get over these wicked colds we got.So how about a weekly update.Each day brings some fun, some new learning (for both him and us) and some issues. The issues mainly are around those darn naps or even going to bed at

Steveghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15882273128137856294noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29063508.post-79450193352621928012007-12-17T18:50:00.000-08:002007-12-17T19:07:26.041-08:00

Stef and I are just getting over the hump of a wicked cold Andrei gave us. It started just as we got to Moscow and it has been one major sickness. I'm certain that is primarily caused by the added stress of the trip and being first time parents. But at least we're on the downhill side of this one (I know there will be something like one per month for awhile here).He had his first visit with

Steveghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15882273128137856294noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29063508.post-53661302556972746252007-12-15T13:08:00.000-08:002007-12-15T15:51:41.994-08:00

We're all settling into the new routine but boy did Andrei give Stef and I some cold! This is the worst one I've had in years and of course it's merely the first of a constant string that my son will bequeathing to us. He seems to be doing great in terms of being happy and active. The number of temper tantrums have gone way down. Thanks I'm sure to the fact that we ignore most of them. We're

Steveghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15882273128137856294noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29063508.post-19411773271546129462007-12-14T00:12:00.000-08:002007-12-14T08:08:00.188-08:00

So I thought I'd tell a past story with each current daily story of how Andrei is doing. The past one is really all that much of an ancient story. It's about our trip to the U.S. Embassy in Moscow. First off, I was really disappointed with the whole thing. I was expecting this beautiful building with marble floors and columns, marines marching around or standing at attention. You know,

Steveghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15882273128137856294noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29063508.post-65574712696999079072007-12-13T02:32:00.000-08:002007-12-13T02:41:27.130-08:00

It's really awesome!!! We got home about 11:00 pm Pacific time, it's now past 2:00 am and we're finally getting tired. I'm planning on closing down the blog with a month long series of daily posts that will both summary and epilogue ending on January 9th coinciding with our official starting date of the adoption process on May 9th, 2006 (a full 20 month long adventure). Okay, okay, it's a bit

Steveghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15882273128137856294noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29063508.post-55998487438171386592007-12-11T07:42:00.000-08:002007-12-11T08:21:04.628-08:00

Well, it's truly official. Okay, so it's not quite officially official since we still have to enter the United States and pass through immigration to provide Andrei with U.S. Citizenship status. But it's official enough for Stef to allow me to post a picture or two. Actually here's a little slide show that shows our little man is signed, sealed, and delivered to us.

Steveghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15882273128137856294noreply@blogger.com23tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29063508.post-66203238567415285792007-12-09T05:26:00.000-08:002007-12-09T05:33:03.100-08:00

Well we made it to Moscow, we have our appointment at the US Embassy on Tuesday and then fly home the next day. We've taken in Red Square today (Sunday). It is just so incredibly beautiful.Andrei is just doing fabulous. He has a few meltdowns every now and then but they seem to be exclusively because he doesn't get his way all the time. I think he's a bit confused on who is the parent.But

Steveghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15882273128137856294noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29063508.post-40653245189682010432007-12-05T19:09:00.001-08:002007-12-05T19:09:33.308-08:00

Today is the big day, we go to pick up Andrei today (and yes "Little A" over the past several months stood for Andrei). We're keeping his Russian name.I just found internet charges in Moscow are really really high (someone told me like $40 for a 24 hour period). So I may not post too often while we are there. But once we have that visa in hand, Stef has given me the green light to post some

Steveghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15882273128137856294noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29063508.post-77834858478849806252007-12-04T02:45:00.000-08:002007-12-04T03:03:47.120-08:00

We're having a blast. Andrei is doing so well and really getting use to us. I'm sure however the flight to Moscow will be a little rough for him. But he really seems to get tremendous comfort when Stef holds him.We bought him some little Russian snow boots today. We never got a chance to measure his feet on trip #1, so we didn't really know his size and just decided to buy those here. I also

Steveghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15882273128137856294noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29063508.post-70231285337498918652007-12-01T17:45:00.000-08:002007-12-01T17:51:46.841-08:00

The people who read my blog are typically involved in international adoption. I'd venture a guess that about 99.999% are parents of an adopted child or soon-to-be parents. And those people are very lucky indeed. The folks with kids already know how fortunate they are (or at least should). But those of you who are still in the process and are not yet parents are even luckier. Yes, you are.

Steveghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15882273128137856294noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29063508.post-30661818883062143092007-12-01T08:14:00.000-08:002007-12-01T08:24:43.297-08:00

Here we are outside of the court house just after the decision. Stef is still being a bit paranoid and won't let me post a picture of Andrei until we have his visa from the U.S. Embassy. So just bear with us. We start running around on Monday to get the necessary documents (decree, passport, etc.) here so that we can head to Moscow and the embassy. He is doing just great and we're working hard

Steveghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15882273128137856294noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29063508.post-66209436621359686412007-11-30T02:16:00.000-08:002007-11-30T02:18:37.681-08:00

Well thankfully the judge looked past the fact that the sheer scope of this event in our lives made us both sound like babbling idiots. And I'm a fairly good public speaker but unfortunately some alien took over my mind during the proceedings.As Steve Jobs would say, just one more thing.Our 10 days were waived!!! Which was beyond a surprise since they have rarely been waiving it here ever since

Steveghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15882273128137856294noreply@blogger.com16tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29063508.post-40278107553605908682007-11-28T21:28:00.000-08:002007-11-28T21:38:24.299-08:00

Made it safely. Holy Cow is it cold, but thankfully not snowing. We meet with our little guy later today and court is tomorrow. Depending on the timing of everything I'll try to post the news tomorrow as soon as possible.Congratulations to the folks that are with the agencies in the (finally!!!) third batch. I saw the info on FRUA, but not sure which ones made it.

Steveghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15882273128137856294noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29063508.post-48387400037702537592007-11-26T08:50:00.001-08:002007-11-26T08:55:46.955-08:00

We head out this evening for our red-eye flight the first of our 3 leg journey to Russia. Between 20+ hours in the air, layovers, and time zone differences we end up arriving in Novosibirsk on Thursday morning.We'll try to post updates often. It's a bit surreal that we're actually getting close to becoming a family. Tossing out good vibes so others can get this feeling soon.

Steveghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15882273128137856294noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29063508.post-4042671334762790792007-11-24T20:17:00.000-08:002007-11-24T20:38:02.823-08:00

We used the nursery as our packing room for trip #1 and it's once again being used for that function as we prepare for trip #2. Of course this packing is all the more special because we get to pack (at least for the return trip) for three. There are tons of good packing tips on the FRUA forums and yahoo groups so I'm not going to repost those here since it'll take up pages of space.Oh, side

Steveghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15882273128137856294noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29063508.post-54425703011680307002007-11-23T09:44:00.000-08:002007-11-23T10:10:30.808-08:00

Well I hope everyone had a safe and happy Thanksgiving. Stef ran out today to grab some last few gifts. She's having a tough time with stuff for the men (our agency's Moscow head guy and the drivers of course are men). At least the stuff she bought for the women must be nice. I say it must be because some of the stuff she bought two of. Yes that's right, one as a gift and one for herself. I

Steveghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15882273128137856294noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29063508.post-37509265158333509872007-11-21T10:09:00.000-08:002007-11-21T10:19:37.262-08:00

Our visas have arrived and the only thing we need to do is pack. Actually there are a few minor things we need to get done, but overall we're about set. One of the other families that traveled with us on trip #1 also got a court date on the same day and will be with us again. Which is awesome because we really enjoyed their company on trip #1.Anyway, they did a really cool thing on trip #1

Steveghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15882273128137856294noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29063508.post-25261685208916489822007-11-20T07:59:00.001-08:002007-11-20T08:06:05.382-08:00

After waiting way too long and suffering far more than us with the accreditation woes, Rob and Dede made a switch to a different agency (one that is accredited). They were one of the reasons I'm so strongly suggesting folks who are just starting out to try to stick with one of the accredited agencies.Anyway, to the good news. They made the switch only about a month ago and, drum roll please,

Steveghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15882273128137856294noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29063508.post-68469445198425138242007-11-19T10:58:00.001-08:002007-11-19T11:15:42.297-08:00

Because we've been waiting with bated breath for the past several weeks we naturally made no plans whatsoever for Thanksgiving. And so yesterday we had to come up with a plan for what we are going to do on Thursday. Actually we're going to start setting up the "packing room" (more on that later), but most family members are in Southern California and with a 20+ hour plane ride coming up next

Steveghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15882273128137856294noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29063508.post-16062823959785108902007-11-18T09:30:00.000-08:002007-11-18T13:40:02.067-08:00

For some people one of the cons of Russian adoption is that you have to take two trips. The first to meet your child and the second for the court date and to pick them up and bring them home. But interestingly enough, the first trip which is usually quite short (a week or even less) provides a nice prep for the longer and naturally more important second trip.And so on Friday we knew the two key

Steveghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15882273128137856294noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29063508.post-5994038735030987892007-11-16T18:34:00.000-08:002007-11-16T20:28:31.318-08:00

Yes, it's true. We got a call today that our court date is in two weeks. Naturally we're not quite on the ground yet. But we were able to get some of the key things done today such as sending away for our visas as well as calling for flights.Suffice to say that next week will indeed be a Thanksgiving for us.And I hope that the good news for us will permeate throughout adoptionland and end the

Steveghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15882273128137856294noreply@blogger.com18tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29063508.post-1108955890044863142007-11-15T20:32:00.000-08:002007-11-15T20:39:14.663-08:00

Okay so the car seat check up was actually really good. First the pigs...I mean police officers were very nice and talked about what the car seat does (and how that's different from seat belts). And then they talked about the key points to the installation to insure it does what it's suppose to do. They even checked to make sure nothing on our car seats had been recalled.I believe AAA does

Steveghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15882273128137856294noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29063508.post-69929108730215511762007-11-15T11:23:00.000-08:002007-11-15T11:59:22.540-08:00

I'm getting our car seats inspected today. It's at our police station and they say it takes 20-30 minutes!!! I get a sense there's going to be some safety lecture involved in this. I mean really, it should take a couple of seconds to check to see if I've installed the darn thing correctly. So the fact that it could take 30 minutes leads to believe I'm going to get some safety talk. But

Steveghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15882273128137856294noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29063508.post-89110097297088370182007-11-13T10:42:00.000-08:002007-11-13T10:47:29.456-08:00

Stef forwarded me some humor that I will pass along. It's a little politically incorrect and I guess somewhat offensive, but so am I. So if you're offended...bummer.Actually if this offends you I can't see how you can possibly be reading my blog, because this is nothing compared to what I typically say.MENTAL HOSPITAL PHONE MENU Hello and thank you for calling The State Mental Hospital. Please

Steveghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15882273128137856294noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29063508.post-46048849769203185092007-11-12T08:51:00.000-08:002007-11-12T09:06:29.470-08:00

I think most readers know I'm in semi-retirement and teach a college courses for fun. I really try to just do one class per semester since although fun, I like the semi-retirement better than the teaching. With our second trip hopefully happening in the next few weeks I won't be here for the remainder of this semester's class. However, I worked out with my dean prior to the start of the

Steveghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15882273128137856294noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29063508.post-424970717610038102007-11-11T10:38:00.000-08:002007-11-11T11:30:40.020-08:00

This upcoming week is really the earliest we could get our call about a court date and as such we're moving into a more anxious time. It would still be a major surprise to get the call this week since extrapolating out the timing of the first few families trip ones versus their court dates would place ours in that last week in November or the first week in December. But it's just impossible to

Steveghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15882273128137856294noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29063508.post-6834622718689680442007-11-07T18:16:00.000-08:002007-11-07T18:28:44.421-08:00

Yes, we've picked out our pediatrician. I was a little worried because he's male and I wasn't too sure how our little guy will react. But the doctor we finally decided on is very nice, very good, he seemed to have the same philosophy we have on important medical issues. Plus he has a number of other adopted children in his practice and knows personally the IA doctor that we'd used with the

Steveghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15882273128137856294noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29063508.post-83826451871456661352007-11-03T20:15:00.000-07:002007-11-03T20:56:46.141-07:00

We took another class today from our agency and once again got some really good advice that we hadn't heard before. It's for the second trip which for us is quite timely. One of the speakers a mom who adopted her daughter from Taiwan and her son from Kazakhstan.Included in her suggestions were to take along disposable bibs (they're cheap, like a 24 pack for $4), disposable diaper changing pads

Steveghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15882273128137856294noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29063508.post-65964516901725834622007-11-03T01:35:00.000-07:002007-11-03T00:38:09.004-07:00

There's been some optimistic comments on FRUA about the next batch of accreditations and I really really hope they are true and things work out quickly for the next group of agencies. I had posted a little over a month ago that it looked promising for the next group and of course nothing happened. And that outcome really made me feel bad. Oh sure, I had plenty of those posts when we were

Steveghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15882273128137856294noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29063508.post-79338689786659384242007-11-02T08:39:00.000-07:002007-11-02T09:38:46.852-07:00

Well, not really. But I did just install the baby gates, so technically our little guy can say he lives in a gated community. We wanted to get them up and ready to go so we could get use to them (just get the hang of them, etc.). The reason we are using the gates is two fold. First off our house is two stories and naturally we have stairs. Ironically I just slipped down a few of those lovely

Steveghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15882273128137856294noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29063508.post-73006131164126389212007-11-01T12:51:00.000-07:002007-11-01T13:09:32.601-07:00

I've added a new Novosibirsk webcam that I got from someone on the yahoo group (that's the Novosibirsk Adoption yahoo group). I actually know where this one is and we may try to stand in front of it when we're on trip #2. Once we're there I'll probably post a date and time when Stef and I (and the little guy) will be at the webcam. Just a fun thing to do.So we continue to scrutinize children's

Steveghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15882273128137856294noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29063508.post-24484167336931381872007-10-31T12:50:00.000-07:002007-10-31T13:01:53.860-07:00

We've actually been on a year long moratorium on holidays. While the whole accreditation delay was happening we just weren't in the mood to celebrate. Thankfully that's over for our agency and a good group of others, but we still are not quite in the party mood. Once Little A comes home that's going to change big time of course.But this year, since we are now so close and feeling much more

Steveghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15882273128137856294noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29063508.post-90721889609608343162007-10-30T20:20:00.001-07:002007-10-30T21:20:10.605-07:00

Not really, and no nothing exciting like a court date, but we just had (like 15 minutes ago) the biggest earthquake I've ever felt!! See that big red box in the picture below, that was our earthquake tonight and the size of the box indicates how big it really is. Mr. LA even thought it was a biggun. Luckily no damage, but we definitely felt it for about 20 seconds and both were standing in the

yorkiemomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12158067181444759785noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29063508.post-2793104865793339242007-10-27T09:50:00.000-07:002007-10-27T09:56:48.689-07:00

So we have heard that another family who had traveled about three weeks before us for their first trip have just gotten their court date and will be heading back next week. Yep, it seems that a one week's notice before you have to be in Russia is now the norm.However, this is great news since it really sounds like things are moving in our region and we are hopeful (crossing my fingers right now)

Steveghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15882273128137856294noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29063508.post-57815009190707700222007-10-26T09:16:00.000-07:002007-10-26T10:39:24.241-07:00

I think this Dilbert explains exactly why I had such disdain for corporate America and choose to retire early.

Steveghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15882273128137856294noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29063508.post-45382509313327842762007-10-25T10:09:00.000-07:002007-10-25T18:06:22.248-07:00

Well, I just have to say that it is Stef who isn't sure she's actually prepared for the cold. I just said it was clear the court date was approaching, She was the one who is freaking out over the cold. I, on the other hand, during the past year have bought...Heavy coat (Costco of course)Winter boots (these puppies from LL Bean)Silk weight long underwear (again LL Bean)Ear warmers (I got these

Steveghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15882273128137856294noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29063508.post-12812380640079126812007-10-24T07:33:00.000-07:002007-10-24T09:31:30.065-07:00

Has anyone taken a look at the webcam on the left????? The white stuff that is all over is SNOW.Remember, I'm an Arizona girl and Steve's from Southern California so we're not snow people. We get panicky when the freeze warning beep in the car goes off. We'd appreciate any help any of you have for cold weather for non-cold weather people?Follow up commentI've added the pic of what it looked

yorkiemomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12158067181444759785noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29063508.post-43967486373227098852007-10-23T09:19:00.000-07:002007-10-23T09:32:28.762-07:00

Unfortunately with all those massive firestorms in Southern California our blog friend Tricia had to evacuate her house! She says they were able to go back to the house late last night. I know they (the officials down there) were being overly cautious because of what happened several years ago. But it's pretty scary to think about having to bail out of your house. But like a good adopting

Steveghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15882273128137856294noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29063508.post-43385303207060517452007-10-22T10:35:00.000-07:002007-10-22T12:36:43.340-07:00

Stef went to her first meeting at our local FRUA which is actually a new FRUA chapter here in the East Bay (that's one of the areas of the San Francisco Bay Area which covers a number of smaller cities within this mega metropolis). It was a seminar on creating a "life book" which she has been planning on doing for..oh...17 months now. She had a blast and got tons of information and ideas on how

Steveghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15882273128137856294noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29063508.post-72108502185338077422007-10-19T08:56:00.000-07:002007-10-19T09:36:43.562-07:00

One of the tougher things during the this whole process is the second guessing you invariably do (on just about every decision you have made). Sometimes though it's good because it allows you to revisit a decision that made need a change. I know a lot of folks currently in the adoption process are thinking about that early but very big decision of picking an agency (those who are currently with

Steveghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15882273128137856294noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29063508.post-56931634859853293122007-10-18T10:10:00.000-07:002007-10-18T10:15:22.098-07:00

Well obviously I don't buy women's clothes. I was unaware that a similar situation exists with women's clothing sizing and children's clothing sizing. For men's stuff a medium is a medium no matter who made it. So that's why I find is so incredible that kid's clothing sizes don't match up.Just chaps my hide.

Steveghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15882273128137856294noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29063508.post-30909462929896173412007-10-16T17:00:00.000-07:002007-10-16T17:05:16.525-07:00

We've been buying some outfits for Little A for awhile now and last weekend finished up with at least most of the clothes we feel we'll bring with us. It was actually pretty easy at this point to guess what size he will be wearing (assuming we get a court date even just remotely close to our expectations). The reason is he just entered into that 12-18 month sizing area and he'll be in that

Steveghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15882273128137856294noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29063508.post-65035939335473487032007-10-11T11:48:00.001-07:002007-10-11T11:59:59.004-07:00

I actually came up with another extremely low cost solution if you, like we, have way too many outlets in your house, outlets that you don't use. Instead of buying the expensive baby proof outlet covers you can just buy at Lowes or Home Depot the plain blank wallplates. These go for about $0.50-$0.75 a piece and completely cover up your electrical plug (replacing the current wallplate of course

Steveghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15882273128137856294noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29063508.post-23151966112565183742007-10-06T11:47:00.001-07:002007-10-09T11:20:01.739-07:00

Debbie made a good comment that we had also heard from a couple at one of those classes we attended from our home-study agency. The concept of intentionally leaving a cabinet or two unlocked (usually where you keep your tupperware or other safe to play with stuff). The couple at the class gave a great quote on why this is good for the child. As they put it, it gives them a chance to feel "...

Steveghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15882273128137856294noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29063508.post-14794641157563643732007-10-05T14:00:00.000-07:002007-10-05T14:01:42.881-07:00

The second part of our dossier is done and should be in Moscow today ready for translation. While we're waiting, here's another story of our time in Novosibirsk during our first trip to keep you all entertained. In a previous post Steve mentioned that we needed to get a couple of documents done the Friday before we were supposed to be leaving on our first trip. One of those documents was a

yorkiemomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12158067181444759785noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29063508.post-31421489239605407562007-10-04T09:36:00.000-07:002007-10-04T09:59:35.581-07:00

Well I've started the process of Baby-proofing the house. Actually we're going to limit his access to the house with baby gates and then baby-proof the rooms he'll be able to run around in. We had gone to a class that our home-study agency gave and listened to a couple who just got back a couple of months ago (from Guatemala) and they basically were describing their house which sounded like

Steveghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15882273128137856294noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29063508.post-73798198915537664342007-10-02T22:07:00.000-07:002007-10-03T15:09:08.563-07:00

Although I've complained about some of the things that have happened in our adoption journey, for the most part our trek has been without contention. Regrettably sometimes things don't go quite as well for others. Unfortunately we've had a few folks we know who have had some very rough times. And very sadly this is currently the situation for a friend of ours, the Horner family.There is a rule

Steveghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15882273128137856294noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29063508.post-11501269216541157332007-09-28T14:16:00.000-07:002007-09-28T14:54:56.181-07:00

I went today to Sacramento (my fourth trip during this whole process) to get the last (I'm knocking on wood while typing this) documents apostilled. They're now on their way to our agency and should be in Moscow hopefully before the end of next week. And what all that means is that we now truly enter the toughest wait of all...the wait for a court date.As those who have been there, and even

Steveghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15882273128137856294noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29063508.post-13311661621462803962007-09-27T07:45:00.000-07:002007-09-27T08:21:33.824-07:00

A little soapbox oratory about the whole process of accreditation.First let me say that there have been a number of rumblings in various sources about the next batch of accreditations. Side note: The term accreditations is not really valid anymore since the rules of the game have changed a bit with government decree #654. However the term "means" something to most people so I too still use

Steveghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15882273128137856294noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29063508.post-29871180217190110042007-09-26T12:03:00.000-07:002007-09-26T12:12:05.941-07:00

After reading about a great idea proposed by someone who goes by the username Dannyssong on the FRUA forums, I created a yahoo group where adopting parents could share snowsuits. For folks who live in Minnesota the snowsuits parents are required to get to bring home their little ones from Russia might have further uses. But for us here in sunny California (actually Northern California isn't

Steveghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15882273128137856294noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29063508.post-13274874922693506322007-09-25T14:57:00.000-07:002007-09-25T15:04:40.002-07:00

We're basically done with remaining documents for our dossier part 2. The only thing left is getting our doctor's letters signed and notarized which will happen on Thursday. I'll then drive to Sacramento right from his office to get everything apostilled. After that I'll make the necessary copies and head to Fedex so that everything will be at our agency on Friday.We're hoping that court dates

Steveghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15882273128137856294noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29063508.post-16163028388822212432007-09-24T18:01:00.001-07:002007-09-24T18:07:12.369-07:00

As I've mentioned in the past we tried to learn at least a little Russian and I must say it did come in handy. At a minimum I highly recommend learning at least the Cyrillic alphabet. Stef made sure we both learned it and that was truly invaluable. A lot of words are phonetically the same (English restaurant sounds sort of like res-ta-rahn in Russian).Anyway, both the alphabet and some Russian

Steveghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15882273128137856294noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29063508.post-29708477959643921232007-09-22T10:28:00.000-07:002007-09-22T10:53:18.492-07:00

Although we packed plenty of Pepto Bismol chewables, Pepcid, and Tums we never used one tablet, not one (but I do recommend to all traveling to Russia to bring that stuff because you never know how you will react to the food). But for us, we loved the food. Stef had salads (which you're really not suppose to eat, because of course it's not cooked) and was fine. I had a sausage that was the

Steveghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15882273128137856294noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29063508.post-21431102753327945762007-09-21T20:33:00.000-07:002007-09-21T20:38:42.893-07:00

Here's another great story from trip #1.And this might be more of a State by State funny story. But in California we have some pretty strong water conservation rules, like all toilets must be 1.6 gallon sized and all faucets are required to have restricted flow devices built into them. Not to mention that most of the municipal water service around the state is fairly low pressure to begin

Steveghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15882273128137856294noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29063508.post-79212735708911851672007-09-19T15:32:00.000-07:002007-09-19T16:20:52.418-07:00

Well we're getting back to our normal schedule but I don't think we'll be 100% till the weekend when we can catch back up on our sleep. I had actually watched a show that showed that your body will actually force you to catch back up. Your internal clock needs those 8 hours a day and will keep a tab of how much you've had and how much need.Anyway let's talk Russia. First I want to relate some

Steveghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15882273128137856294noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29063508.post-41536154593425760622007-09-18T17:23:00.000-07:002007-09-18T17:34:43.284-07:00

Yep, we're back. It was just so hard to say goodbye to him. We literally could not even look at the pictures we had taken that day after we had dropped him off on our last day there. We had to just go out and take a walk and think about other things.We were very lucky and were able to spend several hours each day (playing, taking him out for a walk, etc.). We really feel blessed, he's just so

Steveghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15882273128137856294noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29063508.post-22120465667526975222007-09-15T21:19:00.000-07:002007-09-15T21:27:32.830-07:00

We've been able to meet with our little guy for several days and it is just the best time we've ever had. I don't think I can even relate in words how we're feeling right now.Everything is working out better than what our hopes were for this trip.When we get back I'll write up a more detailed "trip report" but let's just say that our guy is have a blast with us and us with him. He's a bit shy

Steveghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15882273128137856294noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29063508.post-54599577419963279732007-09-12T19:15:00.000-07:002007-09-12T19:19:16.934-07:00

Yep, that's hello in Russian.The journey has be perfect so far. All planes on time, nice hotel, good food, no illnesses, etc.This is our first day here in Novosibirsk.We'll update as we have time, our hotel does not have internet access so we have to walk to another hotel to get access.

Steveghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15882273128137856294noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29063508.post-24733029861766572072007-09-11T04:46:00.000-07:002007-09-11T04:49:04.432-07:00

Just a quick note (at the ungodly hour of 4 in the morning). We're heading to the airport for the first of our three leg journey (San Jose to Atlanta, Atlanta to Moscow, and finally Moscow to Novosibirsk).Thank you everyone for all the kind words and warm wishes.

Steveghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15882273128137856294noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29063508.post-41978317940750483702007-09-08T14:52:00.000-07:002007-09-08T15:01:03.491-07:00

Our visas got here this morning so it looks like we're all set for heading out bright and early Tuesday morning. We have a meeting with our agency Monday morning to go over the details of the trip. The whole visa thing was a bit odd. You have to send in your passports to get the visas and then they ship everything back to you. Of course all this was Fedex'd back and forth so at least you have

Steveghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15882273128137856294noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29063508.post-10222744356014856542007-09-07T14:16:00.001-07:002007-09-07T14:30:44.496-07:00

Stef was working from home today because we are starting to get the items we need for the second part of the dossier done (that will have to be done in order to get a court date). And one of the items is a doctor letter. Basically it's an annual check-up and then a letter from him stating we're okay. So far we do not believe we need do to a full 8-Doctor medical for our region. This letter

Steveghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15882273128137856294noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29063508.post-42035059563465242912007-09-06T11:10:00.000-07:002007-09-06T11:28:48.610-07:00

Okay, so a little more update on the trip.We're going to leave here really early on Tuesday morning and eventually hitting Moscow on Wednesday morning. We have a big layover in Moscow so we're going to check into a hotel for the day to rest up (thank God) and then get prepared for the final leg of the journey.We'll arrive bright and early in Novosibirsk on Thursday morning. We'll then be

Steveghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15882273128137856294noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29063508.post-57241383923508293522007-09-05T11:13:00.001-07:002007-09-05T11:16:16.142-07:00

Of course just after I post that we're still waiting for travel dates for our first trip we get the call this morning. And that we are leaving next Tuesday!!!Much to do, will report more once I've calmed down a bit.

Steveghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15882273128137856294noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29063508.post-5225974752505545512007-09-04T17:27:00.000-07:002007-09-04T17:28:21.852-07:00

Yep, still waiting for an invitation from the MOE.But like Ryan says..."There's no Rush in Russia"I just love that line

Steveghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15882273128137856294noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29063508.post-6419811089858175582007-08-29T13:12:00.000-07:002007-08-29T16:41:26.428-07:00

Since we're still waiting for our travel dates (and trying to be as patient as we can), we've been trying to keep busy with things we might not be able to do once Little G comes home.Last year I posted about one of our favorite events, the BMW Ultimate Drive. This is an annual event hosted by BMW to support Susan G. Komen for the Cure where BMW will donate $1 for each mile driven by the

yorkiemomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12158067181444759785noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29063508.post-212809220177789002007-08-25T11:10:00.000-07:002007-08-25T11:47:24.418-07:00

As I've previously mentioned due to the length of our adoption journey (duration not distance) we've had to update a number of items. For example, our homestudy which was original done in July 2006 needed to be updated since it was a year old. Now, our CIS fingerprints (valid for 15 months) needed to be retaken.We just received our new appointments for the CIS fingerprinting (it's for the week

Steveghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15882273128137856294noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29063508.post-30152914935864586242007-08-23T11:48:00.000-07:002007-08-23T11:50:27.079-07:00

Well I stopped by our credit union today and got all the cash we need. Remember we have to have clean, unmarked bills for the payments for our coordinator, translator, and driver. And the amount we pay (roughly $5,000) is all given on the first trip. The reason you need clean bills is that most banks and foreign exchange places throughout the world, not just Russia, are very wary of

Steveghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15882273128137856294noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29063508.post-37469792768006407742007-08-22T10:13:00.000-07:002007-08-22T10:23:44.682-07:00

I wanted to expand on the whole FRUA forum issue by just pointing out that most forums have open areas where you can post whatever you want. On the FRUA page it's called "Open Forum" and that is where a lot of these posts really belong.The biggest problem with FRUA is that, since obviously the clientele have no desire to remain civil, the administrators need to actively and forcefully manage

Steveghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15882273128137856294noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29063508.post-51421679154933110562007-08-21T17:41:00.000-07:002007-08-21T18:17:34.415-07:00

Oh baby the folks on FRUA are indeed priceless.I wrote some time ago about how I felt it was totally unacceptable to make specific derogatory attack posts about a specific forum member. And of course not a month could go by without it happening again on that forum. Now it's true that the crux of the issue is a very derogatory statement made by a person which has now led to the lynch mob tactics

Steveghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15882273128137856294noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29063508.post-87006835857248211912007-08-16T23:10:00.000-07:002007-08-16T23:33:37.550-07:00

One of the IA doctors we're using recommended a very good book to us on child development. It's called Baby Steps and it is interesting in that it covers the "how" of development in addition to the actual milestone. She mainly felt it was a good "guidebook" which will help to identify the level the child is currently at, knowing of course that the institutional living will have an adverse

Steveghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15882273128137856294noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29063508.post-39869020893247963612007-08-15T10:03:00.000-07:002007-08-15T13:53:42.445-07:00

We pulled the trigger on getting a couple of diaper bags. I bought mine first and (obviously out of jealously) Stef bought one. I ended up going with the Diaper Dude bag. Originally I didn't want to spend that much but after going back and forth for literally months, I realized that it was the best bag for me. I had to have a bag that did not look like a diaper bag and yet have tons of

Steveghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15882273128137856294noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29063508.post-13016930834944177522007-08-12T10:02:00.000-07:002007-08-12T10:14:20.317-07:00

My sister sent us a monster group of toys and let me tell you this kid is going to have a major Christmas before Christmas! On the news front, our dossier is on it's way to Moscow (in fact it may already be there as I type this). So hopefully the translation doesn't take too long and the regional MOE doesn't take too long reviewing it so we can get some travel dates soon. There are a couple of

Steveghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15882273128137856294noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29063508.post-60070924763631839562007-08-09T10:31:00.000-07:002007-08-09T10:45:42.830-07:00

Dossier statusWe got the dossier to our agency (the Fedex arrived this morning) and they're checking it over today. Hopefully it will just be a couple of weeks for translation and shipment to Novosibirsk, not to mention a review by the regional MOE, and then we should be able to get some travel dates.Our Russian studies are progressing wellWe've been using flash cards of the alphabet and both

Steveghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15882273128137856294noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29063508.post-4570122652891930892007-08-07T21:24:00.000-07:002007-08-07T21:33:21.922-07:00

Things are moving along well ahead of schedule. We got our updated homestudy today and over the weekend we got the rest of the redo of the dossier done. Again, because it's been over a year since we had our homestudy done we needed to get it updated (per Russian requirements) and since we are now going to a different region all of the other documents in the dossier also required a "do-over".The

Steveghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15882273128137856294noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29063508.post-33496405583395821102007-08-05T08:57:00.000-07:002007-08-05T09:08:18.247-07:00

We signed and notarized the vast majority of the new dossier yesterday. We only await the updated homestudy and that of course is awaiting the redo of my fingerprints, however the first part of those got to our homestudy agency last Tuesday so I'm hopeful that they will get the final check early this week. Once we have that our dossier is ready for the trip to Sacramento and then we'll be able

Steveghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15882273128137856294noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29063508.post-63488000100935449082007-08-02T08:50:00.000-07:002007-08-02T09:06:35.205-07:00

Nothing too interesting to report. We're working on getting the new dossier done. The good news is that the updated dossier requires much less pages. Actually that should be the new region's dossier requirements are less than our old region's requirements. Most of it is the same stuff but instead of needing 4 copies of our passports (yes, that was 4 copies of each of our passports), we now

Steveghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15882273128137856294noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29063508.post-73203908663336286122007-07-31T11:42:00.000-07:002007-07-31T12:02:21.006-07:00

We'll be spending the next several days taking care of updating the dossier. As Stef said she got her corrected passport yesterday. And this morning our homestudy agency got my criminal background clearance from the fingerprints I got redone yesterday. And yes, shocking but true, they were clear.The good news keeps pouring in. Although I'm like 99.99999% sure at some point here there is going

Steveghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15882273128137856294noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29063508.post-42050440610579038092007-07-30T20:44:00.000-07:002007-07-30T21:04:05.676-07:00

I have my corrected passport in my hot little hands. It was quite the adventure, leaving the house by 6:30am so I could get to the passport office to stand in line (outside I might add) for one hour before the office even opened. I was all prepared with the story of the adoption to get over any hurdles that may have popped up. But no, didn't have to beg, tell stories, or cry and was done

yorkiemomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12158067181444759785noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29063508.post-74421006670935101102007-07-29T12:12:00.000-07:002007-07-29T12:26:45.351-07:00

I've tried out a couple of the suggestions for the whole "money belt" thing. I bought both a money belt (or really what looks like a very very very thin fanny pack) and a money ankle belt. But you really need to test out which one you're comfortable with (assuming you even feel you need one).The ankle thing feels a bit odd for me while the traditional money belt I don't seem to notice. So I'm

Steveghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15882273128137856294noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29063508.post-52042936664593130252007-07-28T09:52:00.000-07:002007-07-28T09:55:32.989-07:00

First of course some things about the referral.He's a very beautiful baby boy, 14 months old, blond hair, blue eyes...a Russian movie star in the making (not that I'm biased or anything). We actually were asked last week by our agency if we would be comfortable switching regions. They felt there was going to be a better chance for us to get a referral faster if we moved from the Omsk region to

Steveghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15882273128137856294noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29063508.post-23981103705915312652007-07-27T13:29:00.000-07:002007-07-27T13:51:21.359-07:00

So naturally just when I post a video about how long the wait is, just when I tell Stef I'm really having an issue with the current (almost daily) ups and downs of the referral wait, just when we say we have another long wait ahead of us...BAMM!!! (in the words of Emeril) We got a referral.We're going to be handling it the way we had planned and therefore will not be posting too much info about

Steveghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15882273128137856294noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29063508.post-8179074904731403782007-07-25T23:16:00.000-07:002007-07-25T23:34:41.655-07:00

This is my 200th post on this blog. I was really shocked when I noticed a few days ago that I was up to that many posts. It has certainly been a much longer journey than we had imagined when we started.But I've had to pleasure of getting to know a number of other adopting parents, both currently in the process and those home for many years. And it's been a blast documenting this whole thing

Steveghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15882273128137856294noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29063508.post-52191635420156146222007-07-22T11:02:00.000-07:002007-07-22T13:23:49.932-07:00

Of course right after I complain about the uncivil behavior of the FRUA forum a great thread is started which I found so valuable for adopting parents traveling to Russia that if you haven't yet traveled you really should take a look. And if you are already back, you may wish to contribute to it. It's the thread "What was your biggest surprise and yo..." It's within the "Russia" section on the

Steveghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15882273128137856294noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29063508.post-66668038881272279592007-07-21T09:28:00.000-07:002007-07-22T13:25:07.415-07:00

Interestingly enough I was looking back at some of the blog posts over the past couple of months. I do that every now and then just to see the flow and how our attitude or mindset has changed or remained the same. I had read the post I did right after the initial rumor came out that the first few agencies had heard that they had gotten all the ministries to sign off and were waiting the MOE to

Steveghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15882273128137856294noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29063508.post-19552546740868130242007-07-20T11:21:00.000-07:002007-07-20T11:52:07.031-07:00

Thankfully things seem to be really moving now and we're getting very hopeful that we'll be hearing some good news soon. Now, I'm pretty open on this blog as my...er...comments about the FRUA forum had indicated. However, there are a number of things that I've kept pretty close to the vest. For example, we don't mention our agency's name although as you can tell we're very happy with them and

Steveghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15882273128137856294noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29063508.post-42491417930837833062007-07-19T11:55:00.000-07:002007-07-22T13:26:58.932-07:00

So we've heard that referrals are now coming out from our region as well. There have been a bunch of people who have reported that other regions too are now sending out referrals. So it looks like the whole process throughout the various regions is rolling. This is both really great news but also a bit scary. I'm mean, this thing is getting real now. Damn, and just as I was getting accustom

Steveghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15882273128137856294noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29063508.post-69028961760811906872007-07-18T16:01:00.000-07:002007-07-22T13:27:44.266-07:00

We're still waiting for the regions to get going with registering the agencies who were part of the first batch of accreditations. I suppose it's more like we're waiting for the region we're headed to. But we heard some good news that it appears other regions are moving forward and that our region is just about there. Again, it is still possible that our agency which works in nine regions (9

Steveghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15882273128137856294noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29063508.post-62139457193775294642007-07-18T07:56:00.000-07:002007-07-18T09:08:00.334-07:00

Don't get me wrong, I don't consider the FRUA forum hell on earth or anything. There are tons of good threads. Threads that give you great information, things like stuff on adoption tax credits, what hotels to stay in, the whole "30 below outside but they crank up the heat inside to 90 degrees everywhere in Russia", anything posted by Jim (well almost anything).Keep in mind that Snowsuit swap

Steveghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15882273128137856294noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29063508.post-80207702345588986882007-07-17T11:45:00.000-07:002007-07-17T12:11:53.104-07:00

I mentioned a few times about the Families for Russian and Ukrainian Adoption forum (FRUA). It's a good site for getting information, but like most forums contains a lot of trash too. More often than not when things don't go very well in someone's adoption that person will post looking for the community to provide what good communities do...support and empathy. And most of the stories posted

Steveghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15882273128137856294noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29063508.post-48932352088941007162007-07-16T12:37:00.000-07:002007-07-16T12:47:56.998-07:00

We went to a concert last night. It was three bands from our youth: The Alarm, The Fixx and the headliner The Psychedelic Furs. Massive amounts of fun. The venue was a small club in San Francisco which was great because it reminded me of the places I went to see concerts when I was in high school (places like the Whiskey-a-go-go in LA where I saw XTC and the punk group X). In fact, it's

Steveghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15882273128137856294noreply@blogger.com3