Random Updates

This has been a busy week for us. After his high fever and cutting his 2-year molar, Colby still isn't quite himself. The crabby boy is enjoying longer naps and seems very tired at night. He is also quick to be frustrated as well. However, we keep moving on.

Monday we spent a quite day at home but on Tuesday we had Sharon over. She and her husband, Patrick, live nearby and are waiting to go back to get their son Sean. He is 20 months old. Sharon came over on Tues so I could see photos from her first trip, they just came home about 3 weeks ago. Sean is an absolute cutie. Quite the chubby little boy, he looks like Patrick. Funny, Colby looks a lot like Mike.

Wednesday Mike was home and we had our social worker, Christine, over for our 6 month update for Russia. Wow! 6 months. It needs to be done early because it has to be in Russia before the 6 months is up. Christine was quite impressed with Mr. Colby, the show off. We had a nice chat then Christine mentioned that this would be our last meeting face-to-face. SHe would still be calling us for 2-3 years for updates and photos but she wasn't required to visit anymore. Wow! That was a shock. She's been there since we began this journey and now we are "on our own" so to speak. I hope that we will see her again though. Colby and I will have to visit her as he grows up . He was calling her "Aunt". It was very cute.

Today we are at home. We were asked to babysit my nephew Keith but he isn't feeling well and my brother Keith thought it would be better not to have the boys together. Colby certainly doesn't need to be sick.

Tomorrow we are heading to visit another friend, Jill, and her son Nicholas. Jill and her husband, Nick, also adopted their boy from Russia. Nicholas even came from the same region as Colby, Yekaterinburg. Nicholas is younger than both Colby and Sean at only 16 months I think. But, we are hoping that the boys become great friends. We know the mommies are already. I can't wait to see Nicholas for the first time. They just came home from Russia about 2 weeks ago.

Also on the adoption front, on Wednesday Mike and I went down to the Children's Probate court to see what we need to do to have a U.S. birth certificate issued for Colby. We haven't done anything with following up the adoption in the U.S. and now that things are settled down, as much as they will, it is time. We were told that we do not need to re-finalize the adoption here because we were present at the adoption in Russia and his Russian birth certificate has our names and his adopted name on it. So, all we needed to do was apply for a certificate of foreign birth issued. They took copies of our adoption papers and the judge will call a hearing, sometime in August, to see the originals and then issue the U.S. birth certificate. Colby was in a rare mood by then and ready for lunch so we went home. After lunch, while he was napping I went back downtown to the Social Security office to start the process for a Social Security card. They copied the original documents and will send them to be translated (dumb because we have the translations attached but they can't accept that, they need to translate it themselves) and then they will issue the card. They said we should get the card in about a month or so.

So, things are moving along. We are getting things done that have been pushed aside. Accomplishments have been made, or are in the works anyway. And now we just need to work on a job for Mommy!

One More Night

Well, tomorrow is the day. We are leaving here in about 12 hours to start the mad paperwork dash for Colby's Russian Passport and the plane tickets to Moscow. And we should be at the baby home in Kamensk around 1:30PM to get Colby. I can't wait. Finally this is coming to an end.

I am not sure what I am feeling right now. Excited, nervous, anxious. Every emotion rolled up into one. I doubt Mike nor I will sleep much tonight. Mike barely has lately. Sleep isn't much fun anyway. The bed is a platform bed, very hard with NO bounce and the pillows are terrible. Mike got stuck with a feather pillow which seems to have lost its fluffiness. We are more than ready to head to Moscow and then home.

The total unknown is how Colby will react when we take him out of the baby home. He hasn't really been out of there at all in his life. Certainly a car ride and then a plane ride on Wed will be new experiences for him. Svetlana is worried about him getting car sick. I guess many of the kids do. I don't think he will, but we will see.

So many new experiences to go through, I am more than ready to start this portion of our lives but also a little nervous too. I only hope that I can be as good of a mom as my mom is.

Paperwork and More Waiting

If ever I thought having a court date would change things....it really doesn't. I still find myself doing paperwork and waiting for things to happen. Our passports are still in NY getting our much needed Russian Visas. Waiting on those to come back. The agency said probably Friday or Monday. They better get here in time. Vica sent us a list of paperwork that we need for the US Embassy visit in Moscow. So more paperwork to compile. At least it doesn't need to be notarized, apostilled, and stamped to death like the other paperwork. Most everything is set to get packed this weekend. I still need to go out and get a few things so more errands to make. A lot to organize and sort through. Thank goodness for Excel spreadsheets. They make such tidy lists. And I sit waiting to go. Instead of wondering when we'll go, now we wait for the day to arrive. I just hope nothing goes terribly wrong, like changing our court date. Ugh!

So today I am off in search of gifts for everyone in Russia who has helped us. We couldn't have done this without them. I also want to return a couple things to Babies R' Us. We received quite a bit of clothing for Colby at the baby shower. Most of which is 18 months old. I'm pretty sure he'll fit into them but I'd like to return a couple things to get the next size bigger. And I need to get to the bank. So much to do. It's a good thing we're not leaving until next Wed. We'll be ready by then but I'm more than ready to go now, emotionally anyway.

Passport Visas, Plane tickets, Hotels, and a Baby Shower

Well, I guess the race is on. I had emailed the travel agency that we used when we went to Russia in June and they were right on the ball. They already confirmed with our agency the tentative schedule and have booked our flights, minus one. He have the same flight we took on the first trip going to Ekat. We will leave on Jan 28 at 9PM from JFK in New York and go through Frankfurt. We do have an 8 hour layover there as we did before. However, my Uncle Gordon has a cousin who lives in Frankfurt and they might meet us and bring us to lunch. We will then get into Ekat at around 5AM on Jan 30th. I think we have a visit with Colby scheduled for that day so we will definitely be tired.

The travel agency has also begun work on getting our Russian Visas into our passports. Mike and I signed the paperwork and dropped it and our passports off at a FedEx box on the side of the road. I just hate that feeling. You just never know what might happen. However, FedEx (our new best friends over the last year and a half) delivered our package safe and sound into Manhattan on Friday.

The accommodations are still up in the air though. Svetlana might have an apartment for us to stay in in Ekat otherwise we will stay at the good old Park Inn. We need to sort out the hotel in Moscow though but the dates that we will be there are still up in the air. We should end up close to the US Embassy and Red Square. I can't wait to see that.

Yesterday I was given the best baby shower ever. My mom and my sisters Kristin and Karin planned it for me. When I mentioned at Christmas that we might travel in late Jan they decided to have the baby shower ASAP. They couldn't have planned it any better. All my mom's family was there and a few friends. We had a great time and I received some great toys, clothes, and baby essentials. I will have one very well dressed young man. I only hope that the clothes will fit. Colby seems to be, from the measurements we were given, just in 18 month clothes. He is a little tall for them but under the weight. Some of the clothes are 18-24 months and some 2T. We'll have to wait and see when we bring him back. The party was really fun and I even got to see Marie. She is a very special lady. She lived next door to my grandparents when my mom was growing up. She and her husband had 9 kids and my grandparents had 5. Marie is like my other grandma. It was great to see her again.

So Mike and I are on a cleaning and organizing spree. Luckily I am not working this week so I can get the last few errands done and get this house cleaned and ready for Colby to come home. I still can't believe he will be home soon! Is this really happening? Pinch me, I think I'm dreaming!

One Lousy Digit

With the excitement of Christmas and the feeling of overwhelming disbelief that we had last week, I did not know where to start with this story. However, now that I have regained some semblance of order (yeah, right), here goes the story. You can choose your reaction, laughter or tears or shock. I think Mike and I experienced all of those and then some.

We have been waiting for an email from our agency with an update on Colby. Svetlana was going to the baby home to take some pictures and get the update. I was so hoping to have it for Christmas but alas, no. However, we did get an email from the agnecy on Tues 12/23 at about 2 P.M..

Our 24 updated documents had been received by Lala in Moscow and translated. Svetlana brought them to the judge on Monday and he looked through them. He then asked for 2 more. 2 MORE!! I couldn't believe it. At Christmas! How was I going to get more documents done at Christmas. The first document needed was from my previous job. A letter stating my income from 2007 and 2008 until I left. Of course, I used to teach so how was I going to get the superintendent's office this late in the day and before they left for break? Ugh! Luckily when I called, they were still there and the secretary was able to get it done. She was hoping to get it in the mail that day. I was just hoping to get it by Mon or Tues 12/29 or 12/30. So that wasn't too bad I guess.

The second document the judge requested completely floored me. It seems that when the Mayor's office wrote a letter for us confirming our ownership of and residence in our house (they have written this letter for us twice now), whoever wrote it had a typo. The letter also needed to state our birthdays and passport numbers. Well, on this second letter, they typed Mike's birthday as October 10, not October 11. I never caught the mistake, and no one else did either. The judge did though. It was somewhat ironic because Mike and I had just had a discussion about whether or not the judge actually reads all of our paperwork. Mike didn't think so. I guess he was proven wrong. So because of the one lousy digit typo, we needed to bother the Mayor's office again and ask for another complete document. I was sure they wouldn't be in.

Mike was out when I read the email. I tried to call him on his cell and the phone rang in our kitchen. I was so exasperated that I thought I would cry just because the phone was here. I called his parents though and got him. He raced home to read the email and immediately called the Mayor's office. Surprisingly, they were in for another hour or so but the road were terrible and the traffic so bad that we probably wouldn't make it. He asked them if they would be in the next day, Christmas Eve and she surprisingly said yes. So we spent Christmas Eve morning at the Mayor's office to get the new document. I must say that through all of this, the Mayor's office has been quite helpful. It isn't even their job to write such a letter. I'm not sure who's it would be. But they were the only office that would do it for us. They better have gotten something special from Santa this year as a thank you.

So, we were able to get the one document from the Mayor's office on Christmas Eve morning and more surprisingly the second document showed up in our mail that day as well. I will never understand the postal system. It came overnight in the regular mail. Yeah! So on Friday I trekked up to Hartford to get both apostilled and I sent them on their way to the agency. They should have them on Monday morning. You can't imagine how we both felt reading that email, devestated to have to get more documents and worried that we couldn't get them. I am completely shocked at how everything fell into place and we were able to get the documents.

So another "bump" in our adoption road but we keep going. Perhaps that update will be here tomorrow. We shall see.

Waiting...Again and Jobs

Well, Mike and I were able to get all of the paperwork completed. Our deadline was 12/12 and the agency had it all on 12/10. We did have to go back and get another marriage certificate but even that was at the agency on 12/12. I was quite pleased with getting that all done. But, when I am given a deadline, I do everything and anything that I can to meet or exceed that deadline. Now we wait some more.....

Vica had mentioned that we might get an update soon. But we haven't heard anything yet. I'd like to email her and ask her when we might hear something but then again I don't want to bug Svetlana to get an update if she is trying to sort through our paperwork for the judge. We were told that we might go for court in late January. That is a slight possibility but everything would have to be perfect for us to go then. I think it will probably be later, like March. I hope not though. In the mean time, I am updating the medical paperwork because I know that the 8 medical doctor form will expire in February. Ugh! I hate chasing doctors for signatures.

Other than that, I am debating on what to do next on the job front. Lifetouch has now stopped taking school portraits until about March or so. Therefor I am not currently employed. I don't trully want to, but I guess I will sign up to substitute teach. That's a daily pay but in this city, I am almost guaranteed to work every day. I'm not sure if I want to go back into the classroom after last year but I don't know what else I can do. Most jobs, I am told I have too much education for or not the right experience. It sucks. I'd love to try something new, but I don't know what.

So, that is the update for now...as much as it is. Hopefully we will hear more soon. Keep your fingers crossed for us.

Getting There....With Paperwork

Well, I can't believe how long it can take to update just a few documents. I realize we were given a list of 24 documents that the judge wants, but that was about 3 weeks ago. I still haven't collected them all. Last week was torture trying to get a couple of them. On Wednesday I called Ohio to see if they had sent my mortgage letter back apostilled. It seems that they LOST my document and were looking for it. However, I did receive our FBI background checks and the letters from Mass back. The car loan document came back from Nebraska as well. However, they DID NOT apostille it. It seems that whoever notarized the document doesn't know how to do her job and notarized it incorrectly so the Secretary of State's office refused to apostille it. The document was thus worthless. I called the Sec of State's office for explanation and got no where. They suggested I call Ford for a new document. After about 30 min on hold and bounced from one person to another, I was at wits end. I was then transfered to a nice guy in Florida who helped me. He said he would be able to write the letter and get it notarized correctly from Florida. I asked that he overnight it, and he said he would have to check with his supervisor. So, that was Wed.

On Thursday, I called Ford in Florida and they said the document was just noratirzed and put in UPS overnight. Thank goodness. That was happy news. Unfortunately, Ohio was not with our mortgage letter. When I called them, I was transfered to the administrator in charge of that area. It seems, whoever signed for the document on Tues decided to put it into the business office's mail, and they get a lot of mail. It was "misplaced" so she said. I told her she LOST it and asked what she thought I should do. She suggested I call Chase for a new mortgage letter. I said no becuase I had already spent $60 to get this one and FedEx it first to Franklin county for a county verification and then FedEx from there across town to the Sec of State's office, along with the two different fees. Besides, she would probably lose that one too. She had nothing else to say. I told her she better find my document because she had just ruined my Christmas and I not so nicely hung up on her. I was devistated. She called back about 10 minutes letter saying that she had sent 3-4 more people to search for the document and they had miraculously found it. Surprise, surprise. So, I finally got that document back on Friday. She is so lucky.

To update, right now I have 19 documents coming to me from Hartford, which should be all set, apostille and everything. The 2 Mass documents and the mortgage letter apostilled in Ohio are all done and copied. We are waiting on Florida to apostille the letter from Ford. That might be the document which holds us up. I have to call them and beg them to apostille it right away. The website says that it can take up to 5 business days. That would bring us past our Fri 12/12 deadline for the adoption agency. The last document, the letter verifying our CPA's license came on Friday. I will bring it to Hartford tomorrow to get apostilled and that will be all set. I am only worrying about this letter from Ford. I hope that they understand and apostille it right away. Even if they send it to me tomorrow, I will get it on Tues and the agency will get everything on Wed. I guess we need to wait and see, phone and beg someone for there understanding. Keep your fingers crossed......

Papers! Papers! Everywhere!

Well, we are making some headway on the updated paperwork trail. Of the 24 documents that the judge requested, I have 20 complete to the notary stage. Today I sent some of them off to be apostilled. An apostille is a state signature and stamp, from the secretary of state, that is necessary for all international documents. It simply guarantees that the notary who signed the document is a licensed notary for that specific state. Now comes the tricky part. Some of the documents have been notarized in different states. The verification of our social workers' licenses came from Mass, since our agency is headquartered in Mass. So today I sent those two papers to be apostilled in Mass. Our car loan document was signed and notarized in Nebraska so that was sent back to Nebraska today for an apostille. Our mortgage loan document signed in Ohio was shipped out last week to Ohio for apostille but was sent back. It seems that Ohio requires first a county verification on the notary and then the apostille. So that was sent out to Franklin County Court on Fri. From there they have the FedEx slip to send it to the Secretary of State (in the same town no less). Then they will send it back to me. What a mess. I have too many FedEx tracking numbers...Now I have lost track of which tracking number is which! Ugh!

Anyway, once I have the FBI background checks back and the letter from the CPA, I will send the remaining letters to Hartford for apostille. Then we will only be waiting for the state to verify the CPA's license. Not sure why but I can't have the state verify his license before I have his letter. His letter needs to be dated before the state's letter. What a mess. We are hoping to have everything done and sent to the agency next week. They asked for it by the 12th. Hopefully all the apostilles will not hold us up. Keep your fingers crossed for us!

Finally!

Yeah! I finally sent out our documents for the Russian court today. A total of 2.3 pounds worth of paperwork. Now our paperwork bundle is up to almost 8 pounds. But, it is complete thus far. Once it is translated, the judge in Russia will look through it and decide what he wants updated. Which means, more paperwork. Crazy, but true. I was very excited to send it out FedEx today. The agency will receive it tomorrow. Then it goes to Russia to be translated. I hope it doesn't take too long. We are still shooting for a return trip before the new year but I am not sure. The email I received today from Vica mentioned that 3 families are going to Yeakterinburg within a couple weeks. They have been waiting from 8-11 months between their trips. I know that with the accredidation process that things were held up a little last year. Hopefully we won't wait that long. If we do we may not even get Colby before he turns 2. This waiting stuff stinks. I have been patient for 2 months, I am not sure how much more patient I can be.

On the bright side, one of the couples we met in Russia has been home with their son now almost 2 months. He looks great. I have enjoyed reading their continuing story and seeing his pictures. Congrats C & M!

Relaxing Weekend

Mike and I had a great weekend. We brought his parents up to New Hampshire to my grandparents' house on Lake Winnipesaukee. My parents also have a house there, right down the road from my grandparents'. My parents were there as were my brother Keith, his wife Allyson, and their 1 year old son Keith. It was a nice, relaxing long weekend. We drove up on Friday after work and came home on Monday around lunch time. On Saturday we brought Mike's parents to Castle in the Clouds. It is an old mansion that was built in the Ossipee Mountains in 1914 for $1 million at that time. It is beautiful. You need to drive up the mountain about 2 miles to the carriage house and then take a short trolley ride or walk to the main castle. The scenery was beautiful and Mike's parents seemed to enjoy the ride. I was hoping to drive around the lake but we went back to the house instead. At night Mike, his mom, and I played dominoes after we all went to dinner. Sunday we went out to breakfast and stayed around the house. We enjoyed the peaceful sound of the waves, they were huge this weekend, and I read my book. Mike and I drove into Alton Bay to the craft fair and just to walk around.

Overall, the weekend was great. It was relaxing, something Mike and I certainly needed. We have been struggling hard to finish the adoption paperwork and the weekend away was perfect. When we came home, we found the last paper that we needed had come in the mail. I now need to bring that and my employment letter to Hartford to be apostilled tomorrow. The department will do 1 or 2 papers while you wait. So, our paperwork should be done tomorrow! I will definitely let you all know as soon as it is sent out. Then we need to wait, sort of patiently, for the paperwork to be translated and then see what the judge wants updated. So, we are slowly moving ahead. YEAH!!!

Moving Ahead and Missing My Boy

Well, we have had some movement in the paperwork area. Our CPA finished the letter on Monday and Mike picked it up. I couldn't believe it. Mike immediately called the state for the state verification of his license. Hopefully that is in the mail and we will get it before the weekend. That is the last paper we need. I sent the rest of the papers out to get apostilled on Tuesday. The light is shining brighter. What great news!

Today I am sending a package to Tatiana, the director of Colby's baby home. It has a note for her and Colby as well as a few photos to add to his photo album and a couple cute long-sleeved shirts. It is already getting cool there. Mike said it was about 60 degrees yesterday. Hopefully the shirts fit him. I'm really not sure what size he might wear right now. I wish we had some sort of an update on him. Is he growing? Has he been eating well and getting lots of hugs? Boy do I miss him. Hopefully we will get back there soon. We are aiming for December right now. We shall see.

It's About Time

Well, we finally got some good news on Friday. The letter from the psychologist came along with a copy of his license. I had already emailed the state to get the verification letter for his license so we received that as well. So, we have gotten somewhere this week. Unfortunately we also received not so great news. I did not receive the job I was hoping for. Luckily I do still have a job though. Mike was able to go to the CPA on Thursday to ask for the letter about our assets and liabilities. Hopefully we will get that sometime early this week. Then all I need is the verification letter for his license. I also hope to write another note to Colby this week and send a couple cute long sleeve shirts for him. The end drew a little closer, just a little. I wish we could get their quicker. Boy do I miss our little guy.

When Will We Be Done?

It seems that I have been saying to many people lately that Mike and I are "almost done" with our paperwork. This has been the saying now for about two weeks. We are frustratingly close to having all the documents complete but yet can't seem to get those precious last couple of papers in our hands. We are still waiting on the spychologist for his letter and then I need to call for a verification from the state for his license. We also need to see a CPA about our financial paperwork. I have been waiting to see if the hospital I applied to work at will decide if I am hired. Then we would do the financial paperwork. Hopfeully they will call on Monday. Then we will do that paperwork and verify the CPA's license. Then we will be done. I see the light at the end but it is still just out of grasp. How annoying.

Yesterday began the Pilot Pen Tennis Tournament down in New Haven, CT. I have been volunteering there as an usher for 8 years now. It is a lot of fun. Today was our volunteer party so I was able to see my fellow tennis friends and show them pictures of Colby. It felt good to relate stories about Russia to friends. It was a nice connection to Colby, even for a brief moment. Now my nights this coming week will be busy. I look forward to the busy moments, less thought time. Well, let's go check the Olympics and head to bed soon. It has been a long, but busy week.

On the Right Track, Can it Go Quicker?

Well, I guess we are on the right track and getting somewhere, but can the train move quicker? Mike and I received the first half of our required documents back from the state where they were apostilled. They arrived on Thursday 8/7. What a great Thursday! One of the documents wasn't apostilled though because the twon hadn't notarized it. So Mike had to go back downtown and get a new document and argue to get it notarized. But it is done. We have been waiting on the state for the doctors' license verifications but they weren't sent. I am told they went in the mail on Thursday as well. Hopefully the psychologist is working on our letter and a copy of his license. Then we just need to get the financial paperwork done. We seem to be moving close but yet the end is still not quite in reach. I do know that once we hand in these documents that the judge will ask us to update many of them, but to know we completed them would be great. HOpefully we can say that we are done within a week or so. I just wish it would be sooner. Many people have said that I got the paperwork done fairly quickly. I say no. I have had to wait on too many people to do things for me. I just wonder how other couples get their paperwork done if both of them are working. I guess it has been helpful to be home to trek off to 2 or 3 doctors a day to get followup paperwork.

Other than paperwork, Mike and I have been working on the house. We finally bought drapes for the front room as well as an area rug for that room. Today we found a cute rug for Colby's room at BJ's. So I am happy with that. We also had to buy a new computer. Our old one was about 6 or 7 years old and running tired. It would take me forever to get onto the internet and open our adoption files. We just bought a new tower and kept the old monitor which works well. I hope to clean out the old computer and hang onto it for one of my nephews or for Colby. We'll see how it runs without most of the programs we use, just the basics. We also bought a new printer but it also copies, scans, and is a fax machine, which is something we have been using more often lately to get paperwork from doctors and different companies like the mortgage and car loan companies. So we have had a busy couple of days.

Today we are getting ready to have my friend Dawn and her family, Craig, Seth, and Casey, over for dinner. Just hamburgers, hot dogs on the grill. I met Dawn and her kids when I started teaching. I even taught her daughter in second grade. Now Seth is starting high school and Casey is in 7th grade. Boy, how times goes by. Well, I must check on my macaroni for the macaroni salad.

Thank you to all who are following our journey. I can't believe we actually had 2 international "hits". Cool!

Still Waiting

With a new week, comes more waiting. I was hoping to receive the state verifications of the doctors' licenses today, but they didn't come. Of course, we need to wait most of the day since our mail carrier seems to be coming later and later. We did however hear from the mortgage company and they have sent the letter we need from them via FedEx overnight. I guess my husband's constant calling has finally worked. Friday he got ahold of a supervisor who knew exactly what we needed. Where was she a month ago? So we should have that letter tomorrow. We also go to the psychologist tomorrow. Hopefully he will write the letter we need very quickly. The rest of the paperwork is coming in hopefully soon. I hope to have it all within a week or so. I wish there was something we could do to hurry it up. Even Mike is getting impatient. Being so close to having the initial paperwork complete and yet almost powerless to get the rest done, is almost unbearable. However, we are a little less depressed as well see the light getting brighter at the end of the tunnel.

More happy news, I did get offered the job with LifeTouch taking school portraits. It doesn't pay much and it is really only for the Fall and Spring but it is something and I do enjoy photography. I am also waiting on the hospital job as well. We'll see what happens. While I was looking at our adoption agency's website I also noticed that they need a part-time administration assistant. I would love to become involved in the adoption world. To give back and help other couples/families going through the same situation as Mike and myself would be a wonderful thing. I did apply but we will see what happens with that.

So life goes on and the wait continues.

Waiting and a Happy Note

Now that we are fairly caught up on our story, my posts will be about present day.

It has been 2 weeks since we first met Colby. Someone asked if we are adopting him from the town of Kamensk-Uralski. Yes, we are. The baby home there is great and we know that Colby is in good hands until we return to get him. HOwever, I hate knowing that he is there and I am here.

The first week or so wasn't to bad. I came home and began working on the medical information that the region requires. It is rather time consuming. I have also been working on the job situation. I am making better headway on the medical stuff than the job stuff. We have set up appointments for all the specialists, I just hope that they will all be helpful and sign the paperwork without too much hassle. As for the job, it still frustrates me. HOpefully that will come soon.

Mike and I did have a setback yesterday dealing with the doctors. Most of the specialists have been very helpful but one doctor is giving us a difficult time. I had a feeling that she might, so I don't know why I was so upset when we left her office. Just being there, thinking about what we need to get through, I was suddenly in tears. Why? I hate crying. I guess that my frustrations just needed to be expressed. I knew that Mike was upset too. I am trying not to get so worked up over this but I just needed to let it out. Writing this blog and reading other blogs has been helpful but a short lived cry never hurt, right?

I am not sure if anyone else has had this problem, but I just can't seem to fall asleep at night. Is this normal? Am I going crazy? My thoughts seem to go into overdrive around 11PM and sleep alludes me. Monday night I couldn't fall asleep at all so I ended up in our family room so I wouldn't disturb Mike. I wrote in my journal and kept staring at the pictures of Colby. Will I ever have a good night's sleep again? Perhaps the whole job frustration and the looming paperwork is the cause, perhaps having Colby so far away is the cause. I think it is both.

On a very happy note, CONGRATS to the Morgans. They have picked up their son from his baby home and they are now a united family. The pictures are so cute! CONGRATS!

Peace Through Writing

June 29th. I have always been better with the written word than the spoken word. I was looking through the internet and remembered that CM mentioned that she was writing a blog about her adoption journey. I found it and realized that by writing my own thoughts that I would be able to get some of my frustrations out and hopefully feel a little better about waiting for a court date that seems years away. Her blog is beautiful and reading it helps me realize that my thoughts, fears, and feelings are common and it is ok to feel the way I feel. That brings me some peace. Thank you CM.

Hopefully my blog will be read by others and perhaps it will help other people going through their adoption journeys. That is what a hope for. I have almost gotten my journey caught up to date. The next few posts will probably be about the paperwork and medical nightmare that we are up against. I can't believe what we need to do. It seems ridiculous but I suppose that it is necessary, according to Russia. I only hope that the doctors will be cooperative with all of this. We shall see.

The next few days I need to focus on two different things. 1) Setting up appointments with the 7 or 8 different specialists to sort out the medical paperwork. 2) Trying to find a job. The second has been very difficult. I am not sure if I want another teaching position. Perhaps. I am not sure what I want to do. I am great with computers and would be an asset to any company in an office. If there is anyone who has any thoughts about a job, please let me know. That and the medical information seem to be the next obstacles to overcome on our adoption journey. Luckily I have Mike to help me and give me his support, and I have Colby waiting at the end, a clear reminder of why I am putting myself through this emotional rollercoaster.