Its been 2 days and no word...

We are feeling like we need to do something special to make us feel better. We have decided a trip to Tampa should do the trick. Now the important things; pet sitters, packing, tickets to theme park. This should keep us busy for a bit.

A great big thanks to my friends at soulofadoption.com! The chat last night was wonderful! Exactly what I needed. A bit is sympathy helps everyone once in a while. With a jump start weekend, we should start feeling more like ourselves over the 4th of July. Speaking of which, we have awesome fireworks in our neighborhood. We have plans with family and friends to celebrate the 4th. With the wicked weather lately, I hope they don't get canceled. I hope our neighbors up in the northeast are fairing well with floods.

SoFlaMom

The Saga Continues....

The word is the children can travel once an official document makes its way from Moscow to the region. Using snail mail, who knows ho long that will take. The agency is hopeful that the document will make it in time for a 7/15 travel date. This puts us in a dilemma. SoFlaKid is going to sleep-away camp very soon. The camp is pretty far from us, almost to the west coast. We need to pick up SoFlaKid (only way to go is to fly the friendly skies) during the time our guest will be with us. Therefore, we will not be able to host our guest for the entire 2 weeks!

Is hosting less than 2 weeks a benefit for our family? The child? I am not sure. Thinking abut it, allowing the child to come to America and giving her an American experience is probably the best thing that will ever happen to the child. Should we deny her some happiness, even if its only for a short time? Thoughts to ponder....This should take up much of my time over the next few weeks as this plays out.

I think we need a break from this emotional turmoil. We need a Disney vacation. Ahhh, the advantages of living in Florida. Maybe the Keys, Tampa, Daytona? I love living in paradise!

SoFlaMom

Well, here we go again! Sad news yesterday. The children will not be traveling to America. We were told to cancel our reservations at the hotel because we are not sure if the children can travel, and, if they can, when they will travel. Apparently, a relative of one of the children complained to the MOE about the trip and the MOE intervened. So Sad. My guess, based on how long we have been on this journey, is the relative is afraid of the rumors spread throughout Russia about Americans. If you check www.FRUA.org, you can read all about the rumors. I don’t need to spell them out on this blog.

I looked at all the little girl stuff we bought and my heart breaks. We still have little boy stuff from our first adoption attempt. All reminders of the hardships of adoption. Will we ever be able to complete our family? Experiences like this make you wonder if this is a sign? Fate?

The hosting coordinator will contact us today to let us know what to expect. So here we are, waiting again.

Keeping Busy....

Today I went shopping and browsed all the cute little girl stuff. I really wanted to buy something for our little guest - tons of sales - but its hard to purchase anything when you don't know sizes. On top if that we are not sure exactly what age our little visitor will be. Pure speculation, we have an idea that she is around 6 and probably will be small for her age (based on feedback from others) but you never know. I could not leave empty handed so I bought some useful items for the home.

First, I bought a water proof mattress cover. Not that our visitor is not potty trained, but what if she has an accident? She is so young and traveling so far away, this experience can bring out her insecurities. If I were in her shoes, I would be scared to death! Therefore we want to play it safe. I also picked up pretty lavender sheets for her bed. All of our sheets tend to be male colors (I live in the land of testosterone!). We have some old car sheets (not for girls), Winnie the Pooh sheets (maybe) and matchbox sheets (definitely not!). SoFlaKid has outgrown the kiddie sheets so I bought him some teenage sheets too. Yes, I got an earful today, Mom! I don't want those sheets on MY bed! This is what prompted my shopping expedition.

So now what. We still need to clear out the guest room. Clean the car for the trip to the airport. Charge up the portable DVD player. Charge up the Camcorder. Pack for the trip. Get snacks to keep at the hotel. We read that some children hoard their food. We want to keep food available at all times, in sight. I was thinking of buying Cheerios, Fruit, Chips, and/or Granola Bars. We have lots of water bottles and will pack a bunch of those too. We will keep the snack supply in the hotel room for consumption day or night. I hope this will help ease her fears (if she has a fear) of no food. Only time will tell.

4 days until we meet our visitor!!!

The Elks

Did you know that in the suburbs of Chicago is an Elk Preserve? On a recent trip, I had an opportunity to visit for a few minutes. I didn't have a camera so I used my cell phone to take pictures of the elks. The most amazing part of the preserve is what separates you from the elk is a chain link fence. So what if the elk charges at you? Will a chain link fence really protect people from an enormous elk??? Just ponder that thought and decide if you want to visit.

I was thinking about our adoption journey and all the hurdles we have overcome so far. Listing them makes what we have accomplished "real".

7/04 - Decide to adopt
9/04 - Pick an Agency
10/04 - Start Home Study
2/05 - Homestudy Completed (Yes, I am not lying!!! I think we win the longest HS award)
2/05 - I-171 received (I guess INS felt sorry for us because our HS took so long!)
3/05 - Receive referral
4/05 - Travel to Far Eastern Russia. Meet referral. Decline Referral. Meet new referral. Accept new Referral.
5/05 - Dossier completed and submitted for court date
6/05 - Dossier rejected because agency is not accredited
7/05 - 3/06 - Wait, Read FRUA, Chat, Wait, Wait, Wait
3/06 - Agency reaccredited! Rules in Region changed.
3/06 - 4/06 - With a tear in our heart, decide not to continue with adoption in Far East. The new ruling is too risky for our happy family :-( Mourn the loss of our child.
5/06 - On a whim, read a post about hosting
6/06 - Confirm that we can participate!!

So here we are, almost 2 years after we started our journey. We get to meet our visitor on Wednesday!!! I am excited, nervous, scared, overjoyed, and all sorts of emotions. Our Happy Beginning is less than 1 week away.

Thought for the day...

This is one of my favorite stories that keeps me going on this adoption journey. Don't know the author but who ever it is, has captured the essence of adoption.

The Starfish

There was a young man walking down a deserted beach just before dawn.
In the distance he saw a frail old man.

As he approached the old man, he saw him picking up stranded starfish and throwing them back into the sea.

The young man gazed in wonder as the old man again and again threw the small starfish from the sand to the water.

He asked, “Old man, why do you spend so much energy doing what seems to be a waste of time?”

The old man explained that the stranded starfish would die if left in the morning sun.

“But there must be thousands of beaches and millions of starfish!” exclaimed the young man. “How can you make a difference?”

The old man looked at the small starfish in his hand and as he threw it to the safety of the sea, he said, “It makes a difference to this one!”

Another Successful Father's Day - and no hurricanes in sight!

As we anxiously await the arrival of our visitor, SoFlaDad helped his mother cook an incredible shrimp dinner. But word from the wise, never allow SoFlaDad to make rice! It was dubbed "mushy rice" and SoFlaDad was banned from ever cooking rice again! That job will be assigned to SoFlaMom or Bubbe in the future. SoFlaDad received a great present, the first season of Boston Legal on DVD. We are trying to figure out if Boston Legal is a Law show with a bit if comedy or a Comedy with a bit of Law. Send us a comment of what you think!

Happy Father's Day to all the dads and future dads!

We get to meet our little visitor next week! Time is moving ever so slowly like waiting for the water to boil. I need to stop looking at the calendar but it is so hard not to. In anticipation of minimizing over-stimulation, I went shopping for little girl clothes. I bought a bathing suit - a must in FL - shirts, shorts, and slippers. We are not sure what size she will be so we bought assorted sizes and will have her try them on in anticipation that one of the outfits will fit. Once we know her size, I will make a Wal-Mart run to exchange the rest. I am having so much fun buying little girl things. It's fun to buy little boy stuff but there is so much more of a selection for girls. Shopping should take up some of the time while we wait but I need to find more things to do! Any ideas before we go broke?

Happy Family

I thought I would post about our Happy Family. Our Happy Family consists of a mom, a dad, a son, and 2 dogs. Yes, canines are the animal of choice if we want to continue being a happy family. Therefore, our happy family will never include reptiles, felines, amphibians, rodents, and insects (sorry to all you exotic animal lovers). We enjoy being the Happy Family, Party of 3 (5 if you include the dogs), but always thought we needed an even number of family members. And it would be nice to even out the number of boys vs. girls. Yes the dogs are males too! I am the only female living in this male dominated home. **giggle**

A little girl is exactly what this Happy Family needs. We need little dresses, hair ties, bows, and tights, to offset the balls, bats, caps, and cars. We have chosen to join a hosting program to find our little girl. A hosting program brings orphaned children from other countries (we chose Russia) to the United States for a cultural exchange program. The children get to experience life in America with an American family (that's us, the Happy Family). Some of the children that travel are adoptable and some are not. We are excited about participating in the program and will share our experience with you.

Stop by soon for more updates!

We are off to a good start, created an account, decided on a name, create a post. Thank you to all our friends at http://soulofadoption.com/ for recommending this site! As a newbie to blogging, please forgive me in advance for any errors and omissions as I get my feet wet!

Happy Beginnings starts with a happy family searching for our child. We have searched high and low, over the oceans, through the woods, to infinity and beyond! As our journey to our child continues, we find ourselves at a new beginning. We know our child is waiting for us, we just need a better GPS system. Therefore, we have fine tuned our satellite and set course in another direction. Our new journey is taking us to the west side of Russia. Will this be our final destination? Only time will tell. Stay tuned to read about our new and improved journey.

SoFlaMom