This Date In History 6/18/07 - Our Adoption Story

Monday June 18, 2007

We are down to visiting Madeline only once a day until Saturday. We are not sure why that is but we are just doing what we are told. Doing what we are told has gotten us far thus far. Our agency has been wonderful and I am now a true believer in the fact that the agency you choose in an international adoption makes all the difference in the world. It is our agency that has guided us through everything so smoothly thus far. They have the right contacts and know how to schmooze the right people at the right time. Criticize that as you may, we have had a successful court date. Unfortunately there has been some heart wrenching stories coming from other couples. Yes, they used a different agency. Does that make all the difference? We don’t know. Yet, all we know is that we are very blessed to be in the position we are right now. The couple that we mentioned, from Lancaster, PA went to court again today. Once again it was not a pleasant experience for them in court. AGAIN, they were delayed with a last ditch effort to be approved by court tomorrow morning at 9am. The other couple that was trying to adopt an older child is going home tomorrow- empty handed. A couple from Des Moines had their court date delayed today while yet another couple who flew in last night from Illinois came in “blind” (meaning without a referral – a child in mind) got turned away from the Ministry of Education because they were “too busy”. So, they will try to go back again tomorrow. And here we sit with all going so smoothly. We actually feel guilty. Each of these couples is so friendly to us yet we get the feeling that they “don’t like us” because of it. I guess I don’t blame them as I am sure I would struggle with the same feelings if the shoe were on the other foot. We equate it to when we were trying to get pregnant and friend after friend was telling us that *they* were pregnant. Were we happy for them? Yes! Were we jealous and wondering why that couldn’t be us? Of course! We feel so hopeless. All we can do now is thank God for the blessings that we have received and continue to pray (and ask you to pray) for these couples’ strength during this difficult time.

On a lighter note…..Our visit with Madeline was at 10am this morning. It was a nice visit. What we have called an “everyday” visit because nothing extraordinary happened but it was filled with “everyday, ordinary family moments”. Madeline is getting more vocal and exploring consonant sounds. This, she never really did before. She is continuing to feel more comfortable with closeness from us and has a minimal amount of “warming up time” at the beginning of our visits. We will be sending an invite to view photos on-line under separate cover.

Since our visit was at 10am today, we had some spare time today. It was cooler today – if you can call mid 90’s cooler. We took a walk and explored some more of Astrakhan. This is the way David and I operate. We go, do, and explore and have no problem “getting lost”. We have several friends that aren’t as comfortable doing such things in unfamiliar surroundings and the other couples here think we are nuts. Astrakhan is not unsafe….only unfamiliar. We want to see what there is to see and get an understanding of a culture other than our own. We have managed our way through language barriers and have found a learning situation when we had to “wing it”. Prime example…..the other day, I thought I bought some cold cheeseburgers from the prepared food section at our local grocery store. After our a.m. visit, I fixed a plate for David and I that had these “burgers” and a small piece of left over kabob from the other night along with some Greek salad and grapes. The burger tasted odd to me, yet somewhat familiar. David only took one bite of the burger and decided not to have anymore. This evening we took another walk to the grocery, this time with a Russian-English dictionary. The closest I could find in the book is that it was some kind of liver. Yes, I served my husband liver patties for lunch. To me, they tasted okay. They reminded me of when my mom used to boil up the innards of a turkey on Thanksgiving and grind them up to add to stuffing. What I was doing as a little kid *tasting* that is beyond me….but that’s what the “burgers” tasted like. Hmmmmmm….there’s two left. Anyone hungry?? I guess that’s my lunch for tomorrow.

After our walk (pictures will be sent to you) we watched the remainder of “Me, You and Dupree”. Don’t forget we bought 4/$20 DVD’s at Blockbuster to bring along on the trip. And now we are in for the night. I guess we have to get used to this as Madeline will be in bed (hopefully) at 8pm.

The sun just finished setting here over the Volga River. A River Boat cruise is just setting sail from outside our hotel to wherever their next destination is. Again, it floors me to think about how close we are to the Middle East. In fact, here in Astrakhan we are actually closer to Iran and Iraq than we are Moscow. That makes me laugh because I think of the Middle Eastern women in their berkas and how contrary that is to the dress of the Russian women. The best way to describe it is that the young Russian women are all doing their best to compete for a Paris Hilton look-a-like contest. Slinky dresses hiked quite high, very high heels, the BIG eyeglasses that make them look like they have a fly’s eyes. Hmmmmm…..by my descriptions I think Astrakhan will suddenly have a large influx of American Male tourists…….

Anyway, keep sharing your stories with us as you are our only connection to *our* real world. DeSales….I hope Field Day went well. I hope my class behaved and enjoyed the hot WNY weather and that my co-5th grade teachers survived the day. Tomorrow…..LAST DAY OF SCHOOL!!!!! Please send everyone my best wishes.

Everyone else……keep your reports of your life coming to us. We love hearing stories from home. We are both very homesick and love to hear from you! We are still 19 days away from U.S. soil and are feeling quite isolated. Just a quick hello would be greatly appreciated.

We know you are just getting to your afternoon routines while we are winding down for the night. Enjoy the rest of your Monday as we begin to gear up of Tuesday. Have a good night and we will continue to try to keep you posted.

Love y’all
David and Amy