Journal #88

We are home from the wedding. I got to try out my "Point Shoot" (entry #82) which was GREAT!!!

We are unusually happy to not be leaving tomorrow. We are very excited to get our new referral & travel date in Moscow District. We are going to do the 8 doctor medical in Moscow on our first trip. We didn't need this for Kazan. The other changes will be the 10 day wait which means my parents can be at the court date too.

Something about this change has made me really excited again!

Back to "Waiting" for Monday's stuff!

Journal #87

We are not going on Monday. Officially we are no longer going to Kazan. At this point we have chosen to make other decisions but I must hold off on posting about them for the time being. Our agency has been wonderful. I do not want my evasivness to be transferred to an idea of the agency must be responsible. Sometimes as you go through a process (this is the most important one of our lives) you make changes as you learn. We have learned so much through our research, blogger friends, and ourselves as we have grown through the process of adoption. Perceptions and needs have changed too. In being cautious with our hearts and minds we have made decisions which have caused this slight delay. In the grand scheme 10 days is no big deal for us.

We anticipate our new travel dates to be set in the next 1o days. I feel a great sense of relief as I never was able to get excited before today. There is no great explanation. Since the day I posted THE CALL, I haven't been very happy. Not the way I hoped to be. Today I feel more happiness and contentment then I can even begin to tell you.

When we get our travel dates I will update all of you! We are packing to leave for Virginia. Have a good weekend!

Journal #86

First if my blogger pal is checking in- see my thank you note on entry #85. I love the package.

Next...the camera came today. It is awesome, easy, and the price just dropped to $99 w/$20 rebate!

I was going to wait until tomorrow to post an update to PROJECT PINK but I couldn't wait. Today all of the bedding and valances were delivered. The colors look a little funky on the puter but it is really pretty. Thank you Deb at www.polkatotdesigns.com for doing such a terrific job. Every child should have custom linens, LOL! If you haven't checked it out go to her gallery and fabrics, great site!

Journal #85

After the last conversation with our agency we are planning on leaving Monday as scheduled. However due to delaying the decision on wheher or not we were leaving we may or not have our visa's in time to leave. If everything goes as planned with no delay from the Embassy we will have our visa's Saturday. Thanks to my mom she is willing to sit her all day as we are leaving for the wedding in VA on Friday. In worst case scenario, the visa's get sent on Monday and we leave on Wednesday unless they arrive so early Tuesday we have time to drive to NY (JFK airport).

Our appointment with the MOE is delayed a few days but we prefer keeping our plane tickets as scheduled to spend the two days in Moscow so we can rest and depart early morning by plane to our region. On Friday about 1 we will know if we leave Monday or Wednesday.


LATE NIGHT EDITION: To my secret Blogger pal...thank you so much for the sweet wishes. The card was lovely. You couldn't of picked an outfit more perfectly if you tried. This is the first outfit for our daughter as we have not bought any clothes so it is super special. Also- the snugglie blankie is precious. Thank you again for your thoughts! I will post pics tomorrow!

Journal #84


We are officially not leaving on Monday. I can not discuss this matter any further on our blog for now. (should I tell you on Friday evening we were told off but then on again so I never bothered to share this?)

Edit: We are now leaving as scheduled. RIDE THE RIDE WITH US!

Edit #2: ON HOLD- will confirm about 1 on Friday

Journal #83

Monday's are quite busy lately. Today I wish a safe trip to Melissa & Mike who are leaving for Moscow this afternoon. I can't wait to hear from you! If they have to travel to a second region for a little girl we are crossing our fingers to cross paths in Moscow the last weekend of our trip!

This is my last Monday of waiting before trip one. All I want is for next Monday to arrive so we can leave! Hopefully I will be so busy the week will pass quickly.

Journal #82


PURE DIGITAL- Point and Shoot...



FLUFFY STUFF: I have to discuss this product as I am so impressed. First we are on our second video camera. A typical SONY product. A little pricey, user friendly, and a great piece of equipment. However, like most video camcorders you need to read the encyclopedia or you barely can use half the functions. This requires learning how to format discs, download, hook up one of the many cords for whtever purpose you need. Format and finalize discs as you figure out if you need a RW-, or RW+, Rw, or R. Learn about the blue tooth and remote functions. I loved our camera when we got it last year. The thought of taking out the mini disc and popping it into the DVD player or computer was neat. THAT WAS LAST YEAR! The new generation camcorders are Hardrive Recorders. No longer do you need a disc, tape, or memory card. They are terrific. If you need a fully loaded camcorder it is the way to go. SONY has one for about $600.00 that is hard to beat.

If you want a video camera in your purse, simple to use, no additional cards or cords necessary, have a budget but would enjoy to take videos up to 30 minutes in the same format you snap a photo this is the way to go! It is the size of an average digital camera. This product was on Martha Stewart Show this morning. You can go to Target for $99.00. Also on the Pure Digital site you can download a rebate ($20). If you are not in a hurry wait until next month as the internal memory will be increased from 30 minutes to 60 minutes. The rebates are good until the end of the year. Hopefully ours will be here by Tuesday. I was thinking for those who travel with a laptop and need to send to IA docs or to MOM this would be compact and cheap to travel. It takes 2 "AA".

Journal #81

What happened to Friday? I had this great plan to make sure everything was sparkling and dinner was on the table when Marco came home from work....good intentions. The electricity went out at 1 this afternoon so I thought I would take a quick nap as it was very long night. At 7:30 I heard the dogs, woke up and Marco walked into a disaster! Therefore I am running out the door to pick up some Chinese.

Yesterday I left the house at 6am to pay a surprise visit to Melissa (http://mmrussianadoption.blogspot.com/) so if you want ot here about our day you can go visit here blog. They are leaving on Monday so I thought she could use a friend for company on all of the million errands we do before we hop on a plane. Melissa and I had a really great time! Also it was great practice for me! Melissa I will really miss you the week I am gone. THANKS FOR POSTING... the pic of me sitting on the vibrating ELMO at Target. As I was leaving I had a dead battery as I left the lights on. Mike and Melissa tried ot help me jump start but AAA ended up having ot come so I didn't head back to Baltimore until about 11pm. I was so tired I ended up stopping at 3 service stopes to sleep as I didn't feel I could drive. The last time I stopped I was so cold I had the heat on, fell asleep, woke to a dead battery, tried to take the key out the alarm would violently activate. Luckily I fell asleep at the Maryland House which is the last service station before I get onto the final highway to our home. There is a garage there so they jumped started the car. I arrived home at 7:30 this morning. It wa a long night....Have a good weekend!

Journal #80

Thankyouitis...Melissa, thank you for the wonderful gift to Nordstrom's. Maria, thank you for a wonderful lunch. Marisa, thank you for the beautiful flowers, the vase is so cool, Stef and Steve thank for the flowers too. The colors are my FAVORITE! LizzyT, thank you for the beautiful bracelet. Dad thanks for making me smile so much as you know yesterday was a rough day and I will wear "IT" everyday! Marco- thank you for tolerating the grumpy birthday girl who asks for everything I see for 30 days to my birthday present! My Bvlgari diamond charm, my Bvlgari new watch, and my Bvlgari glasses really make smile! Mom, you are a gift in my life everyday! Everyday I worry if I can be half the mother you have been! Hopefully Baby"L" will be half the handful I was!

Journal #79

Our agency came through timely as always. Today they received their NGO. I haven't been overly concerned as in our region we were told we were moving forward. There are families in regions who were waiting so we are extremely happy for them.

Secret blog pals: Well I haven't heard from mine so I am wondering if I have one? I sent something to my blog pal but no mention on her blog. BOO HOO HOO...I hope you get my mail/package.

Today was difficult. My very special blogger friend Melissa had difficult news. On top we are at the same point in the process so it is great to laugh together and stress together. When there is a sad moment it is shared equally. I think we both know all will be fine but the anxiety and curiousity is really tough. I am not sure being prepared for this step matters. Meeting your future child is a full spectrum of emotions!

Tomorrow I am going to start disecting the manual for the video camera. We got it last year so we know how to do some basics but I would like to be a bit more fluent so I don't screw it up. Wednesday is my lunch date with Maria. We have been going strong for 5 weeks! Can' t wait to see you tomorrow!

Ok, I am going to enjoy the last 20 minutes of being closer to 30 than 40!

Journal #78

Monday's what are we waiting for? I just want it to be Monday so we begin and end the week as soon as possible. Usually I like the ticker to go super slow as I am never excited to be a year older as Wednesday I will no longer be 34 but I am ok with it this year. Between Jen's lists and Andrei at Peace travel I don't feel like I have much to do before we leave. If anyone wants to send me any suggestions on things I should stress about let me know.

Hope everyone gets what they are waiting for this week!

Journal #77

OK, decisions are made, plane tickets are purchased, nerves are on end, and I don't know nothing about anything. I guess those of you who have traveled blind feel the same way?

We are leaving from JFK on October 30. The flight from NYC to Moscow is 9 hours and 40 minutes. No sweat for us. Marco travels the same hours home to Italy. My annual trip to Istanbul is about 14 hours. We haven't made arrangements for our flight to Kazan but I assume this is simple as many airlines fly to our region. The flight to region is about 1 hour 15 minutes.

I don't feel:
super excited as I am a bit nervous,
not making any lists as I like to wing it

I am looking forward to returning home with good news!

Journal #76

THE DAY AFTER...What a confusing time for us. There is nothing simple or easy about making decisions. I often discussed the main reason Russia made me nervous was because leaving between trips seemed too difficult. I didn't realize we would be faced with even larger obstacles.
Some have asked us about travel or pictures. There will never be pictures until we are home. Travel is up in the air until we make some decisions. Due to the limited amount of information we were able to receive on this particular child we need to take our time. We have decided we will not leave next week. The primary reason is due to our region being small and our lack of flexibility on gender (girl). We were informed if we reject this referral there may not be another child for us. Realistically it would be wise to delay until we are not limited on time. Therefore after the wedding on October 28th we can go. At this time if we needed to stay a while in the event another referral is needed we will not be rushed. Yes, a little roller coaster but I am sure everything will be fine. Not making decisions under pressure is key for the both of us. Naturally we are business people who have decided since day one to be practical and logical before emotional. Of course we would dread the moment if we had to decline a referral but we need to keep ourselves in a position of confidence as we move forward in our journey. Every step of this journey there are lessons to learn. I believe we should curb the excitement until we meet and accept the child! Tomorrow we will speak with the agency to give them our final decision. Hopefully next time you hear from me it will be with good news.

Journal #75

The CALL...I was trying to post last night but BLOGGER was
giving me a hard time. I was wondering about the "CALL." Where would we be,how would we feel, and would it EVER happen.

At 2:19 this afternoon we received the call. As I am being told some information I interrupted to ask is this "THE CALL?" Yes, BUT there is concern the little girl is very healthy but has blonde hair. She is about 19 mo. I barely digested as purple hair would be just beautiful too! (to clarify: the agency wasn't sure if we have a preference on haircolor! My fault, in the beginning during loose conversation I mentioned it is nice to have a child that looks like the family. However, we really don't feel that way. We didn't fill in hair and eye color on the initial application as we deem this unnatural and unimportant.
We will not receive anymore information about the child before we leave. A little more good news is the few families before us have had the 10 days waived. Also, court dates have been consistent at about 40 days from meeting the child. We should have a little more information tomorrow about our travels.

Journal #74

Happy Friday to everyone! Let's see...It seems as though many are hoping to be in Russia in the month or so. Yours truly is included. Now that "The Next Step" (Bethany) has announced the arrival of Conner, the next on the list is RHONDA!!! Welcome Lisa and Scott to the blogroll today!

If I didn't have such incredible blogger friends who shared every single detail from paperwork to poo poo diapers I am not sure I would believe there is an end to this madness. I really hoped we would have our "CALL" by now. Of course I never like to really talk about this as I like to be the "COOL" chick in town. I am ANYTHING but cool. I am so UNCOOL I can't stand myself. I want to share with all of you how UNCOOL one girl can be before noon.

Phone call one: Friend "A" calls me (she just received her referral to be on there way at the end of the month to Russia) to say she just got off the phone with her agency as there may be a delay but she will let them know on Tuesday. TUESDAY? What a way to have a good weekend,huh? My response: I am sure if it is a BIG deal they wouldn't have called so don't worry. Now I am thinking maybe I should call and check on my things. NO LAUREN YOU CAN NOT CALL, they will call if necessary.

Phone call two: I call friend "B" hey what do you think about "A"? Well maybe they shouldn't have called and just waited for Tuesday. Yeah I was thinking the same thing. Maybe I should check in. NO LAUREN DO NOT CALL.

Phone call three: My "L" (BF) calls to say goodmorning. Of course I babble the whole stories above to her. "L" should I call?NO LAUREN, be cool when it is time they will call. Ok, I know you are right.

Phone call four: Friend"A"calls back to talk about something else but end up dwelling on the first chat. I end the call with maybe I should call. We agree calling won't matter. Have a good day,talk to you soon.

Now I have to pretend to be a normal person and get my bu** to work as I don't work often but I have promised to make an effort to work a few days as Marco is so busy getting other things accomplished.

I get in the car 30 MINUTES later. Left,left,left, right....3 miles hop on the highway and guess what happens? THE FINGERS DID THE WALKING. Yes shamefully I call the agency. RiNg a rIng...is "R" in today? Sweet voice responds..Speaking. The lump in my throat drops. I stutter like a moron, I regret dialing the number, I ask a series of unimportant questions in a way that makes them seem important to me before I get to...When are we GOING? What a relief to just get to the point! The answer... the same as the last TEN times I asked...we should have the date by mid-October so you can get your tickets. However, there was a minor issue so I am glad I called. The visa application for Marco needs to be redone. Of course there is a different application for a foreign national. At least I have something to do on Monday.

Well your MOST UNCOOL blogger friend is wishing you all a very happy weekend!

Journal #73


First, Congrats to the Pisarik family on their referral. It looks like 3 families will all be in Russia from mid-October through the end of October. Rhonda should be getting ready? Bethany,"The Next Step" is in Russia, and on the 31st the Pisarik family will be on a plane. I hope to add MORE to this list!!!

Fluffy stuff!!! May I please tell you a little about this lamp. I am not quite sure if I love it or hate it. Over the past 3.5 weeks we have had a love/hate relationship as I added beads to one side they would slide to the other. Yes, the WHOLE lamp is glass beads. It was torture. I will officially for NO amount of money ever do one again! However it is quite gorgeous in person. (click 2 enlarge)
Hello, I am Lulu the lamb. I am waiting for Baby "L" to come and sit on me. I was delivered from babystyle.com. I am super snuggly soft!
I couldn't resist! The doll shop hamper and matching waste basket was waiting by the garage when I came home today. It comes in other cute styles for boys too. http://www.babyuniverse.com/pro.asp?id=39679

Journal #72

I am almost caught up on pics. Here is the crib I searched high and low to find. It was going to stay undercover until the bedding is completed but I can't keep a secret. The front rail removes for a toddler bed, and the backboard detaches and reverses to be a back board for a full size bed. Below is the pink changer. The drawers are nice size, from the side it is sleigh style, and the pink bows for knobs I added. Unlike the rest of the furniture I found the changer super cheap (on sale 129+s&h) at minitots. It comes in many colors too. Other than the 2 hours it took me struggling with the direction-I like it. More Project Pink to follow later this week!





The Birthday Boy after MANY bottles of wine (16 people 7 bottles of wine+cocktails+after dinner drinks)
The Birthday Boy's Party Planner & Good Friends
The Birthday Cake-yes, it took me two weeks to decide on what pictures... (pic on the LF is 1st B-day,Middle-one of my favorites, pic on RT 39th B-day)





UPDATE to Jounal #41- Marco's Lounge Design (almost finished). The pics do not do this room justice. The molding on the floor is wood trimmed with a copper metallic ceramic tile. The 24 inch tiles Marco used on the floors are almost transluent. The chrome tables are on casters so they easily move for dinner and a movie. The 55 inch screen is super clear. No doubt if anyone needs to find my other half this is where he is hiding! Somewhere snuggled on the slippery chocolate leather lounger.