Journal #99

It was so great to hear Lisa and Scott met their son. Check out their blog.

Maria and I officially missed our first lunch this week but she came over to hang out this evening. Mom and Larry came over for dinner so it was a busy evening.

It seems like so many wonderful things are happening in the adoption world. Lisa & Scott are in Russia, Stephanie is in Colombia, Betsy is on her way to meet her daughter on Monday and things over hear are moving along!

Talk to you soon!

Journal #98
A quick edit: Scott & Lisa are on the plane to JFK to catch their flight to Moscow. They didn't have time to post but said I could. I have been so excited all week for them that I am delighted to share their news. Lisa and I met on FRUA in early August as we found we are with the same agency. They will meet their son on Thursday morning in Moscow City.
Happy Monday to everyone!

Tonight we wanted to go laugh so we went to see "Borat." We don't go to the movies often as we prefer watching movies at home. I am happy to say we both concurred easily on this movie. It was a little too much! If you can imagine a cross between Howard Stern and Jackass, and you like it...go for it. We chuckled a bit, thought it was stupid, glad it was over, thought we would never let our child see this one, and really don't have much more to say about it except we could have have waited or missed this movie.

This Friday will be 6 months since we began. I must say it has been interesting, trying, emotional, and exciting. We have met a few other's, made a few good friends, and enjoyed the many things we have learned through this process.

I have learned a little about a routine as I have met Maria (my Wednesday Lunch date) every week since we have met. This will be the first week we miss lunch on Wednesday. NO I won't be in Russia, Maria has a meeting so we will meet on Thurday. I have so many special friends...Especially Melissa...what do we talk about for hours and hours , LOL? All of you have given so much by sharing your lives. So a special cheers after Thanksgiving to all of our friendships, to all of the forever families of 2006!

Journal #97

Hello to everyone! How was everyone's day? We had a nice Thanksgiving with exceptions. Mom was sick so she was a no show. I didn't post any recipes but here is the best martini ever compliments of my cousin Ruby and Lizzy...2 parts Cherry Vodka (by 3 Olives) and 3 parts Lychee Juice. YUMMY..we were struggling to move the party from the living room to the dining room. They tasted like cherry-vanilla. Lychee is like the Chinese strawberry? Anyway interesting and impressive. Thanks guys. ONE HUGE surprise...another visit from Daniel (Marco's best friend) who you have heard me mention as I believe this is his third trip from Bermuda to us since we started our blog in June. He wanted to get in one more quick visit before we abbracadabra. Dinner was fantabulous, the company was perfect, and MOMMY I MISSED YOU SO MUCH! Yes, Mom usually would have blessed us with her germs but she was too nervous to get me sick. Thanks Mom! I have to get going as Daniel is about to perform his magic on us. What is better than your husband's best friend being a superstar hairstylist! Off for highlights, color and a cut. Next Marco's mop will be stylin too! Of course Daniel didn't want us leaving looking like THIS! Move over Jessica and Ken!

A special congrats to Stephanie and her family! What special news on Thanksgiving. You have been such a wonderful blogger friend! I have enjoyed your emails and your comments for the past months. I look forward to following your journey home with ? Did you pick option 1 or 2? Have a safe and wonderful trip to Colombia!

Journal #96

I feel like I have a million dollars in my pocket and no where to spend it. That is how it has felt since we received our visa's and plane tickets in October. I guess it is a good thing we have a 90 day visa! By now I am sure you have figured we are preparing to leave.

Now I feel like there is a hole burning in my pocket. This is the happiest I have been since October 27th when we found out we weren't leaving on the 30th.

Besides being ill for the past 2 weeks, I do believe things happen for a reason. There has to be a reason why this time I feel confident, comfortable, and EXCITED for the first time. My mind wonders to the first moment our eyes meet our child, hold our child, and feel her breath. I know there is a possibility of issues, possible rejections of referrals, and unfavorable reports from the IA doc but for now I am not going to worry about it. I did enough of it for the past 5 months. By the way, I received an email from our IA doc to remind us her due date is the same as our appointment but not to worry her collegue will be with us if she can not make it.

Now I want to enjoy each moment of our journey as I know it is about to begin. It is wonderful to worry about what toys to bring, what snacks to pack, and what size outfit I should bring (maybe a couple? maybe just buy one there?).

How special that we get to spend the holidays with our family before we leave. Marco's father lives in Italy. He is leaving for vacation on the 27th of this month so we were happy to be able to give him the news before he left.

I wish for everyone to get whatever they may be waiting for this week.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Journal #95

I have struggled with this decision for the past 7 hours. You know I am a little superstitous so keep it under wraps. After careful consideration I will share the following...We did hear something today. We will be here for Thanksgiving. I will post more the day before we go so I don't feel like I am jinxing us. Thank you all for your thoughts and friendship!

Journal #94

Good morning to all of my blogger buddies. Gosh it is easy to be quiet when you aren't very happy. If you read Melissa's blog about our whining and complaining when she was here...that was just a little tidbit. I have felt fairly ill for two weeks. About 4 days before we were suppose to leave. I woke up in so much pain two weeks ago but though I slept funny. A week later I was telling Marco this is not from sleeping funny. Last week Tuesday I went to the doctor. It is like a quickie clinic you can run into but I really like the doctors. Also they were very helpful for my adoption "stuff." After taking blood tests he thought I may have Lyme's. Lyme's is very common as we have tick issues in Maryland due to all of the deer. The results came back a few days ago negative. The pain has increased and stayed constant. This is like something I struggle to explain.

Wednesday, after lunch with Maria (which I wouldn't miss over my dead body), I drove myself to a regular hospital. Now I have been diagnosed with Shingles. He also said it was quite severe. He gave me an anti viral, 30 percocet, told me not to get stressed(guess he never embarked on an International Adoption?), and rest. ALSO- I Can not be around anyone who has not had the chickenpox. Can you imagine if we would have left for Moscow? I could have exposed this to the children. You know we would have come home to think we got something from the kids, lol.

Anyway, the medication is working already. I feel the symtoms subsiding.

The agency hears from Russia on Tuesday's and Friday's so I am hoping as USUAL for the "call" but not expecting. Maybe if I get some energy I will post some PROJECT PINK and my lovely gifts from my secret blogger pal that I neglected to post!

Journal #93

This weekend was really great! Melissa came down. Maria met us for dinner. Check Melissa's blog for details and pictures. Since she beat me to it!

No big news yet.

Journal #92

Happy Friday! Today I am going to be happy (a lot of effort)! Melissa is on her way from NJ to visit for the weekend. Tomorrow night we are going to meet Maria for dinner in the city (Baltimore). Of course anyone close by is invited!

Today our dossier has been officially RE-registered. Now that we are registered in Moscow District I feel like I need to do a little crash course on Moscow as I have spent the past four months (since July) reading about Kazan, the people, the culture, and other adoptions in this region.

Do we have any blogger friends in Russia? I think this is the first week for a while of everyone home. Hopefully not for much longer!

Congrats to all of those waiting for the 268 to be signed so your agencies can move forward.

Have a good weekend!

Journal #91

Peek-a-BOO. I am here lurking in the dark. Reading everyone's blog. Had a great lunch with Maria (blog-Jeff & Maria) and a great pitcher of sangria in the middle of day. Yes-it was necessary! No, I am not happy. It is way worse to have visa's and tickets in hand- but no where to go. Next week we are hoping to see when we can leave. Everything is dependent on a little girl being available and meeting our criteria. Our dossier is relocated in Moscow and to be registered this week. I guess on the brighter side we were told as soon as the child is designated we can go as we do not need to wait for an invitation or visa since this is completed. Thankfully we are pro travelers. When we can, we leave the next day!!! I will resurface again soon!

Journal #90

Hello everyone! Since Monday, our on again off again roller coaster has left me anxious to fast forward my life to my agency calling with our referral. It is funny how expectations change our disposition. I was never expecting to go so soon but now that we were suppose to leave it seems difficult.

Welcome home Melissa! Sorry we won't be hearing from the Pisarik's. Seemingly they were told blogging was a "no no."

I believe I read Monday is a holiday in Russia but the MOE is also closed on Tuesday.

Have a good weekend!

Journal #89

Feelings...Sometime about 8 last night (inbetween one of the six episodes of Law and Order my mind wondered to I should be in Kazan meeting our child. Then I quickly composed my thoughts to remember our child is not in Kazan. On Monday we received our passports and visa's just in time to leave for NYC to catch our plane. I think this was a trigger! It just occurred to me what has transpired over the past two weeks. Yes, I am a little slow or the relay. However I was too quick to accept a referral too. Marco went along with what I felt. This is something you just can't prepare for. I thought by the time we received our referral I could make good decisions on where, when, and how but that was not the case. Honestly I believed (contrary to what I was told) if this child isn't accepted we could get a new referral. WRONG!

Just getting the call was enough to confuse a perfectly grounded individual. Now I am anxious in a whole different way. I am super superstious at times so I think even posting I got the "CALL" was a JINX (bad move). We were told we could leave as soon as we have our new referral. Our new referral should be sooner than later but there is no itinerary. We really don't know anything with the exception that the anticipated time to travel is in the next week or SO...Yeah I know, not to much information.

My agency probably thinks I am a fruit loop. As they were telling me we weren't going I was answering like a WACKO!. All I remember saying is "sounds like a good decision.", "great", "yes, we think this will work well", "this really sounds wonderful", "thank you, you have relieved quite a bit of our anxiety!" Just know they started the conversation with we are so sorry, I hate having to call and tell you, I can't believe I have to tell you...

Don't worry about it...I believe in destiny. We will embark on our journey in a time designated for all good things to come true. Without the rain we can't apprecite the rainbows.

We have read and watched so many through their turbulent adoption journey's, and this is International Adoption. Anyone who thinks every moment will be followed on schedule, or you have even a tiny bit of control- you should reevaluate if you can surrender to this process, the agency, the country of choice.

I did wake up this morning about 6am having to remind myself we started this journey June 1, 2006. For now we will have to be patient.