Hard Decision Made

We have been thinking and praying about it for about a month now, and have decided that we will not be adopting again at this time. We know that we are very fortunate in that we have a wonderful little guy already, and just love him more and more each day. I watch the way our wonderful agency is bringing joy to its families, and I cry each time I read that someone "Got the call" or finished court and can bring their little ones home to a great life. I want to say that Lighthouse has been the best agency that I have ever heard of, and we will definately use them should our situation change. I want to wish everyone the best of luck in their adoptions. These children are the greatest gift anyone could receive, and the process - while it can be heartbreaking and frustrating and patience testing - is the most exciting and rewarding journey of a lifetime. I think everyone should experience it. - - T

We may have to wait

Chris and I have talked quite a bit - and right now is just not a good time (money) to adopt. We are both in real estate and the market just keeps getting worse and worse. I am pulling out my hair to try and find a new vocation.. maybe teaching, maybe pharmaceudical sales.. who knows. We are also a bit worried about adding to our family. We have it pretty darn good right now. Max is absolutely a wonderful little guy. I would love to give him a brother - and have someone for him to bond with and pal around with, but worry that it will take a lot of the attention away from Max. We think he deserves to be the center of attention - for a while anyway. We also worry that we won't be as lucky if we try again. Max had no adjustment or attachment problems and is just a healthy little bundle of joy. My friend Sami keeps telling me that "Max is perfect" and we won't get another Max. I know that - but know that we do have plenty of love to give another little boy. We just have to keep praying until we know what to do. So for now - I am sad to say - we are putting our adoption on hold!

Signed up for our homestudy!

We decided to sign up for our homestudy today. YAY!

Still not sure when we will be ready to push forward, as Chris asked me what we had to do if the homestudy expired (1 year) - but who knows, we may hit the jackpot - or win the lottery - or something???

I have seen a few adopters doing different fundraisers.. and asking for help with donations.. trying to figure out a good way to do that. ??? Any way, one step forward. Three more people with our agency got "The call" today and will be leaving in a week or so. Two people just met their children today, and one just got home with theirs. Our agency Rocks!!

Ready.... Set.... Dont go????

Today I am sitting at the computer (as always) and wondering what to do. Really it is a good problem, yet it still stresses me out (as does everything with adoption) :0). I will get to the problem in a second. When we started this journey, we planned on it taking a year - at least. Chris was comfortable with that timeframe as it gave us a while to save up money. Our last adoption took us two and a half years, and I can honestly say that it almost killed me. While Chris did it the right way.. "Don't worry and stress about it, it will happen when it happens, it's out of our hands", I was on the computer watching Russia's temperature, talking with every person who ever adopted or thought about adopting, or was in the middle of adopting - and driving myself to the edge of sanity:0)

"THE PROBLEM" We found an agency that says if we just do the paperwork dilligently (I can get it done in a record time with my eyes closed and both hands tied behind my back with all my practice) we could have Max's little brother home by Christmas. WHAT? Keep in mind that I understand that things could change any minute, and that even if I have our dossier ready to go in a few weeks, Russia could shut down, or change the rules again... but by Christmas? Wow!

Chris is the ever rational (sometimes referred to as the Downer) guy. I just read this to him and he said "I think he's bad a__" :0) he he. We have just been thru a rough financial time, at least in comparisson to what we were used to on 05' and 06' . We are both in real estate, and while Texas is much better off than much of our great nation... It's not like the good ol'days.
I was planning on having a little more time to prepare for double mommyhood.. but hey - I can cope!

So here is how I see it... I would give anything for an "easy" adoption. I can still feel the gut wrenching daily pain of waiting, changing countries twice, losing referrals, wondering if it would ever happen, wondering if the Russians would finally close their adoptions off from Americans - the list can go on and on. I think we pull money out of some of our assets (most of the people I talk to do this - or get a loan) and get in and get out. Max is ready for his little brother to get home, the weather will be good (for the first trip anyway in September). It just makes me crazy to think that if we wait, we will look back 4 years from now (and many trips to the crazy farm) and say "we should have jumped on it while things were easy".

Chris see's it as black and white - we wait till we save up the money and if it happens it happens..

So there is the dilema. I have to rush now to church, but will post when we (chris) has made a final decision.

Tracie

Here We Go Again!!!!

Here we go again!

We have been home with our little Russian Angel Max now just short of two years. When we were in the process of adopting Max, we were SURE we only wanted one child. The other day we got to talking about how neat it would be for Max to have a brother, then we talked about it again, and again... and now we are committed to starting the process all over again. I can't believe it! Max is very excited, and he and his dad are already planning a big "boys are the best" fest. (Little Scary :0) )

The adoption process last time around was a nightmare. I chose the wrong agency, and we paid the price for it. I found a picture of a little boy on a website and fell in love with him - and went with the agency that had posted the picture and gave them a call. Chris didn't have a good feeling about this agency, but I talked him into using them anyway. Needless to say - we were in for a rough ride. We spent a year and a half waiting, jumping thru hoops, waisting tons of money and being lied to - all for nothing. We had all our paperwork (dossiers) completed for Ukraine, Kaz, and Russia, and then lost referrals of 3 children. (this agency is now on Americas Most Wanted) you can check it out. It is Orson Moses and Adoption International Program, he has fled the country and is being investigated for 73 criminal acts.

We then switched to Adoption Ark. They were wonderful. They showed us a Picture of Max at 17 Months old, we accepted and immediately flew to Siberia to bring him home. Although the process was very painful, we now understand that it all happened for a reason. We were waiting to find Max! He is wonderful. He is three and a half and the cutest sweetest smartest little boy in the whole world.

We now would like to find Max a younger brother. Somewhere between 2 and 3.

We sent off our contract to our new agency a few days ago and are very excited to get started. We had to pick a different agency because we decided we would like to adopt from Moscow. We loved Moscow, and would prefer to do the whole thing there. (last time we had to hop on a plane for another 4 hour trip to get to Kemerovo - and then it was a 2.5 hour drive to the baby house that Max was in). The plan is to start our home study in the next week or so. I am very excited about our new agency. Lighthouse. I have talked to many people who are either in the process, or are already home with their children. They have all been very happy with the agency - and the time frames are very impressive. We were planning on it taking a year and a half, but see that it is going much faster. I won't get my hopes up too much though, because we know that things can change in an instant. Russia has been moving smoothly - - -- So, I imagine there will be a slowdown or two soon. I will hope for the best, but expect less.. It will be fun to read our last post once we have the little guy home and see how it ended up. :0)