Maybe some news.....maybe not!!!!!

As you all know I have been praying that we will go on our first trip soon. June 8th to be exact it will be 2 months since we were matched with a child and so far no news. This week our agency emailed us that our agency the one that did our home study that their license expired and I guess Russia was requesting a new one. So that gave Randy and I hope that maybe they are looking at our file and maybe they will be like that's its time for us to come, at least that's what we are hoping for.So Randy went picked the new one up,had it notorized and appostilled all in one day.The next day I over night it that. Hopefully that was the problem because they told us it expired last month and now they were just letting us know. I dodn't know if that was the problem not getting dates or maybe it's another reason. So we are looking at this as good news otherwise we would be thinking in a negative way. So that's about it. still no news but holding on to HOPE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Still waiting!!!!

Almost 6 weeks and still no travel dates. I have been trying to keep busy,spending time with family and friends. Tomorrow my friend Christy and I are going shopping and than dinner.She is such a sweet person and we always have a great time together. No matter how busy I try to stay our little girl is always on my mind from the moment I wake up till I fall asleep. It looks like we won't make it for her birthday so now I just hope we get there before Fathers day. I know each of us are at different points in the adoption process but one is not better than the other and its still hard untill they come home with us. I wonder everyday did her hair get longer,did she finally start walking,did she get a tooth,is she stuck in the crib all byherself,did she smile today,did someone hold her and show her love,what did she eat today,do they know her birthday is coming up and that we want to be there the questions just go on and on. I hope all of us see the ending to this really soon. It just gets harder and harder but one thing I know for sure is that we will all make it through the end because these children are so worth it and that we will never give up no matter what they throw at us.Thinking of you all!!!!

Its always the same guy.. Just found this on yahoo

U.S./Russia adoptions on hold May 19, 2010 MOSCOW (AP) -- American adoptions of Russian children must be suspended until the two countries reach a final agreement on adoption procedures, Russia's foreign minister said Wednesday. Adoptions have become a highly emotional issue since a Tennessee adoptive mother sent her 7-year-old boy back to Russia unaccompanied in April, saying she was giving him up because of his emotional problems. American and Russian officials have reached broad agreement on an adoption pact, and the Russian parliament this month rejected a motion to halt American adoptions. But Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told parliament that "I consider such a freezing to be absolutely necessary." "If the process of adoptions by American families is continuing now, during the time of preparing an international agreement, I consider that unacceptable," he said, responding to a parliament member who claimed at least 10 Russian children have been adopted by Americans since Artyom Savelyev was sent back to Moscow. The Education Ministry has control of adoptions in Russia, but Lavrov's opinion could bring new pressure for an adoption freeze because of his prominence and influence. Russian and U.S. officials met last week in Moscow about an adoption agreement. Russian children's rights ombudsman Pavel Astakhov said Friday the officials had reached agreement on "all conceptual issues" and that the draft will be presented after a final round of talks in mid-June. The new deal will make it obligatory for adoption agencies as well as adoptive parents to report on their child's health and living conditions, and to "open the door" for social workers to check the facts reported, Astakhov said. Savelyev's adoptive mother in Tennessee refused to allow a social worker into the house less than a month before the boy was dispatched back to Russia, a visit that could have prevented the boy's misfortunes. Russia also has accepted a U.S. proposal to allow adoptions only through U.S.-accredited agencies, the ombudsman said. These agencies work in compliance with the Hague Adoption Convention, to which Russia, however, is not a signatory yet.

Poem that I found....Don't know who wrote it!!!!

A birthday

It’s my Childs birthday today
He just went dashing by me
His eyes are sparkling with the excitement only meant for today.
Presents, kisses, hugs, cake, ice cream
It all seems so natural
It’s a day for looking back and looking forward.

Its’ my child’s birthday today
But there’s something very different happening inside of me
This should be a day of complete joy
A day for thanksgiving
But I’m stopped in the midst of all this excitement
I’m stopped because my thoughts are with “someone” else for a time.

It’s my child’s birthday today
I have no memories of his life growing inside of me and fighting to be released.
I have no memories from the beginning months of his life
Another “someone” was there
Another “someone” suffered for my joy.
It’s my child’s birthday today
But “someone” somewhere is feeling emptiness inside
I wonder if she is wondering
Wondering who he looks like
Wondering how big-how small
Wondering if he laughs much
Wondering if he will wonder someday, too.

It’s my child’s birthday today
And in the midst of this blessed day that was given to me
I have a prayer
Oh, God that I many never forget that “someone” suffered so much to give life to my child. That “someone” loved my child so very much in that she gave him the right to live. May I never forget for a moment and especially now, today, to offer a prayer of thanks for that “someone”, and that you, dear God, can always be there by that “someone” to help her through the hurts she will have when she stops to think that today is “my child’s birthday”. Amen

More info found today!!!

Moscow, Russia (CNN) -- A draft agreement on international adoptions between the United States and Russia will be finalized by Friday, Moscow's children's rights commissioner said Wednesday.
After it is finalized, the agreement will be forwarded to the Russian Health and Education ministries and the Cabinet of Ministers, said the commissioner, Pavel Astakhov. If approved by the Cabinet, a signing date will be scheduled, he said. The final copy would be signed by Russia's Education Ministry and the U.S. State Department or Department of Justice, he said.
Under the proposed agreement, the number of U.S. adoption agencies dealing with Russian children will be reduced, he said.
"We will reduce the number of U.S. adoption agencies accredited in Russia," Astakhov said. Only those agencies that are accredited in the United States and compliant with the requirements of the Hague Convention on international adoptions will be allowed to continue working in Russia, he said.
In addition, he said, "independent adoptions" will be abolished altogether. The draft agreement envisions setting up a joint Russian-American body with the authority to check out any U.S. family adopting a Russian child, Astakhov said.
High-level meetings between the two nations on adoptions followed an uproar after a Tennessee woman sent the young Russian boy she had recently adopted back to Russia unaccompanie

Still waiting!!!

Its been a month already and still no call. We hope we hear something tomorrow because thats when our agency talks to the Russian people every wednesday. I was thinking we were going to be there for Mothers day and now I'm hoping we get to see our baby girl before her first birthday thats coming up. I pray and pray that we see her soon. we just can't wait already. Please God!!!

Good news so far!!!!

Russia declines to stop American adoptions

The Associated Press
Friday, May 7, 2010; 9:04 AM

MOSCOW -- Russia's parliament on Friday defeated a motion that would have prevented Americans from adopting Russian children.

The motion was put forward in reaction to the case of Artyom Savelyev, an 8-year-old Russian boy sent back to Moscow alone last month by his adoptive mother in Tennessee. The mother claimed the boy was violent and that the orphanage had lied about his condition. Russian physicians said they found no mental issues with the boy.

Savelyev' return led to calls for more control over foreign adoptions and a freeze on all adoptions to Americans until the United States signed a bilateral agreement allowing Russia to better monitor and control adoptions.

A motion to freeze all adoptions to the U.S. pending the signing of such an agreement fell 98 votes short Friday in the State Duma, the lower house.

After a month of conflicting signals, Education Minister Andrei Fursenko confirmed earlier this week that Russia had not suspended U.S. adoptions, which he said required legislation to be passed by parliament or a presidential act.

The dominant Kremlin-friendly party, United Russia, voted against Friday's motion, saying it did not make sense given Americans' willingness to discuss an agreement.

"If an agreement is not signed, we will be the first to submit a freeze bill to parliament," deputy Natalya Karpova said.

Some 1,800 Russian children were adopted in the United States last year, according to the Russian Education and Science Ministry.

U.S. citizens have adopted nearly 50,000 Russian children since the early 1990s, the ministry's Alina Levitskaya told the State Duma on Friday.

Mothers day is coming up!!!

It will be a month already this weekend since we received the referral and nothing about travel dates. I was so hoping to be there for Mothers day and now I know it won't happen. I am so disappointed about that. I am still hoping we'll be there for her 1st birthday in June at least. It gets harder and harder to wait. Maybe they are waiting after the meeting on may 12,maybe its the Holidays all these maybe's hanging over our heads. Hopefully we will hear some good news really soon.