March Madness

It seemed like the appropriate title (and not because it is the NCAA tournaments). March has been a whirlwind for us. Easter seemed to creep up on us this year - Thankfully the Easter Bunny is always on time!!!!

The spring has come quickly and it continues to get warmer everyday - what does that mean?? MORE WORK OUTSIDE!!!! We continue on projects around the house and outside to keep us busy. Those projects, combined with Max and Ethan's baseball schedules, we usually have about 22.4 seconds to ourselves a night. I know this sounds like an exaggeration, but it sure feels like it. And that is usually the time I think about the adoption and wonder when we will get "the call".

I want to say to all my friends on the yahoo group boards how EXCITED I am for those of you traveling on your 1st and 2nd trips. I cannot wait to hear all your adventures and to see pictures of your children. It warms my heart to know that many of you have gotten your referals and are starting the journey. For those of my friends who remain on the "wait list" like Dennis and I, I wish you all the Patience and Prayer from my heart.

Enjoy the rest of the month of March - and lets look forward to a new month of April.

Another round of Paperwork down -

Another round of paperwork has been completed. We submitted our registration documents to CHI St. Louis and then off to sunny Siberia the documents go. The timeline is "iffy" but here is a rough idea on how we understand the next step will proceed -

• Documents submitted to Russia for translation. (2 weeks turn around time)
• Review of documents by Russian Ministry of Education for referral.(4 weeks to unknown period)

So, what does this mean??? It means anytime after April we could hear about a referral. Keep us in your prayers.

And the Winner is......

It appears that the winner of this round is Max. (wonder why he likes the name Leah so much - could it be his obession of Star Wars?). In the Smith house, the name choices (from the boys) change daily. Yesterday, Ethan thought that a good name would be "Lady", after his girl train from his Thomas the Train set. And Max, well - he continues to fight the internal struggle between the names "Princess Leah" and "Pink Power Ranger sister". So, we will see what the future holds for us.

Anyway, things continue to progress here. Final documents are being submitted to the State this week to be apostilled, and then off to Russia they go again. I will continue to keep all our family and friends updated as we progress. We are getting closer!!!!!

#1 in Krasnoyarsk

Good News has come our way. We got confirmation this week that we are ranked #1 for a little girl over 2+ years of age in our region. As many of our family and friends know I had surgery this week but this great news made me forget about my discomfort. Even my mother driving me through Trenton to get additional paperwork for the adoption (and missing all the turns) couldn't bring me down, or maybe it painkillers the doctor prescribed me after my elbow surgery (just kidding, of course). Dennis and I are on cloud-nine, as are the boys, who are thinking of names for their soon-to-be sister, like Princess Leah (Max's choice) or Sally (Ethan's choice).

We welome your imput on these names chioces. Please vote for Max or Ethan. Let's see who wins!!!!!

All about Krasnoyarsk (Siberia)

As mentioned in our ealier post - We have been assigned to the Krasnoyarsk region in Siberia. Each step in the adoption process brings new information, and we thought we might share a little information about where our little girl will be from.

Krasnoyarsk is one of the newest regions that our adoption agency is working with. First of all, because the region itself is very big. It occupies 1/7 of the territory of Russia. It is three times bigger than the entire State of Texas! The region stretches for 1800ml (3000 km) from north to south which means great differences in climate. Thought, as everywhere in Siberia winters are very cold and snowy and last about 5 month with average temperature around -15F, but occasionally can go below 40F. Springs are short but nice, summers are hot 68-75F and falls have changing weather.

In 1628 year the city Krasnoyarsk was founded as a fortress to guard south-eastern borders of the expanding Russian Empire. The city stands on the banks of the most beautiful and the most abounding in water river in Russia called Yenisey. It is surrounded by mountains, giving a very interesting flavor to the city views. The population of Krasnoyarsk Kray significantly increased after building Trans-Siberian railway. During Stalin era many prisons for political prisoners were formed in Krasnoyarsk Kray, but now it is a cultural, educational and industrial center. Its population is close to one million inhabitants, there are 12 Universities, 5 theaters and lots of museums and picture galleries. Krasnoyarsk is the site of the Siberian Federal University, one of the four largest educational institutions of Russia.

02/13/2008 - Region Assigned

We recieved some wonderful news today. We have been assigned to the Krasnoyarsk region in Sibera. We still have paperwork that has to be done, but we are one step closer to meeting our new daughter.

Tomorrow is Valentine's Day and I look forward to next year's Valentine's Day with a family of 5 instead of a family of 4. The boys (Max & Ethan) have made Valentine's Day cards for their soon to be sister. They talk about her all the time, and tell their friends about their sister to come.

Dennis and I remain quite about our adoption, almost as a way to not get our hopes up too much. We answer everyone's questions, we keep the family abreast of all our news, but inside, we feel as if everything has been going along too smoothly.

So, we continue to work on the new region paperwork, and hopefully we will have it registered by the end of the month.

Look for more updates as we continue upon our journey!!!

DOSSIER SENT!!!!! 9/21/07

We received confirmation from the St. Louis office that our dossier has been sent to Russia. While we used to stress over the paperwork, we now stress over the long long wait. We know that the next year will be difficult and we hope that we can find a way to get through this wait.