Fingers Crossed!

For those who have gone on this adoption journey, you know the feeling of the day you meet your child for the first time...the nerves, the drive to the Ministry of Education, speaking with the officials and actually getting your official referral, driving to the orphanage and then actually seeing and holding the child...is unforgettable and life-changing. We wondered if the 2nd time around would be as momentous and we weren't disappointed!

Our driver picked us up at 9:40 am (on the dot!) and I really was a bundle of nerves. Paul was doing better and not as nervous about our MOE appointment as he was to meet the child. We had to make a quick stop first at a post office to make copies of our passports and some other items required that morning. I thought then that we still needed to drive a bit to the MOE but were there within a few minutes. We went inside and waited in a small lobby area. We then met our translator/coordinator for the 1st time and chatted a bit about what to expect. There were a couple other American families there and I'm usually all for making connections but I was too nervous and excited to make small talk. Finally it was 10:40a and our appt time to go in. We went into a decent sized office where there were 3 women behind 2 desks with facing chairs. We sat down, said 'good morning' in Russian and waited for them to begin. Our coordinator had called us the day before and mentioned that we would be asked to make a short speech about ourselves, any children, home, work, etc., so I was all ready to go. I got to the part about Alexander and had brought a small photo album that had about 20 pictures from the time he first came home in 2006 up until last Christmas. Well that was the end of my speech! They loved seeing the pictures and asking about Alexander and where he was from, etc. I guess that was enough for them and they proceeded to issue the official referral....

We were given a piece of paper with a photo (a relatively current photo which we were told was unusual) and a bunch of basic information in Russia which was translated to us. And...dum dum da dum.....it's a boy :). He's 13 months old and has blonde hair and brown/hazel eyes. We got a few other details and they then asked if we wanted to go meet him (um yeah??). We said our spasiba's (thank you's) and we were then on our way directly to the baby home!

On the way there, which took about 30 minutes, we realized we both felt very relieved to be through with the MOE portion and all of a sudden very hungry! Luckily we had brought lunch since we knew it might be a long day :) We arrived close to noon and found that the baby home was similar in some way's to Alexander's in Yekaterinburg but different in others. For one this baby home was larger and set back from the main road a bit so it seemed quieter. Apparently there were visitors at the baby home today and thus we needed to go to a different room than they usually bring adoptive parents (to-be). We went in and immediately were joined by the social worker and doctor who were ready to give us all the medical and developmental information. So we start frantically writing everything down and asking questions and then 10 minutes later the door opens and this woman walks in holding this cute little guy who we recognized immediately from the photo. She proceeded to sit down with him on another chair. We, of course, were SO not focusing on the doctor at this point! We started to orient ourselves towards him when were told that the doctor didn't have too much time and we should finish getting the information. Well fine, then don't bring the cute baby in!

So that part took about 10 more minutes and then we could finally get on the floor and play. We had a fun 2 hours getting to know him a little bit and taking about 50 or so photos and some video. He then had to go down for his second nap and we need to leave to get back here to the apt to send info to our international adoption doctor back in Boston. We should be back there tomorrow for 2 visits hopefully!

You might be wondering why we haven't posted his name or more details about him or even photos. Well, a few reasons. One, we are waiting for the green light from our IA doctor before getting too attached at this point and gushing about all the cute things he does. Two, some of the information is confidential to him and, as with Alexander, will be given to him first at the appropriate time. Third, he is not our child and we are not allowed to publicly post any photos or other potentially identifying information until the time of an official legal decision. I didn't want to make the blog private as we wanted to share this journey with as many as we could but this is a downside to that. However if all goes well with the IA doctor review (hence the Fingers Crossed! title) and we decide to move forward, maybe we can at least start the gushing :)

We've had a long day - it's about 10:40p here - and we're off to bed. We'll post again when we can and thanks for all your comments ~ it's fun to hear that you're following along with us :)

Love,
Laura and Paul