Soon...

Our social worker received an update from the Russian coordinator...we should be getting a referral soon! We don't know what "soon" means, but we are optimistic. I need to start preparing for the super cold weather in Kras...the high this week is -6, the low -22. I can't even imagine how cold that is! How do people live there? Our poor little Vlad is so chilly!

Living Life

Mark and I have been doing just that! He has been home a lot more, and we have been so thankful for the extra time together. We're really lucky that he isn't flying on the east coast this weekend...snowy craziness! Tomorrow we're going to my parent's house for the Super Bowl, and are excited to spend the day with family. We're still waiting for our referral, but amazingly enough, that's ok. From the start, Mark has been so much better at this. I have really envied his patience! But, recently, a sense of peace has come over me about it. All along I have told myself (and others) that it will happen when the time is right. Finally, I'm listening :) I have accepted that it's just not up to us. God has already chosen the perfect little boy (or girl) to be our child, and we just have to trust in His timing!

Perfect timing

We got an update the week of New Year's....probably no referral until the spring. According to the Russian coordinator the process is moving slowly in our region right now. Plus, the Russian Christmas is celebrated in early January, so most of the officials are off for the first two weeks. This was really frustrating news for us! The upside was, that we left for a much needed vacation on the 4th and were able to just relax and put things into perspective. Our cruise came at the perfect time, and really helped us get our minds off the waiting!

News

Well, the good news is that we heard from our social worker today and we are near the top of the Bethany waiting list for Krasnoyarsk. The disappointing news is that we are not expected to get a referral for a few more months, as there are several families from other agencies ahead of us. We were thankful for the update, and at least now we know where we stand. Pray that these other families get their referrals soon!

Homestudy update

Our homestudy update was yesterday and it went well! We feel extremely lucky to have such a great social worker. She always makes us feel really comfortable, and is so patient with all of our questions. There haven't been any updates as to when a referral might be coming, but she promised to at least try to find out something for us. We did get a little more info about our region and travel. A few other Bethany families have recently adopted from Krasnoyarsk and said that the orphanages are clean and the children seem well taken care of. We were SO grateful for that information!
We are going to try to use Mark's flight benefits to fly United from the US to Moscow, but then we have to take a Russian airline from Moscow to Kras. That should be interesting! The agency will put us in touch with someone to help with our travel arrangements, and we will have an interpreter most of the time we are there. We were also very excited to learn that we will have a driver. I can't imagine trying to drive around Russia ourselves!

I just looked at the weather in Krasnoyarsk...the high this week is 7*F, and the low is -15*F. It makes me cold just thinking about it! We just had our third fingerprinting done on Friday, and then turned in some of our homestudy paperwork. I am so thankful that the renewal papers are less than half of what we did for the orginal assessment! Our social worker is coming out for the home visit on November 23rd. Last time I literally cleaned the house from top to bottom, organized shelves, and cleaned out closets. While our house looked amazing, she didn't open any closet doors or look behind the fridge for dust bunnies. :) Needless to say, this time our house will be clean, but not OCD clean!
Say a little prayer for a family who is traveling to China in December to meet their 6month old daughter, Zoey. They have been waiting for a referral for 3 1/2 years!

November is celebrated as "National Adoption Month" in the United States. Hmm...do you think Russia knows that???