New Region Assignment!!

Well, it is official! After six long months, we finally have a new region assignment! You may recall in January that we lost our region assignment because the region we were assigned to closed. We had been watching the region's progress last fall/winter very closely as the waiting list got shorter and shorter until we were next in line to receive an invitation to travel and receive our referral. Instead, we were placed back in the general waiting pool (with those without a region assignment) behind 4-5 other families to wait for our dossier to be requested by another region, which we were told could take 3-6 months.

Then, last month (May), we were asked if we were willing to increase the age limit in our dossier and possibly meet a little girl in June. At first, we wanted to do it because it meant we could travel sooner. But we quickly realized that we had our hearts set on a younger child so we declined. I expected it would take a long time since we declined a possible referral of an older child, but apparently not! If the new region where our dossier is now finds our paperwork in order, it looks like we will be invited on our first trip in July!

Anyway, we are soooooooo excited!! And even though we know that having a region assignment is no guarantee that we will travel now, or that we will even be able to accept this referral when we get there, we are still celebrating being one step closer to meeting and bringing home our little girl!!!

Update on Bilateral Treaty

Here's the latest news from the Russian perspective on the bilateral adoption treaty between Russia and the United States ...

Russian-U.S. adoptions to adhere to Hague convention

Note: Regardless of what the article says, international adoptions between Russia and the United States were not suspended last year. I know many parents through our agency who have successfully completed their adoptions in the last 14 months.

Just a little update ...

Well, we have been waiting almomst 23 months now and are well into the window of time when a referral can be expected. Typically it is taking 20-26 months for the referral for a girl, so we should hear something any day!

For those of you unfamiliar with the international adoption process, a referral is when an agency matches what they know about you and your family with what they have learned about a child from an orphanage and the caregivers. Most regions in Russia do not give out referrals, rather, they invite you to visit an orphanage where a referral is given to you in person. You have the opportunity to meet the child and send information back to your international doctor in the U.S. for review and then make a petition with the court to adopt while you are in Russia (if you accept the referral you are given).

So, we are waiting for our invitation! In the meantime, we have been having a fun spring of baseball and finishing up the school year, which ended last week. We are going to help with a weekly Bible camp over the summer and are looking forward to a trip to Washington D.C. in June! Lots to keep us busy while we wait.