Beginning the Adventure!!!

Welcome to our journey and our adventure to adoption!! We are a "Forever Family" with a desire to bring another child into our family. Ours is a blended family, with two younger children still at home, Tavia 13 and Remington 12, and five older children either attending college, working, or both!!! (Good Job Kids!!) We have such GREAT kids, and have enjoyed them so much. They are all such a tremendous blessing to us! However, for some time now, we have been impressed to bring another child into our Forever Family. After much contemplation and prayer, we finally decided that adoption would fulfill that desire. We eventually chose an agency, after much research and more prayer, and decided on AIA, Alaska International Adoptions. Our country would be Russia!! Interestingly enough, Wayne and I have always had a fascination with Russia. Little did we know that little spark of interest we both possessed had been planted there for a reason!! After MOUNDS of paperwork, and then MORE mounds of more paperwork.........and the "eternal homestudy" (taking over seven months to complete........DON'T even get me started on that one!!!!!), we had completed our dossier and it was finally sent to Russia. We were assigned an area, Magadan, Russia, in the far eastern part of Siberia on the edge of the Artic Circle!! It is an extremely remote area with no roads, so the only way in or out is by plane or boat.....IF the ocean is not frozen solid (which happens about 3 months out of the year!!). If one is not wealthy enough to purchase airfare(which by the way, was a pretty penny!!), then one has no hope of ever leaving that area!! Shortly after submitting our paperwork to Russia, the Ministry of Education (MOE) gave us our referral. We had requested a pre-school age boy, possibly a sibling pair of around age 3 to 5. Our referral is for two brothers, age 8 and 24 months!! Talk about being at the opposite ends of the spectrum!! WOW!! Initially, we felt the older boy was too old (and we were really not expecting a child under 3 and 1/2).....but we learned some interesting facts about the boys. They have lived in the orphanage for almost 2 years (since the baby was 2 months old), and they are separated and live in different orphanages that are several hours apart. The older boy constantly asks about his baby brother, always inquiring as to how he is doing and if he is O.K. I think that says a lot about the older boy. So, we had a family meeting, and we discussed it with the younger kids (Tav and Rem) and we have all decided that it is a definite possibility, and the age range may just fit right in as the perfect blend. We accepted the invitation from the MOE to travel to meet the boys. So.....mixed in with the hustle and bustle of the holiday season, we scrambled to get our Russian Visas and travel arrangements!! We are leaving for the trip of a lifetime on Monday, January 8th!! We are, and have been praying that God will guide us to the child/children he has planned to come into our family. Wayne and I both know that we have this desire for more children for a reason, and we want to do what is right for all of us.......including Tavia and Remmy. So please keep us in your prayers as we travel and meet these children. We have been told another referral can be given to us while in country, if we decide not to adopt these boys. Pray for us that we will make the right decision. Adoption in Russia is very treacherous these days, as Americans have low priority in adoptions, and ANY Russian family that would like to have a child/children that have been referred to Americans, are given that child. We have met several friends in our adoption agency who have lost their child to Russian families.......some on the day before the court date to finalize the adoption!!! So, right now, we are making plans, counting on God to direct us (paraphrased from Proverbs 3: 5&6). Join with us......and share in our adventure? Won't you??