Orphanage Donations

After speaking with several other adoptive parents about orphanage donations, what I have learned is that the best way for friends and family to help is to make a monetary donation and then we buy supplies (like diapers or medicine) for the orphanage while we are in Russia (the money goes farther there and we also don't have to pay overweight fees at the airport for the extra luggage). We are also going to take some clothes and shoes (they all must be new and have the tags still on them). We are going to take clothes in sizes 6 mths to 4T, and infant and toddler shoes. Shoe Carnival marked down a bunch of shoes for me when I told them what they were for. I got 12 pairs for $3.oo a pair the other day. A friend of mine said not to take toys because she said the kids don't get to play with them, they are put up on shelves. What the kids really need are new clothes. If you'd like to help with orphanage donations, let me know, we'd appreciate all the help we can get. Thanks!

Krasnoyarsk and the referral process

We received some information from our agency yesterday about how the referral process works in Krasnoyarsk. First, the agency is able to register about 3-5 dossiers per month there (yay! ours was one of the first few to be registered!). Then the referral match is made in Russia and then sent to us. If we choose not to accept it, then we have to write a letter explaining why we are declining and then may wait several more months for a new referral. Evidentally, in the past, the agency received several referrals not matched with a particular family and they had more flexibility in matching the children. They also said writing the letter in case of declining the referral was a new procedure.
Our agency said that the referrals coming out soon would mostly be boys (since there are fewer girls available) and would probably have some health concerns (since the healthiest children are reserved for Russian adoptive parents). However, most children in Russian orphanages do have some medical diagnoses that do not really mean a whole lot or are easy to treat once in the U.S.

Please pray that God would make our daughter the first referral that we receive and that we would know at first sight that she is ours. Also, please pray that she would be "healthy" by American standards, even if she has a strange Russian diagnosis in her medical records.

We are registered in Krasnoyarsk, Siberia

We received a phone call yesterday that we are officially being registered in Krasnoyarsk, Siberia. Our little girl will come from that region. Krasnoyarsk is exactly 12 hours time difference and the high temperature there yesterday was around 55 degrees.
Our family coordinator said that in the past referrals generally came 2-3 months from registering in the region and court dates came about 2-4 months after trip one. But she said they are not really sure exactly what the time frame will be now since it has been so long since there has been accreditation. Please pray that the time would pass quickly!
Also, please keep our family in your prayers as my uncle passed away unexpectedly yesterday. Pray that God would provide comfort and peace, especially for my grandparents and cousins.

Cute Cracker Barrel Outfit

Here it is. It's probably too big but I couldn't resist (the only size they had was 18 months).

Praying for a Referral

Our dossier should be in a region by now. Our agency emailed last Friday to let us know that Dr. Dubrovsky had everything and was ready to submit it. Hopefully, we will hear what region we are registered in sometime next week. Maybe we'll hear about the region and get a referral at the same time, who knows?
We are praying that God helps us to wait without being anxious or worrying, and so far we are pretty calm. I am so looking forward to the day we get to meet her and see her little face!
We found the cutest outfit today at Cracker Barrel (I'll post a picture when i get a chance). On the front it says "Hi, I'm new here". I love it!
Keep praying that our daughter is receiving good care and is in good health as we wait to bring her home and that the time is short until she gets here!

Russian word of the day: NAH-shuh DOH-cheen-kuh- "our dear daughter"