It's a...

GIRL!!!!!!

Yes, pink is our new favorite color :) We got the call on Friday so I apologize for the delay in posting but I needed to tell some family first before they all read it on the Internet! It was so unbelievable to finally get that call and it's indescribable how happy it made us. I wrote the following on Friday in the newness of it all because I wanted to capture that pure joy to someday show our little girl. So here it is:

It's a Girl! We think. Here's the situation. There is a baby girl in Bryansk that will be off the domestic adoption list on March 3rd. So between now and then there is a slight possibility that she could be adopted by a Russian couple like our last match but at this point, that doesn't happen very often. So what are the chances that it will happen to us twice? I'm choosing to think positive here.

For some reason I never felt confident about the last match and never felt in my heart I was going to get that call. I DESPERATELY wanted that call but I didn't feel it. This time is totally different and I have tears in my eyes as I'm writing this because I just feel so thankful for this and I truly feel like this is the right one for us. That this is our baby girl. So please keep us in your prayers that all will go as planned this time and we will get the paperwork on March 3rd and be traveling to Russia around March 10th to meet her. I still can't believe I am writing this. After 3.5 years of trying to build our family one way or another I am finally letting my guard down and am so truly happy that I am going to be a mommy really soon.The look in Michael's eyes when I told him we were going to have a little girl was so priceless. I've waited so long to see that. Okay, now I am crying, but it's a good cry :)

Thanks to everyone for sharing in all our ups and downs until this point. We are so happy to finally have some great news to share with everyone! I'll keep you posted.

We got some news about our delays

I spoke with the adoption agency this morning and here's the story. They did have a child matched with us in Rostov-on-Don and they were waiting for him/her to come off the domestic adoption list (every child in Russia has to be availabe domestically for 8 months before an international adoption). That's why they felt so sure to give us the date. But when this child came off the list, the person who gave out Travel Visas was out sick for 2 weeks. During that time, a Russian couple met this child and started paperwork to adopt him/her. So when the Travel Visa contact came back to work, they could no longer issue a Visa to us because the child was no longer available for international adoption.

We are told there are already children available in Bryansk for international adoption so that is why we were moved to that region. We should get info very, very soon about this. Maybe tomorrow and we might even find out if it's a girl or boy before we leave. So, I feel much better. First, that child in Rostov-on-Don was adopted by a family AND gets to stay in their birth country. How could I be upset about that? That is a wonderful thing. And second, how can I argue with fate? Obviously, that person was meant to be sick for 2 weeks so that child ended up with the Russian family. Now Michael and I will be able to adopt another child in Bryansk, possibly a child that may not have found a family otherwise. I am feeling at peace today that this was what was meant to be.

Goodbye Rostov, Hello Bryansk

Looks like we have to say goodbye to Rostov-on-Don before we even get there. I'm not sure what to make of all this. We were told today there are not as many available children in Rostov-on-Don as they had anticipated. Therefore it was still going to be a wait so they moved our paperwork to the Bryansk region. They believe we will have travel dates to Bryansk on Friday but given our current situation I am staying caustiously optimistic about that.

In the meantime, I have a whole new place to learn about so of course I've been googling Bryansk all afternoon. Like Rostov, it is on the Ukraine border, but it is further North. Here's what I've found out so far:

-A city in western Russia, southwest of Moscow. It was part of Lithuania until the 16th century.

-The first written mention of Bryansk was in 1146. Local authorities and archaeologists, however, believe that the town had existed as early as 985.

-Today Bryansk is an important center for steel and machinery manufacturing, and is home to many large factories. Railway wagons and locomotives are important products. Bryansk also has two universities, three theatres and a technical academy.

That's the update for now. I'm going to go google some more :) Friday can't come soon enough and hopefully I'll have some concrete news to share about our travels.

Still Waiting...

I guess February will not be our month to travel to meet our child. We were told last Friday that the person at the Ministry of Education that gives out the travel dates had been out sick. Now I just got a call today that they are still out sick and won't be back until Monday the 18th. Since that is a holiday in the U.S. and our adoption agency is closed, the earliest possible time we'll hear now is the 19th.

It stinks but, what can I do? At least I know now and won't be jumping every time the phone rings over the next few days. It's a small thing to be thankful for but it helps :)

Waiting, Waiting, Waiting...

and my phone is still silent. So many have asked us for an update and unfortunately we don't have any news. We were told we should know by the end of January but that obviously didn't happen. I last spoke to the adoption agency on Friday and they said we should be getting travel dates to Russia "really soon". When exactly is "really soon"? No one seems to know. So we sit and wait. And hope and pray for that fateful call. But I promise to post as soon as I know anything. I'll be too excited not to share.