Hello to the world. I am an adopting mother waiting for the second call to travel to Russia so that I can finalize my adoption of a child who has waited for a mother for a very long time. I was so moved by the CHI second trip families that I decided to begin this blog - something quite out of character for me. Yet, I found their strength and willingness to share about this process so awe inspiring I decided to try and let others know about my experiences in the hopes they find the comfort and joy the others gave to me.

Postings to follow will probably be a mixture of stories from the trip and updates on the ongoing paper chase. Immediately following this trip I was laid low by a flu the likes of which I haven't experienced in many a year. I hurt in so many places I lost count. Anyway, I am now behind in the paper chase. My recommendation is to never knowingly allow yourself to fall behind because the paper mountain is always far steeper than it seems.

The housekeeping matter attended to, I want to let people know this whole process has fundamentally changed something deep inside of me. The child I hope to be a mother to is the most amazing child. Now that I am back home I often tell people this is a child that has something really special to give to the world.

Even more wonderful are the people in Russia that take care of him everyday. One of his primary caregivers is such a phenomenal person, I get tears in my eyes everytime I think of her. Almost to a person I was welcomed with open arms by the people that care for these great children. They were such wonderful people. And they did not mind my broken Russian and were more than happy to talk more than I did (I still understand better than I speak :) ) . And the other families - Wow. They are such a total wow. I am so in awe of them and at the same time I feel as though I finally found my Tribe. And I did not even know I was in need of finding connection to such wonderful people.

I have been so blessed with family, friends, and others in this quest. As I often say, my little guy has a whole city working for him. And I thought I would just quietly tuck a child into my life. Not likely!!!!!

And no matter what anyone thinks - it is all so totally worth it. I came home awed and humbled on so many levels. And so inspired on so many levels. The kids are fantastic and all involved are wonderful.

Finally - when did Americans get to be so rude? It took me many days to readjust to American abruptness. Even when I got lost in the Moscow Metro for a couple of hours people were polite. I had a harder time navigating LAX and home. Who knew????