A little brother?!?

Common questions in our house right now are, "Go get brother now?" and "I go Russia too?" So...how do you explain the Russian adoption process to a 2.5 year old who has difficulty waiting 30 seconds for her sippy cup?!? We try to avoid detailed conversation around her but she is really curious and very excited to say the least. She is loving picking out the little fish we are putting in his room and when we see boy clothes she begs to "get if for brother". We continue to tell her it will be a "long time" (as we pray it won't) but then again I told her it will also be a "long time" before her friend's birthday party next weekend. Poor thing! My mom sent this adorable t-shirt in the mail today - she loves it! We can hardly wait to see the interactions between the two of them!

Gratitude, Gratitude, Gratitude...

"What I know for sure is that what you give comes back to you"
...Oprah Winfrey

So...I sent out a small email and made a call or two in regards to our adoption fundraiser rummage sale. We were floored and humbled by the responses - we received donations from everything from kids clothing to an elliptical machine!! We raised over $500 to aid our adoption during our rummage sale yesterday!

We want to single out appreciation to those who donated the hall we used and also to Kim, Paula, Jan and Shaylee for their generous donations! Thank you!

Clarification about Russian adoption...

On a chat group I belong to for families adopting from Russia a clarification was posted to all of the recent discussion about Russian adoption. As the media has increased their recent coverage as accreditation begins, questions have arisen from others around us about our own adoption. (By the way - if your interested, I just entered a new link to one of our favorite sites called "WOW Russia"). This is what the poster stated:

"Folk, just to clarify something. Russia has never been closed to adoptions,either to US or other nationalities. Adoptions have continued unabated,although at lower levels for US families, all along. It is also worth mentioning that although Mr Putin is doing his best to increase adoption rates in Russia, because of the high numbers of children available and the culture prevailing there.... And now for another myth which needs to be killed off: the individuals 'on the ground', orphanage staff, doctors, social services, are extremely supportive of international adopters - we were asked repeatedly during our visit if we knew other families we could talk to! - they have the same goals we do - get the kids into stable, loving homes as soon as possible. What gets in the way is this huge bureaucracy which, while initially built to protect the children,has grown out of proportion and is staffed by individuals who are so far removed from the front line they consider this just paperwork. We have experienced acts of extreme kindness and support in Russia.... I am pleased to see some of the blockers removed which will allow more US families to adopt. I wish you all well in this fabulous life journey we are undertaking."

Congrats to My Hubby!!

Why congrats you may ask...on Wednesday evening Ryan officially graduated from his six week intensive police officer skills training (which he started immediately following his lay off). The pic is from his graduation ceremony we were able to attend. I haven't posted much on this mainly because I'm a little paranoid about throwing out that I'm alone with a 2-year-old for all to see. Allison is very happy to be with her daddy and we are super proud of him!

Accredidation & Fundraising Stuff...

So...I have been waiting a little bit to post - truthfully because I have been hoping for better news. The great news is that 8 agencies have been accredited recently (on July 4th) the not so great news is that our agency was not amongst them. We are confident however that it will not be long before our agency receives this. In the meantime we have been busy working toward funding our adoption. So far we have worked on organizing an adoption fundraiser garage sale, sold over $300.00 worth of items on ebay, begun sales of bracelets and even sold a vehicle....Ryan's red ranger. That's right - the 1989 red Ford Ranger Ryan was known for has been sold.

The demand and appreciation for the bracelets has been so great that we decided to began selling them at art and craft fairs and we have also ordered a large quantity of necklaces and earrings to match. It was a tuff decision as a lot of start up money was needed. So far we have booked the venues below - so for our friends and family (or others in the adoption world) scattered throughout Minnesota - come see us!

July 21: Walker, MN
July 27 - 29: Two Harbors, MN
August 11-12: St. Cloud, MN
November 2-3: St. Cloud, MN
November 30 - Dec. 2: Duluth, MN

I wanted to shout out thanks to two good friends - to Betsy for helping by selling our bracelets (very successfully!) at her place of employment and to Jess for giving us some very cute and gently used little boy clothes!