Where did this journey to family start? In the beginning... We agreed we wanted a family even before we married. (We married on June 9, 1990.) We always thought it would just happen when the time was right. After several years, we realized that it wouldn't be that easy for us. When we were told it wouldn't happen naturally, we began to look into adoption. This was in 1999. We took the San Mateo County fost-adopt course to learn about domestic adoption. The horror stories told during that course, scared us off. We entered a period of limbo. Elaine could never reconcile with being childless, somehow she knew she was supposed to be a mother, Ken wasn't always so perceptive.
It was several years before a little angel came to us, to help both of us understand the importance of family in our lives. We met little Noah in 2003 a couple of months after he was born. He is the child of some very good friends, Katie & Alon. We are blessed to be part of his young life. The time we have spent with him, helped us to see how important a child was for us. Our experiences with Noah also helped us to have the confidence that we could parent.
We began checking out the different options for adoption. In February of 2005 we decided that we would adopt internationally from Ukraine. In May 2005, we signed a contract with an adoption consultant to help us through the process of independent adoption. Our dossier was completed and mailed to Ukraine Aug 2005. Before it could be registered, Ukraine closed it doors to foreign adoption. We remained hopeful that it would only be a few months till it reopened, but after waiting 8 months we realized that Ukraine wasn't going to get it together in time for us. Our family couldn't wait. So, we started researching Russian adoption agencies and signed on with our new agency May 2006. Many of our documents had to be updated all over again. Our registration dossier was sent May 25th and is now in the process of being translated. We are hopeful that it will be registered in Yaroslavl soon.
Yaroslavl is the region in Russia that we will be adopting from. It is about a 2.5 hour train ride north of Moscow. A referral for children (we have requested two children, at least one boy, between 3 and 7 yrs) should come shortly after our documents are registered. As we wait for our referral we are praying alot, reading all we can about parenting, taking parenting classes, talking with lots of families who have already adopted from Russia, cleaning and reorganizing the house and also trying to learn a little Russian. There is much to do to get ready for our family. We are very excited and very hopeful, we know that God has His hand in all of this and wants to bless us soon.
