FAQ - Take 2!

As it turns out, blogger saved the beginning of the "lost post", so I'll attempt to finish it!

My spirits are renewed. I have new hopes and am getting pretty excited. I realized that my "we're changing regions" post may have been a rambling wreck, especially to those of you that don't live, breathe and sleep adoption! Below is a little Q&A that should help a bit. (Yes, I'm asking myself questions and answering them to myself. A little weird, I know.)

Why did you switch from Krasnoyarsk to Izhevsk? For those of you that know me, you know that I'm not very adventurous. I don't skydive or bet on horses or go traipsing into the land of the unknown for "fun". Until now. When our coordinator called and asked us if we'd like to change, it just kind of seemed right. A few things stood out - the time between trips would be quick, we could get a referral as early as end of January/beginning of February and the pattern within the region has been to waive the 10 days. Who knows if that will really happen, but it sounded nice at the time!

Do you have a hard time spelling Izhevsk? Why, yes I do! Therefore, going forward, Izhevsk will be "Iz". Much easier for all involved.

Where is Iz? Izhevsk is an hour and a half plane ride from Moscow. It is the capital city of the Udmurt Republic.

How many orphanages are in Iz? Good question, one I don't have a good answer to! From what I can tell, there are 3 major cities in the Udmurt Republic: Izhevsk, Votkinsk and Glasov. We aren't quite sure which part of the Udmurt Republic will be going to. I've read quite a bit about all 3 areas and it seems as though the children are in great hands! That was an encouraging tidbit to find.

And the age range increase? What's up with that? Keith and I have talked for a while about increasing our age range and adopting an older child. We started talking about adopting a kindergarten aged child. We talked to Alex about it and he wasn't a big fan. Obviously, we took that into consideration since we are a family and need to do this together. I also wasn't quite sure it was what I wanted to do either. Regardless, we decided that if we were given an option to meet a child outside of our age range, we would definitely do so. We never officially made the switch to the older age range, I just let my coordinator know we would be open to it. Low and behold, when they called and asked us to switch regions and mentioned we had to state our age range as "18 months - 36 months", we were okay with it!

Will CHI's accreditation help speed up your adoption? From what I can tell, it really won't. Things will continue to work in Iz as they have for the past month.

Are you the first family to be assigned to Iz? Nope! One family is waiting for their court date and another family is either on their first trip or just coming home from it. I hope to eventually "meet" those families to find out more about the region and how things work.

Are you sad to not be going to Krasnoyarsk? Yes!! It was a place I had researched for 5 months! I was looking forward to seeing the ice sculptures and eating at the restaurants I had read about. I was excited to meet the in region coordinator and translator I had heard great things about. I've met so many great people whose dossiers are in Krasnoyarsk too. All of that being said, you have to be prepare to change at the drop of a hat when it comes to international adoption. Travel at the last minute, a delayed court date, a switch in regions, accreditation, etc... You name it and it's all Russian Roulette (no pun intended).

Did anyone else that you know switch to Iz? YES!!! Rachel and Troy! I'm telling ya, if there is one thing that keeps me sane it's having someone else to talk to about this that is in the same exact shoes. Rachel is the sane one. I'm the insane one. It's a great balance. :-) Obviously, we'd love to travel together if we can, but if not it's okay too! At least I'll know someone that has been through it!

So what's next? We have to have our home study amended and sent to USCIS (the homestudy amendment will show the increase in age range). We have a lot of shopping to do and things to get ready. With only 30 days or so between trips, there isn't enough time to wait to do everything then. I'll have to break my superstitions and shop, shop, shop!

So there is Q&A time with Becky! If you have any further questions, please just email me or leave a comment. I'm so sorry to those of you that didn't have a clue about what I was talking about! Hopefully this will make a bit more sense.

For those of you standing by your mailbox waiting for your Christmas card from me, I'm sorry! It appears as though I didn't do them this year (whoops!). Actually, I really just wanted to start a new trend - New Years cards! I'm a total trendsetter. :-) I'll be making them this weekend. It's like the season that keeps giving. :-)

Well, before Peanut shopping can take full effect we have one more celebration around here! Alex, little itty bitty Alex, is turning 16 on Sunday! Can you believe it??? We're having his birthday party with his mom's side of the family tomorrow night and then with my family next weekend and his friends the weekend of January 12th. We're taking him and 20 friends to see a Gwinnett Gladiators game (an East Coast Hockey League (ECHL) team). It should be a blast. I love, love hockey and the boys will as well!

I've obtained my goal... blog post is done so now it's beddy-bye time! I'll post some Christmas pictures tomorrow sometime - we had a great one! Keith got me a new camera. I told him we didn't need one but he said that the Peanut wanted me to have one that was under warranty for our trip. :-) Read between the lines: My husband loves new gadgets. Oh, did I tell you that the present was under the tree "To: Mom" "Love: The Peanut". Do I have the sweetest husband or what?

Happy Weekend!

Becky