And it begins...

From the beginning, I thought about adoption... about how giving a child who might never know a home or things of his own or opportunity in his life a place to grow up and be loved. I always considered international adoption because in my heart I want to go where I might do the most good... that lead me to research where I COULD adopt from. Who would entrust their orphaned children to a single mom? The list got considerably smaller... and smaller still when I wanted to choose somewhere that was consistent and established. So I chose Russia. Russia is a country of grand history and culture but also a country where over 200,000 children are in orphanages. LIttle girls are adopted more than little boys and the older they get... the less chance they have of ever knowing a life outside of the orphnage walls. I'm cheering for the underdog... a little toddler boy who might become my son.

I've taken the international adoption (IA) course twice... This time it's for real. In March 2008 I attended the course at Adoption Options here in Calgary and signed on to begin my home study a short time later. The home study was an interesting process that I felt blessed to have been partnered with my social worker. Talking to Chantelle was more like talking to a friend about the important things in life than being interrogated to see if I might be a good enough mom. A few more questions were clarified just 2 days ago and I hope to have a copy of it to read next week. From there, I wait for Provincial approval and then it's on to stage two... collecting dossier documents for my agency in B.C. "Choices". What I know for now is this: I was given a "favorable" review in my homestudy and have requested a 2 1/2 - 4 year old healthy boy... For now, I research regions in Russia, read books on IA and the challenges of adopting a toddler and I wait... I understand that I'll need to get good at that :-)