There was a place in my life where I was in deep thought about what I was doing to change the world. My husband was amazing and I had three beautiful boys, a great home based business I enjoyed and I still did not feel I was changing the world. I felt a strong necessity for parents to come forward for kids did not have any. I made the decision to take in a child myself because after all, I was not a bad parent. We started on our quest for an international child. Our choice was a Russian boy to add to our growing family of boys. The orphanages are packed with males and sprinkled with a few girls. We received pictures of boys around the ages of four to ten and we set out finding the one we wanted. We grew close to a young boy around the age of five. His name was Alex. He came from the farthest corner of Russia and was said to be a healthy little boy. We sent the money for the fee out directly. Mounds of papers were sent for us to fill to perfection and have notarized. Some had to carry a seal that shows that the notary we used was legal. The papers were mailed back and more would come in. The cycle would start all over again. Blood tests were due every three months. Our fingerprints were taken and we had a background check done. A homestudy was also necessary. It was requires that we show proof of marriage, the money we made, and we sent in all the forms they asked for. We got many different emotions from those around us. One individual would be happy about it while another individual would think we were not doing the right thing. The photo that was sent the first time was the only one we were allowed to have. It was explained that the Russians thought we were crazy and should appreciate what we were getting. This photo was now two years old. More time went by and we did not move for a vacation or even think about new jobs because we never knew when we were leaving for Russia. Finally, the telephone rang and the agency we were using notified us of the need for us to go to Russia within a week's time. This was the same week as Christmas. Our travels would take us away from our family and children to meet our new son for the first time. We were skeptical about it because of not knowing if this was right or not. What had we done? This child might bring something to our family that we had not expected! It took us over twenty-five hours to arrive. We were put into a van and drove down an icy road to a secluded Siberian building. It took over five hours to reach it. This was to be the orphanage that our Alex stayed in with about sixty other children. The room we were escorted to was a bright green room with large chairs. As we were trying to be patient, the women that were there took off down the hall in a hurry. All the excitement and travel had really started to creep upon us. It was eighteen hours later than it was at home. We still were amazed that we were in this place. Finally, the door swung open and a big Russian woman entered with a tiny little boy holding her hand. He was not five as Alex was supposed to be but only about three years old. He was dressed in a shirt and shorts that did not fit him and was not clean at all. This building was very hot and we were dressed in winter apparel. This tiny boy stole our hearts immediately. He said help in Russian. My husband hugged him so tightly, they placed him on his lap, and in no time at all, Alex was laughing aloud. For three days, we stayed in a very small hotel room with almost nothing in it except for a bed and a chair. In addition, a bathtub did not have clean water. The Russians that were taking care of us asked if we could find someone to take their older sister at an orphanage here. We got as much information as we could about her with the desire to help her. It was soon time to leave our Alex and come home with only a few pictures of him. When we returned, the papers were piling up for us to sign and return. More blood tests were needed. We were waiting until the time we could go back for the official court. For more info see http://www.childadoptionguide.org/Adoption_Photo_Listing.html on adoption photo. Of course, it was longer than the three months. In that time, we made the choice to adopt his older sister also. This time, we visited in the scorching summertime. Nothing seemed to go right for us. Not only did it take prayers from all around by only God could help us return with these children. It was something we were supposed to do. It was not a simple thing to complete this Russian adoption. God does not give us the option to have things made easy if they are gifted to us.
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