Research

OMG, Work, this week has been really weird. I am two days in on my 4 day week and I think that the full moon is going to kill me. For those of you who don't know, I work at the largest
furniture store in the country. Retail by its nature can be weird, dealing with the public, but during a full moon....there is nothing like it....all the weirdos come out to howl. Unfortunately, some of the time they are howling at me. As the week moves on the moon gets fuller and fuller.....get the picture.....soon it will be a store filled with loonies, trying to match colors. Just not pretty anyway you look at it!

Researching this adoption has been its own little back to school earning a MOA, Masters of Adoption. There is just so much to learn and decide and then do! How does it work, who lets singles adopt, which countries are open,how long do you wait,can you adopt 2 at a time, should I adopt 2 at a time, infant, toddler, older child, who do you get to help you, how do you pick an agency, which are good, which are bad, which are unethical, which are too expensive, which have too many made up rules, which country, which area of the country, how long will it take, what paperwork is needed, how is the government involved, when do you travel, how many times, how long do you stay in each country, which areas have extra paperwork,how do home studies work, who does them, how do you find that person, how do referrals work, how long does paperwork take, what does apostillize mean, should a lawyer read the contract, are there gag clauses, how many copies of everything do you need, is there more than 1 child to choose from or does someone choose for you, medical info on child,do you hire an international doctor to do an eval on your child, travel, who takes care of you in country, what do you pack, when do you bring gifts, what gifts do you bring, who gets them, and on and on.....questions upon questions! Exhausting and overwhelming. The only thing that saved me was I joined lots of yahoo chat groups and learned through others who have been there before. Their experiences have been invaluable. I have learned a lot since that wintery Feb night when I learned of the babies in the hospital.

The biggest decision I think, is choosing your agency. I will basically be trusting them with lots of money, as international adoption is not cheap. When all is said and done the whole adoption will cost upwards of 30k. I will also be trusting them to be ethical, professional and knowledgeable in country and to help me find my girl, Claire.

So, obviously, I have made some of the decisions. I always knew I wanted a girl. No-brainer. Oh, and by the way, I always knew her name would be Claire! I know that I will go to Russia, I really would like to go to Yekaterinburg since it was the impetus for me to get my life on another track. I am also considering St. Petersburg and Murmansk.

More later.....almost time to go back to work......