Springtime in Ekaterinburg
New Picture, May 2005

Special thanks to Jennifer in California, new mom of Maxim (left) for capturing these candid moments! Welcome home!  ¶ 10:49 AM 0 comments

 
Another new picture!   ¶ 10:48 AM 0 comments

 
And another new picture!   ¶ 10:45 AM 0 comments

  Hopeful... We are standing point-blank over the moving target of paperwork and requirements and hope to have our "stuff" completed sometime this week, translated and submitted to Russia over the next few weeks.

Why is this important? "The system" in Russia takes a break through much of the summer. Apparently it's not an official recess, it's just that the civil servants simply stop showing up for work. If we can get in quickly, we might get a court date quickly and return to finalize the adoption before summer fever grips Ekaterinburg. Otherwise, it's looking like the Fall.

It's all speculation to know what's going on in the minds of a foreign government 5,000 miles away and thinking we might be among a handful given a court date out of hundreds of waiting American families. But we remain hopeful. Stay tuned.  ¶ 8:31 AM 0 comments

  Doctor, Doctor, (Doctor, Doctor, Doctor, Doctor, Doctor, Doctor,) Give Me The News... One of the nice perks to waiting and trying to keep up with rules that change at the drop of a hat--all the nice doctors we'll now have to meet in order to to prove that we're healthy prospective adoptive parents and aren't carrying any of the following maladies:

• Tuberculosis, active and chronic, of any form of localization in patients of the Groups I, II and V of the dispensary register.
• The illnesses of the internal organs, nervous system or motor system at the stage of decompensation.
• Malignant oncological illnesses of any localization.
• Alcoholism, drug and substance abuse
• Infectious diseases, until the patient is taken off the dispensary register
• Mental health problems resulting in partial or complete legal incapacity
• Any illness or trauma resulting in any number of disabilities excluding employment

With that in mind, we'll be meeting the following specialists:

• Our primary care physician
• Psychiatrist
• Infectious disease/STDs (that's sexually-transmitted disease, folks)
• Dermatologist
• Phthisiatrician (I tried Googling this one, looks like the closest one is in Sweden--this is the guy that tells us we don't have TB).
• Neuropathologist
• Oncologist
• Narcologist

The fun continues...

  ¶ 5:51 PM 0 comments

  12 years... Hot off the wire from suburban Chicago...Irma Pavlis received a twelve year sentence for the involuntary manslaughter conviction of her adopted son. Thanks for your letters to Judge Fecarotta (acknowledged in the news report).

Your next homework assignment: Please look for coverage of this story in your local paper. A letter to the editor applauding the sentencing may be helpful to communicate that the American people care about our children.  ¶ 3:04 PM 0 comments