Finding Baby P

We are in search of the perfect agency to carry us through the most important day of our life... Adoption day! It's been hard- there are so many! Cost is a big factor; but I think you probably get what you pay for so I'm not sure I'll be depending on my usual thrifty tactics with this one. So far, it looks like it will cost us about $25,000 in agency fees to complete our adoption and probably another $5,000 in airfare and other adoption expenses that come up. We have some news regarding where this sweet baby will be coming from. In the beginning, our hearts were set on Ukraine. But it seems that Ukraine is undergoing some big changes in the way they process adoptions and will soon be closing their doors to foreign countries until their changes are complete. Then we had our sights on Kazakhstan. News came from Kazakhstan that they were also in the midst of changing their procedures. They plan to open back up in the spring/summer... but after a lot of research we learned that with their track record, this could be more like next year or later. I was a little disheartened. How could finding a baby who needs loving parents be so difficult!? And then we looked towards Russia. Here are some staggering statistics about Russia you might not have known.

Abortion is the main means of birth control in Russia. The Average woman has had 8 abortions by the time she is 40.

Roughly 230,000 children reside in orphanages with over 650,000 children in some form of state care.

Russia now has less than half the population of the US.

There are more orphans on the streets of St. Petersburg today than in the aftermath of WWII.

Children in Russian orphanages "graduate" by age 16. Every year, about 15,000 children are released from orphanage care. Over half of them are unemployed and homeless resorting to a life of prostitution, crime and suicide.

Most of these children are social orphans. They were orphaned due to alcoholism, drug use, severe abuse or poverty.

We're keeping our eyes, ears and hearts open to whatever God has for us. We're staying alert and sensitive to what He's saying to us. And we're pretty positive that we will be adopting from Russia early next year. The wait times for adopting a Russian boy is currently 3-6 months from the time our paperwork is submitted. The wait is 6-9 months for a girl. We will not specify boy, girl or race. So we're pretty sure we will be getting a beautiful boy given those statistics. We know God has this child chosen for us... He's preparing our way to him as I type.

We are continuing our research on agencies and ask that ya'll send up some prayers that we find the right one! Thank you for your continuing support with our puzzle fundraiser. We are slowly filling the financial gap. What a blessing ya'll are being to our little family!