A Long update

I haven't posted in awhile and we have had great news. I figured I would first post my facebook comments and then later give a long post about what has happened:

November 16 at 5:07pm

previous message deleted until I can call family with the news. I will repost in a bit. [this was deleted so I could give my family the heads up before my friends]

November 16 at 6:22pm - NOW THE GOOD NEWS

Ok now that the family has been called. And with time, we are a little less shocked, it is really happening! Mrs. Garc and I received a phone call this evening that there is a referral with video coming tomorrow for us to review. So we will get to see our little girl for the first time tomorrow evening. A little bit of nervous[ness] and a whole lot of excitement for Mrs. Garc and me.

November 17 at 12:12am

[I] want to thank everyone for the kind words and congratulations. It is awfully nice to have a bunch of people think highly enough to comment on Mrs. Garc and my adoption. We will keep you posted (meaning tomorrow night or Wednesday after we have watched the video). Once again thank you. It means a lot to Mrs. Garc and I to have all this backing from more than just family.

November 17 at 8:52am

Mrs. Garc looked at the weather in Moscow today: 32 and snowing. Assuming all goes well, we will be traveling to Moscow in the dead of winter it appears. Will probably be cold :). Lucky Us.

November 17 at 2:18pm

I have the video and some medical documents. Can't watch the video until Mrs. Garc this evening with Mrs. Garc. we agreed we would watch it for the first time together. Also, will not be able to show any of it to family or friends in any public domain until the adoption is final (read email or internet). I forgot we signed a waiver agreeing to this. We will post an update though after we watch it.

November 17 at 5:51pm

We have watched the DVD. She is a little cutie with chubby cheeks which surprised [us] because we were expecting a malnourished child. But assuming the adoption doctor does not say anything unexpected we will be accepting this referral. We have now seen our little girl and she is adorable!

November 18 at 12:34pm

I have been contacted by the international adoption doctor informing us to expect a call this evening from her. Once we have this call, we then make the final decision which is strongly leaning towards acceptance. Then the process of scheduling from Russia's side really begins.

November 18 at 6:22pm

It won't be official until tomorrow when we call the agency but after having a conversation with the Specialist from Tufts.......WE ARE ACCEPTING THIS REFERRAL!!!! This little girl will soon come home!!!!

Thu at 12:07pm

IT'S OFFICIAL! We have given the organization a thumbs up, a definitive yes, so they are running with it. First travel will be either just before Christmas, returning home just before Christmas or the middle of January.

A longer post will be made int he next day or so about our thoughts.