My wife Tara has written up our adoption story in response to that
woman (living not too far from here, unfortunately) who returned that
boy to Russia a couple weeks ago.  Here’s the link:

http://www.tarasfaves.com/2010/04/our-russian-adoption-story.html

Please sign the petition (at the bottom of this post) in favor of Russian adoption.  I did.

My wife and I adopted from Russia in 2007.  You can watch the videos here and here.  Of course it has been difficult at times – she’s a child, after all — but it never once occurred to us to “return” our daughter to Russia.  The moment an adopted child touches down on American soil, they are an American citizen.  If there are problems after that — even if the child is “psychotic” or violent — it has to be dealt with by the parents and American organizations (and authorities, if necessary).  An adopted child has no business going back to Russia except to visit.

http://www.gopetition.com/online/35485.html

OK, so it took a year, but here they are, finally:

Part 1 | Part 2

You’ll see all of our videos of Elizabeth, including the updated versions of these, on the right side on the above linked page.

It WAS a good Friday. There was nothing religious about it. If you know me at all, that wouldn’t surprise you.

I was just reading my previous post and wanted to have something more positive this time. We’re all still adjusting to each other and getting better at it every day. That last post was three weeks ago and feels like months ago. She almost never makes me mad now. Don’t get me wrong, she still irritates me sometimes, as I probably do to her. But that’s rare now. We generally get along very well.

Tara, Elizabeth, the pugs and I just got back from the park where we had pizza for an early dinner followed by at least an hour at the playground with slides and swings. It was great fun, but Tara and I had to tag-team being the one to play with Elizabeth while the other held the dogs.

This morning, all three of us humans went to “Music With Mommy.” Usually, that’s just Tara and Elizabeth, but since I was off today, I went, too. It’s a lot of fun. Elizabeth loves it.

Elizabeth spent her first official full day at daycare yesterday. The teacher went on and on about how wonderful and good and helpful she was. I say “first official” day because Tara took her to a free trial day last week. Daycare is probably a lot like the orphanage, which is why she flourishes there. It’s what she’s used to. I can’t wait until she’s that wonderful at home.

Let me rephrase that. She IS wonderful at home MOST of the time. Too often with us, though, she’s such a demanding crybaby that I spend way too much time mad at her. Whatever happened to that sweet quiet girl we knew at the orphanage? I guess she “played” us. She can be awfully manipulative. But she can also be sweet and cute and wonderful. The bad stuff will get better every day, I’m sure.

I’m having to be Mr. Mom lately because Tara’s got the flu or something. I told a few women at work, I don’t really enjoy being Mr. Mom. I’m perfectly happy to let Tara do all of that. She enjoys it a LOT more than I do, it just comes more naturally for her, and she’s just better at it.

Tara’s female family and friends threw Elizabeth a baby shower last weekend. I was the only man there. The only reason I went was so that any other men showing up wouldn’t be the only man. Oh well. I was able to get a lot on video, and Tara took pictures.

Elizabeth received her “Certificate of Naturalization” the other day. She was already a US citizen before leaving Russia, but now it’s even MORE official, if that’s possible. It even came with a letter from George W. something. Even the man’s signature is unintelligible.

Next, we apply for her Social Security Number!

Tara took Elizabeth to the “international adoption specialist” doctors today for a psychological evaluation and another physical exam. They say that she is perfectly average/normal for a girl her age. Of course, that puts her well above average for a foreign orphan. We think she’s better than any other girl her age, but we might be biased.  The psychologist added that Elizabeth is “strong-willed,” to which Tara replied, “Yeah, we know.” 

I can’t believe how nice my coworkers at Franklin are. On Friday, they had a luncheon at work for Elizabeth and Tara. They invited me, too. Great food, several gifts, and the biggest surprise: a money tree. Tara and I were speechless at that. It’s not like my coworkers have any more “spare” money than we do. Don’t worry, we’ll spend it all (and then some) on Elizabeth.

Elizabeth really took to Judy, the HR director. That made Tara, an HR professional herself when she was working fulltime, comment that that was a sure sign that Elizabeth was meant to be her daughter. Our sales VP, David, the father of two girls, gave me tips on how to keep the boys in line when it comes time for Elizabeth to start dating. In addition to Judy, Elizabeth made friends with everyone there, especially Paula, Jean and Janice … that I noticed, anyway. I don’t mean to leave anyone out. Paula was impressed with how well Elizabeth shares her toys.

Anyway, THANK YOU everyone at Franklin Industrial Minerals!

Here are some pictures that my boss Terry took:

And here’s one that Tara took afterward:

I just thought I’d mention that Elizabeth is settling into her new life pretty well. Tara is her full-time parent, I just appear after work and on weekends. Even then, it’s Tara who does most of the work.

Elizabeth’s biggest hurdle so far has been getting used to our pets, three pugs and a cat.  She’s ALMOST completely used to the pugs by now, which is pretty fast, really. It’s taking longer to get used to the cat because the cat hides away so much.

She’s learning English slowly, but Tara and I can’t let go of our Russian just yet. I’m curious now to see which Russian words, if any, STAY in Elizabeth’s daily vocabulary over the next few years.

Overall, she’s really a very happy, well-adjusted and adaptable little girl! (knock on wood)

To sum it all up: We love our daughter. Elizabeth is a wonderful, beautiful, intelligent little girl. We thank Russia for giving her to us. Otherwise, we did not enjoy Russia.

In their defense, we weren’t there under normal circumstances. It was not a vacation. We felt under pressure and stressed-out as we spent most of our time dealing with their infamous bureaucracy and obnoxious “authorities.” The fact that it was below freezing outside and we were trapped for days on end in hotels made it worse.

Despite all the negative aspects of the adoption “experience,” however, thanks to Children’s Hope, especially Vika and Galina in Russia, we now have a beautiful child. Still, I like Tara’s idea of telling Elizabeth that her original “homeland” is Florida so we can go there instead of Russia for her “homeland tour” if/when she ever wants to do that.

There are hundreds of “themes” for this blogging software and I liked this one. It doesn’t show the ads I had, but those didn’t earn any money, anyway.

Still working on that Adoption Video. Actually, if you have any ideas for it, please let me know by posting a comment.

Elizabeth likes bows in her hair

Red Square