[randloar]

We spent almost 2 years trying to adopt from Kaz during a time when many people were moving over to that country from Russia due to the delays in Russia......well, after that long wait for us, we had to give up on Kaz last fall due to their changes in polices and requirements....so you never know when a 'stable' country will change or become unstable, and Russia is no exception... Whereas we had better luck moving over to Russia then we had in Kaz, many other families had better luck the other direction........so you never know is the honest answer and we were terrified of the potential for Russia to stop us up just as Kaz had, but we got lucky and have been home with our two kiddos for 9 months now.

As far as the paperchase.....after completing our dossier and updating it for Kaz, Russia was quick and easy and we had everything in within a few weeks (we had extra of our marriage certs etc, so that helped).

We had two referrals upon travel, but one child was 'gone' when we got there, so ended up going blind for one child.......fso we did both on the same trip. For us we sorta knew it would take a lot to not bring our boy home that we had our referral for, but we had reservations about the girl we traveled to meet, so meeting with the girls was more valuable for us in helping us to decide if she was meant to be ours or not (the medicals we got for our referrals were just over 1 page, and ours were not all that helpful.....others may get more, but thats what we got). It was definitely a stressful process to suddenly be going blind, but it worked out for us for the best......we found both of our kiddos and thats what counts.

The health of the children......too soon for us to say for long term stuff (they are 3.5 and 23 months old now), but on the immediate scale, our kiddos are both very healthy and on the developmental side have some speech delays (of course) for the older one, as well as a bit delayed in gross motor skills, but he is coming along well and it is all within range of what works for our family. We did meet a girl we strongly believe has FAS and couldn't 'connect' with her and ended up turning her down without a docs review, so we will never know if she really was or not, but we did both know she wasn't meant to be our daughter...

And the Newsweek article.......are you talking about the one for the lady (Hilt, I believe) that killed her adopted daughter? Because the description of the attachment issues the girl was experiencing was heartbreaking to read about and does happen, BUT that is where everyone says to research and learn as much as you can to go and be prepared. Its a leap, thats for sure, and I am still second guessing many things both of our kiddos do as being attachment related and in reality they could just be toddler stuff and me learning how to be a mom........meaning.....your awareness of these potential issues (health, developmental delays, attachment) will go a long way in helping you recognize and work with any of them if it happens to become a part of your life! Better than denial thats for sure (although that sounds good sometimes!)

Good luck making the decision that works best for your family!!!