[tbristow]

Well, I'll throw my two cents in. I've had my fair share of rides on the roller coaster over this adoption. It took 11 weeks from referral to trip 1. I last held my son 5 weeks ago today. I miss him so much that words cannot describe. And yes, I say "my son" because no matter what happens, he always will be. I will stick this out as long as I have to. The interesting thing is that if we ever adopt again (that's still up in the air...will depend on finances), I would definitely go to Russia again. I watched my dh's cousin's little boy bouncing around the church basement the other day and thought..."You know, he's 20-months-old. Many people think he's too old to adopt and just look at him." He is such a cutie and still a baby in so many ways. The point I'm trying to make is that these children need us. I understand that the Russians are trying to encourage more adoption in their country and I do commend them for it. I don't think this is the solution, but I commend them anyway. I understand what some of you feel about missing the "firsts" so to speak and the early months. In the grander scheme of things though, none of that will matter in a few years when they have the first skinned knee, lose the first tooth, you take them to the first day of school... Right before we got out first trip dates, I bought a book that still brings a tear to my eye. It's called "Let Me Hold You Longer" by Karen Kingsbury. It talks about treasuring the "lasts" (the last time you woke up crying, needing to be rocked; the last time when you ran to me, still small enough to hold; the last time that I comb your hair or stop a pillow fight...) Anyway, there are tons of those in there. I'm having a rough day on all of this myself. Hang in there everybody. There are children over there that need us.