[papabear]

My wife and I are in the pre-travel stage of our adoption. Our agency has notified us that we have been placed in the Orenburg region of Russia. We would welcome information, stories, anything you might want to share withus about this region.
Thanks!

[sands]

I thought Orenburg was solely a blind travel region??? That's what our agency told us. We were thinking about going blind to either Orenburg or Yekatarinburg.

What I found out about Orenburg:

- takes a while to get travel date #1
- travel date #2 comes quickly
- about 50% of the children are Asian-featured or darker skinned
- the baby homes are decent
- people are very accomodating

I am sure there is more. Of the two, Orenburg sounded like the "better" choice but with adoption, who really knows, right? I would be happy to be placed in that region - let's put it that way. I would probably be nervous being placed in Yekat (though, of course, we would still do it)

I don't know if that was helpful at all. What agency are you using? Are they affiliated with AMREX?

[papabear]

Dear Sands, we are "traveling blind" to Orenburg. Our agency is Tree of Life in Oregon, and we are working with AMREX (I hear they are the best). Thanks for the info. We were hoping for a caucassian child, I hope that this will not be a problem. A quick research on the area's demographics showed a 72% Russian (Caucassian) population, hopefuly the children available for adoption will reflect this. Thanks for the info.
Hector

[dlhall]

We adopted two years ago from Orenburg and have a beautiful 3 year old daughter now. The area was very poor, but the baby home was very clean although old. My daughter had a very close relationship with her nurse which told me that she was loved and well taken care of. She is caucasian--brown hair, blue eyes and most of the children I saw there were also caucasian. We are beginning our second adoption and thinking of requesting the same region again.

Liz

[toria]

We loved Orenburg and just brought home two beautiful babies. A boy and a girl, 9mos. and 11mos. Dark haired, brown eyed girl and light brown hair, blue eyed boy. Even though our boy is very light he is Tatar and has Asian (almond) eyes. He is beautiful. If you are using Amrex, i believe you will use the same facilitator as us. Natalia. She was absolutely wonderful. PM me with any questions. I loved Orenburg and love to talk about it. We had one nurse that loved our boy so much she would take him home on occasion. We are very happy.

[sands]

PapaBear,

What age range & sex are you requesting? Did AMREX give you a feel for how many children in that criteria are available for you to look at?

And, I apologize in advance if this is a rude question, but how much is your first bling trip going to cost - air, hotel, etc.? DH and I are still considering blind travel (though not as heavily as we were) and the cost of the trip is what is holding us back - in case there are no children there when we go and it is a "wasted" trip. We barely have the funds for the adoption as it is - since we are adopting two.

[papabear]

Thank you all for sharing all this info. We will be traveling to Orenburg on October 10-15. We are very much looking forward to going and meeting our daughter soon. God bless you all! We will keep you posted.
Hector

[toria]

Best wishes in Orenburg. Can't wait to hear about your trip. I know you must be so excited knowing you are going to meet your daughter soon.

Make sure you get to see the town where your child came from. See the bridge that connects Europe and Asia and eat at many of the restaurants. We loved the food. It was all so fresh, no preservatives. You will have time as the orphanage has certain times for you to visit. Ask to visit your child as much as possible. Sometimes you need to express this. You can visit several times a day.

I hope you meet with Natalia, she was the best!!!!!!!!!!

[sands]

Hector,

Was AMREX able to tell you roughly how many little girls there are in your age range? We are still trying to decide whether or not to go blind into Orenburg but AMREX hasn't given us any age information.

HELP!