Some success with birth family search!

What a wonderful man our searcher is! While he had almost nothing to go on, he was still able to get us a tad bit of information and perhaps some birthfamily contact can be found in the future. I was able to get pictures of the house the birthmother grew up in and some info from a close neighbor who it seems still has some contact with the birthmother. I don't know quite why I feel this way as I really never thought finding the birthfamily would be of any importance to me.....but it just feels good. Even if nothing further ever happens, I at least know someone who was close to the family has seen Anna's pictures and can see she is happy and healthy and perhaps pass this along to the birthmother/father someday. And even if this is all the info and pictures I ever get for Anna, she can get some sense of her history and know I tried the best I could. I was also able to get some answers that explained why it took soooooo very long for Anna to get released for international adoption. I guess I like knowing even just a few more pieces to her history and the path Anna had to take to find her way HOME to US!

Thank you searcher Illich. I feel he did a wonderful job and charged us an extremely fair price for all he did. I know its a very personal decision to each family to search out the birth family. I just wanted to share what a positive experience its been for us overall, even without the best ending.

No such luck

So our birth family search will not have a happy ending at this moment. Our searcher will not get to show her the wonderful cuteness that is Anna and let her know how much we love and adore her. I think I still somehow hoped that having this knowledge would somehow give her a bright spot in her probable pretty hard life. I was so hoping to have a picture so show Anna some day of the woman that gave her life and perhaps some type of communication. But, not now.....perhaps later, I don't really know....maybe never.

Wish us luck

Our birth family searcher just said he found "traces" of Anna's birth mother. So, I have spent all evening writing up the birth mother letter and trying to narrow it down to 12 pictures to send (yes, double what he recommended but how can I limit such cuteness??) I'm trying not to get my hopes up but I think I am anyways.

We just returned from a wonderful long weekend away in Sedona, Arizona to celebrate my big 4-0 and our 11 year anniversary. Auntie Manda and Gramma watched the kiddos and I know they had a BLAST. They made the cutest halloween cupcakes! Anna did really good but I'm pretty sure she wore out my sister who has no kids.

Gotcha 1 year Anna

We rather quietly celebrated the 1 year mark of walking our little girl out the baby home in Artem, Russia. It just fills me with such emotions. She was such a brave little soul as we left the home she'd known for 17 months. One kind caregiver saw us off, without much to-do.

I just heard back from the searcher we were going to use for the birth family search. He does not see any way he can help us. The information is too scant and incomplete. I guess that is why it took us 13 months to get a court date. I feel very sad by this news. Somehow, no matter what the circumstances were, I just wanted someone from her birth family to know what a joy and special child Anna is and that we are trying to give her the best life possible. I'm not sure what all I was expecting, as I know her start in life was difficult, but for the moment I just feel sadness. I can just focus on the fact that we persevered and were able to walk her out of that baby home.....WE were meant to be her family.

One year as Anna's parents!!

One year ago we sat in a Russian courtroom and our petition was granted to be Anna's mommy and daddy forever. Wow, sometimes I don't think Anna has grown and changed that much since we got her as she still seems so tiny, but look at the difference! She has just finished her first week in preschool and its going quite well, but drop-offs seem to be getting harder. The teachers assure me she only cries for a few minutes after I leave, but its still hard. But, when I pick her up she's always happy and tells me she had a "good day". I got her a little gift that we will give her this evening, even though she really won't have a clue why we're celebrating. Still, she'll love her new Buzz and Woody. Anna just continues to amaze me, is such a happy girl, so social, and just a precious gift to our family.