July 24, 2005
We have court tomorrow at 9:30. All of our papers seem in order and T and H are hopeful that things will go well.
We got passport pictures yesterday and are our plane tickets so it seems like we are on schedule to fly out Tuesday evening.
Thank you to everyone for your support and prayers. It has meant the WORLD to us to know that you all care and are looking out for us. Going into this process was hard enough, but knowing that we have friends, most whom we have never met, is worth its weight in …read more

July 23, 2005
Things are looking slightly better now that we have underwear…or should I say smelling???
For those of you who have not caught the Curse Part 1, 2, and 3…we just got our luggage today, were denied our adoption yesterday, and have pretty much had a miserable trip…except that we have had a wonderful time visiting with our beautiful son.
The update on the court proceedings: We were able to get a hold of our doctors back at home and within twenty minutes they faxed a handwritten document detailing that they were able to provide medical judgments regarding our health …read more

Remember that this series of posts is from 2005…(July 22, 2005)
Well, it looks like we are officially the first family to EVER be
DENIED in the region of Arkhangelsk, if only temporarily. We did
not get our adoption granted today as we had hoped.
The judge was very specific about our medical records and wanted verification on our physicians licenses’ as well as their ability to evaluate medical conditions such as psychological conditions and drug or alcohol additions as general practitioners. Additionally, he
was very concerned that my doctor had a medical license for “controlled substances”, which by our understanding is that she can …read more

It is hard to imagine that three years ago this morning I boarded a plane and left to go bring my son home from Russia.
The summer of 2005 was very trying in regards to Russian adoptions, as Peggy Hilt had just murdered her youngest daughter (and I mean just).  We packed our bags knowing that we NEEDED extra prayers to get through customs as potential adoptive parents and knowing we would be scrutinized every step of the way.
To put it bluntly, our second adoption trip was absolute hell and I would never, in any lifetime, wish it upon