Prayers (or whatever you do) needed

Just received 2 emails within minutes of each other.

#1 Our International Adoption doctor is concerned about I's lack of weight gain. His height is improving within normal limits but his weight shows "failure to thrive". This is most commonly caused by neglect but could be caused by disease. I have asked him for more information about this.

#2 Our caseworker just informed us that the Russian Government is planning to meet on September 12 to discuss the direction of future Russian Adoptions. There has been a lot of negative media in Russia lately about Americans. There have been several cases that have come to trial this year where American adoptive parents have killed their adopted children. All of these parents have gotten their children "illegally" but it still looks bad on us. We will jump through hoops to get these kids home but please let us bring them home. Is that too much to ask?

So, if you pray, please pray for the kids. If you medidate, please meditate for them. If you hop on one foot and sing off key, please do that for them! And, if you don't mind, put in a good word for Matt and I, too.

The Letter

I finally got up the nerve to send the letter. I just don't want to get their hopes up and have something fall through. It's been hard enough for us and I can only imagine what it must feel like for them.

Dear E and I,
We just wanted to let you both know that we think about you all the time. We are so excited to meet yyou. When we come visit, we'll bring games and toys so we can play together. We are trying to learn some Russian so we can talk to you but someone will help us if we do not understand each other. We have a long trip to come see you and we will come visit you as soon as we can.

I included a picture of us but I didn't sign it. I didn't know if I should sign it with our names or "Mommy and Daddy". We will send it to our agency's translator and she will give it to our agency's Russian coordinator to deliver to the orphanage. Keep you fingers crossed.

***Updated Pictures***

We received updated pictures today. Ea looks like she's growing and she is so beautiful. Iis one handsome little guy but he's so skinny. It looks like all his nourishment has gone into his height! In these pictures, you can see how his legs are deformed but they don't look as bad as I expected. The last information we received said that his legs were improving and an endocrinologist says that he will not have any growth issues. We've forwarded all the pictures to our International Adoption doctor for his advice.

2 More Months!

And then I and E can be officially adopted. I have a feeling that these 2 months are going to feel like 2 minutes of a football game! Instead of 2 minutes, it's really 20 minutes. Instead of 2 months, it's going to feel like 2 years!

A Best Friend, Already?

E's future 2nd grade teacher, Mrs. H. told me today that she found her a best friend already! One of her students was telling the class that she has 8 grandparents. Mrs. H. told her that she was lucky to have that many. She said that she didn't know some of her grandparents because she's adopted and they were her biological mom's parents. So, Mrs. H. told her that Mrs. K. was going to adopt 2 children from Russia and one was probably going to be in 2nd grade. She said the little girl got so excited and wants E to be in her class and wants her to sit right next to her and also said that she was going to help her learn English and E could teach her Russian. Sounds like a good friend.