Time warp

I'm freaking out a little.

I just got off the phone with the agency I want to use for our Russian adoption and...holy crap...the timing is such that we could receive a referral for our son in as little as 2-8 months from the time we start the process with them, which we might do as soon as Friday.

Holy crap.

See, China has been such a roller coaster with the timing. We were hoping two years from the time we submitted out paperwork (which took us nearly a year) and then it went up to more like 4 or 5 years and now it looks like maybe 3-4 years, hopefully. The idea that I could be holding my son in less than a year is a bit disconcerting. I mean, really...could we really become parents that soon? Our paper pregnancy with China is going to be one of the longest pregnancies in recorded history, but in the mean time we can maybe be started and finished with Russia in 9-12 months. I'm having a hard time wrapping my brain around it.

Russia works differently than China. China is very "federally" regulated. With Russia, there are what we would call federal laws and state laws. Also, with China, we couldn't even get in line until we had dotted every i and crossed every t. We had to have the I-171-H (permission to adopt a foreign orphan) in hand before we could even get on their list. With Russia, we could conceivably get a referral and travel for our first trip to meet the child before we even have the I-171-H. With Russia there are two, maybe three trips depending on the region and the judge. The first trip is to meet the child we have been referred. After 10 days or so, if we accept the referral, we will apply in-country to adopt that child and then come home. Then we wait for a court date, which could take a month or two or more. We then go back for the court date and in most regions, they have a ten day waiting period afterwards where our new son would have to stay in-country. Some regions waive this waiting period. Some folks go home to the US and then back to Russia to pick up their child. Some folks have one parent stay. We both have to go for the first meeting and for the court date...but one parent can stay or travel back to Russia to bring home the child if the ten day waiting period is required.

And we could potentially be doing all this at record-breaking speed by our standards, which have, admittedly, been lowered considerably by China where we are still probably 3-4 years from bringing home our daughter.

Yesterday I popped into Babies 'r' Us to pick up some stuff for NIN and check on the nursery set for our little girl (it's still there). I looked at little boy sets (like the animal ones posted in this post way back when) and I looked at little boy clothing for the first time. A boy. In less than a year. Be still, my beating heart.....

and P.S. GINGER! It is great to hear from you! I am so glad you posted to let me know you read here...I had no idea. I miss so many of y'all...