ANOTHER BIG FAT HAIRY NO!

We got the official report back from the searcher who went in person to meet the girls.. apparently the older sister turned 16 and left the orphanage a few months ago. When she was asked if we could adopt her she said no and didnt want A to go either
(who can blame her? with all they hear about America and not knowing what lies on the outside of the orphanage ?)
thats why the judge said no, he didnt want them to be separated.
BUT NOW?
hmmm.. my next plan of attack, is to go make friends with the orphanage director herself
(whom the searcher says was very kind but strict. She even mentioned something about her being remorseful that she didnt push harder to sway the big sister into letting us adopt A.)
interesting... surprising? NO!!

but the powers that be in Russia
do not realize that NO is not in my vocabulary!!

The pictures she sent of A holding presents we sent her were heart wrenching. Her & Summer are absolute replicas of one another!!

OH ! PS. they have internet access!!!!!

HANDS DOWN.... NO WAY!!!! SIGN!

OK.. "SURREAL VOICEMAIL SIGN" EVEN PALES IN COMPARISION WITH TODAY'S OFFERING....

Long stort short, I'm doing some special gift designer bags for Paula Abdul whom I met when she fell in love with one of my clients purses, while in Atlanta for American Idol business. Ok Ok so today I had to hustle to get her prices and sample pix so I worked for hours putting that together, when I was really pressed for time on OTHER pending deadlines (at least Im staying busy during the wait!) When I was done I figured Hey! I'll go ahead and post the info to the website seeing as the holidays are coming. Ive needed to do that anyway...


I log on to my web site panel and I'm already dreading what I'll need to delete to make room for this new section.
Of course I love all my catagories and pix so it boiled down to
me having to delete the "Our adoption" section...

BOO HOO!
I HATED WITH A PASSION TO DO IT!!

but it was necessary as my site is completely full
and there is no way to add more galleries to my
PASSWORD PROTECTED SITE THAT I DESIGNED MYSELF...

Well I opened the panel and as I go to click delete...
I see in bright RED letters...
" TO CREATE NEW GALLERY CLICK HERE"

um ... HUH?
WHAT THE?????

so I did.... and it proceeded to give me upload options.
I named the new section ... saved the ADOPTION section and I am sitting here in COMPLETE disbelief!!

THERE IS NO WAY THIS COULD BE SO!!
AH! Bigger forces at work here!
ONES THAT DIDNT WANT THE ADOPTION TO BE FORGOTTEN!!
YA THINK???

SURREAL....

you're never going to believe this......


So there I was, sitting in my cold hotel room in Siberia, in the middle of the night, waiting (with just minutes left on my international cell phone) to hear back from the doctors in the US, who Todd & I decided would have the final say so, on whether or not we agreed to adopt little Sasha (AKA Summer) The Russian docs thought she had a tumor in her eye (among other scary things)

My flite was only hours away and I had not fully given my heart to her.. trying to protect myself...
it was dark ( in an effort not to awaken Mildred)..
then out of NOWHERE the clock radio started playing an AMERICAN SONG...

"I will go down with this ship...
I wont put my hands up, in surrender..

there will be NO WHITE FLAG ABOVE MY DOOR.."

well I just started bawling because throughout out the whole adoption mess (almost two years, I had REFUSED to give up I was GOING to bring her home!!!)
That had always been mine & Gods song for the adoption..

Minutes later, the Dr. called. I hung up called Todd and only managed to get out the words..
WE HAVE A DAUGHTER!!!! then...
my phone went dead.......

ok ok ok so.

Last week I had the daunting task of writing the actual letter that would be hand carried SUNDAY, to Siberia via a search team, to be given to Summer's oldest sister ( providing they can actually FIND HER)
I sat here pouring over pix and wondering how on EARTH I was going to find the words to express our thanks to her for letting us take Summer in the first place, let alone asking if we can come back and take "A" 9 yr) The oldest sister has the power to grant this despite the judge's ruling that he wont separate the girls.

I had been an emotional mess all day...
I glanced over at the phone only to see there had been a voicemail that I had somehow missed.

I almost hung up when there was no voice at first,
only faint music playing....
curious, hmm a song..
it sounds familiar...
as I listen more closely I hear...

I WILL GO DOWN WITH THIS SHIP,
I WONT RAISE MY HANDS IN SURRENDER......"

THERE WILL BE NO WHITE FLAG
ABOVE MY DOOR.....


it is a SIGN..
a GIFT...

God is still here & it isnt over yet with these sisters!!!!

When the song ends... I hear my neighbor Amanda
saying goodbye to the kids, during morning carpool hours earlier..
not even knowing her accidental recording has made my day!!

WOW ANGELS AMONG US!!!!!!

LETS START FROM BEGINNING!

It has been awhile and I dont expect anyone to read thru all the posts to get to the current situation so here goes!


We brought home Summer in May '06. We learned in court that she had a total of 4 other sisters. 23,16,13,& 9. Only "A"the youngest was a full bio sibling, (but they all had the same mother) When we first met Summer we asked to meet the one & only sister they told us about. Both trips they said " Forget her, she is too old and lives far far away" (like uh- I had just traveled literally around the world, whats a few more hours on the Trans Siberian railway???) Having NO INFO we went on with our lives.
Months later I heard they had updated the Russian website for orphans. With nothing to go on I surfed and surfed the faces on hundreds of sad faces.Then... I found her. IT WAS HER! OMG NO ONE COULD TELL ME DIFFERENTLY! she looked exactly like Summer! But since I couldnt match any info, I printed out the pix and hung it by my computer. Todd said I was wishful thinking but it couldnt be her.


There is a blog entry about the day I "accidently" going thru the Russian adoption papers to sign Sum up for school and found "A" info! I had it all along!!! It was in English but in the non translated side of papers!
I FLEW to the computer and to the Russian orphan site...in a stunned daze I saw that all the info matched on the little face I knew was Summers sister!
We got an attorney and filed a request to adopt her. Months later (darn this process!!) they wrote back and said we couldnt adopt her because she was with ANOTHER sister in the same orphange! Thinking it was "B" the 13 yr old we resent a new request asking for BOTH girls. Imagine our surpise when the judge said "No, it is not the 13 yr old but yet ANOTHER sister "C" who is 15. We asked for her anyway! But alas the judge wrote back and said they were close to the oldest sister who lived on the outside and visited regularly. They did not want to separate them so NO. We did not know if the older sister "D" knew we were trying to adopt the younger girls, so we decided t do the search to find her & ask if she would consent to us adopting them.According to Russian law if she says yes (she did for Summer) then hopefully we can.

BUT WAIT! THERE"S MORE!!

An email showed up in my box... "Would you like to take part in a Siberian search? Several families going makes it affordable...."
hmmmmmmm... ok so you got my attention. It was actually from a reputable group, one that I had known about for over a year. I signed up sent the info & money. It all happened so fast!
All I know today is that the search was "successful" with video being mailed back to the US.

When I sat down to write the letter to "D" (Summer's oldest sister 23 and lives on the outside) it was hard as I dont know if the younger girls KNOW they have another sister. Did she know we were trying so hard to adopt them? So many questions! In the end I asked her to share the letter with the girls if she saw fit and that I would respect her wishes as far as further contact.
"C" turned 16 in Sept and for all I know was turned out from the orphanage. The email said they had made contact with ONE sister in the orphanage. Aw geez I cant take the suspense! But I figure if they made it that far "D" must be open!! WHOO HOO!