Common Threads

Have you ever noticed that once you start down a certain path in life how suddenly so many things seem related to that path? Is it coincidence or is it that you just start noticing things that you didn’t notice before? On Friday I took the day off and went outlet shopping with my friend Latonya. It was her birthday so we wanted to do something fun. We hit our usual favorite stores – the Jockey outlet, the Pottery Barn outlet, Ann Taylor Factory Store and of course the Coach outlet (yes I know I already have more Coach bags than you can shake a stick at but I like them :)). After I had made my purchase at the Jockey outlet and I was waiting for them to finish ringing up Latonya’s stuff I noticed a display on the counter. It was a bunch of stuffed bears wearing backpacks. Normally I don’t really pay attention to these types of things but for some reason I ended up reading the sign and as fate would have it Jockey was selling the bears and donating part of the proceeds to the Debra Steigerwaldt Waller Foundation for Adoption to support charities providing post-adoption services. So even though I’ve decided to try to curb my baby shopping I just had to have one.

On another note I have decided that I am going to make my blog private in anticipation of the next part of the process (that does not mean I have any news but I hope to have some soon). So if you want to keep reading along you will need to either email me and let me know to invite you or leave a comment on the blog with your email address by September 30th. For those who are not familiar with blogs you will need to sign up for a Google account (go to http://www.blogger.com/ to sign up) and sign in in order to be able to read the blog. It’s really easy and only takes a couple of minutes.

Still Nothing New To Report But Trying To Keep Busy

I know I have not posted anything lately but there’s really been no new developments. Trust me I wish there was something to report.

Last night I attended my first FRUA (see more below) Mom's Night Out (MNO). A MNO is a dinner at a restaurant where adoptive moms and moms-in-progress get together to talk about the adoption process and adoptive parenting. I was kind of nervous because not only was this my first MNO but I was actually the one to plan it. I’m happy to say it turned out great and everyone had a good time. We “closed” the restaurant (it was only 9:30ish but we were the last ones out). I’m looking forward to the next one!

I have to say that one of the best things that I have done as part of this adoption process was to get involved with FRUA (short for Families for Russian and Ukrainian Adoption). FRUA is a nonprofit support network for adoptive families who have, are in the process of, or are considering adopting from one of the former Soviet Union countries. I have been to several FRUA events in the last year and all of the people I have met have been incredibly helpful about sharing their knowledge and experiences. The other great thing that I have done is to join several yahoo groups for people who have adopted from Kaz. These have been an invaluable source of information and support (particularly the single mothers Kaz group).

I’m off to bed early tonight since I played the part of the human pin cushion this morning – I got my last set of Hepatitis vaccinations. One in each arm so I could be equally sore :)