The magazine is mine! Do they have copies in China?

GOSH! I didn't realize how long it's been since my last post. I guess I have been busier than I thought.

Well, the BIG news is the magazine is officially mine and August is my first issue! How exciting is that?! We are thrilled and inspired to grow this magazine and feel blessed that I have a business that not only makes money and allows me to work from home, but to be working in an area that I love and feel passionate about. It's a dream come true for me!

Here is a link to my Natural Awakenings magazine website. The magazine is available there and all over the Tallahassee region if you are looking for a hard copy.

In adoption news..... Last weekend, Dave and I went to a reunion picnic in Orlando, FL for families who have adopted their children with Ukranian Angels assistance. A good time was had by all, until Nathan "disappeared" for about 10 minutes. Dave and I and a few others were searching for him in the park. He was finally found by the restrooms, which were no where near our picnic pavillion! It was terrifying. I am not naturally an over-protective mother, but when we are out in public like that surrounded by many, many strangers.... I DO keep my children close, except for this particular escape-artist moment. It was so scary, but luckily it had a happy ending.

Dave enjoyed seeing the former Ukrainian children, as did I. But I have to admit, I didn't feel completely at peace about it. I've shared in previous posts, that Dave and I are looking for a daughter, under 5 years of age. Based on many things that I have read in my research, and some conversations with parents at the picnic, it is constantly brought up how Ukraine is very limited on referrals of girls under 6, who are not severely disabled. I am not opposed to a special needs child with mild, correctable issues, but we are hoping for a child as healthy as possible, as most parents do.

I have never brought up China in this blog before. Frankly, I pretty much avoided looking into a China adoption because I knew that China has practically halted their adoption program of healthy girl babies. It used to be pretty commonplace to see beautiful Chinese baby girls adopted by American families, but the Chinese program has slowed down so much that I know of one woman who has waited over 3 years for a referral, and an adoption professional that I talked to today, says the wait is more like 5 years! Can you imagine? Waiting 5 years to adopt a child?

The ironic twist (to my ever twisting adoption story), is that I have always wanted to adopt ever since I was a young girl, and I always imagined it would be a Chinese girl. When we began this process, and I heard about the difficulties parents were having with China, I just disregarded my old wishes and focused my mind elsewhere. But really, there are no difficulties with God and in the Universe. In both cases, God/the Universe/ or however you want to believe, has given me my dream of owning a magazine such as the one I now own AND the possibility of adopting a daughter from China. I know it's cliche, but God DOES work in mysterious ways. Look at the abundance of blessings that have befallen on us lately!

How this is able to happen for us now is because China is still allowing adoptions of special needs (SN) children and older children (also considered special needs). Last week by chance, I found a picture of a little girl who I am very interested in and have received her file and medical reports. I have talked to the agency "handling" her adoption and a local homestudy provider in Tallahassee who has worked on many adoptions out of China. I have sent out her medical files to a Dr. in Alabama who specializes in international adoption medical reviews, for her opinion on her health status. How's that for trying to move things along...?

The good news is, if we give the "go ahead," this particular agency can put a "HOLD" on her file and we would have 3 months to get all of our paperwork in order to adopt her. She is not on the "Shared List." This is a list sent from China to several agencies of SN children available for adoption, and you have to move faster if you find a child off of that list. Having the ability to have the 3 months to put our dossier together is a blessing that I received today.

I don't want to say more, as I don't want to completely jinx it. But say a prayer for us that she is the one and we can begin working on bringing her home. If we accept her and begin the process for this girl in particular I will fill you in on more facts. Until then... pray, pray, pray for us and the daughter we are hoping to find.

Magazine update and charity video!

Hi Everyone!

Things are moving along with the magazine. I met with the departing editor twice this week for training, and we are working to put together the August issue. MY first issue. It's totally amazing. I can't believe I'm going to be an editor and publisher of a magazine. Very cool. Dave and I went to the bank today and deposited our money into our business accounts. All we have to do now is wait for the checks to clear and then fill out the contracts. The magazine might be officially mine by the end of next week, or beginning of the following week.

My friend Ansley who is a professional photographer, will be taking my headshot this Saturday to put on the editorial page of the mag. Can't say that I am looking forward to that, as I have a bit of a phobia getting my picture taken. But I love Ansley, and if anyone can make me laugh and feel relaxed it will be her. Plus I think a bottle of Proseco will go along way with helping me get where I need to be! Cheers!

Here is Ansley's website. If you live in Tallahassee or Southern Georgia, please consider her for your wedding and portrait needs. She is incredibly talented and fun to be around.

http://www.ansleystudio.com/

I don't have any other adoption news other than this video that I have posted to my blog. There are all kinds of emotions that I have been experiencing while considering adopting a child, and sometimes the emotions are all over the place. For example,

1. My baseline emotion is that "my daughter is already born and out there."
This makes me emotional, like any Mom, that my child needs me and I'm not there.
2. Then there are times that I'm absolutely scared of the whole process, and
question whether or not I should do this.
3. I have twin, bio boys who are 5. Sometimes I wonder if I should be doing
this and disrupt the family dynamic that already exists between us.
4. Sometimes I wonder "what if my daughter is somewhere else rather than
Ukraine?"
5. Then the cycle continues and I'm back to emotion #1.

So, that's where I am at the present time. Even though sharing this information is a bit personal, I have included it for people who will be coming to my blog in search of adoption information or more specifically, Ukrainian adoption information. It also gives people who already know us, an indication where I/we are in our thought processes. How much have we considered what we are doing? The answer is "quite a bit." Me, more than Dave probably, but I think women in general think more about the emotional implications of all things related to their families. Dave right now is focused on the happy ending. He is supportive of the adoption and of having a little girl in his life, but he also hasn't done all of the research that I have done, nor read some of the horror stories that I have come across. Many happy stories, but not all, and Ukraine is not known for making things easy for American adoptive families. My hope is that God will have his presence in our lives as we go through the process, and then the wait and then the blessing of our daughter. This is what we pray for, and we hope what you are praying for on our behalf.

OK. Two posts on the same night. This one is about the adoption and magazine.

In previous posts, I mentioned that Dave and I *thought* we had chosen Russia to adopt our daughter. But for some reason, both of us had an uneasy feeling that we were headed in the wrong direction. Not that Russia and it's children aren't beautiful and wonderful, but Dave and I were trying to figure out what path God wanted us to take, and it just didn't feel like that was the one. So I did more research (what else is new) and we DID finally decide on something!

We have decided to do an Independent Adoption to Ukraine. This will save us thousands of dollars and Dave likes the idea of the "adventure" of it all. I'm not sure that I want to put the word *adventure* together with *adoption.* I prefer words like, *secure,* safe,* healthy,* peaceful, etc.* You get my drift.... Dave always says we like to do things that other people are afraid to do. I think doing an independent adoption to an Eastern European country certainly qualifies to be put in that category.

For those of you who have gone before us, and have brought home wonderful children, thank you for blazing the trail. For those of you reading this and wondering if an independent adoption to Ukraine is for you, feel free to jump on board and follow our *adventure* (peaceful, healthy adventure). I promise to keep up with my blog, and fill you in every step of the way. For those of you who are friends and family, please always keep us in your thoughts and prayers, so that we are able to bring home a healthy little girl, who will be the perfect addition to our family.

Based on my research, I came across a wonderful woman who lives in Florida and has adopted 8 children from Ukraine. Yep, you read that right, eight! She has dedicated her life since her earlier adoptions to help others do the same, and rescue some of the approximate 100,000(+) children who live in orphanages in Ukraine. She is the one who will assist us throughout our independent adoption. For those of you who are here to do adoption research, I have posted a picture of her website icon. Ukrainian Angels. She has some wonderful stories on her site for all to read. We have sent in our application and our first check, so it is OFFICIAL. WE HAVE BEGUN! It is only the beginning of the many pieces of paper we will have to fill out to accomplish our dream. But the first step has been made... One small step for us, one giant leap for adoption! (I think Neil Armstrong will allow me to paraphrase).

As far as the magazine, we are getting closer and closer. Without giving away too many banking details, we are on the last leg, waiting for some money to be rolled over into our new business accounts. We are hoping that all is falling into place. I am presently working with the departing editor this month, in preparation for my first issue to come out in August. Yippee! It's getting very exciting. And any way you look at it, there are many blessings in Tallahassee flowing our way.

Beautiful Boys!

I came on tonight to write an update on our adoption proceedings and the magazine. But I thought I would take a moment and post pictures of the boys. They LOVE taking pictures of themselves with the camera feature on Dave's Mac. Alex is very good at changing the different styles to get different artistic effects. Maybe he's another artist in the making! Nathan the painter and Alex the photographer....

Here are my beautiful (and silly) 5 year old boys...

We're Obama supporters.... so we're all about Change!

Hi Everyone

I know my last post said I was being all decisive, and that we had selected an agency and a nation to adopt from. Nope. Incorrect. As much as I believe that AAC is a very good agency especially if you want a child from Russia, Dave and I are now looking into an independent adoption from the Ukraine.

Again, even after we made the AAC decision, something just didn't feel right. I depend too much on my intuition, and my intuition kept nudging me. So, more research I continued to do (which is also why I hadn't been adding to my blog). One of my dearest friends is originally from the Ukraine, and I kept going back to Ukraine, but all the agencies were saying that the Ukraine was only allowing older kids or special needs children. Through my research, I have discovered that many people go through independent adoptions in the Ukraine, and are getting younger, healthy children.

Nothing is for sure yet, but this is the way we are presently leaning and are focusing our (my) research. Some positives about an independent adoption include much, much less expensive, and shorter wait times for a referral. Some negatives include, going "blind" to the Ukraine and examining children offered to us as possibilities, not having medical information prior to flying over to Europe, no agency support if something happens overseas. We wouldn't be going over alone, there are English speaking facilitators that would work with us along the way, we just would not have the security of an American agency support.

So, that's our latest update. I guess I should learn not to say "we've figured it out for sure." Just thought I would keep you updated, and letting you know we are still in process, but have not yet made a decision.

Keep us in your thoughts and prayers.