International Adoption Info - Intro

I started this blog last June for the purpose of documenting our family's journey to Russia to adopt our little girl, but I also wanted to provide information and insight for others embarking on the IA journey as well. As it turns out, it became a convenient place to post stories and photos of the boys for distant family members and friends. Plus, I consider it to be my digital scrapbook, since I have ZERO time for the real thing, despite the $$$ of scrapbooking supplies waiting patiently in the craft closet. And NO, Martin, you may NOT sell my endless array of stickers, scissors, pens, paper, and empty albums on EBAY! Seriously, he has done that before! But I digress…

Anyhow, as I was perusing through my blog the other day trying to decide if it needed a face-lift, it came to my attention that it has been dominated by general family stuff - for lack of a better word. Much of this is due mainly to the fact that there has been more waiting on this journey than actual adoption updates. However, throughout the long and arduous wait, I have not simply been living vicariously through the blogs of other families traveling to Russia and bringing their sweet children home. (Although, admittedly, I’ve done my share of that too.) On the contrary, I have kept very busy educating myself about International Adoption (“IA”) and Adoptive Parenting (“AP”). I am a self-proclaimed information hound and read everything I can get my hands on in hopes that we (Martin, the boys, and I) will be completely prepared for whatever comes our way.

Now, there will be plenty more stories and photos of the boys to come, but for the next several posts, I plan to share some of the information gleaned from my IA and AP studies. I sincerely hope that someone out there in the vast bloggy land will find the information very helpful, whether they are currently traveling down the IA road or just contemplating it at this point.