We went to an informational meeting this afternoon hosted by Frank Adoption Center. We didn’t think we’d learn much since we’d already started – we were wrong! The most important pieces of information were gender and timing. We talked to Liz Danielian after the formal presentation. All our thoughts were confirmed – we WILL have a boy.

If you don’t believe this, contact Liz at 1 800 597-9135. The waiting list for girls is 4-6 months and GROWING. Male referrals are 2 to 8 WEEKS. We asked her straight out – if we put “no preference” – and she interrupted and said, “you will receive a boy. No question.”

We also talked to her about timing, and this was the interesting part. She said in our age range (6-18 months, preferred younger) it would be about 2-4 weeks. She said she even has frequently received a dossier, called the couple to introduce herself, and then tell them immediately she has a referral in their age range. THAT’S how fast this process can move.

She advised us that since I can’t take maternity until second semester, to do one of two things – send in our paperwork to secure a “place” and then put a hold on it – and activate ourselves when we’re ready to receive a referral (one will then come to us almost immediately). OR, wait on our paperwork and send it when we’re ready to receive referrals. With not much talk, we’ve decided to send our paperwork and put a HOLD on it, and then activate ourselves end of December, beginning of January. Once we receive a referral, we would travel within 2-3 weeks for our first trip…. And then typically 2-4 weeks after for our second. Which in our timeframe, we hope to take our first trip mid to end January, and second trip mid February.

We were also told we’d most likely receive a boy that was between the ages of 6-9 months. So to prepare ourselves for a teensy bit older child, and not expect a 6 month old on the nose. We also asked about multiple children – we’ve been approved for two. Based on what we had written in our application and also in our dossier, we said we preferred one, but would take twins or other bio-siblings (depending on age). Liz said then we would only be referred twins or siblings who were close in age – and this DOES happen in the case of half-siblings, where mom got pregnant immediately after the first one.

There was lots of other information shared, some of which I’ll save for future journal entries. The other fascinating thing was Russia also uses its orphanages as a foster care system, which is why only 40% of children are considered “adoptable.”