The Current State of Things and a Funny Story

I have been in touch with our caseworker to find out more about the current state of things. The situation is as follows: not only does our agency need to be re-accredited, but they (along with ALL other adoption agencies) are also subject to a new law passed in Russia this April. The new law requires adoption agencies and many other kinds of organizations to "register" as non-governmental organizations (NGO's) with the Russian Ministry of Justice by October. This is distinct from becoming "accredited" by the Ministry of Education, which is what they always have to do. Our caseworker said that this is what is holding things up (along with the bureaucrats' vacations). The story is that our agency first needs to get registered as an NGO and then they will be able to reaccredited after that. Our caseworker expects that everything will start moving in August/September. Not sure what this means for us directly, but we are really hoping for a travel date in September.

One thing I have learned from some adoption chat rooms (with some very informed people) is that no agency has yet obtained the NGO registration. The administration is apparently in the midst of being established and there are still bugs in the process, such that the applications that have gone in have been rejected for technical reasons.

There is one good thing about the situation: I had been worried that the accreditation and NGO registration would operate independently, and that somehow we might be allowed to travel upon reaccreditation but then be caught between trips if the NGO registration isn't established by October. Our caseworker assured me that they will only begin trips again when both things are established, so we will not get caught. That was comforting!

Another thing pertaining to the adoption is that we just met two families who recently adopted from Russia. They have told us that, since we did not give a gender preference for our child, we are more likely to get a boy than a girl (sorry Burcin!). Apparently girls are more often specially requested. We are happy with either one, but it's nice to know what to expect (even if only in probability).

Prayer requests:

* for NGO registration to start moving in Russia

* for patience for us as we wait

Now for my funny story.

Rob and I had an all-day date last weekend in Tampa. We were looking for a place to have lunch, and I found that we had two coupons in our Entertainment book, one of which was for a wings/burgers place. We thought it sounded good, so we found it on the map and made our way there. I should have known something was up (I sort of did) when we drove into the parking lot and it was full of pickup trucks. "I wonder if this is more of a 'guy' place?". Hmm.

So we walked in and our hostess asked us whether we'd like to sit inside or outside. We had to look at each other and try to communicate nonverbally about what we should do. Not about where to sit, but about what we should do now that we found ourselves in...you guessed it...an imitation Hooters! I'll just call it "Wing Place". Our lovely Wing Place hostess was in a little low-cut tank top, shorts that were more like a swimsuit bottom, and thick, shiny tights that were among the tackiest things I'd ever seen. Wow. But we decided, hey, we're here, we're hungry, and they have TV's. We can watch World Cup soccer and pretend not to notice the decor or staff :)

The food was actually very good (though as you might guess, we won't be going back!) and our service was also good. Our waitress was exactly like a normal waitress but probably a little chilly in her costume...er...uniform. The most disturbing part of the whole thing was that there were many kids there. There were a pair of dads with each of their sons. There were couples with babies. But most of all, there was a pair of grandparents with their perhaps 8-year-old granddaughter for her BIRTHDAY! The waitresses sang to the girl, and she left holding up the free t-shirt she'd gotten and showing it to her grandma. On the back of the t-shirt, it said "Top 10 Reasons to Eat at Wing Place" and every alternating reason was "The Wing Place Girls". Eeeeeeeeek! They might as well have given her a calendar (which, by the way, they did have).

What does this have to do with adoption? Well, isn't it obvious? We won't be bringing our child to Wing Place!