From a very young age I dreamed of traveling to Russia. I think it was the allure of the forbidden.In school I always wondered how the Russians could be our enemy, when they looked so much like us and valued so many of the same things we did. I marveled at the beauty of their buildings, their landscape, and their culture. I knew in my heart that one day I would travel there.

Probably from an even younger age, I talked about adopting a child.I am not sure why, at that point in my life I didn't even know anyone that had been adopted.It seems it was just always there in my soul. Little did I know that much later in life these two dreams would unfold together and take me on the biggest adventure of my life, adopting my son.

I was fortunate enough to marry a man who felt the same passion for Russia as I did. His interests lay in the music, the poetry, the literature and history of Russia. He too, had the dream of one day traveling to this incredible place.And even more fortunate was the fact that he too, had room in his heart to adopt a child.

And so, our journey began. The paths we had traveled in the past had brought us to this moment.It was never a question of if we would adopt, but when. And no other country, other than Russia. To us, adopting a child meant making a difference in someone else's life, beyond our own.With so many children needing parents we felt compelled to help a child already here, rather than to give life to our own. We were fortunate that heartbreak had not brought us to adoption.Adoption had always been our first choice of starting a family.

We made our decision in January of 2000. We filed our INS and started our homestudy. We researched a dozen agencies, looked at photo-listings, videos and spoke with other adoptive parents. We waited and wondered. We finally decided to take the path less traveled, which was an independent international adoption.

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