It was nerve racking and invigorating at the same time. It was the adventure of a lifetime. And in the end it was a coming home of sorts, the actualizing of a dream, the balm that soothed my soul. It would change both of our lives forever. Russia was filled with beauty, in its landscape, its traditions and its people. It was more than we ever had dreamed it would be.

Like many adoptive parents we had certain expectations. We thought we knew what we wanted and of course had everything planned out. However, we discovered that our destiny was much different than the one we had pre-conceived. Our son would not be a toddler with blond hair and blue eyes, but an infant with brown hair and brown eyes. A child who chose us, as much as we chose him.

We traveled to meet our son at the Children's Hospital in Verkhnyaya Pyshma, a small village outside Ekaterinburg. We were with another family who was traveling to meet their daughter. Our facilitator knew that we were hoping to visit a two year old boy, but she mentioned, that on that day, we would first go to the hospital where there was a 7.5 month old boy we could visit. On our drive to the hospital we were a bit skeptical, since an infant had not been, at this point, in our plans. But destiny was in play here and soon we would meet the boy who would become our son.

The hospital was old, but functioning and like so many of the buildings in Russia very, very hot (this was late October). There were 2 woman doctors and a half a dozen caretakers to greet us.. It was evident right away, that even in these poor conditions, there was much love and joy in these surroundings.

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