We got word that our dossier should be submitted (the third time) tomorrow in Ukraine and that we can still travel in 2008 to adopt our girl. Depending on the holidays and every government agency and US Embassy shutting down, we may not actually bring her home until January. Yet we are hopeful that this part of our adoption journey is almost over!

Just in case anyone still checks this blog, our adoption journey is still on hold, waiting for Ukraine to say "COME AND GET HER!" It has been over a year now since we last saw our girl. We get photos from our friends who visit, but the orphanage director will not tell her we are coming until we have approval for travel. So each day she sits in the orphanage wondering if she will ever have a family...time is running out...if not adopted before 16 she will spend the rest of her life as an adult in a mental institution.
The wait some days is almost unbearable!
I'd love to hear from any other adopting families!

I found this post on my adoption group quite facinating, however they didn't mention where the USA stood on this list:

Original at http://en.for-ua.com/news/2008/08/05/130013.html

Ukraine ranks 118 by level of corruption among states worldwide, the information and
analysis portal Georgia Online cited the survey outcomes held by Transparency International,
an international organization addressing corruption.
Estonia is perceived to be the least corrupt country among the former CIS countries. Latvia
and Lithuania rank 51and are followed by Georgia (79), Armenia (99), Ukraine (118) and
Russia (145). Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan rank 150.
Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan are perceived to be the most corrupt.

Denmark is named the least corrupt country in the world. It is followed by Finland, New
Zealand, Singapore and Sweden.

Transparency International defines corruption as the abuse of public office for private gain
and measures the degree to which corruption is perceived to exist among a countrys public
officials and politicians. It is a composite index, drawing on 14 polls and surveys from 12
independent institutions, which gathered the opinions of business people and country
analysts. Only 180 of the worlds 193 countries are included in the survey, due to an absence
of reliable data from the remaining countries.

After a one year hiatus, I had the best first "Back to it" consulting business trip to N. CA last week. It reminded me that I REALLY LOVE TO TRAVEL as well as help pull a team together in the right direction to make a difference in health care...AND I'm pretty good at it.

Of course, first day back home the kids brought me down to reality with life as I have known it the past couple of months.

RealWorldMom posted asking about what I like about summer...not sure as I don't really like it, I survive it. More than just being a Spring/Autumn person, I have yet to successfully juggle working out of my home with the kids full time under foot!

I guess I do like the fact that the sun sets later and at 9:00PM I'm still good for a couple of more hours!

Now that I have quit the part-time position I took the end of April and am back to consulting, I feel back on track professionally. It is so hard financially to wait out the lag times and although the job was right at the time, I felt confined and under-utilized. Of course I am back to having the age old dilema of the perception from the others that while I work at home, I am available to do home and family stuff. Hubby and I even had a dialog about dinner not being ready when he came home from work because I was caught up in finishing some details for work...
Have I ever mentioned I really hate housekeeping? I do love to cook and experiment with new dishes...just when there is time and money to buy the ingredients I want...
It looks like my whole Buzz group has taken a hiatus as I haven't moved in the rankings despite my absence...anyone out there still?
PS: Like all good international adoption stories, ours took a twist this week and we are fighting Ukraine to uphold their own policies and regulations on behalf of our waiting girl!