The Russians Are Coming.. the Russians are coming.

The Russians Are Coming.. the Russians are coming.

No they're not.. yes they are.. no they say they're not.. but wait here they come... no ..no they're turning?

What are they thinking? That has been the billion dollar question today. As I watched CNN, Fox, BBC the news seemed to change as quickly as I could flip channels.

One can't help but wonder what on earth are they thinking? Or are they?

What motivates one country to attack another? Some say it's an old wound that the Russians refuse to let it go? Some say it's the oil pipe line that runs through south of Tbilisi? Some say because they think they can?

Are they testing the waters for other battles? Checking to see where our ( the civilized world)boiling point is? Who will be next? The Ukraine as some suggest? One of the many "stan" countries I researched for international adoption? Is it really NATO they fear next door? Are they trying to rebuild their empire?

So many possibilities.. so many broken promises. This whole Georgian war saddens me. Not only because we now have a personal connection to it's people and they don't deserve to be "punished" as the Russian president said in his speech to his people yesterday. But because that particular region of the world has such great potential and this war as well as any others that might be started there after will hinder their progress for many years.

I fear if this is allowed to continue there will be no winners.

Just a sad chapter in our human history.

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To my friends who are still in the process of adopting from the Ukraine and Kazakhstan.. don't stop now... keep going. But get a move on it. Make sure you are doing everything in your power to move things along quickly.

When Bruce and I started our paper chase we were told we had approximately 6 weeks to get our Dossier to Tbilisi. I cleared my calender and told our agency. "You say jump and I'll say how high" . We filed our I600A and found a wonderful social worker who completed our home study in a few weeks. The Fex EX and DHL guys were my new best friends. We paid an extra $20 per page to Trenton to have the apostiles done in 8 hrs or less and then had it Fed Ex'd back and forth. If you do the math our documentation was about $50+ per page. But worth every penny. Certain things you can't control like the Hague treaty which is huge these days. But do your part quickly. With unusual , unexpected circumstances... a month, week or even a day can make a difference in the success of your adoption.

I'm sorry if this sounds a bit bossy but I can tell from the emails / messages I've been getting that a few of you are cowering. International adoption is not for the faint of heart.. you knew that going in... so snap out of it and have at it!!!

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OK... sorry about that but some things just need to be said. ;o) and I would hate to think that some adoptions in that region will be effected by this war. If we had listened to the news reports in April / May we would never have made it to pick up Tamara. Yes.. the Russians were getting in position even then.

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So no word from our friends in Tbilisi the past 2 days :o( although we're pretty sure our driver Gea was on CNN yesterday driving a reporter to Gori. Such a small world.. isn't it?

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