Sasha's Sister
We arrived at the Ministry office at 9:45 a.m. The director in charge of adoption wasn't in yet she had five families in front of us waiting to receive their referral. One couple was French and another couple was American. They looked a bit shell shocked. I wished them good luck as they gathered their coats to leave. The mother-to-be asked if we had done this before (was our experience showing through??) and I admitted that we had a beautiful 3 year old son who was adopted in 2006. She seemed relieved to hear this. We then chatted a bit and I explained that we planned to send all our medical information to Dr. Davies. They too were using Drs. Bledsoe and Davies. I congratulated them on picking what I think are the best in the IA field. They again seemed relieved. As they left, I commented to Nathan that I thought I should talk to them because they looked a bit intimidated. Our coordinator mentioned that she thought we looked so calm. We really were. What could the director ask us that we hadn't already heard? What could happen that would be worse than having our fingerprints expire and almost being stuck in Russia because our visas expired too? Yes, I guess we were old pros at this.
We were ushered into an office with the director and two other women. They wrote down our names which by the way look lots cooler in cyrillic and settled down for the interview. The director asked us in one breath - where do you live, what is your home like, who will be the primary caretaker and where do you work. Our biggest challenge was remembering all the questions which we were asked. She then asked if we had any problems with our current child from Russia. Hmmm ... I admitted that the first month was challenging - we were getting used to be parents and he was mourning the only home he had known. I followed up by telling her that he's thriving now and doing great.
She then showed us the official referral. First, I have to tell you that I had seen her before in my perusals of the Russian child databank. I will also tell you that now our house will have a proper balance of blue eyes to brown and blonde hair to brown. Now ... the freaky part. I had told Nathan that I thought that we would be referred a dark, curly haired little girl with brown eyes that would be Tajik. Guess what ??? That describes her perfectly! Ooh ... and she has the cutest dimples you'll ever see and I think she could be related to Katy the Beautiful. They have that same exotic beauty. So .. her name is Moonysong Malakai. Hmm .. perhaps we won't be able to use any of her Russian name. Even the director didn't know how to pronounce it. What do they call her for short?? Moon?? No, they call her Moussa which is typically a male name. Strike three on that ... we can't call our daughter a man's name. And, surely Moussa would send her in to early teen age therapist visits.
So, the next challenge is that we have to decide her name TODAY! OMG ... our strategy all along had been that we would use some part of her Russian name as a tribute to her birth mom. Unfortunately, while a nice thought, this isn't going to work. So we have to think of something fast.
Okay ... back to the story ... we traveled to baby house #14 to meet the little girl. We almost had to break in as the 'guard' wasn't at his post and no one answered the gate. Finally, a little white coated woman answered the main phone and came out to unlock the gate's padlock. We walked into the building which was totally under construction.
We were shown to an office where we were able to review the medical record of the little girl with our interpreter (the chief doctor wasn't there today so we'll have to wait until tomorrow to ask the more detailed questions). We went through the medical reports. I've never seen any Russian child more healthy. This little girl basically has had a couple of colds. That's it. No hip displaysia .. no seizures .. no nothing. The mother was 34 when she had her. The father and the mother were in good health. They were both (or so the records show) Tajik which means that they most likely don't drink or take drugs. When we track her growth, she is actually on the charts and her head circumference is ahead of her height and weight. So .. we're trying to decide if we should contact Dr. Davies as she looks SO healthy compared to anything we've seen.
So .. because this is completely a closed Blog as in it's not published and you have to be given the link to see anything, I will post her photo. We wouldn't normally be allowed to share a photo otherwise.
Here she is ..
We plan on signing our intent to adopt tomorrow. She seems SO healthy ... we just can't believe it. What to name her ??? That's the big question. Any ideas?
We were ushered into an office with the director and two other women. They wrote down our names which by the way look lots cooler in cyrillic and settled down for the interview. The director asked us in one breath - where do you live, what is your home like, who will be the primary caretaker and where do you work. Our biggest challenge was remembering all the questions which we were asked. She then asked if we had any problems with our current child from Russia. Hmmm ... I admitted that the first month was challenging - we were getting used to be parents and he was mourning the only home he had known. I followed up by telling her that he's thriving now and doing great.
She then showed us the official referral. First, I have to tell you that I had seen her before in my perusals of the Russian child databank. I will also tell you that now our house will have a proper balance of blue eyes to brown and blonde hair to brown. Now ... the freaky part. I had told Nathan that I thought that we would be referred a dark, curly haired little girl with brown eyes that would be Tajik. Guess what ??? That describes her perfectly! Ooh ... and she has the cutest dimples you'll ever see and I think she could be related to Katy the Beautiful. They have that same exotic beauty. So .. her name is Moonysong Malakai. Hmm .. perhaps we won't be able to use any of her Russian name. Even the director didn't know how to pronounce it. What do they call her for short?? Moon?? No, they call her Moussa which is typically a male name. Strike three on that ... we can't call our daughter a man's name. And, surely Moussa would send her in to early teen age therapist visits.
So, the next challenge is that we have to decide her name TODAY! OMG ... our strategy all along had been that we would use some part of her Russian name as a tribute to her birth mom. Unfortunately, while a nice thought, this isn't going to work. So we have to think of something fast.
Okay ... back to the story ... we traveled to baby house #14 to meet the little girl. We almost had to break in as the 'guard' wasn't at his post and no one answered the gate. Finally, a little white coated woman answered the main phone and came out to unlock the gate's padlock. We walked into the building which was totally under construction.
We were shown to an office where we were able to review the medical record of the little girl with our interpreter (the chief doctor wasn't there today so we'll have to wait until tomorrow to ask the more detailed questions). We went through the medical reports. I've never seen any Russian child more healthy. This little girl basically has had a couple of colds. That's it. No hip displaysia .. no seizures .. no nothing. The mother was 34 when she had her. The father and the mother were in good health. They were both (or so the records show) Tajik which means that they most likely don't drink or take drugs. When we track her growth, she is actually on the charts and her head circumference is ahead of her height and weight. So .. we're trying to decide if we should contact Dr. Davies as she looks SO healthy compared to anything we've seen.
So .. because this is completely a closed Blog as in it's not published and you have to be given the link to see anything, I will post her photo. We wouldn't normally be allowed to share a photo otherwise.
Here she is ..
We plan on signing our intent to adopt tomorrow. She seems SO healthy ... we just can't believe it. What to name her ??? That's the big question. Any ideas?
posted by Tamara at 5:42 AM
3 Comments:
Oh, my goodness....she's GORGEOUS!! I'm so excited that Maeve will have a little dark haired, brown eyed friend! You asked about ideas with the name....Moonysong Malakai is really, really pretty and poetic. Would you be hippy enough to use Moon as a middle name? I think it's really cool. Or even Moonsong? How about Kai? Or even Malakai? Okay, I'm an artist and very open minded, but these are beautiful, lyrical names to work with. Having said that, anything you choose will be beautiful attached to her!
Congratulations one hundred times over!
Meg
Yeahhh! Congratulations! We are so happy it is going so well for you! I vote for Moonsong as a middle name too! :) I think it is beautiful. She is absolutely adorable!
Can't wait to follow in your footsteps in a couple of weeks!
-Sarah J.
First of all, thank you both for your warm congratulations. It means so much to us.
Meg, you are an amazing mother and I hope to sit and jot down some pointers from you soon! And, Sarah, I am SO looking forward to cheering on your adventure to your children SOON!
On the naming stuff, I assure you that I am not hippy enough to keep Moon as a middle name. On some level, I wish I could be that person. I think she would be so much fun and not nearly as possessed ... I mean thorough as I am but no ... it's not me. Since this post I actually asked about the spelling and it translates to Munison. Apparently nothing Lunar at all. And, her last name doesn't translate well in English either. So ... we will be happy with Amelia (Mia) ... doesn't she just look like a Mia??
We fly back home tomorrow .. yea to getting back home ... boo to the forever flight in coach :)
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