So Day 2 was another good day. Everyone was more relaxed and talking to each other a bit more, which proved to be very helpful! I'm hoping to keep in contact as these are some great people and it would be great to have a little community of Russian children that we could introduce our child too (and maybe do picnics and dinners with).
Again the day dealt with a lot of race issues (including brushing on white privilege) which, while it is a reality in the international community I feel that it would have been better to focus on the cultural aspects instead of skin colour. However, it did bring a lot of issues forward and certainly opened up a lot of interesting conversation.
This afternoon was my favourite part - they had a panel of APs come in and share their journeys. There were 4 mothers and each story was very different.
The first adopted from Russia and nothing she said surprised me - she did this in 2009 when only 2 trips were required. Still - it's good to know someone from NS went before us!
The second adopted later in life from China and had a touching and good story.
The fourth was a lady who had adopted after suffering secondary infertility. She adopted from China and brought her (adorable) son with her.
But the most touching was the third lady - she adopted from Ethiopia and her son very nearly died during the process due to some sort of infection/illness that to date hasn't been diagnoses. At 7(ish) months he had dropped to 8 lbs!!! And he was still in Ethiopia as he had been so sick he had to be hospitalized and therefore couldn't get a passport picture done. They had been told he wouldn't survive - all I can think is how terrifying and sad and angry and exhausting the whole journey must have been for them.
The day, and weekend, was good. It brought up a lot of potential issues that I don't know if we would have considered otherwise. And we're done!
Next step is our first home study appointment at the end of this coming week. Step 2!
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