A week ago, on Sunday, my pastor's wife caught me at church and asked how things were going. I told her that I was going to the doctor on Tuesday again (that was the one for the IUI). She wondered how often I had to go there. I said at least every two weeks. I told her that this month I was able to go in less often than last month. I didn't go into much more detail than that. There really wasn't a reason to tell more.

Wednesday my husband and I are leaving for a vacation to the Seattle area to visit my parents. We'll be gone for two weeks, and I'll be taking a vacation from my diary. My period is due during that time, and I'm pretty sure it will come. It's better to think the worst than to hope for the best. Actually, right now I really think of it as a step towards adoption. The first thing is resolving the loss of infertility. I don't think I can resolve my infertility until I fell comfortable with ending treatment. And I am very close to ending treatment.

I decided not to make my husband do the antibody test this Tuesday. Now my plan is to call the RE when we return home in two weeks. I want to see if the doctor (not the RN) will let us go ahead with one more IUI without doing the test. My hope is that he will see that the test is not necessary and will let us do the IUI without another consultation with him.

Our local newspaper had an article about the Russian children that were mentioned in our church bulletin. My husband, who always reads the newspaper, pointed it out to me. He thought that the kids were really cute with their blonde hair. I think that if domestic adoption doesn't work out for us, my husband would be willing to adopt from Russia.

Below is the article. I copied it here because I didn't want to lose it, but if you click the article title, it will take you to the actual article. The pictures aren't there, unfortunately. They showed the kids wearing their traditional clothes, which were very beautiful.

Children from Russia travel in hopes of being adopted

Tuesday, July 06, 2004
Chronicle News Service

Vika plays the accordion, loves to talk and spent her first morning in America playing in Jackie and David Boekestein's swimming pool.

The 9-year-old girl is fiercely protective of her brother, Andrei, 7, a blue-eyed blond with missing front teeth who had his first bubble-bath last week.

"He said the bubbles tickled him," an interpreter said.

Vika and Andrei are two of 11 Russian children visiting West Michigan through July 11 with the hope of being adopted.

The children, ages 7 to 14, will offer a glimpse of their heritage during a free program at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday at Dutton United Reformed Church in Caledonia. The group that arranged their visit hopes it will spark interest from families willing to give them a future.

They are in West Michigan as part of the Russian Orphan Lighthouse Project, a group started by Messiah Lutheran Church in Midland, which brings orphans to the United States to interact with potential adoptive families.

"We started Lighthouse to be a ministry to orphans, to introduce them to Jesus, not to find them forever families," said Lighthouse Project co-founder Valerie Thompson, who has adopted nine Russians with her husband, Bob.

"Now, my prayer is that these children are able to have that opportunity for eternal hope," she said. "These children don't have parents to read them the Bible when they tuck them in at night. ... They're just like everybody else, except they don't have a mommy and a daddy."

During their 10-day visit, the children stay with families considering adoption or others who use the visit as a way to get the word out to friends and relatives.

"These are real faces, not just numbers or statistics," said Christine Robinson, of Grand Rapids, wiping a tear while watching the children practice a Russian dance last week. "I'm just praying they'll all find a mom and dad."

Since 1997, the Lighthouse Project has helped more than 100 Russian orphans visit America. This is the first trip to Grand Rapids, and other stops are planned this summer in Illinois and Texas.

Parents wishing to adopt a Russian child typically must travel there twice to meet with the child and complete paperwork.

With the Lighthouse Project, only one trip is required, and families can meet children rather than being matched by an agency.

"With older children, families like to meet the child before they invest financially into the process," Thompson said. "Meeting the child first allows everyone the safety of being themselves and behaving naturally."

Those who decide to adopt are referred to International Adoption Guides in North Carolina. Thompson said children can be in new homes in as little as two months.

Andre, 7, adjusts the beads on a headress worn by his sister, Vika, 9, before practising their routine displaying their Russian heritage for a program called Russian Orphan Lighthouse Project in Grand Rapids. Russian children are brought to the United States in the hopes that American families will adopt them.

� 2004 Muskegon Chronicle.