Siberia Here We Come

OK . . . if you've made it to this page, then you know most of the twists and turns of our attempts to create a family.

The reader's digest version -- we're now in process for two adoptions, one from China, one from Russia. Although the Russian process started second, it's happening first. We leave Monday night for the Russian city of Tyumen, in SW Siberia, where our daughter-to-be is waiting.

The orphanage has named her Svetlana, a beautiful name (it means "light") that we'll be changing for a number of reasons. Stay tuned for details on her new name once she's home. Svetlana was born on 1 November 2005. God and the Russian bureaucracy willing, we'll have her home by the end of May.

To get her home, we'll have to make two trips to Russia. The first starts Monday night of next week, and I've started this blog largely as a way to share news and experiences with as many people as possible with the least amount of effort. We'll be updating from Russia as time and internet access allow.

For those who -- like me -- are hearing of Tyumen (Тюмень, in Russian) for the first time, here's some info: Tyumen was the first Russian city in Siberia, with Russian settlement dating back to the 16th century. Among the famous people born there was Irving Berlin, whose family fled when he was a small boy, to avoid pogroms. Nowadays, Tyumen is one of the most prosperous cities in Russia, as it is the center of Russia's booming oil and gas industry. There are over half a million residents of the metropolitan area. Tyumen is in the SW of Siberia, only a few hundred kilometers from both the Ural mountians and the border with Kazakhstan. (Indeed, Svetlana is thought to be ethnically Kazakh, not uncommon in Tyumen).

I've been learning Russian on my own for the last three months, since we first heard about Svetlana from our agency. It's a tough language to learn, and while I'm doing pretty well with the written language, I'm sure my speaking and oral comprehension leave much to be desired. I'll find out next week.

Stay tuned for more news and pictures.

До-свидания! (Do svidaniya, Russian for good-bye).

Jeff