Origin of a Blog

The title probably makes it obvious, but this blog is dedicated to bringing Borya home. For those of you who don't know the story, let me fill you in. When we adopted Bella from Kazakhstan back in August of 2003, we met an 8 y/o boy there named Borya. He touched my heart so much that I decided to ask if he was available for adoption. The answer was no. But we talked every day and drew pictures for one another and I grew to love him. When we returned home, I asked another travelling family to bring him a gift for me several months later, but he had already been transferred to another orphanage. I began sending letters and packages to the orphanage I had been told he was sent to, but never heard back.
Finally, with the help of a few people who lived in Kazakhstan, I was able to track him down in an orphanage called Ridder, which is up in the mountains a stone's throw from the Russian border in the northeast of Kazakhstan. Although over two years had passed, the person who found him and talked to him said he still remembered me. I was next introduced to Pastor Alexey, who was the pastor at a nearby church. I could e-mail him letters, and he would translate them to Borya. I could send packages and he would get them to Borya. After about a year of this newfound relationship, I asked if he could help me arrange a trip for Borya to come visit us in the US. After speaking to the authorities, Alexey informed me that although Borya could not come for a visit, the authorities would now support our petition to adopt him! Although there are no guarantees, we decided we had to take this shot.
This blog is a chronicle of the adoption journey, which culminated in the adoption of Borya and his younger sister Ylia in November 2008. Though they arrived home in January of 2009, our journey is far from over, so the blog is now a journal of the post-adoption pursuit of happiness. Or the pursuit of one day becoming (with luck, divine intervention, and stock in the local liquor store) a functional family.