My friend Diana called me yesterday.  She is thinking about adopting again.  She wants to adopt a boy younger than her Ukrainian son so that he has a brother to grow up with.  She doesn't want to go to Ukraine again because it takes so LONG to get an appointment and their laws change all of the time. She was in Ukraine almost nine weeks when they adopted last year.  She has been considering adopting a special needs boy from China. Now she is considering adopting a child from an adoption disruption.  Some parents adopt a child and then feel that they can't care for them for a variety of reasons.  Sometimes the child has RAD or PTSD, or FAS symptoms and the parents feel it is in their and the child's best interest to be rehomed.  Personally, I can't understand any parent disrupting, but I never had a child that I couldn't handle, adopted or bio.  A little three year old boy was adopted from Russia in Feb. of this year. He has an eating disorder and refuses to eat and vomits most of the day when he is forced to eat.  All types of tests have been run on this little boy and nothing physical has been found.  The parents adopted his younger sibling and have a young bio child so they don't feel they can keep him.  My friend Diana is thinking about adopting him.  She thinks that the eating disorder just has to do with control issues and she thinks he would see all of his siblings eating and he would eventually eat if no one made a big deal about it.  The parents had put the child in daycare but the daycare refused to keep him.  He is now living with his nanny because the parents feel unable to care for him.  It is so sad, but Diana would be a great mom for him.  She is a stay at home mom who could devote a lot of time to him and make him feel secure.  I felt that Dasha needed a stay at home mom to deal with some of her issues.  She has to learn the importance of telling the truth and not getting jealous when others get attention. I think she can learn those things but I just don't have the energy to deal with a lot of issues.  We were just so fortunate that Olia blended so well and so easily into our family.  We didn't have to deal with any emotional issues at all with her,  My friend Gennady told me that I should play the lottery because I was a definite winner with Olia.  I really think that she is so well adjusted because she was so loved by her grandmother and great-grandmother and was not institutionalized very long.  I think that makes a big difference in orphan's adjustment.

  I received an email from my friend Kim today.  She adopted a 13 year old girl from Olia's orphanage last year.  The girl is drop dead gorgeous! I think her parents will have to beat the boys off with a stick!  Her mom jokingly tells her that she wants to give her ugly pills because she is so beautiful!  Other than my three daughters, I think Jennifer is one of the most beautiful young woman I have ever seen. I am glad that she is happy and loved and has a good home with people who love her.  I am so happy that everything worked out so well for them.  Reading the email gave me chills because it is so apparent how much this girl is loved. She has such a good life and bright future.  She is very smart and is doing high level math.  I am so happy when orphans find good homes, they all deserve a family.

   Several children from Olia's orphanage have been adopted in the last few years.  Olia's orphanage is in the Crimea region.  I think Crimea is a good region to adopt from.  My friend Diana's kids came from that region also.  An orphanage is an orphanage but it seems that most of the kids I know about who have been adopted from that region are doing great or at least reasonably well.