We are #2

After speaking with our agency awhile back, we had decided to register our dossier in the region of Novosibirsk. They felt that would bring us a quicker referral than waiting in "the pool." We just found out yesterday that we are number 2 in this region for our agency. We are excited about being so close and we are also excited about this region. We love what we have learned so far. A little bit about Novosibirsk:

"Novosibirsk is Russia's third largest city (after Moscow and Saint Petersburg) and the administrative center of Novosibirsk Oblast. It is also the largest city in Siberia and the administrative center of Siberian Federal District, in the southwest of which it is located.

Industries include machine manufacturing and metallurgy. It is the homes of one of Novosibirsk State University, a number of institutes and a scientific research center. Novosibirsk boasts opera and ballet companies, several theaters, museums, and art galleries. The city is widely considered to be the cultural center of Siberia.

The climate is sharply continental, with severely cold and snowy winters, and hot and dry summers. Temperatures in summer range from 20 to 25C (75F), in winter -18 to -20C, but can reach -40C (-40F) in winter and 35-40C (100F) in summer. The difference between the highest and the lowest temperature is 88C (158F). Most of the time the weather is sunny, with an average of 2880 hours of sunshine per year."

If we would not have lost our first referral, we would have already traveled on our first trip, so we hope to hear something in the next few weeks. It appears that things have slowed down in Russia and referrals are not coming at a fast pace, so I pray things start to pick up soon. There are many children waiting for their forever families.