In the Beginning.........

I no longer drive a two seater sports car.
I no longer set my alarm and rush to the office.
I no longer have weekly dinner dates or monthly mani/pedis.
I once used cloth napkins folded into Martha Steward inspired shapes and I actually cooked from Epicurious.
I now serve ketchup at every meal.
I actually teared up when they announced a SuperWalmart was to be built in our small town,tears of joy.
I unashamedly love my minivan, can't remember the last time I used my tub and I actually think toys strewn all over the floor are a security measure in case anyone breaks into my house they won't make it past, well .....anywhere.
What could possible have brought about these changes to a perfectly planned out life.
Loss of job, loss of husband, loss of mind.
Nope, just three trips to Russia in a two year time span, $50,000 cash and two of the most incredible children ever.
I find myself soon to be celebrating my 46th birthday.
I have a 50 year old husband of 24 years and a 5 and 7 year old.
Yes , I am fashionably a "mid life" parent, I prefer late bloomer. And yes, most of our long time friends have kids in college and even grandchildren. We are all celebrating empty nests of some sort.Theirs the "kids have flown the coop" kind and me the "no kids from 8-3" kind as my youngest starts kindergarten next week. A few are still waiting for that celebration, having unwittingly raised kids that seen to never want to leave.

I worked for almost 20 years as we lived the life of upwardly mobile 20 and 30 somethings, lived well and traveled at a moments notice and snickered at friends carting kids and stuff everywhere, big cars that could accommodate more people and stuff than I cared to travel anywhere with. They juggled work and money and aged beyond their years.
They salivated over the idea of a good cheap reliable babysitter.
What were they thinking.
They were in the Prime of their life.
Or so they thought.
Or so we thought.
We were DINKS and happy with our choices, our 401K, our poodle and our successful birth control.
Then we built our dream house. Then, we looked at each other and I said now what? My dear husband looked at me warily. A few days later , during a quiet dinner of Standing Rib, rare and wine, listening to some Bruce Hornsby,
I uttered that 4 letter word that would change everything.
KIDS. Kids, he whispered. Yes. I said. KIDS
We have been together 20 years, married 17 .We have worked, traveled and built. What are we going to do from now on?
He looked puzzled.
Kids.
And then he smiled, I smiled and it was decided.
Well , almost.
Because although at 38 and 42 we were certainly not over the hill or out of fertility range.,but for some reason or preordained kismet we both thought that the usual get pregnant/give birth scenario had been done time and again by friends and family.Old news.
We thought adoption sounded much more..Fun...Exciting..More us.
We immediantly started researching our options: foster,domestic and international.
We went to a Foster Parent meeting, left knowing that wasn't our path. Too iffy.
Domestic seemed too much of an advertising contest, left a bad aftertaste. Too iffy.
We loved to travel, so international it was. We were honest in knowing we did not want to be an ethnically diverse poster family and did not live in a very ethnically diverse region.
So on Feb.3 1999 we sent in our application to adopt an infant from Russia. Let the games begin.