Bryansk

Here is some facts about the Bryansk region. (Check out the links on the right for more info.)

Population of the Bryansk oblast (region) is 1,474,900 total, 1,003,100 townsmen and 471,800 villagers.

Bryansk city is 235 miles south-east of Moscow.

The region consists of 27 districts and has 16 cities, and 27 urban-type settlements. The capital is Bryansk city (458,000 population, founded in the year 985) Other large cities in region are Klintzy, Novozybkov and Dyatkovo.

Climate is temperate continental. The Atlantic Ocean has a strong influence on the climate, bringing moist winds that moderate summer heat and winter cold and carry precipitation. The average temperature in January is 21°F high and 11°F low, in July is 71°F high and 55°F low. Average precipitation is 23 in. per year.

Forests are Bryansk Region's main resource. They cover about 40% of its territory.

Agriculture is also well developed in the region. The main sectors are livestock breeding (beef and dairy cattle, pig and poultry farming, and beekeeping) and plant cultivation (grains: rye, barley, wheat, oats, and buckwheat; industrial crops: flax, hemp, and sugar beets).

The engineering and metalworking industries produce diesel locomotives, freight cars, diesel engines, bulldozers, graders, electric arc steel, and cast steel and iron.

The main products of the food industry are meat and dairy products, canned goods, tobacco products, and cereals. Light industry output includes yarn and clothing.

Russia Trip Sample Itinerary

We are still waiting to hear from our agency that the Russian government is ready for us to come.

This weekend we attended the agency’s annual picnic. Last year we were there enjoying all the kids running around, and thought for sure that we would attend this year again, but with our child. Well, we were half right.

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To give you some idea of our future trips to Russia. Here is how it might happen, but it varies greatly case by case. We are told that we will be led through every step in the process by our agency’s Russian facilitator.

Day 1 – Leave Phoenix for Moscow (e.g., a 5 hour flight to New York, then a 10 hour flight to Moscow)

Day 2 – Arrive in Moscow and leave for Bryansk on the night train

Day 3 – Meet with the Ministry of Education official to view photos and info about the child

Day 4 – Travel to the orphanage to visit with the child, the orphanage director and the resident doctor

Day 5 – Tell the Ministry that we accept the child and then file additional paperwork requesting a court date

Day 6 – Return to Moscow and back to Phoenix

The request for a court date goes through the channels in Russia, then after 2 to 16 weeks we make our second trip.

Day 1 – Leave Phoenix for Moscow

Day 2 – Arrive in Moscow and leave for Bryansk on the night train (7 hours)

Day 3 – Go to the orphanage to visit the child

Day 4 – Court date with a regional judge in Bryansk

Day 5-14 – 10-day waiting period before the adoption decree become final. The child remains in the orphanage. We may have the opportunity to visit daily.

Day 15 – Take our child from the orphanage and obtain an amended Russian birth certificate and passport

Day 16 – Return to Moscow

Day 17 – Take our child for a pre-visa physical

Day 18 – Take our child to the US Embassy to obtain the visa

Day 19 – Return to Phoenix with our child

Here is a description from the "Russian Adoption Handbook" of the flight home, “Imagine being taken from the only home you know, surrounded by people you don’t know, speaking a language you don’t know, and then being placed in a flying machine, which you may never have seen. Add to this mix that you are hungry, sleepy, not feeling well and generally cranky. This is your child. It might also be you.” And, though we will not likely be traveling with others adopting parents from our agency, the plane may be filled with them.

The Beginning

Our story is much the same as many others. For that we are thankful, as we have had much to read and many with whom to talk.

We met online at Matchmaker.com on May 27th, 2001. We later married, surrounded by friends and family from across the country, at the MGM Grand hotel in Las Vegas. After a few months as newlyweds, we started trying to conceive a child. This eventually led to a steadily escalating series of infertility trials. In January 2005, we decided that it was time to start a new path. That, after much research, led us to Hand In Hand International Adoptions, and our choice to adopt from Russia.

Russia was easy for us. After considering all of the alternatives, we felt that it was the best fit. A strong people living in a beautiful country, rich in history and culture that we would could share with our child.

In 2005, the Russian adoption process underwent great change and at times ground to a halt. It was not until January 2006 that our paperwork could be accepted there for processing.

Now we wait for the phone to ring, announcing a referral from the Bryansk region on the western border. We are told that we will hear the age and sex of the child and little more (no video, photo or medical) until we arrive at the government offices in Russia.

We will make two trips. One for three to five days to be introduced to a child, and the second for six to twenty days to finalize in the regional court and bring our son or daughter home.

While we wait, life goes on, and we have the opportunity to prepare a nursery, learn a little conversational Russian and now to create this diary.

We hope you will enjoy our story as it unfolds.

Thanks.