Welcome to our adoption story! In these pages, you can read about the wonderful journey that made us a family

Once Upon a Time...

In spring of 2004, we decided we were ready for a family. What was the point in waiting any more when there are so many little ones in need of loving homes? After many discusions and much research we were drawn to the Russian adoption program, and the rest is history... 

Our Timeline...

  • Made the official decision to adopt - March 25, 2004
  • Chose an agency - April 13, 2004
  • Sent in I-600A to CIS (INS) - April 13, 2004
  • Found out which region of Russia we were assigned to - April 20, 2004
  • Completed Home Study - May 17, 2004
  • Completed Dossier and sent to agency - May 27, 2004
  • Fingerprinted by INS - June 3, 2004
  • Received referral - July 13, 2004 !!!
  • Officially accepted referral - July 23, 2004
  • Received 171H from CIS - July, 2004
  • First trip to formally accept referral in Russia - August 15-22, 2004
  • Completed and sent Dossier (Part II) to agency - August 27, 2004
  • Received Court Date - November 28, 2004
  • Departed for Russia to pick up our sweetie - December 20, 2004
  • Court Day! - December 24, 2004
  • Lidia's 1st Birthday - December 25, 2004
  • Gotcha Day - January 5, 2005
  • Home Sweet Home - January 15, 2005

Our Agency...

After much research, we decided to use Alaska International Adoptions (http://akadoptions.com). It is common to use an agency that is not in your own state for International adoptions. It was not necessary to have face to face contact. We were able to take care of everything via e-mail, phone, and mail. We worked with Olga and we so pleased with the entire process. She was always up front and honest with us, whether she had good or bad news. The employees that helped us in Russia were also friendly. Everything in country went smoothly for both trips. We had no problems or worries while there.  

Travelling in Russia...

We travelled to Russia on both trips with no major snags. We were able to communicate well enough in both Moscow and Khabarovsk to have our needs met. On our first trip, we were able to see Red Square. It was strange to stand in a place with so much history.

Trip two was in December/January, so the weather was quite cold. We didn't do much sight seeing, but you can find pictures of the ice sculptures displayed in Lenin Square, Khabarovsk, in our gallery.

Blog, Gallery, and Updates...

As our adoption is complete, it is time to bring this page to a close. It will still be available for viewing, but we will probalby not update it anymore (unless we decide to post more informational things for future adoptive families).

The Blog linked to the left will take you to the blog we kept during our entire adoption process. It contains many thoughts and memories we had during our journey, and we even posted while in Russia.

The picture gallery will also be viewable. There are pictures from both trips and from our first months home to be enjoyed by all.

To find out what is going on in our family now, visit the main Bodette Home Page (linked on the left hand side). This will be the page to find further updates about our beautiful little Lidia and family. Thank you for reading our story!