I am too tired to write much, but I will share with you my e-mail to my friend, Maria, who was so sweet and made all the food for my party -
Thanks so much for all your help with the party! The food was wonderful!
I was a little disappointed we didn't get a bigger turnout, but in some ways I prefer a smaller group - gives me more chances to really talk to my guests. I was actually able to carry on conversations, unlike the MAPREC party a couple of weeks ago where everything was just too hectic.
Vally [my publisher] said she actually got a lot of good marketing ideas from several sources. One of my neighbors down the street had been to Ukraine on a missionary trip, and so there's a potential market to church groups going over.
We're also going to make an audiobook and have Alesia read the book in both Russian and English. Kate listened to Alesia's pronunciation and said it was fine. Alesia is losing her Russian, but I'm hoping having her brother home will help her to keep it.
Adopting Alesia is being edited, and I'm excited about that. Hopefully it should be ready to go in a few months. I may well work on the revisions when I am in Kazakhstan. I have a friend who is loaning me a laptop.
I'm so glad you brought your mom - I know Mother enjoyed talking to her!
I was telling Vally I am more than happy to speak to different groups, as a marketing tool. I like public speaking, and talking about adoption is very easy for me. Sometimes speakers can get popular and make it a fairly lucrative career, though I admit the travel aspect doesn't appeal to me. Maybe if I could limit the travel, and do it part time. I don't know. I'm brainstorming ways to try and get out of the paralegal field!
I wish I could think of some sort of business we could do together. One dream of mine is a school where kids who are adopted from Russia could get individualized help, and not be forced to mainstream in schools when they don't know enough English. I know so many parents of older kids who have had similar struggles to mine. That's a much more daunting prospect than just writing my books, though!
XOXOXOX
Dee
