And Away We GO!

Today's the day we embark on a whirlwind journey across the world! No one slept well last night, including Davis. He was up from 3-6am. We both could not sleep either. I took Ambien and then added a dose of Advil PM on top and that finally knocked me out only to get up a few hours later with Davis. I have a feeling he is fighting a cold. He is starting to slightly cough and his lymph node is swollen on his neck. My throat slightly hurts and I have drainage. I am sure in 30 hours we will have much more to complain about!

Davis is very excited. I am not sure how much of all of this he gets. He knows we leave today and jumps up and down when he mentions it. Of course, when I asked him why he was up last night he said he thought Santa Clause was coming to our house, so who knows! I think his world is slightly screwed up right now, but it will only get worse in a few days!

I am praying the airplane ride goes well. Here is a snapshot of our trip. We leave RDU for Philly which is about 1 hr. Have an hour layover in Philly. Leave for Frankfurt which is a 8 hour flight. Have a 5 hour layover in Frankfurt. Leave for Almaty, Kaz which is a 7 hour flight. Have a 7 hour layover in Almaty before getting the 2 hour flight to Aktobe, Kaz.

Doesn't that sound fun? Especially with a 3 yr old! I am not sure who is going to be grouchier. Us or him!

Milon and I are still in disbelief. It hasn't sunk in that we are travelling today to meet our new daughter! We are so excited to see her little face and get to know her! I think once we pull up to the orphanage I will be shaking in my boots, literally! Not sure how much will be from the cold and snow and how much will be nerves! The weather looks like it will be in the 30's and snow off and on. Davis will be excited to see the snow. Hopefully, we will have a chance to play in it a little.

Well, this is officially my last post from home. Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers. We will miss everyone but I can say there is no place we would rather be this Christmas and New Year.

By the way, I never got a chance to do Christmas cards!

Love to all,
Susan, Milon and Davis

LOI Finally Arrived!

The long awaited, infamous Letter of Invitation finally arrived!

We decided to take a side trip to California this past weekend to get away and attend Milon's grandmother's 90th birthday party. We had no idea that the day after we got back our coordinator would call and say our LOI was finally done. They had guessed it might be done the 19th but we didn't put much faith in that date because we didn't want to be disappointed.

So the scramble was on to get our Visas. They were shipped out the same day and were in NY just in time for the blizzard! We were extremely nervous about getting them back the very next day, but GO FED EX they arrived (a few hundred dollars later) on Saturday.

We are optimistic about the plane ride with Davis. He was an angel on the way to and from California! He didn't nap and I have no idea what he did for 5 hours, but he sat quietly and was entertained the whole time. It was a great trial run. I did learn to bring toys that he can do things with rather than toy cars, etc. I am stocking up on playdough, legos, books, etc.

We hope everyone has a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Another Brick in the Wall

Our tickets were booked, bags were packed, house was clean, Christmas taken down, paperwork ready...and we aren't going anywhere.

I thought my next post would be from Kazakhstan but apparently, that is not going to be the case. We got a call that our registration numbers have not arrived and therefore, we cannot get our visas.

Why? We are still trying to figure it out. I could buy the idea that they just haven't been processed yet IF we are talking about delaying a few days. But when we are talking weeks, I have a harder time buying in. Unless of course the right hand doesn't know what the left is doing which is quickly becoming apparent to me. Is it because there are now no more children available for adoption and we are back "in the queue"? This seems more plausible, but we don't have confirmation of this.

When? We have no idea. Could be days, weeks, months, I have no idea.

What about this process is best for the child? What is best for the adoptive parents? How do we make sense of this to a 3 yr old when we can't make sense of it ourselves? How do I continue to have a "normal" existence when nothing is normal about it?

It was suggested that I not post about travel dates, possible child, etc which is partly why I haven't mentioned exact dates, etc. I thought long and hard about even posting this entry but I reminded myself that this blog is for one person ONLY....our daughter. I want her to know how difficult this journey has been and how much she is truly wanted. I feel like I have just had a miscarriage. The excitement of the pregnancy quickly turns to sadness as it ends. Enduring Negative pregnancy tests over and over again is easier emotionally than this adoption! I don't know at what point it is "safe" to be excited! Surely not today.

So at this point, I don't have any answers. We are trying to make sense of it ourselves and hoping over the next few days we become comfortably numb. (yes, for who get the Pink Reference...I have been with Milon way too long)

LOI MIA

We still don't have our Letter of Invitation. Apparently, it has been signed off in the region and sent to Astana for registration numbers but that's as far as it has gotten. We are hopeful that next week we will get our travel dates.

This probably means we won't be here for Christmas. We figure we need to leave by Next Friday in order to just make it home in time for the holidays. That's not looking very promising. On one hand I am glad the 4 of us will be together and on the other will miss our family and friends. Coordinating Santa coming will also be a challenge. Good thing Davis is clueless on dates b/c we might have to make up our own Christmas date!

Hopefully, the next post I make will be a good one!

Holy Smokes Spiderman! LOI Update!

We finally got "the sort of" call we have been waiting forever for! Our agency said they are processing our LOI and it should come within the week. They don't have travel dates yet, but would guess it's going to the ASAP. YEAH!

This is great timing b/c it means we will miss Thanksgiving (oh well pecan pie) but will be home for Christmas! Then leave again right after the new year! I wish we could spend Christmas with her but that's just the way it is. At least Santa won't have to find us buried in the ice and snow in Kazakhstan!

Our computer got fixed yesterday also! They replaced the memory sticks, motherboard and processor so we basically have a new computer! Rock on!

I will update more when we have official travel dates. We are busy starting to get the house ready to leave and pack. Oh and are still celebrating...we had a fire last night, made some chicken Parmesan with homemade Rosemary bread and a couple bottles of wine (although we couldn't finish both...we are light weights these days)!

Crashed and Initiated

So I found out I have been officially initiated into the "almost ready to travel club". Thanks Alysa for sharing. Apparently, most people experience computer crashes right before they get their travel dates. Yeah! We passed the test...the computer on the other hand well, the motherboard went bad. But the good news is my ingenious husband found a way to renew our warranty with Dell for $43 and they are sending us a new motherboard! The computer is just over 1 yr old so we were devastated for it to crash so early!

Tick-tock, tick-tock is about all I hear all day! These days are becoming very LONG! Thanks to Regina's blog and careful calculations, I am anxious for a phone call up until 12:00 and after that I figure if I haven't heard anything than all bets are off for that day. I am also not on guard on the weekends because I figure no one is working to get a call!

I have finished Xmas shopping, and as soon as the Xmas trees are out I think we will put one up just so Davis has a little "extra" time to enjoy Xmas.

That's all folks for today!

Are We Getting Close?

Our agency said the next 'batch" of kids should come off the registry the second half of November and we should travel quickly after that. Hopefully a girl will be coming off at that point! I have a good feeling about it because another couple from Belgium that is going to Aktobe just got there travel dates for Nov 20th! It would be nice to meet someone else while over their.

Another reason I feel it's coming is my laptop crashed and Davis and I are sick. We just went out and bought a "back-up" laptop and Davis and I are on antibiotics but I don't feel any better and neither does he! The new laptop does work though!

I just finished the rest of the paperwork needed. So we are all set and ready to go!

I even bought bedding for her daybed if she is older (and a throw rug and curtains)! I am not taking down the crib though until I know for sure how old she will be. I figured she would eventually use the bedding anyway so better to be prepared.

We figured that in order to be here for Christmas we need to leave by Dec 8th. That way we will be in between trips during Christmas. I really don't care about missing Thanksgiving...Davis wouldn't eat Turkey and stuffing anyway!

I can't post pics on this new computer yet, but as soon as I do I have some really funny Halloween pics to post!