On the way to the Embassy!

This morning we recieved notice that our Dossier was sent to the Kazakhstan Embassy in Washington D.C. on May 23rd! This is great news! It can be there for about 2 to 6 weeks (hopefully the 2!) and then it is shipped to Kazakhstan!

This in turn means that we really need to get our butts in gear about the whole travel thing! Lists need to be made, items need to be bought and the gifts for the Kazak orphanage people need to be thought about- if not purchased before we leave! The house is not completely ready, but we will get there soon enough. Who knows, maybe things will fly by!

Then the question arises about what do we do with the house and our two furbabies? We cant leave Kody and Tommy by themselves for two months, and we cant split them up either... If anyone has any - and we mean any - suggestions, please let us know. We have entertained the idea of a house sitter, but in all truthful reality we (more me) are not that trusting. I would love to offer to someone we know but there in lies the problem. Most of the people we know are married, have kids, have thier own place, etc.

Thanks and hopefully we will have more good news shortly!

Done with Translation!

Hurray!

Today Tatiana emailed me and let meknow that our Dossier was back from translation! It is now on its way to the Program Director to finish a few things. Here is a list of what needs to be done before it is off to the Embassy:
1. Print and Attach the translation to the Dossier.
2. Number the entire Dossier in a particular way.
3. Make three (3) copies of the entire Dossier.
4. 3 Hole Punch the whole Dossier.

Now I know that this sounds simple, but once the copies are made, that turns the Dossier into about 300 pages total -- and that is for one (1) copy! There is three of those!

After the Program Director is finished with it it is off to the Kazakhstan Embassy in New York. Hopefully they will be completed with it quickly. Please continue to keep us in your prayers. Thank you all for the support!

Why is it?

Since we have begun this process of adopting, 6 months now, I have found that everyone is always telling me that I will now get pregnant! Why is that? Six months in and I am still not pregnant. So for everyone who has yet to tell us, Yes, we know that I will now get pregnant!

Also, for those of you who have actually seen the hideous movie "Borat," yep, thats the country. That is Kazakhstan. However, the country is not vulgar and repulsive like the character Borat. Wow, that was a horrible movie! To those of you who have not seen the movie, Tony and I both recommend that you dont!

So here comes the fun stuff:
Vaccinations! YAY! Um, not really...
We have talked with our doctor about all the vaccines that the CDC recommends. The list is huge: Hepatitis A and B, Malaria, Rabies, Typhoid, and boosters for Tetanus and Measles. Now after talking with Dr. Lepley, she has said that we only need Hep A and the Tetanus Booster. Well thats good! However, insurance will only cover it if is for a regular immunization, not for international travel. So once the vaccine for Hep A is in, we can make an appointment and get this over with.

In other news, I got bit by another dog yesterday. I think they have it in for me. First it was Staycie's dog and now Shea, the dog where I nanny at. Here's the thing though, Shea didn't mean it. If anything I am to blame. The kids and Shea were wrestling and Shea got very hyper and the kids got scared. Well, I pulled Shea off and got bite - NOT DEEP!- on accident. So I went to the dictor's today, just to get checked, and all I had to do was get a Tetanus shot! Well hey! I needed that anyways! So there is one less shot! And for those of you who have never had one (like me) or have not had one in 10 years (you should get one every ten years)... they hurt! I am not talking about the needle, but the medicine itself! It burns and the injection site aches. So, at least I have that done! Cant wait for Tony to get his!

So the waiting is becoming just that... waiting. We have run out of things ot prepare for. We want to start to get the travel supplies ready but we have to get some finances in order first. THANK YOU so much to all of you that have helped! We could not be where we are without you!

Thanks for all the support, and please, keep it coming! We can use the emotional boost oevery once in a while! :)

Moving Forward!

As of this morning the paperwork is complete and has been mailed! Thanks to Tony we are now officially "waiting!" He took time this morning to go out to Lansing to have the Letter of Good Standing apostilled and then sent it out. That letter, along with more money, had been sent to Commonwealth. YAY! We now wait for our LOI.

On an even happier note we have been working on getting the house in order. As you can see we have begun the babys room! Thank you to Bethany who helped to paint it. We had the furniture dropped off two weeks ago and recieved the bedidng on Thursday! It is really coming together.

The room seems to be getting completed rather easily. We have decided that we will be having our shower (Gotcha Party) once we return with our daughter. We have requested a girl between the ages of 6 and 24 months with no way of knowing prior to the trip the exact age. So we believe that this is a better way to do it, not only for the purposes of knowing sizes, toys, etc, but also it provides a great chance for our family and friends to meet her!

Thank you to everyone for all the support. Things are moving quickly now, so hopefully soon we will have her home!

Paperwork Problem...

On Monday Tatiana called to let me know that there was a problem with the paperwork. It turns out that the Letter of Good Standing for our HomeStudy Agency was doubled notarized. Too bad that it would not work being double notarized. So I called Nancy, our social worker, and explained the problem to her. She then got in contact with Tatiana and resubmitted that one letter.

So here is the problem now... Nancy sent it to Tatiana. Tatiana then called me this morning to explain that when Nancy sent it to her it was not apostilled! So we will now have to go back out to Lansing and get this one document apostilled. We will then submit it and then the entire dossier will be sent to translation.

Oh the stress! I am not sure I want to knwo if anything else has to be redone. I should tell Tatiana to call Tony from now on! At least it is something simple that can be fixed easy enough.

On a happier note: we have the baby furniture! I will be posting pictures once the bedding gets here and the room has a more childish feeling. YAY!

We thank you all for the prayers and well wishes. They are helping us more than you know!