You're adopting from WHERE??

~THE END~ Anniversaries and Announcements

2008-10-10T21:30:00.003-05:00

A year ago today we were in Kazakhstan and met Ava. As Amber will tell you I get ridiculously emotional when I think about those precious first moments with our daughter. It is amazing to think that it has already been a year - and that it has only been a year. The period leading up to that day in October was at times very hard with the seemingly interminable wait; but that day arrived, and it was perfect. Ava continues to do wonderfully well, and she is the perfect addition to our family. She is truly amazing with what she figures out how to do and how much she understands of what we say (Yes I am biased, but I am allowed). If you want to see how much she's grown, here's some (staged) pictures showing the difference. -Jason

Ava and Daddy

We both get teary when we think about meeting our little girl and how big she's grown already. We could not love her more. I now know what it means to be "in love" with your baby. It is the most wonderful, indescribable feeling. She is an amazing little person. And she is also exactly like us! She is is always doing something that is just like Jason or I do. She does so many cute things. She loves to wear my heels around the house, sing, dance, clean and talk on the phone just like mommy. She likes to tell us long "stories" with tons of gestures. It is adorable. She also loves to give kisses and hugs. I could go on and on about all that Ava does but that would take a very long time. Here are some pictures that show how much she has grown in one year. Look at all of her hair...It's all curls in the back! -Amber

Ava and Mommy

Before and after Pictures

As you can see, she is doing fantastic. At a year to the date of our meeting, Amber & I think it's fitting that we close the blog at this point. Ava continues to take more and more of our time, and the blog is really an afterthought now. I do want to thank all of you who followed the blog, who posted comments, and who just took the time to watch our journey and share a little bit in our joy. The support we received from everyone has meant a lot to us.
Also in the way of an announcement, we're no longer adopting from Kazakhstan (as the blog theme mentions), rather now we are beginning the process for a domestic adoption to get Ava a little brother or sister! So our adoption journey continues, but we now leave you as an overjoyed family of three on our way to becoming four.

Thank you for sharing in my journey, supporting my mommy and daddy and all the love and gifts you have given me!
-Ava

Ava's Re-adoption

2008-10-07T14:51:00.006-05:00

This was just a formality but we had to go before the judge and sign some paperwork so Ava could get a NY state birth certificate. She has been ours for almost a year now so it was interesting to go to court again and re-adopt her. She was intrigued by the judge and just stared at him the entire time.

Summer Pictures!

2008-09-13T17:19:00.011-05:00

1st District Convention 7/4/08 - 7/6/08

1st Camping Trip 7/31/08 - 8/3/08

1st Family Vacation (Long Beach Island, NJ) 8/8/08 - 8/16/08

1st Fair 8/13/08

Kazakh Picnic (Picnic for families who have adopted from Kazakhstan) 8/30/08

Great Escape

2008-06-30T19:40:00.006-05:00

We took Ava to the Great Escape a couple of weeks ago and we had a great day! She went on her first ride (she didn't enjoy), visited the petting zoo and had a blast at the kiddie water park where we stayed most of the day. Here are a few pictures.

A non-pictorial update

2008-05-29T17:24:00.007-05:00

So the title probably got some grumbles since the pictures are definitely a hit with Ava's public, but Ava's been home for 6 months now, so I thought an update might be in order. A lot of people ask how she adjusted, how she's doing developmentally, and things like that, so here's an answer. Everything is really great. Really! I don't even think there was much of an adjustment period for Ava. From the moment she was in our arms for good in Almaty she has seemed totally at ease with us. For a while, she would only go to sleep with Amber and she still only wants mommy when she wakes up in the middle of the night (what a great baby), but she runs to us when she goes bump or when something scares her, which is just an amazing feeling.
Ava is very friendly, but also cautious around strangers, especially big groups of strange faces. She remembers faces and people very well though, so even people who get to visit less than regularly she is happy to see.
She's been fairly healthy, a few little colds but nothing major. She's growing really well as you all can see, and her hair is really growing. The curls are especially amazing when she gets done with her bath. She's still mostly babbling, but says a few words now and then. She loves to read too. The books are typically upside down and she starts in the back, but DaVinci used mirror writing, so I'm guessing she's brilliant too. I believe she's reading in Latin as well. She also babbles to me when I get home or call from work. I just agree, say "really?" or "sounds great!". Of course she's probably describing how she's going to kiss boys when she's 3, how much she loves country music, and other things that daddy would find less than pleasing, but what I don't know may kill me eventually.
Teeth are still finding their way to the surface, but that doesn't really stop her from eating and chewing. She eats pretty much everything now with some odd exceptions. Pureed peas? Great! Real peas? Not so Great. Pureed banana? Great! Real banana? Until yesterday - not a chance - much more fun as a toy. She walks (runs), dances, climbs whatever she can, and has recently discovered tippy toes. Very cute.
Truthfully, I think the bigger adjustment has been for Amber & I than Ava. Free time is now that brief period between Ava going to sleep and us passing out. Baby muscles are growing. Amber is even entering an arm wrestling competition (Yes, that is a joke - or is it???). But who would've thought that watching a one year old push her little stroller around the house could be so captivating? Really watching anything she does - sleeping, eating, playing, walking (I could go on but I won't) is now our favorite pastime. Watching her and listening to her is too precious to describe. I wish I had more time to just watch her play and explore.
So yes we are slightly obsessed with our daughter, completely in love, and thrilled to be parents. And to avoid complaints, here's a picture - she loves her boots:

Beautiful Baby

2008-05-24T12:39:00.004-05:00

Pictures

2008-05-08T09:20:00.002-05:00

Kyle and Ava Meet Again!

2008-04-19T08:59:00.007-05:00

Ava and Kyle in November '07

Ava and Kyle Now

We visited Kyle and his mom Sara this week. Ava and Kyle shared the same room at the baby house in Karaganda. Sara was the one who sent us pictures when we had to leave Ava. It was amazing to find out that they live only 20 minutes from us!!
Ava and Kyle ate lunch, took a walk and played together. Kyle is so cute, crawling and pulling himself up on things. Ava, who is now walking, didn't know what to think of his crawling around. She ended up petting his head when he crawled by! Kyle likes to give kisses, they happen to be kisses with his mouth open though! He tried to give Ava one but she didn't appreciate it. It's a good story for when they're older!

Ava's Adventures

2008-04-12T20:45:00.011-05:00

CLICK ON PICTURES TO ENLARGE

On mommy's shoulders (mommy looking scary without makeup and her hair brushed)

Climbing through Spencer's doggie door.

Watching Sesame Street

Playing with daddy

First fudge pop, actually it was mommy's and she stole it! She LOVED it!

Dancin'
When we say dancin' she puts her arms back and spins around or tries to anyway. It is so cute!

Sleeping Beauty

Yes, we still have snow!!

Outside in her kitty rain boots. They are way to big and kept falling off! She loves to go outside and gets so happy when say we're going out to play. She's been to the park a few times now that the weather's nice and she loves that too. She cries in the swing and likes the slides, sand box and just walking around watching all the kids.

One of the other new thing she does is hug our legs. She will come up to us and reach her arms around one or both of our legs.

She has also said I love you!!! It doesn't sound exactly correct but when we say it to her she tries to say it back! It's the sweetest thing!

Ava on phone

2008-04-03T22:27:00.004-05:00

Little Sweetheart

2008-03-23T19:08:00.010-05:00

Here is an update on Ava for all of you who have been asking!
Ava is learning so much and she copies everything we do. She bows her head when we pray. She is playing pretend more and more like pretending to talk on the phone, give her doll a bottle, carrying her "purse" around, dusting and washing things and reading.

She loves to cuddle and will put her head on our shoulder when we ask for a hug. Talk about melting your heart! She is basically a sweetheart.
Also, she loves it when we ooh and aah over her and eats it right up! She is walking really well now too and toddles around non stop.
Ava is having some separation anxiety lately and cries when I leave the room, give her to someone else or put her down. It's not all the time so it may be that she doesn't feel good (teething). She is also still waking up at least a couple times a night but usually (not always) goes back to sleep quickly so I can't complain too much. That's about all for now!

Enjoy the pictures....

Giggling with Mema

Visit with Auntie
"reading" the Bible
Feeding herself yogurt

All Bundled Up
Dusting...I'm teaching her early!
She painted her first pictures and likes to scribble with pencils and crayons. She also tries to eat them.
Giving her moose the bottle

Happy playing

Feeding dolly

Cuddle bunny

BEHOLD!!!! - SHE WALKS!!!

2008-03-01T11:57:00.003-05:00

Amber got a nice video of Ava walking around the house a few days ago, so here it is!

Fun being One

2008-02-27T09:50:00.005-05:00

Ava has taken her first steps!! She is getting braver and continues to take more steps each day, with prompting and occasionally without. She is getting smarter and bigger each day. She amazes us all the time. She had her second big trip when we went to Florida to visit family. Ava felt the grass on her toes, went swimming and had lots of new experiences.

Our Happy Girl

2008-01-25T21:31:00.000-05:00

Ava is such a good baby. Most of the time she is so easy going and happy. She has a little stubborn streak and lets us know when she's not happy though. She has learned a few more things, like "sharing". She hands us everything and smiles when we say "thank you". She likes peek-a-boo. She will duck down behind the coffee table and then pop up and laugh when we say "there you are!". She can also put balls down a "rainspout" on her toy. She loves to walk holding on to our hands or holding on to anything...it's her favorite thing to do. She's going to be walking very soon!

She has also gained 4 pounds since we've been home! And she has 3 teeth now. We think she gets cuter everyday...and we are so amazed at how smart she is. I try but I just can't capture how adorable she is in pictures...of course this is a mom talking. She is truly so beautiful though! We feel so blessed to have her as our daughter!
OK, I'm done bragging!! Here are a few pictures:

A Girl Can't Have too Many Clothes....

2008-01-12T11:09:00.000-05:00

or shoes or toys...

Ava has had two more baby showers! A small family one and one at Jason's job. She has recieved some very cute clothes, toys and other items. She does go though a lot of clothes a day and she's growing fast so all of her new things will be used! I'm having fun dressing her up in the cute dresses and outfits too!

She loves all her toys and plays, plays, plays all day! I am glad she has a lot of things to interest her. She loves her musical and talking toys the best, she bounces to any fast music...it's adorable!

She's quite the party girl...here are a few pictures from her showers and at home...

Our Baby is Growing!

2007-12-28T15:09:00.000-05:00

Ava is growing! She looks so healthy and happy these days. We are settling into a routine and enjoying our time together as a family! Ava had been sleeping great but then decided that she wanted to wake up about 6X or more a night and be rocked back to sleep every time (by mommy). Also, she had decided she didn't want 2 naps a day, or any naps some days. I was getting very tired but she is doing better (mostly) now! Also, it took 3 weeks but she likes her bath now! We had to very slowly get her used to the water, now she really likes it and reaches out when she sees water running.

Ava is doing new things every day and she said her first words!! They were "Dada" and "Ava"! She has also said, "duck" and "Bye". It's kind of funny her first word was her own name...but I guess she hears it enough! She is trying to say other things too...it's very cute! Here are some more pictures!

Ava's first haircut!

Here's what she thought! Of course her bangs are crooked because she was squirming!

Mommy's helper :)

Reading with Grandma

Playing with her bib & Spencer.

Bath time in the ducky tub!!

With her cousin Ben.

New Pictures

2007-12-14T18:37:00.000-05:00

The sweetest face in the world.
Playing Guitar with Daddy!
She loves her playpen! Mommy does too!!
Making Music!

All Dressed Up

2007-12-10T09:30:00.001-05:00

Ava dressed up for her first meeting.

She slept through most of the meeting and then woke up and started charming everyone with smiles. She seemed a little overwhelmed with all the attention before we left but she did really well.

More than one baby in the house...

2007-12-08T21:39:00.000-05:00

Spencer found Ava's pacifier and was running around with it in his mouth! He thinks he's still the baby.

Visit with Great Grandma

Visit with Great Grandma, Grandma and Auntie (and cousin who is not yet born).

Visit with friends. Ava really didn't want to be held by anyone but me or Jason as you can see. She is very shy and thankfully very attached to us already!

Life With Ava

2007-12-05T20:56:00.000-05:00

We are adjusting to life with Ava very well. It feels like we have been together so long...so much longer than a week! We can't imagine life without her! She is such a blessing from Jehovah!

First taste of applesauce.

She pulls herself up on EVERYTHING! We have to watch her every second!

Her new hat. Can she get any cuter?!

Her new walker ($5.00 on craigslist!)

She was so tired after a long day (Dr. visit and blood test) that she fell asleep eating her dinner.

Home at last

2007-12-03T11:57:00.000-05:00

We finally made it. It was a very long trip, but Ava did great. We fed her a bottle for takeoffs and landings, and her ears didn't seem to be an issue. She got a little fussy from Amsterdam to Boston, but she really did great. Amsterdam was wonderful too. They have baby rooms with cribs & dim lighting, so we spent our layover there, and Ava was able to crawl and play which I know she enjoyed. Here's a picture from the crib there:
Royal KLM and Northwest were fantastic. We had bassinet seats for both, and the flight attendants were great. We have a "First Flight" certificate from Northwest, and little airplane wings, and they even gave us a bottle of champagne! They really made our flights easier. We had a 2 hour delay in Boston, but that actually went ok (outside of the grouchiest TSA employees on earth). We were on the smallest plane I've ever been on - 1 seat on each side, no luggage overhead etc, but the pilot was very nice to us through the delay. Checkpoints in our airports were simple, but I think we have Ava's beautiful face to thank for that. The scanners weren't much of a problem as Ava carried no contraband:
My family met us in the airport, even with the delay (thank you!!) and Ava was a little overwhelmed. All the faces were looking at her and smiling and she just stared at them, like she wasn't sure quite what to do. The car seat was not her favorite, but she fell asleep just before we got home. She went to her crib and slept for about 4 hours:
All three of us are very tired, but we're doing ok and Ava seems to be adjusting well. Being home as a family is just incredible. The feeling kind of hit both of us late last night as we did some needed unpacking before going to bed. After all the time, paperwork, travel and frustration; we have our daughter, and it is better than we could have imagined.

Coming Home

2007-12-01T10:11:00.000-05:00

We are coming home tomorrow! We leave for the airport at 5:30am and will be home Sun. night. I'm sure we won't be posting for at least a few days after we return home.

Right now we are very tired. Jason still doesn't feel good and Ava has had an upset stomach too. Ava does not want to be put down at all when she doesn't feel good so I am very tired! She still gives us lots of smiles, squeals and noises though!

Here's a cute picture from today:

Another day in our adventure

2007-11-30T19:53:00.001-05:00

Our second night was a little bit more eventful. Ava woke up around 1 AM, and we gave her a bottle according to the schedule that she was on at the orphanage. Unfortunately, she didn’t want to go back to sleep once it was done. Instead, she wanted to play! Needless to say, we didn’t. It took about an hour to get her back to sleep. After that, she slept pretty good until about 6 AM, but Amber & I didn’t. Ava is showing us more and more of her personality too. Her cold has her a little grumpy at times, but she’ll go straight from crying over having her nose wiped to giggling and rolling her tongue in the same breath. She doesn’t seem to cry unless she’s really upset. Her appetite isn’t what we hoped either, but we think it’s probably just the cold.

We were able to take a little tour in Almaty today as well. We’ve discovered that while Ava doesn’t like being put in her snowsuit, she is tranquilized by it once it’s on. She got lots of smiles from people on the street today too. We went up into the mountains, which are quite beautiful and remind me of the Rockies, the way they start from nowhere and go straight up. There was an ice skating rink where speed skaters were practicing too. The 2008 Asian Olympics will be in Almaty, so that’s my guess as to the training. We went to the Park of the 28 Heroes, which had some massive statues of the aforementioned 28 heroes (stopped a tank on their own), and other war heroes from various battles. Statues are everywhere in Kazakhstan! We visited a 100 year old church and did some shopping as well. But in a city this size (1.75 million people), I’m sure there was a lot we didn’t see.

I wanted to add a little bit more about the Embassy. It was actually a very simple process. We filled out one more form once we got there, handed it in, paid for Ava’s visa, and then waited to be called. Once we were called, we talked to Jeff, and it took less than 10 minutes. He told us our paperwork looked good and was very friendly. He then handed us one packet that has all of the Kazakh documents relating to her adoption in Russian and English. Included in this are her medical history, original birth certificate, new birth certificate, adoption papers, and even the hand written letter written by her birth mother relinquishing her. It was odd looking at that form in particular. He also gave us a sealed packet to give to customs in the US when we first land at our port of entry. I think the only question we got was ‘how are you doing?’! Lola told us that though it’s easy for us, they are very picky about the paperwork that is supplied to them, so I guess the pre-work is very involved for our coordinators over here. Of course, there’s still more paperwork when we get home, but the fact that we can get home with our baby is fantastic.

Second Day Together!

2007-11-29T21:49:00.000-05:00

This is from yesterday...we didn't get around to posting it last night.

Everything is going great! We were a little worried about what and how much to feed her, are we doing something wrong, etc. but we are so happy to be with her now and are treasuring all the little moments with her. We feel like we know her better now (and she’s more comfortable with us) after a day and a half then all three weeks we were here before. Ava has really taken to us. I don’t know if it’s that she remembers us or she is enjoying all the love and attention. She has also become very attached to me and wants me to hold her a lot. If Jason has her she looks for me. She is so good natured. She was all smiles yesterday! She laughed and played and took a nap for us. We are trying to follow her eating/napping schedule as best we can. We also have a wall in the apartment that is all mirrors and there are mirrors in the bedroom (it’s a real “love shack” in here). You can slide one of the mirrors over to reveal the doorway to the bedroom. Ava loves the mirror, she looks at herself and laughs, squeals and moves her arms and toys in front of the mirror and just stares at the movement. She is fascinated by it! It really keeps her occupied!
There is no crib or playpen in the apartment so we were unsure as to where to put her last night. We decided it would be best to have her sleep in between us with the end of the bed blocked off and a blanket on the floor in case she did make it off the end of the bed. We also put her in her sleep sack so she was less likely to move around (although we found out later she can move and crawl in that fine). At about 9:00pm she fell asleep (in mommy’s arms) and then we all went to bed. She slept well and only woke up two times (one time I think she was just scared and then when it was bottle time) and fell back asleep quickly. She then slept until 6:00am. I thought she did pretty well considering. For her naps we fold a blanket on the floor in the living room and put her on that with a blanket or sheet on top of her. She loves the pacifier and I think it calms her. They give the babies pacifiers at the baby house so if you are adopting you may want to bring some for when you pick up your baby. We do feel stuck in the apartment because we want to make everything as calm as possible for Ava. But it’s not too bad. We’re still getting over jet lag also and Jason is still very tired…which means I get to hold Ava more! We tried giving her a bath last night in the sink, we had toys for her and the camera ready to take some cute pictures…it lasted about 2 minutes. After the initial curiosity she cried and cried until I quickly removed her. Jason bundled her up in a towel and she calmed right down. We felt bad though! Today we went to the Embassy. They gave us Ava’s passport and visa and they told us she will be an American Citizen when we touch down in Boston! We had Ava bundled up in her snowsuit and Jason was carrying her in the baby carrier. It was the cutest sight! We then went to the mall and ate in the food court. They had pizza, Baskin Robins and a Dunkin Donuts. They also had an ice skating rink in the middle of the mall. Ava has learned some new things like kneeling, sucking her thumb and waving. She is also much happier and smiley than she ever was at the baby house. She is really the sweetest baby and we are so in love!!

Julia and Oliver’s parents picked them up as well. Julia has gained 2 pounds! She’s so cute and pudgy! Ava and Oliver look about the same to me. Oliver is still stealing Ava’s toys and is as cute as ever. Ava is the same size as when we left. We will fatten her up though!

Reunited

2007-11-28T09:27:00.000-05:00

We have our Ava again, and it is wonderful. We got to Almaty at around 4:20 AM (flight from Frankfurt was delayed 4 hours), met Lola, got to our apartment around 5:30 AM, showered, and then tried to rest a bit. At about 8:20, we met the car downstairs, and sitting in the back seat was our Ava nicely bundled in her snowsuit. Amber quickly grabbed her, and it was just a wonderful moment that we’ve waited so long for. We gave her hugs and kisses and she was all smiles. It did seem like she remembered us – almost that she was surprised to see us!

We then went to the doctor’s office. They took her weight and height, a blood test for HIV, and then a general exam. The only problem is that she has a little head cold right now, so we’re going to try to help her feel as good as we can before the flight home. The pediatrician who brought her down on the train said she was perfect the whole way, staying quiet and very content for the 10 hour train ride. Hopefully she likes flying too. She’s been a lot more talkative so far than she was on our first trip, but other than that and being a little longer; she’s very much the same little girl we left – sweet, smart, and easy going. She still has only the one tooth, though it’s much more pronounced.

The apartment is pretty nice, though not exactly baby friendly. We have no crib, and there are a lot of low things for her to go for. The toilet is in its own room as is the shower with the only sink being in the kitchen, which is inconvenient to say the least. The décor again is a bit odd, just haphazard like Karaganda. The grocery store is a block and a half away, but it’s a long block, past their “White House” and uphill. Almaty has some really good architecture, and the drivers set a new standard for barely controlled lunacy.

Tomorrow at 3 we go to the US Embassy to finalize her US papers and get the US visa for her Kazakh passport. From what we’ve been told it’s a straightforward process, but it is all needed to get her to leave the country. She’s our child officially to Kazakhstan, now the US has to agree. According to our plan, after that Friday & Saturday will be leisurely days getting to know our baby and her getting to know us, then a long trip home with our Ava.

Internet access so far has been a little problematic, so I’m not sure how many updates we will have this trip, but here are a few new pictures:

New Ava Pictures

2007-11-25T14:23:00.000-05:00

"I heard Mommy and Daddy are coming to get me!"

Ava with her caregivers

We saw these new pictures yesterday on the Boykin's blog. One more day to go!

Two More Days!!

2007-11-24T13:02:00.000-05:00

Only two more days until we leave! We leave Mon. at 12:30pm and get to Almaty Wed. at 12:45am. We will be brought to our apartment and will get a couple hours of sleep (if we can) and then meet Ava at 7:00am Wed. morning!!

Traveling will not be fun but seeing Ava again and taking her with us will be wonderful!

More Pictures and Return Dates!

2007-11-15T13:20:00.000-05:00

We are leaving the 26th to go back and pick up Ava and we will be home on Dec. 2nd!

I also received two more pictures of our baby girl and here's what they said about her:

"Ava loves to cruise around in that scooter-she's fast! She usually greets us at the door when we come in- she's usually standing up in the big crib with a big smile on her face! We are giving her love and attention every day while you are away!"

Here are the pictures: She is with her friend Kyle who is being adopted by the above mentioned family.

Spies at the Baby House

2007-11-12T21:48:00.001-05:00

I am following two blogs from couples who are in Kazakhstan now at the same baby house Ava is from. They are both adopting babies from Ava's room too!! So of course I frantically e-mailed them hoping to get information and/or pictures from them. They both e-mailed me back and we have 3 new pictures of Ava since we left!! They (the couples not the caregivers) also said they are calling her Ava for us so she remembers her name. They said she is doing good, she seems healthy and happy! We are so thrilled to see her little face and know that she is well.
This is the link to one blog http://boykinfamilyadoption.spaces.live.com./ the other one is private.

This is what they said about her:

"Ava is doing wonderfully!! She smiles every time we come in, and lots of times she is standing on her own in the big crib in the play room. We always try to give her attention when we see her- it is so cute how she waves!"

"I do see Ava everyday and she is so beautiful. I recognized her the minute I saw her, and so did my husband. The last two evening visits Ava has come over to us while we were feeding Nick. I laugh and tell Brent that she wants to help us. She is very sociable and sweet. I always speak to her and call her Ava when I see her."

Here are the pictures:

Google Earth, etc.

2007-11-02T10:59:00.000-05:00

I thought some of you out there might find this interesting. I had a lot of fun looking at Kazakhstan with Google Earth before we went, and thought that perhaps some of you might like to see where exactly these places are. So first off, you need to have Google Earth installed. You can get it for free here.
Next, you can download these 3 "placemark" files to your computer.

First the Shapagat Orphanage.
Next the airport we flew in to. When we flew out, I saw 9 employees in the whole building, and ours was the only airplane there!!
Last, here is the apartment we stayed at.

Finally, in Google Earth, you can choose "File" then "Open", then open each of the 3 files above. Google Earth will show you the locations. Enjoy! Around the apartment in particular there are a lot of pictures of the region including buildings and the street we stayed on.
Our travel time from apartment to home on our return trip was 40 hours! I had thought I would be accomplishing a lot more at home after the return, but this jet lag isn't fun. Oddly I didn't notice any jet lag on the trip out, but the return is another thing entirely. I hope our layovers on the way back on our second trip with Ava are much shorter.

We are Home!

2007-11-01T12:29:00.000-05:00

We made it safely home last night and into our nice soft bed! We are still tired but haven't been able to sleep that much...I guess it's jet lag. We are enjoying drinking from the faucet and showering again! We miss Ava, of course, but we know she is ours now and it's only a matter of weeks before we can go get her. We came home to a congratulations sign with balloons and framed pictures of Ava! It was so sweet! Thank you Lisa and Harm!! We can now see her little face when walking around the house.

We probably wont be posting much now that we're home but we will put updates when we find out more about the second trip.

Proud Parents!

2007-10-30T01:59:00.000-05:00

We went to court today, and we were approved!!!!! Ava is officially ours (technically she will be after the governments 15 day waiting period, but that’s just a formality) and we are thrilled. The most beautiful little person I could ever have imagined will be home with us in 3-4 weeks. She’s very excited to meet you all and to get to see her new home. It’s kind of a mixed emotion time for us right now. The official part is done and she’s ours which is wonderful, but we’re also only seeing her for a few more hours today and then we must leave, which is very sad. At least I hope we will leave. A rather dense fog has just settled on the city, so we’re all kind of hoping our flight to Almaty is ok.

-Jason

After court we had a party at the orphanage with our group, the translator, the director of the orphanage and the babies’ pediatrician. We had juices, meats (including horse meat), cheeses, cake, candies and tea. You can ask Jason about the horse meat…I couldn’t eat it! Anyway, it was very nice and we gave them gifts afterwards. We are truly grateful to all the people who have helped us get our Ava that we were happy to give them the gifts we brought. We have one more visit today at 4:00pm and then we have to say goodbye. We will bring lots of tissues with us. We also bring gifts for the caregivers and give them cakes to have on their breaks. We are so relieved to have court over and be officially Ava’s parents! What a strange feeling this is…we are no longer a couple we are now a family!

-Amber

Interesting Day

2007-10-29T00:09:00.000-05:00

Yesterday we had a wonderful visit with our Ava in the morning. She was smiling, playing, even squeaking a bit today. She is so intent on exploring everything in the room every day. If she sees other toys, she must check them out. If she sees other people come in, she watches them to make sure they are ok. But she still looks for us the most, and seems more and more relaxed with us each time we are with her. She also enjoyed shaking off little cups we put on her little head.

We are both very sad that there will only be 2 more visits with her before we start the trip home.

The interesting part of the day started at 3 when we had our meeting with the MOE. There were 2 people asking questions, the 2 of us, and our Coordinator in the room. The first question was “What is the air-speed velocity of an unladen swallow?” to which I asked, “What do you mean; an African swallow or a European swallow?” (this was not really asked - it is merely a meager attempt at being funny!) It all went downhill from there, but we still got the ok, or so we think. Actually, the questions were different for all 3 families, and some were a little surprising, but nothing too strange and we did ok. In fact, we didn’t realize it was over until Larissa told us that it was time to go. Apparently they tell you if they find something wrong or don’t like the answers, and we heard none of that, so our first meeting has been a success. Meeting 2, in court with a judge, will be Tuesday at 9 AM. Then we have a party at the orphanage (assuming all goes ok), another visit, a brief break, and then it’s on to the airport to begin the trip home.

One last thing is that the phone line in our apartment is no longer working correctly, so this may be the last update for a few days. That’s also why there are no pictures. Sorry!!!

Our Sleepy Ava

2007-10-27T10:20:00.001-05:00

Today we went to the baby house for our visit. They seem to be getting shorter every day. She did have a little tumble when she was pulling herself up on the chairs and cried for about a minute but I picked her up and she quickly stopped crying and wanted to play more. She is such a good natured baby! After she tired herself out playing she fell asleep in my arms. It was so sweet to see her little face so content and still. Although, she had to see what was going on in the room up until the very last minute before she fell asleep, that’s why she’s facing out. She has only fallen asleep for us twice, once for Jason and now for me. :)

After that, we went to the notary and signed about nine documents for court. Then we walked to the store, relaxed and went out to dinner at the Rainbow restaurant. They have an English menu, but only one, so five people had to share the menu. It worked out and the food was excellent. I had chicken with vegetables in a paper-thin omelet and rice, the seasonings were great. Jason had a beef dish with spices in a cream-type sauce and rice. We also ordered a $30 bottle of wine that tasted like it was worth about $5. Although, it did start to taste better the more we drank! Then, before we left two people started to sing on a small stage. It was Karaoke but they were obviously hired to sing. They were really good!
Here are some pictures from our visit with Ava.

A foreboding day

2007-10-26T06:48:00.000-05:00

The daredevil within Ava was unleashed today. It was a calm day, like most any other day. We sat on the small chairs in the playroom, Ava on my lap facing me. I was holding her sides and we were playing a little. Suddenly, she flung herself backwards and hung upside down off the end of my knees – and loved it. She would stay for a while, I’d pull her up, and then down she’d go again much to her delight and her mommy’s terror. She likes being upside down. My personal theory is that the extra blood to the brain, carrying extra oxygen, is going to make her even more intelligent than she already is.

As if that wasn’t enough, after pulling herself up on the little chairs, she proceeded to take a few little steps of her own, walking down the line of chairs in search of the camera. She made her way down, got the camera, and gave it a nice little bang like she does all her other toys. She even tried to pull herself up onto the chairs (no success fortunately). I am going to be doing nonstop baby proofing in between trips I think.

Today the little Ava wanted to play, crawl, climb, and explore until she tired herself out. Then she was very content to relax in her mother’s arms.

The thought of leaving her (which is 4 days away!) is getting even more unpleasant to think about. Hopefully we will only have a few weeks between though, and she will be home and meeting all of you soon.

After our visit this morning, we went to the museum we discovered on a long walk yesterday. The displays were in Russian and Kazakh mostly, but there were a few captions in English so we learned a little. It was a very interesting place though. I took a few pictures, then got yelled at, so we don’t have much to show for it except the few shots we got. Then we went to a place in the City Mall that serves brewed coffee!!! I got an espresso drink and was very very happy. We have no idea what Amber got, because it wasn’t what she ordered, but it was good too.

Lastly, our Ava discovered sticking her tongue out.

Not Much to Report

2007-10-25T09:38:00.000-05:00

Today was a holiday, Republic Day, so we did not have our visit with Ava. But because we had today off we get to visit her Sunday. We just hung around the apartment then went for a 2 hour walk. We decided to walk down some streets we hadn’t been on before. We found a museum that was closed and that’s about all. It started to snow and was very cold out. Then we got together with the other families and just relaxed for a couple of hours. That’s about all for today. Hope we will have a more interesting post for you tomorrow!

Happy Girl (And Parents)

2007-10-24T10:54:00.000-05:00

Ava was so happy today! She was all smiles most of the morning! We absolutely LOVED that!! Of course we couldn’t get many pictures of her smiling but we enjoyed it! We dressed her in an ‘I love daddy’ shirt (we need an ‘I love mommy’ one next) and some blue pants!

We can change her but then we have to put her original clothes back on when we give her back. She is very squirmy but seems to like us fussing with her and changing her, if it doesn’t interfere with chewing on something. Her clothes she has on are usually cute though. We found out nap time is 11:00am and we can see her getting tired at that time, rubbing her eyes and yawning. We love the yawns! She also didn’t want to be put down, every time I put her down she whimpered until I picked her up again. I know I’m creating a monster! Also, today it is cold and snowing very lightly today. But it’s mostly melting as it hits the ground.

I wanted to respond to some comments also. Ava liked her snowsuit even though she was making a funny face in the picture. When I held her up in it, everyone was looking at her saying how cute she is and she loved that! She likes attention!! Heather, I wanted to tell you, I would buy the snowsuit for $16! That’s a deal. You can pack it in a space bag to save some space. I love the travel space bags! We brought some 6-9 month clothing and she fits in most good. Some things are a little big. She’s one of the smallest babies we saw. Most of the babies we were shown are probably wearing 9-12 or 12 month clothes.

Here is the video Jason promised. It’s from a few days ago. Look at how high the pants are! That outfit was way too big so they tucked the shirt in as you can see! She’s even cute in that though!

For those travelling soon

2007-10-24T02:19:00.000-05:00

So if you are coming to Karaganda soon here are some things that will hopefully be helpful. It is getting cold outside; you will want a hat, scarf, and gloves. It is warm in the apartments. Some have thermostats and valves on the radiators, but ours doesn’t. Windows regulate the temperature for us. The baby house is hot too, so prepare to be warm there. And they want you to take your shoes off, but if you bring slippers or crocs you can wear them inside. Food is good, and not real expensive, though nicer restaurants compare w/ American restaurants. Clothes and nice jewelry is expensive. We’ve been buying 8 liter jugs of bottled water for about $1.40 US and staying healthy doing so. It looks like the water and electricity issues are behind us now, but a small flashlight is not a bad idea, and you should be prepared for slightly brown hot water. We have been told that it’s just rust in the water though. Air Astana for flights from Almaty to Karaganda will charge you for checked baggage in excess of 44lb per person. I want to say the overage is about $1.50 per pound above that if I remember correctly. We paid.

Bring gifts from home if you can, as that type of thing is definitely cheaper there. Watches, wallets, costume jewelry, ect that you can get for $10-$15 are more like $20-$3o here! Baby clothes and toys are a lot more expensive, no sales racks here (where we are anyway)! We bought one long sleeve onesie for $10. Also, snow suits are about $40 and higher. If you are in an apartment, pretty much everything you need is walking distance… groceries, souvenirs, mall, restaurants, park, etc. As for hotels, we haven’t been able to get a lot of info on them. I guess there are 2 that people will stay at. One is kind of isolated, the other not so much, but we are fairly sure that you control your own heat there at least. Regular brand cleaning supplies (Tide laundry soap, ect.), toiletries (Old Spice deodorant, Pantene shampoo, ect), and soft TP, tissues and paper towels are easy to get at the grocery we went to, and for about the same price as home as well.

There are things you can’t get. Peanut butter for one. Things do change quickly and you have to just kind of roll with it. We didn’t expect our visits to be cut in half, but they were, and new families are experiencing the same thing so far. Most people will work with you if you don’t speak Russian, but practice charades, and get used to pointing and indicating quantities with your fingers. Also, a phrase book is wonderful for pointing to words and numbers. Be prepared for some people to be less than happy to be talking to foreigners. This has been the exception rather than the rule for us though. Some people just laugh, but most people are very nice – especially when you are buying from them. You will find a fair amount of people speak English somewhat though, and it is remarkable how wonderful that feels! Books, DVD’s, playing cards, are all good too, because the only thing we’ve found in English on TV is a brief CaspioNet Newscast from 9-10 AM And some music videos. Most channels are in Russian or overdubbed, and there are no subtitles.

Also, if you want to fit in here wear nice clothes! People dress nice here and most women have nice high heel boots and pretty coats, hats, gloves and scarves. We feel like bums walking around town because we brought more casual, comfortable clothes. Coats are very expensive here too so I would bring one if possible. And lastly, dial-up is slow (in case you’ve forgotten), and you use phone cards for it. The cost has been about $1.25/hour.

More Ava content - including a video - coming soon!

Fashion Show

2007-10-23T05:39:00.000-05:00

Yesterday we finished up shopping for the baby bag we need to leave for the escort who will bring Ava to Almaty to meet us on our second trip. They take them from Karaganda to Almaty via train, which is something like a 16 hour trip, so it’s about 2 days worth of clothes, plus a snowsuit that we have to pack. Fortunately Amber brought stuff from home, so we didn’t have to buy much. The baby clothes we found here aren’t real cheap. So today she got to try her modeling career. First, the snowsuit. She actually seemed to like it even though it’s a bit too big for her

Next we had to take her layers off to try on the next outfits, so here are her adorable little baby legs.

Next we have a nice yellow ensemble that was a very sweet gift from some very nice people. Ava liked it so much she decided to applaud herself.

Lastly we see a very cute pink outfit that her mother picked out for her. What a beauty.

She squirmed a little bit at being changed so much, but she did seem to enjoy the attention quite a bit too. It was a pretty quiet visit after the excitement of clothes. Her one tooth is coming in very well, and it looks like more will be here shortly. She actually took a few sort-of-steps while holding herself up on the small chairs in the room! All in the name of getting to a toy so she can hear the kind of noise it makes when you bang it on something. I am hoping I have a drummer in the family. We actually got a pretty nice shot of us with the other families we’ve been traveling with. So here’s Christine and Oliver (8 months), Jason & Ella (2 yrs - adopted last year), Amber and Ava, Rich, and Beth and Julia (almost 7 months).

What a smile

2007-10-22T04:19:00.000-05:00

Our little one had quite the smile today once we went in to her room this morning and she saw Amber. Then she looked for me, saw me, smiled again, and looked very contented. We had a nice visit with her, but she was a little tired. Apparently 11 AM is her normal nap time, so she was pretty calm. She was very happy to be held today. She refuses to fall asleep in the play room as there is just too much going on. I’ve decided that Oliver is her nemesis (or boyfriend). If he has a toy, she wants it and vice versa. They are from the same room, so they are familiar with each other and are only 2 weeks apart in age. Watching her interact with the other little ones is really cute. Her eyes still follow us around the room. It’s neat that in the brief minutes we have with her and with the normal chaos of the playroom, she still picks out her mommy and daddy quite well. Once we are both near her, she tends to look around more.

There were some new French families last week and a new Spanish family today. The new Spanish family adopted one of our favorite little guys from Ava’s room. He would always come over in his walker and watch us feed Ava. It is great to see all the babies finding their families. We found out today too that we won’t see Ava on Thursday, as it’s a holiday, but instead we get to see her on Sunday, so it evens out. It’s pretty hard to believe that in 8 days we’ll be in court and then boarding Air Astana for the start of our trip home.

The weather’s gotten a little colder with highs in the 40’s and it’s been overcast for a few days. We have been precipitation free except for a few sprinkles of rain, though the forecast is predicting snow. Perhaps the weathermen here are as bad as the weathermen at home? Time will tell. Despite the cold outside, our apartment is at a steady 80 degrees. The heat is on (city controlled steam radiators), and we can find no way of regulating it. So our windows are open as much as possible to keep it reasonable.

Here’s the Ava pictures…

That's Oliver reaching for the toy Ava has. Just another day of fun!!

Sunday in Kaz

2007-10-21T09:31:00.000-05:00

Today is our day without Ava. We were very lazy today, just read, slept, ate and watched TV until it was time to go to the circus at 3:30. The circus had acrobats, trapeze artists, animal shows and a clown. It was a lot of fun! It was nice to have something fun to do instead of sitting around the house. We went to dinner at a Turkish restaurant after and Jason got what he thought was beef but it was lamb and it was the worst lamb we’ve ever tried. He couldn’t eat it and he can eat just about anything! While I’m on the subject of food, we found mini pizzas at the store yesterday and they were really good. Also, the store has Lays potato chips, Coke, Pepsi, Sprite and Cadburys Chocolate. No ice cream at the store but they have street venders that sell Good-Humor type bars. Jason has had a few of the local beers and he thought they were pretty good.
Yesterday our visit with Ava went good but it was way to short as usual. She really is not smiley all the time; we just like to post those pictures because they are our favorites. She makes us work hard to get those laughs and smiles. Most of the time she wants to crawl, especially since she is good at it now. Also, she wants to play with the toys we bring and find things to pull herself up on. She does like us to walk around holding her too, which we love, of course.
We also wanted to thank everyone for the wonderful comments, we love to check the blog to see if we’ve gotten more! It makes us happy to know that people are following along in this adventure with us! Here are a few pictures from yesterdays visit.

Our precious little visits

2007-10-20T00:07:00.000-05:00

So when we arrive at the baby house and make our way to Ava’s room, we usually find her in a big play crib or in a walker. She sees whichever one of us walks in first (we try to take turns), then looks over our shoulder for the other one of us, and then gets this ‘they’re back again?!’ sort of look on her face, then we pick her up and she is all smiles. I really wish we had the 2 visits a day as I think she would get to know us better, but hopefully this will make our few weeks away from her less traumatic. The other families we are with adopted from Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan before so they’ve been very helpful to us new parents. They say that the babies really start to bond when you get them out of the orphanage and you are their sole caretaker since they’ve never seen one person for that long of a stretch before. The 30 hour trip home helps especially.

Since we only have the one visit, we have a lot of downtime now. We spend our days wandering the streets of Karaganda, taking it all in. When we’re at the apartment we read, watch TV in a foreign language, or watch DVD’s (though we’ve only watched two so far). Dishes, laundry, and grocery shopping all take up time too. It seems like we are both sleeping more too, perhaps just because we can, or maybe just because we’re bored.

We found out today that the gifts we bought for a lot of the people we are helping here were good. They got the stamp of approval which is a big relief. We also found out a little bit more about our court date. We will go to court on the 30^th and the local Ministry of Education a few days before, and get interviewed by both to make it official. We’ve been told the court visit should only take 15 minutes or so, and the MOE about the same I think. I found out a little bit more about what we have to talk about too. Things like why we are adopting, do I make enough money, do we own a house, will Ava have her own room etc. will be asked. Then Larissa said that we were an ‘easy case’, not much to worry about, which made us both feel a lot better. I guess families that have a lot of kids already, or don’t own a house have to answer more questions. As long as they don’t look at Shawn’s comments on the blog, we should be fine.

The other day we went around the corner from our apartment to the central park of the city, which was HUGE, complete with a pond, amusement park rides, little kid play houses, and interesting statues. It was very nice and a lot of people were walking around and enjoying the day, complete with their coats on in the 65 degree weather. I got some strange looks for not having a jacket on and (gasp) a short sleeve shirt! We took about 100 pictures in the park alone.

Today we will go grocery shopping, rest, spend our precious 2 hours with Ava, eat dinner and call it a day. Here’s some more Ava pictures from yesterdays visit.

Our Life in Kazakhstan

2007-10-19T00:39:00.000-05:00

We are really looking forward to having Ava with us full time! We are with her so little, then we have to share her with each other too! She really likes to be held but when we hold her she looks around at everything instead of us. There is usually a lot of noise and activity in the room for her to watch though. I think she feels secure when we hold her. Sometimes she crawls over to me, puts her little hand on my leg and looks up at me and when I pick her up she smiles. She already knows how to get what she wants! We also discovered that she is ticklish on her sides. She laughed so hard when I tickled her! We also noticed she has a little dimple on her cheek when she smiles really big.
As Jason said we’ve had power outages. Yesterday it was out for about 5 hours. There’s not much to do here as it is but when the powers out there’s even less. We ended up walking for a few hours and looking in shops along the way. We found an adorable traditional dress for Ava. We had to buy it!
The heat is now on for the city, our apartment doesn’t have a thermostat so it is very hot! We have to open up windows because it is that warm. I guess we didn’t need to pack the long-underwear.
Last night we went out to dinner at a place called Johnny Walker’s Pub. The waitresses were dressed in kilts and matching hats. They had American food and an English menu. The English was written funny and spelled wrong but at least we knew what we were ordering. The food was great, I got pizza and Jason got T-bon (that’s the way it was spelled) steak with French fries. I even liked his steak and I’m not a big steak eater! After dinner we walked home and in our courtyard behind the building there were men dressed in military-like outfits patrolling the area. I’m guessing they must do this every night. We were talking and laughing and one guard came up to us and started saying something in Russian. We tried saying we don’t understand in Russian (the one phrase we actually know) and he kept on saying something in Russian. Then he held out his hand and realized he was saying tenge (Kazak currency) and dollar! We just kept on saying we don’t understand even though we did at that point! We acted dumb and he finally looked annoyed and walked away. I can’t believe that he thought we would just hand him money like that!
One more thing: Tazsa, I wanted to tell you that Jason probably isn’t going to allow any boys near Ava for at least 30years! Sorry Noah!

Ava and her friends Julia and Oliver

The Dress we bought

Notice what she is wearing? A Bambi outfit!!
Ticklish Girl!

See the dimple?

More from the Central Asia Standard Time Zone

2007-10-18T09:58:00.000-05:00

Sorry this post took so long. We’ve had electricity and internet access issues… Here’s a shot at a few more Ava pictures since blogger wouldn't work last time.

When we got there yesterday the caretakers seemed to be upset with us and the other families we are with for not being there in the morning. Apparently it never got relayed to them that they cut our visits in half. We were all hoping that they would let us go back to the twice a day visits, but sadly they didn’t. At least the caretakers know why now. Ava also had a little bump on her head from taking a fall in the crib. I guess she was pulling herself up in her crib, took a tumble and hit her head on a rail. It didn’t seem to be bothering her though, which is good. She got her passport pictures taken today too! It kind of makes it a little more real that soon she will be all ours and back home with the largest extended family ever. I keep wondering what her personality will be like. She’s a very determined and persistent little girl already, but she’s also very even tempered. She’s perfect in every way.

The weather has been great. It’s been sunny every day but one, with temperatures in the 50’s. It had to be in the 60’s the last few days. Everybody still wears coats and jackets though, and the babies that we see on the street look to be covered in 8-10 inches of padding in the form of snowsuits, mittens, hats, scarves, etc regardless of the temperature. I guess they got some snow and freezing rain a few weeks ago, but so far so good for us. We still have a while to go though. Apparently it gets to -30 C in the winter too. I am glad we aren’t here in January!

The food is actually really good. Most is comparable and their juice, milk, and corn flakes are much better than the US. In fact all of the families agree on this. I’ve really enjoyed everything I’ve eaten. Shocking isn’t it? Feel free to make food related jokes at my expense. They have these little meat pies that are phylo dough with meat, chicken, or veggies inside. There is a little stand in front of our apt that sells them, and though they laugh at my Russian, they sell them to us and they are delicious. Two for less than a dollar! I also had beef stroganoff for dinner the other night at a restaurant, and it was awesome. Their salads aren’t particularly lettuce based – more a mixed vegetable thing. We bought some of what we thought was spinach, but it turned out to be very bitter greens. No horse meat yet, but I’ve been promised the opportunity to try some.

We even have a cleaning lady and her name isn’t Amber (HAHAHAHAHA). Thanks, I’ll be here all week. Her name is Luta and she comes on Tuesday and Saturday. I will say that my little Rough Guide Russian Phrasebook has been extremely helpful. Along with the pronunciations of words, it has them written in Russian too, which lets me just point at a page and let them point back or read what I mean. Also, when the store clerks see me fingering through it, I think it gives them a chance to figure out how to talk to the Americans.

We can’t believe we’ve been here a week already and have 2 more weeks to go!

Sorry to Keep the Fans Waiting!!

2007-10-16T21:01:00.000-05:00

I know the Ava fans are anxious! But our visits are at 4pm-6pm and we were just tired when we got home! Sorry! No we don’t get longer visits, just two hour a day. Ava was feeling better today, her nose wasn’t as red and she was more active. Jason thinks we have a tomboy on our hands because she loves loud toys and she played with a little ball today. So I think I’ll have to dress her up now while I have the chance! We fed her (rice cereal & apple juice) this afternoon so of course she ended up wet from drinking out of a cup! So when we got her back to the play room I took off her outer shirt and we got to see her cute arms! We are seeing our baby one piece at a time! Her elbows have little dimples! So cute!! Then they gave us another shirt to put on her. You would never know it's about 80 degrees in there by the way the babies dress! I can't post any pictures because Blogger isn't letting me upload them!! I guess I'll try later.

Baby News

2007-10-15T09:07:00.000-05:00

Today we found out that we only get to have one visit a day with Ava instead of two from now on. There are a lot of other families that are coming in and the orphanage doesn't have enough room for everyone to have two visits a day. We are very sad about this but maybe it's better that she doesn't get too attached to us before we have to leave. We are very attached to her though, so it's going to be hard!!
On a happier note, Ava cut her first tooth today!! We were so excited to see a tiny bit of white tooth on her bottom gums! She was drooling much more today because of it.
The other amazing thing she did was, she pulled herself up to standing by holding on to a kid size chair! All by herself too! We were clearly awed by her talents! She is very strong for being so small!
Today's visits were kind of laid back with her. She still has a cold and her nose was more red today. Also, since she is teething she wasn't as active. Also, the play room is so hot and they dress the babies in at least two layers, sometimes three with thick booties. Ava was sweating so much her head was wet! Jason was blowing on her head to cool her off and she loved it! I'll put the picture below.
We walked to some souvenir shops this afternoon and we wanted to buy everything! We are going to bring back some nice things, especially for Ava. Then we went out to dinner at the same restaurant as before.
That's about all for today.

First Tooth

Clapping!

Crawling!

Standing on her own!

I love her neck rolls!

One Smart Baby

2007-10-14T11:03:00.000-05:00

I wanted to brag about Ava’s development. The day we first met her we tried to sit her up but she couldn’t sit on her own for more than 2 seconds without toppling over. Now she is sitting up for over 10 seconds at a time! Also, she was just scooting, trying to crawl when we met her and now she is really crawling! Also, I was clapping her little hands together yesterday and when stopped she kept on clapping by herself. She looked at her hands in amazement. It was so cute! Also, she was on the floor in front of me and wanted to be picked up but I waited to see what she would do and she climbed up on me! She pulled herself up almost all the way (then I helped some). See the pictures of her on top of me for evidence! We will have more pictures tomorrow!

I wanted to respond to Debbie and Harm’s comment. We can’t believe she wasn’t taken before either, but we know she was meant to be ours! We did meet the babies together with two other families. They brought the babies in for everyone to see. When I first saw Ava I thought she was so pretty and sweet that I absolutely hogged her. The other families looked at her also but we spent the most time with her, I didn’t want anyone else to want her! We also held the twins and a few other babies but I knew she was the one right away! It seems like each baby is with the perfect parents for them! The other Spanish families have been here for a month and their babies are perfect for them too. All of them are loved to pieces!

A little more about Karaganda

2007-10-14T06:11:00.001-05:00

So first to respond to some comments. The orphanage we are in is named Shapagat. This is the Kazakh name for the Mylutka orphanage. Mylutka is the Russian name for it. I’m sure I’m butchering the spelling, though. Ava’s middle name is pronounced uh-seel in case you are curious. Also, we’ve deleted a few comments that had our last name in it. As hard as it is to believe with all the info we’re posting, we are trying to maintain a little bit of anonymity. So please don’t be offended if your post got the axe. Olga verified for me we are in a good neighborhood, in almost the center of town. In fact she said that there is really only one district where you wouldn’t want to walk at night. The other 2 American families we came with are in the same cluster of buildings that we are in, and I believe the 3 Spanish families are too. Our clothes dryer doesn’t so much dry the clothes as it does make it really hot and wet, so we have clothes hanging out to dry like a regular Kazakh family.

The baby house itself is wonderful. It is amazingly clean. The room that Ava is in has 10 cribs, an attached little kitchen, a bathroom with 4 or 5 sinks, and an attached playroom. We always see at least 2 caregivers in there, who seem to truly care about the babies. There are at least 6 other clusters of rooms that have a similar set up with groups of babies or toddlers. They don’t have children older than 5. At that age they go to another orphanage until they are 16 or 17. There is clean laundry drying everywhere, but I imagine that helps them maintain the high standard of cleanliness. You smell no dirty diapers anywhere. It’s almost odorless except for baby wipes and food (when it’s cooking). The standard of care they get there is excellent and helps us feel a little better about leaving her for a few weeks (though I’m already dreading that day). One day when we went to our play room, there was a group of kids from 2-4ish leaving the room. They were all so beautiful. I wish we could take all of them home. They all seemed happy though, which was nice. I really cannot say enough good things about the baby house. They do maintain a wonderful standard of care.

We’ve fed our Ava 4 times now. She gets a big bowl of baby rice cereal with little bits of bread mixed in at times. Then she gets formula or tea that seems to have honey or sugar in it. She loves to eat. We’re getting better at helping her too. I think she eats faster than me! And with the tea she drinks, she’s already imitating her daddy’s caffeine addiction.

We got some tepid water today in the shower. It was clear too! It was very exciting. I already miss taking a hot shower. I think the best we will do is a warm one. The shower isn’t really a shower either. It is a tub with a hand held sprayer, with very minimal water pressure. Attempting to wash up is quite the arduous and chilly task.

The heat still isn’t on, but we have a little electric radiant space heater, and the apartment has actually stayed pretty warm. Yesterday I videoed the drive to the baby house, as well as us going to Ava’s room, and then taped the drive back. The driver actually drove more reservedly than he had been though. No near death experiences to record at all. I think he was doing it so I could get steadier film. His name is Kairat and he’s a very nice guy and has even helped me with some of my Russian. After recording, Amber and I were wondering if anyone else is going to find things like the drive as interesting as we do. I’m sure Ava will when she gets older though, and that’s who this is all about.

Then today since we can’t see our Ava (much sadness), we went sightseeing. We actually went all around the city and took about 175 pictures. We went to Maternity House #2 where Ava and Julia were born, and then to Maternity House #4 where Oliver was born. Here’s Ava’s birthplace.

We also saw from a distance the coal mines and a coal factory where they generate the heat and electricity for the city. It was a little hazy so we didn’t get great pictures. We got pictures of their football (soccer) stadium, and we stopped at a Mosque and a Russian Orthodox Church. We then stopped at a Muslim cemetery which was very different from your ordinary American fare. Each structure you see is for a person or 2. The headstones are very ornate, with pictures etched in stone of the deceased; the vegetation is very overgrown and the roads are unmaintained, but some of the structures are made entirely of granite or marble.

We then went to what Olga called the ‘fake lake’. It is a lake on the edge of the city which is actually a filled in coal strip mine. If I understood right, they use it for their steam heat. Most of their water comes from underground aquifers as it is very dry here.

Sorry for the low Ava content of my post. Amber will be doing one of these later, and I’m just trying to keep my mind off of my baby since I can’t see her today.

More from Karaganda

2007-10-13T09:05:00.000-05:00

Thank you for all the comments! We know our little girl is so loved already! Today I told her about her friends and family. She listened while chewing on her toy. I think she is going to be quite happy to meet you all! We are not going to have any visits tomorrow. They don’t allow visits on Sunday. We are feeling sad but we are going sight seeing with the other families and our translator. It will be nice to see some more of Ava’s birth country so we have something to tell her when she’s older. Actually it’s not too much different than home, people dress similar and act similar. Of course the language is different but it really doesn’t feel like we are halfway around the world! One thing that is difficult is not being able to drink the water. Also, I wash the dishes and then rinse them in boiled water just to be safe. To all those waiting to travel I recommend bringing powdered Gatorade packets, wet wipes for washing up when traveling and any favorite foods. They have a lot of similar foods as home but you may not be able to read the labels! Sleeping pills might be a good idea too!
Here are some more pictures of our sweetheart!

Ava Ava Ava Ava Ava

2007-10-13T01:57:00.000-05:00

Amber mentioned a video, so here it is. It’s a Windows media file, so I hope you all can see it. The little giggles you hear are hers. She is even cuter and sweeter in person (of course!).

The last 2 days we’ve had no hot water. Apparently that is controlled by the city. The city also controls everyone’s heat. According to Olga, when they are turning the heat on (which they are doing right now), you lose hot water for anything from half a day to a couple of days. Looks like we are hitting the 2 day mark. We think that’s why the water was brown too, though we’ll find out when the water comes back on. The last 2 nights we’ve lost power, and when they lose power, EVERYTHING is black. I’ve been asleep both times, but according to Richard and Amber it’s just total darkness. The only light we had was the light from the laptop screen.

Someone had asked if we are in a good neighborhood in one of the comments (yes, we are reading them all, and thank you!), and I would say that we are. There are some other apartment buildings we’ve seen that look nowhere near as nice as this one on the outside, but it’s hard to say. We really have no idea about crime in general in Karaganda, but I’ll ask Olga today. Every time she looks at me she says, “Questions?” I guess I just look like I’m about to ask her something which I usually am. I find the area fascinating. So here are some more things I’ve learned.

The mall that has the grocery store we’ve been going to has a currency exchanger right inside where they will exchange dollars, rubles, tenge, euro’s, pounds, etc. for each other. I’ve been changing dollars for tenge, but I saw a guy go in and come out with a large bundle of dollars, and found that odd. I guess that though people get paid in tenge and everything day to day is in tenge, people save money in dollars or euro’s at their banks, you buy cars and apartments in dollars, and due to the proximity to Russia / China there is a fair amount of that currency around too. It’s not just for us adoptive parents :). They have quite the global economy.

Kazakh has become the official language here as well, though everyone we’ve talked to speaks Russian. They all describe Kazakh as a very complicated language, 42 character alphabet, odd pronunciations, etc. I have the problem that everybody tries talking to me in Russian. I guess I look like I fit in. So I’m glad I learned how to say “I don’t understand Russian” in Russian. Very helpful. If you want to fit in, dress nice, walk purposefully, and don’t smile unless you are talking to someone else. It’s actually interesting watching reactions when I tell them I don't understand. Some find it amusing, some seem annoyed.

In the apartment we have this little front-loading washing machine that has a dryer built in too. It’s been very useful to have! The apartment itself has 2 doors on the entry. The outer one locks with this 5 bolt mechanism that probably goes 3 inches into the wall! It reminds me of a bank vault type of lock. The inner just has a dead bolt. Most TV is in Russian, with a fair amount of American stuff overdubbed in Russian. I watched some of “Scrubs” yesterday in Russian. They have the North American Sports Network as well, so I’ve seen some college football as well as some NHL and MLB. No Sports Center sadly. The music on the radio is a mix of Russian and American. We heard Brittney Spears, Ricky Martin, and even a hip-hop version of a Pink Floyd song.

Driving is an experience! Everyone has the right of way. Cars zoom around each other with apparent disregard for anything else on the road, including people! Pedestrians likewise just walk across the road taking their time, with cars coming within inches of them. Our drivers have been very nice, but they speak no English, so interaction has been minimal. If you are coming over, just be prepared to muffle your yelps of fear while riding along.

That’s it for the Karaganda update. My baby girl fell asleep in my arms for the first time today. I am putty.

For all you Ava Fans

2007-10-12T10:39:00.000-05:00

Play Room

She holds on tightly to Jason's shirt every time he holds her.

See the picture she's chewing on!! She loves her Grandma and Grandpa already!

Door to our apartment building

We had two great visits today. Ava is getting to know us better each time we visit. When we get to the baby house we take off our shoes, go to her room where she sleeps and bring her to the bigger “play room”. When we picked her up today she looked so happy to see us! All the families get their babies and bring them to the same spot. There are three Spanish families here also. There are throw blankets to put on the floor of the play room and two arm chairs. We will usually sit on the floor and put her toys down on the blanket for her. We also walk around and cuddle with her. She’s getting more comfortable with us and “talking” and smiling more. We also figured out ways to make her laugh, like kissing her neck! She has the cutest toothless laugh! She has a couple of teeth about to come in on the bottom. We can’t see them but can feel them. She likes to chew on everything also. We gave her the baby picture book and she did look at the pictures but really just wanted to chew on it. She has a little cold and a runny nose. Between teething and her cold you would think she’d be miserable but she was so happy and calm. We did hear a few whimpers when we put her down and she quickly learned that whimpers/cry’s get mommy or daddy to pick her up! She whimpers and the second we pick her up she laughs or smiles! She’s already a little manipulator!! We think it’s so cute!! But I’m sure we won’t think it’s so cute later on when we want her to sleep!

Our morning visit is at 10:00-12:00 and afternoon is 4:00-6:00. We usually just get up in the morning, eat and get ready to go. Then in between visits we eat lunch and look at all the pictures and videos we took that morning. Though today I took a nap and Jason walked to the store. The store is 5 min walk away! Then after our afternoon visit we are tired! We have also been posting on the blog, writing e-mail and looking through pictures in the evenings. I’ve made dinner a couple times (didn’t come out too good last night) and tonight we went out to eat. We walked to the restaurant. It was about 5 min away too. I had chicken with nut sauce, rice, cabbage and salad from the bar. The salad bar had dishes with vegetables, beans, croutons, fresh herbs and dressing on a counter. Jason had schnitzel (which was just basically a bun-less hamburger) potatoes, cabbage and salad. He also tried a local beer made in Karaganda. Everything was very good! We are planning on going back for desserts some afternoon because we were just to full to have any tonight.

Karaganda is much different than we expected. It is a very big city of over 600,000 people. Cars are very nice, Mercedes and BMW’s everywhere. People also dress very nice. It doesn’t seem as destitute as we thought it would be. Food at the grocery store costs about the same as home. Dinner was about $30.00. We also had to buy diapers for Ava and a pack of 64 pampers were about $19.00.

We will try to post a video tomorrow!

A few more pictures...

2007-10-11T22:05:00.000-05:00

Hopefully this slide show will work. Dial-up is tough with a lot of pictures!

Presenting our daughter

2007-10-11T09:49:00.000-05:00

So here she is, Ava Aceil.

She came into the world on February 1^st, 2007 weighing 6lb 4oz. She met her parents on October 10^th, 2007 weighing about 15lbs and is almost 26 inches tall. She was the second baby brought in, Amber said, “Awww”, immediately went up to hold her and we were essentially done at that point. We looked at the other babies, and played with them, but she had both of our hearts from the start. Aceil is her original name and we wanted to keep it as a middle name. Several of you picked up on the mention of twins in the earlier post, but unfortunately they just had too many health issues.

Now to the good stuff. Ava is, as you can see, adorable. She watches everything around her very intently. She’s fairly quiet, but quite the eater as seen here.

They gave us a full size spoon, and a bowl FULL of food. Olga (our translator), had us wedge the bowl right under her chin and start shoveling. At that point her chin was in her bowl of food. Olga said to feed her fast, because that’s how she is used to it. And eat fast she did. She cleaned out the bowl in no time. She even tried to take the spoon out of Ambers hand to feed herself faster. We may need bigger spoons! Naturally, the approach of a full size spoon into a baby sized mouth, controlled by baby sized hands had its downfalls. We were laughing so hard it was tough to keep up with the pace of feeding. Beth came over and took some pictures, as she and her husband found it pretty funny too. She then drank her formula straight from a cup! They said ‘she’s a big girl now’. I guess they take most of them off bottles at around 6-7 months old. If Amber is holding her she looks for me, if I’m holding her she looks for Amber. It’s the sweetest thing I’ve ever seen (yes, I am a new dad talking about my little girl). She is fond of posing for the camera as well. I will dissuade her from the modeling career.
She’s not a big crawler, though she does ok. She prefers to stand and likes taking steps with help. She even pulls herself up in her crib! According to the orphanage doctor, she’s the only one in her group that does that. So this one isn’t just a proud papa talking, it’s a proud pediatrician too. She giggles a bit though she’s not very noisy. Her only little cry was when she got her diaper changed. They said she’s very quiet but sweet, and when we told the doctor we were adopting her, I got a nod, a smile and a thumbs up; kind of like she was saying ‘good choice’. We think so too. Really quite a bit. Really quite a lot in fact. We love our little baby girl and know you all will too when you meet her (YOU BETTER!). We’re so glad to be beyond the “Baby B" phase and to have a name and a face. Here’s one more picture of Ava being held by her mommy.
And for equality sake, here is a picture of Ava and daddy. Clearly you can see she adores me.

And for some final miscellany… Kazakh sausage tastes like salami, tenge (currency) is very pretty money, showering in brown water really isn’t so bad, chocolate butter is yummy, there’s nothing on TV in Kazakhstan either, if all goes well in court etc you will all get to meet her around the end of November, and go Cleveland.

An update designed to torture you

2007-10-11T02:48:00.000-05:00

We made it to Karaganda. It's a pretty neat city. Our apartment is nice, and the food is actually quite good - we've only gone to the grocery store and cooked it ourselves. The flights were all great too. Aside from having to pay a fee for too much weight in our checked luggage on the flight from Almaty to Karaganda (I won't tell you it’s Ambers fault), really nothing has gone wrong! We are here with a couple (the Cruz's) from Arizona, and a single mom from Utah with her daughter she adopted from Karaganda last year (the Richards) and a friend. We're still running on very little sleep, but a bed sure beats an economy class airplane seat or a bench in an airport. We've been to the orphanage twice, and there will be baby pictures soon, we just don't want to post anything until it's official. Here are a couple pictures of the apartment - Jason

Living room:

Bathroom:

Hallway to the apt

This has been quite an experience so far! I only slept about 5 hours since Monday until last night and Jason not more than 3! We also were without showers for over 2 days, not pretty! Our apartment building looks very run down, dirty from the outside. The hallway inside is even worse. We were a little nervous when they brought us in but our apartment is very nice! We will try to post pictures. Jason is happy because he can still watch American football, it's just has voice over’s in Russian. We are eating very well, too well! I thought I would lose weight being here but now I'm not so sure! The store has coffee and lots of chocolate and sweets. We were told there wouldn't be coffee here but there is! The store also has tons of juice, a whole isle of just juice. The meat is mainly pork and red meat; we found just a few chickens at the store. People dress similar to home. The women all wear high heels though, even with pants/jeans.

The weather is nice, it's cold at night but sunny and warm during the day. Just a sweater is fine most of the day. We went to the baby house yesterday, after all this time it was hard to believe that we were actually there. It was surreal. We all went into a big room and sat on the floor or tiny sized chairs and waited for them to bring in the babies. They started bringing them in and they said their names and how old they were. They then either gave them to someone or put them down on the floor. The babies were all crawling, rolling, playing with toys and squirming around. It was a little overwhelming! They are all so beautiful! It really is so strange to have to choose your baby like that. However we have chosen our baby and we love our child already!!

As Jason said we will post about that later. I feel so mean, making you all wait!! -Amber

We're in Kazakhstan

2007-10-09T15:26:00.000-05:00

So we're in Kaz, sitting in the Almaty airport at 2:30 AM local time because the nearby hotels are booked. Flight to Karaganda is in about 5 hours, so we still have some time to kill. But we are both very excited! Laptop battery is near death... more to come later...

Packing and other joys

2007-10-05T18:44:00.000-05:00

As I sit here, lazily typing while falling asleep at 8:00 PM, I find myself reflecting on the chaos of the past week. Well, mostly chaos for Amber. She ran all over the place picking up the rest of our updated documents, getting them apostilled, trying to pack, taking care of an ill little doggy (just a ploy for attention as he knows we're going somewhere), getting updated pictures developed, buying clothes (never give a woman an excuse to buy clothes), and in general getting lots of stuff done. I tried to make as many calls, send as many emails, and do as much as I could do from work while still accomplishing whatever I could before I take 4 weeks off of work (I've got a great boss).
So now, paperwork is done and it's time to get things packed. This is not fun. Carry on bags can't be more than 18 lbs each (WE ONLY GET 1 EACH!), and checked can't weigh more than 50. There's also size restrictions too. So Amber's now swapping things around from bag to bag to make it fit. And of course we are trying to pack "light" despite the fact that we'll be on the other side of the planet for 3 weeks. The next few days we'll keep packing, organizing, double checking things, and trying to not stress too much, and then we drive down to JFK on Monday! Скоро мы встретим нашего ребенка!

What happens next?

2007-09-30T13:15:00.000-05:00

That seems to be the most common question we are hearing these days, so here goes. As Amber said, our plan is leave on the 8th. That still could change, because we still have to get our visas completed and our passports sent back to us by a visa expediting company (Thank you Connie!). Once we have them, and a few more confirmations go around the world to Kaz & back, we'll be all set. We should know for sure in a few days.
Next (as it stands now), on the 8th we'll drive down to JFK (or get a ride), fly across the Atlantic, land in Germany for a few hours (quite a few actually, and Frankfurt if you're curious), fly across the rest of Europe & a chunk of Asia to Almaty, rest up a bit (hopefully in a hotel room), meet one of our coordinators, be given the tickets for a flight from Almaty to Kaz (no idea really how long this is, I'm guessing a few hours), make the flight (this is now the 10th), meet another coordinator in Kaz, drive w/ another couple to the orphanage (they are actually called baby houses), meet the babies, and try to make our choice!
Deep Breath...
Now, we pick out our baby (which I am looking forward to and terrified of at the same time), and spend 22 days in Kaz, spending 4 hours a day (2 on Sunday) with our baby, while people in the background get paperwork and everything else processed to make this all official. We have a short court date before we come home, then Amber & I will return, get everything else done at home that we need to for a few weeks (2-4 I think), then we fly back to Almaty, pick up our baby, do some more paperwork & stuff (stuff is the technical term for I have no idea), and come home as a family. The second trip should be only a few days over there, so it'll be pretty hectic.
I've signed us up for a web slide show thing, so as long as everything continues as planned, there should be plenty of pictures by the middle of next week!!!!!!! It still feels a little surreal, but I think once we actually get on the plane, it will hit me.

We have our LOI

2007-09-29T11:27:00.000-05:00

Just heard word that we have our Letter Of Invitation! We also put tickets on hold for the 8th!

Only 9 more days!

FINALLY! We are going to meet our baby!!

2007-09-28T14:16:00.000-05:00

We should be leaving on October 8th or 9th!! We have our final approval and our LOI is on its way. The region is open and we should be one of the first families there! There will be many babies available too since no one has been to Karaganda months. This feels so unreal. I have lists and sticky notes everywhere! I am busy packing, organizing, cleaning the house and of course calling everyone in the family! We are so happy and excited! I can hardly sleep and you know I like to sleep! We could have the baby home by the first or second week in December!

About Kazakhstan

2007-08-27T10:07:00.000-05:00

Our agency informed us that Karaganda should be opening this week! We are happy but trying not to get our hopes up. We will be much happier when we hear something definite. We also have some paper work to redo but nothing major. Below are a few facts on Kazakhstan and some pictures. It is a very diverse and beautiful country.

Kazakhstan Flag

The population is 15.2 million

The capital city is Astana

The state language is Kazakh

Major religions are Islam and Orthodox

Still waiting

2007-08-13T10:50:00.000-05:00

We still have no news...no idea what's going on, etc...

Here's a quote from a family who adopted their daughter from Kaz, I thought it was fitting:

"We have more hurdles, including an intimidating court hearing, but we are already beginning to feel like parents. And that's the thing about adoption. It's just like having a kid the regular way, only not. Unlike biological childbirth, there is no such thing as an accidental adoption. No equivalent of the broken condom or "forgotten" diaphragm. This is a deliberate, always conscious, undertaking. I can't say that makes it better—I wouldn't wish the process on anyone—but it does bring with it a certain sense of clarity. Why exactly do you want a child? What price—in money and sweat and tears—are you willing to pay? My answer, prompted by the two most beautiful eyes I have ever seen, is: as much as it takes."

Their blog address is: http://www.slate.com/id/2132692/entry/2132693 if you want to check it out.

More Craziness

2007-07-05T21:32:00.000-05:00

We have just been told the process in the Almaty region has changed. Adoptive families are required to stay 3-7 weeks on their first trip, leave, then wait 4 weeks and return for their child or make THREE trips! Insanity!!
Anyway we are now probably going to wait for the Karaganda region to open up again so we do not have to make three trips to Kazakhstan. They are saying it should be soon. I feel like a liar though, everything I write changes as soon as I post it. Believe me , I wish I was making this stuff up!!Ha ha!
Thanks for the comments! You're all right~ We know we will end up with the baby we are meant to have even if it takes longer than we'd like. We know our baby is somewhere out there waiting, and we love and think about our baby all the time. And of course all of this waiting/frustration will be worth it in the end! Hopefully the end will be soon!

No Answers

2007-07-04T11:26:00.000-05:00

We tried again to get some answers from our agency about our situation, but they told us officials in Kaz are on vacation until July 18th and we will not know anything until they return. We have no idea how long we have to wait, where our dossier has to go or what the process is from here. We have had no answers to anything except that we are going to Almaty.

It's frustrating, to say the least, having NO control over your life.

We are learning patience however and that is a good thing. We will resume bugging our agency after the 18th!

The Saga Continues

2007-06-17T22:17:00.000-05:00

Well, we are switching regions, from Karaganda to Almaty. We were told we can adopt a baby under a year old from Almaty!!! We do want a young baby so they can get love and care from us as soon as possible and are not stuck in an orphanage longer than necessary!

Anyway, we are still on this roller coaster ride of international adoption! We know it will work out and we pray so much every day! The wait and disappointments can be very hard emotionally some days though. We are trying not to get our hopes up too high, even though we have good news, in case things change.

We hope to know more details soon.

*Check out the update on our baby's room!!*

Sad News

2007-06-11T10:41:00.000-05:00

Adoptions are on hold in Karaganda, the region (city) we are suppose to go to. We don't know if it will be a few months or a year before it will open up again. We are considering changing regions, which would mean more paper work and thousands of $$ more. The agency told us they are going to see what they can do for us. The other region they work in doesn't allow adoption of babies under a year old and we wanted a baby as young as possible. Right now we can't do anything but pray and wait. We are very disappointed.

Not quite there yet...

2007-05-25T08:56:00.000-05:00

Well, apparently there was some sort of mix up and we don't have our final approval yet. Our paperwork is still at the MOE. We haven't been rejected or anything, we just don't have our final approval after all. This would normally just mean a longer wait, and though this doesn't thrill us, there are apparently some other things going on in Karaganda going on that could complicate things. From what we hear, a different agency that works there hasn't been completing their post-placement reports. As a result, they are thinking about suspending adoptions there until this agency does what they should be doing. If this happens and we are still in the pipe, this would mean we have a much longer wait ahead of us.
There is still some hope though. Our coordinator is working hard to get us through, so we're still hopeful that we'll be going sooner rather than later. We'll keep you posted when we know more.

Final Approval

2007-05-17T12:16:00.000-05:00

We have been waiting so long (it seems) to hear that we have the final approval that I didn't think we would be very excited when we got it. You know how frustrating it is to wait and wait for something and then it comes and you are too depressed from waiting to feel overjoyed.

Well that didn't happen to us! We are overjoyed! The agency has applied for our Letter of Invitation and when they/we receive it they will tell us travel dates! Yippee!

Oh by the way, we miss hearing your comments! I know the blog is a little boring right now, until we get baby pics on it, but we like to know who is watching and waiting with us!

Baby Shower

2007-05-09T10:50:00.000-05:00

We were given a baby shower on Sunday. It was so wonderful to see how excited and happy everyone is for us. We were definitely "showered" with gifts! We could not see the floor in the babies room, the crib was full and the tops of all the dressers were covered when we brought the gifts in. In addition we have the bigger items, strollers, jumperoo, highchair, pack-n-play and more in the garage for now. It's hard to believe we are going to be parents in a few weeks! Our agency told us yesterday to start making plans to travel in the first two weeks of June! We are so thrilled and nervous thinking about how quickly June will be here!

News???

2007-05-04T21:32:00.001-05:00

Have you heard anything seems to be the words we hear the most these days, so I guess the answer is yes and no. Yes, we have heard things, but nothing super concrete. More like warm butter than concrete. Our agency thinks our paperwork is done, but they aren't 100% sure, so we can't say anything definitive. They have said that as far as they know there aren't any children available in the age range we're looking for right now, but they still think we'll be traveling sometime in June. So even though we have nothing really substantial, it's pretty exciting to think that we could be flying to the other side of the planet next month!

Update

2007-04-11T08:44:00.001-05:00

We were told by our agency that they are checking on the children available in the orphanage we are going to. They will let us know as soon as they find out from their coordinator in Kazakhstan. I don't think we'll know many details but it may give us a better idea of when we can travel.
We are getting more excited as we get closer to traveling. I am making lists of things to do and bring. I already have one bag packed. I think we will try to pack all our non-clothing and toiletry items soon. The agency says to pack a full two weeks in advance and then think about what you can remove or what you forgot to add. But we may not have a full two weeks when we are told we can travel, so we are starting early.

Registering

2007-04-11T07:58:00.000-05:00

Decisions, decisions... do we want the blue or yellow burp cloths? Bibs with ducks or bears? Black or brown diaper bag? This is going to be one spoiled baby!

We had so much fun registering. We registered at Target and Babies R Us. I can't believe the amount of stuff babies need! But, do we really need a wipe warmer or shopping cart cover?

Of course we do! :)

Getting Closer!!

2007-04-03T11:51:00.000-05:00

We have a tentative "due date"!

We just heard that our dossier is out of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and is now at the Ministry of Education as of yesterday! It will be there about a month and shortly thereafter we get our Letter of Invitation! Then it will may a couple of weeks to get tickets, visas and prepare to travel.

We could be parents in 6-8 weeks!!

(Jason thinks I use to many exclamation points on the blog, but I think this warrants it!!!!!!)

GREAT NEWS!! :)

2007-03-15T10:14:00.000-05:00

We finally have news!! Our dossier , which we thought was still in translation, has been out of translation, gone to the Embassy and is now in Kazakhstan at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs!!! Wow! We are so happy, I cried! After it gets approval it goes to the Ministry of Education and then we get our LOI (letter of invitation). We are not sure how long this will take but I will try to call the agency next week and find out (The guy we are working with is away). I think it will still be 2-3 months though. I will keep posting with updates.
After hearing this news I decided I better start baby-proofing the house! Our living room now looks bare! I didn't realize almost everything I have is glass (picture frames, candle holders, ect)!! Oh well, it will only be about 10 years before I can decorate again :)!

Anxiously Waiting

2007-02-20T23:06:00.000-05:00

There is not much to report right now but our time frame has changed a little. We were told by our agency to expect to travel about May-June. We had been hoping for mid April. That would've been a nice anniversary gift! The wait is very hard -much more so than I expected.
Also, our dossier has been in translation for a couple weeks now (it can take 4-6 weeks). We will be told when it goes to Kaz. and as it gets approved from the various offices.
Now we have more time to get things done around the house, learn Russian, sleep while we still can, ect...
Keep praying for us and our baby!

Our Baby's Room

2007-01-06T13:27:00.000-05:00

The room was painted with help from Dad, Dan and Amber. Also, we changed the blinds to cellular/cordless, and my mom and I cleared all the old furniture out and organized the closet. That was a fun week, our house was a disaster! I also painted a little chair and shelf to match the room and bought an area rug. Each week it's looking more like a baby's room.

We need curtains and other baby things, but we still have time. We should be getting a crib this month! The dressers are from my grandmother, they no longer needed them so they gave it to us. We also were given a glider/rocking chair! Everyone has been so generous! We're not sure if we're getting a boy or girl so this color scheme should accommodate both.

Uncle Dan, putting together the crib for us. He wouldn't let me see it until it was done :) but his wife took some pictures for me.

~~~ UPDATE 6/18/07: ~~~

Grandma decided that the baby needed a new crib ~and she bought us one! It is beautiful! It converts to a toddler bed, then full size bed. It is solid, doesn't move at all and is very safe and pretty! Here is a picture of it, with the beautiful quilt made by my best friend and her mom-in-law!

Grandpa and Daddy setting up the crib!

The crib is full of stuffed animals and blankets, we need to make room for the baby soon! We have a breathable bumper on the crib too~can you tell I like green??

A little bit of paperwork

2007-01-03T19:30:00.000-05:00

So what's in our dossier? We are sending to the agency the paperwork you see below. In these stacks are 35 original documents signed by both of us or someone else (bank, employer, Realtor), with the signatures notarized. We have another 35 original documents with the same bunch of signatures which have also been "apostilled". This means that each document has a little paper stapled to them from the county of the notary (we ended up going to 3 counties) saying 'yes this person is a notary' with an officials signature; and then another large paper from NY State saying 'yes these people who signed the paper for the county are legitimate' complete with the Secretary of the States signature and seal on it. So far 70 documents.
We also have to send 5 copies of each of these to the agency, which is another 175 documents. Most of these are single pages, but the home study for instance is something like 7 pages long, so that's a lot of paper. The grand total is something like 245 documents, totaling about 375+ individual pieces of paper. On top of all this is about 25 pictures of us, our house, our families and the area. Amber has been running around a lot and putting a ton of work into getting this done. All I can say is I hope that we got everything right!!!!

Books

2007-01-01T12:06:00.000-05:00

Here are some books I have read and recommend. If any friends want to borrow these I would be happy to lend them to you.

For Everyone:

The Russian Word for Snow
Janis Newman

This is a true story of a couple who adopted from Russia. You will definitely cry reading this one. It may help some to understand the emotion and drive adoptive parents have to get to their children despite difficulties.

For Couples:

Adopting after Infertility
Patricia Irwin Johnston

Great book to work though emotions and issues facing you as a result of infertility. Also, to help couples with the choice of child-free life or adoption.

International Adoption handbook
Myra Alperson

Great book for those just starting an adoption. It gives detailed information on different types of international adoption.

Dear Bithmother by Kathleen Silber
Phylis Speedlin

Wow, this book is powerful! You will read myths people have about birth-parents and then the truth from birth-parents themselves. It features letters from adoptive parents and birth-parents to each other, and more excellent information.

For Children:

Why Was I Adopted?

This had rave reviews on Amazon.com. This is an adorable book that talks about adoption as something special but that adopted kids are still like every other kid and still need to brush their teeth and go to bed early. Too cute!

Adoption is for Always
Linda Walvoord Girard

Book about a little girl who realizes she is adopted and what it means. The end is sweet as she understands even though she has a birth-mother/father her adoptive mommy is her real mom and daddy, real dad "for always".

The Pretty House That Found Happiness

I love this cute little vintage book! I hope our kids like it as much as I do!

Our Adoption Process

2006-12-31T12:53:00.000-05:00

This all seemed so simple and logical. We wanted a baby and there are babies that need homes and families. But as you will see, it's not that simple. There is a lot of work and expense involved but of course it will be worth it in the end!

We started by calling lots of agencies and of course searching the web for all kinds of information on adoption. It was very overwhelming at first. We decided to visit a couple local agencies. We needed to find one we could trust and would help us to successfully adopt. Then came the point were we needed to decide what country or domestic. We again went through rejections of what countries would accept us based on age, ect. We also had to think about the type of children that were available in each country such as race, age and health to name a few. Finally we decided on Kazakhstan. This was in large part due to meeting two beautiful children, 2 and 4 yrs., from Kaz and their mom. They were so precious and attached to their mother.

We thought that was difficult and we hadn't even started yet. So, we had the country and agency at that point. We decided to go meet the people from our agency in person, they are in NJ. So we drove down to NJ for the weekend. Jason had some work to do in NJ also that weekend (different area) so Jason worked Sun. and we drove 2hrs to the agency Mon. morning. We met and took pictures of the people (felt silly doing this) we had been talking to and will be working with. they are so nice. Don, our country coordinator spent about 3 hrs with us! He answered lots of questions and we signed the contract and paid our (large) application fee. Then we drove 4hrs home. It was worth the trip, we felt much more comfortable with the agency and it's nice to have a face to put with the person on the other end of the phone/computer.

Homestudy
At this point we had already started our homestudy packet. The homestudy had to be done with a local (NY state approved) agency. After the application, we began by having our fingerprints taken, each filling out a 18 page questionnaire, employment history and references, financial info. sheet, criminal affidavit, medical reports, references from family and friends and a few more documents. This was submitted to the agency and approved! Then we were assigned a social worker. He called us and made an appointment to meet with us in our home. I was of course very nervous, scared and worried. He had the power to approve or disapprove us as parents. I spent days cleaning and worrying about everything from the chair that needs to be reupholstered to the garden not being weeded well enough. Anyway, he came in and didn't even glance at the garden or the chair, he sat at the table and talked with us for about an hour and asked to see the baby's room. That was all! He was so nice and put us at ease (mostly). That was the first visit, the second he talked to us separately, me for 1hr, Jason 1/2 hr. (unfair). And the third visit he went over the report he had written about us. We were approved! Then we waited for the final copy, signed and notarized. Well, we received the copy -with tons of mistakes throughout- like my birth date, income, ect! This was frustrating. We highlighted mistakes and sent it back. Then the agency director called and gave us a hard time over some details. Anyway, we were very happy to finally have it in our hands (all 6 notarized copies) and to be done with that agency!

Dossier
The next step is to complete the dossier. We first needed FBI fingerprints to make sure there was no criminal record. We then needed to fill out an application to adopt an orphan and another set of fingerprints for INS. Then we only needed about 30 other documents.

When things need to be done by us (paperwork) we get it done quickly. I have the time and of course motivation. But when we are waiting for things to be done by others it takes a lot longer and can be very frustrating! For example, I have had to bring the medical forms to the doctors office 3 times and then bring a notary (Thank you Pete) to get it done correctly. Then there are the bank letters, realtor letter, agency & social worker letters and licences, certified marriage licences, employment letter and passports that require other people to complete. Then we are to fill out a cover letter, letter of obligation, commitment letters, financial papers, power of attorney documents and many more.

We also need pictures of us dressed casual and formal, pictures of every room in the house, front and back of house and nearby parks and schools.

Then everything has to be notarized (not pictures), go to the county offices the notary's are registered in to get a stamp of certification (3 different offices), then go to the NY state records office to be authenticated/apostilled.

When this is complete (almost there!) we will submit 2 originals and 5 copies of everything to the agency. Then it will be translated. One original, 1 copy and the translation are then bound/sewn together and sent to Kazakhstan.

In Kaz they will go through 3 different government offices for approval(I believe). After we receive final approval we will get a LOI (Letter of Invitation) to travel. Then we get our visas and tickets and of course they make sure there are babies there for us! As long as there are babies at the orphanage we will travel very shortly after the LOI.

Then we get our baby!!!! We will visit them every day for 3 weeks in the orphanage, then we come home for 3-4 weeks. Then go back to bring the baby home! All of the time, effort and cost will be worth it when we have our child in our arms!

Time Line

2006-12-28T19:12:00.000-05:00

The other purpose of this blog is to help other adoptive couples who are looking for answers to questions and information on adoption. I love reading other people's blogs. The things I look for most are pictures and time-lines because this helps me have a greater idea of how long our wait will be and I love to see the beautiful faces of the babies and parents knowing we will be in the same position shortly!

Anyway, here is our time-line. It will be updated as we make more progress.

8/10/06 Received Homestudy Package
9/9/06 Homestudy paperwork sent in to Family Tree Adoption Agency (local)
9/11/06 Signed with adoption agency, Reaching Out Thru International Adoption (New Jersey)
9/27/06 First Homestudy Visit
9/30/06 Second Homestudy Visit
10/23/06 Last Homestudy Visit
10/24/06 INS application and Fingerprints sent in
10/24/06 FBI Fingerprints sent in
11/17/06 FBI fingerprints came back to us (No Record!)
11/30/06 Homestudy Report Done -Picked Up!
12/06/06 Received INS approval to adopt an orphan
12/28/06 Last Dossier Document Notarized
1/3/07 Documents Appostiled
1/4/07 Dossier sent to Agency!!!
1/17/06 Dossier sent to be translated :)
2/?/07 Dossier sent to Embassy
3/1/07 Dossier at MFA in Kazakhstan!!
4/2/07 Dossier at MOE!!
6/1-9/24 Region closed, much sadness :(
9/24/07 Received approval from the MOE
9/28/07 Issued our LOI
10/08/07 Travel to Kaz!!
10/10/07 Arrive in Karaganda and meet Ava!
10/28/07 Meeting with the Ministry of Education
10/30/07 Court Date - Ava is ours!
10/31/07 Arrive back home from first trip
11/26/07 Second Trip!
12/2/07 Home with our Ava!!!

Introduction

2006-12-28T17:19:00.000-05:00

So we are adopting from Kazakhstan. Yes, I said Kazakhstan. It is actually the 9th largest country in the world, and is located in central Asia between China & Russia. If you want to know how to say it, click here. The country has about 15-16 million people who speak Russian and Kazakh. Of course, you could get a lot more detail from Wikipedia or the CIA's fact book, so I won't trouble you with much more details here.
How did we come up with Kazakhstan? Well, once we ended up ruling out domestic because of the long wait, and we thought we could do more good by helping a child in another country. First we looked at the Ukraine because I've got a nice Ukrainian last name, but the laws there were in flux, and they weren't even accepting Americans at the time, so we moved on. We looked at several other countries, but they always seemed to have really strange requirements, or we weren't eligible at all for some reason. Finally we found Kazakhstan where we could adopt a relatively young child (hopefully from 6-12 months old), do it relatively quickly, and it seemed a fairly straightforward process.
In early September 2006, we finally picked an agency, Reaching Out Through International Adoption, and started the process. As I start this blog now at the end of December 06, our paperwork is nearly complete, with the only remaining tasks being getting it all apostilled and submitting it all to the agency. I'm sure we'll put more details out on this later.