Update

Sorry we have been bad bloggers this past week. Our house has been in major transition as we have been moving the office upstairs and continuing to put the nursery together. While it might sound like a simple task it was pretty monumental to rearrange our whole house. I checked on a Dossier through FedEx tracking on Friday and it was on its way to Almaty, so I assume it will be on its way to Astan (the capital) any day now. Unfortunately during the office shuffle I misplaced the tracking number so I will have to wait until tomorrow to continue my stalking of our package.

Yesterday morning I think it finally hit me full force that we are getting really close. There are certain things I have been putting off saying that it was too soon to mess with this or that. Now I am realizing that we need to get our buts in gear. If you know me (Karon) you know that I like to have things done way in advance, so I would rather work my tail off now than be in utter panic the last two weeks. I am also starting to get concerned by the fact that this little one or two will not have a thing to wear as we have not bought any clothes because we don’t know the age. I know I need to trust the process, but I hate feeling clueless. Oh well I guess I better get used to it. I will post pictures as soon as we finish rearanging the house.

It is True!

I just checked the FedEx page for the 100th time and it is true, the package has left the Consulate and is on its way. I will keep you (who ever is reading this) informed of our dossier's route to Kazakhstan.

Movement

I got an e-mail from our agency today stating that our dossier has made it through New Your City and is on its way to Kazakhstan! This is very exciting news. If all goes like those before us it has been taking 6-8 weeks for our paperwork to make it through the Kazakh government. Then we will get our Letter of Invatation and leave shortly there after. This is going to be a long eight or so weeks but ones to cherish as well.
Karon

Mural

Just thought you all might like to see the mural that we put up in the kid's room today. It is starting to feel like we are really going to be parents soon.
Karon

No Movement

I never used the FedEx tracking page before this past week and now I am a pro at it. At least I think so, but unfortunately it keeps telling me the same thing: Nothing. It looks as though our paperwork is still in New York. Our agency mentioned that the person who needs to put their final stamp of approval on it has been ill. I every one can send some prayers and positive thoughts that this very crucial person feels better soon we sure would appreciate it. I just keep reminding myself that the universe is unfolding as it should so that we will meet and welcome the perfect child or children into our lives.

Just the other day we were reminded of this as we have been trying to pick up our new windows in Bend for the last 4 weeks. We have had a hard time with this because we would have to borrow a pickup truck and it would take a whole day to get there and back and the roads have been terrible. Also we were really worried because if something happened to them in transit than we were totally out of luck. Well on Friday, John was loading up the jeep with a borrowed trailer (thanks Fido) when the window company called saying that they had a new driver they wanted to train and they would have him bring the windows out to us (3 hours away) for free!!! Such a thing was a good reminder that rushing things does not always get the best results and that good things are worth the wait (but too much longer and I won’t have any fingernails left.)

The other big news is that we have started moving the office upstairs so we can really get the kids room together. We will post pictures once the mess clearsJ

Karon

Seattle Visit

It is hard to believe that we are now the proud new owners of things like a crib and toy chest. We had a very successful visit to Seattle to get stuff for the kid(s) room. We decided just to prepare for two of different ages figuring that they will eventually need a twin bed. We were very fortunate to have Ed and Carol (Papa and MamMam) give us a crib. John and I did the marathon shopping adventure to Ikea. For anyone who knows me, shopping for six hours is a huge stretch. Anyone who knows John understands why it took so long as everything had to be checked over and compared with all Balshoes Spaciba (Big Thanks) other options before it could go in the basket.
Josh, Joslyn and Olivia for the beautiful
rocking horse. We love it and know that our
little one will too.


We also were able to visit with some of the family despite the icy weather. Sorry we were unable to meet up with you Jenny. Hopefully we will see you prior to flying out in the spring. It is hard to believe that the next time we will be up there is when we are leaving to go meet and bring home our child(ren.) I can hardly wait, but we still have a long to-do list to whittle down before leaving.

The next thing we are waiting for is to find out our paperwork has made it through New York.

We are going to New York City

Well not really us but all identifying and important information about why we would make great parents has been shipped to New York where the kind people at the Kazakhstan consulate will process or dossier. We have paid a hefty fee to have it expedited so it is only supposed to take a week. Then it will be FINALLY shipped to Kazakhstan. It seems like this paperwork has been floating around forever. I know that it is being processed as quickly as possible, but after waiting so long to have children you think being this close to the finish line I would just be thankful for that. No, I really want to go and meet our little one(s) now. We still have a lot to do and I need to remember that if we left tomorrow I think the kids would want to go back to the baby house because we still have not physically started on their room. This weekend we will go to Seattle and I am so excited to go to Ikea so I can get things for the room. Who would have thought that me of all people would be excited to go shopping????

Great News!

I must say I love when things happen according to schedule. I got word today from our agency that our dossier translation is complete and they will be receiving it as of tomorrow. Then they bundle it up and ship it off to the Kazakhstan consulate. It looks like everything is right on track for our paperwork to be in Kazakhstan by the middle of January. We are one big step closer to parenthood.

As for preparations I am now on lesson 18 with my Russian. John keeps promising he will practice more but he has been very busy getting our house ready for the little ones. We got new windows for the baby’s room and should get to pick them up this weekend. We are also looking forward to a trip to Ikea to find cool kids room accessories. After waiting so long to have a child I am so excited to finally get to do the little things like getting their room ready.

Happy New Year!

This is the baby qilt that I made for the up and comming addition to our family:)


It is hard to believe that this is the year 2007 that we will FINALY become parents. I always said that I would have a child before I was 30, I just didn’t realize the journey we were in for.

So I think we are what is called the waiting phase and I’m not real sure that I like it. We just had a nice holiday break and a good visit back East to see my (Karon’s) family. It is hard to believe that
this was the last time we would visit childless. We keep constantly reminding ourselves that everything we do right now will be very different this time next year. So on that sprit we went up to our friends place last night and stayed up until midnight despite still being on East Coast time knowing that we will probably not be doing the same thing next year unless we convince the kids that sleep-overs a fun.

As far as paperwork goes I am really hoping that our translation is finished by tomorrow. I am finding my self more and more anxious for it to get to Kazakhstan. We are still really hoping to travel towards the end or middle of March so that John will be home in time for his river season. While this seems like forever away, I keep trying to remind myself that we have soooo much to do before we bring a child into our home. Fortunately we are going to Seattle MLK weekend to see John’s family and we can really start to get the big things. We are still in a quandary not knowing the exact age and quantity but we will do the best we can for now.

Continuing with our gratitude we would like to thank Adam and Hadas, as well as Liz. We would also like to send out a huge thanks to Sue for her (secret) fundraising efforts at her Massage Therapy clinic. And thank you all of Sue’s clients who have donated to our cause. Every dollar truly helps in this process and we thank you all from the bottom of our hearts.