RUN WHILE CROSSING!!!

What is interesting about this place (I will take a picture), is that crossing the street is a real scary experience. We were crossing with our coordinator in Almaty and cars where zooming by, we finally made it to the intersection where we were standing waiting for our coordinator to give us the go, to run. I felt like frogger (does anyone remember that game, Atari). Our coordinator says “ok, go!” We darted across but I still had to let out a shriek because it was so excitingly scary…this is not a game for the old or the insecure!!!! Our coordinator thought I got hit by the ever so hasty crazy drivers, but I was just laughing! One thing is for sure, there are little blue cross walk signs that you should use!!! We only figured it out because we were trying to cross the street again in Uralsk and all of a sudden the cars stopped, maybe it was our bright red coats that hit the sun and reflected in their eyes and they were blinded? Naw! Our friends Kim and Jean, pointed out the beautiful blue sign with a person crossing, who knew!!!

I’m sure you want to know more about our little man, I got some anxious comments and e-mails. His original name we cannot mention until court, so you have to wait for that! His new name, well, you have to wait for that also…we cannot make up our minds, does he, or doesn’t he look like that name. Dan loves “Tristan”, and what is funny, is that our translator here, we will call her “El”, loves that name…now Dan loves it even more! Btw, “El” is a real looker…she has everybody including my crazy Dan’s head spinning!

Let me tell you what baby Laurin did today, he cried because I didn’t feed him quick enough. I’m happy he cried because I haven’t heard him cry, usually he makes a face (warning) that he is going to cry. We were blessed to hear his voice! He is very sick with a cold and congestion, and so is Dan, I have 2 babies to take care of! He also pulled himself up on me for the first time in 4 days. I gave him his breakfast; porridge with eggs and some juice, we decided to water it down and feed him through a nubi bottle. We hope it will help him with his cold. Also, we had a moment today me and baby Laurin (junior), he cried while I was giving him his bottle, he could have been crying because I was so slow at feeding him, which in turn made him irritated. However, I was crying because he is so fragile, dependent, helpless, and has to put up with potential parents that have no clue, that come and go. We see that getting attached is a 2 way street with a lot of sacrifice and trust, I also cried because he is so special and adorable!

AND TIME GOES BY SO...QUICKLY!!!

Date 1 January 2008,


I think I’m going to make a calendar today. I want to wish my niece a happy b-day (Dec 31) and technically it is still Dec 31, 2007 back home.

For those anxious friends and family members, that want to know if we met our intended child….Yes we did!!! However we are not getting overly excited because, we did not get his full medical, and we will only receive that on the 3rd or 4th of January 2008. What I can tell you about this little man, is he was born in the year of the PIG, I’m a PIG too (Chinese horoscope) get your minds out of the gutter. We will be adopting him in the year of the Rat. And my darling husband is born the year of the MONKEY, I think that is why I call him, my monkey!!!

For those of you snowbirds, that are off to a sunny warm destination, well you don’t know what you are missing here. Today is going to be warm, YAHHOOO, it will reach a high of -22 celcius…I’m so happy because the – 35 we can’t take. Thanks mama Lise for your Kanuk, it is keeping me warm.

Back to our little man, because of the holidays and government procedures our official bonding period will start on the 9th of January and will last till the 23 of January, not too bad hein? Next, we go to court the week after and he hopefully becomes ours. So by January 30th, he will be living “la vida loca” with us. My Darling husband has just made me some French toast, so I’m off to eat!

PLEASE STAY TUNED, to: “As Jackie and Dan’s world turns”

LE FRANCAIS " IN THE HOUSE"!!!!

Lundi 31 décembre 7h00pm,

Bonjour tout le monde, je fais un sommaire de ce que Jackie a deja dit:

Ce fut tout un voyage. La fatigue était vraiment pesante a supporter avec nos 2 escales (Amsterdam et Almaty) avant d’arriver a Uralsk. Très peu de sommeil dans un avion, (Jean-Pierre, tu avais raison, même en première classe (Almaty – Uralsk seulement) ca ne dort pas gros) beaucoup de bruits même avec des bouchons dans les oreilles ! Ne pas dormir pour 48 heures tout en accomplissant diverses taches, c’est dure pas a peu près. Nous avons fait le voyage avec Isabelle et sa mère (une future mère de Laval adoptant un enfant d’Uralsk). C’était bien d’avoir d’autres gens du Québec avec nous. Le Kazakhstan est un pays vraiment dépaysant. C’est vraiment plaisant d’avoir des gens de notre patrie avec qui on peut converser en français.
Une fois rendu a Uralsk on a pu finalement récupérer et ca a fait le plus grand bien. Nous avons été vraiment occupe a venir jusqu'à maintenant. Depuis notre arrive, le 26 décembre vers 11h00pm, ca ne lâche pas. Chaque journée est remplie d’activités : épicerie, commissions diverses, repas a préparer dans notre appartement ou repas dans un restaurant (quand on veut se gâter). Elvira (la coordonatrice d’Uralsk) et Oliya (la chauffeuse) nous conduit partout ou il faut aller.
Vendredi le 28 décembre nous avons rencontre le ministre de l’éducation pour environ 20 minutes pour répondre a une série de questions plutôt facile sur les choix que nous devons faire : préférence pour le sexe de l’enfant, son âge, questions personnelles sur nous et nos motivations de parents adoptants.
Samedi le 29 : Première rencontre avec notre potentiel enfant (potentiel car nous attendons d’avoir le rapport médical complet vérifie par un pédiatre d’une clinique de Pierrefonds. Cette première rencontre fut très spécial et un peu inattendue. C’était comme irréel et si vite arrive après des années d’attentes.
Dimanche le 30 : Courte visite du marche chinois avec la gang du Québec (les 6 plus Noah). Courte visite car c’était un bain de foule pas vraiment apprécié. Lunch de style buffet a l’hôtel Chagala, vraiment très bien ; nous y retournerons.
Lundi le 31 : Deuxième rencontre avec notre enfant potentiel. Quelques craintes s’estompent. Les tests pour le sida, l’hépatite, la syphilis sont tous négatifs et il a développé des anticorps contre l’herpes (sa mère l’avait surement). C’est un enfant calme et bien portant (9kg a 8 mois seulement). Nous ne nous exciterons pas trop avant la confirmation de notre médecin.
Isabelle de son cote doit laisser tomber la petite fille qu’on lui avait présente. Elle est trop mal en point, problème avec une hanche et un bras. Dure coup, mais c’est pour le mieux. On lui présentera une nouvelle petite fille demain.
Aujourd’hui on a déménagé d’appartement. Notre appartement était situe au 1e étage et les planchers étaient toujours très froid. Le chauffage arrivait tout juste a maintenir une température acceptable. Parlant de température présentement la température est -30 degré tous les matins et -25 en après-midi avec un beau ciel bleu tous les jours. Merci pour ton Kanuk maman !!! Nous avons pris l’appartement de Kim et Jean un couple fort sympathique de la ville de St-foie, Québec. Il quittait pour Almaty aujourd’hui vers 1h00pm avec leur nouveau fils: Noah. Un beau petit bonhomme de 9 mois. C’est avec grand regret que nous les voyons partir mais ils ont fait leurs temps ici au Kazakhstan (6 - 7 semaines) et leur adoption est un succès. Nous aurons surement l’occasion de les revoirs quand nous serons de retour au Québec. A bientôt les ami(e)s !


S nodvim Godom (Bonne Annee en Kazakh)
Bonne Annee a tous !

WE GOT IT EASY!!!

Testing the moral fiber of our compass!

What does that mean? For me it means everything here, on the other side of the world, is testing who we really are. What kind of person we have become with all western luxuries has it made us wiser when it comes to enjoying life and family? I’m happy here, just me and my husband and soon our child (I hope). I have to admit we’ve been spoilt here too; our new friends Kim and Jean have taken us under their wings and shown us many hidden treasures and the secrets that they hold. We would have discovered the treasures eventually but the secrets can only be told by a foreigner that has been living here, like our friends! We are not, by far, victims of any circumstance…this will be a trip (Vacation for us) and the best kind, togetherness!!!

On a lighter note,

Our Thursday and Friday have flown by;
I already went through an internet card (500 tenge). I plan on writing my blogs first on word then transferring the info this way I might be able to last for a week on the card.
We do like our apartment however we will be moving, so please stop sending gifts to this one!!! Ha! ha! ha! Our apartment is on the ground floor and the floors are directly on cement, which in turn keeps everything really cold up until your knees. We brought duck tape and sealed all our windows, it did help, but it is coming from the floors. So bring duck tape future pap’s.
Our friends Kim & Jean & baby Noah, brought us on a city tour by foot, there is lots of places around are apartment to do groceries, there is a couple of places to buy baby articles, like umbrella stroller (they got a nice one). And there is even a recreational spot (I think they have bowling) at the Atrium.
Our Ectaco is fully charged and we plan on using it, because it takes me to long to look through my dictionary when I want to say something of meaning…like you are so nice thank you for all your help!
The people that we’ve encountered on this journey have gone above and beyond to help us. Although I do have to say for my coordinator in Almaty, stop worrying and stop saying sorry…we are grown ups!!! She is such a mother, but a good one!
I still do have my sinful luxury of wine and I get to sample different ones, like I said it’s a vacation, just kidding! In all seriousness, they do have some wines that I know but nothing fancy, like I’m used to (for now). If someone could find a good bottle…I am that someone!
Bring sauces in packets, can someone fed-ex me some, and my Tim Hortons…that would be a nice surprise! They do not make pasta dishes here so it is very limited, I will be creative but I will miss Pesto in my pasta! We brought gravy St-hub style for our friends, we rarely eat sauce like that but now I would. I think I bought some ground mouton today…that will be our Saturday night party dinner, but I would prefer to eat with our buddies before they leave on Monday morning!

And today Saturday, we will be off to find our little munchkin, so keep your fingers, arms, legs and whatever else you can cross, crossed!!! It is never a sure thing; the child could be too old or too ill. We aren’t picky, we just want healthy and as young as possible.

Can you see the difference in attitude?

Still no sleep but relaxed!!!

We're flying first class ...next flight

this picture is after what feels like days without sleep

and it is not the first class pictures, whereas we were told not to take pictures!!!

Dan at the airport, after our limo ride!!! Big smile!

WE ARE HERE...WHERE DO WE START!

Well we left as planned on the 24th of Dec 2007...got to the airport in style thanks to Kent and Mandy, they sent us a big bad limo, people at the airport were expecting to see movie stars and then they see us, with our jeans, our big kanuks and our backpacks. I told people at the airport that we are going hiking in Kazakhstan!!!! Our plane was on time and we were off to our next destination...

Amsterdam;
We took a canal tour because we had at least 7 hours to kill, we took a taxi ride from the airport which was an adventure in itself! At first we were trying to take the train but to buy the tickets got way to confusing...and just finding our way around the airport (sleep deprived and all) drove us nuts. When I say us I mean Me, Daniel, Isabelle and her mom Micheline.

Next stop...

Almaty;

What a trip, we slept maybe 2 hours on a 6 hour flight, which turned into a 8 and 1/2 hour if not 9 hour flight. We were getting close to Almaty airport when we had to detour and go to Astana airport because a small private plane crashed...So we flew to Astana and parked it there. Finally after 1 hour re-fueled and took off to our destination. Once landed things got a bit scary and foreign, nobody speaks english anymore, even the people on the plane that were speaking english, all of a sudden couldn't understand a word we were saying!!!! Oh well when in Rome... So I started to speak my version of RusEnglish, Dan followed the style and we accomplished getting into the country. We picked up our 4 giant suitcases, which we will never do again (I think I want to leave Dan's green one here). Tryed to get a trolly, that needed aggression (Dan followed what everyone was doing) and then I watched as Dan, watched our luggage turn on the belt a couple of times. I asked Dan why he wasn't picking up the luggage and he said " where are they?" Now, everybody knows who did the packing!!!! Let me just mention he was sleep deprived.

By the way, there is something very very strange around here, you are not allowed to take any pictures of anything that is in or around a gouvernment establishment, including ourselves up against a wall!!! I did manage to sneak a picture of us on our next flight to Uralsk.

Now back to the Almaty arrival, we (the 4 of us) were spotted by our lovely coordinator Sveta, she was waving to us like a mad woman from across the window. We didn't know her, so we didn't wave back...we just kept saying (with hand gestures) are you waving to us? She would nod yes and we would look behind us just in case she was talking about someone else...this went on for about 3 times until she mouthed SVETA!!!! We are such dorks! I asked her how she knew it was us and she said we aren't pushy enough, she doesn't know me yet, ha! ha! ha!

Then our darling Sveta brought all of us to Vladmirs small car and could only fit our luggage and 2 people, so me, Dan and Sveta walked to our hotel (5 min) which turned out to be not our hotel, just a place to put our luggage until our next flight 8 hours later. So once we did that we proceeded to our real hotel, which took us 1 hour to get there (lots and lots of traffic). I thought we would have time to rest up but, we ate breakfast went to our rooms washed up and then off to the bank which took another 1 hour to get there and another 2 hours in there and then another 1 and 15 minutes to get back to the hotel (now by the way it is a mad rush) we are going to be late for our flight. Sveta has a panicked look on here face the entire car ride, we passed out in the back seat and got jolted up by a crazed Sveta saying" we have to run, run, run" but where? We jump out of the car half asleep running in circles. We needed to pick up our luggage first and throw it into the car (again never bring too much luggage) and run to the airport, check-in and wait for the car with our prized luggage. Sveta had called from the car to advise the airport to wait for us, yet she and one of the flight attends were talking angrily at each other. Just to let you know it went really well because we bought first class tickets (apparently you have a lot of pull) and the plane was late anyways, the joke was on us!

Uralsk

First class was a nice final touch, I would definetly recommend it to anyone. Once in Uralsk (3 hours) we disembarked on the run way outside (it reminded me of old movies). We followed the crowd to...well to the parking lot and then I started to say "niet,niet"everyone was a taxi driver, it kind of felt like we were in Jamaica except for the unbelievable cold and what they were offering (if you get my drift). So, we found an entrace to what looked like an airport arrival, looked for anybody that could look like our next coordinator and we spotted these 2 young beautiful girls holding signs with our names on it. I screamed Elvira is that you??? Yes, Yes who are you? We are the people that will be depending on you for a long long time!!!! HELLO URALSK!!!

To be continued....

HICCUPS

WELL THE FIRST HICCUP WAS OUR VISAS/PASSPORTS...WE GOT IT YESTERDAY WITH; ALOT OF PANICKING, CALLING AROUND, CHASING THE POSTMAN UP AND DOWN THE STREET.

2ND HICCUP; WE FOUND OUT THAT WE ARE GOING THERE TOO EARLY(2.5 WEEKS EARLY), SOME KIND OF CONFUSION AND THEIR IS NO CHILD AVAILABLE FOR US. SO WE ARE LOOKING AT THIS AS A 2 WEEK VACATION (KIND OF LIKE SURVIVOR/THE AMAZING RACE) BUT YOU NEVER KNOW THINGS COULD CHANGE ONCE WE ARE THERE...BUT WE ARE AWARE THAT WE WILL BE THERE FOR NOTHING!!!

WITH A LITTLE LUCK AND LOTS OF PRAYERS, THINGS COULD SWAY IN OUR FAVOR!!!!

KEEP PRAYING EVERYBODY FOR US TO MEET AN AVAILABLE HEALTHY CHILD

DETAILS, DETAILS AND MORE DETAILS

WE AREN'T PAYING ATTENTION TO DETAILS. I'VE JUST NOTICED AFTER TRYING SEVERAL TIMES OVER THE WEEK-END TO GET ONTO THE CONSULATES WEBSITE, THAT, THEY RECOMMEND YOU USE FED-X OR UPS AND NOT CANADA POST(TO SEND FOR THE VISAS), WELL GUESS WHAT WE USED? CANADA POST EXPRESS! NOW WE WAIT PATIENTLY FOR OUR AGENCY TO CALL US BACK...BUT I THINK I WILL CALL HER AGAIN!!! WE'VE BECOME VERY CONFUSED WITH ALL THE ACTION AND EXCITEMENT, THAT WE DON'T ASK QUESTIONS ANYMORE, WE DO AS WE ARE TOLD!!!! I BELIEVE THE EXPRESSION IS IGNORANCE IS BLISS, BUT I DON'T FEEL BLISSFUL TODAY!!!!

FOR THE FUTURE PAPs;
WE'VE DECIDED THAT WE WILL BRING 4 BIG ROLL LUGGAGE'S AND 2 BACKPACKS
WE ARE ALSO ADDING A BLOW UP MATTRESS, BECAUSE OUR NEW BUDDIES THAT ARE THERE TOLD US THE MATTRESS IS 3"THICK...WE NEED A THICK COMFY MATTRESS!

THE FEELINGS THAT WE ARE GOING THROUGH;
IS THIS REALLY HAPPENING? I BELIEVE SO!
WILL THEIR BE A CHILD FOR US? PLEASE PRAY FOR A HEALTHY BABY!
DO WE HAVE EVERYTHING? OH WELL, IF WE DON'T WE WILL BUY IT THERE!
DO WE REALIZE WE WILL BE PARENTS (HOPEFULLY) BY THE END OF NEXT WEEK OR BEFORE THE NEW YEAR? THAT IS THE QUESTION OF ALL QUESTIONS, AND WE WILL HAVE TIME ON OUR LONG FLIGHTS TO LET IT SINK IN!

WE ARE SO EXCITED AND YET WE ARE TRYING VERY HARD NOT TO LET IT AFFECT US...ANYTHING CAN HAPPEN. HOPE FOR THE BEST, PLAN FOR THE WORST!!!!

TAAAADDDDAAAA!!!!! I'M THE PACKING HOODINI.

We are packed, and I do mean fully packed!!! I am the incredible, super packer. Now I have to unpack and write everything down. This helps when you lose luggage and need to know what you lost! Also a hint for those that will go on extended trips:

1. Bring only dark colors (because the water might change the color of your whites)
2. nobody cares what you are wearing unless it looks really nice and they want it off your back!
3. pack lightly and make sure that each luggage contains the same items (just in case you lose one)
4. always bring a paper and several pens (because they do run out of ink when you need it the most)
5. things you could live without, please leave it at home! We tend to think something will come in handy (but it still doesn't)
6. Bring ear plugs and eye mask for the plane and go to sleep right away (apparently it helps with the jet lag, as per our friend JM the master of travel) we will try this tip!!!
7.One thing that is really important, try out your winter gear. We are lucky because tonight is - 13Celsius but real feel is -20 no wind but humid. And I was pretty comfortable in my coat but I need to wear a sweater for the sleeves and need to roll my socks up until my long johns.
8. appreciate the joys of home because you will definitely be missing these comforts!!! Hell Ya!
9. See your friends, I know it is not part of packing but I'm bringing pictures of everyone because we are going to miss you guys!

I'M GOING TO BE ILL!!!!

We are officially invited for the 20th of Dec 2007!!!!! However, we reserved flights for the 24th and will get there after Christmas and maybe meet our child on the Friday or Monday. I'm having dreams about him and every night I wake up at 3:45 am, I'm starting to think it is stress.

I finished my Christmas cards and gift wrapping, so that comes off the list but I still have so much more to do. Yet I'm sitting here typing!@#!#!*.... I will up date more later.

Oh ya I forgot, my darling husband decided he will help with the blog ->pour tous nos ami(e)s qui ne lisent pas en Anglais, Daniel va ecrire.

CRUNCH TIME!!!

We are so stressed right now, I spoke to Ana (our agency) and she said to reserve tickets for the 18th of December to arrive in Almaty on the 20th and then we are off to URALSK. I'm feeling really sick to my stomach!!! She said that she is still waiting for the LOI(letter of invitation) but she will tell me more tomorrow, she doesn't want us to go there and end up stuck in the holiday season with everybody taking vacations. Anyways I will let everybody know tomorrow and hopefully be less stressed!!!

Things that are left to do;

1. Holiday cards
2. Inquire about presents to bring
3. Re assess my luggage and packing
4. Give our holiday gifts to our friends kiddos
5. Blue cross coverage
6.Visa when we get the LOI
7.Blackberry set up

the baby's room is already set up so we don't have to do that!!!!! Yahoo!!! we are on our way!

TIME IS FLYING OVER HERE!!!!

WELL IT DOESN'T HELP THAT IT GETS DARK SO SOON...I'M ALWAYS TIRED!!!

OK UPDATE TIME;

WE SPOKE TO OUR AGENCY YESTERDAY AND SHE REASSURES US THAT WE WILL BE LEAVING BEFORE CHRISTMAS, SO THAT TRANSLATES INTO-> WE WILL BE PARENTS IN 5 OR 6 WEEKS FROM NOW. THE EMOTIONS THAT ARE RUNNING THROUGH US IS MAKING US SO TIRED, BUT YESTERDAY I DECIDED I'M NOT GOING TO WORRY ABOUT WHAT I FORGOT TO PACK. AS LONG AS I HAVE MY MEDS FOR ILLNESSES I COULD ENCOUNTER DOWN THERE I'M GOOD TO GO...I NEVER WANT TO EXPERIENCE ANOTHER HOSPITAL ABROAD, ESPECIALLY WHEN YOU DON'T SPEAK THE LANGUAGE.

SPEAKING OF LANGUAGE, THE RUSSIAN CD'S WILL BE PUT TO GOOD USE AND WE WILL BE USING AN ECTACO TRANSLATOR...WE ARE SO LOOKING FORWARD TO THIS TRIP.

NOW FOR THE OTHER FUTUR PAP'S, THAT WANT TO KNOW TIMELINE SO FAR;

AUG 19TH 2007: SUBMITTED OUR DOSSIER
SEPT 14TH 2007: DOSSIER WAS SENT TO THE CONSULATE OF KAZ IN TORONTO
OCT 7TH 2007 ; DOSSIER REACH MINISTER OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS IN KAZAKHSTAN
NOV 20TH ;BEING PICKED UP FROM THE MINISTER OF EDUCATION
DEC 7 RECEIVED THE LETTER OF INVITATION


AS FOR ME, I'M OFF TO DO SOME PACKING

these are pictures of Kazakhstan, I can't wait to see it for myself.

SO MUCH TO DO SO LITTLE TIME...

I’M TRYING TO BE ORGANIZED BUT MAN, THERE IS WAY TOO MUCH GOING ON!!! IT IS DEFINITELY NOT THE TIME TO BE SICK. WHAT WE’VE DONE SO FAR;

WE BABY PROOFED THE HOUSE SINCE OUR BABY WILL BE UNDER 2 YEARS OLD BUT WE ARE HOPING AND EXPECTING UNDER 12 MONTHS.

WE BOUGHT SOME CLOTHES & PJ’S ALL UNDER 18 MONTHS, MOSTLY 12 MONTHS. WE FIGURE WHEN WE ARE OVER THERE WE ONLY NEED FOR ABOUT A WEEK OF CLOTHES, SO WE WILL DO SOME SHOPPING ( KAZ STYLE)

SO OUR DOCUMENTS HAVE LEFT THE CONSULATE AND WILL BE AT THE MINISTER OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS ON OCT 12TH…IT TAKES THAT LONG BY FED-EX!!! AFTER THAT I HAVE NO IDEA HOW LONG IT STAYS THERE BUT THEY SAID BETWEEN 3 TO 4 WEEKS, THEN OFF TO ITS NEXT STOP.

AS FOR US, WHEN WE FIND OUT WHAT AREA/BABY HOUSE OUR CHILD LIVES IN, WE WILL DECIDE IF WE WILL BE MAKING 1 TRIP, 2 OR EVEN 3.

THINGS ARE GOING FAST!!!!

SEPT 17TH 2007,

TODAY WE WENT TO IMMIGRATION QUEBEC TO FILL IN SOME FORMS, IT SEEMS VERY CONFUSING...WE HAVE TO ONCE DOWN THERE, MAKE SURE WE HAVE SOMEONE THAT CAN REACH US BECAUSE WE WILL NEED A PAPER FROM QUEBEC SENT TO US. I WILL GO INTO MORE DETAIL LATER ABOUT THIS PROCESS, BUT YOU REALLY NEED TO BE ORGANIZED.

I SPOKE TO ANNA AT OUR AGENCY, SHE IS SO HELPFUL AND SHE ADVISED ME THAT EVERYTHING STILL LOOKS GOOD FOR OUR NOV/DEC TRAVEL DATE...SHE EVEN E-MAILED US OUR TRACKING CODE TO FIND OUT WHERE OUR DOSSIER IS AT THIS MOMENT OR THE NEXT.

AS OF THE 17TH IT HAS REACHED THE CONSULATE OF KAZAKHSTAN IN TORONTO AND IN 2 WEEKS OR SO IT WILL BE LEAVING FOR THE FOREIGN AFFAIRS MINISTER IN KAZAKHSTAN AND IT SHOULD REMAIN THERE FOR 3 TO 4 WEEKS. AFTER IT WILL BE TRANSMITTED TO THE MINISTRY OF EDUCATION WHERE IT WILL BE FOR 3 TO 4 WEEKS AND THEY WILL ISSUE A LETTER OF INVITATION 2 WEEKS AFTER THAT...

I WILL KEEP YOU UP TO DATE WITH WHAT HAPPENS NEXT, SO STAY TUNED...

Welcome

Welcome to our new blog about our adoption.

For those of you that don't know we started the process last Sept 2006, with the hopes of bringing home our child by summer 2007. Well, needless to say the country that we had chose had a different plan for it's Canadian adopters. The country was Ukraine and, they made it difficult for us Canadians by fixing a quota of only 24 adoptions per year. At that time our dossier was sitting in Ukraine waiting to be submitted, that was early March. It is sad because our dossier was ready in January when they started taking new dossiers, but our agency insisted we change our age criteria because they were already having problems with the request of Canadians wanting young children. After begging our Social worker to increase our age to 36 months, which added another 3 weeks ++ to our other previous delays from the agency and social worker...we missed the boat!!!!

In May, the Canadian embassy posted, the criteria for Canadians to adopt from Ukraine and it was as follows: no healthy children under 4 yrs of age, quota fixed at 24 Canadians per year. Well that was it for me, I started looking elsewhere, we needed to be proactive if we wanted to be parents. I put myself on a back up list for Kazakhstan and asked the nice lady to call me if she had a spot that opened up before October.

July 2007, I got the call about a spot that opened up and she wanted to know if I wanted it??!!!?? I needed time to think but there was no time, so I asked one last time our Ukraine agency what was the situation like, and if they would increase the quota this year. She couldn't tell me for sure! As much as I like her and knew if I changed I would lose money, it was a chance we had to take, that was it!!!!

The advantage of changing was 1. a child under the age of 2 years old. 2. healthier and well cared for children in orphanages. 3. travel date end of Nov/Dec if all goes well. 4. An agency that really holds your hand through the process. 5. Less stress because you don't have to update every document every 6 months.

We are relieved at all those aspects!!!! And now we are just waiting for our doctors appointment on Aug 9th and the updated home study in a week and a half.

Hopefully by Christmas we will meet our little precious angel "G" and he or she will be home with us for Daniels Birthday in March 2008! YYYYYYAAAAHHHHHOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!