One Year Anniversary

One year ago, I submitted my dossier. At the time, the estimated wait was 6-9 months. In some regions, it is not much longer still. In Shymkent, no one from my agency has traveled for a girl since they have been back in the region so I have no time frame to estimate off of. There is another family assigned to Shymkent who has waited about the same amount of time so I am not alone in my wait. My coordinator keeps telling me any day now. Of course, she has been saying that since September! Hopefully, I will be traveling in early 2009. I'd rather not have any more wait anniversays to note.

I think my neighbors are related to the Griswolds!

I was walking Frosty last night. It was about 36 degrees and windy and drizzling rain and dark already, but my neighbors were up on the roof of their 2 story house putting up their Christmas lights on the edge of their roof. They had no flashlights or other lights up there so I couldn't actually see them, but you could see the Christmas lights moving and hear them talking. The whole time we were walking, I kept thinking of Chevy Chase in Christmas Vacation and I was waiting for one of them to slide off the roof. No one did while I was watching, but I think they are a little nuts. My neighborhood always has a bunch of people who try to be the first one to turn their Christmas lights on Thanksgiving night, but we still have almost 2 weeks to go!

Lots of families are traveling in other regions, but my region is still going slow. So chances are I will not be traveling until next year. I am at the 5 months since region assignment point so it is starting to get old. Originally, I was told 3-4 months from region, now they are saying more like 6-8. We'll see what they say when I get to 6-8 months wait!

Just a rather sad note on the families in Esik. If you remember, I was briefly assigned there, but moved to Shymkent. I never went into details, because some families were still fighting to bring their children home, but it has finally ended for those families and not in a good way. Last December, a judge in Esik decided that he did not like International Adoption and refused to schedule court dates. This was not told to families traveling last December and they met and bonded with children for 2 or more weeks, but were unable to get a court date to finalize the adoption. At least one family has been fighting since then to get a court date. After involving the embassy and anyone else they thought could help, they finally got a court date a few weeks ago, but the judge refused to grant the adoption and it seems like their options are at an end. They may come up with another plan, but it does not look good at all. So even though I hate waiting, I would much rather wait to travel to a region where I know the court is favorable to adoption, than to travel quickly to a region where it is not. The Kaz judge's rulings are within the laws of Kaz for adoption, but you just have to feel sad for the families who met a child and fought for a year to bring the child home, only to fail in the end.

Halloween

Hi, this is Frosty. My mom doesn't know that I can use the computer, but I am a lot smarter than I look and I need your help. My mom had been telling me that this year was going to be different and that I would be spending the month of October in my favorite kennel, playing with the other dogs and having a good time. Now she tells me that she probably isn't going to be traveling for a while so we might as well go to the store for some treats for Halloween. I hate Halloween, but she did mention a ride and treats so I was excited anyway. Well, we are back from the ride and I didn't get a treat, but I did get this:

I hate Halloween. It is the most humiliating holiday for me each year. My mom seems to enjoy it, but then again she thinks I look cute in my outfit. She did mention taking me for a walk in my outfit and if she does that, I will never be able to face the rest of the dogs in the neighborhood again. I can hear them laughing now. There should be a rule against totally humiliating your dog. Does anyone know the number of the ASPCA or PETA?

Baby's room Update

Since I don't have any info on the adoption to update, I thought I would post some recent pictures of the baby's room. I finally got my rocker in. After I put it together in the living room, I realized how big it was and barely managed to get it through the door to the baby's room. That was a duh! I also finally found a lamp I like and paired it with the matching wall hanging. I also added the stickers along the bottom of the wall since that will be the eye level of the baby when she gets home. They are hard to see in the pictures, but they are animals and flowers. The cushion on the chair is a light sage. For some reason, it keeps coming out tan in the photos-maybe it is the light from the windows behind it?

No news

Several other families whose blogs I follow have received their LOIs this week. I am really happy for them. However, now all the families whose blogs I follow and who were at about the same dossier timing as me have traveled or have their LOIs and are preparing for travel so I am feeling left out. I still have no news other than now it may be a while before I travel. I really thought I would be traveling this month, but LMI is new to the Shymkent region so what you think is going to happen seems to change a lot. Once you get there and meet your child, the rest of the process including court seems to go smoothly. It is just the first part that seems to be tough.

I think this is the toughest part of the wait, to know you are close, but not knowing how close. It just leaves you confused and wondering what is going on most days!

More gadgets

This portable hard drive will hold about 60 hours of video or 2 hrs of video/day I am in Kaz so that will be much easier to handle than trying to take blank disks and burn them there. It is about the size of a post card and 1/2" thick so it is very small. I laid out all my electronic that I am bringing on the table today. It looks like a small electronics store! I also have about 100 movie DVDs packed so I should have enough to keep me occupied as long as my computer is functional. I have no idea of Internet capabilities in Shymkent, but since it is a larger city, there should be Internet cafes at least and hopefully I can get semi-reliable Internet in my apartment. I have been on cable Internet for so long, I am not sure how well I will handle using a very slow dial up system.

No update on when I will get my LOI. All I know is that when I get it, they expect me on a plane within 5-7 days. It doesn't sound like I am going to get any advanced warning. My suitcase is packed except for clothes which is really a very small part of the packing. It has to be since the suitcases are already full. Most of what is packed in my check-in bags is donations, gifts, baby stuff and a few things for the apartment. My electronics and dossier/paperwork fill up my carry on. Now that it is getting colder, i will also have to drag along a winter coat. I hope I don't have to lug all of this very far once I get to Kaz. Most of the apartments seem to be on the 5th floor with no elevator so the first trip up with the luggage may be very interesting.

Suckitude

I'm not sure if that is a real word or not, but a friend used it in an email to me recently and it fits my attitude these days.

Waiting sucks.
Being told by your coordinator that I need to be ready to travel within 3 days of getting a phone call and then the same person not being able to even tell you what month you will be getting that phone call sucks.
The constantly changing process sucks.
The lack of information on the process in my region sucks.
Trying to live your life, but not being able to plan anything sucks.
Not having a vacation for 9 months since you are saving your time for the trip sucks.
Being cranky because I have not had the above vacation in 9 months sucks.
Watching Christmas get closer and closer and knowing that unless I travel soon, she will not be home for Christmas sucks.
Knowing that you are probably very close to traveling, but not knowing it for sure so you have to stress and worry about it sucks.

Suckitude-it may not be a word, but it should be!

My latest gadget

I am having lots of time to wait and think of things to worry about these days. My latest is what would happen if I got lost. I have a map of Shymkent, but I have no idea if they have street signs or not. So I decided to buy a GPS unit. They don't have the streets of Shymkent mapped out yet for GPS, but I bought one that hunters use. So if I mark where my apartment is, it can direct me back there no matter where I roam. So I have yet another item for my suitcase which is already full.

The Kaz Process

I did talk with my coordinator Friday and got an update on the process. While I am close to getting my LOI, it will still be a while and most likely will not be this month. I did find out that the time from LOI to travel is very short for Shymkent and I may not have much notice so that will be an exciting time.

I thought this might be a good time to review how the process will proceed from here. I am currently waiting for my LOI or letter of invitation. You cannot travel to Kaz or get a visa to Kaz without a invitation. It also means that there is a child or children in the baby house that matches the request in your homestudy for age, gender etc. When you are sent the LOI, the Kaz embassy is also sent a registration number. Once they have that and you have the letter, you can apply for your visa. This involves sending your passport, some forms, and of course money to the Kaz embassy. They put a special stamp in your passport which allows you to enter the country. Some region take a while to get this number to the embassy, but I guess Shymkent is one of the fast ones so I will be expected to overnight the visa application to the embassy and have them overnight it back the next day. I will also have to find plane tickets to Almaty on very short notice. It does not sound like I will have much time to do these things so I will need to have everything ready to go. So it will be a matter of more waiting and then go and go fast.

As a note to my blog friends, most people invited to this blog are family or friends not from the adoption world. I have invited a small number of families that I have met who are also adopting from kaz and have graciously shared their blogs with me. I would just like to please ask all my blog friends to use discretion and not discuss anything they read on this blog with their coordinators or post anything on their blogs. I trust each and every one of you and I know no one would do anything that they felt would harm my adoption(and no one has), but I have found out that Shymkent is a region very sensitive to this. I know of another family I met from their blog that got hurt by something that they had on their blog that was passed on to one of their blog reader's coordinators. It ended up causing this family a lot of grief and did put their adoption in jeopardy. What the family had posted wasn't anything bad, it was just information on how their first day meeting went. I don't think the other family meant to hurt them, but the information got back to kaz and caused them a lot of problems. For those not involved in a Kaz adoption, this probably seems very strange, but this is their process and we must follow their rules.

Pediatrician

I visited my first pediatrician today. I got to tour the office and talk to the people there and visit with the doctor. It was one of the first times in this process where the focus is on the future child, not the adoption process. It was great to talk about vaccinations and well baby checkup schedules and all the other things that all parents get to do. Plus I liked the Doctor so I will probably use him so that takes care of another thing on my to do list. I still have to finish up the childproofing, but slowly things are getting done.

Things to do while waiting...

No, I haven't heard anything new, but I have started trying to fit all the things I have been collecting to take to Kaz into my 2 check in bags. Traveling solo means that I have only 2 bags to take all the things I will need for the baby, gifts for all the people at the baby house, donations of clothes, socks and shoes, things for the apartment, medicine, and maybe even some clothes for me. So far, I haven't packed any clothes for me, but I have the rest of the items ready to go. Actually I have an Excel spreadsheet with multiple worksheets organized by catagory to help keep all of this straight.

Space bags are great. This suticase is already half full, but with the magic of space bags, all of this will also fit in. AND it reaches the magic weight of 48 lbs! Checked bags can only weigh 50 lbs on the flight to Kaz. The other suitcase weighs 38 lbs and is about 3/4 full so I can take up to 12 lbs of clothes for me. I am only packing 1 pair of pants(for official meetings), a court outfit and shoes(shoes are already packed), and 5 or 6 tops. So I should be ok. (Yes, I was able to fit all the stuff in the picture above in 2 suitcases and even have some room left)

I have been weighing everything on this baby scale. My brother and sister just turned 47 and this was the scale my mom used back then, so this scale is probably 47 years old and is still accurate! It is crazy when you are weighing out granola bars to determine how many you can pack, but I now know exactly how many granola bars it takes to reach 2 lbs.

All of this weight checking will not do me any good once I get to kaz and have to take the flight from Almaty to Shymkent. They weigh all luggage including your carryon bags and the weight limit is 44 lbs TOTAL! So I will be essentially buying my luggage their own seat on that flight. My carryon bag with my computer and other electronics in it weighs 28 lbs. I can't imagine ever meeting this 44 lb weight limit. The only good thing is that they charge a lot less for overweight than the US airlines do.

Packing and repacking and trying to decide what to take and what to leave has at least kept me busy. I will probably be doing this several more times as each day I think of something else that I just have to take. Hopefully, I will be able to pack these for the last time very soon.

2 months since region assignment

Well, it seems like all I post about is how long it has been since some milestone or other. Not much else going on. Just waiting. I knew August would be a long month, but it is really crawling by. 2 more weeks to go until we get to September. I could count days, minutes, seconds left in August but it still wouldn't make the time go by faster. Unfortunately, there is no guarantee I will hear anything in September either. If I don't hear something in September, then I will most likely not finish the adoption this year. Remember once you hear a travel time there are usually a few weeks until you travel then a month in Kaz, a month to 6 weeks wait and then go back to get the child. If the process continues into December, there are many holidays both early and late that will delay things. Kazakhstan seems to enjoy holidays to the fullest and you can't complete the process if the officials you need to see are on holiday. So I continue to wait and hope I hear something soon.

8 Months on 8/8/08(almost)

8 months ago today, I submitted my dossier. I just realized I hit 8 months the day before 8/8/08. I think however since Kazakhstan is 12 hours ahead of us that technically in Kaz time, I hit 8 months waiting on 8/8/08. That should be a good omen! Right?

Somedays that seems like just yesterday that I was finishing up the dossier and somedays it seems like decades ago. June and July went by fast. I had a lot going on which makes time fly. I also redid my dossier and prepared all the travel documents so it seemed like I was doing something to help the adoption progress. I don't think August is going to go as fast. I have all my documents complete now except for redoing the medical forms. There are a few things left to do, but not that much.

Kazakhstan goes on vacation in August so I don't expect to see anything this month. I am hoping to hear something in September so it will be a long month waiting for September to start.

Apples are from Kazakhstan

I have started reading this book since I need to do something to keep me occupied while waiting for news. (Absolutely no news, not one little bit of new info lately). This book is part travelogue, part history book, and really gives you a feeling for what the people are like in their day to day activities. It is also rather funny at times. If you are looking for a book to understand the Kazakhstan people a little better then I recommend this book.

The title comes from the fact that many people believe that Kazakhstan is the where apples are originally from.

Glider

I have been looking at this chair for a few months. Babies R Us had it in the store on display, but never had it in stock and could not order it. They finally called and said it was available. Not only that, but it was on sale 30% off. It is a Dutailer LR Grande glider and it is really comfortable. They had to order it so it is going to take about 6 weeks before it is delievered. The wood looks dark in the picutre, but it is a very nice shade of cherry and matches the crib and dresser. The material is a sage green that goes well with the wall color in the room. So I have the last thing I need for the room(except for the baby of course).

A no news update

I have been really busy lately so I haven't posted much. No adoption news or updates and I really don't expect anything for a while yet. At least time is going by quickly. I am following a blog of a family who are a month behind me in the process and they recently got their travel dates and another blog of a family 3 months ahead of me in the process have yet to get their travel dates and have been told they probably won't travel for another month or two. At this point, you can't compare your timeline to anyone elses since it all depends on the region you were assigned to. So I wait.

I have had several people ask me if I have bought any clothes yet or if I am waiting til I know more about the baby. This should answer that question!


The 6/9 months are on the top bar, the 12 months the middle and the 18 months are the bottom bar. The dresser is pretty much full also.

I should probably mention that the 24 months are in the closet in the other bedroom! Along with the dresses and coats. So yes, I have been buying clothes. I plan to donate some to the Baby House in Kaz and anything that does not fit or is outgrown quickly to an agency where I live so all the clothes will be used at some point.

A little bit of progress

I received my travel information folder last week and I am going to be on a travel prep conference call tonight. The call is where they review what to expect when you travel and to get families ready for living in a different country for 4+weeks. Each is a tiny little step forward in this process. There really aren't any more steps until I get my Letter of Invitation(LOI) and travel. No update on travel timeline. They are still saying Fall, but each little step gets me closer.

Shymkent/Chimkent

If you look on the map, Shymkent is about in the center. It lies in the valley of the Sayram River in the foothills of the Ugam Range at an elevation of 1,680 feet . Originally a settlement on the caravan route from Central Asia to China, Shymkent dates back at least to the 12th century and was more than once destroyed by nomad attacks. It was captured by the Russians in 1864. A pharmaceutical works was constructed there in 1885. Shymkent is the third largest city in Kazakhstan and a major industrial and cultural centre, as well as an important railway junction. The city has large lead and cement works and also a chemical industry. .

While the areas outside Almaty reminded me of Arizona, the areas outside Shymkent remind me more of Colorado. As I will be flying into Shymkent, these may be the only pictures I will have of the countryside.

This is a picture of the MIG monument and Shymkent. Google maps of Shymkent show a large part of the airport devoted to bunkers that store MIGs. I'm not sure what they are doing there or what the connection is.This is Shymkent's memorial to WW2 veterans. Most Kazakhstan cities seem to have many statues and parks. Shymkent also has many fountains. They also have a Children's park that I am trying to find some pictures of.
Shymkent does have a superstore which is their version of a mall. It is filled with many small stores. In addition to the small neighborhood stores, Shymkent also has a green bazaar with vegetables, food and other items.

Shymkent is not as European a city as Almaty. It is a mix of the past and the future and will be a great place to try to learn about the Kazakhstan culture. Since the US embassy is in Almaty and all adoptions must be processed there before families can go home, there is a lot of information from other adoptive families on Almaty, but not as much on Shymkent.

Region- Round 3??

Yes, I haven't left the country yet, but I am doing the full tour of Kazakhstan. I found out Tuesday that my region has been changed to Shymkent(also spelled Chimkent, Shimkent). Shymkent is about an hours flight from Almaty. It is the third largest city in Kazakhstan with a population of about 500,000. So even though Almaty would have been nice, Shymkent is also a good place to travel to.

While it does require an extra flight to get there, it is a region that is still completed in 2 trips or 1 trip and escort. So I will likely be going over there for about 4 weeks and then travel back for a week or have my daughter escorted home a month later. I'll post more details on Shymkent this weekend.

6 months from dossier submittal

Saturday was 6 months since my dossier was submitted. In the excitement of getting my region this week, I overlooked it. Since I was only counting to see when I would get my region, I guess I can stop now. Now I can concentrate on how long from when I got my region to when I get my LOI. I am hoping for 3 months or less, but I do not have a good estimate yet.

Almaty or Alma-Ata

Because of translations to english, most places seem to have multiple spellings. The name Almaty or Alma-Ata comes from "rich with apples" or "grandfather of apples" as it has the largest variety of apples anywhere. It was the capital of kazakhstan until they changed it to Astana in the 1990's, but it remains the business center of Kazakhstan. Most international flights land here so it makes travel so much easier. This is a picture of the airport.

There are about 1,200,000 people who live in Almaty. Most speak Russian or Kazah, but many people in the hotels and some in restaurants speak English. It is relatively expensive to stay in Almaty. Hotels run from $100 to over $500/night. I haven't decided if I am staying in an apartment or a hotel, but it won't be the $500/night 5 star ones!


You can't talk about Kazakhstan without talking about the traffic. Traffic lanes are more like guidelines so if you need 5 or 6 lanes on a 4 lane road, then go for it. If one of those lanes is half on the sidewalk, that is ok also. When you think of a pedestrian trying to cross the road, think of the video game Frogger except you are the frog. Horns are installed in cars so use them- constantly. There are no seatbelt laws since most of the cars do not have seatbelts. No one would use them if they did. I will have a driver to get me where I need to go so I will not be driving here. I'm pretty happy about that.



This is a picture of the Tsum store. It has a little of everything in it. Almaty has everything from the small shop in the front of someone's home to designer clothing stores. In some regions, you have to bring many items with you, but you can find almost anything you need in Almaty, although it may be very expensive. Think $30-40 for a baby outfit.

There are a lot of places for tourists to go visit. I don't know which ones I'll be able to get to, but here are some of the ones I hope to see:


Zenkov Cathedral is surrounded by Panfilov Park, a pleasant rectangle of greenery. The Park was named after the heroes of World War II. The Cathedral is one of the few tzarist-era buildings to survive the 1911 earthquake, despite the fact it is built entirely of wood and constructed without nails. It is also one of the eight most unique wooden buildings in the world. After the revolution it was used as historical museum, cultural center, and just in 1990 again it was given a status of a Russian Orthodox cathedral.(copied from the Kaz Tourism site)



A cable car takes you to the top of Kok-Tobe(I've seen many spellings). At the top, there is a great view of the city, restaurants, along with an amusement park. It is one of the standard tourist places, but also sounds like a nice trip. The second picture is the view from the top.


This is the ice skating rink at Medeo outside Almaty. It is a very popular place in the winter. Once you get out of the city, there is some very beautiful and different landscapes. There are mountains and steppes. Some of it reminds me of the American Southwest.

Region- Round Two!

I think I may have set the record for shortest time in a region! Thanks to another adoptive family, I found out about some potential issues in Esik. They may or may not have affected me, but my dossier is going to be registered in the Almaty region which contains Almaty City, Karakastek, and Esik(rather than just in Esik). This way if the issue in Esik does turn out to be a problem like I think it will, then I can go to one of the other baby houses without having to move my paper work. It is most likely to be Karakastek, but I will not know for a while. I am very glad my agency is willing to be flexible. The facts haven't changed much. I will stay in Almaty City no matter which baby house I go to. The Karakastek baby house is a 2 hour drive so I will spend more time on the road. I may still end up in Esik, but I think that is not likely. I will still be making 3 trips. I'll post more about the region once a day or two has gone by and I know it is not going to change again!

For those not familiar with international adoption, there will probably be many more surprises along the way! There is no set path or set timeline and things happen when they happen. They say international adoption is like a roller coaster with many ups and downs. So I think it is time to buckle up and try to enjoy the ride.

Region!

I got a call at work today and found out I am going to go to Esik. This means that I will be living in Almaty and traveling each day for about an hour to Esik for the visits to the baby house. Almaty is the former capital of Kazakhstan so it is a major modern city. Esik is one of the regions that requires 3 shorter trips. The bonding/visiting process and the court process happen in 2 different trips unlike many other regions. So the first trip will be slightly less than 3 weeks. The second trip should be just for court and be about a week. The third trip will be 10 days or she can be escorted home by one of the coordinators in Kazakhstan that I will be working with for the first 2 trips. I'll post more later on the region and the process.

More decorating

It is a little hard to see in the picture, but this is a growth chart and the little birds can be moved to mark the latest height. It is made from wood and goes well with the rest of the room.

My Latest Natural Disaster episode

Sunday night around 10pm, a severe wind storm blew through the neighborhood. It knocked down the tree in my front yard and all the electrical lines in the field across from my house. I could feel the whole house shaking. Downed power lines blocked off the road for several hours and there was no power until 3am. At one point the next day, there were 14 trucks in the field across from my house resetting the power poles.

On April 18, there was a 5.2 earthquake followed by a 4.5 after shock the next day. So in the last 2 months, I have survived an earthquake and a wind storm. If this is all to prepare me for the challenges of traveling to Kaz, then I am ready!

This is the view from my front yard of the trucks repairing the railroad crossing lights and resetting one of the poles. While it wasn't a tornado (straight line winds is the term they used), you could follow the path of destruction that was about an 1/8 of a mile wide as it came from across the field, past my house and through the neighborhood.

My Latest Purchase

After extensive research on the internet and in store testing, I finally decided on what diaper pail to buy. I went with the Diaper Champ. This is the new pink model that I had to drive 45 miles to Springfield to get since they only had the older blue version in town. Spending so much time on deciding what diaper pail to buy probably means that I have been waiting a long time and I am running out of things to do to keep sane during this wait. :) I've tried it with a clean diaper and it works pretty good. I hope I have the opportunity to try it with a dirty one soon!

Matt Damon and Scott Backula are in town!

The big news around here is that Matt Damon and Scott Bakula are in town to film the movie "The Informant". The movie is about ADM! This was all before I went to work for them, but they got caught price fixing the price of lysine(This is one of the products I work on). The Informant was informing on ADM at the same time he was embezzelling millions from ADM. Probably why it is not called "The Genius". Anyway, he got ADM in trouble, but he also ended up in jail himself.

I have not seen any of the filming, but a lot of people have. One thing that is nice is that everyone who has seen the filming has said how great they are at signing autographs, taking photos etc. No security teams surrounding them or anything. The limos have been seen going through McDonalds and Taco Bell. Plus they have gone out to eat at local restaurants and bars. The film takes place around Christmas time so they have decorated the mall for Christmas and made snow for the streets downtown.

Notice the McDonalds Cup!

Snow made from huge blocks of ice in a nearby truck.