Yesterday we received news from our agency, Adoption Ark, that although our paper work was received in Aqtobe, that region now may have a wait of a few months. So this was obviously a bit of a downer.
But we really do feel AA and Alla are doing their best on all of this for us and the situation will resolve itself. We are adjusting our expectations on travel times to be a bit farther out now (May or June?), although honestly we wouldn't be shocked, given the uncertainty of the entire process, to get a surprise call in April saying for us to come right away. Seems you just never know what to expect with this process.
Good news though is that Alla, our coordinator, is traveling to Kaz on 3/31 and will be there for a week or two. At that time she will meet with regional adminstrators from both Aqtobe and Ust-Kamenogorsk, a different region in the far East of Kaz. There is a chance that we may be able to switch to that region, where Alla feels that the timeframe might be shorter. So - we therefore look forward to getting more clarity in early to mid April when Alla makes here trip to Kaz.
We are still pushing ahead with paperwork so we're ready to go, just in case we go sooner rather than later.
Until next time,
-Dan, Allison & the boys
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Friday, March 7, 2008
Paperwork continued...
We received our updated I-171H today with updated fingerprints, so we won the battle with USCIS. Good Grief. Also we've had another round of checkups and made sure immunizations have been taken care of or are in the process.
Our paperwork should now be with the Aqtobe regional ministry now. We still anticipate travel in May or maybe as soon as April. As Allison says, we are "trying to balance our excitement with our nerves."
-Dan
Our paperwork should now be with the Aqtobe regional ministry now. We still anticipate travel in May or maybe as soon as April. As Allison says, we are "trying to balance our excitement with our nerves."
-Dan
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Paperchase: Not a very exciting post.
We are pushing the paperwork update as fast as we can, the stopper right now is the fingerprinting update at USCIS. We are scheduled to get re-fingerprinted on 3/4, but hoping we can do it tomorrow, 2/27. The question really is how can we get them to expedite the processing after we get re-fingerprinted. Adoption Ark (our agency) has been very helpful, and gave us a letter that we passed on expressing how we could travel at any time. Hopefully we can lever this to get processing expedited.
Doc appointments next week to once again confirm that we are in good health. Also need to make sure our "in country" folders are in order.
We have found so many other people who are either traveling to or have traveled to Aqtobe, and all have such great positive stories to tell - this has been a great comfort to us.
Our extended families are supportive and nervous at the same time. As much as this whole process is an unknown to us, it is much more so to them. We have faith that ultimately everything will unfold as it is meant to in this process, and all the work will be a very small price to pay for the end result.
Dan
Doc appointments next week to once again confirm that we are in good health. Also need to make sure our "in country" folders are in order.
We have found so many other people who are either traveling to or have traveled to Aqtobe, and all have such great positive stories to tell - this has been a great comfort to us.
Our extended families are supportive and nervous at the same time. As much as this whole process is an unknown to us, it is much more so to them. We have faith that ultimately everything will unfold as it is meant to in this process, and all the work will be a very small price to pay for the end result.
Dan
Sunday, February 17, 2008
First Week since Region Assignment
It has been a good week or so since we received our region assignment on Feb 8th...so much to do and so much to learn in probably just a few months. We are having lots of fun looking at other adoptive families' blogs and websites and learning about their experiences. Everyone we have reached out to in the adoption community has been so generous in offering their help.
The paperwork review is in full swing, we are double checking things and updating anything necessary. We need to get our fingerprints on our I-171H updated, hopefully that will happen this week. Also we schedule doc appointments for updated physicals for Allison and I in early March - the timing is per our agency's recommendation.
We have also started talking to our boys about this a bit more. They know, more or less, what we are going to do, and they also know that while we MAY do this sometime soon, it also may not happen soon. Don't want to get them too worked up and the let down if there is a delay for some reason.
At this point we are planning on taking the boys. I think it could be a great trip for all of us, an adventure undertaken for the best reason possible, and one we'll always remember.
On the more mundane fronts, it is back to paperwork reviews...fun fun. Need to check international health coverage, travel insurance, and other relevant items. This week need to have a pretty concrete list of anything we need to put in force before the trip.
Dan
The paperwork review is in full swing, we are double checking things and updating anything necessary. We need to get our fingerprints on our I-171H updated, hopefully that will happen this week. Also we schedule doc appointments for updated physicals for Allison and I in early March - the timing is per our agency's recommendation.
We have also started talking to our boys about this a bit more. They know, more or less, what we are going to do, and they also know that while we MAY do this sometime soon, it also may not happen soon. Don't want to get them too worked up and the let down if there is a delay for some reason.
At this point we are planning on taking the boys. I think it could be a great trip for all of us, an adventure undertaken for the best reason possible, and one we'll always remember.
On the more mundane fronts, it is back to paperwork reviews...fun fun. Need to check international health coverage, travel insurance, and other relevant items. This week need to have a pretty concrete list of anything we need to put in force before the trip.
Dan
Friday, February 15, 2008
Anticipation
Went to talk to the international adoption clinic at Children's Hospital today. They gave me great advice for travel and are willing to help with any health questions we have here, in Kazakhstan and if we bring a kido back. While we are in Kaz we can get them information and they can get back to us within hours. They suggested some antibiotics to bring for us and the kido. We are also working with homeland security to renew our fingerprints. We can't call or go so we have an appt on Tuesday.
When researching Kazak culture I learned the Kazak people are of Turkish, Uzbek, Chinese, Mongolian and Russian decent. Makes researching ethnicities a little difficult. On the upside I learned something cool. According to "Amazon Warrior Women," a PBS "Secrets of the Dead" episode, there is evidence that some of the Kazakh population are descendants of the culture which spawned the Amazon Warrior myth within Ancient Greek literature (wikipedia).
Seems perfect for my daughter.
When researching Kazak culture I learned the Kazak people are of Turkish, Uzbek, Chinese, Mongolian and Russian decent. Makes researching ethnicities a little difficult. On the upside I learned something cool. According to "Amazon Warrior Women," a PBS "Secrets of the Dead" episode, there is evidence that some of the Kazakh population are descendants of the culture which spawned the Amazon Warrior myth within Ancient Greek literature (wikipedia).
Seems perfect for my daughter.
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