Happy Birthday Joey!

Today was a busy day. First, and most important, it was Joseph's 5th Birthday. We went out to dinner, had ice cream cake and opened presents! He had such a blast. The one thing he really wanted was a subskate for the pool - so he got it, how could we resist that enthusiasm. He had such a great day rock climbing that he was exhausted and went to bed.

Once Joey was in bed, we started making our way through the list again. We realized that there is paperwork that needs to be redone and re- apostilled. For those unfamiliar with the term apostille (I was too), this is a certification at the Dept of State validating the notary information on a document. It is needed for documents going to certain foreign countries. Some states like Colorado only charge $2 per document and others like Florida charge $10 per document. So any way... we are getting these documents done one by one. I feel like we could literally drown in the paperwork with as many original copies as well as multiple copies of almost every document we did the first time!

One of the most difficult documents to get was from our mortgage company. I think it took us something like 3 tries to get it right the first time around. That was only after calling the CEOs office and asking for help. Well, the document we sent in with our dossier expires in Oct. The good news is that tonight we came across a copy of one we actually received after we submitted our dossier, dated Dec 8th. We are going to use that copy, send if for apostille and call it quites on that one. We are so glad we don't have to go through the mess of requesting another one!

We also completed our 2 photo albums for the trip. One is for the Children's Hospital staff to show them about our family and home and then one for the judge. Many of the pictures date back more than a year ago, but are fun pictures of the boys and family events. The boys will enjoy looking through this as well.

We don't have any additional updates on travel, but will keep posting on our progress along the way. At this point I am on a countdown of 48 days to possible travel - but not holding my breath for that specific date.

Where the Heck is Kokshetau?

Kokshetau is in the northern part of Kazakhstan approximately 90 miles from the closest Russian border and about 170 miles North-Northwest of the Capital of Astana. China and Mongolia lay East, Caspian Sea to the West. It has the same approximate lattitude of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.

Checking off the "To Do" List

We have been told to be prepared to travel in Sept!! Wow. We have the dry erase board out and filled with a list of "to dos". We started checking things off the list. So many things seem so insignificant in and of themselves, but each one puts us closer to getting out the suitcases and packing.
We loaded Skype on the laptop and the PC last night. Tonight we tried it out. It is pretty cool - don't know why more people don't use it for everyday use. It's easy and it's free!! The sound quality is great. The boys thought it was pretty neat too. I think they were happy to know they were going to be able to talk to us and see us on the webcam. It didn't take Daniel long to figure out that he would be able to see his sister on the computer from across the world.
Visa pictures are done. We just need to fill out the application after we get our LOI - letter of invitation - from Kazakhstan. This is the official invitation to travel for adoption purposes to this great country half way around the world. Once we receive the LOI we can send off for the Visas.
What's next on the list? We will be buying gifts for the caregivers and those in country that will help us get around, the translator and the driver. It is customary to take small gifts as a token of appreciation. We will also be around town looking for donations for the Children's Hospital. Back at the end of winter we bought some winter clothes for donation. However, we would like to get some additional items to take. Hopefully we can check some of this off the list this weekend.
So, as you can see, we are making our way down the list. Lots to go, but getting there. All the "to dos" help to pass the time as we wait for our exact travel dates.

What's in Kaz?

Although there is no real news to report, I know friends and family will be reading this and wondering what's in Kaz? I wanted to share a few interesting facts about Kokshetau, Kazakhstan that I have found since finding out our region. Let's see... Kokshetau means "green/blue mountains" - it is really in a valley between two hills. The real mountains are many miles/ kilometers south of the city itself. The settlers from Russia were told to go to find the green/blue mountains and thought they had gone far enough..... It was founded in 1824. The city has a population of about 125,000+. It is the administrative center of this northeastern region of Kaz. There is a beautiful mosque and several museums in the city. This website has some great photos of the city entrance and it's architecture. You will get a real sense of the city http://aboutkazakhstan.com/Kokshetau_city.shtml.
From what we hear, this is a great region to be assigned to. We'll keep you posted on any other exciting facts we know. Hope this helps get you get acquainted with the home of our daughter.

Moving Forward....Slowly

We haven't posted in a while during the "waiting-mester". We are happy to know that there is progress within the red tape as we have made it through two governmental agencies in Kaz and will know the area of the country to which we will be travelling.

Not too many detail as of now but we will post them as we get close to travelling, which I'm sure is still several weeks away.