I can't believe it!

Suzanne, my adoption friend in CA, has emailed that she too is going to fly in for my adoption garage sale! I am overwhelmed! I met Suzanne through our adoption research on-line, she too is looking to adopt near Kazakhstan, actually her heart has lead her to Kyrgyzstan, a small country bordering Kaz. We are both singles looking to adopt for our first time, so it has been so much fun talking about our research findings, feelings regarding potentially adopting, etc. We get to feel crazy together!

This entire journey is so amazing to me, I have felt so blessed so many times already, and I am still in the beginning stages. Thank you!

"Madre y Nino"

(This photo was taken by Ms. Suzanne herself in Buenos Aires 2-25-07, just days before I officially submitted my application to start my journey. The perfect symbol to remind us both of the start to our own personal adoption stories.)

Some May Not Fully Understand

“Trust in the Lord with all thine heart, and lean not unto your own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths.” Proverbs 3:5-6

So Super Pumped about Lemonade

I just got an email back from my sister, and my nephews (who live all the way in Iowa) are going to come up to Minnesota and have the Lemonade Stand at our Adoption Garage Sale. I am beaming! How super exciting to think that my boys are old enough to have a Lemonade Stand at my house and that they can help us earn money to bring home their baby cousin. I love that they can actually 'understand' what their Aunt Christy is doing and that they can even be involved. Becky already talks w/ them about their cousin over the oceans. Melt!!!! :):)

Adoption Garage Sale

It is official, July 14th & 15th we will be having a GIGANTIC "Adoption Garage Sale" extravaganza at my house in Big Lake!!!! If you have any gently used furniture, clothing, household or garage items that you are willing to donate to a very great cause - ME - :) please let me know. If you can also help man the sale, I would love all additional bodies that are willing! Maybe someone can even dress up in a gorilla costume and stand on Highway 10 for me???? Anyone??? I think that it would be fun to have a kid's lemonade stand, baked goods to sell and possibly someone manning the grill to sell brats and hot dogs too. Anyone up for that? No Gorilla suit needed for that job. Love you all!

Kazakhstan Anthem

http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Network/9119/kazakstan/anthem.mid

Above is the Kazakhstan National Anthem, kind of fun.

Why Kazakhstan?

I must admit that when I started this journey, I had no idea just how much there was to learn. I started with first researching countries and finding out what their eligibility requirements were for adoptive parents, with being a single, I was immediately disqualified from many countries. Did you know that many countries (not all) will not allow singles, those who have been on depression medications, obesity, 2+ divorces, a DUI ??? Crazy hu! Anyhow, once I narrowed my list of countries down to a handful of favorites, I started to research the adoption systems in each country, the child to caregiver ratios, programs, costs, time in-country, cultures, need, the choices open to adoptive parents (sex/age), etc. and my heart lead me to Kaz. I love their adoption program! When adopting a child from Kazakhstan, you are allowed to choose both the age and the sex of the child that best fits your family, but what I liked most about their program is that it is 100% geared to be in the best interest of the child! In Kaz, a child must be on the national registry for 6 months as an orphan before being eligible for adoption, thus all children open to adoption are at least 6+ months old at the time of the bonding period. The other thing that I love about the Kazakhstan program is that they require all prospective adoptive parents to spend at least 2 consecutive weeks bonding with their child at the orphanage in Kaz before moving forward on the actual adoption. This allows the child time to get to know their parents before making that transition to their new forever family. I love this! How scary it must be for that child to leave all that they know and be placed with a new family. My hope is to adopt an infant / toddler girl and I am super hopeful that she will be home by Christmas, at least this is my dream!

Home Study Jitters

Although I have been on this adoption journey for 5 months now (research, research & even more research), tomorrow it will all feel real. Tomorrow is our home visit with our Social Worker. :) I say 'our' because I feel that this is 'our' family's journey, me, my puppies (unknowingly on their end) & our little girl somewhere out there. I am trying not to be too freaky about the cleaning end of things, thank heavens I am already somewhat of a neat freak, but I must admit that I am a bit nervous. I did go out and buy a fire extinguisher, Carbon Monoxide Detector and electrical outlet covers yesterday.............is that silly? I didn't bleach the toilets at least.

I will keep you all posted!

Thank you to all of my amazing friends and my super amazing family for your support on my adoption journey. I love you all! I am truly blessed!