Leaving on a Jet Plane

Tonight is the night, come 9:30 pm I will be cruising down the run way, on my way to meet my little one in Kazakhstan. Life is surreal right now; Is my dream of adopting truly going to happen? It feels as if I have been going through the motions for the past year, researching, reading a bazillion books, collecting paperwork, shopping for the baby, getting her room ready, and now...........all of this hope, all of these months of preparation were really for something, something greater than I could even know right now. I can only imagine that these next 5 days will be the most emotional of my life. I can't imagine that there is a way to prepare for what is to come emotionally.

For those of you that aren't familiar with the adoption process in Kazakhstan, it is quite different from any other country that I have read about. In Kaz, the traditional 'referral' method is not recognized, so more often than not, you travel without knowing who your child is. You travel on purely faith, faith in the process, faith that God knows your plan, faith that your agency will take great care of you and faith that you will find your child, the child that was always meant to be yours. That means that at this point, I do not know how old she is or what she looks like. When I arrive at the baby house, I will meet with the orphanage director and discuss my situation and the characteristics of the child that I have requested. In my case, I have requested to adopt a little Kazak girl, as healthy as possible, from 6-15 months old. From what I hear, it is common that the orphanage director will introduce me to 2 or 3 little girls. I will meet each child one on one, so most likely they will not all be in the room with me at the same time. The director will give me some information on the child's health and their background and I will take 5-10 minutes (only) to interact with this child. If I meet the first child and feel this is the child for our family, I let the director know that I would like to accept her as my referral and start bonding, at this point I would not meet any additional children. If in fact I do not feel that this child is the right child for our family, (ie. too old, a little boy versus a girl, too many health concerns, etc.) I am to let the director know that this is not the right child for our family and ask to please meet another child. If you are reading this post and your heart aches at the thought of having to 'choose' a child, my heart also aches at this thought; however after many months of research and talking with many families that have also traveled to select, I have faith that all will work out as God has intended, just as in a more traditional referral adoption. Many families said that they 'just knew this was the child for their family.' It is healthy for the child to have some resistance when meeting me for the first time, possibly even resistance on the 2nd, 3rd, 4th..... visits too. The child does not know me, and if they seem to be distraught when separated from their caregiver, this is because they have formed a healthy attachment to this person. Once I have accepted a referral, I send off her photos, health records and any videos that I take of her to my international adoption doctor at the University of Minnesota. My doctor will then review her health information and let me know if he sees any major concerns in her size, development, marks on her body, etc. If all checks out, I will start my 2 weeks of mandatory bonding with my little girl. From what I have learned thus far, I will be able to visit my daughter for 2 hours each morning and 2 hours each afternoon to bond. I will post more about the process as the process unfolds. :)

For now, I take off at 9:30 pm and fly non-stop via NW / KLM to Amsterdam. Once I reach Amsterdam I have a 6 hour layover and then take off to Almaty, the largest city in Kazakhstan. I arrive in Almaty Tuesday morning around 5:30 am. My coordinator will then meet me at the Almaty airport to help me get my bags and purchase my last connecting flight from Almaty to Aqtobe, I should be able to catch the morning flight to Aqtobe, so I will then arrive on the afternoon of the 18th. My hope is that I will have some time to settle in at my hotel, the Amsterdam Hotel, and get a little sleep before I am off to the baby house on the 19th. :)

Here are my greatest friends and I last night, we went out to eat at a little local Mexican joint to celebrate my travels. From front left to right: Sherree, John, Me, Angie, Marla and Sean. Did you see that Margarita? Holy Cow! Angie had gotten to the restaurant first and ordered a large top shelf Margarita, and this is what they brought to her.........a humongous Margarita that required 2 hands to hold and 3 people to finish off. :)


HERE WE GO!!!!!!!!!!!!!