So we are inside of 100 hours before we are scheduled to board our flight to Kaz, and we have yet to put much attention towards preparing for our two months there. As of this morning the contractor part of our remodel is complete, the last of the carpet and tile installed, the last of the paint applied. KJ and I have been tireless in our rush to finish and while there is still a fair bit of work to do to get the house cleaned and bring things out of storage and back into the appropriate room of the house, the end is in site. We hope to be able to completely shift our focus to our time in Kazakhstan by Saturday which will give us roughly two days to prepare.
Our visas arrived today, our flights are set, our back-up copy of our dossier is in hand, the essentials are covered. I am sure we can make up the rest in short order!
Tomorrow our real estate agent comes to take pictures and the sign goes up out front. This morning my younger sister Cat left after a busy 5 day visit, and this evening KJ's parents arrived from Illinois and are set to stay here at the house while we are gone to look after our three boys (rottweilers actually). I haven't had much time to think about it yet, but it will be very difficult to be away from them for so long. I do love my boys!
I am very tired and my head is spinning and my thoughts are scattering and I am sure to have another long day ahead tomorrow. The plane ride is sure to be a surreal transition period putting closure to our six years together here in Lovell as a married couple, and marking the tangible beginning of our journey to familyhood. Exciting times. Take Care.
Steve
29 June 2007
21 June 2007
As of this evening we have our tickets. We fly on KLM out of Boston to Amsterdam at 7pm on 02 July and arrive at 8am on the 3rd. We then fly from AMS to Almaty Kazakhstan at 6:35pm and arrive at 5:10am on the 4th. We will spend the night of the fourth in Almaty and then fly to Astana on the 5th, and if all goes well, meet our daughter on the 6th.
We will not have any information about our daughter until we actually meet her. It is our understanding that the director of the baby house (what we might call an orphanage) in Astana has a particular child in mind for us, but we are also aware that there may be more than one child available to consider. As previously mentioned we have asked for a girl as young as possible which in Astana is somewhere 7 months and older, though commonly 7-8 months old at the time we would meet her. Her size, weight, and developmental progress can vary widely at that age, and so it is a little difficult to anticipate her needs. There will be so much to report that first week, so be patient with us as we try to get the details out as quickly as possible while also taking some time to adjust and figure out our new routine.
As I understand it, we will visit the baby house every day (except sundays) either in the morning or the afternoon for 2 hours, and I believe that you pick a time slot and keep it, though that may be wrong. Apart from that we will be living in an apartment that will be prearranged by our adoption agency and we will have a driver and translator also arranged for by our agency. From reading the blogs of others who have adopted in Kaz - and in particular Astana - it sounds as though the city has a fair bit to offer and is quite readily explored and navigated. I am sure it will have its own challenges, but compared to the likes of Niamey or Nouakchott, will likely feel downright cosmopolitan.
We anticipate having high speed internet available, though probably not in our apartment, and will also be looking into the capacity for Skype and i-chat. We also expect to be able to download photos as well as video and have them available here on the blog, though we have not tested the video end of things yet.
As you might guess, we will not be traveling light on this journey. Apart from the usual excess of electronics that seem to be my shadow these days, we will aslo be bringing a stash of onesies, diapers, powdered formula, bottles, rash cream and the like for our little girl. I must admit to having just thought to include rash cream even though I am not exactly sure what it is. We don't actually have any yet, but I will go over to amazon.com in a minute and see what's out there, or maybe call a friend to find out what I need. So much to learn. I am sure that we will look back and laugh at how unprepared we were, but I'd rather live that way than surrender my sanity to worry and doubt.
I invite any and all of you to leave comments, ask questions, make suggestions, and in general participate along with us. It will make the process a whole lot more interesting for us if the blog takes on more of a feeling of dialog rather than diatribe. Take Care.
We will not have any information about our daughter until we actually meet her. It is our understanding that the director of the baby house (what we might call an orphanage) in Astana has a particular child in mind for us, but we are also aware that there may be more than one child available to consider. As previously mentioned we have asked for a girl as young as possible which in Astana is somewhere 7 months and older, though commonly 7-8 months old at the time we would meet her. Her size, weight, and developmental progress can vary widely at that age, and so it is a little difficult to anticipate her needs. There will be so much to report that first week, so be patient with us as we try to get the details out as quickly as possible while also taking some time to adjust and figure out our new routine.
As I understand it, we will visit the baby house every day (except sundays) either in the morning or the afternoon for 2 hours, and I believe that you pick a time slot and keep it, though that may be wrong. Apart from that we will be living in an apartment that will be prearranged by our adoption agency and we will have a driver and translator also arranged for by our agency. From reading the blogs of others who have adopted in Kaz - and in particular Astana - it sounds as though the city has a fair bit to offer and is quite readily explored and navigated. I am sure it will have its own challenges, but compared to the likes of Niamey or Nouakchott, will likely feel downright cosmopolitan.
We anticipate having high speed internet available, though probably not in our apartment, and will also be looking into the capacity for Skype and i-chat. We also expect to be able to download photos as well as video and have them available here on the blog, though we have not tested the video end of things yet.
As you might guess, we will not be traveling light on this journey. Apart from the usual excess of electronics that seem to be my shadow these days, we will aslo be bringing a stash of onesies, diapers, powdered formula, bottles, rash cream and the like for our little girl. I must admit to having just thought to include rash cream even though I am not exactly sure what it is. We don't actually have any yet, but I will go over to amazon.com in a minute and see what's out there, or maybe call a friend to find out what I need. So much to learn. I am sure that we will look back and laugh at how unprepared we were, but I'd rather live that way than surrender my sanity to worry and doubt.
I invite any and all of you to leave comments, ask questions, make suggestions, and in general participate along with us. It will make the process a whole lot more interesting for us if the blog takes on more of a feeling of dialog rather than diatribe. Take Care.
19 June 2007
IT IS OFFICIAL!!!
We got the call this afternoon. We are to be in Kazakhstan on 05 July and will likely meet our daughter the following day. To get there we will most likely be leaving in the evening of Monday 02 July and arriving in Kaz on the morning of the 4th, so that means two weeks from yesterday we leave. There is much to do before then. Happily, the projects to ready the house for sale are winding down and there is light at the end of that tunnel. So too now there seems to be a bright light at the end of the adoption tunnel, though I am mindful that there are still a number of potential delays ahead.
For the first time my mind is beginning to slow down enough to really begin to take in the fact that I soon will be a father. Not for a long weekend, or a summer job, but forever. There are not too many forever events in one's life, and though I recognize that becoming a father isn't exactly unusual in the human experience, at the point at which every individual crosses over from child to parent, there must surely be a paradigm shift the likes of which nothing can quite prepare you for. Bring it on, after 40 years, I'm ready. More Soon. Take Care.
We got the call this afternoon. We are to be in Kazakhstan on 05 July and will likely meet our daughter the following day. To get there we will most likely be leaving in the evening of Monday 02 July and arriving in Kaz on the morning of the 4th, so that means two weeks from yesterday we leave. There is much to do before then. Happily, the projects to ready the house for sale are winding down and there is light at the end of that tunnel. So too now there seems to be a bright light at the end of the adoption tunnel, though I am mindful that there are still a number of potential delays ahead.
For the first time my mind is beginning to slow down enough to really begin to take in the fact that I soon will be a father. Not for a long weekend, or a summer job, but forever. There are not too many forever events in one's life, and though I recognize that becoming a father isn't exactly unusual in the human experience, at the point at which every individual crosses over from child to parent, there must surely be a paradigm shift the likes of which nothing can quite prepare you for. Bring it on, after 40 years, I'm ready. More Soon. Take Care.
18 June 2007
Well nearly a month ago I entered our last posting and now as I sit here in Lovell at the end of a beautiful 70 degree Maine summer day, there is much to say. We continue to ready the house for sale and have been very busy of late refinishing wood flooring, repainting rooms, installing trim, and doing landscaping work while our hired crew toils in the nearly completed basement remodel. It will be exciting to see it all finished and actually put back together soon. We have many things packed up and moved to storage that will remain in boxes until the move to Boothbay after we return from Kaz. The house has been easy to pack, but the shop will be another matter. There are several thousand pounds of machinery and tools, and I don't know how many board feet of wood about the place, not to mention the two sailboats, Kubota tractor/backhoe and the Deere mower. It will be a complicated move.
But alas the moving destination is set. We closed on our new house last Friday and take posession of the house on 06 August. I have added some pictures of the house above.
So as I mentioned, Friday morning we closed on our new house. Well also on Friday we heard from our adoption agency that if we had plans over the fourth of July we might want to reconsider them. It turns out that there is a good chance that we will actually be on our way to Kaz on the 4th! It is not yet definite, but we should know for sure in the next 24-48 hours. These are exciting times around here. It was a stressful weekend, with tempered excitement and anxiousness dancing in our heads. What would we hear this week? Will it happen so soon? Are we ready? When we thought we would be gone in June, we pretended to be prepared. When our time line moved out to August we took a sigh of relief mixed with dissappointment and called it a good thing, now to have it jump back a few months caught us off guard yet again. There are many unexpected and unforeseeable twists and turns in international adoption. This is our latest.
So right now we are awaiting the call. I won't say too much more before that, but would recommend checking back in a day or two to see the latest. Things could really take off here on this blog, or they could recede as they did last month. It should all become clearer soon. Stay tuned. Take Care
But alas the moving destination is set. We closed on our new house last Friday and take posession of the house on 06 August. I have added some pictures of the house above.
So as I mentioned, Friday morning we closed on our new house. Well also on Friday we heard from our adoption agency that if we had plans over the fourth of July we might want to reconsider them. It turns out that there is a good chance that we will actually be on our way to Kaz on the 4th! It is not yet definite, but we should know for sure in the next 24-48 hours. These are exciting times around here. It was a stressful weekend, with tempered excitement and anxiousness dancing in our heads. What would we hear this week? Will it happen so soon? Are we ready? When we thought we would be gone in June, we pretended to be prepared. When our time line moved out to August we took a sigh of relief mixed with dissappointment and called it a good thing, now to have it jump back a few months caught us off guard yet again. There are many unexpected and unforeseeable twists and turns in international adoption. This is our latest.
So right now we are awaiting the call. I won't say too much more before that, but would recommend checking back in a day or two to see the latest. Things could really take off here on this blog, or they could recede as they did last month. It should all become clearer soon. Stay tuned. Take Care
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