We received our embassy interview appointment set for 11am on the 24th, and now are looking into flights for Christmas Day. It looks possible that we might celebrate Aitugan's first Christmas in four countries and on three continents. Our travel agent (Lynn at Countryside travel) will help us as we attempt to get seats on a British Air flight from here to Russia, then London, then Boston, then a 3 hour drive to our home in Maine. If all goes as planned, it will all happen during the 25th, making for a busy, though highly memorable day.
We spent a few wonderful hours with Jennifer, Marshall and their beautiful daughter Aila today here at the hotel and plan to see them tomorrow along with another couple completing their adoption here in town. It was fantastic to meet them and feel we have much in common with them, and are happy that we are but a few hours drive away from one another.
Aitugan continues to sleep erratically, though she is definitely improving. I can't wait until we actually have more time and capacity to write entries here and post the large number of photos that have accumulated since we left Astana what seems like weeks ago. Take Care.
Join us on our journeys as we adopt our daughters from Kazakhstan.
Meet Aitugan
Aitugan Astana Elizabeth
Aitugan is pronounced "eye""two""gone" with mild emphasis on the first syllable. Aitugan is Kazakh for "born under a new moon" and was the name given to her by her birthmother. We have chosen to keep the name Aitugan as we love the name, the meaning and the connection that it will maintain to her country of birth. Our adoption of Aitugan was finalized the eleventh of December 2007 when we finally left the Hope Astana Baby House as a family of three.
Meet Nurai
Nurai Alia Anson
Nurai is pronounced Nur (sounds like were) and "eye". Nurai is Kazakh for "shining light of the moon". This is the name that was given to her by her birth mother. We love the sound of Nurai's name as well as the meaning so have decided to keep her birth name. Similarly to Aitugan, we like that her name will remain a tie and tribute to her birth country. Our adoption was finalized on the eighth of December 2009 and we plan to return to Maine as a family of FOUR on the sixteenth of January 2010.
About Us - Kjersten and Steve
We have been married now for eight years (as of July 2009) and in many ways the time seems to have flown by. As we discussed starting a family we had to decide whether to start with adoption or a biological child. We have both known for many years that we wanted to adopt and we finally decided that adoption made the most sense for the start of our human family. Our daughters join us and our two furry and very friendly rottweilers (Bokar and Daouda).
Elena's Kazakh Gift Shop
Blogs of other families
Local time in Kazakhstan
Astana |
Blog Archive
- Oct 2010 (2)
- Jun 2010 (2)
- Mar 2010 (6)
- Feb 2010 (1)
- Jan 2010 (6)
- Dec 2009 (4)
- Nov 2009 (14)
- Oct 2009 (9)
- Jul 2009 (1)
- Jun 2009 (1)
- May 2009 (1)
- Feb 2009 (1)
- Jan 2009 (2)
- Dec 2008 (1)
- Nov 2008 (2)
- Oct 2008 (2)
- Sep 2008 (1)
- Aug 2008 (4)
- Jul 2008 (1)
- Jun 2008 (1)
- May 2008 (2)
- Apr 2008 (1)
- Mar 2008 (2)
- Feb 2008 (2)
- Jan 2008 (5)
- Dec 2007 (24)
- Nov 2007 (59)
- Oct 2007 (8)
- Sep 2007 (4)
- Aug 2007 (8)
- Jul 2007 (4)
- Jun 2007 (6)
- May 2007 (6)
- Apr 2007 (2)
7 comments:
Yippee! I hope you do get to come home on Christmas! I will be thinking of you and wish you a very safe journey home.
Libby
Oh, I forgot....Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays too!
Libby
It was truly wonderful to hang out with you in the lobby today and we cannot wait for more shared times ahead...here and in New England!
KJ & Steve,
I've been logging onto your blog & just love your journey. Aitugan is such a beautiful little girl.
We've been following Jen & Marshall too & it was great to see the two families get together. I'm looking forward to seeing all the photos you wish to add to your blog!
We have learned so much from viewing your blog, it's been helpful. We may soon be in Kaz ourselves (guessing Feb/March 08). Stop by our blog to say hello sometime: www.kazbabymakesthree.blogspot.com
When it's time for you to go home, have a safe trip!
Merry Christmas,
Eileen & Pat
How exciting that you may be able to travel home on Christmas! However it works out though, sounds like you all are on cloud nine, so just continue to enjoy it all and go with the flow (a skill at which you are very proficient by now)! We've been tracking your journey regularly since we left Kaz and have really been enjoying your blog posts. The Secrest's have been taking pics of Andrew (Almaz) and sending them to us and we will be returning to Astana in a few short days to bust him out of the baby house! He is doing really well and completely over the chicken pox. If had to do over again, we would definitely have made just one trip, but it is what it is and we'll all be together forever very soon.
Give Aitugan a big hug for us!
Safe travels home!
Brad and Corrine
How winderful! Merry Christmas!
Steve & KJ - if you do get that BA flight (which would be wonderful by the way) and your connection is LHR, don't pack anything important or which you care about seeing again - in your checked luggage. BA at Heathrow has an enormous lost baggage issue. When they lost our bags last summer and I looked into it, it was staggering to learn that the thousands upon thousands of bags were also "lost". The only reason we got ours returned (after 3 weeks but missing some things) was that I contacted both the Wall St Journal and LA Times and they put their London bureaus on it and wrote articles. So now I warn everyone to be very careful of the BA-Heathrow connection and to pack accordingly. That said, for your sakes I hope you get home SOON!
Post a Comment