Well the day has finally come when I can confidently say we are going back. We received our official paperwork necessary to apply for our travel visas yesterday. We made travel arrangements yesterday and will be flying Boston - Amsterdam - Almaty - Astana departing on the evening of Saturday 27 Oct, and arriving in the early afternoon of Monday 29 Oct. If all goes smoothly, we may return to the States just before Christmas, though the odds of returning sometime between Christmas and New Years seems more likely.

Though I recognize that there will be lots to do before we head off, the fact that we have done this once before certainly takes a lot of stress out of the process. Once again KJ's parents will be coming out to stay with the boys while we are gone and we can in no way express how much that means to us.

In some ways packing this time around will be simpler and in other ways it will be more difficult. Experience allows us to know more precisely what things are needed, though time of year certainly dictates a new, bulky, heavy set of items. I haven't seen signs of snow yet in the Astana weather, though I have seen nightly lows in the 20's with some frequency.

We do know that we will not have the same apartment we stayed in previously, but do expect something similar in the same area of town. We have also requested that our agency inform our in-country coordinator that we would like to have a DSL connection installed in our apartment before we get there so that we are able to maintain an easy internet connection during our time in country. We did not have this in July, but are regularly seeing blogs of families in Astana talk of having a DSL connection, and thought that we would be as proactive as we could be about getting that set up. Time will tell, but what a difference that would make.

So now we begin to prepare in earnest. The books are being selected, music downloaded, dvd's gathered, gifts assembled, passports readied, clothes chosen, and perhaps most importantly, the brand new money ordered. Three weeks from tomorrow all the prep work will be behind us and we will once again lift off the tarmac at Logan Airport marveling at the incomprehensible ways our lives will have been forever changed before we again touch down in Boston.

I expect to be apprehensive about creating too great a set of expectations, but will certainly not be pessimistic or cynical because of our July experience. As I have said before, these events are all part of the journey that will eventually lead to our becoming a family, and in that journey there is no right way or wrong way, no mistakes, and certainly no regret. As every family accepts, there may be setbacks and challenges, but in the greater world view, ours have certainly been trivial to this point. Are there more ahead - without a doubt. Take Care.