What We Know Now (This one is for Becky!!!)

Thank you to everyone for being so concerned and up-to-date on what is going on with our journey to adopt a baby from Kazakhstan. We have had some major lessons in patience as we wait for something (someone rather) that we have wanted for a long time. Right now, we know that everything (paperwork) is in Kazakhstan and waiting for approval. We are pretty sure we are going to Astana and that they have babies there that meet our request. Our baby will be between the ages of 6 months and 12 months with minimal health problems. We do not care whether the baby is a boy or girl, although we have heard that there are more girls available right now! We were told about a week ago that approval takes about two weeks, but we are just waiting until we hear a travel date to get really excited about leaving.

We have had a lot going on since Thanksgiving. Christmas with my family (Jenkins), lots of paperwork being resubmitted (some things expired while we waited), visits and dates with friends and family, a trip to Florida, lots of school work, three baby showers, Spring Break, lots of painting and getting the baby's room ready, etc. We are just ready to get this baby. My first shower was at mom's house. My sister Diane made really yummy homemade cheesecake! The second shower was at school, where I work. One of my students made several scrapbook pages from the pictures taken there. My third shower was given by my friends Julie and Becky. My friends and family brought gifts for the baby as well as donations to be given to the orphanage. We will probably spend a lot of time shopping for the babies we will be leaving behind. We received so many nice things for our baby-to-be and are really happy that everyone was so excited to share in our adoption experience.

I will update again when I hear more about a departure from the U.S.