Heading Down a Different Path

When Michael and I first started our research, the "Stan" countries were ones definitely on our list. Uzbekistan, was once a choice and has since closed and not reopened (least not to my current knowledge). These countries gave us the flexibility of adopting a child of an Asian decent without the strict rules and wait that China has a huge rep for. With more research, came more setbacks... travel time being too long for example. In addition this put Kazakhstan as a country to "fall back on" - not that we ever thought we would need to.

With that, life always seems to toss us a curve ball. The beautiful, yet industrial feeling on my laundry room ceiling proves this. A tiny leak can cause major stress. The ever so leaning backyard fence that may yet again have to wait another year to be replaced. The kitchen appliances that I am surprised have not keeled over or sparked. It just never seems to fail or surprise me that something is always going on in the "V" household.

Enough of my moaning and more on where our baby girl is coming from and what all entails:
For more country info, head to WIKI... I love this site for a quick history lesson. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kazakhstan

To start, Kazakhstan is different from Kyrgyzstan. (As you can see our blogs weather, time and map has now been changed to reflect this.) This country is significantly larger, wealthier and more tourist friendly. Not that Kyrgyzstan wasn't... but from what I've read/understand they are still old-fashioned. Kazakhstan is more populated, hence more people.

In regards to a referral, Kazakhstan is completely different. We will meet our child after we travel to the country once our dossier has been approved/processed. There we will spend about 15 days (at least) during the bonding period and either wait for our court date or return home and then come back again for the 2nd trip to go to court. Once we have been to court, we wait to hear word that our daughter is officially ours and we are able to go back to get her... or we can choose an escort to pick her up.

Here's the fun part. Since we are switching countries, we get to do our dossier papers all over again!!!! YEAH! So much fun. Back to the doctor, another round of finger prints, and more notarizing. We also need an update visit for our home study.

In the end, we hope changing directions benefits us as we truly weren't sure if and when Kyrgyzstan was going to move. Deep down it's heartbreaking and I personally feel like I am losing something by letting go. I'm sure over time it will heal...

Posted by Mel at 12:36 AM