Wednesday, September 5, 2007

We got our LOI

The news came today. It is confirmed we are going to Arkalyk, Kazakhstan. Our Letter of Invitation was emailed to us with directions to get our visas done as soon as possible and go.

All that wait time to finally hear those words, "go" is like an absolute adrenalin rush.

I was overwhelmed with a sudden bout of nausea, possibly from all the details. I should mention that tomorrow we are having our parents over for "the production meeting" - until you actually sit down to record the details of how you run your home and what your child's needs are you will not understand what goes into it. I have eight pages of info for them to absorb.

I was also on the tele today trying to book us a flight - seems we might fly Austrian Air leaving Saturday September 15th overnight to Vienna, where we will have a 12 hour lay over (I will have to look into attractions in town for the day) before we travel overnight again to Astana, Kazakhstan. We will arrive early morning in Astana, spend the day and get on our next (3rd) overnight to the town of Arkalyk - this time it will be a 15 hour train ride.
You still with me here?..............the adventure begins.
She says with a great big sigh.
I will have more details once we talk to our coordinator tomorrow.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Is it morning sickness!??


Timeline

11/08/07 Left Kazakhstan on route home to NYC
10/22/07 Left Arkalyk for Almaty
10/03/07 Court Day - Petition for Adoption Accepted!
9/15/07 First day in Arkalyk at orphanage, met Veronika
9/12/07 Departing NYC on route to Kazakhstan
9/04/07 LOI - arrived today!
8/24/07 Heard from Agency with information about children, region and some details about trip. (1 week to gather info while caseworker on vacation)
7/27/07 Began process of updating FBI clearance and medical forms
7/03/07 Dossier arrived in Astana, Kazakhstan at the MFA
6/27/07 Approved by Kaz Embassy in DC and shipped to
Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Astana, Kazakhstan (MFA is the 1st ministry to review dossier)
6/22/07 Dossier shipped to Kazakhstan Embassy in Washington, DC
6/01/07 Dossier fully translated and awaiting to be sent to Kaz Embassy.
5/21/07 Agency submitted dossier for translation.
5/15/07 Dossier complete / sent to adoption agency
5/09/07 I-171H Approval letter forwarded by INS to US Embassy in Almaty, Kazakhstan
5/01/07 Notarize, Authenticate, Apostille and copy of all documents
4/24/07 INS fingerprinting
4/08/07 Paper work hell...........working to gather all that is needed to complete dossier
3/12/07 Received notice of FBI clearance from US Department of Justice
3/11/07 Second home study visit
3/04/07 First home study visit
3/02/07 Had fingerprints taken for FBI clearance
2/28/07 I600A - Application filed with BCIS (Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services ) for I-171H
2/21/07 Applied for home study review and began collecting documents for dossier
2/20/07 Signed with Adoption Agency - Adoption Ark