03/22/2007

Bulat then took us to a hotel which we arrived at on Thursday at 3:00am were we stayed until our train departure at 7:00pm that evening. We were able to sleep shower, and he took our cash for the in country adoption fees/expenses $8,000 and $500 driver/translator, then we also showed him our gifts and he picked two of them (he did the same with the other couple that we traveled with).

He then explained a little about the culture and gave his speech…. which lasted about 3 hours. So when we finally were able to sleep it was about 5:00am. We slept a while and then got up around 9:00am for breakfast, and then walked around since it was a holiday (Kazakhstan New Year – March 22nd) so there were many things to see on the streets. We then went back to the hotel prepared our luggage, and ate dinner, and then Bulat picked us up for the train. He had purchased our tickets then we reimbursed him for that cost. (about $50 per person) The train was not as bad as everyone stated, it was not luxurious, but not horrible either. The bathrooms, reminded me of an outhouse (due to the smell), and the beds weren’t great, but clean, and you are so tired you can sleep anywhere at that point. It truly was what you would picture a “soviet train” to look and feel like.

03/21/2007

We arrived in Frankfurt at about Wednesday at 7:10am and then left for Almaty at 12:20pm. We arrived in Almaty on Wednesday at 11:45pm where we were met with a sign by our coordinator Bulat (not to be confused with “Borat”), with Adoption Ark.

3/20/2007

We left Salt Lake City, Utah Tuesday at 10:50am. We then arrived in Illinois at 2:56pm
Which is were we met another couple that we were scheduled to travel with, that is also adopting a 2 year old from our same orphanage. They are Paula and Jim Mikos from Chicago/Rockford, Illinois. Then we left Illinois about 4:45pm

March 2007

03/02/2007 - Sent final payment to Adoption Ark ($700)

03/08/2007 - Received our Visa's in the mail.

03/14/2007 - Booked our flights to Kazakhstan, it is all official now we leave March 20th, and should finally meet our daughter March 23rd. It has been almost two years, it is so hard to believe.

February 2007

02/21/2007 - Well after a LONG wait we finally received our LOI (official Letter of Invitation) which means that we can apply for our visa to go to Kazakhstan and meet our little girl, I laughed and cried, I am so excited... it reminds me of that excitement you have at Christmas time that seems to fade as an adult :) We are filling out our Visa forms now and will pay the rush fee and will hopefully have visas in a week, then we can book our flights. (Visa's $245 each = $490) We also ordered the money from the bank, apparently all bills must be crisp and new, or they won't accept them. I have a 30 page document to read on travel and need to get a few things together and start looking into the flights.

02/23/2007 - Completed Visa Application.

02/27/2007 - Picked up money orders to and sent our Visa Application for Kazakhstan (480, including rush fee), we will hopefully be traveling in 2-3 weeks...($490)

November 2006

11/10/2006 - We received word that our dossier has been in Kazakhstan for a week now, we are so excited!

11/30/2006 - We just received word that our dossier is in the second ministry, so we could get our invitation to travel at anytime.

October 2006

10/06/2006 - Overnighted the letter from CPA verifying my husbands income. Sadly it was more difficult then we thought to have a letter written and signed by a CPA. Then when the letter was completed their notary was ill. I was able to pick up the letter today, I rushed it be be apostilled and then overnighted it to our worker. Now we are praying this will be it and our dossier will be headed to Kazakhstan. ($60)