We are now communicating via email with several other families who either are just home from adopting from Kazakhstan or are waiting to leave as we are. One of the families who just recently got back from adopting a little girl from the same baby-home we'll be visiting compiled a daily weblog of their journey, including pictures.
One of the days was the equivalent of a Kazakh Christmas celebration, but they call Santa Claus "Father Freeze". All the kids get dressed up in cultural costumes and perform a skit. This couple got some pictures from this skit with many of the kids in the pictures. Whaddya know? There's our little Dub! Now we know the origin of that yellow outfit and hat!
http://www.kellercafe.com/taraz29.html
******Note here from AFTER the entire adoption process: when you click the link above, make sure you look REAL close at the picture. Dub is right in the middle, in the crazy yellow outfit, but look just left of Dub. That's right: it's LENA! We also got the actual video from this same night, and were able to digitally pull a clip of Lena and Dub holding hands. Who but God could have possibly known that they would be brother and sister!******
The rest of their diary of their trip is also very interesting. We expect our trip to be very similar, except for the weather, which should be quite pleasant in April and May.
Saturday, February 26, 2005
Monday, February 14, 2005
February 14 2005 - travel time frame
Happy Valentine's Day!
We have just today officially accepted the referral of Dub and Jack as our soon-to-be adopted children. These are the children that God has chosen for us, whatever medical issues they may have. The doctor from the University of Minnesota Int'l Adoption Clinic has said that he thinks Dub may have FAS (fetal alcohol syndrome) based on some of his facial features as well as his small stature. Though we find his evaluation troubling, we take encouragement from the first hand reports from the orphanage that Dub is, at age 40 months, potty trained, very social, running, climbing stairs, speaking lots of words, and communicates well with adults and other children.
We do have the option to decline this referral based on medical evaulations, but we believe that God has chosen these children for us for a reason, and we will be obedient to His plan for these kids, not our dream of "the perfect children".
Our view of the boys' physical and medical conditions is this: if Angel were giving birth to them, this would be like getting a little early information so we'd be prepared for what to do when we got them home. Now we are prepared for what we may or may not need to do when we get Dub and Jack home.
Please pray for the health and development of both our boys.
Now that we've accepted, our acceptance will be wired to Kazakhstan, and the Kazakhstan government will issue us an adoption invitation. We had thought, up until today, that this invitation would take 7-10 days to come through. We just learned this morning that it will take more like a month! God's time.
So, while we're sad that our boys will not get to come home for another few weeks, we are very happy that God is so good to send us to Kazakhstan in the SPRING rather than the middle of winter!! Have you seen the weather there?!?
http://weather.yahoo.com/forecast/KZXX0052_f.html brrrrrrrr!!! t-t-t-t-t-t-teeth ch-ch-ch-chat-t-t-t-er-er-er-ing
So, we are planning for an April 1 departure, give or take. Please pray for Dub and Jack's health and physical development, and for the many details that we must address before our departure.
We have just today officially accepted the referral of Dub and Jack as our soon-to-be adopted children. These are the children that God has chosen for us, whatever medical issues they may have. The doctor from the University of Minnesota Int'l Adoption Clinic has said that he thinks Dub may have FAS (fetal alcohol syndrome) based on some of his facial features as well as his small stature. Though we find his evaluation troubling, we take encouragement from the first hand reports from the orphanage that Dub is, at age 40 months, potty trained, very social, running, climbing stairs, speaking lots of words, and communicates well with adults and other children.
We do have the option to decline this referral based on medical evaulations, but we believe that God has chosen these children for us for a reason, and we will be obedient to His plan for these kids, not our dream of "the perfect children".
Our view of the boys' physical and medical conditions is this: if Angel were giving birth to them, this would be like getting a little early information so we'd be prepared for what to do when we got them home. Now we are prepared for what we may or may not need to do when we get Dub and Jack home.
Please pray for the health and development of both our boys.
Now that we've accepted, our acceptance will be wired to Kazakhstan, and the Kazakhstan government will issue us an adoption invitation. We had thought, up until today, that this invitation would take 7-10 days to come through. We just learned this morning that it will take more like a month! God's time.
So, while we're sad that our boys will not get to come home for another few weeks, we are very happy that God is so good to send us to Kazakhstan in the SPRING rather than the middle of winter!! Have you seen the weather there?!?
http://weather.yahoo.com/forecast/KZXX0052_f.html brrrrrrrr!!! t-t-t-t-t-t-teeth ch-ch-ch-chat-t-t-t-er-er-er-ing
So, we are planning for an April 1 departure, give or take. Please pray for Dub and Jack's health and physical development, and for the many details that we must address before our departure.
Friday, February 11, 2005
February 11 2005 - medical evaluations
We received the medical evaluations for Dub and Jack from Dr. Dana Johnson at the University of Minnesota International Adoption Clinic.
Jack (Ahat) just had inguinoscrotal hernia surgery late last fall. Yes, it's as painful as it sounds. Google that term, and you'll see some frightening images. Jack's ambulatory development was slowed because of this hernia, but since it has been corrected, he has continued normal development. Turns out that I had the same thing when I was less than a year old, but I did not have surgery. Somehow my condition seemed to correct itself.
Dub (Valeryi) is behind in physical development (height & weight), and has some other medical issues. I don't care to share all the details here until we know a little more. We know nothing about his parents, so we cannot make any definitive judgements until we see and hold and interract with the little fella.
They are both smaller than "normal american" 2- and 3-year olds, mainly because they have both been in an orphanage from the first month of their lives, but also because kids in that part of the world are generally smaller than us big, fat, overeating Americans. I mean that in the nicest of ways
Please pray that both Dub and Jack are both healthy, that God would bless them both with strength, health, growth, love and increased physical development. Pray for wisdom and discernment for Angel and me.
Jack (Ahat) just had inguinoscrotal hernia surgery late last fall. Yes, it's as painful as it sounds. Google that term, and you'll see some frightening images. Jack's ambulatory development was slowed because of this hernia, but since it has been corrected, he has continued normal development. Turns out that I had the same thing when I was less than a year old, but I did not have surgery. Somehow my condition seemed to correct itself.
Dub (Valeryi) is behind in physical development (height & weight), and has some other medical issues. I don't care to share all the details here until we know a little more. We know nothing about his parents, so we cannot make any definitive judgements until we see and hold and interract with the little fella.
They are both smaller than "normal american" 2- and 3-year olds, mainly because they have both been in an orphanage from the first month of their lives, but also because kids in that part of the world are generally smaller than us big, fat, overeating Americans. I mean that in the nicest of ways
Please pray that both Dub and Jack are both healthy, that God would bless them both with strength, health, growth, love and increased physical development. Pray for wisdom and discernment for Angel and me.
Tuesday, February 08, 2005
February 8 2005 - destination known
We now know where we're going! We'll fly into Almaty, stay for a day or so, then we'll go to the Taraz region, specifically Zhambyl. We think Zhambyl is about 4-5 hours due west of Almaty. Mapquest doesn't quite cover the highways in Kazakhstan.
Our friends from Denver, the Bishops, stayed in the same place when they adopted their daughter, Ollie, and adopted Ollie from the same orphanage. Talk about a small world. Karla (adoption agent) has already told us some very good things about the accomodations in Zhambyl, so we are very excited about our trip!
The weather in Zhambyl is a little chilly right now , but not too bad in March and April...
http://weather.yahoo.com/forecast/KZXX0052_f.html
Here's a really good map of Kazakhstan (see link below). You can see Almaty in the southeastern corner, and Zhambyl is about 300 miles due west of Almaty, right on the Kyrgyzstan border.
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/xpeditions/atlas/kazakh/kazakh-dl.gif
Social/medical background info is on its way to the doctors now for evaluation.
For everyone who has sent us emails and phone calls of encouragement, thank you so much. You have no idea of the impact you are making in our daily lives. Thank you.
Our friends from Denver, the Bishops, stayed in the same place when they adopted their daughter, Ollie, and adopted Ollie from the same orphanage. Talk about a small world. Karla (adoption agent) has already told us some very good things about the accomodations in Zhambyl, so we are very excited about our trip!
The weather in Zhambyl is a little chilly right now
, but not too bad in March and April...http://weather.yahoo.com/forecast/KZXX0052_f.html
Here's a really good map of Kazakhstan (see link below). You can see Almaty in the southeastern corner, and Zhambyl is about 300 miles due west of Almaty, right on the Kyrgyzstan border.
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/xpeditions/atlas/kazakh/kazakh-dl.gif
Social/medical background info is on its way to the doctors now for evaluation.
For everyone who has sent us emails and phone calls of encouragement, thank you so much. You have no idea of the impact you are making in our daily lives. Thank you.
Monday, February 07, 2005
February 7 2005 - more info on the boys
Met with our social worker today to "officially" receive the referral, which is a bunch of paperwork and more pictures. Both boys are in good health, according to the medical overview we received today. We're told that we will find out much, much more about their social backgrounds when we're at the orphanage in Kazakhstan.
Next step is what we're doing now: prepping all this new info to send to the doctor at the University of Minnesota for evaluation. We'll try to get that info out to them today, and they say their evaluation will take 2-3 days.
Will make more pics available shortly...Dub is really Russian looking in these new pictures. Jack seems to look much younger than 2 in some pictures, and much older than 2 in others. Funny how Dub has many of my features (light skin, blue eyes, blond hair) and Jack has many of Angel's features (olive skin, dark hair, brown eyes). They're gonna fit right in!
Next step is what we're doing now: prepping all this new info to send to the doctor at the University of Minnesota for evaluation. We'll try to get that info out to them today, and they say their evaluation will take 2-3 days.
Will make more pics available shortly...Dub is really Russian looking in these new pictures. Jack seems to look much younger than 2 in some pictures, and much older than 2 in others. Funny how Dub has many of my features (light skin, blue eyes, blond hair) and Jack has many of Angel's features (olive skin, dark hair, brown eyes). They're gonna fit right in!
Friday, February 04, 2005
February 4 2005 - ok, more info, time to focus...
Ok, we're coming back down to earth just a little bit. Found out today the schedule works like this: we have to have the medical information for Dub and Jack reviewed by the adoption experts at U of Minnesota. They'll give us the full skinny, and that'll take a couple of days, maybe a week, depending on when we get it to them and how we get it to them. Assuming we accept Dub and Jack (and, yes, there is always a chance that, for medical reasons, we might decline), we will officially accept to our adoption agency. They in turn will then relay that acceptance to Kazakhstan. 7-10 days later, we'll get our adoption invitation, which enables us to get our visas. Once we have the invitation, we'll leave 2-3 weeks (probably more like 2) after that. So, today's the 4th...we'll probably leave sometime in the first week of March.
Wednesday, February 02, 2005
February 2 2005 - TWO BOYS!!!!!
Just 2 short weeks after we got the call that God had ramrodded our dossier through the Kazakhstan embassy in New York, we got "THE CALL". Yes, it's finally here. After 8 months of hurry up and wait, we got THE CALL. Angel and I are (and legally speaking, will be) the proud parents of 2 little boys whom we've never seen before!
- Valeryi Fatkhulin (aka "Dub") was born October 3rd of 2001.
- Ahat Daurenovich Burbekov (aka "Jack"), was born February 4, 2003.
Coincidentally, Feb 4 is also the birthdate of Dub and Jack's new cousins, William and Madeline Barnett, who will turn 4 this Friday! We will know much more - like what they look like and some medical history - perhaps Friday, when we receive the full packet from our social worker.
So, it looks like we will leave for Kazakhstan within the next 3 weeks or so, and be there for approximately 7-8 weeks.
Please pray for our boys, that they would get the best of care at the orphanage until we bring them home. Please pray for Angel and me, that God would take care of the gozillion details that lie between now and our departure date.
God is so good to bless us with these boys, and to allow us the privelage of bringing up these 2 orphaned boys.
- Valeryi Fatkhulin (aka "Dub") was born October 3rd of 2001.
- Ahat Daurenovich Burbekov (aka "Jack"), was born February 4, 2003.
Coincidentally, Feb 4 is also the birthdate of Dub and Jack's new cousins, William and Madeline Barnett, who will turn 4 this Friday! We will know much more - like what they look like and some medical history - perhaps Friday, when we receive the full packet from our social worker.
So, it looks like we will leave for Kazakhstan within the next 3 weeks or so, and be there for approximately 7-8 weeks.
Please pray for our boys, that they would get the best of care at the orphanage until we bring them home. Please pray for Angel and me, that God would take care of the gozillion details that lie between now and our departure date.
God is so good to bless us with these boys, and to allow us the privelage of bringing up these 2 orphaned boys.
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