A dream fulfilled!

Packed and ready to go!!

This morning we went to court, and all five families were approved to adopt. Madina is now officially Madina Grace Kasianczuk!! We will go back to the orphanage this afternoon for another tea party, this time with the caregivers, and then head for Almaty!! Will write more later, just wanted all to know it is official!!

Wednesday April 16

Today is Wednesday, and we are in the midst of a blizzard--the roads are covered with snow and the cars are frozen. The weather here can change on a dime. I am hoping it clears soon, we were trying to sleep with the windows closed just 2 days ago because the misquitos were so bad. Not a problem tonight. We just called maintenence to help with our window, it kept blowing open and snow was coming in. That is now fixed, and we have running water again. The water looks like a choclate fountain, but it is running. I have been attempting photos, and will keep trying, but I really think the weather might be affecting the dial up internet connection. We met another couple here to pick up a son they adopted, and they are from Schenectady!! They flew in last night and are hoping to fly to Almaty tonight if the airport is open. We will be in touch with them for play groups! They were here a month ago for bonding and court, and had to come back to pick up their son. Today we also had bag inspection for our babies flight back to the states (if all goes well in court!). Madina is ready to go, but Zhanna still says she has her "own house" and may not need to live in ours! Still some work to be done on that!

Tuesday April 15

Hello--Madina was trying on her new hat, and learning to clap. She is feeling much better today, and has been babbling and laughing.

Monday, April 14

As promised, these are some photos of the open market. Today was a good day, we were told in the morning that our interview with the Ministry of Education was today at 4pm. We were all approved!! It was very busy at the Ministry building, there were 10 families there for interviews! The other families were from France and Spain, and were adopting from different orphanages. We each waited our turn, and I was the first to go from our group of 5 families. There were 3 officials, Tamara, our facilitator, Natasha, our translator, and myself. They actually asked most of the questions about Zhanna, her development, her health, and enjoyed photos of her and Madina. According to Tamara, I did very well, and they liked me!! The last hurdle will be on Friday, when we go to court for the judges decision. We have been working at filling the bag for Madina's escort back to the United States, there are many items on the list that we needed to purchase, so we went to the store called "Mickey House" today. As of today, Madina will not be able to travel in the unofficial pink escort suit, as they said it will be "too warm". That may change, but I bought a new "lighter" snowsuit, a two piece lime green outfit with separate snow pants for her to wear home. The weather here is very labile, according to the reports it will be below freezing this weekend, and has snowed in June. I will leave both in her bag. We have not been shopping at the souvenir shop yet, we're hoping to go this week, but things are very busy with 5 families. We have a caravan of 3 vehicles to go anywhere, but so far I have had my own car, even when Mom and Zhanna don't go to the baby house with me!! I usually ride with Natasha, or Zhanna's new friend "Tasha" as she calls her.

Tomorrow we will go to the baby house twice, as today we were only able to go once. Madina has been somewhat sick, as have the other babies. She slept in my arms most of the morning visit, and I did have to take off some of the layers as she was so sweaty. She has a green velour dress, note the photos, which appears to be her uniform, as she has only been out of it for one day since I met her. She usually has a 2 tee shirts, a sweater, the jumper, thick tights and wool slippers on when we visit, and it is about 90 in the room. There are no windows open, to avoid a draft. The workers are now refinishing the music room, and it is somewhat dusty. We were told that we have to bring slippers tomorrow, as there are no shoes allowed in the baby house and most of us are only wearing socks. Will write more tomorrow, am signing off on our last Monday in Karaganda. Next Monday we will be in Almaty, preparing for the looooonnnngggg trip home!!Hope all is well!

Sunday April 13

Today was Sunday, and we were not able to go to the baby house, as they have to "disinfect" on Sundays. We spent the morning at the 'green market' which is an outdoor market that you can purchase anything from food to toilets and anything in between. In the afternoon we all took our 2 hour nap, and then went for another walk. The photos are of the park behind our hotel, and there is a sign in front of part of the park that says it is a SWAT paintball field. There are lots of tanks and missiles in that part of the park.

We have a big week, one of the days, we are not sure when yet, we have an interview with the Ministry of Education officials. If we can convince those officials of our ability to raise the babies, we will go to court on Friday. At that time, the judge will hear from the officials from the Ministry of Education, the doctor from the baby house, the director of the baby house, our facilitator and us, and make the final determination on the adoption of Madina and the other babies. The paperwork we have filled out in the states as well as here in Kazakhstan will make the adoption final and Madina will become a US citizen as soon as she touches down on American soil. She will come home after the 15 day mandatory waiting period for any judicial decisions made in this country and time it takes to issue a passport and birth certificate with her new name. This should take about 25 days, so unfortunately, we will miss her first birthday! Since court has been moved up to April 18, we will fly to Almaty that evening, go to the consulate on Monday to prepare more paperwork, and leave Kazakhstan on Tuesday, April 22...2 days earlier than we expected!! Can't wait to see you all!! Will attempt photos of the market and Madina tomorrow...