Good News, Bad News kind of Day

Well, we received an update from our caseworker today regarding the status of our coveted LOI. It has been approved by the MOE in Taraz and is currently in Astana for the final sign-off and will then be on it's way to AA in Chicago. Yipeee! That's the good news.

The bad news is that our travel dates have been pushed back to end of March/beginning of April. It appears there was a snag in the paperwork regarding the child they are attempting to match us with and the date the child is expected to clear the database for adoption has been moved back to the end of March/beginning of April. Thus, we have to wait if we want to try and be matched with this child. Bummer, more waiting!

I guess it is a good thing we updated our USCIS fingerprints because it looks like we will be out of the country during the time we would have needed to do that.

Seeing as I am an optimist, I guess the silver lining in this current cloud is the following:

1. The weather should be warmer

2. We have more time to learn Russian

3. We have more time to get ready to travel

4. Our LOI is actually on it's way

5. We will know any time now some specifics as to when we will travel

6. I will be in town to attend a suprise party for a good friend I haven't seen in a while

Such is life in the adoption world.

BRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!

I'm hoping this big chill we are experiencing is a good omen that we will travel soon and it is God's way of getting us ready for the colder weather in Taraz, Kazakhstan. That being said, it is actually warmer in Taraz today than it is here. Their 5 day forecast is for highs in the low- mid 30s and lows in the upper teens, minimal windchill.

We are still waiting for our LOI but in all honesty did not expect it to have arrived the first half of the month. They typically seem to give parent's about 2 weeks notice to travel. Now that we are about 2 weeks out from Feb 1st we are waiting with anticipation that it will arrive any day now. Our patience will truely be tested in the coming days and weeks as we wait for word to schedule our first trip.

A cold blustery end to 2008

Today we made what we hope is the last trip to be fingerprinted. Our USCIS prints don't actually expire until May 2nd but our caseworker didn't want us having to worry about getting reprinted while we were traveling in 2009. Hopefully we will be completed or close to it by the time they were to expire. We battled the brisk winds, which almost knocked me down, and walked through downtown Baltimore to the Support Center to get our fingerprints updated. I think it took all of about 15 minutest to sign-in, fill out the one page form and get our prints made.

Hopefully we will be getting our LOI to travel within a couple of weeks of the new year. New Year's Day is the big celebration day in Kazakhstan as opposed to Christmas Day. A group called Two Hearts for Hope, started in Jan 2008 by two families who adopted from Kaz in late 2007, collected monetary donations that were sent to one of the orphanages in Kaz so the children could go shopping. They received their gifts today. If you go to this link you can see the results:
http://twoheartsforhope.blogspot.com/2009/01/now-this-is-what-christmas-is-all-about.html

Here's to a blessed and happy 2009 to all our family and friends.