Things To Do While Waiting

We all know that there are various waiting periods during this process. Unfortunately some of us, me, get to repeat some of the waiting periods. So what do you do while waiting; fix the house, gardening, reading parenting books, these all sound like good ideas to me. I‘m redoing my dossier and updating my homestudy. I was notified Wednesday that most of my documents are going to expire in early June and since I don’t know when I will be going back to court again, I need to redo them and I need to redo them as quickly as possible. I’m kind of stuck, I don’t know when my court date is, will my documents expire before or after my court date, will my documents be OK if they are submitted to the court before they expire even if the court date is after they expire, what if I get a court date and they are not updated, will that delay court yet again? So I’m incurring the additional expense, redoing a lot of my documents and trying to get this done as quickly as possible so if I do get a court date, I will be able to back again. This should keep me busy for at least some of this repeat wait. Take care, Chris

No New News

This is just a quick update to let you know that I don’t have any new news. They are still trying to find out more information about the court decree. I’m guessing that after they are able to find out about the decree decisions will be made about when I may be able to go back to Kazakhstan again. Waiting and not knowing are hard. Chris

One Step Forward, Two Steps Back

Some of you have heard me say that this process is one of extreme highs and extreme lows. The joy you experience is often tempered by the reality of the process. This past week I hit what I hope will be the lowest low in my adoption process.


I have to go back to Kazakhstan for another court date. That means that I have taken a huge step backwards in this process. I am now back to waiting for a court date. I am not sure when I will be going back; a temporary legal decree put forth by the higher court in the region prevented me from going before the judge. We are trying to find out when the decree expires so I can go back then.


I was hoping after this last trip that I would be at eight long flights down and four to go. It didn't work out that way, now I'm back to eight flights down and eight more to go.

I would like to thank all of you for your support, kind words and prayers. Please continue to keep me in your prayers so that I get a quick court date and a positive outcome in court.

On a sad note, at home this morning I had to put my cat, Midnight down. I have had Midnight for almost sixteen years and she was healthy up until the last couple of months. She showed her spirit this morning when she growled and hissed at the vet one last time. I’ll miss her. I put some pictures of her below. Chris

Things Did Not Go As Planned

Very quickly, a legal decree stopped us dead in our tracks today. This means that I will have to make two more trips back to Kazakhstan, one for court and one to bring BB home. Before anyone asks what happened today or when I will be coming back, please don’t! Just let me be. Chris

Baby Boy

At about 4 PM today I was able to see BB. It took him a minute or two and then he realized who I was, his large play mate from some time ago. We played with bubbles (I never leave the USA without them) and his See ‘N Say. He has two new top teeth, the two that were making him miserable the last few days I spent with him. He is still not walking; I going to go with he’s saving his first steps for me! I was only able to spend about an hour with him today; then they came in to take him for a nap. My translator questioned that because his nap time is scheduled for 2 to 4 PM. Well apparently little BB has given up on the 2-4 nap so they put him down at 5 PM for an hour before dinner. He is messing with their schedule. I’m not sure if I’ll see him again this trip, we’ll have to see.

After they took him away, the Baby House Director came in to talk to me about court. She wanted to know if I had any questions, if I had my speech ready, what was in my speech, what needed to be in my speech, possible questions they can ask me, etc. She expressed some of the same concerns that Bayan expressed to me yesterday, apparently they weren’t all worst case scenarios. It was very nice of her to take the time to talk to me.

I’m going to re-write my speech now and try to memorize it before tomorrow. Wish me luck tomorrow; I’m going to need it! Good night, Chris

Six Down, Six To Go

I’ve made it to Almaty once again; six of the twelve flights I will have to take to complete this journey are done. From the flight standpoint I’m half way there, from the process standpoint, halfway is a long time ago. This trip took me to Amsterdam with a seven hour layover. Like many others, I spent the layover being a tourist. I went to Keukenhof. Keukenhof calls itself ‘the most beautiful spring garden in the word’. It’s hard to argue, there were beautiful grounds, fresh hot waffles, and tulips everywhere. I’ve added some pictures below.

I just met with my court translator and the CHI Kazakhstan coordinator, her name is Bayan, to prep for court. I had not met the Bayan before, she was filing in for Olga who is with another family today. We went over a lot of what they can ask me, how the process can go, the problems that can occur, what to expect, etc. They told me the best and worst case scenarios. They told me I have to be calm in court; I’ll make an attempt to be calm on the outside. While speaking with them my translator from the last trip called to wish me a happy birthday, she says that since I arrived in Almaty on my birthday, my birthday will bring me luck in court on Tuesday, I hope she’s right! During this meeting Bayan said she had to leave for a few minutes, she said she had to make a phone call. She came back with flowers for me for my birthday; that was very nice of her.

I get to go see BB tomorrow afternoon, I can’t wait!

It’s a nice spring day here in Almaty so I’m going to go for a walk now. Take care, Chris

Happy Birthday to Tommy and Gavin.

Pictures from Keukenhof, Holland

Off I Go!

I’m packed and ready to go. As it turns out I have to be in Kazakhstan early on Sunday May 4th so I can meet with my coordinator. This moves my flights up one day; I am leaving tomorrow night, May 2nd for arrival in Almaty at 5:10 AM Sunday morning. The good news is I will get to see my BB on Monday, I can’t wait! Thanks to all of you for your prayers and good wishes, they really mean a lot to me. I’ll post again when I get to Almaty, take care, Chris