Mom and I went to the Travel Health Clinic today to get our Hepatitis, Typhoid and Tetanus shots for the trip. We received a lot of health information from the nurse and then our shots. While the news was all old news to me, Mom's eyes kept getting
bigger and bigger and bigger and bigger and bigger!!!
HAHAHAHA I just kept saying, "Mom, you'll be fine. Mom, I'm cooking. Mom, we knew we weren't going to drink the water." Oy vay. Needless to say, Mom got a prescription for Xanax and we're good to go. HAHAHAHAHAHA
I was also cornered, in a very loving manner, by my aunt and uncle this weekend at my sister's surprise 40th birthday party. They wanted to know why on Earth I had to carry so much cash to Kazakhstan. Any of you who are in or through the process understand the questions that come up. They are loving and natural questions, but very hard to explain "This is just how it's done and I m fine with it." I have traveled so much that everyone trusts that i know what i am doing, but the thought of carrying so much cash is rough for a lot of people to wrap their minds around, including me sometimes. However, I unequivocally trust my agency and intend to do everything exactly as they instruct me to. They know what they are doing. They are the experts.
The crib is up and two of my three baby showers are scheduled! Invitations will go out this week to the one for my mom's friends and for my family and local friends. My Rhode Island friends, the Riff Raff, will be throwing their own shower for me down there. Somehow I expect that one to be more like a weekend in Vegas than a baby shower, but that's what I love about them!
And yes, the crib is up and the nursery is coming together. I will post pics... as soon as I find my camera. Don't get me started. Believe it or not, I have
actually started packing! Not clothes, but toys for the baby to play with during bonding time, cold and teething meds, toiletries, etc. The good news is that I have heard from the newly returned Semey families that, although hard, they all had real mattresses. That's good. I have to tell Mom that. I keep forgetting.
I'm sorry I haven't been blogging much. The good news is that when I don't blog, it's because I am keeping myself busy. And I have been VERY busy to say the least. So, for my readers, I am sorry for slacking, but it just means I am not driving myself crazy during the wait! I will try to be a little better, but in the meantime, am preparing my updated paperwork for the trip. Bear with me!
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This is the story of how a single 30-something year old woman and a 6.5 month old angel from Kazakhstan found each other and became a family. A journey which started as a dream, became reality in August 2009 when two hearts found one home... together.
Anelya Porter Caesar
On September 3, 2009 at 11:22 in Semey, Kazakhstan, Elemecova Aneliya Ahatovna became Anelya Porter Caesar and I became her mother. This is our love story of how we became a family.
Semey Baby House Window Project - See How You Can Help Improve the Condition of Lily's Baby House
Anelya's Blog Followers
Posts
Adoption Timeline
- 11/06/09 (???) Anelya Becomes U.S. Citizen
- 10/31/09 Gotcha Day
- 10/28/09 Back to Kazakhstan
- 09/05/09 End of Trip 1
- 09/03/09 Court Date
- 08/10/09 "Meetcha Day"
- 08/08/09 Off to Kazakhstan
- 07/31/09 Receive Letter of Invitation (LOI)
- 1/12/09 Region Assignment
- 12/04/08 (more or less) Dossier at Ministries
- 10/13/08 Dossier at NY Consulate
- 10/03/08 (maybe earlier) Dossier Out of Translation
- 08/27/08 Home Study Received by LMI (4-6 weeks until Consulate)
- 08/26/08 Sent Revised Home Study to LMI
- 08/26/08 Got Revised Home Study Apostilled
- 08/26/08 Received New Home Study
- 08/15/08 Request to pull homestudy from translation to provide updated one with no gender preference
- 08/14/08 Dossier in Translation
- 08/05/08 Dossier sent to LMI
- 08/04/08 Apostilled docs received
- 07/31/08 NH dossier docs sent for apostilles
- 07/30/08 Dossier Approved for Apostille Process
- 07/24/08 Faxed Dossier to LMI for approval
- 07/17/08 Received Fingerprints
- 07/08/08 Sent Fingerprints to FBI
- 07/07/08 Fingerprinting
- 06/26/08 I-71H RECEIVED!!!
- 06/25/08 Applied for two grants
- 06/25/08 Sent Homestudy to USCIS
- 06/19/08 Homestudy final copy received
- 06/02/08 Homestudy draft submitted to LMI
- 05/02/08 Biometrics/Fingerprints at USCIS
- 04/25/08 Medical Exam Complete
- 04/20/08 Homestudy Begins
- 04/19/08 Received Background Check Back from CPS
- 04/18/08 Completed Adoptive Parenting Course
- 04/17/08 Received Application Received Notification from USCIS
- 04/17/08 Social Worker Contacts Me
- 04/13/08 Started Adoptive Parent Education Requirement
- 04/10/08 Filed I600A with US Citizenship and Immigration Services
- 04/09/08 Assigned a social work for home study
- 04/05/08 Contracts received by Agencies
- 04/04/08 Sent Background Check Request to CPS
- 04/02/08 Sent Agency Contracts and Home Study Request
- 2/01/08 - 04/01/08 Slacked and went to Sweden
- 1/30/08 Application ACCEPTED!!!
- 1/25/08 Notification that LMI received application
- 1/25/08 Joined International Adopt NH yahoo group
- 1/22/08 Sent application to LMI
- 1/17/08 Life insurance physical
- 1/16/08 Filled in application
- 01/06/08 Decision to use Little Miracles International (LMI)
- 01/06/08 Joined Adoption Agency Research on Yahoo Group
- 1/02/08 Joined single Kaz moms yahoo group
- 12/29/07 Joined Kazakhsan Adoption on Yahoo Groups
- 12/29/07 Started Adoption fundraising on Amazon
- 12/24/07 Started Adoption Blog
- 12/24/07 Decision to adopt from Kazakhstan
- 12/15/07 Decision to adopt
Kazakhstan Articles
FEEDJIT Live Traffic Feed
Where in the World are Lily's Blog Viewers?
Appropriate Adoption Communication Cheat Sheet
- Instead of A) try using B)
- A) Do you have your own children? B)Do you have a biological child?
- A) She has an adopted daughter. B) She has a daughter.
- A) They have a Kazakh son. B) They have a son.
- A) She is a single adoptive mother. B) She is a mother. (Unless he is single, interested and decent. Then y all means, mention the single part ;-) )
- A) She is adopted. B) She was adopted. (Adoption is a one time event)
- A) His real parents B) His biological parents
- A) She was abandoned. B) She was placed for adoption.
- A) His birth mother gave him up. B) His birth mother was unable to to parent him.
- A) How much did she cost? B) How much did the adoption process cost?
Links I have found helpful
Map of Kazakhstan
I'm a Peacemaker
2 comments:
All those shots....eeek. Gotta love the questions ya get from family. We have gotten alot of questions like that too and I keep telling people, "you just gotta have faith." Like you, we trust our agency and if they told us that we needed to dye our hair green to bring baby Jeckel home, we would do it :) Can't wait to see the pictures of the room.
Suzette
We didn't get sick at all from the food or water in Kaz but one week after coming home we came down with the flu. We did get a prescription from our Dr. while in Kaz just to be prepared for the stomach flu & we didn't even need it:)
The money thing freaked me out a bit but it all works out in the end:)
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