Got 'em

Passports with very fancy visas arrived this morning. Not a rubber stamp like in the old days when I went to Hungary, these things sparkle and glow. Same with Sophie's renewed passport--it has electronic bugs in it, it's thick and every page has a different watermark on it. No more jamming it in a back pocket.

Our agency is really worried about our Almaty connection. We have two and a half hours and have to go thru customs, but the airline guarantees the connection and recommends an hour and a half. If we miss the flight, the worst thing that can happen is we'll have to spend the night at the Hyatt, right? No, maybe the worst thing is we'll have to sleep in the airport. I remember doing that with Lauren Taylor, at Heathrow on our way back from Cairo, and being awoken by a man with a large broom. We were sleeping on the floor because the seats all had arm rests, and he was yelling at us, "no sleeping," and sweeping into our heads. Nice.

Anyhow, now that this show is gettin' on the road, I feel so much better. Other than packing, editing an article, and picking up the antibiotics at the pharmacy, there's really nothing else, and it's only Wednesday. Oh, and coloring my hair cuz that's a risk I'm not willing to take in Kaz! Our friends and neighbors are all helping out in one way or another. It's really amazing...

Visas En Route! Thanks Nick!!!!!!

Just got a call from Nicky as he was leaving the Embassy, visas in hand. Whooooopieeee.

So we're off, on Friday, April 27th, 9:20 pm, bound for London on United, where we'll then fly Air Astana to Almaty and hopefully make a tight connection to Ust-Kamenogorsk. We should arrive April 29th at 7:10 am local time, and hopefully go right to the orphanage to meet our little boy and begin the 14 day bonding period.

The return trip is scheduled for May 22. They ask for a whole week to schedule the court date. That's what really makes this trip so dang long, and Justin has to be present in court. He left for Miami this morning. When we return he'll have a little time to recover before going back to Miami for a customer event. Actually, this 'event' has been a blessing because its allowed us to turn up the heat a bit--we must leave because we must be back. And I honestly think that if we were waiting for the conventional means of getting the visas, we'd still be waiting.

Nick says, "Pack your bags, you're in!"

So Nick's visit to the Kaz Embassy was grandly successful. First he had to find a way in and deal with some attitude, but he persevered, to find that our cable had been received. Yahooooo. We are so psyched. We have reservations to leave this Friday, April 27.

Nicky will go back to the Embassy on Monday to drop off our passports, and back again on Tuesday, to pick them up. He's up for Sainthood. If anyone has any ideas for how I can show our immense gratitude, let me know...

We are now making arrangements to be out of the country for about 27 days. It's wild. But the best thing is, we went to Old Navy today and I bought a size 3-T red, white, and blue boys swimsuit. It's so CUTE. I can't wait to see the little guy!

Still no cable, but...

Nick Greiner is at the Kaz Embassy right about now, inquiring about getting our visas. Don't you love it? I couldn't think of a more perfect connection between the past, present, and future. I can't wait to tell little Nicky about it one day!

Feeling discourage today, til I watched this:

We're Invited to Visit the Glorious Nation of Kaz

Our letter of invitation arrived yesterday. I have a jpeg of it and I'm learning to read Russian. Nyet!

Looks like we'll travel some time between April 27 - May 1. We're really starting to get nervous about the timing though because Justin has a customer event he's been planning since Dec. that takes place in Miami at the end of May. He has to be there, so much so that he would need to fly back for it and then return to Kaz if needed. This is all so crazy!

Now that the infamous LOI is in hand, we wait for a cable. Yes, a cable--invented shortly after morse code and apparently poor dear Kaz still uses this cryptic means of communicating with its embassy. When the embassy gets the cable, it will issue the visas. Vodka shot anyone?

My lovely neighbor and awesome friend, Connie, took that chatter box Isabelle (seriously, she's just like Sophie in that regard. I call it breathe-talking. If she's breathing, she's talking! And if you listen, its all darling, but my brain is one of those that hyper-focuses on one thing only) off my hands this morning so I'm whirling thru the house and around town trying to get as many items off the "to do" list and finish two editing jobs. And somehow the school didn't pull me off the volunteer list so I'm going to type up stories for 5 second graders as part of my Publishing Center responsibilities. So I'm off....