We are home!

We are home. All went perfect for the travels home. Cameron was a super good traveler and acted like it was not at all to him. He has got to be the most well adjusted kid I have ever met. We slept in today and visited Grandparents. He has kissed and hugged all of them which makes them all very happy.
He and Shawn are already huge buddies. Shawn has been an angel and such a sweet big brother.
We will post photos tomorrow I think. I am still in a fog, nodding off at the drop of a hat. We are here, we are all fine and so excited to watch all that is next.
Love to all that wrote and called.
Thank you to all that helped with our little glitch at the Embassy.
More soon.
xoxo
Susan, Mike and kiddos

All is well in Almaty

Short note, but all is well. No problems at all. Weather is foggy and snowy. All visits w/ MD and officials going well.
Will add photos when we get to Alamty.
Cameron and Janet send hugs.

Almaty

We are in Almaty. There is no computer line in apt. Will try and write from internet cafe, but sadly no pictures till we get somewhere else. All is well.
Susan, Janet and Cameron

photos

We figured out how to transfer from Janet's to mine...here you go for your viewing pleasure.

Tours, Teas, and Tears

Today was a very interesting and fun day. We went to the baby house this morning and a had grand tour. Unfortunately I left my digital camera at home but my companion Janet had hers and I can send later.
The tour was very nice and detailed. Then we had a tea party, typical Kazakh with tea, breads, sweets and lots of laughter and good conversation and fun. About 25 people in attendance. We gave out the donations from Two hearts for Hope and everything was very appreciated. Photos and more photos. Tears too.
Dias was able to leave with us and we went to Inessa's for lunch with her children and mother-in-law. Everything was wonderful. Dias had so much fun playing with her sons. He was back to the Dias we had known. We then came back to our apartment with Dias and played, went to the grocery store and back home for dinner. More playing and back to the baby house for Dias to get a good nights rest.
I was given his passport today. We will shop for a highchair tomorrow for the baby house.
We took photographs of my boy friends and them with Dias. The three musketeers. Too cute!!!!
A family had asked me to try and find a bowl that they have a photograph of their son drinking out of. What were the chances of finding this bowl from three years ago? Well, a caregiver looked all over the baby house and found the same bowl! The MacFarlanes will be so excited. I feel like I am bringing back a treasure.
We found out Dias had also been in the isolation ward for many months at the baby house for respiratory problems and weakness. We did not know this before. So both my sweet little boys were there. Another link between these two boys.
I did not ask which children were picked to leave today for the orphanage when I took Dias back..I hope it does not happen until after we leave. Busy schedule tomorrow
We had a wonderful day. Tomorrow should be just as fun.

Arrival, Travel and First Meet

We arrived in Almaty and Gulnara picked us up. One brief stop and off we went to to drive to Taldykorgan. Stopped at our favorite bathroom and introduced Janet to extreme toileting in Kazakhstan. She is a total champion.
The drive was nice and even though there is still a lot of snow in places, in others there is none. The roads were fine and once again Gulnara did an excellent job delivering her wards. Janet and I were of course exhausted but I had to at least see Dias. We walked in to his room and the children were all playing so nicely. I waved and he ignored me and I kept waving. I walked in and he burst out crying. Not a so glad to see you cry either. He cried and cried some more. It took us awhile to be friends. He told Gulnara he had been waiting a long time. He decided he liked me a little before we left and gave a list of what to bring back tomorrow. His hair is so long. We were told it has been a stressful day for all of them. Officials coming by to check on the kids and inspect things. Their naps were delayed. 5 children will be picked to leave the babyhouse today for the orphanage and the caregivers were upset and grieving over this.
We had the computer line activated and exchanged a few gifts． Karim loves his fishing gear from Mike. Gulnara is so pretty in her sweater. Light supper and bath and bed. Having problems with print characters again. If wording is choppy or brief it is because I have had to exit and enter web repeatedly.
Tomorrow I sure hope Dias is a little bit happy to see me. We will visit him, take Janet on a tour and have lunch with Inessa. The baby house director wants to take Janet on a tour.....she never offered to do that for Mike and I....? Get to see some babies tomorrow and my boy friends. Lots of pictures will be taken and a book for all care givers to write in.

Soggy Foggy Amsterdam

We are in the KLM lounge in Amsterdam. It is rainy, and foggy and cold. No sight seeing for us today. The flight to this point was uneventful. We had the center seat between us to put our things in. We will have plenty of room to stretch out on the next flight as it is not full at all.
Spoke with TC and both husbands are missing us and we love that.....

Houston , we have no problems....

Mike drove Janet and I to Houston. We visited for a little bit at the airport then said our goodbyes. Janet and I are hanging out in the lounge for KLM.
Shawn was a bit thrown off his routine this morning with family over and all of us dropping him off at school. Felt good to tell him Daddy will see him after school. As much as Mike and I hate to not share this very special trip to get Dias, it is much better for Shawn (and our pocket books...). I love my sis-in-law so much to do this for us. She is just a go with the flow kinda gal so she will be perfect for this. Counting the moments till I can hug Dias.....

"Leaving on a jet plane......."

All packed and ready to go. Mike will drive Janet and I to Houston in the morning and we will board the plane with our one bag each and two huge suitcases full of donations and gifts.
Our stay in Taldykorgan will be 3 days and we are hoping to have a going away party and take many photographs. I am hoping to ease Dias out of the only home and family he has ever known. We were allowed an extra day in Taldykorgan which we greatly appreciate. Then back to Almaty where Dias will have a physical exam, we will have an interview with the Embassy and there will be more paperwork. We were asked to tack on one extra day in Almaty in case the American side of all this has a delay getting the paperwork back to us so we can leave. We will leave Kazakhstan the 27th and arrive in Houston the same date but actually 2 days later.....still weird to me.
Shawn has been so sweet and has asked to send many toys to Dias and his peeps. He has been doing really well in school and making some leaps all the sudden. So proud of him.
Mike and I have never been so far apart from one another but feel like we made the best decision for this trip. Janet is super excited to experience Kazakhstan and an adoption. Her enthusiasm is infectious for me also and I am excited that she is. It will be fun to share this with a new person who then can share it with her circle and introduce a whole new group of people to Kazakhstan and the children. Who knows? Maybe a family is waiting to find their child through her.....
Mike and Shawn are sending photos to Kazakhstan that I attached.
I hope to post regularly and be able to send photographs.
Thank you for all the support and love. Shawn will be busy with school and be with his dad and grandparents, but I will miss him terribly. I cannot wait to see he and Dias reunited.

All is well

My in-laws came by yesterday and presented us with another donation from their church via the candle selling. If you have read a ways back you'll know a church member found our about these candles on Craig's List from a woman that wanted to donate them for fundraising. That is all we knew....NOW, the rest of the story....the woman that donated them was grieving after a failed adoption in Russia. The candles made her sad to look at so she posted them on Craig's List. Over a hundred people responded. A woman from the church-who is adopted-took it on herself to respond and tell the story of Dias. Her letter was picked, she went and picked them up (2 hours away) then put them in the vestibule at church. No prices just whatever amount you want. That yielded almost $400.00, plus several checks in the mail directly to us, and now this amount of almost $100.00. This is not a big church nor did this come out of a missions budget. This came out of the pockets of people, on budgets, during a recession. Some we know, some we don't. The amounts are not the issue (but it sure did help). The love, the prayers, the support and goodness they showered us with is the point. How blessed in so many ways we have been during this adoption. We have met new friends, learned about a new place and culture and added a son, brother, grandson, nephew and little wise spirit to all our lives.
Have heard from both families that are in Taldykorgan right now and they are well. Their chosen Kazakh babies are well and Dias is well!
Things still pace along with the families after us trying to adopt the boys that were held back from them like Dias was to us. One family that had thought they might try and adopt another little boy who had been moved (aged out of baby house)to the children's orphanage, found out he has been adopted by a Kazakh family. We are so sad for them and their loss of a dream, but so happy for that boy. Being adopted in country is always the goal. We as Americans tend to feel we and our country are best, but actually, as much as the orphanage staff are happy for a child to have a family at all, it is very sad for them when a child leaves Kazakhstan. It is not their first choice. It is us that are second best to them.
I don't have statistics right now but in-country adoptions in Kazakhstan are way up. This is quite a compliment for the Republic of Kazakhstan as they have had a struggle turning that around. And we heard it is actually harder to adopt for them in country than us out of country. Kinda like it was harder for us to adopt in the US than abroad. What is up with that????? Doesn't that seem backwards?
Shawn has been a little sick and has some things going on that keep us pretty busy right now. I had a little anxiety this a.m. about juggling two little boys.....I have never had more than one at a time. My friend Marcy that has 2 year old twins and is old like me(sorry Marcy but you do look better than me if that helps....) (surrogate births and adoption) just shakes her head and laughs and says get ready. She says even going to Wal-Mart is all new. What the hell. After what we have done and been through to get to this point, I say BRING IT ON!

Waiting but happy

Received this happy photo today from the Thompson family that are in Taldy right now adopting a 9 month old boy. They have seen Dias a couple of times and kindly have reported back. Making our day of course! He already looks older Mike says. As long as he is happy we are. We also heard from Gulnara and all is well.
Mike and I were talking this morning about how we wish everyone could have such a good adoption experience as we have had this time. Our first adoption was totally different. We were told to stay inside and not walk around, we were told to dress very conservative-PLEASE-has anyone seen how glamorous the women are in Taldy and Almaty?? Hardly frump city. We were told to basically suffer through it and not expect too much.
It is not our natures to not explore, but this set up mentally, did dampen our spirits a little.
This is the birth of a family. This should be celebrated and explored and experienced. It can be celebrated or forgotten when you get home, but while you are there, it should be tasted and explored. Why not? There are bad Kazakh people and bad people from Minneapolis. It is another country, culture and former Soviet no doubt. We are not silly about such things, but there is a balance. I truly believe if you can embrace the culture, people, place, that it will flow over into embracing your child. How can that ever be bad?
Congratulations Thompson family on arriving finally.
I am going to go pack. Mike is making sure I packed undies for Dias, and a coat. He kinda wishes he was going back this time, don't let him fool you.....

On standby for a possible standby.....

Have received several emails that Cameron (I love writing that) is happy and well. Someone actually was able to speak to him and he still understands that we will come to get him as soon as we can. He knows we are preparing his "bed, toys and swing". Isn't that cute?
We had hoped to be hearing we were leaving in a week or so but we found out today it will be another week. Not due to a problem but to more changes in exit process and passport. Maybe adding fingerprinting or something. But we were assured and reassured that all is well. Just delayed. It will make our trip shorter which of course for this end of the globe is a good thing, but on the other side of the world I wish it did not have to be too rushed. I want to exit slowly for the sake of Cameron. Shawn was brought to our apartment in a diaper and the woman said, "here he is...". I want Dias to have a chance to say goodbye. It is after all his home and they are his family.
Our agency, which is now called, With Hope and Love Adoption Agency Incorporated, always does a wonderful job on the US and the Kazakh side with communication. I never go more than a few days without someone checking on us, updating us and making sure we don't have questions or problems.
So we will keep on with life as we know it and prepare for our new life with Cameron.
Shawn has had an ear infection and I have had a sinusitis but other than that the flu and cold season has left us alone pretty much. Work has been very busy for Mike and I both, but we love our home time with Shawn when it is our week off.
My sister in law Janet will be accompanying me on this last trip. It will fun to share this with someone that has never been there before.
We already have several packages from adoptive families to take over and we are so happy to do this.
We will also be taking some gift boxes from an organization called Two Hearts for Hope that send donations via families to Kazakhstan.
Besides adding Cameron James to our hearts and family, we are bursting with love and hope for two families and their heart children in Taldykorgan. One small email on an adoption e-loop opened doors that these wonderful people thought were closed. Please keep them in your thoughts as they now begin to swim this long and winding river to their children. More about them and their children soon. There is also another family that may jump on the bandwagon and I anxiously await to hear how things go for them as well.
We hear from friends in Taldykorgan via email and I am so happy this is a possibility. One friend and I will have our first Skype meeting soon.
I will never forget Taldykorgan, the baby house, the care givers and those precious children. My time once maybe spent on other hobbies or pursuits will have to take a back seat as I have such a desire to do what little I can to make their lives better. I also want to be available to our agency and any family. Paying forward I think it is called. I SO get why Regina our coordinator, does this work. How rewarding to see these families joined.
One child really does lead to another.
There are two quotes I love about success:


Let me tell you the secret that has led to me to my goal. My strength lies solely in my tenacity,
Louis Pasteur

and my all time favorite that really sums up this adoption:

All you need in this life is ignorance and confidence, then success is sure.
Mark Twain

Who knows why this adoption finally happened when we were told it never would. Who knows how two and maybe three families will forever be changed because of one small line in an email. Who knows what life Cameron would have now, or these other boys, if one woman had not said no. My tenacity was because Cameron was ours even when he wasn't. That and a wonderful husband and my awesome adoption sisters. My ignorance protected me and my confidence we'd find a way kept me going. After a failure, when given a second chance,then any set back is just a set back. We are so full of love for the many people who have helped Cameron get to his brother and sister and parents. We are also thankful to God for once again helping us by sending earth angels when we needed reminding of God's love and presence in our lives.