CordonBlues’ Neighborhood

Now that we've brought the process as far as we can from our end, it's just a waiting game.  So, now the fun begins (shopping. but I don't have issues).  I've begun looking around at what we're going to need for Our New Addition.  Since the boys are so much older, we don't have ANY baby stuff lying around.  Wow, there's alot to get! And I don't want to be running around like crazy people when we get 'the Call' to book our flights.... so the accumulation has begun. 

So, I headed to the great glebe garage sale last weekend and picked up a playpen and a great highchair that we'll use for the cottage for really cheap. And a wise friend suggested that I search Kijiji.com for gently used stuff. That proved to be brilliant!  I now have a highchair for home that looks like new (pretty much is new, since this person's baby never really sat in it), and a really cool 'Bebecar' stroller that would usually retail at $500 - for a quarter of the price!!  http://www.bebecar.com/menus/bebecar/raider_at/raiderAT_ing.html  It's gorgeous.  We'll be strolling around town in style, Kazi and me.  teehee  :-)

Anyhoo, this is really fun and it's helping the O'Brien clan to gain excitement, that's for sure, but our garage is getting full.  Thank God it's summer and we don't need to fit both cars in!

Another fun thing I did last week was to choose the baby's room's decor.  I found some amazing fabrics at the textiles shop I generally go to (http://www.cmtextiles.com/EnglishVersion/frameset.html) and narrowed down the choices once speaking with Tom  - it's hard because I like so many looks/styles!  But in the end, I decided that it was the only time in our lives that we'll have a little 'creature' to decorate for, so we can really have fun and go bold - mimicking my favourite, Sarah Richardson, in her nursery.  That said, we went for a bold, floral print in white, pink and green.  Fun, fun!

Well, that's about all I've got at this time.  I'll update this blog as we find out more.  Best wishes to everyone, especially Neil and Marie who are having their first baby girl within the next couple of weeks - SO happy for them!!  It's so cool that our baby will have her own little 'friends' as soon as she arrives!

Nancy (and Tom - the World Traveller - from London, England)

Well alright then, maybe there has been a bit of a delay since I blogged last - and also on the process, but now we're moving again....

I received a call from our Agency lady, Anna, to let me know that a few forms required a little 'tweeking', so we're actually only sending all of the forms to her today - finally!  One thing was my passport; Anna thought that the government of Kazakhstan would not like the fact that my passport expires in about 6 months, so I had to get it renewed.  (thank God for the new simplified renewal application!).  Secondly, I needed a revised medical form - the first one worked against us a bit.  We also needed to sign a blank Power of Attorney for the Kazakhstani side, in case someone else has to work on our behalf while we're overseas.  And finally, we needed the photos printed of ourselves, our house, etc.

Everything is official finished!!  I just picked up my passport and my medical form and it's going out by courier before 5:45pm today.  Noooowww........ woohoo!!

Several people have asked me really great questions, a few being:

Question: What are you going to name her? 

Answer:  We'll choose 2 or 3 names that we can agree on (this has proven to be difficult so far!) beforehand and make our final decision once we meet her. We think that we'll keep her birth name as her middle name so that she can maintain ties to her ethnicity.  And no, we're not telling you. 

Question: Where do you stay when you're in Kazakhstan?

Answer:  We stay in an apartment/ apt hotel in the town where the chosen baby house is.  The agency provides us with counsellors, translators, and drivers so we don't have to worry about getting around by ourselves (at least for our baby visits and appts associated with the adoption).

Question:  How long will you be in Kazakhstan?

Answer:  All in all, I expect to be in Kazakhstan for 6-8 weeks. I will be there for a longer period than Tom.  Tom will likely come for 2-3 weeks at the beginning, since he needs to be there for the mandatory 14-day bonding period to start the incountry process. But then he'll need to return to Canada to be with the boys and to work.  Since I will begin my maternity leave right before flying out, I can't imagine leaving Kazi once I meet her, so I will stay for another month or so by myself to be able to see her everyday - until such time as we can stand in front of the Judge and they finally declare Kazi ours.  Patience is definitely a virtue while we're over there, so we've been warned by Anna.  So I'll try my best to be patient.  :-)

That's it for today! I'll keep y'all posted on the progress.

Nancy

Phew!  We've finally finished gathering all of our documents together and making all the necessary copies. All in all, there are 25 documents that we need to prepare or have prepared.  The adoptive parents (us) are required to prepare about 23 of those.  Was quite overwhelming at the beginning, but now that it's over, we feel very relieved!  Each step we take, gets us closer to bringing our baby home.

So now it's time to send them all to the agency!! 

When you have a spare minute, check out the links on the right-hand side of this blog, especially the link to info on the Baby Houses (orphanages).  I  thought that most of might enjoy this type of info, to learn more about Kazakhstan as a country to adopt from.  The information has really impressed me so far, and I look forward to our upcoming journey there.

I'll post more exciting stuff as the journey draws nearer - like videos and stuff. 

And WOOHOO, how 'bout this weather!??!????!?!?!?? 

Love Nance (and Tom from Laguna Beach, where IT'S COOLER than home!)

Hi again!  I've been very lazy (well, maybe overworked) lately and I haven't had a moment to sit down and blog.  But alas, here I am for a few minutes to provide a wee update.

We've finished our interviews with the Psychologist!!  This process involved meeting Tom and I together once; then separately once; and finally, at our home last Monday evening to meet the boys (and Everest), and see how we live.

Other than the wee nip to the hand from Everest at the doorway (more of a tug as if to say  "hey, don't forget about saying hello to me!" which he sometimes does to hesitant, non-dog lovers (of course!), and the loud gas excretion from the lazy ol' pup 1/2 way through the evening, I think it all went pretty well.  The boys were fantastic, as expected, even to the extent of offering a handshake as they were leaving the room to say goodbye and thank you to Yvan.  So mature!  The adults couldn't help but smile. 

We will get a report back from Yvan in a couple of weeks (after his trip to Paris) and we will have the opportunity to provide feedback so that the report looks the way we want it to.  I really appreciate that opportunity, and I'm sure Tom does too.

So we need to gather documents now.  While we await our report, Tom and I have divided the task list so we can conquer as many items as possible in the least amount of time.  First stop.... RCMP report and fingerprints (oh crap, now I'm in trouble! teehee ;-)!!!!!

That's it for now.

Love To All!

Nance

Hi Everyone - We are getting closer to having our baby girl!!!  On Friday night, we began our homestudy process - we had the first of four meetings with our chosen Psychologist, Yvan.  A very kind-hearted and good soul of a man, that's for sure.

Hello to everyone!  Is this the longest winter of our lives?  Good news is that it will hover around 0 to -3 all weekend long.  Very bearable.

Just a quick update on the adoption front. This week, I spoke with the adoption agency and the Centre de jeunesse (CDJ) which is the group to provide the social workers for the homestudy. 

Once I receive a registration number from the provincial government's Secretariat d'adoption internationale (SAI) area, we will receive the list of social workers who are eligible to do homestudies for adoption. He said there are 7 workers for the Outaouais region, and that at this time, given the fact that international adoptions are fairly slow in our region, there won't be a delay in starting the homestudy process.  In fact, he told me that it would probably be only a matter of days between our call to them and their first visit. That's great!!!  This is the part that I thought would take the longest!! yihoo.

I can't wait to dive into the homestudy.  Wonder what they'll ask?  I know it's very personal, and pretty intense, and we likely have some baby-proofing to do chez the O'Briens.  But that's ok, we've been through fairly intrusive questioning already with the IVF process, and we were able to keep our dignity in check.  We'll do it again! The difference this time around is that the boys, given their ages (able to talk, etc) will have to be a bit involved in this process, for the protection of the child.  But I'm sure they'll do great.  They're good guys with good hearts, and they know this is really important to us.  They just have to be themselves!

That's about it for now. You know what I've been thinking about lately?  The fact that, assuming that we leave this summer (maybe June, July-ish?) which is my BIG hope - I'm pushing the process to try to make this happen, Kazi has already been born!!!!  It's now February, and 4 months from now is June.  Let's say for argument's sake, that we are lucky enough to get Kazi around the 6-7 month old mark, then she might have been born either in December or last month (Jan))!  COOL.  Wonder what my daughter's birthday will be?

Wow, that's amazing to think about. Exciting too.  Just can't wait to cradle you, rock you, teach you things (especially how to curl your hair, shop for great shoes, and tackle your brothers) and take care of you forever!!  Bisous! Love, Mom!!!

Nancy

Yeah!!!!  "Well, we're moving on up.... to the east side, we've finally got a piece of the pie." ("The Jeffersons", circa 1975).

We're off to the races now.  We've signed the contract with the agency and filled in the form to open a file with the SAI (Secretariat de l'adoption internationale). Hopefully things will run smoothly - well, as smoothly as possible, considering we've begun an exciting endeavour with the other side of the world.

Tom and I are now asking questions like "when does your passport expire?", or "do we have enough points to get us to the other side of the world?" in preparation for this big event.  I'm asking questions (to myself) like "when do I get to stop working?", "How am I going to pack for a 2-month trip?", "when is it reasonable for me to start SHOPPING for baby?" and "when can I start decorating the nursery?".......  fun, pre-baby stuff!!!!

In a really weird way, it's kinda like we're pregnant since it's likely a matter of months before we can hold OUR own baby in our arms - but without the nausea, fatigue and stretch marks! yeah, baby, yeah.  

The thrill of anticipation is definitely there. I can't wait to meet her - she'll be so beautiful, no matter what she looks like.  That's another cool thing - when you have your own baby, you sorta know what she could look like because you are her parents and likely there are some distinct characteristics from at least one parent.  In this situation, we won't have a CLUE what she looks like until we arrive at the baby house in Kazakhstan for the first time.  We may know her ethnicity beforehand - if she's caucasian, euro-asian, or a combination, but that's about it. How fun!!  I love adventures!

I'm tired of calling the baby 'She' or 'the baby', so I think I'll take my sister, Kathy's lead and call her "Kazi".  (Kath, hope that's ok that I'm posting that - it's just so freakin' hilarious.)  Doesn't it suit her well? 

:-)

Hello once again:

Good news!  We just found out that the agency (Alliance des familles du Quebec) has finally received their 2008 registration, so this means that we can sign the contract with the agency to begin the process!  Yippee!!

Basically, here is the entire process in short:

1) sign the contract, pay initial registration fees

2) Get Homestudy done

3) Once approved, agency sends docs to Kazakhstan for approval

4) We get immigration stuff sorted out

5) We wait for approval from Kazakh government

6) Buy plane tickets and GO!

7) Meet the baby Day 1 and go through 14-day bonding period (that means we visit the baby at the orphanage twice a day, every day)

8) During 15-day waiting period (where we must stay in-country) after bonding time, we get medical done by Doctor, and get ready for judge's ruling day, where we go to court to defend our case (ie. adopting the baby).

9) As soon as the judge has ruled, WE COME HOME to Chelsea!!!

We are excited now.... it's feeling more real day-by-day.  That's about it for today, but I'll write again soon.  Thank you to everyone for your kind wishes.  We really appreciate it.

Here are some links to Kazakhstan adoption sites (from various places, not only QC) - check out the cute kids!!!

http://www.adoptionhorizons.com/kazakhstan_program.htm

http://www.sunriseadoption.com/adoptive_parents/how_to_adopt/adoption_programs/asia_adoption/kazakhstan

http://www.theadoptionguide.com/options/adoption-from-kazakhstan

Love,

Nancy and Tom