Our Kazakhstan Adoption

Hello, We are Joe and Steph - a couple with a young biological son who have made the decision to adopt a child from Kazakhstan. Joe also has a teenage daughter from a previous marriage. Rather than infertility, we are adopting "by choice". We made this decision after much thought and research. There are so many children in the world that need a loving home. We hope this blog will keep our friends/family informed of our progress along the way!

Saturday, July 01, 2006

Family weekend

We are getting ready to go out to Joe's parent's house out at the lake for the afternoon. It is 4th of July weekend, and we have alot of fun plans for the next few days. Cookout today, then tomorrow we will be going to meet up with my parents and stay overnight in the motor home in Orlando. On Monday we are all going to Sea World. And then another cookout/pool party on Tuesday the 4th!
One reason I mention this is that we get to spend the next few days with my aunt and uncle who adopted two sisters from Ukraine a year and a half ago. We haven't seen them in a little over a year. They are the reason we began exploring international adoption - and here we are now actually doing it! Joe and I are so excited to see how the girls are doing and I plan to ask my aunt tons of questions!
I spent about 2 -3 hours last night sorting through our paperwork. I have organized it (I am sooo obsessive about lists and organization) into folders - things to work on now, papers for our embassy interview, papers for our dossier, and travel information. I am not going to date anything or have items notarized and apostilled at least until our agency has been re-accredited. Maybe we will run less of a risk of documents expiring before court that way. But I have started filling out some of the documents. Also making a "to-do" list to prepare for travel. I think the more organized and prepared we are ahead of time, it should be easier once we get a referral.
Well, Joe and Bryson just got back from getting haircuts - much to Bryson's dismay! Ha! Gotta go!
Steph