Introducing: Andrew!

Here finally is the first picture posted on our blog of Andrew. This is the type of cookie that we gave Andrew each day in the BH and he still loves them – as you can see from the smile.

He has really blossomed in the five days he has been in our care. He is talkative and into everything, he also laughs a lot and at times can be very loud. This is new coming from the reserved little boy we knew in the BH. We are very pleased with his gregariousness as this is a good sign that he is bonding well. He makes us laugh so much as he tries new things. He is such a quick study. He points the remote at the TV (must be the male gene), gives us 5, and tries to put his clothes on. It is so interesting to watch him because he is so small for his age (9 month clothes) but really has the hand eye coordination of a 2 year old. He can feed himself from the baby food jar with a spoon which is interesting to watch. We feed him most of the time for bonding but he likes to try. He can do a great job with scrambled eggs.

We went to the SOS clinic Monday and he did really well. We got a little more information about him from the SOS doctor. We did not receive a lot of medical history from the BH so we were very interested in what records the SOS clinic had received on him from the BH. We were told by other adopting parents that most of the information that we would receive on Andrew would come at the end of the process – at the SOS and embassy. This seems unique to Almaty City adoptions from what I have been able to find/read.

Our coordinator, Assiya, is expecting his visa Wednesday morning. It will come by train from Astana. There are certain requirements for various documents. From our understanding, the visa application must travel by train with a certified courier. As we find out more about the process, it’s easier to understand how Kaz adoption is more an art than science. We read that in multiple places in our agency’s documentation and it is so true. Requirements change and trying to know exactly what order & how to time everything seems to be tough. Assiya and Saulea (translator), came by last night to go over the US Embassy forms so that they could have them to turn in first thing Wednesday. Anyway, we should have our embassy visit scheduled for Wednesday afternoon. This puts us on schedule for our flight out Friday. Thursday is a spare day to take care of anything that might come up.

We really miss Lainey and we look forward to big hugs from her when we get home and having our family united in the USA for the first time.