We're heading home early!

Hello everyone. This will probably be the last entry to this blog for a while, because in a few hours we are heading home! This morning we strolled Emma around and let her chase pigeons in a park, and this afternoon we had our US Embassy appointment to sign more papers and get Emma's passport. We then went back to the law offices and found out that Emma's blood test result was in and was negative, the birth certificate listing us as Emma's parents was finished, and that all we had left to do was bring our daughter home! So we had our driver take us right over to the airline office and were able to change our flights to leave Friday AM instead of Sunday! Woohoo! We're just finishing packing and contemplating the marathon flight home and the end of our long adoption journey. Three trips halfway around the world. Over a year of preparation. It's hard to believe we're really done. Of course, it's not the end at all, but the beginning of our lives together.

Once we get settled in at home, I'll post an update on how Emma is doing. To those of you who went before us, thank you for your guidance and encouragement. To those in the midst of the process, have faith and it will happen for you too. To our friends and staff who have supported us through this roller coaster ride, thanks for helping us hold on to reach this fantastic finish. To our family, we love you so much and WE'RE COMING HOME!

Out and About in Kaz

Today was another day of new experiences for Emma. She had her first ride in her stroller, and also her first ride on a swing! This morning we went to a small office to sign paperwork that will make us officially Emma’s parents on her birth certificate. Afterwards we took Emma shopping. Then, a nap, followed by a brief stroll around the neighborhood. We are staying in the same apartment we had for trip one. This is good in that we know our way around, especially where to get groceries and internet cards.

The photos on the blog today include a few cute ones of Emma in the apartment, and a few of her in her stroller. You can also see us cruising around the shopping area and in the small play area in the courtyard of our apartment complex. Jim got a couple shots of random sights on the street - military guys, a policeman giving someone a ticket, and a very brightly colored camel.

We are very much looking forward to leaving for home in a few days. We miss everyone back in the US so much, especially Nick, Jake and Luke. Hang in there guys - we’ll all be back home together with our newest family member very soon!

Tales of a Terrific Toddler!

Hi everyone. Last night the three of us slept well. On today’s blog I’m putting pictures of the first plane we boarded to get Emma and her Gotcha Day. These photos include first hug I gave Emma when we saw each other again at the baby house, a picture of us and the baby house director right before we left, and Emma and ourselves outside the baby house, preparing to leave the orphanage together for good!
Today’s blog also includes some photos (from yesterday and today) of Emma getting used to us and the apartment. She likes her new surroundings, but particularly liked her Easter basket toys. Yes, the Easter bunny found his way to Kaz to bring Emma her basket! The picture of Emma with the sad face was after her bath. She didn’t cry during it, but we definitely didn’t have enough tub toys to make it a fun experience. She was fine once she got her PJs on and got back onto the floor for a little more playtime. I’m sure tonite’s bath will be better - we are going to have to give her nightly baths I think, as she has found out that putting spoonfuls of food onto her head instead of into her mouth gets quite a rise out of mom and dad!
Today we had an appointment at the international medical clinic for Emma’s checkup. It was a pretty quick and cursory exam (the doc didn’t even ask us to take Emma’s clothes off). Emma did have to have a fingerstick blood draw for her required HIV test. She didn’t cry or even flinch, and watched with great interest as the little tube was filled with blood. Maybe she has a future in medicine - as our oldest son Jim pointed out, “Do you guys realize Emma’s initials are E.R.?” You never know…

It's Gotcha Day!

Great news everyone - today is Emma's Gotcha Day! We started trip 3 on Friday, but because of flight cancellations we didn't get here until Monday morning. Our driver picked us up at 6 AM and told us to be ready to take Emma from the orphanage in a few hours! So we geared up for the final push, unpacking and readying the apartment for a toddler. We brought gifts for the orphanage staff, and at noon we left Baby House Three with our new daughter Emma Rose Petre! Emma did remarkably well. She toddled out of the orphanage holding one of mom's fingers and didn't look back. Today was her first car ride, first meal with her family, first nap snuggled up against her mom and first bath with us. We are amazed at this incredible child. She toddled around the apartment over and over, then settled right in with us. Right now she is playing on the living room carpet, smiling and pounding on her toys and making us feel so very blessed to be bringing this wonderful little girl into our family.
Right now we need to get our daughter to bed, so I'll have to say goodbye. Don't worry - I'll post pictures tomorrow after we have all had some rest. What an exhausting but exhilirating Gotcha Day it has been! It would not have been possible without the love and support we have received from all of you. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

We have trip 3 travel dates!

Hurray! We are leaving this Friday for our third and final trip to Kaz to bring Emma home. We arrive there on Easter Sunday and return the following Sunday. It is hard to believe our journeys are finally coming to an end. We are so excited that this last trip is actually happening, and that in less than two weeks Emma will be home with her family. I'll try to get connected to the internet as soon as I can when we're back in Kaz. Hopefully you will all follow along as we finalize our adoption and prepare to come home. The best part of this trip is that there will be no more goodbyes to that sweet little girl at baby house three, soon to be known to all as Emma Rose Petre!

Our youngest son Lucas wants to post something, so here he is:
"I hope this trip will be the happiest of the three trips to go bring Emma home. Finally! I'm not Mr. Shorty anymore! Well, what else would you expect from the 8 year old who is the youngest in the family? I really hope you guys (you guys = people looking at the blog) can keep in touch with our adventurous travelers here! I can't wait to see that little girl in person!"
Love, Future big brother: Luke

The Last Good-Bye

We had a brief visit with Emma today. I posted a couple of photos of her playing. I also posted a picture of the baby house kitchen. Like the rest of the baby house, it was clean and organized. As we left the baby house, a heap of snow dropped right in front of us. A bit startled, we looked up and saw a young man on the roof shoveling off snow that landed right in front of the entrance. Another of today’s sights was the lady with the dog in the snowsuit. We’ve seen her before, and I think I posted a picture of her on one of the early posts, but I swear the doggy had a different outfit on today. It seems even the canines in this former capital city have fashion sense.

After the baby house visit, we went to the law offices to do paperwork, to the notary, then back to the law offices, and to the notary again! Then we made a final trip to the Ramstore to get the candy we promised to bring to the boys. That left packing and blogging (or in Jim’s case, napping) for these last few hours in Kaz. One of these photos is the view from our apartment that I took as I was putting off the packing part.

In a way, we’re both glad that Emma is too young to understand that we’re leaving again today. We wish there was something we could do to speed up this process. Anyone who knows me well knows that I’ve tried just about everything I can think of to control, influence, or at least understand this process. I’ve finally come to the realization that we are not the ones coming to get Emma, but that she is being given to us. Now we have nothing to do but try to patiently wait to receive this most precious of gifts.

The judge said YES!

Great news everyone - this morning the judge approved Emma’s adoption!

Court went well for us. It lasted about twenty minutes. Neither one of us had to give a speech. The judge asked us questions and we answered. Our facilitator prepared us well for what would be asked, and also the “four points” we were to mention when asked why we were coming before the court:
1. To ask for a favorable decision regarding the adoption of our daughter,
2. To give her the name Emma Rose Petre,
3. To keep the place and date of birth on her birth certificate the same, and
4. To list us as her parents.

Some of the questions the judge asked were centered around our home, family, jobs, income, health, and marriage. We were asked why we wanted to adopt. We told her that nothing gives us more joy than being parents, and we wished to give a child already born a family. We had to prove to the judge that we visited Emma for two weeks with date-stamped photographs. The judge was concerned that Emma is Asian, and we are Caucasian. She asked us how did we think she would feel about looking different than other family members. This gave us the opportunity to show the judge pictures of our beautiful nieces Lea and Carlee who were adopted from China. We told the judge Emma looks like her cousins, and that they can’t wait to meet her. Lea and Carlee - if you are reading this you should know that because you are members of the Petre family, you have helped Emma to have a family too!

Someday we will tell Emma about the morning we went to court and asked the judge to let us be her parents. We’ve posted a picture of us outside the courthouse after the session was over. We’ll remember that when we came out, it was the sunniest morning we have ever seen here in Kazakhstan.

A Better Day

Today was a better day. It started with a phone call from our family back home. It was great to hear your voices!

We visited with Emma this morning. It went better than yesterday. She was still quite hesitant to play with us, and mainly wanted to be held by Mom and walked around the (very small) room over and over. She gradually let Jim get closer to her, and smiled a little when he starting banging blocks together with her. We regret not packing the hammer toy this time, as she really enjoys making noise with her toys (the toy just made us a little crazy last time since there was no way to turn it off, and it would sound off constantly just from being jostled in the toy bag). Boys: we are going to need your help in keeping the noise level up once we get home to keep Emma entertained - somehow I don’t think this will be a problem. Emma let Mom give her a few airplane rides, which drew a few smiles but not the belly laughs we’re used to. She also seemed bothered by the camera, so again, we didn’t take too many pictures. We’ve posted one picture of a mural painted in a stairwell. It was impressive, although we’re sure it would have been even nicer if it had been painted by Cricket and Grandma Judy, designers of the childrens’ mural in our office. We got to stay during Emma’s lunchtime, and are glad to report she is still the fastest eater we have ever seen.

This evening we enjoyed dinner with our friends the Kilpatricks from the US embassy. They were grateful for the margarita ingredients we brought from the states (yep that’s the margarita drink, not the pizza). We were grateful for some wonderful chicken taco soup, salad and cookies, not to mention the fun conversation that took our minds off court. Once we got back to the apartment, reality set in again. Jim and I both practiced the speech, since we can’t be absolutely sure who will be asked to speak tomorrow. Thanks to all of you for rooting for us. Now it’s time to try and get a little sleep.

We made it back to Kaz

Hi everyone! Well after 24 hours of travel we made it back to Almaty, and got into our apartment at 2 AM. It is a larger apartment than our last one, but the TV doesn’t work. Our flights were fine. There were empty seats so we got to stretch out a bit. The only glitch happened during our layover in Frankfurt - going through security Jim was searched, and as we picked up all of our things from the conveyor belt, we didn’t notice that Jim’s laptop was missing. We realized it on the plane, but it was too late. We’re going to check lost-and-found on our way back through Frankfurt, but we’re not terribly optimistic about our chances of recovering it.

Today was busy - no jet lag allowed. We met at the law offices for an hour with our facilitator. She went over the process for court on Monday. She also gave us specific details of the speech Jim is give to the judge (the father is asked to do this). Jim has decided that since he has to memorize and actually give the speech, I should write it. Therefore, that is next on my to-do list.

After our meeting we were taken to the orphanage to visit Emma. She was very shy with us at first, which is understandable given the time between these trips. We tried playing with her, but she was in a somber mood so we didn't push it. She mainly wanted to be held and rocked by Mom. At that point poor exhausted Jim fell asleep on the visitation room floor. We did get her to smile just a bit as the visit went along, but we didn’t take many pictures. It was amazing to feel her in our arms again.

Following the orphanage visit, we went to the Ramstore to get groceries. We also went to buy an international calling card. Unfortunately we can’t get it to work, so please e-mail us or post to the blog if you want to stay in touch. We’re now settling in for the night, and already missing our boys and everyone at home. So I will say goodbye for today…

Court is in One Week!

Hello everyone,
It feels strange being back on the blog after these few weeks at home. We just want everyone to know that our court date is Feb. 25! We fly out on Feb. 21. Look for more blog entries starting (hopefully) on the 23rd or 24th. We are trying to stay calm as we pack and wrap up details here at home. This trip is bittersweet - we get to see Emma again, but we won't be able to bring her home yet. We have to wait out the post-court appeals period of 15 days, and then additional birth certificate and passport processing days. Our agency estimates we won't be able to return for the final trip to bring Emma home until Easter weekend. If will be an awful wait, but then again if it's true - what a wonderful Easter gift for us all!
Your thoughts and prayers are appreciated as we hold our breath waiting to hear the judge say "Yes!" to our adoption of Emma.
Blessings to all, and please post comments to the blog often - it is an amazing comfort to us to hear from you.
Anne and Jim

Final day of trip one

This will be the last blog entry we’ll be making for a while. In a few hours we leave for home. We don’t know our court date yet, and are told we should know within a week or two.

Today’s last visit with Emma was tough. Our facilitator accompanied us to the baby house so we could ask the workers to write farewell messages for Emma in a book. Our facilitator will translate it while we’re gone, and give it back to us when we return for court. We also gave them a picture of ourselves to show Emma while we’re gone, a blanket and a toy. The worst part was when they told us that Emma now waits by the door for us each day.

We distracted ourselves by keeping busy this afternoon, We had lunch at a nice restaurant with new American friends Nicole and Matt and their darling baby girl Saule. They are here in Almaty doing final paperwork before bringing their daughter home.

After lunch we had our driver take us to the hospital where Emma was born. We took a picture to show her one day. Then we headed home to pack. We won’t be back in Almaty for a month or so, but packing should be easier next time.

We are excited to get back home and hug everyone. Thanks to our amazing family (especially Aunt Lynne Morris and Grandmas Petre and Penava for taking care of the boys), friends, staff, and yahoo looper friends for all your kindness and support. We are blessed to have all of you in our lives. You have helped to bring us one step closer to bringing Emma home.

Visitation completed today

Today was the last of our 14 days of required visitation. We will be here until Wed. AM, and have permission to go and visit Emma tomorrow even though the visits are officially finished. Emma is getting used to searching through her toy bag right after she greets us. Even so, she most enjoyed taking the cap on and off her juice bottle. We got a picture of a lovely woman who came into the room several times during our visit to play with and hug Emma. While we are going to miss our little girl immensely between now and our return visit for court, we are glad she is in the hands of such caring people. Our visit was shorter today, as electrical work was being done outside the building entrance and they needed to get us through before the workers started. We waited outside for our driver for about 30 minutes in zero degree weather, and found ourselves jogging in place to be sure we could still feel our toes.
The afternoon was spent printing out and making captions for 14 days worth of date stamped photographs to give to the judge. These were taken to the law office, where we did more paperwork before heading home. We were going to shop a bit tonite, but found ourselves enjoying the warmth of the apartment, So we started packing for home instead.
By popular demand, we are including photos of the inside of our apartment. Simple but adequate, we still think it is a better choice than spending four hundred dollars a night for a hotel and having to decipher Russian menus for every meal. We cooked beshbarmak for ourselves today, and it was delicious and filling. We look forward to seeing everyone again in just a few days!