We're finally here (and connected to the net)

Hello from Kazakhstan!
We left home on Sunday, had layovers in Minneapolis and Amsterdam, and made it here Tuesday AM at 5:30 AM. We were dropped off at our apartment, and very jet-lagged. Sleep was not in the cards, though. We waited for a phone call about what would happen next, but it turns out our phone didn’t work. We found the address of our facilitators, and made our way over there. The rest of the day we waited to meet with the Minister of Education for an interview. The interview was about why we wanted to adopt, what type of child we hoped for, and to make sure we agreed to complete post-placement reports after the adoption to let them know how she’s doing. The minister agreed to let us proceed, the paper got signed, and we went back to the apartment to rest.
Today we met at the office and got a cell phone for them to be able to call us locally. We got some groceries and headed “home.” Right now we are waiting for them to call us about when we will actually get to meet our child. In Kazakhstan, you are required to complete two weeks of bonding by daily visits to the orphanage, then you apply for a court date. We will come back to the US to await our court date (usually about a month after trip one). When we return, we will then petition the judge to let us adopt our child. If he or she agrees, we still have a two week waiting period where someone here could come forward to claim her. So as you follow this blog, keep us in your hearts as there are many unknowns in this process. To our family, friends, and office staff - thank you from the bottom of our hearts for your support - we couldn’t be doing this without you. We miss all of you so much, especially our boys.