Only TWO Days

When we got home yesterday our Visa's were waiting for us!!! This was the last thing we needed for the trip. Mike's bags are packed and I will pack mine tomorrow. We are going out tomorrow night for a little celebration dinner.

Our flight leaves Asheville at 7am on Friday morning and we get into Kazakhstan at 12:30am on the 4th. Kazakhstan is 10 hours ahead of the U.S. East coast.

We will try and post when we get to Germany and then once we make it to Kazakhstan.

Off to finish packing.

Happy New Year!

Making a List

Making a list and checking it twice, but it has nothing to do with Santa. We are working on our list of things we need to purchase, gather and pack. We are trying to figure out which comforts of home we really must take with us on our journey. Mike says we must take tea bags with us so we can make sweet tea in our apartment, well we are going to southern Kazakhstan. We will not be staying in a hotel ,but an apartment. The good news is we will be able to cook and wash cloths.

We should have our visa's soon! We must have these to be able to travel into Kazakhstan.

Nolan is now talking about his little brother all the time, I think he might be a little disappointed when we come home without little brother.

Most go now, lots to do and oh yah Christmas is this week. Merry Christmas.

Plane Tickets- Purchased

We have purchased our plane tickets we leave on Jan 2nd at 7am and get into Almaty Kazakhstan on Jan 4th at 12:34 am.

DATES!!!!

We have dates!!! We have to be in Kazakhstan on Jan. 4th. Tomorrow we will be working on our visa paperwork and getting plane tickets. I can not believe after all this time it is really going to happen! We are going to Kazakhstan! We should be home around the 24th or 25th.

Time to start PACKING!

The Phone Call

We were at Chuck E Cheese tonight and got "the call", it was our adoption agency director. She was calling to find out if we could be on a plane in three weeks. Of course I said YES!!!! Next week we will get our official dates and then will need to be on a plane 2 weeks later.

We are very excited, nervous, and a big boundle of energy.

Region Assigment

We got an email today from our adoption agency that we have been assigned to the Shymkent region of Kazakhstan. Here is some information about the area:

Shymkent Region
Shymkent is the capital city of South Kazakhstan Province, the most populated region in Kazakhstan. The population of Shymkent is currently under debate, as census standards are below those in Western countries. It is either the second or third largest city in Kazakhstan, with a population reported between 500,000 and 900,000 people, as of 2004. Either way, Shymkent has the largest single metropolitan-area population, and is the center of the most populated, and most densely populated, Oblast. It is a major railroad junction on the Turkestan-Siberia Railway and a notable cultural centre. It is situated some 690 km west of Almaty.

Shymkent is at the crossroads of two continents from a travellers point of view: it is where the major roads from Europe, China and India meet. The ancient silk road cities of Hazrat-e Turkestan and Sayram are nearby. Tashkent, the capital of Uzbekistan, lies 120 km to the south.
History
Chimkent (Shymkent) was founded in 12th century as a stopping place on the Silk Road, and as a market centre for trade between nomads and the settled people of Uzbekistan, but was destroyed several times by nomad attacks. Once part of the Khanate of Kokand, it became part of the Emirate of Bukhara in 1810 and was then annexed by the Russian Empire in 1864. It was renamed Chernyaev in 1914 and renamed back Chimkent in 1924.
Chimkent and Shymkent are Uzbek and Kazakh variations of the same word, Chim (Shym) meaning turf, and Kent meaning city.
After Kazakhstan gained independence, the city was renamed Shymkent in 1993 as part of the government’s campaign to apply Kazakh names to cities. Interestingly, this created an ambiguity in city's name in the Russian language. (The formal spelling of Shymkent (Шымкент) as codified in Kazakhstan's Constitution goes against the Russian spelling rules of never having the letter ы follow the letter ш.) As a result, the new name Шымкент (Shymkent) is used only in Kazakhstan, while Russia and other countries using Russian language keep using the original spelling Чимкент (Chimkent). The spelling of proper nouns remains a topic of somewhat heated discussions among many present and former city inhabitants.
Demographics
The ethnic make-up of the city is as follows:-
• Kazakhs 49.5%
• Russians 24.6%
• Uzbeks 15%
• Tatars 2.7%
• Others 8% (Azeris, Ukrainians, Koreans)
Economy
Formerly dominated by lead mining, industrial growth began in the 1930s and the city has industries producing refined lead and zinc, processed karakul pelts, textiles, foodstuffs, and pharmaceuticals. Also, the city has a medium size refinery. The Shymkent Refinery is owned and operated by PetroKazakhstan.
Sights
• Ordabasy circle, site of Friday Mosque and MIG Memorial
• Regional Studies & History Museum
• Victory Park
• Central Park
• Museum of Repression
• Afghan War Memorial
• Arboretum
• Nauryz/Navruz Holiday Celebrations over Spring Solstice
• Al-Farabi Square
Time Difference
The time difference:
• between Shymkent and US Eastern Stander time - 10 hours
• between Almaty and US Eastern time – 10 hours

Still Waiting

We are still waiting on our travel dates. The waiting is much harder than we expected. Mike tells me everyday "maybe tomorrow", I think one day he is going to say that and it will happen. I remind myself that good things come to those who wait. While we are waiting we are trying to get somethings ready for the trip. We are learning a few russian words , I am up to 5-6 words.

Nolan talks about his new little brother all the time, I think he is getting excited.

The waiting continues.....

Update!

I talked to our adoption agency today and our dossier is now in the hands of the Kazakhstan Minstery of Education, these are the people that will give us our travel dates!! Our next step in the adoption process is to get travel dates! Our agency feels that we will most likley travel early next year, but then again we could get our dates anytime. I would really hate to miss Christmas with Nolan, so this is a good thing.

Still Waiting......

Being patient and waiting is not a skill of mine. I emailed our adoption agency to see if there was any news in hopes of something great. Nope, they emailed back , no news, hopefully soon.

Unexpected Moment in Target

Nolan , Grams and I were shopping in Target on Saturday , going up and down all the isles (which is a must at Target). Nolan spotted some black balls in the home decorating isles, I noticed the balls were really small globes. So I took the opportunity to show Nolan were we lived and where little brother lives. He thought this was interesting and kept showing me the balls and on each one of them we looked at where we lived and where little brother lives. We looked at about 10 balls. Mike and I have shown him many times before on maps and globes where we live and where little brother lives, but this was a sweet little unexpected moment in Target.

Horoscope was wrong

At the begining of the month I read my horoscope in Redbook or some other women's magazine, and it said I would have travel news on the 20th of October. Well October 20th have come and gone and no travel news. Back to the waiting game.

Pick a Name Any Name

I thought we had finally decided on a name for new baby..well think again. Mike has decided that he is not so sure about the name Colin. In the car this weekend names were discussed, we think we are back to the name Ben. But give us a couple of days and I am sure we will change our minds yet again. Back to calling him new baby until we make a final decision.

Any News???

Paperwork Status
Currently our Dossier is in Kazakhstan at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Then it will move onto the Ministry of Education and our region will be assigned. At least we will know the area, and start doing research on climate. Then we will received our LOI (letter of invitation) which will have our travel dates.

Travel
Yes, we and our agency are still hoping that we will be traveling this year to Kazakhstan.

I know it is hard to wait and be patient, but this waiting game is so hard. Mike has already test packed his suitcase once and is wanting to do it again. I love that he is so excited about our journey. By the way those space saver bags you see on T.V. do save a ton of room in a suitcase.

I have pulled out some of Nolan's baby cloths to take with us. We have to leave cloths for Colin to make the journey home with the escort. Looking at those little cloths it is hard to remember when Nolan was that little.

This weekend we are going to start getting Colin's room ready. Might as well do something while we wait.

You're Adopting From Where?

Kazakhstan

Kazakhstan is a former Soviet Republic. Growing tensions within Soviet society led to a demand for political and economic reforms, which came to a head in the 1980s. In December 1986, mass demonstrations by young ethnic Kazakhs took place in Almaty to protest Moscow's installment of a non-Kazakhstani First Secretary as leader. Soviet troops suppressed the unrest, and dozens of demonstrators were jailed. In the waning days of Soviet rule, discontent continued to grow and find expression under Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev's policy of glasnost. Caught up in the groundswell of Soviet republics seeking greater autonomy, Kazakhstan declared its sovereignty as a republic within the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (U.S.S.R.) in October 1990. Following the August 1991 abortive coup attempt in Moscow and the subsequent dissolution of the Soviet Union, Kazakhstan declared independence on December 16, 1991.

The years following independence have been marked by significant reforms to the Soviet command-economy and political monopoly on power. Under Nursultan Nazarbayev, who initially came to power in 1989 as the head of the Kazakh Communist Party and was eventually elected President in 1991, Kazakhstan has made significant progress toward developing a market economy, for which it was recognized by the United States in 2002. The country has enjoyed significant economic growth since 2000, partly due to its large oil, gas, and mineral reserves.

Kazakhstan is a constitutional republic with a strong presidency. It is divided into 14 oblasts and the two municipal districts of Almaty and Astana. Each is headed by an akim (provincial governor) appointed by the president.

For a Map and more information about Kazakhstan go to:

https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/kz.html