finally the LOI(Letter of Invitation) is here! We have no idea what it says since it is all in Russian, but as long as the Kazakhstan embassy in DC knows, then were are cool. From what we gather, there is a paragraph that probably says we are cleared to come on over to adopt and then the rest is just our personal information that is listed on our passports. That is why we had to get them emergency renewed. They didn't like Guy's passport expiring in March 08 and we also discovered that mine said that I was a male?! So when you pay enough money to licensed private passport agencies, they work with the government and get them processed within 24 hours. So we had that done, scanned them and emailed the scan to our agency who forwarded the scan to Kazakhstan on Wednesday the 15th(thursday their time.)The LOI arrived on Friday, August 23rd. It was supposed to come thursday, but apparently the fax/scan machine was not working in Kazakhstan so it was delayed another day. After starting paperwork at the end of January, it will be the first of Sept until we travel. We will leave Monday sept 3rd at 1 in the afternoon from the Salt Lake City Airport and arrive in Petropavlovsk,Kazakhstan wednesday morning(tuesday night 10:30pm our time.) There will be 5 different planes and 4 layovers(including 6:30 hours in Vienna.) Quite a long travel plan, but what do you do when you are literally traveling half way around the world? The only thing we have left to worry about are the visas. Supposedly, they will surely be here by Saturday, but crazy things happen, so cross your fingers!
3 comments:
God definitely has his hand in this especially if your paperwork was finished with travel plans in 9 months! Congrats. We adopted our Elliott from the baby house in Petro in 2/07. Callie was adopted from Ekaterinburg Russia in 12/01. We are VERY blessed too. Best wishes and safe travels.
Debbie, Guy, Cade, Janse, and Denver! Congratulations! Take many pictures and have a great time.
Also, I referred your LOI to a friend of mine who has a decent knowledge of Russian. Basically, I'm making sure it doesn't say "And these Americans are to be taken and sold into slavery" or something. :) ¡Estoy tan paranoide!
Good luck on your journey! Be safe, be smart, and have fun!
"Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime."
--Mark Twain, The Innocents Abroad (1869)
wow! i can't believe you're taking the whole family on that trip. if i learned one thing from our trip to europe, it's that i can barely travel with myself sanely... i salute thee!!
i'm so excited for your adventure. keep us updated on the blog... i'm sure this experience will change your life!
love,
jaynee
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