(Maureen's post)
Well, our day has finally arrived! These last few days were pure madness with sending in our passports and visa applications last Tuesday to the Kazakhstan Consul in NYC. Thankfully, the visa processing was speedy and our passports were back in our hands by last Thursday afternoon. The same could be said about our fingerprints being redone and cleared again by the FBI, then sent back to the W. Virginia Secretary of State for apostille, then back in our hot little hands by this past Friday (just in the nick of time). Plus all the craziness involved with the packing/repacking of luggage and carryon bags. Quite frustrating at times, with packing, then weighing, then unpacking, then weighing again...you get the picture. We thought we could get away with only 3 bags plus 2 carryons, but that doesn't seem to be the case now. With all our things, plus James' things, plus gifts and donations, we now have 4 bags to check in and 2 carryons (1 carryon apiece). So, packing's pretty much done, and we're going to both enjoy a breakfast of King Cake (cream cheese filled) and coffee with chicory, café au lait - we'll miss Mardi Gras while we're gone, after all!
The first leg of our trip is to Frankfurt, Germany, landing on Tuesday morning. We then have a 3-hour layover and then fly to Almaty, our port of entry in Kazakhstan, landing sometime near midnight. Total time in the air is somewhere around 17-18 hours. We may or may not get to post in Almaty before flying to Kokshetau. So please don't panic if you don't see another posting from us until mid-week or so. It may take us a while to get set up with internet when we first arrive, plus we won't even be in Kokshetau until Wednesday afternoon; we hopefully will get to meet our baby soon thereafter.
Many thanks to all of you for your thoughts and prayers!
Well, our day has finally arrived! These last few days were pure madness with sending in our passports and visa applications last Tuesday to the Kazakhstan Consul in NYC. Thankfully, the visa processing was speedy and our passports were back in our hands by last Thursday afternoon. The same could be said about our fingerprints being redone and cleared again by the FBI, then sent back to the W. Virginia Secretary of State for apostille, then back in our hot little hands by this past Friday (just in the nick of time). Plus all the craziness involved with the packing/repacking of luggage and carryon bags. Quite frustrating at times, with packing, then weighing, then unpacking, then weighing again...you get the picture. We thought we could get away with only 3 bags plus 2 carryons, but that doesn't seem to be the case now. With all our things, plus James' things, plus gifts and donations, we now have 4 bags to check in and 2 carryons (1 carryon apiece). So, packing's pretty much done, and we're going to both enjoy a breakfast of King Cake (cream cheese filled) and coffee with chicory, café au lait - we'll miss Mardi Gras while we're gone, after all!
The first leg of our trip is to Frankfurt, Germany, landing on Tuesday morning. We then have a 3-hour layover and then fly to Almaty, our port of entry in Kazakhstan, landing sometime near midnight. Total time in the air is somewhere around 17-18 hours. We may or may not get to post in Almaty before flying to Kokshetau. So please don't panic if you don't see another posting from us until mid-week or so. It may take us a while to get set up with internet when we first arrive, plus we won't even be in Kokshetau until Wednesday afternoon; we hopefully will get to meet our baby soon thereafter.
Many thanks to all of you for your thoughts and prayers!
Da Svidanya and love to all!
