Logan and I were at a Valentine’s Day brunch yesterday with families who have adopted from Kazakhstan. We went through various updates and it was funny how far “down” I had suppressed the memories of the wait – until I sat around that table listening to how difficult those times were. I guess life takes over and you forget how much you just wanted to be there and be back to start life as a family.

Lauri wrote about how to survive the wait on the Kazakhstan Adoption Blog in February of last year: http://kazakhstan.adoptionblogs.com/weblogs/how-to-survive-the-wait

Fellow blogger Faith Allen... more

What a difference a year makes - Lauri who blogged before me wrote this blog last February:

http://kazakhstan.adoptionblogs.com/weblogs/what-a-difference-a-year-makes

Yesterday, as I sat in church looking at my son, I felt a pang of sadness. For whatever reason, I thought back to the days before we knew our son, and thought about what that must have been like for him. Just a little background: our son spent the first ten months of his life in an orphanage. We met our son at eight months, but could not take custody of him until he was nearly ten months old. At least the eighth... more

Yesterday we needed to head out of our house for a few hours, while they were working in our house. I hesitated about taking Logan (age 3) to McDonald's play land - memories of our last visit danced through my head. ;-) Logan is the opposite of my other children with his very "direct" and matter of fact style when stating things. During our last visit a little girl told her grandparents "that little boy is being mean.". I tried to get Logan to apologize or we'd leave and by gosh - he chose to leave. He said he didn't want to play with her and she wants to and he just doesn't want to. I tried to explain the whole - it isn't "our" play land but everyone's play land and he can't be mean... more

Today - I share with you - my most treasured gifts - my three children. This is a picture of Becca, Max and Logan before the wedding ceremony. Unfortunately we had to hide out in the "back room" as we waited for guests to arrive and keep Becca hidden from Jordan. ;-) Logan wouldn't take many pictures through out the night - so I'm happy he agreed to take a few pictures before the evening started. I'm looking forward to adding the picture to my desk at work - it has been awhile since I've had a nice picture of the three... more

I noticed on one of my groups the posting from parents just entering the adoption process and how nervous they were about their first home visit. My heart goes out to them – I remember it all too well. Rebecca’s father and I spent months preparing our home for that visit – we painted, we scrubbed, we shampooed carpets, we overhauled every closet in the house and even scrubbed garbage cans till they sparkled! I vividly remember getting pulled over by a police officer for not stopping completely at a stop sign – I had gone to borrow the edger... more

As always a big thank you to Susan for creating her website and keeping it up to date with information for parents who are considering adopting, have adopted – the greatest joy is keeping our children connected and she has a link on her website for local groups through-out the USA:

US Regional Groups for families with children from Kazakhstan: http://kazakhadoptivefamilies.com/groups.html

Since August of 2001, this group of CA families has shared info and was... more

If you are scrapbooking or obtaining information for a report for your child about his or her birth country – as always – I like to try to provide some informational links:

Oriental Express – Central Asia http://www.kazakhstan.orexca.com/

or

Silk Road Paintings (Kazakhstan) http://www.kazakhcrafts.com/

They both contain a wealth of information and I hope to touch base on a few items and information that may interest you:

... more

One of my favorite parts of adoption – is seeing that forever families continue to form through international adoption. Below is a journey of a family who had hoped to adopt two children during their first adoption journey, only to learn that the rules had tighten and were unable to do so. They had their hearts stolen by a little girl while there and returned to Kazakhstan to add her to their family - below is a link to their Faith, Love and Hope blog: http://mcgillsinkazpart2.blogspot.com/

Many... more

Larry and I were lucky enough to experience Navruz first hand during our younger son’s adoption in 2004. We truly had a wonderful time – seeing the dancing in the street, street performers, hot air balloon and yurts set up all around the city square and also along the park in Taraz. We also attended a national horse racing competition, which has become part of the New Year celebration.

Did you know that this spring “New Year” holiday has been celebrated for more than 2,500 years? It is know by the following spellings – Noruz, Nowruz, Nowroos and Nawruz. It originated in Persia and is associated with the ancient Zoroastrian religion. Navrus means “new day” in Farsi. Today, Navrus... more

For part I of this story - go to: http://kazakhstan.adoptionblogs.com/weblogs/adoption-tail-of-cocoa-and-lexi-part-i

Now the part relating to adoption comes in. I guess as adoptive parents, our brain waves will become “wired” a little differently than non-adoptive parents. Part of me loves the boys being boys and embraces the “adoption” of their Webkins. The other part of me cringes at this “process”.... more