6 Months Old on August 18th!

Norah turned 6 months old on August 18th, what a gift it has been to spend this precious time with her. We can’t wait until “Pa-Pa” returns this Saturday, August 25th!! Larry flies out on Thursday the 23rd and will arrive here on Saturday early morning of the 25th. Our first “official visit” with Norah will begin on the 27th. We are anticipating our first court date to fall on September 14th or 17th. Our final court date will then be September 21st or 24th.

For those of you who may not know, Kazakhstan is a country that has a 2-trip process for international adoptions. Although technically, I would be allowed to stay here for the 5 weeks in between trips, I’ve made the extremely difficult decision to return to PA with Larry. This came after many days of agonizing and much ambivalence.

During the 5 week period (or less, God willing) our interpreter Olesya retrieves all of the necessary paperwork and will complete all the other seemingly endless yet important, tasks such as obtaining Norah’s passport. It’s been absolutely heartbreaking for me to think of leaving Norah. However, I’ve been focusing on the positive; Larry and I know that she is well taken care of, her surroundings are familiar, and for her, this is the only home she has ever known.

When I come home with Larry, it will give me an opportunity to replenish & truly prepare for Norah’s homecoming. Larry and I came to the agreement that if I stayed in Kazakhstan by myself for an additional 5 weeks, after having been here for almost 70 days already at that point, I may arrive home completely drained. The best analogy I can come up is when a Flight Attendant announces right before take off; one is instructed to put on their own oxygen mask prior to assisting others. So, I’m putting on my oxygen, and I’ll breathe big deep breaths and I’ll return to my beautiful Daughter as quickly as the bureaucracy allows!

Also, Dear-“Husband & Pa-Pa”, thanks for taking such good care of us-we know you’re working so very hard for our family and we really appreciate it, we miss you and know that you will arrive safely to us. On a funny note, I was impressed with your list of Russian words that you added to the comment section of the Blog. Did you happen to notice the Russian word for work? It is “rah-BO-ta” and I find that quite ironic as it looks like the American word Robot!!! There is a reason that there is 90% literacy rate here in Kazakhstan-our fellow Kazaks & Russians are very smart!!! What can I say, sense of humor goes along way when you spend so many hours alone each day.
Love to all, Christy & Norah