Day 19--November 13, 2008

Day 19—November 13, 2008

Today was a very eventful last day. We started out by signing documents with our coordinator for two hours this a.m. (and missing our morning session with Aidar) to being informed that our coordinator needed three copies of our photos (one from each day) to submit to court (which meant scrambling to get more pictures printed) to an afternoon session (again, interrupting our visit with Aidar) in which we almost could not tell Aidar that we would be leaving for a while, but would come back for him (the coordinator said that someone would tell him after we left). I have to give kudos to John for tracking down someone who spoke both Russian and Kazakh (Aidar only understands Kazakh) to explain to him what was going on. I’m sure he knew something was wrong when we didn’t show up this a.m. and then there were a number of people in the playroom who were meeting with me to answer our U.S. pediatrician’s questions. After he was told that John and I were leaving, he was very sad and just sat in my arms as I rocked him. John and I were in tears, too. We had to change our disposition for him, though, and we ended on a happy note. We left a stuffed dog with him (wait until he meets the real thing!) and a photo album of pictures of him, Karis, John, and me. We take comfort in knowing that everyone who works at the baby house will take good care of him. They love him dearly and will be sure that he is OK.

Our coordinator assured us that she could not request a court hearing date until all documents are complete—including the U.S. gov’t 171-H. So, who knows when we will be back in Almaty. We have documents that are on their way, and documents to send when we return, but we still need to do the fingerprinting for the 600-A application so that they can do the background check. I only hope that Aidar does not lose faith. We were told today that since we arrived, he has become happy and much more active. We can’t imagine him any other way.

So, it will be a bittersweet homecoming for us. Words cannot express how much we want to see Karis and all of our friends and family, but we also cannot express how sad we are to be leaving Aidar behind in the baby house (Baby House #1 in Almaty).

We had a great dinner with Marianne tonight. She is such a good friend. It’s like we’ve known each other for years. I know she will stay close to those from Belgium, and another family is arriving on Friday, so she will be in good company. She has done so much to make our trip more enjoyable. I truly hope that everything works out for her and the beautiful little girl with whom she is bonding..

So, our driver will be here at 1:00 a.m. (trust me—it’s not a limo driver) to take us to the airport for a 4:00 a.m flight to Frankfurt. I’m sure it will go quickly since we will most likely be sleeping the whole way there. If we don’t sleep on the way to Frankfurt, we’ll get a second chance on the way to Dallas. And another chance on the way to Raleigh-Durham….

We’ll let you know more as we know more, but our blog might be hit or miss for a little while. Thanks for checking in. For those of you adopting, please feel free to email us at cindiehale@hotmail.com and we can chat more. We wish everyone the best.

Cindie and John