And then there were more FIRSTS!

We have been busy with doctor appointments, school evals, swimming lessons, etc. Today was the first day of Swimming! We did not know how he would do but he actually participated quite well although mama had to stay right at pool side. He was very excited afterwards and wanted to swim more so that is a good sign!

We watched the Superbowl on Sunday and were actually glad that the Giants won so the Packers loss did not seem so bad....I guess! Pat cooked up some Wisconsin Brats and Nick had his FIRST Brat (I think?....might have had one up north but we couldn't remember) He ate it like a Kitzman! Excuse the bad hair moment....not sure what kind of electrical current was going thru at that moment! ;)

We went back to the eye doctor today.....gee, it was only an hour plus this time versus the usual 2-3 hour wait.....BUT, she said that Nick is continuing to improve with his eye sight so still does not need patches. I think he is better than they think because he simply gets so tired of waiting and then reading all of the lines that he just won't answer them.....so next time she said we would try the weak eye first before his tolerance is gone!

Saturday was a bit warmer and Nick kept asking us to go to the park so he could sing the bunny song. He didn't care what else we did as long as we ended up at the park so he could sing. He has been cracking us up with The Bunny Song from Silly songs with Larry video (veggietales). The singer is a giant pickle who sings with a deep voice like James Earl Jones (Darth Vader). Nick gets into it so much that we are trying to figure out how to get it on video but for now we just have a few still shots of him at the low soulful notes and the intense finish of the song....He even HAD to take a "microphone" with us to the park. Click on the photos to enlarge to get the full effect....he has his eyes closed and everything.... our boy has so much SOUL! Hilarious!

We are starting to get ready for a 1st anniversary/birthday bash for Nick. We are going to celebrate all 4 of his birthdays....his first birthday will be celebrated at 1p, 2nd at 2p, and so on. Of course he will have his big birthday cake at 4p for his real 4th birthday but I couldn't pass up on celebrating all the ones we missed (we were there for his 3rd but they wouldn't let us bring a cake for him.....that sweet allergy thing) We will have an open house so we can have more people coming and going as they can. I doubt we will do such a big blast at further birthday but he deserves a big one along with his 1st year with us celebraton! I am going to try and do one of those video montages with music for his year celebration....if anyone has any tips...feel free to chime in on the comments!

Nick had his final assessment with the school district last week. The only thing that I think he will qualify for is speech for obvious reasons. We may decide to get speech at his elementary school but continue him in our current preschool because they have been so great with him. I just can't say enough about his preshool (Little Elks). We are probably going to let him stay with the 3 year olds again next year as we still have many basics to improve on.......some things he is learning so fast but then others like using scissors, colors, crafty type stuff could use some extra work and I really see no reason to push him and as his teacher says " He really just likes to play and is always full of joy and excited about everything".....I think that is good progress for the first year! (Although my competitive, had to have all A's side did come out for just a second when we discussed what to do for next year....but I quickly jumped back into reality and realized just how far he has really come this year!)

Hope everyone is having a great start to February......countdown 7 days until that momentous first bonding day with Nick Nurik, private eye! ;)

Almost a year?

Can it be true?....can it be that Feb. 12th (we think....still a blur what day we actually arrived since there was almost a whole day lost with the time change!) will mark the year anniversary of meeting a crazy Kazmaniac named Nurik.....well, it has to be true because we had to do our first post-adoption home visit and trip to the Secretary of State's office for Apostilling. What was crazy this time on the road to the Capital was that Nick was with me......we have come full circle!

We had a good time, me and my little buddy. Definitely the only 3 year old on Capital Hill although probably he was much smarter. I think that they might have been in session because things were a hoppin'. We walked down the hall behind the Lt. Governor and his assistants. Nick was very well behaved except for some loud moments at the nice lady's desk who was processing our papers (FYI, Ky Secretary of State office rocks! We have had the best luck with them and they are so nice and do the Apostilling while you wait....never been there more than 30-45 minutes even with the big stuff). She thought he was cute anyway.....this will get us out of many embarrassing moments, thankfully. She apostilled Nick for us too so he is certified that the certifier can certify who can notarize......only adoptive families will get that......but basically he is extra legit! He proudly showed off his Apostille on the front steps of the capital as he waved and said HI to the other tourists! They were getting a kick out of his enthusiasm.....I said he was the "official" capital greeter....kind of like Wal-mart but younger! :)

Here are pics from the trip.....one full shot with the capital and the other of him waving....notice the little gold sticker on his coat.....apostilled and official. Have a good weekend!

Snow day and Must Haves!

We woke up to snow today! Looks nice but we sure hate to miss preschool especially when mom had the whole morning planned out. We had a meeting with the school district to get Nick into speech therapy. We had him assessed for early start services and he did qualify for speech. We are working on Clarity. His vocabulary is amazing but he is slightly tongue-tied so we wanted to make sure that he could form all of the letters correctly and that it wouldn't delay his english skills. My theory is that it was harder for him to speak Kazakh because I think you use the tongue alot with that language vs. the words formed in English. We never heard him utter a word in Kazakh, he said a few words in Russian that he learned from us but once he learned the english words, we heard those only. Maybe this is normal but from other blogs that I have read the kids his age seem to speak Kazakh some. They did say in his records that he was quiet, reserved, and to himself. Most people here would laugh at that description!

Last night, Nick was playing with Mr. Potato Head and he all of the sudden said, Mama, look STRONG! he had this growly, he-man voice and did his arms like above and then I looked at Mr. P....so funny!

Funny Nick stuff......
- We were driving to our friend's house for a party and we were telling him about the little boy that he had played with before and he replied in response, Great! Nice Guy!
- He has been corrupted by American commercialism already. He doesn't quite get that some shows you can watch over an over (dvd) and some shows you see only once unless it repeats (no we don't have DVR or Tivo) so when he wants to see something that we don't have.... we might say Nick we don't have that one and his response will be....BUY ONE! No matter what we say that we don't have.....he will say Yes, mama, BUY ONE!
-He relates everything to a book, person, or TV show. And it can be obscure things....like we were reading a letter book and it had V for veil and they only showed a head with a veil (no wedding dress or anything) and he exclaimed Auntie Rhino! (our first wedding with Nick in June!) Auntie Rhino is thus named because of his correlation to his stuffed Rhino that she gave him and she also is related to Fireworks. Ata Bob is always "More Power" because he said that when Nick rode in the pontoon and all Vans are like Ata Bob's and all SUVs are like Ata Bill's. We are always amazed at his correlations....he is soooo observant.
- Any food that he wants is "good for you, mama"
- one of his more sweet observations is that all animals and children that look sad in books or on tv are "lost, find mama and papa" We aren't exactly sure when this started but it was early when we were watching a Diego show and they helped the baby penguin find his mama and papa and we related that to Nick finding us but he added the sad part. He also says this when characters are alone. He always comments that the bear that is alone at the end of" we're going on a bear hunt" is sad and needs to find mama and papa. Just breaks your heart for all of the other lost and sad ones who need to find their mama and papa and that he at 3 is aware of this feeling and that we have made a difference to him. Such a little blessing he is!


Ok, enough Smooshy stuff for today. I have my list of Must Haves ready. Have a great Tuesday!

“Must Haves” for travel

1. Important Numbers – adoption agency and travel agency……..also take email to these as you may need to leave email messages because of the time difference. Find out what type of phone service you will have in your city. We could not call cell phones or long distance on our apt. phone and we could not get computer service. We had to use internet café for entire stay.
Have your coordinator help you buy the appropriate calling cards and show you where and how to use them immediately upon arrival in case you don’t have them around at all times.

2. Survival food – this can vary based on what city you are going to be living in during your stay. We had plenty of grocery stores but they were mainly staples like flour, bread, eggs, cheese ….and the big problem for us was no usable cooking stuff, pots, pans, etc. (we had an oven but no racks in it) and no microwave. So just because food is there will not mean you can cook it. We only had two restaurants and they just left us feeling sick. Take peanut butter, nuts, crackers, pop-tarts, instant oatmeal, cereal (they only had weird sweet cereals ….. no bran flakes, or healthy cereals) , packs of tuna or small cans of chicken or protein bars are good small packable items. They have great homemade bread everywhere but after 2-3 weeks, you need some protein. We did not have good luck with the kabobs/roasted chicken stands. My husband will try or eat anything and he lost 30 lbs in 10 weeks and he was not overweight. We also had some comfort drink mixes….spiced tea, hot chocolate, koolaid/lemonade, etc. They have awesome hot water makers and if you go in the winter, you will want something warm after coming in out of the freeze! So, most important, have some survival food especially protein based snacks.

3. Games – travel size games, cards, or take the big games out of the boxes and put them in Ziploc bags for better packing…….DVD’s go in this category but make sure you have a computer or portable dvd player with adapters to play them on. We actually left games behind for that “mandatory” toilet paper space and regretted it every day! We did not have other adoptive families in our town so we needed games. We did buy two puzzles while over there and then gave them to our translator. It was a great way to pass the time. You could buys some puzzles stateside (cheaper) and then put them in Ziplocs also for space-saving.

4. Take appropriate meds for you personally……we did take all of the meds on “the list” from our agency but could have used more allergy medicine. The air pollutants, dust, and different environment can be hard on any allergy prone person so take plenty of allergy meds, Sudafed, and inhalers if that applies. If you are prone to a sensitive stomach, take more of that type medicine. The point here is to know thyself and take more or less based on what you know about yourself and your body. Take a multivitamin even if you don’t take one at home. You need to make sure that you are covered just in case you are not eating at your best.

5. Take gifts related to your town, state, etc. They get lots of watches, pens, wallets, etc…..try to be creative. We took local treats (choc, sauces, jellies)…..we went to some of the touristy places and bought small packages of our local goodies. We also bought our local university T-shirts at one of our outlet stores. I did take a few nice things for the director and doctor but they got the fun stuff too. Talk with other people who have been to your region. They will know the people and know if they have kids or whatever and you can more personally buy the gifts. Our translator was a teacher who taught English and she was thrilled to get a booklet of stickers with English words to give her students on their homework. Take a few extra little gifts for those people that you meet like our laundry ladies, the internet café guy, etc. We also took local crafty stuff like soaps, lip balm although they would be happy with bath and body works stuff too…..the big lotions and gels will be hard to travel with…..but the small containers should be fine. We also took postcards from our town that showed our state and city. Everyone was always intrigued about where we were from and how we lived. I also took magazines that showed our area. Midwest living, southern living, etc. or the kind you can find in the touristy places also. Our translator loved looking at these while we were playing with Nick. Most of our gifts were small that we took with us……they are also just happy with money gifts.

6. Take an open heart! Going blind is overwhelming. We just could not fathom how we were going to know our child. Some people say they just know but we were less confident. Be cautious but don’t let the medical histories scare you into not choosing a child. Use your instincts, heart, and we also prayed for help from God (which He gave in that Nick was born on my grandfather’s birthday). Nick’s medical info would have scared off most…..preemie (2 lb and born at 27-28 weeks)….multiple medical conditions, noted speech delays, etc. We found out that they sometimes pre-diagnose and then if the child hasn’t developed the usual conditions by the age of 5, then they take the diagnosis out of the medical chart. You can’t always go by looks either. If you looked at all of our children from Kaz, I would say that most of them look nothing like the child they were in the orphanage. Love can do amazing things to a child’s appearance!

and NOW!
First day with Nick

7. I said this in the “don’t take” blog but remember that clothes are minimal. As you can tell by the must haves……they take up space so clothes just can’t be the priority. Besides most if not all of these things above can be left behind or used up so that leaves you lots of room for mementos from Kaz for you and your child. If you are going in the cold, scarves, hats, and gloves are a must and long coats are nice to protect your legs. I have heard that bug stuff is good for the warmer weather…..maybe the travel wipes for bugs so they would pack better.

8. I took a few pillowcases but decided to use what was given to us as far as sheets. Sheets from home would just take up too much space. We did have theirs laundered but mostly just took the camping attitude. I did take a few little blankets for our child and we did use them. We bought 2 towels there to use in the apartment and they are now Nick’s “blankies”……I think they are like what they had at the orphanage. He still sleeps with them and uses them for comfort.

9. Last but not least…..actually, so important! A big roll of “duck” or duct tape. We fixed pipes, curtain rods, back packs that needed reinforcement for the plane trip home, and several things that Nick “dislodged” while adjusting to his new environment.

10. Obviously, these are suggestions in addition to the lists that the agency tells you to take or other long lists from fellow bloggers. You will need some things more specific to the age child you may be getting and the time of year you will be travelling. So this was just a list of our things that you just really want to have to make your time there better. There are many comprehensive lists out there that are good resources also. If you have specific questions about any items, feel free to comment and I will answer based on what we experienced.

and another First!

Yesterday, We went to Nick's first birthday party. His preschool friend Pierce was turning 4! I did not include pics of the other children because I forgot to ask the parent's permission for posting .....just in case anyone is in the witness protection program! ha!

Nick and I play alot during the day....He loves to be tickled, chased, wrestled, and all things boy. We don't have an extra photographer during the day to prove that I am just as much fun as dad but I don't care because it does my heart so much more to document them. I knew Pat would be a great Dad and when I hear them giggling, playing, and talking in the evenings after Pat gets home, I just melt! It is practically a Beatles mania type reception when Pat gets home with all of the squealing and jumping that goes on........I know it is great for Pat after having difficult days at work to come home to that kind of reception ...and that's just the reception from me...no just kidding, it really is Nick .....most of the time! ;)

I thought these pictures from the party were priceless of Daddy and Nick playing on the big inflatables.

Kind of wish we would have had these big gloves during Nick's hitting stage! ;)

Going Up, Up, Up!

Then Down, Down, Down!

This is so fun.....Thanks and Happy Birthday, Pierce!

It was also nice to mingle with some other preschool parents. Nick doesn't say much about school so it was interesting to hear everyone talk about NICK! We always see kids at school that say That's Nick, mom or That's Nick, dad! I have had parents tell us that their child talks about Nick all of the time. His little friend Gabriella's mom said that she doesn't hear much about the other kids but she always mentions Nick and how nice he is.........How can you not love Nick's smile and charm but it is nice to know that he often behaves and interacts so well at school that he stands out. Yeah!

Nick continues to amaze us with his ability to just sit and look at books. If he has memorized them from us reading them, he will also "read" them out loud. He calls his book shelves, "the library" and he will tell you that he is going to the library to read books or he will go get them and bring them to us from the library. He will just pull up his little rocker and read away! Boy, he was so meant for our family! FYI, I read 5 books over the holidays thanks to all of the Aunts and Uncles, and grandma and Ata playing with Nick non-stop! Sure miss that! ;)

Today was western day at school and even though we have not been down to TEXAS yet to meet the rest of the family, we were able to put together a fine ensemble except for boots.....it just doesn't seem right to buy boots in Ky......we will check out the real boots in TX.....at least that is what they would say down there!

Apparently, Cowboys don't smile but they do say Yee, Haw without any prompting!

I need to get together my list of must haves for Kaz/adoption travel but wanted to post these pictures for the family first. I also need to document some funny things that Nick is saying but I will post that with the must-haves soon. Have a great Thursday!

What NOT to take........

But First, some pics for the Grandparents........

We have had some unseasonably warm weather like many of you, so Nick spent some days out in the elements. Several park visits and some backyard play. He even found a launch pad for his rocket and Amigo was there for the count down!

Nick also took some quick runs on his mini rollercoaster.......weeeeee!

We went to the peanut butter and jelly concert series by the philhamonic orchestra which featured the drums today. Nick's friends, Libby and Logan were there to share in the fun! They have a "petting zoo" where you can touch and even play many different instruments. Nick tried the trumpet and violin. They actually have peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and juice for a snack. We then went into the bigger auditorium where they played all different types of percussion instruments. Nick borrowed Logan's drum and pounded away. They were able to use all of the different drums and shakers to participate. I can't wait to take Nick to more and more musical concerts. My little renaissance man-in-the-making!

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What NOT to take!.........
Of course, these are all my opinions but the fact that you have to carry and haul your luggage up and down stairs, onto airplanes, and do this with a child on the way back, they are at least tested and tried opinions.

1. Too many Clothes! Ladies, this is the one time in your life that you need to pack like a man….pretend you have to pack everything in a duffle bag as far as clothes. You need your court outfit. Take a black skirt and use a top that you can wear with your other outfits. I just used my boots for court that I had been wearing during the week so you don’t even need extra shoes. I bought some really cheap pants at Wal-mart (brown, black, and grey) and we rotated our outfits every three days and only washed them after wearing them 2 or 3 times. This might not be so easy in the summer months with sweating and more smells but it worked well in the winter. Take shirts that you can mix and match and wear comfy clothes (sweats) for hanging out and for pajamas. I left half of my clothes in country with a mission organization.

2. Favorite clothes or nice clothes! The washing machines and water can do some crazy things to your clothes especially color….your whites will not return white. Laundry places are great but your clothes still will not be the same. Thus, the above suggestion to buy some simple mix and match cheap clothes and just leave them ……you will want the space for souvenirs.


3. Extra toilet paper! One roll maybe…. for tummy adjustments that must be made in the first week until you find the grocery stores but we found many types of TP there even in our very small town. Most of you will be in bigger cities and they have TP. The standard TP there is similar to a roll of camping paper. We wasted too much precious space with TP and did not need it. Tell your behind that it just needs to tough it out for a couple months or so. J Instead of TP, bring the little tiny packets of Kleenex for when you go out. There will not be TP in most public restrooms and we even had a few with no toilet seats. Leave a germiphobe attitude behind….it won’t do you any good in Kaz and it will only make you miserable. Just know that it is for a short time and this will make you “hearty”…..our favorite word from the trip!


4. Try to limit baby clothes/toys to save space. They will have plenty of time to look adorable and play with cool toys when they get home. Have your translator or coordinator take you to where they shop….the open markets can be very inexpensive for clothes. Again, we were in a smaller town and maybe our stuff was cheaper but we could find clothes and toys at good enough prices that it was much better than taking up space in our luggage. It is nice to have some clothes from Kaz that we can save for Nick to see later. Try to bring things that you could leave behind if you want the space for something else.


5. Last but most important, don’t take an American superior attitude. Embrace the Kazakh way. It is sometimes confusing, frustrating, and even counter-intuitive to the way we think. Their way is not wrong or ridiculous or rude or crazy, it is DIFFERENT. You will feel all of those previous words many times during your trip but you must accept the difference without getting worked up. We are guests in their country. Act that way. We also blogged that way. Your blogs can be read by anyone unless you are private. The smells, tastes, and “way” of doing things can be so different but just remember that this is their way of life. They live with bad sewer systems, bad water, bad internet connections, and minimal income so be thankful for what we have in America but don’t disrespect their way of living by being sarcastic or intolerant. You will be changed when you return….much more thankful for what we have and you will be a parent (so start setting a good example while in country). Remember the simple way you had to live in Kaz and bring some of that back with you......you will miss the simple life when you get back…….the amenities are great here but the one on one family time that you have in Kaz will be forever remembered as once in a lifetime….if you embrace the difference and remain FLEXIBLE and Grateful, you will find that the 9 or 10 weeks can be endured with smiles, tears, laughs and an honest picture of who we Americans really are……..

Next installment, Travel must haves!

Waiting, and more waiting..........

Most of my tips will relate best to Kazakhstan adoption but I would suppose some could be transferred over to any international adoption.

While you wait………..
1. Walk and climb stairs…….you will do a lot of this in Kaz……some of you will do it in the snow and ice!


2. Start watching for sales on any of the many things on your “list” for travel. Ask other adoptive families if they had anything left over if they have gone recently (ie. Scabies/lice medicine) It is expensive and probably will not have expired.


3. Check out kid consignment shops or garage sales. Toys, clothes, winter gear, etc. could be purchased cheaply and then left in the country for the orphanage or any of the people that you meet during your stay.


4. Talk to your bank about the “new money” early enough so that they can order it. We used two different banks who asked for about 2 weeks notice and then we kept it in our safety deposit box until we left. Shop around for the horizontal money belts so your money can lay flat and not folded. Ours were cloth and zippers were plastic so no bells and whistles went off when going thru airport.



5. Start a blog! This was the best way for people to know what we were doing and then they could comment back to us easily also. It was our lifeline. Many people are going private now but that would just take extra work ahead of time to get everyone invited before you go. Very do-able in the waiting time. Learn how to use all of your techno stuff before you go. Take a memory stick/jump drive so you can transfer to internet café computers if necessary. Our computer did not work at the cafes in our town so we had to use theirs. It was no problem since we had the stick. Your computer access will depend greatly on where you end up. We did not have access in our apartment but had a nice internet café near the orphanage.


6. Read other blogs ……this is a no brainer but it helps so much just to see all of the different experiences.


7. Spend time with friends and family and take extra trips or date nights. Waiting is hard so just distract yourselves by enjoying the great support systems that you have in place. If this is a first child, hang out with children that might be similar in age so that you can see how children interact, behave, etc. Besides the time in Kaz, you will not be able to jump right back into the social scene when you get home so enjoy the “free time” while you have it!


8. Read, Read, Read! All of that stuff your agency or home study people give you will be invaluable in bonding and getting to know your new little one. I was on the internet constantly trying to learn about attachment, RAD, etc.


9. Start learning the language (there are some great basic Kazakh and Russian guides on this website (http://kazakhadoptivefamilies.com/) We also used The Idiots guide to Russian…has a lot of basic daily phrases. I think learning their alphabet, numbers (at least 1-10), directional type words (right, left, straight) are all helpful.


10. Showers/Parties…….Most of us go blind to Kaz so this can be a hard one. People want to do something but at best you will know gender and age range. I told everyone no showers until we got back. If I had to do it over again (and maybe we will), I would throw out ideas like a “travel list” shower. We had to spend so much money on “the list”……meds, toiletries, snacks, travel games, DVD, books…. It would have been a tremendous blessing to get Target cards, Wal-mart cards, or just a shower where everyone brings one of the dozen or more baby/travel meds that they recommend you take. You can spend hundreds of dollars just getting “the list” stuff alone. I also think a restaurant gift card shower would be fun for before (who can cook great meals when you are running around like crazy in those weeks before the trip) and after, when you are trying to keep the amount of people visiting your house down to a minimum but would still like some easy access to hot meals. If people want suggestions on what to give a family that has no idea who they are coming home with……tell them photo packages to a good studio in town, gift cards, (depending on age) year memberships to local children’s museum, zoo, waterpark, etc.. These are great gifts for groups to go in on and are good for any age and size!

Stay tuned for next installment…….”what not to take! ”

He is just so CUTE!

Thought I would take a minute and log in some cute sayings and current happenings.

Our New Year started out fairly calmly. Watched some Sound of Music.....Nick was even intrigued for a minute or two as seen below..... Pat and I forced ourselves to stay up until 12:01...so that we can say that we are "hip" parents instead of parents with bad hips!

Nick has started out 2008 with lots of smiles and hugs. He has really enjoyed playing with his toys and his language skills are still getting better and better.

His newest phrases which make us laugh all of the time are:

--peh-fect! (perfect).....he usually says this after creating something.

-- by self! (by myself) ....he uses this most now that we have accomplished our NY resolution of letting Nick go to sleep without us staying in the room. He exclaims every morning with a big smile. Nick sleep by self! He expects hi fives, hugs, and Knucks all around!

-- Nick so sad or Nick cwyin! .....this is his new way of telling us that we have really let him down by not letting him electrocute, burn, or break any part of his body by what he wants to do. It takes everything we have to not crack up! He drops his head with great theatrics and shakes it in despair while saying this.

--Slow Down! Police say no, no, no! .......He goes back and forth on the highway with this one or "fasser, fasser" .....Of course, mom is hoping he sticks with the slow down!

--"good for you?" ......he uses this in several ways.....when preparing a pretend meal or sharing his real food , he will ask this in a question form. When getting a sucker or snack food, he uses it as a statement and as a dietitian I am compelled to burst his bubble! ;)

That is all I can think of for now but I know there are more. He has been so much fun lately as he is communicating with us so much better. I think it has made him feel so much better too. We realize now that so much of the behavior issues were most likely due to extreme frustration because he couldn't verbalize how he felt or what he wanted. Every morning, our routine usually consists of him coming into our room and getting into bed with Mama. He usually comments that Daddy is "back-a-work" and then he sometimes goes back to sleep or just likes to cuddle next to me and give lots and lots of kisses. How great is that.....beats getting up for work any day of the week. He usually will eat breakfast and play or go to preschool. He had his homemade goo from our Christmas Eve party a few days ago and was making his truck go thru the "ooky muddy" and his new favorite thing is the mail. His hat in the picture is his mail hat and his little tykes car is his mail truck.

I think that the next few posts will be some tips and facts for fellow adoptive parents but I will still try and include some pics for the grandparents! I have loved being in the adopton community and we all rely on each other to fill each other in on the details so I am going to try and type out loud as I think thru some things that would have been helpful before or after our adoption journey.

Hope everyone is having a great first weekend of 2008!