Random Thoughts and Stories about our Trip
We could never tell you how thankful we are to World Partners
Adoption and all their staff for helping us through this process. Jim, Cindy and
Mary were wonderful to work with and made the process as easy as it could
possibly be. More importantly to us, the staff overseas was just as great. We
were never once left wondering what to do, where we should be going, or what was
happening next. Our attorney Gulbanu has the process down perfectly and was
always great about answering any questions we had. Our driver Andre must have
been sent down directly from heaven for that job. Andre was our driver, daily
contact, interpreter when Janara was not around, tour guide, and shopping
consultant all rolled into one. He handled the job perfectly. Our interpreter
Janara was always a pleasure to talk to and always made sure we knew what was
going on. The staff in Moscow, Phillip and Vlad, took care of everything for us
and extremely helpful. I cannot think of one thing that World Partners Adoption
could have done to make this trip go any better, it was perfect! Thank you guys
so much.
If you are adopting from Kazakhstan, be sure to buy all your souvenirs in
Kazakhstan if possible. Everything is much more expensive in Moscow.
Traveling with children definitely has its perks! (I may have mentioned that one
already.)
It used to always kind of irritate me when I would run into people having
conversations in other languages or people in stores that could not speak any
English. However, after spending three weeks being that other person, I have a
whole new view of the situation.
Being able to go to the sink and get a drink of water is way
underrated in this country!
If you are thinking about getting hepatitis shots or anything like that before
you travel on an adoption trip, make sure you add a flu shot to the list if it
is winter time. It is no fun being half way around the world with a temperature
of 103 and not being able to see your child because you are too sick. Tonya got
one, Kevin didn't. Any questions?
The day before we picked Maks up we went to the Ramstore to buy him some food.
Having been through the Ramstore several times already, we told Andre we could
handle it ourselves and that he did not need to help us out. We headed directly
to the baby food section with the list of what Maks normally eats. Guess what,
everything was written in Russian! We had absolutely no idea what anything was
and no one to let us know. It was bad enough trying to figure out what to buy
your new 12 month old son to eat for the first time, but when you had to figure
it out without reading any of the labels, it was impossible. Finally we found a
brand named Hipp that had both English and Russian writing on it. Maks lived on
Hipp products until we got home.
The trip up to the top of the ski lift at Chimbulak is great. The final lift is
a little scary, but the view from the top was spectacular.
I have had people ask if there is anything I would do differently. I wish I had
learned some basic Russian phrases before we went over. Other than than, I would
do it all again exactly the same way.
If you are considering adoption and would like to discuss the process with us, please feel free to contact us. It is sometimes nice to talk to someone who has been through the process and we would love to discuss our experience more with you.
We want to thank all of our friends and family who were so helpful throughout this process. We purchased a book to read and share with our family and friends call Adoption is a Family Affair, and boy does that title nail it on the head! Without all of our family and friends, we never could have made it.
