Embassy Visit

My deepest apologies for not updating our blog before now. I have become the new mom that I swore I would never be. Over the past couple of years I have been following other adoption travel blogs and suffered from withdrawal when families would stop updating their blogs cold turkey. And, alas, I have become one of those moms. ;-)

Let's see... Where did I leave off?

I still owe you a story on the U.S. Embassy visit. Dima dropped us off at the law office and we met 2 single moms and their little girls. Asel walked us across the street to the Embassy where we passed through the security check-in and were escorted upstairs. When our name was called we walked up to the window and were given Emily's paperwork for INS (immigration) and a packet that contained all of her medical information and some information on how we apply for her social security card once we get home. The folks at the Embassy were very nice and this appointment was not as intimidating as I expected. They simply reviewed our paperwork and then handed us the paperwork and packets that we needed to take home with us. They explained everything to us and were very excited that Emily would be a US citizen soon.

It was pretty funny when we met up with the single moms. We were all starving for American conversation and we talked about our trips and foods we were craving and things we couldn't wait to get back home for and, and, and... I felt bad for Asel because we all pretty much ignored her and were talking at warp speed about everything we had been through. We found out we had been REALLY blessed on our trip. The other 2 moms had been in-country for 8 weeks - we had been there for 4 weeks. The other 2 moms had been in very rural areas and the temperature had been well below zero for most if not all of their trips. They were also stuck with only a couple of TV stations and we had several English speaking channels in Uralsk.

After our trip to the Embassy we all walked back across the street to the sister's/law office and wrapped up the necessary paperwork before we left Kazakhstan.... basically we just chatted and paid them the remaining money we owed them for the apartment rent... or we were supposed to. I apparently didn't read that part of the WPA manual and forgot to bring the extra money with us! They didn't hold Emily hostage or anything though! They let Dima pick it up when he dropped us off at the apartment. ;-)

We spent the afternoon relaxing and sorting out what stuff we wanted to take home with us and what we wanted to leave behind. Despite how badly I wanted to get back home to family and friends it was really hard packing everything up and saying good-bye to Kazakhstan. We have had such a wonderful experience and I don't think I was really ready for it to end and open up the next chapter of our lives.