We found out on Monday, December 17th that our dossier is in the Aktobe or Aqtobe region.  It is located in Western Kazakhstan, about 150km (93miles) from Orsk, Russia.  The winters can get as low as -22F but average about -1F, BRRRRRRRRRRR.  We are anticipating to travel late January 2008 but we won’t know until we receive our LOI (Letter of Invitation).  Once the LOI is issued we will only have one week to gather our visas, plane tickets, and pack.  Oh and more trips to Trenton, NJ to get the remaining documents (Physician’s Approval, Employment Verification, Marriage Certificate) apostilled.  We will decide then if we are going to go for 1 trip (approx. 7-8 weeks) or 2 trips (1st trip 3-4 weeks, 2nd trip 1-2 weeks).

More great news, we will be traveling with another family from our agency.  They are from New Hampshire.  We haven’t met them in person yet but have exchanged emails.  It will be comforting to have another family share this journey with.

We were informed by our agency that our FBI clearances should be updated.  Apparently, they are  only good for one year and ours would expire in February.  The FBI clearance verifies that we do not have any criminal history.  We contacted our local police department.  They conducted the fingerprinting and we overnighted it to the FBI in Clarksburg, West Virginia.  Fingerprinting requests typically take 6-8 weeks but adoption clearances are processed within 2-3 days.

We would like to thank all of you who braved the first snowfall of the year to come to the baby shower.  Special thanks to Mom and Pops for throwing us the party!  Here are some pictures from the party…

This is one of the major milestones we have been waiting for.  The Ministry of Education has approved our dossier and has pre-indentified a child for us.  We will not be receiving any information about the child until we travel to Kazakhstan.  This is it folks, we should be leaving very soon!!

Have a look at Gabe’s room.  Wish I had something like this when I was a kid!!