We were disappointed about our Monday call-in session with our agency.  There was no news to report.  I contemplated on updating the blog but was just not up to it.  I was officially disheartened.

On Tuesday, we received this email:

Dear Joel and Genevieve,

We have great news - we got the telex number for you today. 

Tomorrow we will call the representative to get your exact 

travel date. Your travel will happen within next two weeks. 

Please start preparing for your trip, and also for applying 

for visas. As soon as we get the dates for you tomorrow, 

we will email you the visa instructions (what to put on 

the application).

Will be in touch tomorrow. 

WHFC

Needless to say we were ecstatic and couldn’t help but think that we would meet our son within the next two weeks.  We had such a restless night.  My stomach was churning…

At 9:53am on Wednesday, January 30^th, I received the call from our agency.  They have the details of our travel date.  We need to be in Aktobe by Monday, February 4^th. That’s right, they said Monday and we would need to fly out by Saturday.  What happened to the week’s notice??  It can’t be…we have dinner plans with the Jasuls.  I’m supposed to watch a chick flick on Friday with the girls.  I was in a trance.  I walked around our kitchen in circles with Dakota (our Labrador) following me.  Things didn’t get better when I couldn’t get a hold of Joel.  He was in a meeting.  I’ve tried his 2 cell phones and work phone.  No luck.  My brother finally got a hold of him.  I continued the rest of day in panic and awe as I gathered the rest of the documents required for our trip.

It is now Thursday, January 31^st at 1:45am.  I’m signing off to prepare for yet another fun-filled day of paper-chasing.  We’ll give the details of our itinerary on our next blog.  We just wanted to share the great news with everyone.  We’re finally on our way to meet Gabriel. 

Thank you again to everyone for all your prayers and support.

Joel & Gen

The wait continues and yes, like we we’re forewarned by other families, it’s emotionally difficult.  We’re constantly checking our emails and waiting for the phone to ring.  It seems like our lives are at a standstill right now.  We’ve been coping and trying to stay busy.

The last three weeks consisted of more paper chasing.  We were informed by our agency on January 10th that our Letter of Invitation could not be released because we needed power of attorneys for our representatives in Kazakhstan.  They provided us the letters and got them notarized and apostilled.  Our frustrations are building up.  It has been almost a year since we started the process.  We’ve already had to redo some of our paperwork because they are only valid for a year.  Our homestudy expires in February.  We’ve contacted our social worker, Bridget.  Fortunately, it’s not as cumbersome as we expected.  She said she just needed to update our financial information and submit it to WHFC.

We have a meeting with our agency on Monday.  We’re hoping to get an update that we can share with everyone.  So until next week…

Thank you for keeping us in your prayers.

Joel & Gen

Gabriel was one of the archangels, the messenger of God.  It’s origin is Hebrew(Gavriel), meaning “God is might”. 

The name’s origin in our family, is my late Mamang(grandmother), Gabrielle Madayag.  She was a very loving and generous person.  She was always willing to help others in her selfless ways.  She touched many hearts.  We are honored to be able to name our son after her, Gabriel.

We hope that everyone enjoyed the holidays as we did with family and friends.  We even received some generous gifts for Gabe.  Special thanks to Grandpa, Lola, Ate Asia, Kuya Joey, Kuya Aiden, Jules, Sammy, Lorelai, Tita Liza and Tito Joey for all the loot. 

Unfortunately, no updates to report as far as our travel date.  Kazakhstan celebrated their independence day on December 16th & 17th, followed by New Year’s Day and Orthodox Christmas on January 7th.  We expect that regular government business will resume mid January and are hopeful to hear something during that time.

We have been keeping busy shopping for some gifts for the caretakers, baby house director, driver, translator, representatives, and children.  It is customary to bring gifts to people that you will work with.  It was challenging to get gifts that will not take too much luggage space.  Some items we purchased were make-up, wallets, scarves, perfumes, crayons, books, and chocolates.

Until next time, thank you for following our journey to become a family of three.  We hold your continued support and prayers dear to our hearts. 

Have a Happy and Healthy New Year!

Joel & Genevieve

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!!

Gen and I were up in Massachusettes this past weekend meeting with our adoption agency, Wide Horizons For Children.  WHFC went over the basics of traveling to and staying in Kazakhstan.  Apparently, phone service is not great and internet connectivity is virtually nill!