Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Never Forget Kostanai



That's what the sign says that this funny little guy is holding. A souvenir from our most unforgettable trip to Kostanai Kazakhstan and our precious children.

This time 4 years ago we were fulfilling our dream of becoming parents. After 15 months of waiting we were finally holding our beautiful children in our arms. We first met Molly and Aidan on the evening of June 8th, 2005. We were greeted at the Kostanai City airport by our facilitator, Olessya, and driven directly to the baby home. We met with Dr. Irina, director of the Delphin baby home, and after introductions and a brief conversation were shown several files. We asked to see Molly and Aidan and it was love at first sight. After a too short visit our babies were returned to their rooms and we floated over to our hotel. The next day we toured the baby home, were assigned a time to visit (1:00PM - 2:30PM), and began the required bonding period. We had our preliminary court date on July 4th and final court on July 8th. After the mandatory 15 day waiting period the court decision came into power on July 26th and Molly and Aidan were ours forever. If you're interested in all of the details check out our entries beginning June 7, 2005.

We didn't publish any pictures on our Blog during our trip because the adoption wasn't finalized and we were connecting to the Internet via dial-up and that would have been too painful. I intended to go back and update postings with pictures but life with two babies/toddlers/preschoolers is hectic to say the least. So now I'll post a few as I reflect back upon those magical days.

I'm a big follower of other family's adoption Blogs. Frequently I find a person or family who are trying to decide what country is the best fit for them. Many of them are hesitant about choosing to adopt from Kazakhstan because of the extensive travel. I usually leave a comment about our positive experience and emphasize that while the travel may seem daunting it is one of the the most amazing parts of the journey. To be able to spend that amount of time in your child's country of birth and to be able to share those memories with your child is a rare and wonderful opportunity.

Forget Kostanai. Not in a million years.

























4 comments:

Dean and Janie said...

Simply beautiful! Thank you!

Tina Lee said...

OMG, Allison, they were adorable!!!! I gotta have to find time and catch up on your blog!! ^_^

keoghclan said...

Hi there. OMG what lovely photos. Both of the kids were such cute babes (and are now very cute also!!) Molly loves our Ash as a baby, all the blond hair and the chubby legs - dare I say it but I also see 'tude in one of the expressions on her face (ha you will have fun when she is a teenager!!)

I love the photo of the 3 babies together and Aidan and the little boy in matching outfits. How cute is that?

Hope the wait is not too long this time around.

We made it to Kazapalooza this year in Nashville - great time.

There is a link to a montage on our blog.

Cheerio for now.

keoghclan said...

Sorry edited!! Molly LOOKS like our Ash as a baby it was meant to say.