Just the tip of the Iceberg

So February 21st is an important date -- the official start of our adoption process. We sent off our application today to our agency! It will be a busy year -- rounding up and filling out lots of paperwork, FBI fingerprinting, references, home study, adoption education, waiting for permission to travel to the orphanage (Letter of Invitation), learning some basic Russian, travel arrangements and then, finally, spending 3 plus weeks in Kazakhstan to choose, bond with, and legally adopt a child. After the adoption is complete, we will return home and 3 to 4 weeks later travel to Almaty, Kazakhstan to our child. The staff from the baby house will escort the child to Almaty. This is where the US Embassy resides and processes the paperwork for the babies to travel to the US and the baby will get a check by a US approved doctor....Lastly, back home, this time, thankfully with our baby.....whew......it's going to be a whirlwind year!