No Halloween Treats Yet

Well, we aren't getting the Halloween treat we wanted this year, but we will be celebrating for Veteran's Day. I always send special treats to Jeff at work on Veteran's Day because I am so proud of him for serving his country during the first Persian Gulf war. This year it looks like he will be getting something better than a basket of chocolate chip cookies - our new daughter! Though she is coming home later than we anticipated (and really, how could we have fooled ourselves into thinking that this last part of the journey would go any quicker than the first part), we are anxiously awaiting her arrival. Right at this moment, Dasha is with our coordinator, Vera, in the city of Almaty getting the final medical exams and picking up her visa from the U.S. Embassy. Vera got to pick her up from the Saramoldaev Detsky Dom (orphanage) and took a trip on the infamous Soviet night train from Taraz to Almaty. They will spend a few days there and then return to Taraz so that Dasha can say good-bye to her group mates and have a few days of normalcy before her entire life changes.

Vera has been able to visit her at the orphanage a couple of times since we left Kazakhstan. She reported to us that Dasha is still wearing the key to our house around her neck, tucked deep down into her shirt so that no one can get to it. Very sweet. She is still not really talking. She smiles and laughs and nods her head emphatically "yes" when asked if she is excited to go to her new home. I am sure that she is so very scared and nervous about all of this. (Actually, I am, too, but I know that God is bigger than my fears!)

I just can't wait to watch her see her new home with fresh eyes. Her princess room is almost complete, and she already has some clothes waiting for her in her new closet. When Dasha leaves Kazakhstan, she will still be a Kazakh citizen. At the moment she steps foot on the ground at LAX, though, she will be the newest little American citizen. This moment feels like it has taken a lifetime to get to, but I know that it will be here soon. Keep tuning in - we will definitely be posting again, once she is home!