We got the Visas

A lot of things have to come together at the last minute in this adoption process, and some of it can be nerve-racking (or is that "nerve-wracking"?). Once we got our travel date, World Partners had to receive our letter of invitation to come to Kazakhstan, which we need to get our travel visas. Getting the travel visas means (get this) FedEx-ing our PASSPORTS to the Consulate of Kazakhstan in New York. The visas are stamped inside the passports. It's more than a little scary to put your passports in a FedEx envelope 4 days from when you're supposed to leave -- and you can bet we double- and triple-checked the addresses on the envelope and the return envelope inside. But World Partners has this down to an art, and we have our visas -- 24 hours later.

Tucker is still healthy too, by the way. He has a little bit of a sniffle, but tonight he even went to bed with no meds -- a very good sign. And he's eating. We had him on decongestant for the past two nights. This bug doesn't seem to have made it to his chest, which is always Tucker's weakness. I have been assured by the all-powerful Kazakh Consulate that mentioning Tucker's good health at this point in the process will not in any way jinx things -- at least not any more than the fact that we're leaving the day after Friday the 13th.

All the big things are done, with the exception of notarizing a letter of invitation for Mia. This is a one-paragraph letter that we write to... someone... (it's addressed to "whom it may concern"), inviting Mia to be our daughter here in the U.S., and thanking the Kazakh government for their generosity.

Little things yet to do include setting myself up to pay bills online (already do that, but still depend on mailed statements), finishing up some stuff at school (finals are done, at least, but grades and comments are due in), and collecting a host of little items (Russian phrase book, journals, meds, phone numbers, gifts, a bag for the strollers....). Also need to find a portable replacement for the nebulizer we use when Tucker's really got a chest cold bad (it's a machine that he breathes from to get medicine for his lungs).

On a lighter note, we found time tonight to give a talk (Linda, mostly) at our church on the whole adoption process. Linda made a rough videotape of some of our old DV footage from the last trip, and we talked about the trip. It's amazing to look back at those times. I remember we were worried about Tucker's health and slow development -- very worried in the first two days. But now, looking back at the video, I don't understand what we were so worried about.

I also shed a silent tear today when I looked at a series of photos of Tucker that we had to deliver to our adoption coordinator for Tucker's 3rd post-placement report (gee, THAT timing couldn't have been better...). The pictures show him to be such a happy child... It's hard to think what his life would be like if he were still at the baby house. We done good.

So here I am blogging, when I really should be working on that online bill pay thing... Stay tuned...