I apologize for the delay in this update. We were to leave on October 15 to meet our son, Aidan. Our agency tells us to now shoot for traveling in November because our documents are still in Astana, the capital. We will continue to pray for quick travel. We have instructed our agency we want information on our case ASAP. We still have faith this will all work out. Thank you all for your support, and we will continue to update as we learn more about the situation.
October 7, 2004
Our dossier remains in the capital, Astana. As soon as it is released there it will travel to our region. Our attorney said a good prediction is about a month from being released from Astana we should receive our Letter of Invitation (LOI) to come to Kazakhstan to start the adoption. We are actually still ahead of schedule as it normally takes 60 days to clear Asatana, which would be the end of October. We are currently planning on November-December for travel. If we end up staying there over Christmas then we will just have our first official Fleming Christmas in Kazakhstan, where it is certain to be a white one!
November 30, 2004
Today we received news on Aidan. He is in Kyzylorda. We are hoping to travel now right around Christmas. Here is hoping we can be with him on his first Christmas!
December 8, 2004.
We still have no information on why our dossier cant be released from MOE. It has been in Kaz since mid-August, so hopefully the MOE will release it very soon. Once released it should only take a day or two to get the LOI.
December 15, 2004
Our dossier has been released from the MOE and is in Kyzylorda. Yakov says we should have our LOI on Monday, December 20. Confirmation numbers usually take 5-7 business days, so anywhere from the 24th to the 29th probably. Then it takes 2 days to get a visa and a flight. Hopefully we will leave around Dec 30-Jan 3rd. We have started packing and making final arrangements at home and at work. Most likely I will be there 5 weeks, Kyle 3 weeks. We are going to stay in an apartment there where we will have a "chef" cook lunch and dinner for us. We will get to go to the orphanage twice a day for a couple of hours. After 14 days of visits, we can petition the Court and have our adoption hearing. Kyle will leave after that hearing. There is a 15 day appeal period that more than likely will not be waived, so I will stay and continue visiting the orphanage during that time. If by some chance it does get waived I will come home. We will be in Kyzylorda, a city of about 150,000. There is an internet cafe near our apartment so there shouldn't be a problem posting to this website. There isnt much to do in this city we are told, so hopefully I will have plenty of time to update this site. Wish us luck!
December 20, 2004
We got our LOI today, whoo hooo!!!!! Unfortunately my name is spelled wrong (they used my maiden name) but Yackov will try to get it corrected. He isn't too worried about it as long as they have our passport information correct, which they do. The LOI states we can enter the country on January 5, 2005. So we will probably leave here Jan 2nd or 3rd. If we end up flying through London, we may take an extra day and stay there, and see if Kyle's sister Maggie can come meet us. She is currently going to school in Scotland. We plan to arrive in Almaty the morning of the 5th and fly on to Kyzylorda that day. Hopefully we will meet the children on the 6th! I can't believe we are leaving in less than 2 weeks. Anyone who needs to reach us in Kazakhstan can email me at [email protected]. I will also try to post to this website daily. I am not great with computers, but I will also try my best to post pictures. Thanks to everyone who has helped us get this far.
December 27
We received our confirmation numbers today! Actually at about 11:45pm this evening!!! It would be about noon in Almaty, so they must havejust issued them. Our attorney called our agency, who called us, knowing we would want to know right away! This means we are clear to get our visa and travel!
December 28
Called Katerina at Panorama Travel to get our visas. She will call the Kazakhstan Consulate to confirm our numbers arrived and then take our visa packet down there to get our visas. Hopefully the packet will arrive back to us tomorrow or Thursday. Tonight we had our "travel meeting" with Kim Burghart of our agency, and Kristen Adams-Honeycutt who will be travelling with us. Kristen lives in Auburn, just south of Topeka. She is adopting an infant girl right around Aidan's age. Kristen and I have become good friends with all the travel arrangements we have been making. We are now looking at leaving the 4th because flights on the 3rd were about $800 higher. Hopefully we will get our flights finalized tomorrow. We are taking photos, letters, medical supplies, and orphanage donations from other parents who adopted from Kyzylorda. These parents want to make sure everyone there sees how well the kids are doing, and want to continue to support the orphanage. I think its pretty neat. Today is my last day of work, and I will spend the next few days packing and making last minute arrangements. Kyle is working tomorrow and taking the 31st off as well. More tomorrow!
December 30
This morning we received 1) our airline tickets, 2) our passports/visas, and 3) packages from Connie Erickson and Suzy Hoberecht to take to Kyzylorda!!! We are leaving on Monday,January 3, 2005 at 3:50p.m. out of Kansas City. We will arrive at 2am in Almaty on the 5th, which is 2pm on the 4th our time here in Kansas. Hopefully we can travel on to Kyzylorda that same day and meet Aidan either the 5th or 6th. This will probably be the last post until we arrive in Kazakhstan, but look for a post the middle part of next week. Thanks for all the prayers and keep them up!
January 6
We made it safe and sound! Could anyone reading this please email my sister Meri at [email protected] and have her tell our families we are ok? We havent been able to call and our hotmail is not working, ugh! We flew into Almaty on the 5th and landed in KO about 7pm last night. We met Aidan this morning and he is terrific! He loves to play with toys and is crawling all over. He also likes hide and seek and is a big fan of his Dad. I will try to post pictures tomorrow. CLICK HERE FOR MORE UPDATES!!!