Counting down the days ...

My latest picture of Almira from Boris. She is reading the latest newsletter from OCS, the girls' school. There was an article about 2 girls winning an art award and travelling to NY for competition. I thought it might interest Almira. Someone from OCS please tell Bruce Deaton his newsletter is now in Kazakhstan. Almira has told me everytime I've heard from her that she is studying English every day.

I have been able to stay in contact with Mariya (Masha) our translator and Boris with the Antares Foundation since we've been home. It has been such a blessing to be able to get messages to and from Almira and to find out how she is doing. We know that she is very anxious to leave and come home and does not understand why she has to wait so long. I know that both Boris and Masha are doing their best to explain things.

Almira gets out of school on Friday, May 25th and Sarah on Wednesday, May 23rd. On Saturday, May 26th we will board a plane in Monroe and fly to Amsterdam and then on to Almaty, where we will land at 5AM Monday (Sunday 6PM Monroe).

Monday afternoon Almira and Masha will board a plane in Petro and arrive sometime that afternoon or evening in Almaty. We will be waiting for them at the airport. I can't wait to lay my eyes on that girl and hug her neck. We have missed her terribly and I'm starting to feel it now, being away from her for a week and a half. I didn't know it would be this hard.

Travel is booked

I just spent a good bit of my morning on-line with a Northwest agent. I have now booked our return air fare back to Almaty for Saturday, May 26th and landing in Almaty on Monday, May 28th. This is the same route we took before. We just couldn't come up with any other options that really saved us much money. I checked with a travel agent on something that flew out of New York, Boston or D.C., but I have to get there. Besides at this point I'm wanting to keep things as simple as possible.

Besides I have this idea in my head of stepping off that plane with Almira when we return and our family being there to greet her. I would hate to arrive at an airport off somewhere and drive a couple of hours to get home. I was able to do the adoption fare on Northwest and even though I paid more for my ticket I got good prices for Sarah's and Almira's. Almira's ticket was over half off. It was so strange booking an airline ticket for her. She now has a plane ticket with the name "Almira Bradford". We will fly out of Almaty on Monday, June 4th. I hated to stay another weekend, but I was afraid we may need all 4 days in Almaty to get everything done.

I'll have to ask again for everyone's prayers for us that things continue to go smoothly. God has blessed us so much and I don't think without all the prayers our first trip would have gone as smoothly. I got an idea while I was there of just some of the things that could go wrong. There was a couple there when we were that had visited their 2 girls for 10 days only to find out that the Ministry of Education had messed up and one girl was on hold for a Kazak family and the other girl wasn't off of the registry. They left on the plane with us and said they were coming back in 3 months when this girl was off the registry. They had been there for 2 weeks.

I've heard stories of other people having family members show up at the last minute to contest the adoption. Almira is not fully our daughter until next Tuesday, May 15th. That is the 15th day after court and the time period when someone can contest the adoption. We are of course hopeful and prayerful that no family members will appear out of the wood work, but I have to realize it could happen. I think she is old enough and even told the judge that if anyone from her family showed up to get her, she wanted to go with us, because none of them ever came to check on her or see her when she was in the orphanage.

The thing about international adoption is you just can't fully relax and be sure about anything until your child is in your home. There are so many hurdles to jump to reach the finish line. This is truly not an experience for the faint of heart. Actually I was talking about this at lunch today and said "I just can't imagine going through this process without great faith in God. How could you suffer all these ups and downs without knowing that we have a God that is so great he can move mountains. Who do you lean on when you are ready to give up all hope?" Even more than that, how can we as simple mortals determine who our child should be? I had to simply turn that job over to God. Almira doesn't know it yet, but she was hand selected by God to join our family. I'm not sure I can tell her that yet, until she has a better understanding of what it means to be a Christian. She may think we're a bunch of nutcases. Of course she may think that already, but hopefully still loves us.

Okay. I'm through with my evangelizing now. Halleluiah, praise the Lord!!

Till later,
Kathy

Some pictures from the weekend

I just wanted to post a couple of pictures from our ride to the wedding. Sarah looked so grown up. I wish Almira had been here with us, she would have loved it. Not too much longer now. We are planning our travel for Memorial Day weekend and hope to be back home on Friday, June 1st (or maybe 2nd).

Okay. That's all for now.

Kathy

Still recovering ...

Jon snapped this picture of Almira while she was making her video of the orphanage. This is in the science class room.

This second picture is me with Dr. Rimma from the baby house. She is a wonderful woman and now I know why everyone that adopts from the baby house just raves about her. It is a well run and spotless orphanage. She obviously loves the children very much. We were happy to be able to take so much to them.

This last picture is one that Jon took right after Almira blew out the candles on her birthday cake. This was at the Doner Cafe on Sunday, April 22nd. Wow that feels like so long ago we were there with her, not just two weeks.

I'm so sorry to all our avid readers that I have failed to update lately. We have been just trying to get back into the groove of things and catch up with everyone. We had a busy weekend and enjoyed being home with Sarah. We stayed home on Thursday and I was really thinking I was doing great. I crashed on Wednesday night about 9PM and slept all night and work up at 6:45 a.m. I couldn't believe I didn't have any jet leg problems. Well, what I didn't know is that they just hit later. Sarah stayed home from school and we just enjoyed our day together. I called the school that morning and asked if I could come out and pick up her books and all that afternoon. It was wonderful to visit with Sarah's teachers and find out about everything that happened while I was out of town. It made me feel good to know that Sarah was happy while we were gone, I can thank Mom and everyone else around her for that. Mrs. Dye, Sarah's homeroom teacher, told me that she still had a smile on her face every morning and really did okay while we were gone.

So Thursday we just bummed around all morning and were lazy. I started on laundry and trying to get everything unpacked and put up. I think Sarah hugged me about every 10 or 15 minutes. It almost felt like a dream being home after almost a month away. Thinking back on Petro now, it seems so surreal, like it was a dream. I emailed Boris on Wednesday night and told him that we were home and asked how Almira was. Thursday night I got the sweetest note from Boris with a letter that Almira had written to us. It started off "Mom and Dad". She said she missed us and is so happy to finally have a family. It was darling and just touched my heart. I miss her so much already. I feel almost like I did when I left Sarah. The only thing that makes it better is being home where everything is comfortable and we have our friends and family, especially Sarah.

Thursday night I was so sleepy, it felt like I had been up for 24 hours. Sarah and I studied in my bed and by 8PM I was so tired I couldn't keep my eyes open any more. Sarah asked if she could just lay down in my bed with me and I was too tired to argue. Jon was on the couch watching TV and I guess fell asleep there. He said he came back to the back to the check on us and at 8:15 we were both sound asleep. Of course I woke up at 3:30 in the morning on Friday morning and couldn't get back to sleep. Sarah went to school on Friday and I went back to work. It was great getting back to the office and seeing everyone. I heard so many wonderful comments from people that had been reading the blog while we were travelling. I didn't know we had developed a following. Then I felt bad for all the days I had not posted anything. I didn't know people were coming to work and looking forward to reading our blog every day.

On Friday night Jon and Sarah stayed up late. We have a couch out in our den that folds out into a bed. I crashed about 8PM, not being to stay up another minute. When I got up Saturday morning I couldn't find Jon or Sarah. They were out in the den, bed folded out with sheets on it, both sound asleep. I woke up Saturday morning early as well.

Saturday Jon went to run some errands and go to the dry cleaners and things like that. Sarah and I got up and headed over to an early movie. We went to see "Meet the Robinsons". It was a really cute movie and I couldn't believe it was about a 12 year old boy that wanted to be adopted. He lived at an orphanage and was a little scientist. It was a great story and I thought about Almira the whole movie.

Then Sarah had a birthday party that afternoon and I had a wedding to get ready for. A friend of mine and Jon's was getting married Saturday night. I went in search of a pedicure and a new pair of black sandals for the wedding. Sarah didn't get home from the party until close to 5PM and had paint on her from painting at the birthday party. She had to have a shower so I sent Jon on to the wedding, which started at 6 and said we would hook up at the reception. Sarah was so excited because she had never been to the country club for a wedding reception. Well Jon called about 7:00 and said there was a change of plans. He was coming by to pick us up and we were going to a friend's house and riding their party barge on the bayou to the wedding reception. The country club has a dock for boats and that was a great idea. We met up with some friends at Ken and Doll's house and Sarah loved riding the boat over to the reception. I'll try and post some pictures that I took on the boat. Thanks Ken and Doll for a fun evening.

Sunday we got up for church and it was so good to see everyone. I was stopped by people that I didn't even know were aware of our adoption. Everyone wanted to know when Almira was coming home and all about her. Our church is pretty big with about 1,000 in Sunday school every week and we have 3 morning services. I had a few pictures with me that I stuck in my purse and everybody wanted to see Almira.

It is so strange but I envision her everywhere with us. Riding in the car I think about what we would be talking about, what she would think about something, what would she be wearing or thinking. I'm just a love sick puppy over this new daughter of ours.

I'll be honest when I got off the plane and finally back to the U.S. I really was dreading getting back on another plane and returning to the other side of the world. I was thinking about every way I could get her home without me flying again. It is a hard trip, I'll be honest. But now, 1 week without seeing her, I'm ready to go. I wish we didn't have to wait 3 more weeks. I'm counting the days.

I got a couple of e-mails from Masha (Mariya) our translator this weekend. We are trying to get our travel arranged for our return trip. We will probably be flying on Saturday or Sunday of Memorial Day weekend. I'm going to miss all the family celebrations, especially barbecue and fresh potato salad, my Mom makes the best! But we'll just have to celebrate after Almira comes home. I hope we can get everything done and fly home on Friday or Saturday.

I've checked prices on flights and they are just ridiculous. We are probably going to end up flying Northwest back again, because it was the best fare and we can fly out of Monroe. I'll let everyone know when we get our schedules set, but we plan on being home the first weekend in June.

I've been going to through some pictures and will post some more now that I'm on high speed internet.

I'll update later. Thanks again for all the kind comments and e-mails.

Kathy B.

We're home ...

Hi everyone. This won't be too long. We got up at 7 AM in Amsterdam and finally made it to our flight, barely. Then we flew 10 hours to Houston. We had a two hour layover, which we totally ate up going through Passport control, customs, waiting almost 30 minutes on our luggage, re-checking our luggage and then going back through security. We barely made it to our gate after stopping to get iced tea and Diet Coke. We landed in Monroe a little before 5 PM. We had quite a welcoming crew at the airport and now we're at home and getting settled in for the night. I've been trying to unpack and go through things. Mom and Dad came by and watched some video and looked at some more pictures. My friend Beth called and I told her to come on over and visit.

Now it's quiet here and I told Sarah I'm about to take a soak in my own bath tub. The laundry can wait until tomorrow. Then we may play a board game or something quiet.

I'll update more tomorrow. Good night.

Kathy

Amsterdam finally ...

Monday, April 30, 2007 - Introducing our newest daughter, Almira Kathryn Bradford.

Court Day! Sorry it has taken me so long to post. We got back to the apartment about 1PM and we could not get the internet to work for anything. Sorry. Court went good and Almira is now our daughter. I woke up this morning at 4:45 a.m. and could not go back to sleep. My body is revolting. As I write this we are on a plane flying from Petro back to Almaty. We will arrive about 8:30 on Monday evening and will spend the night in Almaty. We walked to court this morning, not a good idea in high heeled black boots, but at least I finally was dressed like some of the women here in Petro. Mariya told us we could just walk to court it was about 2 blocks. Oh my goodness, it was about 5 city blocks. We don’t have city blocks in Monroe. It would have been quite a nice walk, but my feet hurt by the time we were half way there. I was cursing myself for not slipping my flats in a bag and putting my boots on when we got to court. I was just a bundle of nerves. We arrived at court about 9:30 for our 10AM court appearance. Almira arrived with Tatiana, the orphanage social worker and the nice lady from the Ministry that went on our visits with us about 9:40. We went upstairs to court and sat in the hallway for about 30 minutes. I found out we were waiting on the prosecutor. Finally at almost 10:20 they called us in to the Judge’s office. It was a Kazah judge. They started off with Jon and asked him why he had come to Kazakhstan. He couldn’t think of what to say. He said later his mind just went blank. He stumbled around and answered the judge’s questions. Then it was my turn. I think I did pretty well and told the judge about our family, our community, the school where Almira will attend. We talked about her having the opportunity to go to college and about our family eagerly waiting for her at home.

Then they brought Almira in. She was fine. I could tell she was a little nervous, but she answered everything the judge asked. The judge asked her if she was sure she wanted to come live with us, she said yes. The judge said what if you get home and have problems, she said “I won’t.” The judge said are you sure you want to change your name to Almira Kathryn Bradford and she said “Yes, I chose that name”. The judged asked, are you worried about learning English and going to school and she said she would study hard and learn English, she was very good at school. Then they asked her if she wanted to just leave the orphanage and go to America or did she want to just leave to go with us. She said I want to leave and go home with my Mama and Papa. They asked her if her parents moved to Kazakhstan, would still want to live with them and she said yes. We were so proud of her. She did great. Then they asked me some more questions and the judge told us to wait outside.

It was a little after 11:00 at this time. We waited in the waiting room for close to 30 minutes. Then the judge called us all back in and said she was granting the adoption. Then Almira just threw her arms around Jon and then me. She was so excited. We got some pictures with the judge and everyone and then left and headed to the notary’s office. We signed one more set of papers for Svetlana’s power of attorney and then Svetlana left and took Almira back to the orphanage. She hugged us over and over again and kept looking back and waving as she drove away. It was so hard to leave her, almost as hard as leaving Sarah in Monroe. Mariya will continue to go to the orphanage almost every day with another couple and will see Almira. Also Boris will go every Thursday and can give her messages for us and can send us messages as well.

We will fly on Tuesday morning to Amsterdam on the 7:20 am flight. We will land in Monroe at the airport at 8:30 if everything goes as planned. I will try and post as I can.

Tuesday, May 1, 2007 - Amsterdam time

Well, it is Tuesday afternoon at 5PM in Amsterdam. We just got into the Sheraton at the airport.

We didn’t leave Almaty headed for Amsterdam until almost noon. So much for our 4 hour lay over in Amsterdam. We arrived here 15 minutes after our flight left for Memphis. We were really excited about getting home tonight and seeing Sarah.

We are safe and sound, just home sick. We are in a much better place than we were at last night. We were met by an elderly man at the airport last night in Almaty when we arrived. He barely spoke English. He took us to that hotel by the airport, that you just walk to. I can honestly say it brought back memories of church trips from my junior high days. It was awful. Two twin beds, almost on the floor that were about the size of Almira’s bed at the orphanage. Only a sink and a chair in the room. It was really bad. It had a community bathroom down the hall that was the toilets with no seats on them. Also, every time a big jet took off last night, it made the alarms on the cars in the parking lot go off. It was a fun night. I laid down and tried to sleep and Jon said something funny and we started talking about the beds and the room and I got the giggles so bad my stomach muscles are sore today. I was crying I was laughing so hard. The exhaustion and surroundings didn’t help any. It was either laugh or cry.

We slept in fits on and off for about 3 or 4 hours. Put our clothes back on and headed to the airport at 4:30 AM on Tuesday morning. Then we sat at the airport and waited for the plane. It arrived 3 hours late and then sat at the gate for another 1 ½ hours. It was torture knowing we were so close to making our Memphis flight. We finally left Almaty at almost noon and made it to Amsterdam at 2:30 p.m. Our flight out to Memphis left at 2:10. The KLM crew was absolutely no help, no hotel, no nothing. Just sorry, no flights out tonight. I did stand in line at the desk and waited for 1 1/2 hours just go get an earlier flight home. We will fly through Houston and then into Monroe on Continental.

So we are flying out of Amsterdam in the morning and arrive in Monroe sometime around 5 PM on Wednesday. We had on purposely told Sarah that we weren’t coming in until Wednesday night so she wouldn’t be disappointed if we couldn’t make it. As many of you know, with this many connections, the timing has to be right and it wasn’t today.

So one more night away from home and then we hope and pray everything goes good tomorrow. We are anxiously planning my and Sarah’s return to get Almira. I can’t wait to see her and bring her home.

Thanks again for all the well wishes and prayers.

Pre-Court day

Today was Sunday and we took it nice and easy. We walked to the Iceberg and got some pictures for court developed and then bought some groceries so we could eat lunch at the apartment. We watched the Bridge to Tarabitha and Chronicles of Narnia in Russian this afternoon. Svetlana and Maria came over to discuss court and we feel like we're ready. I've never heard of anyone being turned down, we we are happy about that. Tomorrow will be 3 weeks since we arrived and we have seen Almira every day.

It is going to be hard to leave her, but we know it is for a short time. We will be back before the end of May to bring her home. We have court at 10:AM tomorrow morning which will be 11Pm at home. We hope to be through with court in about one hour. I will try and post to the blog when we are done.

Keep the prayers up. We are almost done here. We are so excited about coming home and seeing Sarah and everyone.

I'll try and post tomorrow before we head out of town. We will fly out of Petro at 5:20 p.m., which will be 6:20 a.m. on Monday morning back home.

Thanks again and talk to you later,
Kathy