Brown eyes, bowed lips and beautiful curls!

Here is a little treat for working through the blog invite...

Introducing Little Miss

Nina Bea Printy

This is the "referral" picture of the beautiful baby girl we are traveling to meet. She is described as healthy, a girly girl and very shy. Our agency director told me "Lori she warms up slowly...she opens like a flower". Her given Russian name is Nina which as you can see we have decided to keep and Bea is for Dart's grandmother. We believe she just turned 22 months old. Her sad little face breaks my heart. I can't wait to see her smile, (I plan to spend a lifetime making sure she does).

We've had information on her since we accepted the offer to travel but didn't want to post too much until the blog was private.

I actually received this picture by email while I was at work. I was on a conference call and saw the email from my agency. I couldn't get off the phone so I quickly sent a text to Dart, "don't open the picture!" I wrote. I really wanted us to see it together. About ten minutes later I got off the phone, grabbed my keys and literally ran out the door. Once I got to the house we opened the email together. The boys were already home from school and Aidan broke out the video camera to catch our reactions. I have to admit I was surprised (pleasantly so) when I first opened the email and saw her, my daughter, for the first time. Wow, gorgeous but what is this little brown eyed beauty doing in blond and blue-eyed Ust! To me she looks like she could be a little Portuguese girl like me :)! I feel it is a sign - meant to be....meant to be mine.

Since then I've carried her picture with me everywhere. Each time I look at it she grows more and more adorable. Her face is becoming familiar and I feel attached in a way I did not think possible. I am worried almost constantly that we will not get to Ust in time to adopt her. Since there are no true referrals in Kaz we need to be there in person to initiate the adoption.

And so as we prepare to leave for Kazakhstan, I am trying to maintain some reserve, somehow emotionally protect myself, but really it is too late. I am already hopelessly, happily, forever in love.

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Jenkins family - "finally four", please contact me with your email address. I want to send you an invite.

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Ain't no stoppin' us now

We got our Visa's today thanks to the intervention of Assistant Stork. No more hurdles, hoops or hullabaloo we are really really going. This was the last big stressor before we travel and I feel such relief to have it done and over with. Of course there is still lots to do before Saturday but all of it is within our control and managable.

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One little thing....

Here Visa, Visa, Visa. Come to mama little Visa!

Can you tell the last thing we need to travel????? I am starting to panic.

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Last Big Packing Weekend

This has been a ridiculous week. True to form and right on cue, my work life is spiraling out of control with marathon meetings, urgent projects, crisis, and more drama than ever. The week was capped off late in the day Friday when I found out I needed to fly to Chicago on Monday, (like I have time for this). Oh well, Murphy's Law.

I did escape for a half hour to buy my little darling's "debut outfit", (wait until you see it so cute-so girly). And we have been slowly but surely making piles of stuff to pack. The unpainted, unfinished nursery is now our Kaz staging ground. Hopefully today the bags will be packed except for the last minute additions. (of course Nolan has 2 hockey game today-in two cities-so we shall see)

The last minute paperwork, fingerprinting, apostiling is complete and this weekend I plan to scan every bit of paper work onto my laptop with a copy of our file on a flash drive. The originals will be hand carried by me like it IS our baby! The only big thing we still need is our Visa's. I am starting to get a little nervous about this but I'm not going to panic yet. What else is left; find lots of crisp bills, pick up a few more gifts, pay all household bills ahead of time, grandparent training :), meetings with teachers, add Gramma as a signer on our checking account, meet with trainer to set up Kaz exercise program, and mostly squeeze a bazillion extra hugs out of the boys!

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Going Private

Right now things are getting too real and there is way too much at risk so I have decided to make my blog private. I feel like so many of you have become friends and I want to take you along on this wonderful ride. Trust me based on what I know and what I've seen you won't be disappointed :). I ask that you leave your email address in the comment field if you would like an invite.



TO MY FAMILY YOU TOO NEED TO LIST YOUR EMAIL IN THE COMMENTS. I know I have them already but I want to make sure you actually can leave a comment.

I will make this blog private on Friday October 31, 2008.

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THE 10 THINGS I LOVE ABOUT YOU

1. baby girl


2. healthy


3. Russian


4. "older than 18 months but less than 24"


5. shy


6. brown eyes


7. curly hair


8. olive complexion


9. "warms up slowly"


10. "opens like a flower"

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Homecoming Weekend

As we prepare to welcome our 1st daughter our 1st son was keeping us busy this weekend. Kiefer is a senior and Saturday night was Homecoming. (Kiefer is the one with the scruff on his face! Cute kid huh!)

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One Day at a Time

No big news, changes or problems to report. We are feeling a little overwhelmed with all that has to happen in the next 2 weeks. I haven't really slept in a few days. My mind just won't turn off I guess. I've popped some Ambien but even that hasn't worked. Also somehow I 've lost 7 pounds in less than a week, (one of the good things that happens to me when I'm stressed).

We booked our flights for the first trip. We are traveling thru Frankfurt and since there is a pretty long layover there we booked a day room at the Sheraton right on the airport. It think it will be worth it if we can catch a few hours of rest and a shower.

Our Visa applications arrived at the Embassy today and hopefully we will have them back next week. Today Dart, contacted the bank and credit card companies, got our updated medical forms, sent our marriage certs to New York to be Apostilled, and certified a bunch of other documents (also stored the boat, convertible and motorcycles-thanks honey!). Tomorrow we will go to Cleveland in the morning to be re fingerprinted for our I171h and then to Columbus to have everything Apostilled. I keep wondering how I seem to be so unprepared? Must have been all that time blogging!

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Busy Busy Crazy Nuts

LOI...check

Apply for Visas...check

Book Flights...check

Update Fingerprints...check

It's been a very busy 24 hours. We now know that we will leave Cleveland on November 1st, Arrive in Ust-Kamenogorsk on November 3rd. That should be the day we meet our baby girl. Our return flight is booked for December 7th. My goodness it is a long time. I don't know how I am going to make it without the boys for so long. Maybe some fellow guests at the Shiny River could run and yell and maybe break a lamp or something so I can feel at home.

I don't even know how I'm going to tell my little Nolan that we won't be home for his birthday. He has been so worried about that. I promise to make it up to him. He is such a sweet boy. Last night when I was tucking him in for bed he said "Mommy can I be the first one to hold the baby?" "Yes of course" I answered. Relived, Nolan sighed "good, cause I've never been a big brother before and I want her to like me the best."

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We are going to Kazakhstan!!!!!!!!!

We just got our confirmation. There is a baby girl for us. It looks like we will have our LOI by tomorrow. We will need to be in Kazakhstan by November 1 or 3 (not sure yet). There is a chance we will be home by Christmas with our daughter!

Right now I am trying to focus on what needs to happen before we travel, which is near impossible because my head is absolutely spinning.

I want to head to rooftop and yell "We're going to Kazakhstan!"

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The adoption rollercoaster makes the Dow Jones seem smooth

All right my friends here we go again. You know what I'm talking about. We got a call a couple of hours ago from our agency. It was a very very exciting call. We will have more concrete information on Monday and I promise to post as soon as we do. Sorry to be a tease but I couldn't resist memorializing the moment here in the blogosphere. Keep your fingers crossed we need a little luck.

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No news is no news

Not much to report on the adoption front. I am in a bit of a let down period I guess. We had been mentally preparing to travel in November and now that we know we won't be going this year I've lost a little steam. Anticipation is a wonderful emotion but it is exhausting too. It is impossible (for me anyway) to keep up the pace when Kazakhstan is still so far away. So I feel more relaxed, I am settled in for the wait.

Of course I don't want you to read too much into that. I remain hopeful and excited. It is not likely this will effect my baby shopping compulsion (although Anne may be planing an intervention for me!) Regarding the ridiculous amount of clothes I have accumulated first let me say; it's been two very long years of waiting already, everything (well almost) was on sale, hopefully I'll have 2 shots at getting seasons and sizes to jive, anything I don't/can't use will be donated to a good cause. Second, as a woman who quite literally owns greater than 35 pair of black shoes (yes that's just the black shoes), I think I've been pretty darned restrained.(How's that for a rationalization!)

BTW: I can now do leg squats holding a 120 pound weight bar....I do not understand why I want to do leg squats holding a 120 pound weight bar....did I mention my trainer has blue eyes?

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The crib is here

We put the crib together. I couldn't wait for the room to be finished. We still have to paint, pick coordinating fabrics for windows and the glider etc but doesn't it look so sweet and girly?!!!! The dresses hanging on the crib are monogrammed with the girls names. But that's not all they have to wear...check out this closet! Baby, baby get here quick, mama's running out of closet space!

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Dear Cosmo, I never thought it would happen to me...

OK we've all heard about the stereotypical middle age housewife falling for her young muscle bound personal trainer....well HELLO, no kidding. Tonight my back was hurting so Brad Pitt (ok not his real name but hey this is my fantasy!) decided I needed to stretch. What I didn't realize is this was a two person job. Holy ta-moly I've been married almost 20 years and this was the closest thing to a wild affair I've ever had. Of course in true type A form I couldn't really enjoy myself. As I lay on my back with my trainers big strong hands wrapped around my calf ... as he pushed his weight firmly against my leg...all I could think was....Did I shave my legs today????

(Don't worry, I will delete this entry from my baby's life book!)

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