Dossier suspension...LIFTED!!!

This was the title of the email that we received last Tuesday from our coordinator. I couldn't believe it! Could it really be over that quickly?? JCICS posted the following, "Joint Council is pleased to report that at the conclusion of the meeting, the Ambassador confirmed that the temporary suspension of dossier processing by the Embassy is lifted and dossier’s meeting all necessary criteria will be processed." If you want to read the complete announcement, just click on the link below.

http://www.jcics.org/Kazakhstan.htm

Needless to say, we are extremely happy with the timely resolution of the suspension. Our dossier will be back in the hands of a consular official this week! Our original submission date was February 5, 2008. We've been told that the Consulate will honor this original date, and provide a quick approval upon review of our documents. However, we are reluctant to believe it will move through smoothly. Can you blame us? Anyone who knows us surely understands that the road to parenthood has been anything but smooth. In fact, between the losses through miscarriage and the scare this past week, we are still quite hesitant with our emotions. But, we will let go, just for one moment, and say, "YAY, YAY, YAY!!!" It has been a long week, but it could have turned out so much worse.

Again, thank you bunches to our family. You've stayed positive and supportive. It was clear that you all would have done anything to help us through, and it meant a lot to us.

I told Buz, just after we read the announcement, "I am going to sit on the floor in the middle of Justin's room and take a deep breath. I am going to open his closet, look at his clothes, and allow myself to imagine again. I am going to smile again every time I walk by and peek into his room. I am going to go though all of the gifts from our shower, and remember all of the special details of that day." This is going to happen!

On that note, I will be entering another post surrounding the baby shower. It was so amazing, and it is wonderful to be able to sit back and savor those memories now without the bitter taste of doubt. I am waiting for the pics, and will write it up when I receive that disc.

Once more...YAY!

Sad news to report...

Sad, disappointed, angry, confused...none of these adjectives do justice to describe just how we are feeling today. On Tuesday, we received a phone call from our coordinator. She said, "I have some disappointing news for you regarding delays at the Consulate." My stomach dropped, and I sat down. She went on to explain that a consular official had confirmed with our agency their intentions to temporarily suspend the processing and forwarding of dossiers to Kazakhstan. They gave no reasons or time frame for a possible lift of this suspension. Later, the Department of State issued the following official statement:

"The Department of State has been informed that the Embassy of Kazakhstan is conducting a review of current procedures regarding inter country adoptions. The Embassy will not process new adoption dossiers until that review is completed. We have offered to assist the Embassy with its efforts to ensure that adoptions from Kazakhstan to the United States are conducted in a transparent, serious and honest process. It is not known at this time how long this review will require."

Needless to say, we were devastated. She sent us the following link on Thursday: "Yesterday I listened to a radio talk show that discussed the latest information known on what is going with the process of adoptions Kazakhstan. Please feel free to log onto the Internet at the link below and list yourself (discussion is the first ½ of the show To listen to the show go to the radio page and click play."
http://www.findingyourchild.com/index.php?content=radio_show
Go to archives and click on Adoption 101

The one piece of info that we do know, is that a new Kazakh/US Ambassador is at the embassy conducting this "review." We do not know what specifically he is looking for or why this came about. We can only hope that this will happen quickly, allowing the consulate to reopen for good.

We are numb. Our dossier was supposed to be in country at this point! It is Friday, and we have no news...just speculation. This is excruciating. I was hoping to have a conversation with our coordinator today. Unfortunately, she never called.

We have waited so long, and this news brings up those feelings of loss all over again. I'm sure that there are many other couples wading through the same issues right now. We're so sorry for all of you. We just keep moving to keep the pain and doubt at bay.

We hope to have some positive news to share next week.

Of course, I will be posting an entry and pics about our baby shower. I just need a little time to process this chaos and get my mind in a better place.

Thanks to our family for your love, prayers, and support.

Emotional exhaustion...

I'm struggling to come up with a title for this post. Two events have happened over the past week, and the emotions surrounding these are polar opposites. First, my family threw us an amazing shower last Saturday. Then, on Tuesday, we got the disappointing news that Kazakhstan is temporarily suspending the processing of dossiers from the US. I think the best way to handle this is to write up two posts. The following will address these separately.