One step closer...

Our dossier is on its way to Kazakhstan! We got the call from our coordinator this morning. It left New York last Wednesday according to the tracking info. Of course, I will be watching everyday to see when it actually gets delivered in country this week. We are so excited! This is a wonderful Mother's Day gift. The waiting has been excruciating, but now we are on the move again.

The rest of the process looks like this:

*Delivered to Astana at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs this week. Approval here could take a few weeks or a couple of months depending upon the caseload there.

*Delivered to Ministry of Education. Here we will be assigned to a region for travel in Kazakhstan.

*Letter of Invitation. This is when we get our dates for travel, scramble to get plane tickets, and pack.

*Leave for the trip of a lifetime. YAY!!!!

At this point, I would estimate our travels will happen in the fall. We originally thought that we would be traveling over the summer. However, the suspension (although it was lifted quickly) set us back a couple of months.

This July will mark one year since we officially began this process. We dropped the application into the mailbox on July 6, 2007. I still hope, against all odds, that we will be in that final phase of waiting for our LOI when we get to the one year point.

Hope is a powerful emotion. Somehow it manages to stay alive throughout years of doubt and disappointment. There have been times when we have just walked through time, as shells of ourselves, putting one foot in front of the other and just getting by. Now as we move closer to becoming a family of three, hope is blooming again.

My sister gave me a card for Mother's Day that put it together perfectly:

"Your Already a Mom in Your Heart"

There's a miracle happening in your heart. Beyond the excitement and anticipation, already there's a love between you and your child that's unlike any other love. It's a love that will be yours forever. And there are so many more miracles yet to come.

I pray that this will be our last Mother's (& Father's) Day as "soon-to-be parents." Personally, I have never wanted anything more.