No News is NOT good news!!!

This is one case where no news is definitely NOT good news! We are still waiting.

The next news (well good news) will hopefully be our referral. For those not too familiar with international adoption, a "referral" is when you find out about the child you will be able to adopt. They usually send a picture along with some medical information about the child. After you accept your referral, (with Kazakhstan, you can decide to not accept a referral and wait for another referral if you don't feel comfortable with the child that they have chosen for you) you wait for your travel dates. Then, of course, you travel to Kazakhstan to meet your child.

In Kazakhstan there is a mandatory 2 week bonding period, where you visit your baby every day at the orphanage (called "baby house" in Kazakhstan). After the 2 week bonding period is over, you apply for a court hearing which takes place about a week after the bonding period ends. Assuming the adoption is granted in Court, and we will assume that because anything else would freak me out...then there is a 2 week appeal period. We will be coming back home after the Court date. After the 2 week appeal period, the adoption is finalized (YIPPPEEEEE)and we travel back to Kazakhstan to pick up our daughter and bring her home (Double YIPPPPEEEE)!!!! You usually travel back 2-4 weeks later. Alexandria will be traveling with us on the 2nd trip to pick up her sister. I really have my hopes up that we will be able to do all of this before Christmas. I don't know if I am being realistic or if it's just wishful thinking at this point, but I can't help myself! It would be the best Christmas present ever!!!!!

The People of Kazakhstan

Since our daughter will be from Kazakhstan, I would like to learn as much as I can about the place where she was born. From time to time, I will post certain tidbits of information that I hope will be interesting so that all of you can also learn a little bit about our daughter's birth country.

The lessons begin today!!! I obtained the info below from the U.S. Department of State Website.

The People of Kazakhstan

The majority of Kazakhstanis are ethnic Kazakh; other ethnic groups include Russian, Ukrainian, Uzbek, German, and Uyghur. Religions are Sunni Muslim, Russian Orthodox, Protestant, and other.

Language: Kazakhstan is a bilingual country. The Kazakh language has the status of the "state" language, while Russian is declared the "official" language. Russian is used routinely in business; 64.4% of the population speaks the Kazakh language.

Education is universal and mandatory through the secondary level, and the literacy rate is 98.4%.

Spelling of Kazakhstan

A couple of posts ago I wondered, outloud to you all, why on the Map of Kazakhstan that I downloaded Kazakhstan was spelled without the "h". I received the response from one of my online friends and adoptive dad, Robertson! He and his wife, Michelle, recently adopted a gorgeous baby girl from Kazakhstan. This is what he had to say:

"Spelling Kazakhstan without the 'h' will be the first of many weird spellings you encounter! Kaz used the Arabic writing system until the 1917 revolution, and then started using Cyrillic. Now they're looking at switching to a Roman alphabet similar to one used in Turkey. English translated spelling is gonna suffer along the way!"

Thank you, Robertson, for educating us all ... I have a lot to learn about Kazakhstan!