До свидания KA3AKCTAH!

That is read "Do svidaniya Kazakhstan" which means "Goodbye Kazakhstan!"

Our last day in Kazakhstan. It is hard to believe that we are truly heading home. It is 7:30pm for us (9:30am for those back at home) and we are pretty much packed and ready to go, but we don’t leave for the airport for another 5 hours. Our flight out of Almaty leaves at 3:15am and we’ll be on our way home for the next 27 or so hours after that.

Today, we had our last hurdle. Our meeting at the US Embassy couldn’t have been easier. It was really just a matter of receiving some paperwork that we will hand over in Washington DC and filling out and signing a few forms. The guy helping us was super nice and got us out of there in 15 minutes. We saw another adopting family in the waiting room and they were there by themselves, no interpreter, no coordinator, no driver, no one at all. They were a little clueless about what they should do, so Kate helped them out and told them what forms needed to be filled out and what window to go to, etc. It made us very happy to have Kate walking us through it. She was actually kind of ticked off that any agency would send their families to the Embassy unaccompanied.

Most of our day was spent packing and getting things in the apartment back in order. We met the Joneses for one last dinner together before we left the country. We will miss them as we have Jonathan and Shannon. They were very nice and showed up with a bag full of snacks for Max to enjoy on the planes (variety IS the spice of life). We also made a quick stop at the UYM mall to get the Russian stacking doll souvenir that we had our eye on the other day.

As our adoption journey comes nearer the end, we would like to thank (here on the blog) our Little Miracles adoption coordinator Andrea. She has been and continues to be a great source of support for us. Without her assistance, we would not have Max and we owe her a world of gratitude.

And to everyone back home, see you soon!

p.s...Mom and Dad, I have attempted to email you both several times, but apparently they are not getting through. Please give Barb a call and talk to her about some details.