Coming home!!!!

We have our date!!!!! We should be home with Alia on Nov 21st! Yipee!!! Let the countdown begin!!!! I'm so excited because we will have her for the holidays! What a very merry Christmas. :) Stay tuned... once we get her home... we'll post some pictures.

:) Steph, Brad, and Alia

Yipee!!! It's tomorrow in Kazakhstan!

Do you know what that means??? It's the 28th in Kaz which is 15 days after court... which means that Alia is legally ours! :) I'm so excited!
I can't wait to have her home! I get very sad when people ask me how she is doing because I have to say that I don't know. I pray each night that she is happy and well taken care of. Soon she will be in my arms...
I'm currently washing all of her little clothes (in my real washing machine... not a plastic bag) and my sister has been painting her room. I can't wait to put it all together and very soon... take her in to see it... her room. :)
I'll keep you posted...
Stephanie

We are home!!!!

We made it! We were able to sleep in our own bed last night... and shower with clean water this morning. There's no place like home!

Our flights were long, but good. No major problems, which is always good.

Thanks to all of you who followed our journey...it's not quite over... can't wait to post the blog that says.... Alia is home with us... to come... soon.

Steph and Brad and Alia

Finally!!! Free Wifi!

We are sitting in the airport... awaiting the first of 2 VERY LONG flights. The good new is.... we are coming home! I love this airport because they have free WIFI... this is the first time that I've been able to get online and it didn't cost me $5 or more per hour! Isn't that ridiculous?! So... please be praying for us... our first flight is 6-7 hours and our 2nd flight is almost 10 hours.... I get a little sick just thinking about it...

I just keep thinking... the next time that I go to bed... it will be my bed. I can do this!

Anyway... better get going... Just wanted to give you the update... next post should be from home... unless another airport has some free Wifi.

Love you all! Can't wait to show you some pictures of our little girl!
Steph and Brad

Yipee!!!!

Hey all!!! Sorry that it’s been a while since our last post. The time here has been crazy and very up and down for the past few days. Are you ready at last for the news? We have made it through court!! All is good. Yipee! Thanks for all of the prayers… we could really feel that you all were praying for us.

It’s been such a roller coaster ride. I can’t tell you how up and down I have felt lately. All in the same day we… went to court and all was fine and then had to say good-bye to our babies. L I was so concerned about court and what might happen that when they said “congratulations”, all I could do was cry. Happy tears of course… very relieved tears.

Then when the time came to say good-bye to my baby girl… I tried so hard not to cry… but when I looked at Tina and she was crying… I gave up. When I took her back to her room and they could see that I was crying, they all assured me that they will take good care of her until the day that she is in my arms again… I know that is true… they are all so wonderful… it’s just that I want to be the one to take care of her now.

Anyway… I had to leave her and the next day here we are in a different city… preparing to come home… finally! Just one more day! Tina and Marilyn will leave in the morning… but we have one more day… I‘m SO jealous!

I can’t tell you how much I am craving… Ranch dressing, Mexican food, a big salad (which if you know me very well, isn’t something that I usually crave), my mom’s homemade noodles (which we will have at Thanksgiving… Alia will be with us and can try them too), a big juicy hamburger, even McDonalds sounds absolutely wonderful!

HEY! WHO TOUCHED THE PLANT?

Ok, so in our last hotel (which by the way… is something else I can’t wait to see… my own house and bed), they had signs posted in several places that stated in several languages… basically…
DO NOT TOUCH THE PLANTS! 5000 TENGE FEE FOR TOUCHING THE PLANTS! That’s nearly $45.00 for touching a plant… and they had video surveillance on the plants… isn’t that funny?!

A story of missing my washing machine…. And water…

So, here is how the story goes for clothes washing. We brought space saver bags in our luggage. We have used duct tape to secure one of the bags completely… we fill it with water, add soap…. Spin cycle (Our hands in circular motion to mix the water and soap), add clothes (only a couple of things at a time), next spin cycle (with our hands and then close bag and shake like crazy!). Then, we remove clothes from bag… and rinse under the muddy water in the shower, and hang up on the hot water heater pipes (helps them to dry faster). It’s craziness, but we refuse to pay the hotel $4 to wash a pair of jeans. Anyway… fun times…
Please continue to pray for the same situation as requested the other day… we still don’t have clarification if court will be as scheduled or not… We’ll keep you posted…
Love you all!
Steph, Brad, and Alia

Prayers...

Sorry it's been a while since we put anything new out here....
We've hit a roadblock(that's how we see it anyway)... It looks huge to both of us families who are here. We know that God knows what is going on and can take care of it... but please be praying for us. It's so easy to get frustrated...

We'll keep you all posted. Thanks for the prayers.

By the way... Alia is still great. A little tummy sick over the weekend, but feeling better now. :)
More soon...

Steph and Brad

How much do you weigh? :)

Ok, first... HAPPY BIRTHDAY CORRIE! Sorry I can't be there for the party...

2nd... Counting down... only 10 more days. Anyone ready to go out for Mexican food with us when we get home??? Don't even mention mashed potatoes or even cheese for a little while (unless it is melted on top of some chips). :) And, NO soup! I need some real food!

Here's a funny story... everyday we ride the elevator in our hotel... It's a small elevator and the 4 of us just barely fit in it... and it's not comfortable. Anyway, last night... we were "going up" and another guy wanted to ride with us. When he got on... a light and little alarm started going off... we were overweight! Can you believe it?! I've NEVER had that happen. :) Too funny! He was a little guy too... he just very quickly exited and said that he would take the next... no problem... in a Russian accent. :) We laughed all the way to our rooms... maybe you had to be there, but I was entertained. Doesn't take much these days...

Hey Jeff... Brad says... "How about them Cubbies?" :) He made me type that!

Ok. More later... love you all!
Steph and Brad

countdown...

So, our countdown has begun... we come home in less than 2 weeks... fun, yet sad...

We have one more visit today and then 2 more days until our official bonding period is complete. We will continue to be able to go visit though. :)
Court is coming up soon... please keep us in your prayers.

We went yesterday and developed some of our photos (which was interesting because the machines look just like Walmart, but are all in Russian... had to go by memory). :) So, we have our first family photos! What if I told you I was holding them up for you to see right now... ;) Sorry... I couldn't pass that up.

Really... we show Alia pictures of our family and friends all the time. She loves to look at pictures. She might be thinking that the pictures look yummy, but... she enjoys it anyway. We go through and tell her everyone's names and how much they love her and can't wait to hold her and spoil her! The funny thing is that Andrew has been given a nickname by the Greshams... he is Uncle DooDoo because the kids have a hard time saying Andrew. Here though.... he is Uncle CahCah (that's how you say it here... in Russian). Are you ready for that Andrew???!!!!

Ok, gotta go!
Steph and Brad and Alia :)