Where to begin?

Joe and I started the adoption process last May. While simultaneously researching adoption agencies and countries, we found an American social worker here in Amsterdam that would do our homestudy. Our homestudy was completed in July of 2005 and at about the same time, we chose to adopt from Kazakhstan with Reaching Out Thru International Adoption (ROTIA) as our agency. We spent the next several months chasing documents around the globe, from California to Germany (OK, so not completely around the globe). Because we live overseas, the process at times was more difficult but in the end, we always managed to find a solution (with the help of our agency, of course).

By September 2005, we were finished getting all of our documents together when we found out from ROTIA that the Kazakh officials were making changes to the process and needed more information. We finally received what the changes were in November 2005 and started anew the paperchase. Luckily, there were only a few changes that need to be made and we were able to get the paperwork done by the end of November. And then the wait while our paperwork is reviewed, translated, collated, and ready to be submitted to the Kazakhstan Embassy in D.C. Our dossier was submitted to the Embassy on February 12, 2006. On March 24th we received the good news from Don at ROTIA that our dossier made it to Kazakhstan for review and that we should anticipate to travel mid-late April! We are very excited as we prepare for the addition to our family!! Speaking of our family, I couldn't resist including a picture of Sammy and Charlie. Aren't they just so cute?!