Being Back & Flight Plans

Hello! It's good to be home! It took us a few days to get back in the swing of things. We are back to work and we are all happy to be back to normal. BUT we have to leave again in a couple of weeks. We were contemplating on whether I (Dotty) should go back by myself or if we should go all together and forget about the downside. We received a flight itinerary a couple of days ago but it is a lot more $$ than our first trip and I questioned why it was so much compared to the first trip and the international travel agent said that we couldn't get humanitarian fees for adoption....which is not right! They should see the kids in the orphanages there and reconsider what they consider humanitarian. Every part of this process seems like a money making scheme and it's a shame. Anyway, I will check with another travel agent or call the airlines directly to see what they can do. We want to leave around the 20th of this month and we'll have to stay there a couple of weeks. We can take him out of the orphanage after a couple of days there and he will stay with us in the apartment then we go off to Almaty where the U.S. Embassy is. Keep us in your prayers that he will cope well. I hope it's nottoo traumatic for him.......... also keep me in your prayers that I will get all my homework done for school including a 10-12 page paper and presentation before next Wed.! ...can't wait to get back to normal!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Home Sweet Home

Hello! We finally made it home after a couple of days of traveling. We arrived late Friday night and were welcomed home with balloons and flowers from Haley and my sister Karen and her family! They surprised us by picking up our dogs from the kennel also. We were planning on getting them on Saturday. Our refrigerator was packed with food from Chris and Sue (my sister-in-laws) which was great!!!

We miss and love Oscar a lot. Although we dread the long trips, we cannot wait to get him home and get back to our regular lives. We don't worry about him there except for the fact that we think he needs more individualized attention than the other older kids which they can't give him. The caregivers do their best though.

Our heads are still cloudy and I (Dotty) have been sick since before we left Ust. We had flights to Almaty (2 hours), to London (10 hours) , to Chicago (8 hours), 3 hour layover then to Boston (2 hrs) The flights were painfully long and tiring but they got us home. The first itinerary we had was better and shorter. Tomorrow, we go back to work and now have to complete more paperwork with our agency before the second trip in a few weeks.

It is soooooooo nice to be back home. There are too many things to list that we are so much more appreciative of with being home.... sweet Haley and the dogs, the color of the trees and flowers, the (nice, intact) houses and buildings, smooth clean roads, seeing smiles, happiness and open friendliness with the public, the English language, signs in English writing, drinking and brushing your teeth with the water from the facet, a good shower, walking outside without big, locked steel doors and dirty hallways and elevator (if working), the local newspaper, not having to use an adapter, not worrying about time on the phone and a fast, FAST computer, etc., etc., etc.... so nice....

The picture of Oscar is of our last visit with him. The mountain range picture (yes, it's real) is from the airport in Almaty, Kazakhstan, the main city, which is a two hour flight from Ust-Kamenogorsk.