Prolonged labor. T called the ministry yet again, and was told to wait. Yet again.
BTW Does anyone know which agency has been licensed under the new rules by Kaz to handle adoptions in the UK? Someone wrote to us today saying they have been told that all inter-country adoptions are suspended in Kaz. Which is incorrect information. Canada for sure isn't as ours and the Toronto couple's files have been approved, and S's is just pending approval waiting for an updated guardianship letter. Im trying to find a link to a page I saw a few months back that listed the countries and the names of the agencies who had just been approved to conduct adoption related work with Kaz. So, if you know or find out, pls leave us a note so we can help this waiting parent get some correct answers, pls.
Thursday, 31 January 2013
Friday, 25 January 2013
And, still waiting :)
T spoke to the ministry on Wednesday and was assured that they were working on the file. They will invite her to Astana as soon as they have a referral. Since this week is now done, here's hoping we hear something next week perhaps.
In the meanwhile, it gives us time to pack for our move. So excited to be moving to the new house where we will welcome our little one soon!
To Melanie, and all of you lovely ladies who have written to me with tips and words of encouragement, Thank You! :) I will definitely be carrying those zip lock bags, etc along now! :D
Deepak also has admn rights to the blog now so, maybe we will see some posts from him sometime.
In the meanwhile, it gives us time to pack for our move. So excited to be moving to the new house where we will welcome our little one soon!
To Melanie, and all of you lovely ladies who have written to me with tips and words of encouragement, Thank You! :) I will definitely be carrying those zip lock bags, etc along now! :D
Deepak also has admn rights to the blog now so, maybe we will see some posts from him sometime.
Sunday, 20 January 2013
THANK YOU 'Boomerang Kids'-Orleans Branch!
Its been a busy weekend, with the realization of the house sale hitting us finally and other things going on at the side. Time needed to spend with friends for grieving the loss of their loved one to Cancer, celebrating the birthday of another. But today ended on a wonderful note!
I had mentioned in a blog post sometime back that I had sent requests to some stores asking for help with clothes etc that they could possibly donate for the Orphanage/Baby house we will be visiting in Kazakhstan. I had promptly received a reply from 'BOOMERANG KIDS', a consignment store here in Ottawa for children's clothing. They have a very strict policy about the kind and brands they accept and so I thought they would be an ideal place to help us if they agreed to. For eg, they accept/sell brand new/like new kids' clothing from MEXX, Carters, Children's Place, Souris Mini, Baby Gap, and other good stores/designers as well. Today they came through on their promise to help! We were very pleasantly surprised to receive bags full of clothes from them for the baby house, for kids upto 36mnths old. Hundreds of jeans, tops, sleepers etc. THANK YOU SOOO MUCH MARTHA (Orleans Branch Owner) for all those wonderful clothes for the Baby House! I am sure they will be put to more use than they could ever have been in this part of the world.
Now I have the task of going through all the bags and sorting which ones can go there and in which batch and keeping the best stuff for the babies there. And next is the herculean task of raising some funds to pay for the extra baggage fee from Astana to Aktobe on Air Astana once we land there. Till Astana, Air Canada will allow us a total of 5 bags, 2 of which will be our own for our 5-6 week long first stay, since my husband is a Super Elite Aeroplan member so gets extra baggage allowance on AC. However, from Astana to Aktobe, we are only allowed 1 bag each, so for every bag extra we take we will have to pay the extra baggage fee, which I am sure is going to cost us about $150-200 each trip. So, I need to now figure out a way to raise some funds to pay for getting all this stuff there, that BK has been very generous to provide to us for the children there.
I will reach out to friends and family as well. But if anyone reading this blog/having a link to Aktobe with their own adoptions there wants to contribute to that, or for the funds to buy medical or other supplies that they need there, since International adoption has been shut down for 2 yrs now, you can send it through Paypal to me at rasna.arora@sympatico.ca
I will post pictures of the things that money was able to buy there for everyone as well, so you can see the impact made.
We did a fund raising for an Indian Orphanage (GSAM) 2 yrs back like this and were successful in raising about $2200 appx which was a HUGE amount for them and they were able to do a lot for the girls' hostel there.
I had mentioned in a blog post sometime back that I had sent requests to some stores asking for help with clothes etc that they could possibly donate for the Orphanage/Baby house we will be visiting in Kazakhstan. I had promptly received a reply from 'BOOMERANG KIDS', a consignment store here in Ottawa for children's clothing. They have a very strict policy about the kind and brands they accept and so I thought they would be an ideal place to help us if they agreed to. For eg, they accept/sell brand new/like new kids' clothing from MEXX, Carters, Children's Place, Souris Mini, Baby Gap, and other good stores/designers as well. Today they came through on their promise to help! We were very pleasantly surprised to receive bags full of clothes from them for the baby house, for kids upto 36mnths old. Hundreds of jeans, tops, sleepers etc. THANK YOU SOOO MUCH MARTHA (Orleans Branch Owner) for all those wonderful clothes for the Baby House! I am sure they will be put to more use than they could ever have been in this part of the world.
 |
Thanks Boomerang Kids for donating all these clothes! Lots to sort through! Pls help raise some funds to get these to Kaz.  |
Now I have the task of going through all the bags and sorting which ones can go there and in which batch and keeping the best stuff for the babies there. And next is the herculean task of raising some funds to pay for the extra baggage fee from Astana to Aktobe on Air Astana once we land there. Till Astana, Air Canada will allow us a total of 5 bags, 2 of which will be our own for our 5-6 week long first stay, since my husband is a Super Elite Aeroplan member so gets extra baggage allowance on AC. However, from Astana to Aktobe, we are only allowed 1 bag each, so for every bag extra we take we will have to pay the extra baggage fee, which I am sure is going to cost us about $150-200 each trip. So, I need to now figure out a way to raise some funds to pay for getting all this stuff there, that BK has been very generous to provide to us for the children there.
I will reach out to friends and family as well. But if anyone reading this blog/having a link to Aktobe with their own adoptions there wants to contribute to that, or for the funds to buy medical or other supplies that they need there, since International adoption has been shut down for 2 yrs now, you can send it through Paypal to me at rasna.arora@sympatico.ca
I will post pictures of the things that money was able to buy there for everyone as well, so you can see the impact made.
We did a fund raising for an Indian Orphanage (GSAM) 2 yrs back like this and were successful in raising about $2200 appx which was a HUGE amount for them and they were able to do a lot for the girls' hostel there.
Friday, 18 January 2013
House is now SOLD! And Still waiting for the referral.
The House Is Now SOLD!!! Yippeee! Now we prepare to move in 27 days. And in that time, I feel quite confident that we will receive at least the first referral.
It has been a very very stressful past month, with the file going to Kaz, waiting for the response from the ministry there, trying to prepare and then sell out house in the middle of the frigid Canadian winter, the slowest time of the year for real estate. Whew!
Along with all that, a long time friend whose behavior has been a cause of stress for some reasons in these difficult, anxiety filled months. Sadly, have come to the realization that we might have to let this relationship go, if its not working for both of us. One needs to realize, every relation has to be nurtured and taking someone for granted and ignoring how you may be treating them, while expecting them to give you more than you do...eventually will lead to a break up. So, that is not helpful. Did make a last ditch effort to resolve things this week, but from the response...dont know if it will. And frankly, I do not have the energy to give it any more, right now. Its a very stressful time for us, and it is support from ones closest people that you need, not extra stress. So, maybe we'll be successful in fixing it, or maybe we will just part and go our separate ways. We'll see.
On a more positive note, I have made some new friends, like another adoptive mom, Sam*. She is such an awesome person! Adopted 2 kids from Russia and is doing such a wonderful job raising them. I will learn a lot from her, I can tell. I already am, and I enjoy her company. Yesterday she came over for Indian breakfast and enjoyed some 'Alu paranthas' - whole wheat stuffed-with-potato-filling pancakes, served with cardamom chai. We had a lovely time chatting till it was time for her 3.5 yr old daughter to be picked up from playschool.
Also, the buyer's agent, Steph, and I seemed to get along really well while we worked through this sale of our home. Even though she was working for her client, Steph and I developed a good rapport and realized we quite enjoyed each other's company. So, I think I would really like to get to know her better and add her to my friend circle. She seems like such a lovely person.
On the other side of things, we probably have another week to 10 days of wait at least to hear about a possible match for the baby, if there is one right now. If its not the right match for us, we may have to wait some more after. Let's see. L* did ask yesterday though if we were open to accepting a Russian-looking child instead of an Asian looking one. And to clarify 'Asian', it doesn't mean Chinese only-like people in North America believe. :)
Asia is a large continent comprising of many countries like India, Thailand, Sri Lanka, China, etc etc. So, I told Liana, without a blink, of course we would! Our family has no reservations or superstitions about light color eyes, hair etc. L was surprised to hear that, and said she would tell T in Kaz immediately about that as they weren't sure. So, now we may have a blond, blue eyed baby or a brunette, brown eyed one. Ah well! we'll know in a few days, hopefully.
Packing begins in 3...2..1.
It has been a very very stressful past month, with the file going to Kaz, waiting for the response from the ministry there, trying to prepare and then sell out house in the middle of the frigid Canadian winter, the slowest time of the year for real estate. Whew!
Along with all that, a long time friend whose behavior has been a cause of stress for some reasons in these difficult, anxiety filled months. Sadly, have come to the realization that we might have to let this relationship go, if its not working for both of us. One needs to realize, every relation has to be nurtured and taking someone for granted and ignoring how you may be treating them, while expecting them to give you more than you do...eventually will lead to a break up. So, that is not helpful. Did make a last ditch effort to resolve things this week, but from the response...dont know if it will. And frankly, I do not have the energy to give it any more, right now. Its a very stressful time for us, and it is support from ones closest people that you need, not extra stress. So, maybe we'll be successful in fixing it, or maybe we will just part and go our separate ways. We'll see.
On a more positive note, I have made some new friends, like another adoptive mom, Sam*. She is such an awesome person! Adopted 2 kids from Russia and is doing such a wonderful job raising them. I will learn a lot from her, I can tell. I already am, and I enjoy her company. Yesterday she came over for Indian breakfast and enjoyed some 'Alu paranthas' - whole wheat stuffed-with-potato-filling pancakes, served with cardamom chai. We had a lovely time chatting till it was time for her 3.5 yr old daughter to be picked up from playschool.
Also, the buyer's agent, Steph, and I seemed to get along really well while we worked through this sale of our home. Even though she was working for her client, Steph and I developed a good rapport and realized we quite enjoyed each other's company. So, I think I would really like to get to know her better and add her to my friend circle. She seems like such a lovely person.
On the other side of things, we probably have another week to 10 days of wait at least to hear about a possible match for the baby, if there is one right now. If its not the right match for us, we may have to wait some more after. Let's see. L* did ask yesterday though if we were open to accepting a Russian-looking child instead of an Asian looking one. And to clarify 'Asian', it doesn't mean Chinese only-like people in North America believe. :)
Asia is a large continent comprising of many countries like India, Thailand, Sri Lanka, China, etc etc. So, I told Liana, without a blink, of course we would! Our family has no reservations or superstitions about light color eyes, hair etc. L was surprised to hear that, and said she would tell T in Kaz immediately about that as they weren't sure. So, now we may have a blond, blue eyed baby or a brunette, brown eyed one. Ah well! we'll know in a few days, hopefully.
Packing begins in 3...2..1.
Saturday, 12 January 2013
Offer accepted! House is now conditionally SOLD! And 2108 page views on the Blog thus far.
The header says it all :)
Yesterday was quite a good day. First the news about the ministry meeting going well. Then got a call saying Patricia would like to come in for a third showing for the house. No worries, prepped the house got it ready. I really liked this lady. Gorgeous, and a sense of calm in her aura. Even her agent, Stephanie.... I felt comfortable from the get go. So, even though last week P was unsure about the big change with moving to the burbs and had told me that they were going to pass on the house. I am glad, I wrote to Steph and told her to let P not feel any pressure. She was welcome to come back again that weekend and have a look again and get a feel of the home. Which she did. And then after a week of thinking-yesterday's phone call!
Anyways, coming to the point, at the last min Steph called and said P wont be coming in after all.... cause Steph was coming to put in an offer for her! It was fated to be! Even though there is some inconvenience with us having to move in the next 33 days as they needed a closing date of 15th Feb, this felt right somehow. They are also starting afresh, a new chapter in their life and so are we.
Another sign...? How about this. exactly 8 yrs back on 15th Feb 2005, we moved into this current home. :) When the universe gives you a sign, you must not ignore it. :)
So, the house is now conditionally sold (waived by Tuesday hopefully after the inspection) and we must now start packing, preparing for the move while we also wait for our referral and prepare for that as soon as that ball starts rolling. This winter is going to whiz past, hopefully!
Yesterday was quite a good day. First the news about the ministry meeting going well. Then got a call saying Patricia would like to come in for a third showing for the house. No worries, prepped the house got it ready. I really liked this lady. Gorgeous, and a sense of calm in her aura. Even her agent, Stephanie.... I felt comfortable from the get go. So, even though last week P was unsure about the big change with moving to the burbs and had told me that they were going to pass on the house. I am glad, I wrote to Steph and told her to let P not feel any pressure. She was welcome to come back again that weekend and have a look again and get a feel of the home. Which she did. And then after a week of thinking-yesterday's phone call!
Anyways, coming to the point, at the last min Steph called and said P wont be coming in after all.... cause Steph was coming to put in an offer for her! It was fated to be! Even though there is some inconvenience with us having to move in the next 33 days as they needed a closing date of 15th Feb, this felt right somehow. They are also starting afresh, a new chapter in their life and so are we.
Another sign...? How about this. exactly 8 yrs back on 15th Feb 2005, we moved into this current home. :) When the universe gives you a sign, you must not ignore it. :)
So, the house is now conditionally sold (waived by Tuesday hopefully after the inspection) and we must now start packing, preparing for the move while we also wait for our referral and prepare for that as soon as that ball starts rolling. This winter is going to whiz past, hopefully!
Friday, 11 January 2013
Ministry meeting outcome AND and offer on the house!
Sleepless nights all this week. Good part (good? hmm maybe) is that I was introduced to and am now hooked on to Keeping up with the Kardashians which comes on E! 71 channel on Rogers from 1am to 3am. Yes AM. :D
So, after all the umming and aahing from the ministry about wanting things in a particular kind of folder, Tanya took a 1000 folders to them to let them take their pick! :D Smart girl. Jokes apart, Liana called this morning and said everything went well at the ministry, they liked what they saw and heard and have accepted the file. The not so good news - for now - is that they don't have a match on their govt database for us. But that's not a big worry as their systems are not regularly updated. And the site we were looking at has children that are only available for Kazakh citizens. :(
T will now head back to Aktobe by train, set up a meeting with the Baby house and together they will search their database for available children.
The good thing is that
1) our file was accepted and no issues or more documents etc needed for now.
2) they did not try and force referrals of children they knew were not the right match for the parents in question and vice-versa of course.
I feel better knowing that they have the interest of both sides at heart and are all working together towards bringing together families.
So, now, we leave it to fate and ..... wait. :D
On the House front: Looks like its a good day! We received an offer on our house! Should be all finalsied tomorrow. So double good news today-after dayssss of waiting and waiting and trying our best. Susan Miller-You were so right yet again! New Moon-Woohoo!!!
So, after all the umming and aahing from the ministry about wanting things in a particular kind of folder, Tanya took a 1000 folders to them to let them take their pick! :D Smart girl. Jokes apart, Liana called this morning and said everything went well at the ministry, they liked what they saw and heard and have accepted the file. The not so good news - for now - is that they don't have a match on their govt database for us. But that's not a big worry as their systems are not regularly updated. And the site we were looking at has children that are only available for Kazakh citizens. :(
T will now head back to Aktobe by train, set up a meeting with the Baby house and together they will search their database for available children.
The good thing is that
1) our file was accepted and no issues or more documents etc needed for now.
2) they did not try and force referrals of children they knew were not the right match for the parents in question and vice-versa of course.
I feel better knowing that they have the interest of both sides at heart and are all working together towards bringing together families.
So, now, we leave it to fate and ..... wait. :D
On the House front: Looks like its a good day! We received an offer on our house! Should be all finalsied tomorrow. So double good news today-after dayssss of waiting and waiting and trying our best. Susan Miller-You were so right yet again! New Moon-Woohoo!!!
Thursday, 10 January 2013
Still waiting...
T has been asked to go back to the ministry yet again. No concerns or anything to be worried about though. They just want certain type of file holders, they decided to standardize
everything. She is not concerned, she says they are not trying to be
difficult or anything, just implementing new standards.
I'm sure people going after the first few of us will not have these delays as the standards will be known and set by then. Pioneering pains? ;)
I'm sure people going after the first few of us will not have these delays as the standards will be known and set by then. Pioneering pains? ;)
Wednesday, 9 January 2013
Quick Update. Ministry meeting rescheduled
So, T went to the ministry in Astana as planned, on Tuesday, but for some reason she was asked to reschedule it and go tomorrow instead. So now the meeting is on 10th Jan, tomorrow.
The wait and sleepless nights continue...
I must give a lot of credit to Liana, for her patience with my 1000 questions and my anxiety at this time. I don't know how she does what she does, but hats off to her. She is awesome!
http://www.adoption-horizons-kazakhstan.com/ this is our agency, and Liana our amazing, super nice and helpful coordinator.
Also, yesterday, Michel, the coordinator of the Canadian Yahoo Group of Kaz families started a very useful and good chain of emails where everyone in the group is introducing themselves, where they adopted from, with suggestions/tips that will be very helpful to us newbies in the process. Connecting with moms through this interaction is wonderful and will probably lead to some lifelong relationships in the future I think, if we meet.
The wait and sleepless nights continue...
I must give a lot of credit to Liana, for her patience with my 1000 questions and my anxiety at this time. I don't know how she does what she does, but hats off to her. She is awesome!
http://www.adoption-horizons-kazakhstan.com/ this is our agency, and Liana our amazing, super nice and helpful coordinator.
Also, yesterday, Michel, the coordinator of the Canadian Yahoo Group of Kaz families started a very useful and good chain of emails where everyone in the group is introducing themselves, where they adopted from, with suggestions/tips that will be very helpful to us newbies in the process. Connecting with moms through this interaction is wonderful and will probably lead to some lifelong relationships in the future I think, if we meet.
Monday, 7 January 2013
Other mommies in waiting
From the emails I have received this weekend, it seems that with the holidays a few more dossiers are being presented/discussed at the Ministry this week (Starting tomorrow, as its the 1st business day of the year). We'll all be the first ones going through this, so its good to know that we're all together in a way, in this. :) Also, was very glad to find out that another PAP, from Toronto, from our agency has their file being presented tomorrow as well! Which means, that in all likelihood, as long as there is a match for both of us, we might travel around the same time! I think that's wonderful. 2 Canadian Couples going through the same thing, same process and fears and excitement. Another Canadian parent-to-be from Quebec is also at the same stage as us, so that's 3 Canadian families about to receive the best news of their life in the next few days. Fingers crossed.
And since our home has not yet sold, Im not at all sorry that our file didnt get discussed at the Ministry in December when it was sent there. Gives us time to wrap up things here and be ready for our trip to meet babykins. :)
So, best of luck and good wishes to all of us this week!
Anyone else reading this blog from another country also at the same stage as us? Would love to hear from you.
Also, just joined a FB group called Aktobe Families! What a wonderful find! Am reading all the wonderful blogs and getting tips that will help us on our upcoming trip. The world is surely a much smaller place thanks to the net and thanks to FB!
Had a looong Skype call with my Mom and Dad in India, to shortlist names. As I said, we have one selected if its a boy, so had to shortlist a name for girls from a list of 10 favourite names. So many more choices for girls! At least we got it down to our top 4 names.
In the meantime if someone knows if Aktobe has any Indian stores or any stores that may sell lentils and indian spices that I dont have to carry from here for our long trip, that would be great!
And since our home has not yet sold, Im not at all sorry that our file didnt get discussed at the Ministry in December when it was sent there. Gives us time to wrap up things here and be ready for our trip to meet babykins. :)
So, best of luck and good wishes to all of us this week!
Anyone else reading this blog from another country also at the same stage as us? Would love to hear from you.
Also, just joined a FB group called Aktobe Families! What a wonderful find! Am reading all the wonderful blogs and getting tips that will help us on our upcoming trip. The world is surely a much smaller place thanks to the net and thanks to FB!
Had a looong Skype call with my Mom and Dad in India, to shortlist names. As I said, we have one selected if its a boy, so had to shortlist a name for girls from a list of 10 favourite names. So many more choices for girls! At least we got it down to our top 4 names.
Many Kazakh names have similarities to Hindi/Urdu due to the Muslim/Turkic influence. So words like gul (flower), aina (mirror), sultanat (kingdom), anar (pomegranate) and many more words are the same words we use in India as well due to the Mughals being part of our history. Babar, the first Mughal ruler of India was a descendent of Ghengis/Chingez Khan. So, as you can see, there are many cross overs in history between Kaz and Indian history and culture.
In the meantime if someone knows if Aktobe has any Indian stores or any stores that may sell lentils and indian spices that I dont have to carry from here for our long trip, that would be great!
Saturday, 5 January 2013
Meeting date in Astana
Our in-country co-coordinator will be meeting the Ministry people about our file on 8th Jan 2013 (Tuesday), which is in 3 days. Dare we hope!? Fingers crossed. It is the 1st working day of the year after a week long Holiday, so it is nice to know that T is on top of things.
The search for names continues. Anyone with suggestions for names that have an apt/nice meaning, esp something like: loved, wished for, hope, happy, beautiful etc are welcome to send in their suggestions pls. In any language, from all over the world. We have a name if its a boy, so girl names are invited. :)
A muslim born child (strong possibility if matching is done based on our Asian heritage as we said we're more than ok with a mixed race child) coming into a Hindu father and Sikh mother's life in multicultural but largely Christian Canada...Now how's that for diverse upbringing. ;) There are going to be lots of festivals from all religions being celebrated in our home, as always have been.
I am wondering if this blog should go private after the ministry meeting, till the process is completed. Just to avoid any complications that may arise if left open while we are in the process.
Parents who've gone through this, your advice?
The search for names continues. Anyone with suggestions for names that have an apt/nice meaning, esp something like: loved, wished for, hope, happy, beautiful etc are welcome to send in their suggestions pls. In any language, from all over the world. We have a name if its a boy, so girl names are invited. :)
A muslim born child (strong possibility if matching is done based on our Asian heritage as we said we're more than ok with a mixed race child) coming into a Hindu father and Sikh mother's life in multicultural but largely Christian Canada...Now how's that for diverse upbringing. ;) There are going to be lots of festivals from all religions being celebrated in our home, as always have been.
I am wondering if this blog should go private after the ministry meeting, till the process is completed. Just to avoid any complications that may arise if left open while we are in the process.
Parents who've gone through this, your advice?
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