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.

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!