All of the Hats are off to Kasakhstan

Here is an email I received from our customer who requested all of the baby hats for the orphans in Kasakhstan. It's so exciting and wonderful to see where your donations will land. Thanks to everyone who participated and donated to this very worthy cause. Good luck Cindy...

Yes! Dreams do come true.

Yesterday at 5:15 am we got a call from our agency coordinator that we are to be in Kazakhstan on Thursday 3/16, which means we leave on Wednesday this coming week! While we expected more than 4 days notice, we could not be more thrilled. Knowing that your baby is waiting for you on the other side of the world is quite the incentive to pack fast!

Our route as scheduled now brings us from Portland to Cincinnati, Cinci to Amsterdam, Amsterdam to Almaty. We arrive in Almaty at 2:00 am on Friday 3/17 and meet that morning with our agency's counterpart in Kaz. From there we hop aboard an old Soviet warplane for another 4 hours of flying time to Koksheteau (although this go round we'll be lucky to get a seat - sometimes it is standing room only). Depending on the arrival time, we will either be taken to the hospital straight away or the following morning to meet Jadyn. Can you imagine?!

The first three weeks we will be visiting our little guy at the hospital where he currently resides. Visits are 2 hours each. After that point we go to court where we (God willing) are awarded custody and crowned the official parents of Jadyn. He will then move in with us to our apartment for several weeks while we are waiting for the papers to be processed. By early may we will return to Almaty to get his passport and the final papers. We expect to leave Kaz on May 5 and arrive back in the states on May 6. Looks like we are in for an adventure of a lifetime!

We've created a blog so that you can follow along on our journey: www.babyjadyn.blogspot.com. Take a look now and you'll see some pics of Jadyn taken yesterday by our new friend and hero Ellen who is currently in Kaz adopting baby Max.

While we'd love to send more personalized emails and chat with all of you to bid adieu, we are spending all waking moments packing and wrapping things up at work and at home. Thanks for understanding. We feel all your support and can't wait to catch up when we come home - there will surely be much to tell.

Giggle giggle, gulp gulp, sigh...

Cindy and Tony