Let It Snow...(long, overdue post)

It is a nice snowy day here in Northwestern, WI. Last night I shoveled off the desk so that the dogs could get to the back yard and to my suprise this morning it is completely covered again. Nice timing for Ryan to be gone for the weekend and I have to do all of the shoveling for myself :)



Thursday was Ryan's birthday and we were in La Crosse for the day. We ate at the Freight House and it was sooo good! Our brother-in-law knew our waiter, so we got extra big portions of everything. This place is one of my favorite restaurants in the whole world. My husband is just awesome enough to eat there when it's his birthday. He is continuing his birthday celebration this weekend at the cabin, hunting. He called last night about 11:00 p.m. and was just getting back from taking the four wheeler for a ride...and let me tell you, it is not warm out there! He's crazy!

I broke down in tears (imagine that!) over the lack of movement in this adoption. I was talking to Ryan on the phone and he just kept saying that I have to have faith. I gotta tell you though, I'm pretty positive most of the time about it...but I just feel like it's so hard to believe it's all going to work out when nothing has been moving. I realize that some people have recently returned home with their babies, and that should be good enough news. The problem is NOTHING has been happening and it is so frustrating. Any "updates" we get from our agency is so generic and doesn't say anything. We got another "update" on Thursday that just said that the head position in the Ministry of Education must be filled before they will give the final signatures to the dossiers. The problem is this position isn't getting filled...or certainly taking an incredibly LONG time to fill! We also got an update from the JCICS:

December 3, 2008 - Joint Council has confirmed that the U.S. Embassy in Kyrgyzstan has been requesting further information on the current state of intercountry adoptions from the Kyrgyz government. At this time, it is our understanding that the Kyrgyz Parliament has concerns regarding the governmental control of Adoption Service Providers in the republic.

In meetings with Kyrgyz officials, the US Embassy stressed that the current actions are causing fiscal and emotional distress to potential adoptive parents. Kyrgyz officials have been unwilling to comment as to the processing of cases already in progress. However, a governmental working group will be forming in the coming weeks. We do not expect any official statement to come from this working group before the end of 2008.

We're not exactly sure what this means for us. Looks like we won't hear anything though until 2009...well that's a shocker!

There is no question whether or not we belong to this little boy. We are a family, just currently in a long distance relationship. My heartbreak is not knowing when it will happen so that I can bring him home! We will be going to Mexico on January 9th for Heather's (Ryan's sister) wedding. We thought that without question Arsin would be with us for this trip. We even bought him little swim trunks, and hats to wear. Now I'm thinking that this won't happen, and it makes me VERY SAD! Not that it is exactly ideal to take a baby to Mexico, but we wouldn't have had a choice. Heather is getting married and we will be there for the wedding. Maybe by some miracle we will have him home and he can come with us!