TAGGED

Thanks Laura! I really needed to post something because it's been ages and I feel like I haven't had anything worth posting :(

I have been tagged. The task? to post a fun photo. The directions... Go to your fourth photo file location and post your fourth photo in that file. Well - wouldn't you know, it's a folder totally about Arsin!! While I'm not able to "legally" post pictures of him, the fourth photo just so happens to be a crop of an original picture...so I can post it!!!



If you're reading this - TAG, you're it! Be sure and post a comment to let me know you played along so that I can come and see :)

"It is always darkest before the dawn"

This past week has been one hell of a roller coaster ride!!! This post's title was totally stolen, and I hope Ann won't mind :) She put together several posts that were very well put about the goings on of the past few weeks!

On Friday I received the following message from JCICS:

Dear prospective adoptive parents,

It is Joint Council's understanding that 17 high ranking officials of the Kyrgyz government, including the Minister of Education and the Vice-Minister of Education, have been removed from their positions. Obviously this will have an affect on in-process intercountry adoptions. It is currently unclear exactly how the changes will affect in-process cases.

As more information becomes available Joint Council will update our website.

Upon further investigation, I found the following website: http://eng.kabar.kg/2009/01/23/education-and-science-minister-of-kyrgyzstan-dismissed/. We learned that 17 high ranking government officials, including the Minister of Education and her sidekick, were fired in Kyrgyzstan. Lots of things happening this week! President Kurmanbek Bakiev has since replaced several of the positions, but to date he has not filled the MOE position. There is lots of political happenings in Kyrgyzstan and I just hope that things get resolved soon, someone gets appointed as MOE and we are all able to get our babies home soon!

I am going to continue to stay optimistic..what other choice do I have??

Tonight after work we are headed to Powderhorn for a little skiing and fun with friends! We do this trip annually and we are really looking forward to it!

So - - I will leave you with this:

Nothing in this life that is worth having comes easy...

Baby boy, you are so worth it and I will continue to wait for you! This has certainly not been easy, but I do not regret even one day. Everything that has happened in the last seven months has brought us one step closer to you. We love you and cannot wait to share our lives together with you!!

Love,
mamma

10 months!!

Well, here we are 10 months old already! Happy 10 months Arsin! We love you, love you, love you!!

This post is not a very easy one for me to write. I have been a complete bucket of emotions this week!! I am feeling very overwhelmed with everything and nothing at the same time. I find myself staring into space knowing I have a thousand things I need to take care of, but can't bring myself to do even one. I love my little boy so much, but this wait is killing me. I don't barely have the strength to stay positive anymore. I stare at his pictures daily and we sing to him, laugh with him, kiss him...I cannot wait until this stupid mess is all over with. Enough is enough already!

On a brighter note we got a couple new pictures. There is a strange blue hue and everything is really fuzzy. But the one had a sign in the background and I used my Russian/English dictionary to try and figure it out. What I came up with was New Year! Someone please tell me if I'm wrong.



ps. Can someone tell me how to center my text??

Some pictures from Mexico

The Bride and Groom!



The whole crew:



Two cuties!



MMMMM...cake...



Mariachi Band



Muah!











Riviera Maya, Mexico

Happy 2009!

2008 has come and past and still our little boy is not home with us. It was one year in November since we started this adoption and we are so blessed to be matched with our son. 2009 will bring great things! This is the year that our son will be home with us for good! In the last couple of weeks we've heard new (and good) "rumors" and we're very hopeful that these "rumors". This information comes from the wonderful Executive Director of an adoption agency other than my own:

"[Kyrgyz] Ambassador Zamira [Sydykova] was able to get an audience with the President to talk about adoption. The end result was that he agreed to help resolve the problems. The nature of the problems are manifold and multitudinous, so it seems to take someone capably of moving mountains in Kyrgyz to successfully address them.

"A brief history...

"Last spring the MOE stopped processing adoptions to revamp their dossier requirements. Early summer, the head of adoption in the MOE, Almaz, was fired for providing letters approving adoptive parents without the required co-signature. (He was very efficient, but he got into big trouble.) Ever since, the MOE has presented problems with getting letters signed; in fact, they just have not signed any. It is probably a combination of fear, lack of initiative, ambivalence about international adoption, lack of advocates within the hierarchy of the MOE and thus lack of political will, and last but not least, confusion over who really is the regulatory entity over adoption.

"There are several overlapping entities that have some responsibility over adoption. The Prime Minister's office, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Physical Culture. This last one is odd, but within the Ministry of Physical Culture is a Dept of Child Protection. The Dept of Child Protection was formed in 2006, possibly to oversee adoption. Since Almaz was fired, his position has not been filled, and the onus of letter signing fell upon a woman named Janille. Janille is cordial, supports adoption to some extent as she sees it as a necessity, but will not sign letters. It seemed for awhile that the oversight would shift to the Dept of Child Protection. Now, after Ambassador Zamira talked to the President, it seems clear that the power and glory will remain in the MOE, under the direction of the Prime Minister's office.

"I think we can reasonably guess that there has been a power struggle going on as well as confusion. In any event, it seems that Kyrgyz plans to model their adoption oversight on Kazakhstan, who modeled theirs on Russia. Which means the MOE is in charge. The promise given is that the President will direct the Prime Minister to shift responsibility squarely on the shoulders of the MOE.

"The wrinkle is that there needs to be legislation or a letter from the Parliament that confirms this and pretty much abolishes the role of the Dept of Child Protection with respect to adoption. This needs to happen because the role the Dept of Child Protection exists under the law, and they cannot overlook this -- it's their laws.

"Tatiana said that they need about ten days to clarify this with all parties concerned and codify it. Then, there are the holidays. The 1st of January is New Years Day and the 7th of January is Orthodox Christmas. No one works.

"We believe that by mid-January the MOE will begin issuing letters, presumably providing letters for all families with all agencies who have been waiting to bring their children home. Then they will be reviewing dossiers and providing letters for families who do not yet have referrals. They have lists from all the agencies as to who is who."

Next Friday early morning we leave for sunny Mexico for Heather's wedding. We are totally excited and in much need of a vacation! They will be getting married on the beach barefoot! How awesome is that?? I don't have any real New Year's resolutions, but I would like to lose 10 pounds before Mexico...think it's possible? I've got 6 days!!!

All of the kids went home yesterday and my house is so quiet, and I can't barely stand it. The plan was to meet my sister half way today, but there was some bad weather coming and we didn't want to drive in it. I had to work the basketball game so Ryan ended up driving them. I was so sad to see them leave and totally cried when I left for work knowing that when I came home they wouldn't be here. They got home really late last night and everyone was so tired. We spent New Year's at Telemark Resort in Cable, WI and did some fun outdoor activities. We got in a little late on Wednesday and we just cooked a good steak and lobster dinner, ate cake, and went swimming in the pool before the new year. On Thursday morning the boys went out snowboarding and the girls and I rented some sleds and hit some little hills. Joe ended up not liking snowboarding and bummed around with us. It was pretty cold, so we had to go in several times to warm up. I was worried about those little girls and their rosy red (almost frost bit!) faces. Ryan and I also went out, me on my XC skiis and he was snow shoeing. We had a lot of fun and I'm pretty sure the kids enjoyed it too! I wish I had pictures but my camera was totally not working! I charged it before we left and it's almost as if the charger sucked the life OUT of the battery. It's the weirdest thing!

Happy 2009!!!

Dance Party!

We had a crazy dance party at our house last night. Here's a sneak peak!

9 Months

On the 21st Arsin turned 9 months old! We just cannot stand the wait any longer! About a week ago we received an email from our coordinator about the goings on of adoption in Kyrgyzstan. Here what she had to say:

We believe that by mid-January the MOE will begin issuing letters, presumably providing letters for all families with all agencies who have been waiting to bring their children home. Then they will be reviewing dossiers and providing letters for families who do not yet have referrals. They have lists from all the agencies as to who is who.

There has been some confusion with the Kyrgyzstan gov't as far as who should sign letters...since the President has gotten involved, we hope that this will be resolved! They have a few holidays to celebrate which should bring them back to work about January 12th. We will be sending Ambassador Zamira a thank you letter for all of her help in this matter!

Christmas...

Christmas was kind of crazy for us. We typically travel to Kenosha to visit with my family. Ryan was offered a position in La Crosse - his home town - about a week before Christmas. We had the intent to say yes to that job and figured we would be moving soon. Ryan decided he needed to stay and work to get everything finalized before 2009 and the new Chief Professional Officer for this Boys & Girls Clubs. Needless to say I traveled to Kenosha by myself in very icky weather! Ryan and I decided to turn down the job from La Crosse so we spent Christmas apart for no reason at all. I ended up bringing back my two nieces and my brothers from Kenosha to spend the week with us. We have a house full of kids and it is CRAZY! In about a half hour we are going to see The Tale of Despereaux at the movie theatre!

Merry Christmas Arsin!

Merry Christmas, little boy! We love you so much and wish we could be with you for your first Christmas. Hang in their buddy, we'll be over to get you real soon.

Love,
Daddy

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!

99 Meme

I was reading April's blog and I thought this would be interesting to try:

The rules are simple: bold the things you've done. Explanations are optional. Fun is guaranteed.

1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii (not yet!)
5. Watched a meteor shower (don't think so?)
6. Given more than you can afford to charity (every year!)
7. Been to Disneyland/world
8. Climbed a mountain (not a huge one, but I climbed one...actually we got engaged on Electric Peak in St. George, UT)
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo(in middle school!)
11. Bungee jumped (twice in Wisc. Dells)
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch (I'm not very creative!)
15. Adopted a child (duh, currently in process)
16. Had food poisoning (unfortunately)
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight(who hasn't?)
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon(just this October in fact)
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run (slow pitch softball!)
32. Been on a cruise (Caribbean tour)
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal in a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance (never, knock on wood!)
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class (self defense when I was in middle school)
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Gotten flowers for no reason (I do have a lovely husband)
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle (very scary!)
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper (most recently for the marathon I ran)
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one (not anyone really close thankfully)
94. Had a baby (vaginally? no)
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a lawsuit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee (I was stung when I was 5 and it turns out I am very deathly allergic! I haven't been stung since...knock on wood!)

Well it turns out that I am not a very cultured person! I need to get my butt out into the world a bit more!!

How about you guys?