Cameron Comes Home



Time Line Journal Photos Home	5/21/02	Hi! We're Tom and Michele and we've decided to document our adoption journey. This is such an exciting and scary time for us as we make our way to being parents. Tom and I now feel that we are being led to adopt from Russia. The journey has begun! We received the paperwork from INS in the mail, which we will fill out and return when we get back from California. We need to decide on an agency. There are so many considerations! I hope to record all of our bumps and turns as we take this exciting journey to becoming a family. To our child to be: I knew I loved you, before I met you.
	6/01/02	After much discussion, research, and prayer, we now know that Kazakhstan is the country we are meant to adopt in. Russian adoptions require two trips now, and we just can't imagine meeting our child and then have to leave him or her behind. We like everything we've read about Kazakhstan and the agency we've been looking at specializes in Kazakhstan.
	6/15/02	Today we drove to the Post Office and mailed our I-600-A to the INS in Atlanta. It's so exciting because we have now taken the first concrete step in our journey. After we mailed the form we took in the Saturday Morning Market and window shopped at the baby second hand store. I told Tom this store would become dangerous later on, as it's within walking distance of Campus.
	7/29/02	We finally got our fingerprint appointment letter! the INS used our street address instead of our PO Box, so the letter got to the post office and then went back to the INS and then back to the post office. The second time around, someone at the post office figured out which PO Box it belonged in. At least we finally got it! We've decided to drive up to Atlanta this Saturday to have our fingerprints done.
	8/03/02	Well, today we drove up to the "Big City" to get our fingerprints done. We left at about 8:00 a.m. and were at the INS office a little after 10:00 a.m. Our appointment letter stated that they started doing fingerprints at 12:00 p.m., so we were pleasantly surprised when we got right in. We were out at 11:00 a.m.! Tom and I decided to drive on up the road to check out the Mall of Georgia. We had fun window shopping, especially at FAO Schwarz's, imagining the fun things we're going to buy someday for "CJ." All in all, it was a fun day.
	8/06/02	Today was our first home study appointment. The social worker came out to our house at 5:30 p.m. I spent all the previous day cleaning house and making refreshments for the visit. The only room she ended up seeing was the living room. And, she didn't want anything to eat or drink! The appointment seemed to go fairly well. Most of the time was spent talking about our families. We have our second one set up for Wednesday, August 14, and the last appointment will be on Tuesday, August 20.
	8/14/02	Well, today is our second home study visit and I don't know if I'm ready for it! Yesterday was a doozy. Tom's car wouldn't start, we lost our water pressure, and the phone isn't working! We got Tom's car jump started and it's at the mechanics, the water pressure is back, but we still don't have a phone that works. Work was busy as well, with Orientation and a job fair marketplace that I had to be at. I just pray that the walkthrough is fairly painless. We made it! We got home from picking up Tom's car to discover that the social worker was waiting for us. She really didn't stay long. She had a couple more questions for us and then we did a tour of the house. After reading that some social workers actually measured room sizes, our inspection seemed like a walk in the park. Onward and upward!
	8/16/02	We're driving to Irwinton today after work to have our criminal background checks! One more item to check off on our long list. We received emails from our adoption agency and our coordinator yesterday telling us they'd received our application. For some reason is seems more real to us. And it also means that we now have someone keeping track of what we're doing and making sure we are doing things in a timely manner. That's reassuring, yet at the same time makes me feel a little more under pressure. The criminal background check was a piece of cake! Boy, are there advantages to living in a small town. The notary even told us if there were problems she'd do it again for no charge! All done, now on to the next item!
	8/19/02	Whew! What a relief! I've been agonizing over getting a physical. I called a new doctor today, and I have an appointment for tomorrow! This is the one thing I've been worried about the most, and now it may be taken care of after tomorrow! I'm crossing my fingers, but the rest of the items for both the home study and the dossier should be fairly straight forward and easy to get.
	8/20/02	The doctor's appointment went great! The doctor was very nice and helpful. I got everything done and also got my DPT and first Hepatitis B shot. I go in on Thursday to have my TB test checked and to pick up my paperwork. Our home study visits are over! The social worker paid her last visit to our house this evening, and the whole process was positive and pretty painless. The social worker will draft the narrative and send it to our adoption agency for review. When it's finalized, we'll send it to the INS, who can then approve us and issue the I171 form.
	8/22/02	Tom is making an appointment for our septic tank to be inspected on Monday. After that, we only need the bank letter and the paperwork from Tom's physical, which is this Saturday. I need to get my birth certificate and our marriage certificate apostilled in Sacramento, so I'm going to see if my mother can help us out.
	8/23/02	A small setback. The instructions had told us that we didn't need to have signatures notarized. We could make a statement at the bottom and have our signatures notarized. Well, guess what? Georgia has changed that rule. They changed it this week. Each signature has to be notarized. UGH! I just called my doctor and I'm going in on Monday to have the forms redone, and fortunately, there is a notary in their office. I'll also have to have my employment letters redone. Human Resources will be so glad to be done with me! The good news is that Tom made the appointment to have our septic tank inspected. The lady at the office was curious to know why we wanted it inspected when we're about to get hooked up to the new sewer system. Bet she thinks we're kooky.
	8/27/02	More setbacks. I went to have my medical forms notarized and learned that the notary's commission expires in October. I just know I'm going to have to have the forms redone and find another notary. On top of the that, when she stamped one of the forms, part of the stamp was off the page! I made her redo it, so now there are two stamps. I'm just sure that will never fly in Atlanta. I hate to keep bugging the doctor's office, but I really don't have any choice. On a brighter note, we had our septic tank inspected this morning, and all went well. If we can just get the tax forms back from the IRS!
	8/28/02	My medical forms are done! The notary (many thanks to Lisa!) met me at the doctor's office yesterday afternoon. After waiting for an hour, the doctor finally came in and signed the new forms I'd completed for her. The notary did her stuff, and I was on my way. Tom had a successful meeting at the bank this morning, so things are now moving in that area. Oh, and I told Tom that I want to decorate the baby's room in Spongebob Squarepants motif. HAHAHAHA!!
	9/12/02	We've been facing several challenges these last few weeks. Tom's car broke down twice, our dryer stopped working for two weeks, and poor Dante developed a skin fungus. Our social worker was to send in the draft of our home study on Monday the 9th. I haven't heard from her, so will email her on Friday to check. I think we have everything in for the home study except for one thing. We have collected everything now for the dossier, we're just waiting for the home study. The appraiser will be at our house at 5:30 p.m. today. I don't anticipate any problems with that. I guess that's about it for today!
	9/25/02	Time for another update! We're still trying to get the narrative done for the home study. The draft went into the agency last week, but required edits. The revised version was sent in yesterday morning. If we can just get the home study stuff done, we can go up to Atlanta to get everything apostilled. I was hoping we'd be done with the paperwork by the end of September, but that is definitely not going to happen now. We going to do some things that we know we won't be able to do when we have a little one. We're going to go up to Six Flags the second weekend in October and are planning to go to Wild Adventures in November. We're also tossing around the idea of spending a weekend in NYC. My mom arrives in a week for a visit.
	10/01/02	The home study narrative is almost done! The agency emailed it to me this morning and a copy went to our adoption agency. There are some mistakes and misspellings, so we'll fax back the edits tomorrow. Hopefully, by the end of the week, we'll be sending it off to the INS. We had a great time last Saturday. We went to a family wedding and then to dinner with Linda and Burl. It's fun looking forward to the day when we will have to take a break from doing things like that! I made another change to CJ's room to make it look more like a baby's room. I found the cutest teddy bear stickups to put on the wall. So, now my old baby dresser is in there, there's a bookcase full of children's books and the beginnings of a stuffed animal collection. I even think we've found the crib we want. It's the same stain as the baby dresser and will look perfect.
	10/09/02	Yesterday, we met with a lawyer and he went over the contract with our adoption agency. It all looked good to him. Last night we signed it with my mother (CJ's Grandma!) witnessing our signatures. Tomorrow we'll be mailing it to the agency. When they receive it, we'll be on the waiting list for a referral.
	10/10/02	The contract has arrived at our adoption agency! I tracked and it arrived at 9:01 a.m. I also spoke to someone at the home study agency and she is sending our narrative to INS this morning. We should get all our copies and material this weekend. Finally! Once the adoption agency processes our contract, they will add us to the email loop and send us a huge binder full of stuff. That binder will become our bible until we have "CJ" home.
	10/16/02	We are officially with our adoption agency! I received a email from them with an invitation to join their email group. So, I finally got to share our happy news with the Angels, Tom's and my extended family.
	10/24/02	After more troubles with mail being sent to our street address instead of our mailing address, we finally got our home study. We had the rest of our documents notarized by a very nice lady at my work. At lunch today, I faxed the dossier to our adoption coordinator. She's going to review it first thing Monday morning. Hopefully everything is in order and we can trek up to Atlanta to have everything apostilled.
	10/29/02	Our adoption coordinator reviewed our dossier documents yesterday, and said that everything looks good to her. We plan on driving up to Atlanta a week from tomorrow, on Wednesday, November 6. I have my fingers crossed that we won't have to redo any of our documents. If we are able to get all the documents apostilled, the paper chase is over, except for waiting for our INS approval. This Friday, it will have been three weeks since the home study was sent to them.
	11/08/02	Our dossier is done! We had a very successful trip to Atlanta on Wednesday. They apostilled all the documents except for Tom's birth certificates. We drove over to Vital Records and got new ones, which they then apostilled. We celebrated with lunch at The Cheesecake Factory and some shopping at the Perimeter Mall. We bought three books for CJ. We also bought a Spongebob Squarepants Christmas ornament. Tom and I made a deal. I get to hang the ornament on the tree every year. In exchange, I won't decorate CJ's room with Spongebob. Only time will tell who CJ will be thanking. Yesterday I made copies of the dossier and Fedexed it to our agency. They will get it translated into Russian, get it registered at the Embassy and send it on to Kakakhstan. The paper chase is almost over!
	11/12/02	We got word that our dossier has been sent to Kazakhstan for translation. It was sent on Friday, November 8, which was the same day our agency received it. That's good service!
	12/18/02	We have a referral. He's a beautiful little boy. Our adoption coordinator called me after lunch and told me she wanted to send us an early Christmas present. I'm thinking a Christmas ornament. No, she had a referral for us. It's a good thing I was sitting down. I got off the phone with her and immediately called Tom with tears in my eyes. Within minutes his picture and medical information arrived via email. I was able to get a picture up that Tom could look at while we talked on the phone. After doing research on terms used in his medical we decided we definitely want to have two adoption doctors review what we have on him. We are praying that God will grant us the wisdom to know if he is the little boy He wants for us and praying that He will watch over this precious little boy and keep him safe. Due to the holidays, it probably will be more than a week before we are able to talk to a doctor about him. More prayer and waiting ahead.
	12/31/02	Yesterday we were able to make contact with two doctors' offices. This afternoon I'll be Fedexing a video tape with medical info, and photos to Dr. Dana Johnson at the University of Minnesota. Dr. Bledsoe's office in Seattle Washington is due to call me today, and hopefully I'll be getting a tape out to her as well. We'll be able to talk to Dr. Johnson 2-3 business days after he receives the tape, and I believe we'll be talking to Dr. Bledsoe on Wednesday, January 8. He is such a sweet little boy. The more we look at his picture and watch his video the more he has worked his way into our hearts. We are trusting God to make clear His will.
	01/08/02	Time for another update. We talked to Dr. Johnson last Thursday evening and we ended up with a consultation with Dr. Bledsoe yesterday. I cannot say enough good things about Dr. Bledsoe. She was so wonderful to talk to, so understanding and so thorough. To summarize our whole conversation, I'd say we are now cautiously optimistic that the little guy is healthy. Dr. Bledsoe has a couple concerns, so she gave me a short list of questions to ask our agency. We called our coordinator and she will see if she can get the answers we need. We are praying that they can find the information we need and the news we get is good news. We made some more progress in preparing the baby's room. We bought his bedding which is the cutest Noah's Ark theme. We also picked out paint samples and I've gotten tips on how to paint clouds on the ceiling. The bedding has a starry sky background, so I'm going to try to paint a blue sky with clouds and then stencil glow in the dark stars and maybe a moon. We're going to paint the paneling blue and trim it in white. This last month has made us realize that we can't dilly dally around.
	01/15/03	We heard back about our referral! They even have a new video of him. We got the answers to our important questions and new measurements. They commented that he's a cute baby. He's babbling and smiling and seems to be growing normally, although he is still on the small side. I talked to Dr. Bledsoe's office, and she will look at his information tomorrow. If all goes well, I'll be getting an email from her by the end of the next day! The poor little guy had bronchitis in December and spent several days in the hospital. Dr. Bledsoe's nurse said they've been getting a lot of sick babies this last month. It's just the time of year. I'm really starting to get excited now. If we accept him, it's entirely possible that we'll be traveling in March.
	01/21/03	It's time for an extremely exciting update! Tom and I accepted our referral last Friday night. We are going to name him Cameron Carlpatrick after both of his grandfathers. Yesterday, we received the video, and have watched it already at least 10 times. He is so sweet and cute! The caregiver was trying to get him to smile. He did a little, but he was still getting over being sick when the video was made. And, if that's not enough good news, our dossier has left the Kaz Embassy in NYC and is on it's way to Kazakhstan. This means that in a month, we should get our travel dates! We spent the weekend painting Cameron's bedroom. We've made really good progress, but still have a ways to go. I can't wait to experiment with painting a sky on the ceiling. I have these images in my mind of Cameron laying in his bed, looking up at a starry sky.
	01/29/03	Our dossier reached the lawyers in Kazakhstan last Friday. They have to get it registered at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and then it goes to the Ministry of Education (MOE). We need MOE's approval so that we can get our visas to travel. We picked out carpeting, blinds and an overhead fan for Cameron's room last weekend. Last night the room was measured for the carpeting. We also bought the crib mattress and a playpen/playard. Today I went to the baby store and bought a fantastic carseat. Sometimes it seems all too wonderful to be true. I'm going to be Cameron's mama soon. I can hardly wait to hold him in my arms for the first time.
	02/03/03	We had a followup consultation with Dr. Bledsoe Sunday morning after she had reviewed the new video of Cameron that we had sent her. She gave a glowing report and told us that she had "no reservations about this little boy at all." What wonderful, magical words to hear! We just knew from looking at his new video, that he is doing well, but it has given us such peace of mind to hear a specialist say the same thing. She told us how excited she is for us and hopes we have a great trip. With this great news ringing in our ears, we drove to Lowe's and ordered the carpeting for Cameron's room. I started painting his grandmother's old rocker Sunday and hope to have it finished by Wednesday. I'm painting it using the paint we used for the trim. We've heard that a key official with the MFA is here in the US, so no dossiers will be released from the MFA until his return, which is supposed to be February 8. We are still hopeful that we will be traveling at the end of February. We received the special packet for the region we are going, and it has all kinds of practical and detailed information on what to expect. It's getting so close! I received the snowsuit I ordered on Ebay, and it's absolutely adorable! Cameron is going to be cute as a button in it. :smile:
	02/05/03	We just got some great news. We will not have to come home through Moscow! Up until now, the US Embassy in Kazakhstan did not process visas, so people adopting there had to exit through the US Embassy in Moscow. Well as of March 1, this will change. We will appear at the US Embassy in Almaty, Kazakhstan after the adoption is complete and then fly directly home. We will save at least two days of travel and the money for the extra plane ticket. God is GOOD!
	02/11/03	We went out to eat at the Big Sky Grill this past Saturday with Linda and Burl. They pulled up in their Explorer, and when I peered in the back, I thought Christmas had come in February! They had bought us a changing table and several extremely cute outfits. Beau had bought his cousin a megasaucer. Tom and I had fun putting it together when we got home. We gave Aunt Linda and Uncle Burl a little overview of staying at our house. It is such a wonderful feeling to have loving and supportive family nearby. I'd forgotten to mention that Gramma had sent a check to help us get ready for Cameron to come home. I used it to purchase matching drapes, bookends and rocking chair cushions. The rocking chair is just about done and looks fabulous with the cushions. Even though we have some things left to do, including getting the carpet in, the blinds hung, the fan hung, and the crib assembled (whew), we are ready to go get our boy. I pray for him every day, asking God to watch over him. I know that the caretakers there are wonderful and doing everything they can to keep him healthy and happy. But I'm ready to take over the job!
	02/14/03	Happy Valentine's Day! Yesterday we heard from someone who visited Cameron! He reported that he is happy, healthy, and well cared for. He also managed to take a couple pictures of him. It made our day to hear a first hand report. This morning I spoke to the director of our agency and he told us that he believes that we will be traveling by the 3rd week in March. I was hoping we'd leave by March 1, but I'll take what I can get! He was going to contact the lawyer in Kaz to get firmer dates for us. We expect to hear back from him early in the week. I guess the bright side is that instead of being bitterly freezing when we are there, it will only be freezing...
	02/19/03	This day will go down as one of the best days of my life. Our coordinator called to give us our travel dates! In a month, we'll be holding Cameron in our arms. We received an 18 page fax from the agency with all the last things we need to do in order to travel. Fortunately for us, our coordinator had already given us a list that had a lot of what is on the fax. So... we don't have much left to do. Except get airline tickets, visas, gifts, pack and repack and pack again... I already have tickets with Lufthansa on hold for us. We'll probably be purchasing them next week. Last Mother's Day, I told Tom that I wanted to be a mother by Mother's Day next year. It looks like my wish will come true.
	03/13/03	Less than a week until our departure! It is finally almost here. We have been doing our last minute prep work. Spending, spending, spending! Our most notable purchases have been a running stroller and a digital video camera. We did a trial packing run last Sunday to make sure we can fit everything into our suitcases. We think we can. We have our plane tickets and our travel visa. We are going to be on the same flights with two other WPA families. Yesterday was my last day at work. I'm now officially a Stay-At-Home-Mom! I will probably not be able to update this journal until our return. Although if there is a way, I will! If all goes well, we will return home the second week in April.
	03/21/03 Photos	We are here! We made it with no incidents or confusion. Because we were so well prepared, we knew what to expect when we reached Almaty. We traveled with Denise and Scott and Connie. That really helped with everything! When we arrived at the Almaty airport, we boarded a very nice shuttle that took us to the terminal building. The first thing we had to do was get in line at passport control, a little intimidating, but we got our passports stamped successfully. From there we went to find our luggage so we could put it through an X-ray machine. Then on to customs. Luckily for us, the lady officer didn't ask to see our money. Once again we got stamped. Out we rolled our luggage carts. The first person I saw was a nice looking young man with long hair, holding a sign with our name on it. It had to be Sasha! He led us to our car along with Dimash from the lawyers' office. They dropped us off at our apartment. It is very nice with a living room, bedroom, kitchen and bathroom. Even a washing machine and microwave! The people before us left bread, butter and a bit of cheese. We had that for breakfast along with Lipton chicken soup. Don't laugh! Sasha is picking us up at 10:15 a.m. for an appointment at the lawyers'. Then we should be on to Petropavlovsk and our boy. I can't believe we are so close!
	3/22/03 Photos	What a day yesterday was! After very little sleep, Sasha drove us to the lawyers' office. We ran into Denise, Scott, and Connie in the lobby, as they had just finished their meetings. We spent almost two hours with Gulzhan, going over paperwork and our schedule. Everything is progressing as planned. In fact, we may have the opportunity to fly home a day early. From the lawyers', Sasha drove us to the Ramstore, a Super Walmart kind of store, inside a big shopping mall. We bought a couple things and had a quick lunch because we needed to get to the airport! We left for Petropavlovsk, a 4 hour flight at 3:00 p.m. We flew on a very small jet plane with fold down seats. The flight was incredibly smooth. We landed on an icy runway, but you never would have known it! At the airport we were met by Marina, our translator, our lawyer and the driver. We were in a hurry, because we were going directly to meet Cameron! We drove up to an unimposing building and were let inside. We took off our coats and were led upstairs to the playroom. There was little Kostya/Cameron in a playpen, playing with some toys. Thousands of miles, a ton of paperwork, months of prayer and anticipation, and there he was in front of us. I said hello to him, but he was much more interested in his toys. I picked him up and held his little body in my arms. I held him up, his face to my face and he reached out and touched me. We brought him over to the couch and sat him in our laps. Cameron loves his Daddy's glasses and big nose. Our visit was short as it was past Cameron's bedtime. The driver brought us back to the hotel and we checked in. We are in a very nice room, with a big bed, a refrigerator, and a good sized bathroom. We had a pleasant pork dinner in the restaurant in the hotel. Tom and I were both dead tired and conked out quickly. I woke after a few hours with a headache. But after a couple aspirin, I got a couple more hours of good sleep. Marina is picking us up at 9:45 to return to the Baby House for our next visit with Cameron. For the next two weeks, until April 3, we will visit him from 10-12 and 4-6 daily.
	3/23/03 Photos	My baby fell asleep in my arms today. During our afternoon visit, Cameron started getting cranky, so I picked him up and began rocking him in my arms. Not much later he nodded off. We went over and sat down and he slept for a good half hour, first in my arms and then daddy's. Our visits with Cameron have going very well. He's a very good boy. He just loves sticking his fingers in Daddy's mouth. Ten more days and he'll be ours. We've had pretty good weather, with sunshine yesterday and today. We've been to the grocery store where we bought cheese, bread, apples, Coke and water. That is what we've been having for lunch in the hotel room.
	3/24/03	I can now say with the greatest authority that Cameron kisses are the sweetest kisses in the world. Cameron gave us and the baby in the mirror many kisses during our visit this morning. He arrived in the Music Room all decked out for the Cherry Blossom Festival, right down to his pink hat and pink knitted booties. We were so proud of him as he was "scooching" all over the play mats, exploring his world. He got himself over to the edge and was most curious about the linoleum floor. Cameron loves to look at the pictures of the babies on the wall. One in Particular makes him smile. We aren't able to visit him this afternoon as they are doing a thorough cleaning of the baby house. So instead, we went grocery shopping and went to a store to buy handcrafted birch boxes and nesting dolls. We can't wait to see our boy in the morning.
	3/25/03	Our day with Cameron was relaxed and quiet. He had awoken early, so we missed feeding him breakfast. We hope to do that in a couple days. I brought a pacifier to our afternoon meeting, and it was a huge success. After a slight hesitation, Cameron took it. Within minutes, he was fast asleep. We met with Dr. Rimma after our morning visit. We ran into her on our way to the music room and she said that she thought Cameron looked like me. Our meeting went very well. After ascertaining that we were aware of his medical conditions, she proceed to tell us that he is in good health and "everything will be okay." We felt so good hearing those words, because we feel he is a healthy little boy too. We took three rolls of film in for developing and got some marvelous pictures back. I've put together an album to show the judge. Marina told us this afternoon that we may return to Almaty on Friday, April 4 instead of Sunday, April 6.
	3/26/03	I fed and dressed Cameron this morning. We both ending up wearing some of his breakfast, but Cameron and I both survived. Cameron is pretty patient with his Mama. After all, he's had nine months to practice being a baby, whereas I am just starting my Mommy training. Cameron did some crawling and played a little with the baby in the mirror. We let him have his pacifier near the end of our visit, and he very much enjoyed it. While I was feeding Cameron this morning, the caretakers and assistants looked at photos of our family and home, so they could see where Cameron will live. We visited the Internet room again. We hope to return and scan a picture of Cameron on his board. Another nice visit with our boy this afternoon. Cameron is getting to be a pro at rolling and is working at mastering crawling. We made plans to go out to lunch with Marina tomorrow. Then on Friday, we'll go to the ethnic Kaz store. There is still a chance that we will return to Almaty on Friday, the day after court. Marina also told us that we would have a celebration at the Baby House after court and get a tour of the facilities. What a happy day it will be... a week from tomorrow.
	3/27/03	This morning I learned how to give Cameron a massage, complete with baby oil. I then put his diaper on, dressed and fed him breakfast. He eats some kind of cereal and milk. He is supposed to have only about 1/2 of the milk in the bottle, but he seemed to want more. When we are home, I will let him have as much as he wants. We brought the Snugli with us, so Cameron can start getting used to being in it. He did pretty well. Dad and I got him strapped in and I showed him that the baby in the mirror was in his Snugli too. We then took one lap around the room. It was when we were getting ready to unstrap him, that Cameron began to get a little upset. Cam is getting an upper tooth now too, which seemed to be bothering him. Dad managed to get a little Oragel in the area, and that seemed to help. We've been bringing CDs to listen to during our visit. One has nursery rhymes and the other has classical music. The latter is very nice to hear in the background. We went to lunch at the Petrovich with Marina after our morning visit. Tom had chicken and noodle soup. I have a cucumber and tomato salad, noodle soup, and a pork dish that had bananas and pineapple. After lunch, we returned to the Internet room. We were able to scan and post two pictures of Cameron. We also emailed the US Embassy to ask their opinion about conditions in Kazakhstan and about their processing of orphan visas. I think we all had a good time during our afternoon visit. Cameron continues to give both Mama and Daddy many kisses. One of the caregivers brought a bottle of milk and I was able to give it to him. Boy, did he drain that thing fast! Not long after, we had to end our visit.
	3/28/03	Today marks one week that we have been in Petropavlovsk with Cameron. We had a nice visit this morning with more crawling and turning. Cameron gave his Daddy lots of kisses when he first saw him. We practiced with the Snugli. Cameron isn't too patient with our struggles to get him in and out of it. But, once in it, he does quite well. We heard back from the US Embassy, and were assured that they plan to be processing adoption visas during the time we hope to be getting Cameron's. After the Internet, we went to a store that had Kaz ethnic items. Cameron got two outfits and I got a beautiful handmade velvet coat. The only thing that prevented me from buying more was lack of tenge. We will be back! Cameron was late to his appointment this afternoon as he was still napping when we arrived. But when he arrived, he was bright eyed and bushy tailed. He is such a delight! He really seems to enjoy spending time with his mama and daddy. We didn't get to feed Cam his bottle this afternoon, so he was quite anxious to get back to his room for some grub. Marina told us we visit earlier Monday through Wednesday, so I can get more experience feeding and massaging Cameron. Hopefully, this time next week, we will be back in Almaty, Tom, Michele, Cameron, and Stuffed Dante.
	3/29/03	It's a Super Saturday in Petropavlovsk, Kazakhstan. Cameron was dressed in light blue and seemed happy to see us this morning. He did quite a bit of crawling, especially to his his favorite destination, the edge of the mat. I think his cold is getting a little better. There were fewer times when I had to pick him up and carry him around to console him. We did a little better today getting Cameron into his Snugli. He and I successfully made several laps around the music room and even made a mad race to catch the plane. Following our visit we went to pick up our film. They are giving away prizes and we won three small photo albums. We also check email and discussion boards at the telephone company. The Department of Education had asked Marina if we could buy them some folders, so we made a stop for those as well. While at the store I saw many beautiful coats. When we returned to the Baby House we learned that there would be a music lesson in the music room and that Cameron was still sleeping. We were invited to sit in and watch the lesson. There were about 14 children 2 - 3 1/2 years old. They had a clown and an accordion player. They played several games, including "feed the rabbit a carrot." It was such a delight to see those cute little children. They finished off their lesson by pairing off for a dance. After the children left, in came Cameron. He did a whole lot of crawling. We're amazed by how much he has progressed in just this past week. Four more days of visiting, and Cameron will officially be a Williams.
	3/30/03	Guess who forgot to "Spring Forward" last night! I was watching Euronews while Tom dressed, when a reminder came on that we moved our clocks forward one hour the previous night. OH NO!! Tom and I looked at each other, we hadn't changed our clocks. It wasn't 8:45 a.m., it was 9:45 a.m., and Marina was downstairs waiting. I scurried down to apprise Marina of the situation. We left the hotel ten minutes late with yogurt, Coke and crackers in our bags for breakfast. When we arrived at the Baby House, Cameron was waiting for his breakfast! So, we walked down to his room. I fed Cam, while tom wiped up the messes I made. Following breakfast, we dressed Cam in his play clothes and paraded to the Music Room. Cameron was Crawling Cam again, exploring his favorite territory, the hard floor. After our visit, we went on a short tour of town, stopping at a Catholic Church, a Russian Orthodox Church, the Ishim River and Constitution Avenue. The river was frozen over, and there were people ice fishing. Today was the coldest day since we have been there. And it started snowing lightly. It has been snowing ever since. When we met Marina to return for our afternoon visit, she told us that our court time is 9:00 a.m. this Thursday. She told us not to worry, as it is always easier than people think. Marina also said that Gulzhan would like us to take pictures of a couple children for her. We will do this tomorrow. Cam once again smiled when he saw us. We had fun playing and practiced with the Snugli again. He began getting cranky at about 5:30 and was conked out by the time Marina came to signal it was time to take him back. We learned that he hadn't slept during his nap. Cameron was incredibly good considering that fact.
	3/31/03	We had blineys for the second time for breakfast this morning. They are very thin pancakes folded into quarters. We had bought some apricot jelly at the store. We ate the blineys with the jelly and butter. They were very good. We left for the Baby House 1/2 hour early so I could feed and dress Cameron. When we arrived, Cam was still sleeping. When he awoke, the caretaker brought him out, and he smiled to see us. I did better today dressing him. I think the kisses helped. This time he also got a bit of egg besides the cereal and milk. Cameron did quit a bit of crawling in the Music Room. We think he likes the hard floor over the mat because it is more like the floor in him play pen than the soft foam mats we put down to play on. After our visit, we went to the telephone company to get on the Internet. We still didn't have any messages saying that anyone had looked at Cameron's picture. We had heard back from Scott and Denise who said things are going wonderfully with Alma. From the phone company, we drove to the grocery store to buy some bread, cheese, salami, Lay's potato chips and chocolate. We are driven every day in a white van. Leaving the grocery store, we then drove on to the Baptist Church. It was very beautiful inside. We got a personal tour from the preacher's secretary. It was a very special time for us to share Christian fellowship with people on the other side of the world from our home. Marina and the head nurse took Cameron in the afternoon to get his picture taken for his passport and visa. They were gone for about 20 minutes. We had lots of crawling time when Cam returned. He'll crawl just about anywhere for the lens cap on the video camera. Tonight's supper was interesting. The main dish was a piece of beef pounded thin, folded in half with cheese inside. Our garnish was spaghetti noodles with some kind of white sauce. (One of the few meals that didn't sit well in my stomach.) Most of our meals here have been pretty good... chicken, pork chop, beef steak with cheese and tomato.
	4/1/03	It's April! We arrived early at the Baby House again this morning. I was able to only watch Cameron being massaged this time by promising to do it tomorrow. After the massage, I dressed Cameron with assistance from Tom. Long sleeves and I do not get on very well. Then it was time for breakfast. I worry that he is getting enough to eat, yet worry about forcing too much on him. He had a bit if egg, some type of hot cereal and milk. It was Crawling Cameron again in the Music Room. This time he was able to climb back up on the mat. Not once, but two times! Cameron once again did quite well in his Snugli. Following our visit, we made a quick stop at the Internet room to check email and the WPA board. Next, we went back to the store where we had purhcased the birch boxes. We bought Cameron a red nesting doll, a painted box for Linda, and a few more boxes, painted and natural. We had lunch in our room, as we usually do. Lunch consisted of bread, cheese, salami, potato chips, soda, and chocolate for dessert. On the way back to the Baby House, we stopped at the Kaz store again. We bought a beautiful black embroidered velvet hanging, a miniature yurt and a leather horse. I almost forgot. At the first store, Tom got two forest paintings, one depicting summer, the other winter in Petropavlovsk. We spent another good afternoon with Cameron. He seemed to enjoy listening to the CD that has children singing on it. He also seems to enjoy being carried so he faces forward and can see the world. Only one more day of visits before court! PS I've learned that we won't return to Almaty until Sunday afternoon, which also means we won't get Cam until then.
	4/2/03	Another early day to the Baby House. Oh darn. When we arrived, Cameron had already received his massage. He also was dressed for the day. All that was left was breakfast. Egg was on the menu this morning, but Cam was having no part in it. He ate one spoonful, but made it very clear that this was more than enough. We had some cereal and milk. Cameron did some more crawling. A few times he rocked so that he was almost balancing on his hands and feet. Cam loves Spongebob Squarepants. His face lights up when he sees the book I brought. I used the book this time as incentive for him to climb up on the mat. After our visit, I had a couple minutes to talk to Cameron's physician. She talked about how active he'd been since he was an infant, and believes this had helped him fight to survive, when he was born so small. She said what a tender boy he is and thinks he will grow to be tall. She is very happy that he will have a family. We went with a lady from the Baby House to buy some toys for the children. The lady was able to pick out three big bags of toys at the store, including dump trucks and blocks and other toys that make all kinds of music and noises. We brought them back to the Baby House, where Dr. Rimma will see them tomorrow. Cameron stood today and even was able to hold himself up a little. I supported him and he used a chair for support and to lean on. It was quite apparent that Cam was proud of himself. We were very proud of him too. At 5:30, the caretaker brought a bottle and Cam sucked it down. Not very long after that, he was asleep in my arms. The lawyer will arrive by train at 4:00 a.m. tomorrow. We will all meet at the hotel at 8:30 a.m. for our 9:00 a.m. court hearing. An hour after that, Cameron will be legally ours. God willing.
	4/3/03	Cameron is ours! We met Marina, the lawyer, and Sveltana the translator in the lobby of the hotel at8:30. We all rode together to the courthouse. When we arrived, we sat for a few minutes in the lobby. When the judge's secretary got there, we went up to wait in her office. After waiting awhile, we then went up to wait outside the courtroom. We waited some more and then were led to our seats in the court. The judge, a young looking lady, sat at a desk facing us. She was dressed in a colorful robe. Directly in front of her sat the prosecutor in uniform and the clerk. They faced each other at a desk. The judge opened the session and asked Tom to make his statement. Tom stood and told the judge about our journey to adoption, how we came to choose Kazakhstan and our ability to give Cameron a good and loving home. He emphasized how we have the complete support of our families. When he finished, I was asked if I had anything to add. I said no. Then a representative of the Department of Education gave her testimony, stating Cameron's status as an orphan and his need for a family. Then Dr. Rimma testified. She talked about what a good relationship Cameron has formed with us and how he has developed since our visits began. The judge and prosecutor asked several questions during their testimony, including the whereabouts of Cameron's sibling. (No one knows) I was also asked to stand. I was asked about adoption in the US. I said, yes, it is possible to adopt in our own country, but difficult for a couple our age. I also said that we preferred a closed adoption. I was given a chance again to add anything. I told the judge I felt honored to be there and I love Cameron very much (I almost started to blubber.) After a few more questions, we were asked to wait outside. It was just about an hour of waiting before we were called back in. We stood while the judge read her decision. She announced that she would grant the adoption and that the immediate execution had been approved. This means that we can leave as soon as the paperwork can be completed. We learned later that a couple in Karaganda were not granted immediate execution and will have to stay for the 15 days past court waiting period. We waited for the paperwork to be completed, and then we were off to Vital Records to get Cameron's new birth certificate. More waiting. Finally, we were called in, signed two documents and had Cam's adoption decree and his birth certificate. Tom and I returned to the hotel for lunch and a nap, while the lawyer and Marina got more documents processed. Everything got done, and the lawyer leaves tonight on the train for Astana. She will get Cameron's passport and return with it tomorrow evening. We will then have everything we need for all of us to leave for Almaty on Sunday. We went to see Cameron at 5:30. We expected him to be tuckered out, but we were in for a surprise. I fed him his bottle and kept him quiet for about 1/2 hour. Then is was crawl, crawl, crawl and stand. He was a busy little boy and didn't seem tired at all. We took him back at about 7:00 p.m. Four more visits, and the next visit will be our last.
	4/4/03	We did so much today, that I almost forgot to do an update. This morning we had a celebration in Dr. Rimma's office, with her, Cameron's physician and Marina. We toasted with Kaz champagne and candy. We had a very nice visit, and we gave her our gift. After the celebration, we received a grand tour of the Baby House. We even saw where Cameron first slept when he arrived. Because of the celebration, we had short visit with Cameron. But we still managed to have a good time. After our visit, we had errands to run. I will talk about the rest of our day tomorrow.
	4/5/03	So anyway... From the Baby House we drove to the store, where we usually get our food. It in fact has much more than food. I have seen everything from clothes, lamps, small appliance to tables where lottery tickets are sold. We bought two boxes of chocolates to give to the ladies in the hotel restaurant, and Dr. Ludmilla, who has been Cameron's physician. We wanted to get a bottle of Kaz champagne for Bob and Marya, so we next went to a "package store." Besides the champagne, we also purchased a bottle of Merlot. Now it was time to go to the Baby Store. The name of the store is Kampus, and we had seen a commercial for it on a Kaz TV channel. While there we bought a pair of tights, a bottle, a pair of booties, and a small squeaky toy. And lest I forget, our actual fir stop had been the Internet room. We wanted to tell everyone about our most Tremendous Thursday. We are quite hopeful that we will learn this morning that Marina met Schesada (our lawyer) at the train, and that we now possess Cameron's passport. I believe that she will also have our plane tickets back to Almaty. If we hear this good news, we will be able to pick up Cameron at the Baby House and fly to Almaty! Cameron was very happy to see his mama and daddy this morning. We were excited to tell him we had his passport and all of our plane tickets, so we can leave at 2:30 p.m. tomorrow. I brought Cameron's outfit, so he will be dressed and ready to go when we arrive. Amazing! In less than 24 hours, we will truly be a family. We went to the Internet to see if everyone had read our message about Cameron. We then went to the natural history museum, which is on Constitution Ave. (For those planning to visit, just be warned. In one room there are jars of "pickled babies", not for the faint of heart.) One more visit and one dinner to go. Cameron must not have much of a nap, because he was rubbing his eyes soon after we took him to the Music Room. We had stopped on the way to his room to give bubbles to the older groups. We also had a picture of Cameron with two of his caregivers to give to them. Cameron was in a walker when we got to his room, scooting around. We went to the Music Room and Cam was falling asleep a little after 4:30. He slept for about 30 minutes. His bottle arrived at 5:30, which he downed in short order. Soon it was time to take Cameron to his room. Tom took a picture of Cam lying in his crib. A stop at the store, and it was back to the hotel for our last dinner. We gave the ladies in the restaurant the box of chocolates and thank them for taking care of us so well. After dinner, it was time to pack for our return to Almaty. With a relatively small amount of grunting, we managed to shove everything into our bags. So, here we are. We will have breakfast at the hotel and then do the last of our packing. We are to meet Marina in the lobby at 12:45 p.m.
	4/7/03	This is the first chance I've had to write. We went to the Baby House to pick up Cameron at 12:45 yesterday. The plane was late, so we waited at the Baby House for about an hour before leaving for the airport. At the airport, we waited in the "VIP" lounge until it was time to board the plane. When we got on the plane, we saw there weren't very many people, so we spread out across the seats in front of us. The flight was once again very smooth and Cameron was great. In fact, he started to nod off as the plan was landing in Kochestau! As the plane was getting ready to take off again, about 10 young men cam on board who were in high spirits. They each had a "Juicy" box. Something tells me there wasn't just orange juice in those boxes. We were afraid we were in for a rowdy flight. But within minutes of take-off, they had all fallen fast asleep. Cameron fell asleep too, and slept for a good 40 minutes. Everything was smooth and we taxied into Almaty at 7:45 p.m. A couple kind gentlemen helped us get our bags, both onto the shuttle and also to the parking lot. At the parking lot, our eyes searched for the familiar face of Dimash from the lawyers' office. We did not see him. We began to be concerned, standing with all our luggage, Cameron and men asking us in Russian if we needed a taxi. After what seemed the longest amount of time, but was actually only about five minutes, Dimash cam dashing up. Behind him was Marat, our driver. They had been stopped by the police. Marat drove us to our apartment, which is very nice. It's different than the first one. It has a good sized kitchen, living room, bedroom, and separate bathroom. Marat returned after taking Dimash home so we could go to the Ramstore. Tom bought some food and water so we could have dinner and breakfast. We had a playpen for Cameron to sleep in. He had some trouble adjusting to his new surrounding so he couldn't sleep and Mama and Daddy couldn't go to sleep either. I kept trying to hear him breathe. Tom finally laid down on the floor next to the crib and Cam and I got some sleep. We had breakfast this morning and Marat picked us up at 10:40 a.m. to go to the medical clinic for Cameron to get his physical. Cam got a clean bill of health and the doctor told us that there was no way some of the medical diagnoses could be correct. Everyone was impressed by how active Cam is. In the waiting room, we ran into Denise, Scott, and Alma, and Connie and Marina. Cam and Alma were so cute together. Cam gently reached out and took Alma's hand as he smiled at her. We have a very outgoing and sweet boy. Maybe even a bit of a flirt. Jim Harding was also there and took a group picture of us. From there we went to get a picture taken for the visa and then to the Ramstore. Cameron had started getting sleepy at the medical clinic and he was completely asleep by the time we arrived at the apartment. We took him straight out of his Snugli and put him in his crib. And he slept for over an hour. Cam's nap gave us time to have a quiet lunch together. He woke a short time later and has had us going ever since. I gave him a sponge bath and left him in just his diaper so he could enjoy being cool. We are going to the US Embassy tomorrow for our interview, so Cam can get his US Visa. Once that is done, we'll be completely paper ready to go home. We hope to meet the Kents for dinner tomorrow.
	4/8/03	Cameron slept pretty well last night. He really fought going to bed, even though he was obviously tired. It took about 1 1/2 hours, but he finally fell asleep at about 9:00 p.m. He woke us up at about 2:00 a.m. At 2:30 a.m., he started crying, so we got up and fed him a bottle. He didn't go back to sleep until 4:30 a.m. We all pretty much slept then until 6:30 a.m. We got up, and at 7:00 a.m., we called my mother with our new I-Card. She was able to call us right back and we had a nice chat. After the phone call, Cameron had breakfast. He had some warm cereal and formula. Cam seems to enjoy the cereal and rinks the new formula with no problem. Cam had just finished breakfast when the phone rang. It was Aunt Linda! My Mom had called her and give her our phone number and she'd called to hear we were alright first hand. Marat picked us up at 2:50 p.m. today for our last meeting with the lawyers. She discussed and explained what would happen at the US Embassy and covered our departure from Almaty. Everything for the US Embassy was done. All we needed to do was show up at the office with Cameron, sign a couple forms and wait for our documents. We also talked about our experiences in Petropavlovsk. When we told her about the donation to Vital Records, Gulzhan was astounded and a little upset. She left the room and came back with money to cover what we had given. We were at the lawyers' for about 40 minutes, then it was time to go to the US Embassy. When we arrived, the Kents with Alma and Connie with Colleen were already there. We each waited for our names to be called. Pretty soon, we heard a woman call out "Williams" and we went to a window where a very nice lady waited for us. She was very friendly and congratulated us. She also asked about Cameron's middle name, Carlpatrick, saying it was very interesting. Tom signed two forms after taking an oath. Then the lady told us we could sit down and wait for our packet to be readied. A few minutes later, we heard our name again and went to a different window and received that precious white envelope with Cameron's US Visa. At 6:30 p.m., we met the Kents' at "Mad Murphy's Irish Pub" for dinner. Our first dinner out as a family. We had a great time. We compare war stories and admired each other's babies. Cameron was very good. He only spit on Mama's pants one time. Marat will be picking us up at 1:15 a.m. Thursday to go to the airport. We are paying for the VIP service, which will allow Dimash to help us with our luggage and ensure we are safely checked in. We will be on the plane with the Kents, Connie & Colleen and Jim Harding (the director of our agency.) Tomorrow, we will lay low, relaxing, getting organized, and packed.
	4/9/03	Only hours until we leave Kazakhstan. Between teething and a cough, Cameron had a rough night last night. Mama and baby finally got a good three hours of sleep between 3:30 and 6:30 a.m. Both my mother and Linda called to check in on us. Linda call mainly to finalize arrangements for our arrival in Atlanta tomorrow. After Cam had lunch we all managed to get a little rest. I had spent the morning packing, and I now have almost everything in suitcases. Right now, as I write, Cam is on the floor playing with his dragon. He seems to like the mirror with crinkly cover.
	4/16/03	We've been home almost one week now, and we're still adjusting and trying to establish a schedule for Cameron, so he'll sleep through the night. Marat arrived at 1:05 a.m. on April 10th, to take us to the airport. The streets were quiet as we speed to our awaiting plane. The others in our party arrived shortly after and we all went inside the terminal. Dimash organized all our luggage and obtained our boarding passes. From there we went through customs and passport control and showed Cameron's visa. We then went into a waiting area which had a TV. We waited there for a while and then were called to board a bus that would take us to the plane. The flight from Almaty to Frankfurt went very well. We had bulkhead seating, and the flight attendant attached a bassinet to the wall for Cameron. He went right to sleep in that, and slept for most of the flight. He woke up about 45 minutes outside of Frankfurt, and we entertained him while he sat in the bassinet. Our stay at the airport seemed pretty long, and we passed a lot of the time at the McDonald's. Finally, at 10:30 a.m., we boarded the plane headed for Atlanta, Georgia. I won't bore you with the details of that ten hour flight. I'll only say that it felt like the longest ten hours of our lives. Cameron was a very good boy, but he played for about 5 hours straight! And by the time we arrived, Tom and I had been up for 48 hours. I know we were barely functioning. Eventually, the plane did land. We went through passport control. Use the lines for US citizens, they know what to do, and it is much faster. We were sent to another room, for Cameron's paperwork to be processed. They called us to the counter, reviewed his documents and stamped his passport with the IR-3 stamp. Cameron became a US citizen. Then it was on to collect baggage and find Linda, who was picking us up. On the way we saw the Kent family contingency and Jim and Cindy Harding. Then, there was Aunt Linda, patiently waiting for us. We collected our luggage, and we were on our way. The entire Williams family slept for most of the ride home. We walked into the house after greeting our wonderful Dante, and placed a sleeping Cameron in his crib. The journey to bring Cameron home was complete. And the adventure begins.... Addendum: For those interested, we used World Partners Adoption Inc. We were and are extremely happy with everyone involved with the agency, particularly the agency directors Jim and Cindy Harding. If you have any questions about World Partners or Kazakhstan, please don't hesitate to email me. I'll answer during one of Cameron's naps.