about my journey

I forget that everyone doesn't know what's been going on on my 3 year and 3 week journey. So here is a brief overview;

I started with Children's Hope back in 2007, after a year and the MFA, my paperwork and everyone else's came back for many different reasons. During that time Lou Ann had introduced me to Erin who tried to help me find my paperwork in Kaz to no avail...maybe it never was there. Anyway, I was very loyal to Erin after that and when my paperwork came back, I signed with her agency, Kids to Adopt, the next day.

I submitted my paperwork last June and after many delays and tears, nothing to do with Kids to Adopt...they are wonderful, I traveled for the first time June 2010. I was coming to Kaz to meet Sam, a little boy who would have been about 20 months. His birth mother shows up just weeks (first time) before I was to travel. I knew that she still hadn't signed the paperwork for him before I left but I decided to go anyway. I work for an airline so that helped a lot with my expenses.

I got to Kaz and the 16 year old BM still hadn't signed the boy over so my team took me to several BH in Almaty. I met about 6 kids all with SN. There was a little girl 11 months who had been sleeping and they asked that I come back the next day. The picture that they painted of her was not very good. I really was sick about going back and I was considering getting a new LOI to another region. They told me the little girl didn't push herself up, didn't interact with others, small head....didn't really do much and that she was unadoptable.

We went back to the BH the next day and I met this little girl. She was very sweet and curiously watched us. I handed her a teether and she took it immediately and put it in her mouth. She was very attentive and had good hand to mouth coordination. The little girl was 11 months and weighed 13.5 pounds and very tiny but her head seemed very much in proportion to her body.

I know it works differently for different people but this was a case of love comes softly. I told my team that I really liked her. I spent the rest of the day talking with my friends who were already adoptive parents and I heard a very similar story many times. Delayed children who caught up rapidly and that they just needed time and attention. By the end of the day I had made my choice to bond with Miss Sabrina. I was excited!

We had 6 days together and while everything went well, the Chief Doctor was on vacation and we were waiting for the official medical and details on the process at this Baby House. When the CD finally came back on Monday she was very upset and said that Sabrina was not available for adoption but would be in July. Everything screeched to a halt. The CD agreed to not let anyone else "meet" Sabrina. The team and I went out and got $190 worth of medications for her to help her stay strong and well. I only hoped that this would be enough to "keep" her for me. In those 6 days I had really come to love this little girl who I would call Stella Sabrina. The last day I carried her up to her room and my heart was beating so hard and I cried when I said goodbye to my little pumpkin.

After so much disappointment it was such a hard month. Back to work as usual and I started the visa process all over again. I didn't hear much on Stella Sabrina during that month and I just prayed that she would be waiting for me when I got back.

I got back to Almaty on a Friday...after a few hours of rest, we went to he MFA for new direction to go chose a child...by the time we got to the BH, everyone was gone for the day. Back on Monday and after hours of waiting finally got an appointment with the Chief Doctor and the Care and Custody person. (I talk more about that day in my post "a long road to this day") I said I would be brief but I guess I lied.....I just want to finish up by saying that when Stella Sabrina came into the room my heart felt like it would just burst! Love had come softly but when I saw her again after a month I knew that this little sweet girl had to be mine...this time love blew me away!

This is my brief story...thanks for tuning in!