Friday, January 12, 2007
Events are rolling along at a dizzying pace. I was sent some concrete information this morning about the trip to Kaz - timeframe, etc. Good news - the flight from Astana to Petro is only about $60. Bad news, it can take a week after the bonding period for the court hearing to be scheduled. Maybe I can bribe someone to get a better hearing date. Worth a try, if necessary.
I was also told about the gifts I will need to take - 6 for women, 4 for men. Things about Georgia or Atlanta shouldn't be too hard to find. I already have a couple of calendars. Maybe some tee shirts would be good, too. Gift giving is a very important part of adopting a child in a foreign country. They usually aren't terribly expensive. I do worry about getting everything in the suitcase.
One funny thing the information said was that in Kaz people will wear the same clothes for a week, so we shouldn't worry about taking too many clothes. LOL. I don't plan to take too many clothes, but a bottle of Woolite comes in handy, for sure. That and a lot of deoderant.
I spent a great deal of time last night obsessively making a photo book for Matthew. It's fascinating. I keep thinking of photos I want to add, and then I have to hunt them down and scan them in, and the process drags out. Composing the pages and writing the captions is so much fun. It reminds me of the days when I was an editor of my high school newspaper and had to lay out my pages. On the computer it's a whole lot easier, though.
I may just wait on translating anything, get the book in hard copy and copy it. Then, in copying the pages, add in the Russian. This book is up to $40 now and I would hate it if he lost it. I did a much less elaborate album for Alesia and she lost it, or it was stolen. Fortunately I made a copy.
I am asking Alesia to write little essays each day. Yesterday, she was supposed to write about what she liked and disliked about Russia. She said she really liked snow - two paragraphs on that. Here, it's in the 60's the next few days. She really didn't like the fact that "They didn't teach me anything!" She is highly cognizant of the fact that she was woefully ignorant academically when she came here. She is zipping through the curriculum, though. I am proud of her.
I would love to post the cute new photos I got recently of my son, but I can't. If the agency or the Kaz govt. got wind of it I'd be in deep doo-doo because technically I'm not supposed to know about him before I go. E-mail me privately if you'd like to see them.
I got my business license and opened my bank account for my new corporation, Scribblerchick, Inc. This was my book earnings won't kill me too much at tax time next year, we hope. I felt very grownup, getting the business license. The publisher is supposed to post the book on their website and Amazon soon, like today or tomorrow, and we are supposed to have the books next week. Still waiting.
Good news about traveling - a friend has offered to loan me a laptop. I will be able to e-mail home every day - much cheaper than calling. Yay!
More good news - I lost 8 lbs. last week. Half of it was probably water weight, but it's a start. I worked out this morning - well, 15 minutes on the elliptical. I will do more tonight. I am also going to try and walk at lunch.
