[randloar]

Thanks for acknowledging my brother, I really just wanted to share that since losing him has helped my perspective that life is to live, and not wait for it to come to me (live for today, as you don't know where you will be tomorrow!)! Everyone has different needs in life, but that need was awakened for me at that time. We do miss him, but still think of him all the time.

A little background on Kazakhstan. The population is listed as:Kazakh 53%, Russian 30%, Ukrainian 4%, Uzbek 2.5%, German 2.4%, Tartar 1.9% and a combination of others 7.1%
Kazakh ethnicity is described as having turkish and mongolian ancestry, and the people are beautiful!! Kaz broke away from Russia in 1991, so yes, there are ties to Russia, and there is still a good sized Russian population.

Many people switched over to Kaz while Russia was having problems last year since they were able to find caucasian children there. At this point, there are so many more people going to Kaz, it is taking longer for those families to find their kids, and as you can see only about 30-40% of the population would fit their criteria. But there are so many kids there if you dont' specify ethnicity, so it depends on what works for your family.

Sorry if I didn't clarify, we haven't yet traveled. We are waiting for the country to clear us (been at the last step for 3 months now......aarrggh). We had worries about attachment, so wanted a country where the childcare is strong, and Kaz fit that well (6:1 childcare ratios, as opposed to China which is more than double that). Since that was one of our nervous points, that eliminated several countries that I am sure are wonderful, but we wanted to minimize that risk. Interesting how these decisions get made!