[mrbkr]

Howdy Folks,

Sorry it took so long to get back to you. I’ve been trying to catch up on a lot of neglected stuff around here after being gone for a month. It’s a wonder the whole place hasn’t fallen apart. You should see the stack of mail on my desk. Whewww…. Where to start?

Linda and I are in our early 50’s. This is our second adoption. We adopted a 14 year old girl named Kristina from Russia a couple of years ago. She is now 16 going on 35. It’s nice to have teen aged kids because you always have someone around that knows everything there is to know. We also have three other grown children with families of their own. We actually have grandchildren that are Timur’s age. I like grandkids a whole lot better than regular kids. LOL…….

Timur is 15 years old. He was given up at birth and has been institutionalized his entire life. He has never experienced the things that each of us takes for granted. He’s never been to a restaurant, the movies, skating, had pizza, popcorn, clothes he can call his own etc. I had to grab him by the scruff of the neck a couple of times to keep him from running out in traffic when we finally got him out to go shopping for some clothes. He was so excited to actually go to a store and buy things. More importantly, he has never experienced the love of a family. He’s never been tucked into bed and kissed good night. He’s never been told I love you by a mother and father. He soaks our loving attention up like a sponge. He has so desperately wanted a family his entire life. You should have seen the look of shock on his face when we met him for the first time. He had no idea we even existed prior to that. He thought his chances of ever having a family had diminished. Actually we’ve been trying to get him adopted for over three years. Time was running out for him so we grabbed the bull by the horns and finally adopted him ourselves. It was God’s plan for us all along I guess.

Anyway, of course we love this boy. He’s our son. But, we also like this kid. He is very likable. He has a wonderful personality and a genuine smile that lights up the room. He’s thick skinned and can take a joke as well as dish it out. Those characteristics are imperative if he’s to survive in our family. Grin. He insisted on taking his new clothes back to the boarding school so he could show them off. His mother and I debated strongly over that and yielded to his lesser judgment. Anyway, when I inquired about the clothes a couple of days later, he looked me square in the eye and without missing a beat he said, “I sold them”. He was giving me a taste of my own medicine because I tease him all the time. Everyone was rolling around laughing at my expense. I told him he’s going to look mighty funny getting on the plan naked when we left for home. I said it’s going to be a bit cold too. In any event, he one up’ed me.

To answer some of your questions, the Kazakhstan experience was considerably different than the Russian experience. The best Russian orphanages don’t hold a candle to the care that the kids get in Kazakhstan at least from what we experienced. We were quite impressed with what we saw. On the other hand, Kazakhstan is far more depressed than Russia of course. It’s really not a place I’d go out of my way to include on my vacation itinerary. Linda can’t wait to come home. She and Timur should arrive home on 09-Jan-08. We made the best of it though which is the best advice we can give to any PA’s headed in that direction. Presently, considering the state of international adoption status throughout the world, Kazakhstan in our opinion is the most lucrative place to adopt from.

It took approximately 5 weeks to receive our L.O.I. from Kazakhstan once we submitted our dossier to their consulate here in the U.S. Keep in mind that that is an expedited process time. Be prepared to grease a few palms if you expect your paperwork to be processed in an expedient manner. Otherwise it takes 3 to 4 months for the Kazakhstan consulate to process your dossier and send it off to the M.O.E. in Kazakhstan. Then after that, there is no telling how long it takes. Resolve yourself to the fact that they do things in Kaz time there and it can be quite frustrating. They certainly don’t have a sense of urgency that’s for sure.

As far a unexpected experiences are concerned I’m sure there were a few. None that I can think of off the top of my head though. I’m sure Linda can expound on that. We were quite prepared because we did a tremendous amount of research and relied on others for information. Our friends on this forum were extremely valuable in that regard.

Timur was at the regional boarding school but he did not originate from there. He was at another orphanage about 450 kilometers away and they transferred him to the regional facility in preparation for his adoption. He was transferred because they did not have the administration or infrastructure to accommodate an international adoption from where he was at. He was at regional less than a month when we arrived. I think it’s important to note that although he was there for such a short time he was very popular with all the other kids there. That says a lot about his personality.

The “Regional Boarding School” is an impressive place to say the least. There are nine groups of children from 1st thru 11th grade called family units. Each unit consists of approximately 25 children divided equally among boys and girls. They are well organized and the kids are very well taken care of. I fell in love with all the children in Timur’s unit and cried like a baby when I left there after my last day. They clung on me like I was some sort of celebrity. There are so many beautiful children but only about 10% are actually eligible for adoption.

In my entire life, this is the most rewarding thing I have ever done hands down. No other experience compares to the blessings that God has bestowed on our family since we adopted Kristina over two years ago. Originally I thought I needed another kid like I needed another hole in the head. Some folks think we have rocks for brains adopting children at our age. Our complicated lives got so much easier when we submitted to God’s plan and stopped trying to direct the events in our own lives. His plan seems to work out a whole lot better. Real life is truly stranger and more exciting than fiction.