Our Last Day in Uzbekistan

Friday

After we finished getting the visa, and going through the last of everything, our coordinator gave us each gifts....this is a traditional Uzbek cap & vest that she got for Cole, and she gave me (Julia) a very pretty silk scarf & a hand painted ceramic mug for Marc.

Visa Day

We're just counting down the hours until we can go pick up Cole's visa....

UPDATE! We have in our hands Cole's visa!!!! We are thrilled beyond belief to know that we are just a couple of days away from being home. Our coordinator took us to the airport afterward, so that she could get Cole's passport checked in advance, which should save us some time on our actual departure day. Also, Cole turned 19 months old today (Friday over here).

Thursday

We finally have an appointment with our embassy today at 3pm, however this doesn't guarantee that they will have Cole's visa ready for us by tomorrow. We are praying that all will go well, and that we'll be able to get out of here on schedule...We should know one way, or the other after our appointment this afternoon. Keep your fingers crossed for us!!!!!

BTW, we just had an on-camera interview with the local news station, because today is National Tourist Day, and the front desk of our hotel phoned us up & asked us if we would be willing to come down to the lobby, and have an interview. Why not! It will air at 7:30pm this evening, but I don't know if we'll be able to get a copy of it. We of course told them we were just here visiting friends, and mentioned nothing about adoption...not something you want to announce on camera ya know?

Okay so it is now Thursday evening, and our interview at the embassy went very well, thankfully! We are to pick up Cole's visa at 4pm tomorrow, which will keep us on our original departure schedule. We had a ton of family & friends working on our behalf contacting congressmen, senators, etc, and it seems it all paid off! A big Thank You to everyone that was helping us:) Can't wait to be back in the good old US.

Departure Date Unknown

We were hoping to get an interview date from the US embassy today, because we've been waiting for one since Monday now, but still nothing. We are stuck waiting by the phone for them to call us with whatever update they have. It is a tad frustrating to say the least, and the last place we expected to have any problems was at our own US embassy!

Sunday

We spent our Saturday at the zoo in Tashkent. I think Cole actually slept through most of it, but he seemed to be fairly intrigued by the fish at the aquarium, and I think he associated them with his now favorite movie Finding Nemo!

Saturday

Today our coordinator took us out on a tour of Tashkent. We visited a bazar, where we tried on some traditional Uzbek garments, and tasted a ton of different nuts, fruits, & candies. Later we went to the Caravan for dinner, and after visited a small art shop next door. It was a pretty full day, and I think all 3 of us were passed out by 9pm!

Breakfast Included

Thank goodness breakfast is included with our hotel stay, and that it's all Cole can eat!

Cole loves to flirt with practically every woman he sees, and is quite taken with other children. We've had quite a few people introduce themselves to us, because they were drawn in by our little bee charmer of a son!

He really is a good little boy, except when he runs out of food & he's still hungry...then look out! He smiles and laughs most of the day, and is entertained fairly easy. We've been working on walking...his is between Frankenstein & the mummy right now:) And we're learning to communicate the best we all can.

We have received Cole's new birth certificate and passport so far. We're pretty much on our own until next week, and we're hoping to find something to do over the next couple of days, as hotel life is starting to get a little old.

We will take Cole to see an International Doctor first thing Monday morning, and then have an appointment to meet with the US Embassy on Tuesday. We will have a 2nd appointment with the embassy a couple of days later, and that should then complete everything.

Overall, things have been great...our son, the food, the people, etc, but we are of course looking forward to getting home soon....

Internet usage is a little different over here, and not cheap, so I will do my best to update the blog every couple of days, or when I have news. Talk to everyone soon:)

First Words

I was in our hotel bathroom when all of the sudden I heard Cole through the door, but surely I must have heard incorrectly. I quickly opened the bathroom door and Marc says, did you hear what Cole just said? It sounded like he said "momma" Yeah, he said momma 4 times!

We Are Family

Greetings from Uzbekistan! We made it!! After 2 lengthy flights, 1 bus shuttle, and a horrendous arrival into customs in Tashkent...we're unpacked & in our hotel just a mere 30 hours later.

Our first evening was spent unpacking & decompressing.

On Tuesday morning our coordinator picked us up and drove of us all over the city to various stops and/or appointments that we needed to make.

We were able to get Cole's new birth certificate. And, we got back to our hotel around 1pm, to prepare our room & ourselves for Cole's arrival.

Cole arrived at our hotel around 3:30 with our coordinator, his nanny, & another friend of our coordinator. He was a little confused about his new surroundings, and after talking for a bit in the lobby, we headed to our room. We spent about a half hour talking, and letting him adjust. I believe he only cried for a few minutes initially after everyone left him with us. He handled it all very well.

I had him hysterically laughing after just a few short hours, and he's a huge fan of the Cheerios! The language barrier doesn't seem to be an issue, as he knows how to get his point across just fine.

We're now going to get some breakfast. I will try to add more today, or tonight!!

It's Travel Day

I'm pretty sure I got a grand total of 3 hours sleep last night....tossed & turned way too much. But the good news is that I'll have plenty of time to catch up on sleep during our endless flight to Uzbekistan. My next post will (hopefully) be from Uz...

Hurry Up & Go

It's amazing how quickly any little thing in International Adoption can change in less than a moments notice. For anyone that has not yet heard, we were told yesterday that we need to get on a plane to Uzbekistan this Sunday! Oh, and that we'll need to extend our trip by another full week. No pressure there.

Travel Update

We are now looking into traveling some time between September 23rd - October 6th.

This is all happening so fast. And yes my mind is completely spinning out of control right about now.

So many things to do still, but that's okay, the sooner we can be with our son...the better!

However, finding airline tickets is proving to be quite the challenge, so who knows when we'll actually get there?? There's still more waiting to be had, unfortunately.