February 4, 2010

Well where do we start, today has been a life changing day today Feb 4th 2010 we met a special little boy who we hope will become our son. he is 7 months old with the biggest blue/green eyes and cute little smile, he is a big boy weighing a little over 17.5 lbs   he was all smiles and just loved Isabel who was so happy and excited to finally meet him we will begin bonding hopefuly tomorrow.

Now this is how the day began we woke early to get our flight to Semey  on a very small Folker plane you will see from the pictures how small, sorry Tammy and Carolyn only a couple of pictures and they almost took my camera as you are not allowed to take pictures at the airport but once he heard I only spoke english I am sure he understood but up until then my camera or a least the chip hung in the balance.T he airline was Scat it was not as bad as I had expected yes very small and loud and smelled of fumes the whole ride but the main thing it got us to our sons birth place, sound strange our son!, also a we were leavingI  I tripped on the curled carpet and almost fell in to a few people but ended ok.

As we climbed down the stairs we felt how cold it is here, bone chilling we were met by our translator Kim and driver, they seemed surprised we had 3 bags of luggage they were expecting us to have only 1 3 people 1 bag I dont think so 3 bags and that is packing light!!!!!

As we drove to the hotel all we saw was snow Semey is very flat it really looked like we were on the other side of the world which of course we are, once at the hotel we met a lady called Kousla, very nice but does not speak english but talks to me like I understand everything good think we have Kim, we were shown to our room which is very nice and big enough for the 3 of us we are drawing straws who is going to sleep on the floor it is softer than the beds or should we say box springs.Next we were told to be down stairs in 20 mins to go to the baby house what 20 mins  oh am I ready do I look ok? OMG  it is a short drive to the baby house but it seemed for ever once we entered I smelt the kitchen and it brought back strong memories of the day I was in the baby house in Uralsk with my dear friend Carolyn.We were shown in to the directors office where there was also a lady from the MOE who we were told that would give her  verdict about us after we answered some questions, talk about pressure, we were or should i say I was asked a few questions nothing to difficult but she never smiled once just kept looking at me, the director seems very nice and really cares bout the children, we were asked what age and race we wanted and a few other questions about  our life style, nothing too bad and Isabel was with us all the time and is allowed to visit every day.

Suddenly the door opens without warning which I guess was good no time to get teary eyed and in walked a care giver  holding a sweet baby she handed him to be and he just smiled and sucked his thumb- cute, next came in a little boy about  18 months  he had a repaired cleft lip but also had other issues, Isabel went right up to him and he smiled and held her hand thats when i lost it the tears just kept flowing i am not sure if it was the litle boy or a combo of everything rolled in to one. The older boy left leaving us wondering if anyone will adopt him because he too needs a family,We were then told alittle bit of history about the baby and any known medical issues he has.

All to quickly we were asked to take him back to his group which was good to see where he spends his days, we are able to visit 2x a day if he is awake 10-11.30 and 2-4 we will also be able to feed him and take photos of his first home, so we are not sure ir we are able to post pictures but will try, so we will tell you more about him tomorrow when we spend a bit longer with  him, today is a blur but it feels surreal like its not us here this journey has not been easy but we have been chaseing a dream and today I think we may just have caught it and be sure we will hold on tight to it and never it go.

Again thank you for all your emails it is so good to hear from you and we cant wait for tomorrow.
The Vigale Family
Adoption Journey to Kazakhstan
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Isabel in a hurry to get to Semey
A tired but excited couple enroute to Semey
Boarding the plane