Dan and Kerry are very excited about our son-to-be!

Quinn Tamerlane West

All packed!

We are down to the final days before our departure and are feeling ready. The bags are packed with weight and size restrictions taken into consideration. This was quite a task! We finally purchased a car seat and figured out the diaper size numbering system. Kerry's mom is keeping us fed and under control. Louie the cat is going to hold down the fort by himself!

Astana is in a cold spell with a low in the 30's and high in the 40's. Next week it will be upper 50's!! yeah.

Travel prep and goodbyes

Things are really starting to come together. We are finalizing pet-sitting and house-sitting arrangements this week. Our cat, Louie and dog, Mae will be missed but well cared for. Mae is very anxious to have a brother or sister to love!

Over the weekend we spent time with our new-found friends, the Burg family. They returned from KZ one year ago with Spencer. We can't thank them enough for sharing their wisdom and experiences. Yesterday we said goodbye to family and had one last swim in Lake Michigan. The weather is like July and water temps are around 70 degrees.

Astana the capital of Kazakhstan

We will be based in the capital city of Astana. We understand it is a new city with lots of construction projects.

One more week and we will be uploading our own photos of Astana!!

Counting down

Recent baby celebrations have prepared us for

our new addition.

A wonderful pile of goodies is gathering on our pool table. Baby clothes ranging in size 6-18 months in non-gender specific colors have been a challenge to find. As of right now we do not know the gender or size of our baby.

Thank you everyone for your unending support and encouragement.

We depart on October 12, 7pm EST.

Attention kz4youandme fans - GET READY TO MOBILIZE!

...Not only are we back in the Blog saddle...but we are receiving preliminary news that our Dossier is at the KZ Ministry of Education just waiting for the approval stamp. Once approved we will receive the coveted LOI (letter of invitation). -Which means we travel! - More later.

Love, Dan and Kerry

What's next?

These photos are of a Kazakh girl wearing a wonderful dandelion crown, the famous Kazakh hunting, pet-eagle and the flag of Kazakhstan (note: The eagle flies under the sun).

The finger printing appointment at the Dept. of Homeland Security/Customs and Immigration Services went well. We arrived at 8:00 a.m. on Saturday morning to a line up of the GR international melting pot. The machine digitally read our fingers while we watched on-screen for the unique patterning. The purpose of this round of finger printing is for the United States government to approve our adoption from Kazakhstan.

While waiting 1-2 months for this one page letter of approval we still have a few more forms to complete.

In the meantime we are enjoying the warm spring and family traditions of the season.