She brought
me to the apartment that will be my home for the next three
weeks or so. For $30 a night, I have a two-bedroom apartment
with a full bathroom, kitchen and living/dining room.
I was
awake until about 5:00 AM, unpacking… and pacing, knowing
that in a few hours I’d be meeting my daughter!
I was
picked up at 11:00 AM, ran around town a bit – registering
my passport, exchanging dollars into tenge, and after driving
90 minutes to a little village called Karakastek arrived at
the orphanage where my daughter is living.
Words
can’t describe the feeling as the beautiful little girl
who will soon depend on me for everything was walked into
the visiting room! For the past month I’ve had two pictures
and two videos of her that are worn out from watching over
and over again, and here she was. They placed her in my arms
and she buried her head in my neck. I was in heaven.
We played
and got to know each other for about four hours, and then
it was time to leave. When I got home last night, I was totally
exhausted! But I was being picked up at 9:00 AM in the morning
to go back to the orphanage!
On the
way Galiya had to stop by the courthouse to pick up the final
decisions for two other families who had their court date
the day before. When she came out, she told me my court date
was Thursday! That’s the day after tomorrow! That means
on Friday, I get to bring Alison back to the apartment.
Unfortunately,
Kazakhstani law requires a 15 day waiting period before the
decision is final, so we’re not leaving here for a while,
but we’ll have a couple of weeks to get to know each
other before we get on a plane to Moscow. Yes, Moscow. We
have to go through the U.S. Embassy in order to enter the
U.S. But more about that next time. I’ m exhausted....
Alison's
Journey Home: An Adoption Story - Part 1
Alison's
Journey Home: An Adoption Story - Part 2
Alison's
Journey Home: An Adoption Story - Part 3
Alison's
Journey Home: An Adoption Story - Part 4
Alison's
Journey Home: An Adoption Story - Part 5
Alison's
Journey Home: An Adoption Story - Part 6
Alison's
Journey Home: An Adoption Story - Part 7
Alison's
Journey Home: An Adoption Story - Part 8
Alison's
Journey Home: An Adoption Story - Part 9
Alison's
Journey Home: An Adoption Story - Part 10
Alison's
Journey Home: An Adoption Story - Part 11
Alison's
Journey Home: An Adoption Story - Part 12
About
The Author
Nicole
Sandler is the owner/producer of Legacy Video Productions,
specializing in producing adoption stories. You can see Alison's
Journey Home, the video at www.legacyvideoproductions.com.
