Tempting Fate

We have been working under the assumption that we had at least until the end of September before we would travel. We have been very busy at work and have not begun to prepare – we have not wrapped up projects at work, packed, bought what we need for the trip, bought gifts, or ordered money. We took it too far, though, and both of us had business trips planned this and next week. I am in Mississippi now and trying to figure out how to efficiently evacuate 30 archaeologists before Gustav hits when it took us months to get them all down here. Chris is supposed to go to Germany next week. Well, as I said, we took it too far in tempting fate and just got a call that our LOI arrived and we have to be in Kazakhstan in about 1 WEEK!! After waiting nearly 3 years (since we started the China adoption) you would think we would be more prepared!

Surprise!

On Sunday our friends John and Heather, who are church youth counselors with Chris, held a party for the youth who are going away to college for the first time – as well as those returning to college. After the evening church service we headed over to the party, and were amazed to find that the youth and counselors had instead planned a surprise baby shower for us!

I cannot believe how generous and supportive everyone is. We got a lot of cute clothes and books and other useful things. More than anything we were reminded again that we have a wonderful community who will be there for us whenever we need it. Plus the youth are willing to babysit!

Where are We Going?

Astana!

Astana is the new capitol of Kazakhstan although a lot of official business still takes place in Almaty. The city was called Akmola before becoming the capitol in 1997. Akmola grew up in the 1820s around a Cossack fortification on the banks of the Ishim River. This city was chosen for the new capitol in part because of its location near the center of the Eurasian Continent. Astana is located in the Kazakh Steppe, a flat, semi-arid steppe that covers most of the interior of the country. Astana is the second coldest capitol in the world, after the capitol of Mongolia. I am really hoping we will be home before November (but still have no idea since we do not yet have a Letter of Invitation) because in November the average high temperature is 28 degrees! It keeps getting colder after that. Astana used to be a place a lot of people went for adoptions, but due to the increase in economic development and domestic adoption in the region, it seems that recently fewer people have been going to Astana. We are so excited!