Saturday, August 9, 2008

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!

6 comments:

Joby and Marla said...

It must be so exciting to know where you are going!!! Now you can better plan for packing. I am trying to restain from buying until I get my region.
Marla

KazAdventurers said...

Congratulations, again!
We hope to see you there!

Lisa and Corey

Suzette & Tate said...

What good news. Congrats guys.

Tracy said...

you know... that is great... I am so hoping we hear something,anything soon!

I am so excited for you to meet your baby!

Tracy

Angela said...

Great news! It is a relief to know where you are going. Congratulations. It probably won't be long now.

Tracy said...

No, unfortunatley we have not heard anything yet.

You hear so much on the message boards. I am just trusting our angency to keep us moving. And Having faith that God will bring our son home soon.

I really do want to hear that we have moved on... we will see.