Aliya's room

We will be leaving in 72 hours. Here are pix of the newly finished baby room.

We were blessed to have a shower this past weeked at my mom's house, and barely had to buy a thing for little Aliya's arrival. Thank you so much to everyone! And especially thanks to Mel, Shana, and Lorie & Rick for driving such a long way to get there. It was great to see everyone. Let the countdown begin.

It's official

As of this morning, the 15 day appeal period is over. We are officially Aliya's mom & dad. My heart is so full. Now our coordinator will apply for her passport, which typically takes 2-3 weeks. Then we fly back to Kaz (a nurse from the baby house will bring her to Almaty for us), do some paperwork with the U.S. Embassy. And then it's home sweet home with our new baby girl. We plan to leave Feb. 1st, and return home Feb. 8th, if all goes smoothly from here on out.

I am smiling from ear to ear.

Christmas video

Better late than never: