Happy Halloween!! and then some

first time at Mc Donalds

an update on Nora

Nora is doing great. She is getting so big. Life is so complete becasue she is here. She is saying mama and dada mik, puppy, duck. And some others things we haven't yet figured out. Maybe it's Russian... who knows. She gives us kisses and hugs all of the time.

Just a few current pictures

The End and The Beginning

We really couldn't be happier people than we are right now. The journey of adoption has been an incredible experience. Last Monday we waited anxiously with our parents at O'Hare airport for Nora to arrive. We saw her coming down the escalator and we thought our hearts would explode! I will remember the moment that Oleg placed our baby girl into Dana's arms the rest of my life. I will also remember she and I falling asleep on the couch late that night. Now we can enjoy life together as a family. She has only been here physically almost a week but in our hearts and souls a long time..... Nora is getting adjusted - she fights sleep but loves food! We look forward to the many joys and adventures of parenthood. We look back and reflect on all our memories and friends made along the way. As I reflect upon my experience of becoming an adoptive parent I now know what my parents felt for me when I was adopted many years ago. Life has come full circle for the Spyker Family, we thank God for his blessings in our lives.

She is on her way!

Well Nora has left the baby house. Amy our dear friend and traveling companion for the first trip was with her when she left. She advise she smiled the whole ride to the airport. I am so happy Amy is with her. The next day Amy and her daughter Karina was picked up to go the the US Embassy to have the medical exams. And there in the car was Nora again . She was with her nurse who is watching her until Oleg takes her to America. Amy said the exams went smoothly. So pretty soon Nora will be with us. And then we will be able to breath again. It's been so long. I can't wait to see her. Please continue to pray for her safe return home. And for us to keep it together until then.

A LONG TWO WEEKS......

Believe it or not, we've been home from Kazakhstan now for 2 weeks. Nellie (our dog) and everyone else is wondering, "Well where is she?" and "When will she be here?" Right now it seems like an eternity since we were there and we miss Nora terribly. We keep busy by working and getting ready for her arrival (and watching videos of her and pictures). We have dedicated an area of the basement for her to play in..... My (Bill) poker table has taken a back seat! We're also planning for her baby shower which is next Sunday, April 13th. Our hope and belief is that we will hear something early next week. We'll be sure to keep you updated!

Back At Home

We apologize for not updating the blog earlier! We had every intention of updating our blog a lot while we were in Kazakhstan but technology doesn't always make that possible. Our computer was unable to connect with their internet so we had to use their computers in the "business center" and that very difficult. Anyway, we are now back home in Chicago, Illinois and miss Nora very much. We left Kazakhstan and are having her escorted back here for several reasons and all are in Nora's best interests. Legally Nora is now our child (the 15 day waiting/appeal process has passed). We expect that she will be with us in approximately 3 weeks if all goes well with the visa/passport paperwork and the escort process. So we will recap and blog some experiences until her arrival, we miss her very much!

Hockey Night/Court

Sorry for not putting more updates and/or quicker updates. The internet frequently goes down and when its up we're at the baby house (go figure). When it is up, there is a mad dash for the 2 computers that are probably 10 years old. So anyway, hockey night was a lot of fun although the home team lost 2-0. Everyone seemed to have a nice time and it was nice to get out for a couple of hours.

Court for us was on Thursday March 6th. Everything went well and we were very relieved. It was an emotional landmark for us. We were excited, relieved, happy, and emotional all at the same time. The 15 day waiting period is now in day 3 for us. After 15 days, we can bring her back to the hotel. We are anxiously awaiting that date of course...... After that, the paperwork for us to leave can begin and we can look forward to returning home.

As I write this, most everyone has returned home to the U.S. We hope that everyone made it home safely to their families. Some will be turning around and coming back in two weeks. Of course without Amy here it just isn't the same.....

Dana has been battling some type of sickness the last few days. Nora has been pretty much sick the whole time we've been here. I battled some home sickness yesterday but am better today. When we left the baby house today, Nora cried as we left her - a good day believe it or not......

Hope all is well back home, we'll write more as we can!!

When does March Madness Begin and End????

The Little Russian Is Doing Well

Well today's events started off with making razberry noises. The Russian was keeping up with the Americans at first. But in the end, the Americans won but only because they are more obnoxious. But in the temper tamtrum event, the Little Russian conquered all and took the Gold. The Americans were in awe as the Little Russian destroyed them - maybe tomorrow we'll have a rematch. HA

Speaking of sports, Bill is going a little crazy due to the lack of US Sports to watch. He can only watch so much soccer or skiing. So who could be surprised back home to hear that Bill set up a hockey night. He bought 20 tickets for the adoption families to have a night out - Ust versus Russia. We have heard that there are actually 8 players from Kazakhstan in the NHL. One is even on the Chicago Blackhawks, he will be our new favorite player. We can walk to the game and the price was right - 250 tenge or about $2.25 per ticket.

Well Nora is still fighting congestion in her chest. She doesn't cough as much but when you hold her, you can feel it. Her behaviour hasn't changed because of it thankfully. She crawls, crawls, and crawls it is so hard to keep up with her. I swear I do my hair and make up every day but after one hour with Nora I am a complete wreck.

I can't wait for everyone to see her facial expressions. She has several different smiles. One look for her and you want to give her whatever she wants to see a smile. She's a looker and cute as a button.

Its hard to believe we have been here for 2 weeks. I miss home, I cried when the internet went down. I wish I could see Nellie my dog and I want my mother too. Everything is ok though because Bill is here. No way could I do this without him, he is my rock. We have been watching the series 24 (1st season) with Kiefer Sutherland, its pretty good and fills up our nights.
Well, I better go for now. If anyone doubts that the United States of America is not the greatest country leave it for a while, you will change your mind. Yes we are very patriotic these days. There is no greater place in the world to me than home: The South Side of Chicago in a little house in the Mt Greenwood neighborhood. Love, Love, Love, Dana

Hello everyone. my name is Nora and this is my mom and dad. They love me very much. I'm having a great time playing with them and they give me tons of kisses. I can't wait to come home to Chicago and see my family. Will my cousins David, Lauren and Alex come over to play with me? I sure hope so. I hear a lot about my grandparents and anties and uncles and it seems like they love me too. Oh the waiting is hard but it's worth it.

love to America!!!!
Nora

please forgive grammer and spelling errors because of jet lag

I just want to say thank you for all your comments and emails. They all mean so much to us. It's really a way to keep in touch with all that is going on with America. I may not be able to comment back but believe me each and everyone is so important to us. We reread them all a bunch of times. Oh America we miss you so much.

Have we told all of you that our matress is GREAT, better than the one we have at home. No back pain here except picking up Nora, I'm so out of shape for that....... We had pizza today. No one is Chicago would call it that. But for Kazakhstan it's not bad. Basicaly I'm on the high Carb diet. Bread, Bread and bread. I have to watch it tho. Elainea from South Africa is starting to have some problems because of the lack of veggies. She has been here much longer than us and has already been to court. so over this long period of time with no vegtables has really put a strain on her.

Nora is pretty sick now. She has a bad cough and she is so congested. She let me hold her yesterday for a long time. She just stared into my eyes. And then she started to close her eyes but didn't. I think she was afarid she would miss something. Bill got to feed her a bottle today . I think Bill will do most of the feedings so she will bond with him that way. ( Oh by the way Bill is the first man she has ever seen) Bill is very happy about this too. This was the first time we saw a bottle. They normaly feed the children with a cup regardless of age. It really werid to see such small children being fed that way. Did I tell you that she just turned 1. She had a birthday right before we got here. I can't believe we get to bring her home. (God willing) Bill and i both are over the moon about her. It nice to see Bill growing so found of her. You would think he would get board of talking about her with me. But no. He now has a new woman in his life and I couldn't be happier for him.

Hello everyone. Bill and I are sorry we have not bloged much but we have been a bit preoccupied. HA! We also have had problems with our lap top connection with the Wi Fi.
So the trip was ridiculously long. LONG!! 9 hours to Frankfurt Germany,6 hour layover, 8 ½ hour flight to Almaty Kazakhstan, then picked up in the midle of the night to be dropped off at the hotel for 10 hour nap. Then pick up for our 1 hour flight into Ust. Which was delayed about an 1 ½. But we are here now. It’s a lovely town with lovely, kind people. We feel very comfortable. We are very close to Russia. And there is more Russian people here that I thought there would be. 50% Kaz and 50% Russian. But then again we are very close to Russia. We love our coordinator Alma and driver Bolat. They are so nice and easy to be around. We love Amy. Our travel companion and who is adopting as well. (Karina who is almost 4) And we love our new Irish friends Phillip and Amanda as well as our South African friends Jeremy and Elaina.

We are dressed very dumpy here. These people here know how to dress. They all are so very classy. Very one wear fur. Fur hat, fur coat, fur boots. I think we stand out because we are so casual. The hotel is very nice, except for the internet. It is so aggravating when you wake up early to go down to the lobby and it’s out of service. And our lap top will not connect because their Wi Fi is down.

The breakfast here at the hotel is great. The lunch and dinner is ..well…gross! We have eaten out a few times. The best Chinese food I ever had. For those of you coming to USt don’t bother packing food and toiletries. They store Daniel,is close to the hotel and it’s nice to get out of the room. You can also exchange your money at the store Daniel. The rate is much better than at the airport. The jet lag is awful. I’m writing you this at 2:00am our time. Which is 2:00 pm your time. I can’t sleep but of coarse Bill seems to have know problem. Bill is snoring up a storm right now in the bed room while I sit in the bathroom watching Bridgette Jones Diary. Tomorrow should be interesting with this little sleep but there is an incentive to get up is…NORA!..

Nora is so sweet. We get to see her twice a day once in the morning and then in the afternoon. 1 hour each, sometimes more. She looks like Alex my nephew but cute like a little girl. She is getting to know us and we of her. She loves her care takers. And when we get to the room early to watch her she is very loud and funny. We have tons of videos and we watch them a hundred times a day. She is just beginning to walk with our help. Before we got here the Irish couple Phillip and Amanda had taken some video of the babies room when the music teacher came to play the piano. Nora is jumping up and down and beating her maracas and tambourine! It is priceless. She will fit in our home just fine.
She is a blessing from God.. And thank you God for her. Please keep praying for us. We still have a long road a head.

Every day is Christmas!

Well here she is, Miss Nora Spyker.

She is so sweet!

Well we met her. She is so sweet. Blonde hair Big Blue eyes. We have decided to name her Nora.
Nora Elaine Carolyn Spyker. We have read so much about the process but nothing will prepare you for the first visit. It was over whelming. bill and I were in complete shock. The 2nd visit of the day was much better. We were able to sit down and play with her. She grabed for toys, hears well, follows you around the room with her eyes. She creid for her care giver too. Which is a very good. i think she will be very tall. Her legs go on for miles.

I'm having a hard time posting pictures. So tonight will will work on that. I need to go. but we will write more later.

Love you all!!

Thanks for the prayers but keep them coming

So the Visa's were issued. WOO HOO! So now pray for Fed Ex to get them here on time tomorrow.

please pray

The lastest news is that we got the LOI letter and we sent it with an application for the visas. We sent this information to a document service in DC so they can take it to the Kaz Embassy in DC. The only thing we needed was in the confirmation number. We sent the paperwork on Friday and hoped to get the confirmation on Monday. Which we did. The number came and we called the service with it. Well they didn't get it to the Embassy on time Monday. Tuesday the man who signs the visa was at Capital Hill all day and not at the Embassy, Wednesday the Embassy is closed!!!!!! So that brings us up to today.

So the service should get the visa on Thursday and send it over night to us on Friday in the A.M. Then take our flight Friday night. Yes all in the same day. Do you think it's kinda close? AH YA!!!! Please pray for us. If it's God's will for us to be delayed then just let me accept it.

It's Bill's Birthday!!!

Happy Birthday Billy!!!! My wish for you dear husband is that this coming year and everyone after will be the best ever. I hope you become a dad and become the father that God has always intended you to be. I hope you fall in love with your baby girl so much that she has you wrapped around her finger. I hope for you long lazy mornings in bed with you and me and the baby in between with Nellie down at our feet. I also hope for you to walk in the St. Jude Police parade with your baby girl in your arms.

You are the foundation of this family.

Happy Birthday Billy-O

Well today was a hard day. We woke up and started working on getting everything ready. We called our health insurance, travel insurance, travel agent, hotel and credit cards. Then for a very nice lunch break my sister in law Carolyn and nephewAlex took me to Pot Belly's. It was the calm before the storm. ......As soon as I walked back in I checked our email. And there it was our LOI!! I explained earlier that the LOI (Letter of Invitation) is needed to get a visa. So the visa process started. Thankfully we are using a service that will make sure our documents get to the Kaz embassy and sent back to us. We need to pray to make sure we get the visas back on time to make our flight on the 15th. If not then we will have to push back the dates. BOOOOO!!! So ..... things are crazy but they are moving forward. Oh.... another very cool thing is that we are traveling with another Adoption Ark (that's our agency) client. Her name is Amy. We just found out that we are going together 2 days ago. Since then we have spoken several times. She is very nice and I am thrilled we are going together. She is from the south subarbs and we are from the south side of Chicago. And instead of meeting up somewhere in between ......no ... We are meeting up in Frankfurt Germany! Ha !!!Well she has family there and will met us for the last leg of the journey into Kaz.

Well I need to shut my brain off. So I'm signing off. It's 8:50pm here and it's 8:50am where my baby is....,.I wish I was there to see her open her eyes. Good morning baby.

Our Hotel

We have found a nice hotel to stay at in Oskemen during the adoption process. Its called The Shiny River Hotel. They even worked out a nice rate for us for an extended stay for the adoption. And of course we were happy that the breakfast buffet is included as well. It also has a restaurant, high speed internet, satellite television, and a sports bar. They are big hockey fans in Kazakhstan. Here is a link to their website with some additional pictures:

http://www.shinyriverhotel.kz/index-e.html

The city/region we were assigned to go to in Kazakhstan is Oskemen. The picture to the left is a picture of the city. Öskemen, formerly Ust-Kamenogorsk, city, northeastern Kazakhstan. It is a port at the junction of the Irtysh and Ulba rivers, and is a road and railroad hub. The city's industries produce zinc, lead, titanium, and magnesium; machinery; and chemicals. Öskemen was founded as a Russian military outpost in 1720 and given the name Ust-Kamenogorsk. It was given its present name after Kazakhstan became an independent nation in 1991. Population (1993 estimate) 334,000

Here is a link on You Tube that you can click and see some pictures but I don't think you'll understand a word of the song! Thanks for looking and enjoy:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GbQUhtHEafM

Here is a picture of Almaty. Almaty is the largest city in Kazakhstan. Its a large city with over 1 Million people living there. Why do I say all this? Because today we were told we need to be there by Saturday, February 16th so we will be in our region by Monday, February 18th. We are surprised how quickly this has come after months and months of waiting. Next step....get the airline tickets!! We have a few documents to get ready as well and of course make sure we're off work and have jobs to come back to!! We are expecting this first trip to take approximately 4 weeks. Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers!!

Packing is pretty crazy. Nellie has advise that yes the 900 thread count sheets would be a good idea to bring. I think she is right.

She also feels that the Charmin batheroom tissus TO GO is something no one should go to Kazakhstan with out... And I think she is right about that as well...

Here is Bill and our good friend Brian putting up the baby crib. Brian and his wife Sue gave us this crib. Thank God Brian was there, Bill and I would have never been able to put that crib together if it wasn't for him. Poor baby may had to sleep on the floor if it wasn't for him. Baby says thank you Brian.

Well I figured I would give everyone a little recap of the past couple of months leading up to today. Tho the picture doesn't show it I was close to the edge of loosing it. The paperwork chase is nothing I would ever wish on my worst enemy. ...........or maybe I would....hummmmm

Yes we have the region!

Well, we finally heard from our Coordinator that we are going to Ust- Kamengorski, Kazakhstan.

To many of you this sounds crazy. To our ears it sounds like music. That is where our baby girl is. If you look on a globe it's exactly on the other side of the world. On this map here it's the city most North/East. We are now waiting for Our LOI. Which is our Letter of Invitation to go to the country. Once we get that letter we can get our visa and then we are gone. Alla our coordinator here in the US said it will be about 2-3 weeks. So now we are trying to get everything ready to go. Stopping our mail, getting Nellie(puppy dog) over to Uncle Wally's house, getting travel insurance..... It's a crazy time.

We both feel so blessed that this is happening. I also feel that this has been and still will be the hardest thing we will ever do. But it occured to me yesterday that it should be this hard. Of course if it was easy I would think something illegal is going on with our agency.... but what I'm really trying to say is that this country is giving us, Dana and Bill Spyker this little precious life to us. And in trusting to us the future of this little girl. How amazing! This can't be taken lightly. This is important. The most important thing I will ever do. I'm sure of it. That is why I believe the process should be tough because it's that important. Nothing good ever comes easy. And boy this is SO GOOD!