Three years ago our lives were forever blessed when the adoption of our daughter, Katlyn Rose, was finalized. I still can not believe we went all the way to Kazakhstan to find her. At the time, it did not seem like such a big deal. I think now that it really was! I felt like we were on "auto-pilot". Everything just seemed to fall into place and the Lord saw to it we had no problems. And we didn't.
Thinking back to how we acquired EAC as our adoption agency is really amazing. By word of mouth, and with the recommendation from our social worker, we just "knew" EAC would be the ones for us to work with. I mean, it is astonishing that I have never physically met any of the people who helped us find our daughter. I trusted in the Lord and trusted in them and all went well with our endeavor. We had no paper glitches, no unforeseen expenses. The estimated time of waiting was actually shorter than expected. We were able to travel earlier than EAC anticipated and that was great with us! Everything was in order once we arrived, no surprises awaited us. With the language barriers and the feeling of being a stranger in a foreign land, you really are at the mercy of the EAC partners in Kazakhstan. This was not a bad thing at all. e had a most welcome feeling from the EAC partners in Kazakhstan and felt safe knowing that the American office of EAC was only a phone call away. We also met with other American families who were adopting and formed a friendship with them that we still continue today. Traveling and arriving was the easiest part of the adoption. REALLY! Our coordinator, Tatyana, had activities for us to do, sometimes with other families, sometimes with our driver or advice on where we could walk to from our apartment. We felt like they really wanted us to have a good time there, to enjoy the culture, to understand where our child was coming from and how the people of Kazakhstan lived. Because we stayed in the apartment as opposed to the hotel, we had a cook come daily. She made the best food and we had the freshest fruits and vegetables. It was wonderful. I would recommend staying at an apartment during your stay. You have a great view of the street and you can have all of your meals freshly prepared. It was liked we were being spoiled.
When we arrived at the baby house where we adopted our little girl, our first smell was of freshly baked bread. It was so good! The first thing we remember seeing were some little children walking, in a straight line no less, to go outside, smiles on their faces. They were adorable and seemed so happy. We felt the warmth of our environment as soon as we walked in. The baby house was always so warm, too warm for us, but they wanted to make sure the children were never cold. All the caregivers would remind us to put the hats on the children, even though we were in short sleeves! I felt like they really loved and protected these children. Visiting with Katlyn was the highlight of each and everyday. She melted our hearts the first time we saw her. We "knew" she was ours. It is an amazing feeling to experience.
If you were to ask what would be one thing that we would consider to be a hard for us on the road to this whole experience, I would tell you it was the longing to find our child. It was overwhelming. It seemed like we met so many children before finding her. If you really believe in your heart that you do not find the baby you are looking for, you need to follow your heart and keep looking. Do not just "settle" on what you find in the first day. It will not be fair to the child, nor fair to you. We kept telling ourselves not to settle just for the sake of making it convenient for the staff or the child being shown to us. The children are all so beautiful. They are well taken care of. They would make anyone a happy parent. However, only you know who is meant to be your child. You can not forget that no matter what!
Our experience was very good. We would not hesitate to use EAC again and would highly recommend them to others to use for the purpose of adoption. Katlyn is a happy, healthy little girl who makes me a better person everyday. The love she has brought to us and her older brother is hard to express in words. I can not even remember all that we had to do to bring her home. It seemed like once I got home, I forgot all the cumbersome details anyway. The thing you remember is how much love you have been given.
Good luck and enjoy this adventure! You are making the world a better place!
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