I can't believe it is Friday. I got so much done today but have so much more to do still. I swear that today I saw a woman who looked exactly like Betty White and a man who looked exactly like Newman on Seinfeld (before he lost all that weight). I'm thinking that has to mean something. Kind of like if you drop a dish towel you know you will have company. I just don't know what it means if you see 2 celebraty look alikes in one day. Anyway, the Betty White look alike sold me a pair of boots. I can pretty safely say I have never owned a pair of boots that were truly made for real winter weather. We just don't have much need in Atlanta. When I was 5 years old I had some kickin' white go go boots. I don't guess those really compare either though.

Ok - so now I have boots. I also bought my gifts for Abby's caregivers today. Whew - another huge relief. For some of the gifts, I bought 6 leather journals. I could see the sales lady eyeing me. She probably thinks I feel I have a lot to say/write. Probably even better than that though was when I was buying 10 CDs. An older man made a beeline for me and proceeded to tell me that apparently I was just like him because he couldn't stop buying CDs either. I nodded and smiled and moved on. I did feel good about helping him justify his CD habit. :-) Hmmm, or maybe I am just a CD enabler.

A little update on last night's Stage One of Packing. Well, suffice it to say, that since only half of what I had laid out to take with me would fit in my bags, I then began Stage One of What Can I Leave At Home. Let's just say many things I thought I could not live without, I have now decided I can live without. I stopped myself before taking underwear out of my suitcase but have decided to leave the laptop at home. So, I'm not sure how much I will be able to post. Hopefully still every day while I am in Uralsk, but I will just have to roll with things over there.

Alright - enough for tonight. Happy Friday everyone. I'm back to packing and stuff.

Happy New Year! Well, so much for posting every day. :-) I sort of missed yesterday. Yesterday ended well but I ran into some snags early. The good news though - I got my money from the bank!!!! Yes, we were cutting it very close, but I have it now and this was one of the biggest reliefs. For those of you not familiar, I must have brand new bills to take to Kazakhstan with me. It is a cash based society and credit cards don't cut it. They also are afraid that old money is counterfeit, so the bills must be brand new (or look brand new). Anyway, I had to wait for the bank to receive new money but the teller manager was wonderful and came through for me. While I was in the little room counting my money, I showed her pictures of Abby. She proceeded to show the pictures to all the tellers. I have a feeling they will recognize Abby when we get home. :-) The funny thing is how small the stack of money actually is. I have totally been picturing a need to be handcuffed to a briefcase full of my money. Sadly, I won't get the opportunity to try out my spy capabilities as I will be able to fit the money in my money belt.

The snag I ran into was in the form of an email from the Embassy in Almaty. I had sent them an email making sure they had received my Cable Visa 37 (fancy words for "Gayla has been approved by BCIS for adoption"). They wrote me back that they did have my visa but that my fingerprints were not valid. A little more background for you.... I had my fingerprints taken (and approved) back in February 2003. The fingerprints are good for 15 months so I knew they were okay. Well after many phone calls, I came to find out that BCIS (new acronym for INS) has changed their policy and now puts the fingerprint dates on the approval form. When mine were approved however, this was not the policy and thus what the Embassy is looking at does not inform them about my fingerprints. Long story a bit shorter, a very nice lady at BCIS left me a message that she sent the fingerprint info to the Embassy. Hopefully they received it (I won't find out until tomorrow because of the holiday).

I can tell you that International Adoption requires much patience and diligence. Things have to be done just so and the rules are CONSTANTLY changing. Fortunately, I am with the best agency (World Partners Adoption) in the world and they are always on top of things.

Today I will attempt to work some and then continue with my checklists. I swear my checklists seem to grow daily. Much like a Chia Pet. :-) But all I have to do is look at Abby's picture and/or video and I know anything I am going through is SOOOOOO worth it. Four days and counting until I can get on that plane.

Happy New Year everyone!

Tuesday night. Another very full day. I'm sure my neighbors wonder what I am up to exactly. I keep leaving and coming home with many bags. It's probably not a bad thing to keep your neighbors wondering. I mean if they ever have to describe me on the evening news maybe they won't just say "she was always so nice and quiet". No, my neighbors will be able to say "well, she always brought in a lot of bags".

I have started thinking about things I will miss when I am in Kazakhstan:
1. The way the garbage men on my street play a game of "Toss the Garbage Cans Wherever on the Street You Can" on garbage day. Extra points if they land nowhere near a yard.
2. Target. Anyone who has known me for more than 5 minutes knows I will go through Target withdrawal. Target will likely have to fire a few people without me here to shop.
3. American Idol. I wonder what if there is a Simon Cowell in Kazakhstan. I'm sure Simon speaking Russian would still be Simon.
4. Flip Spiceland. For you non-Atlanta people, he is a weather guy here. Actually he usually manages to get on my nerves every morning but come on. You have to miss someone who, though above the age of five, voluntarily wears a red blazer.
5. Mellow Mushroom. Enough said.
6. Sweet tea.

OK - enough for today. Just trying to get in the habit of posting each day. Back to my to do lists.

It is officially one week until I leave on what is without doubt going to be the trip of a lifetime! To say that the last 2 weeks have been a whirlwind is indeed an understatement. :-) Ever since I received that amazing call on December 19, 2003, telling me I was to arrive in Kazakhstan on January 6, I have been scrambling around trying to make sure I get everything done. I have been steadily marking things off my to do list. Most things are simply a matter of planning and have not been too bad. Well, unless you count my visa picture which made Michael Jackson's mug shot look like a cover for People Magazine. The visa picture lady diplomatically asked if I would prefer to have another picture taken but after I had already waited for 40 minutes for the first one, I firmly declined. The good news is I did receive my visa and passport back on December 24, so I guess the good people at the Kazakhstan Consulate office must not have been too frightened.

I truly don't know how people manage to continue to work after receiving travel dates. Thank goodness I had already taken vacation this week, but I seriously could not have finished everything I had to do if I had been working. As it is, I am having to carefully plan each day so as not to waste any time. I think I have now bought all the cold weather paraphernalia I need. I have become a regular at REI! The guy selling me the bulk of the stuff asked where in Siberia I was going. Ahh, he was quite surprised to find out just how close I am going to be!

Ok - so back to my big ole' list of things to get done. Just had to see if I could get this up and working. More tomorrow. Did I mention that I leave in one week?? :-)