Sooooooo we decided to adopt. We explored our options and set about the paperwork part of it. Part way into the paperwork gathering we decided that adopting more than one child at the same time would be worth investigating. That idea led us to a different adoption agency. We continued to gather the required paperwork and prepare ourselves for parenting.
About 10 weeks before we had all the paperwork completed I, (mother to be) got a call at work telling me that my dad was being kept alive by a machine. An unknown birth defect affecting the aorta caused the artery to burst. They told me to come say goodbye. The only doctor who could operate on this type of condition was already in surgery and would not be finished for 4 hours. My dad and stepfamily are a 6-hour drive away. I decided against going. I had not told my dad of my plans of adopting. I waited, and hoped, and he pulled through.
Three weeks following my dads operation my mother found a lump in her breast. It was diagnosed malignant. My mother knew about my plans to adopt and had offered both monetary and emotional support. The new of my mothers health challenge changed many things in our lives. I knew she would not be able to offer the same support we had talked about prior to the discovery of the lump.
We had almost completed our paperwork and had to figure out a way to afford adoption because there was no turning back. The impending mortality of my parents had strengthened our convictions of wanting to share our lives with children. The agency we were working with gave me the name and address to A Child Waits Foundation. I called and requested an application for a loan. A Child Waits Foundation made THE CARLSON FAMILY EXPANSION possible. I don't know what we would have done without them.
We turned in our paperwork and waited. We expected our travel date in about 5 weeks. Two weeks later I got the call at work that we had a travel date. In ten days we were supposed to be in Kazakhstan. The paperwork gathering was nothing compared to those next 10 days of booking flights, packing and arranging everything 3 weeks earlier than we were prepared for. Then we were on the plane on our way to get our boys. We were so excited we were counting the hours until we met them. We traveled about 30 hours then had an overnight stay before catching the next flight to the area that the boys were living. We found the feeling of Kazakhstan and its' people comfortable and caring.
We were to stay 14 days in a hotel and drive about 2 hours each day to visit with the boys. The oldest boy, Tory who is 5 knew about us and that we were coming. Later we found out that he was so excited waiting for us and was ready to leave the very first day we arrived. But he knew the way these kinds of things went because he had seen it before so he was patient. The little guy, Quinn just goes with the flow, more or less, he is 3 years old. We kept their given names as their middle names, Timur and Damir.
So we visited everyday. There were good days and there were other kinds of days and then the day came when we were driving to get our boys to bring them back with us. They were our children officially. I won't even get into the traveling 30+ hours straight with 3 and 5 year old boys, landing at JFK airport in New York at 2:30 am (the boys' time). They didn't think much of airplane food and the little guy was sick with a cold. I'll leave it at that.
Then we landed in our home airport. Grandma and grandpa (maternal) were waiting with WELCOME HOME balloons. I am my mother's only child and now I have children and she has grandchildren. Her husband (dad to me for the last 15 years) has grandchildren but they are older and very busy so they do not get to see them very much. Both of them were looking forward to the arrival of their grandchildren with huge anticipation. I sent my dad who was still recovering from his operation a Father's Day card with the announcement in it that he would be a grandpa. The boys got to meet him at a recent family reunion. The rest of my family, aunts, uncles, cousins, and the like met the boys about a week after we were home at a family picnic. Each boy had a least 6 adults to dote after him at any given time. My husband' parents still recovering from the shock of their 45-year old son finally giving them the only grandchildren they have were excited and energized by meeting the boys.
Now we are all getting to know one another and falling in love. Our imaginations are brimming with fun ideas and plans. We are all learning a lot.
Thank
you form the Carlson Family
Terry, Lana, Tory (Timur) and Quinn (Damir)