Welcome Home Isaak!

Hi everybody,
We got home at 3:30pm yesterday. We got to come home two days earlier than expected because we were able to move our flight up after we got his American visa on Friday. We went by the Lufthansa (airline) office right after the appt. with the embassy and they were able to move our flight up two days for a slight penalty ;-) ($600), BUT if we were to stay in Kaz 2 more days before leaving on our Monday flight, we would have spent $500 for all of the in-country expenses, so we lost $100 and got home two days earlier ;-). Praise God!

He slept about 11 hours last night all together and only woke up about 4 times throughout the night. The 1st of the four, mommy played with him for about an hour, and the other three, he rocked right back to sleep. God is so good! We were able to sleep. When we got home, we were EXHAUSTED. I've never been so tired in my life. We had about 2 hours of sleep total in about 48 hours, AND we had to try to keep an 8-month old BOY occupied on a plane for 24 hours...yeah, GOOD LUCK! Actually, he did really well; we were proud of him, but there were a few times that it was impossible to figure out what he wanted...b/c he didn't even know what he wanted ;-).

He's sleepin' right now on his morning nap.

The next thing we need prayer for is all of his doctor's appointments in the next week or so. We are going to the international adoption clinic at Children's hospital...he gets to see a international disease doctor, nutrionist, psychologist, neurologist, and some more specialists, but it's going to be a lot. He also has to get up to date on all of his immunizations and we need to find a pediatrician and then take Isaak to get circumcized (I'm sure this will be a lovely process).

Anyway, God has blessed us FAR MORE than we could ever deserve and even want. He has been so good to us, and we are so thankful that He has entrusted Isaak to us! What a blessing.

Soon, Kristin and I are going to make a list (LONG list) of all of the answers to prayer throughout this process...it's pretty incredible!

We love you all,
Jon and Kristin

On Our Way

Hi everybody,
Here we go again...we're sitting at our gate in Columbus waiting to board to travel to our first connection (Washington DC). The reality of what we're doing hasn't really sunk in quite yet. We're really excited, but it seems almost surreal that we're going back...like, is this really happening? ;-)

We managed to pack everything in just two suitcases, a stroller, a carry-on and a laptop bag. I don't know how we did it...well, we had to pack our things in about half of a suitcase and all of Isaak's things in the rest. ;-)

We received his ticket from FedEx to travel back with us...it was the first official "Isaak Krull" document. We were both pretty excited.

Well, here's the itinerary:
Monday: 11:20pm touch down in Astana, Kazakhstan (1:40pm Monday afternoon EDT)

Tuesday: Gotcha-day - go to the baby house and get his schedule for eating and sleeping, give out our gifts, pick-up Isaak and 5:20pm - fly to Almaty, Kazakhstan and arrive around 7:30pm (9:30am Tuesday morning EDT).

Wednesday: Isaak's medical appt. at US Embassy

Thursday: Isaak's interview and swearing-in at US Embassy

Friday: Isaak gets visa from US Embassy

Saturday/Sunday: Enjoy being a family and buy souvenirs and Sunday, go to airport

Monday: 1:55am depart Almaty for Columbus and fly-in around 3:30pm

Alright, time to board.

We love you all

Jon and Kristin

Isaak is OUR SON! Praise God!

We just received news yesterday (earlier than expected) that Isaak's adoption decree was picked up on Friday and that they have applied for the adoption and birth certificate. We are also heard news that they will receive us in country on Monday, April 13, so as long as we get our visas (which we should) we will be traveling on Easter Sunday...pretty cool huh? Makes Easter a little more real.

PLEASE PRAY!!! We got a phone call from the Kazakh embassy yesterday saying that we did not send them the correct amount of money for the type of visa that we need. My agency told me we needed a tourist visa, so I paid the tourist price, but it was not quite enough. Praise God that they contacted us so quickly (they got our passports on Thursday and called us on Friday). The gentleman actually said that we are approved, they are just waiting on the money to issue the visas. We are getting the money order this morning and overnighting it to them so that it will be there first thing Monday morning. I will call them Monday afternoon to make sure that they matched up our money order with all of our other paperwork. PLEASE PRAY that they get the visa out quickly so that we have a little notice to buy our airline tickets and everything else we need before traveling. I'm 98% positive that it's God's will for us to leave on Easter...we've been convinced of it since we left AND, God kind of confirmed that in my mind when the Embassy contacted us SO quickly.

Praise God!!

Pray in that visa!!!

Thank you,
Jon and Kristin