Please join me in doing a happy dance......our 171H arrived today!! I will run that downtown and state seal the last few documents and turn in our dossier to our agency! They'll have to authenticate it and whatever else it is they do it...and it will then find it's way to China! Here's hoping we beat that May 1st deadline for the new regulations...
WOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!
Scarlett 
Ok guys, I could really, really, really, really use some prayers.
DH has always been a little leary of the travel to Kaz. I thought we worked it out but just yesterday it came back up again. We are going to sit down and talk tonight but the thought of not going to Kaz leaves me heartbroken. I was in tears yesterday. Although I want to respect his feelings, I can't help but want to shake him and tell him to SUCK IT UP MAN. I'm torn. We do have the option of switching to China (and it seems would be meet the new requirements) but the thought of having to wait another 2 years is devastating. I pray that he can work through his fears... I really do
That is terrible. I am sorry to hear that. I can't really relate because we are looking on it as a big adventure when it is finally our turn. I'm the one who is more worried about all the travel related stuff- stupid stuff too. If you need a laugh, let me know and I will actually say what stupid stuff I am worried about, it's pathetic. I hope that your talk goes well and he can come to realize that the trip is just another part of the journey to your child. You won't be having a pregnancy in the typical sense but you have this great huge unknown trip before you, much the same as no one really knows what lies ahead with Labor & Delivery before going through it. It may not be easy, in fact the trip could possibly downright suck at times, but at the end you will come home with a child, what more could you ask for. Best of luck
I know it's been a long road for you!!!! First off, I love to travel. Put me on a plane to anywhere and I'll find ways to have fun there.
Anyway, she allayed my fears by telling me that there was a consulate in St. Petersburg and Vladivostok. If all US facilities were shut in Russia, we could go to Warsaw to get the visas. She basically said that where there's a will, there's a way.
) - Kim, I understand your husband's fear of that part of the world, but my DH says the area is actually more stable now than the last couple of times he's been there. They stopped allowing the military off-base for a while last fall (I'm sure your DH wants to hear that! 
) but trips are back on now. And the adoption agency wouldn't send you somewhere that wasn't safe - I'm sure they have recommendations and such for stuff to do while waiting for the paperwork an whatnot. (Like buying all those fake purses. 
) And as for issues with the plane, well, DH is flying around there daily and I hardly even think about it, and "they" would be more likely to go after a military plane/personnel than civilians.
Okay. Just remember that you asked for this. My two biggest fears directly relate in with this- tight, closed in spaces, and (yes, I am serious) public bathrooms. I am absolutely petrified to fly, not because of the flying itself, but because I know I can't hold it that long. I am afraid of the airplane bathroom, I tried to use one once and pretty much had a nervous breakdown- crying, sweating, etc.... I think I will have to drag DH in for moral support if/when I ever have to use one. I am also petrified of the noise they make. When we took the cruise I would shut the lid and make DH flush because the noise scared me. I hear that the airplane bathroom is about the same. I am also nervous about the sightseeing because of the bathroom issue. I hear most hotels have the kind of toilets we're used to. I even went to a website and looked at pictures of what a squat toilet looks like and what the different kinds are. I have it bookmarked under both adoption and travel so I will know what I am getting myself into when I go somewhere, like say, China.. So right now, aside from age and financials, the biggest thing holding me back from foreign adoption is public bathrooms. Make you feel a bit more normal now?.
ZPT1022 - I really could use that laugh
MY husband thinks I am more insane than ever.
Okay. Just remember that you asked for this. My two biggest fears directly relate in with this- tight, closed in spaces, and (yes, I am serious) public bathrooms. I am absolutely petrified to fly, not because of the flying itself, but because I know I can't hold it that long. I am afraid of the airplane bathroom, I tried to use one once and pretty much had a nervous breakdown- crying, sweating, etc.... I think I will have to drag DH in for moral support if/when I ever have to use one. I am also petrified of the noise they make. When we took the cruise I would shut the lid and make DH flush because the noise scared me. I hear that the airplane bathroom is about the same. I am also nervous about the sightseeing because of the bathroom issue. I hear most hotels have the kind of toilets we're used to. I even went to a website and looked at pictures of what a squat toilet looks like and what the different kinds are. I have it bookmarked under both adoption and travel so I will know what I am getting myself into when I go somewhere, like say, China.. So right now, aside from age and financials, the biggest thing holding me back from foreign adoption is public bathrooms. Make you feel a bit more normal now?
