We're in the final weeks of waiting for our Letter Of Invitation from the government of Kazakhstan. Last week I would have said we were in our final 'days', but we've just been informed that whomever issues it has gone on vacation and we shouldn't expect anything for another month. Ah, bureaucracy. The only true common ground among nations and peoples.

Once we receive it, we'll embark on our second and final adoption odyssey. Our first trip was in December of 2004 when we traveled to Ust-Kamenogorsk, Kazakhstan to adopt our daughter Julia, who was 7 years old at that time. She is an amazing girl who plays with all the neighborhood kids, loves to watch Disney's High School Musical and just celebrated her 9th birthday among family and friends.

Although Julia is a younger sister to our 15 year old daughter and 18 year old son, what she really wants is to be an older sister too. So, we're gonna do it one more time and see if there's some 7 year old in Petropavlovsk who wants to join forces with us and the human tornado named Julia.