Return Train Derailed, well at least delayed.

After having a great flight from Almaty to Amsterdam, our flight from Amsterdam has been “postposed” for 2 days. Seems the Pilot got sick…… I’m no airline expert, but it has to be cheaper to fly a new pilot in, than to put 200+ people up in a hotel for 2 nights. Now we are stuck in a Hotel in Amsterdam, short on diapers and baby food. We had enough to make it through the first half day, but we have to take the shuttle back to the airport today to get more Diapers etc… There is nothing around us except a Shell gas station and they have none of what we need. When we go to the airport today, we are going to the counter to make sure our flight is still set for tomorrow, and have them figure out what they are going to do about our connecting flight from Detroit to Cleveland. I called Northwest/KLM yesterday to make sure they still had record of us, and that we were still set for 9:00 am on Aug 1. So far that’s a yes. Our hotel vouchers were for two days, but the flight time was scheduled for the next day. When I first called KLM, he said next day, but after he put me on hold for a few minutes he came back and confirmed two days. Of course Mom and Dad only have what they are wearing, and the checked baggage is stored someplace in the basement until the flight.

Anyway, on to Stephen. So far he has been great! I think he is handling all this much better than we are. He was great on the plane, and everyone just loved him. He only cried a couple of times, I think because he was so tired. He did scream a couple times, but he really doesn’t like to have his Diaper Changed. We were in two seats by the window, but before we started out, the attendant asked a couple gentlemen sitting on either end of a set of three seats if they would mind moving, and they agreed. We were able to have three seats this way, one in the middle for him to sleep in.




Well we went to the airport and got the few items we needed. We stopped at the KLM desk to check on our flight and see about our connecting flight from Detroit. We are supposed to land around noon Detroit time. They said they won’t start rescheduling connecting flight until this flight is in the air. Doesn’t exactly instill confidence.

We will post more, if anything else happens or once we get home. Which ever comes first.

Last day in Almaty

We have completed our exiting invertiew and it was a peice of cake. We have Stephen's passport and visa. When he lands in Detriot he will automaticly be a US citizen. We have all of his documents in order and in a safe place.
We are almost packed and ready to leave. Ducien will be picking us up at 4:30am to head to the air port. Grandma and Grandpa will be picking us up at the airport in Cleveland aroun 6:20pm Wednesday. We can't wait to have him home with family and friends.
Thanks again to everyone that has helped make this process much easier on us. The Larrick family is on the next step of our journey that will last us the next 50 to 60 + years. Keep watching.

Day 4 with Stephen

Hello everyone. Things are going well. We have had some really good nights as far as sleep is converned. Wewent nt to the SOS clinic today and he is all checked out to leave. We have a few shoots we will need to get when we get home and he will be up to date. He has not gained any weight since the last time we went to the clinic, in April. We will have to work on that when we get home. Other then that things are good. We are looking forward to coming home. We will see everyone in a couple of days.

Second day in Almaty with Stephen

Well I guess I spoke to soon yesterday about not having to much crying last night and today have made up for yesterday. I think we are just way off schedule for him. We are trying our best to keep on schedule but then we all lay down for naps and get off scheduled again. I think it will be a lot better when we get home. Right now at the apartment we only have one room that only has a bed, crib and chair in it all three of us have to be in so when one lays down we all lay down. Olga came over today to help us with the paperwork for the Consulate. We have nothing really planned for Sunday but a walk to the park and maybe breakfast out for mom and dad. Then Monday we have our SOS appointment then Tuesday our exiting interview then home sweet home on Wednesday.
We will keep you all updated.

The Return

Well we arrived in Alamty at 5:10am this morning but did not leave the air port till 6:15am. It was crazy getting through immigration. I think they had 2 planes come in around the same time. Then our driver took us to our apartment, well it is a different building and in a different area than we are use to well I guess not that different just 2 blocks in a different direction. Much smaller then any of our other apartments and our bed is the couch and not very comfortable. We got about an hour of sleep before we heard a knock on the door and it was our driver and he said we were to leave to go pick Stephen up now. Well we had to ask for a couple of minutes to get ready to go. Then we left for the orphanage. We got to the orphanage and the doctor was not in and would not be in till 1pm and we got there around 10:30am. So we got to spend a few last hours with Stephen at the orphanage before we left with him to a strange place. But to tell you the truth he has been great. Just a smiling happy little boy like he was the very first time we met him. We get to have the next couple of days just the three of us which we are looking forward to. We got to get his passport photos today they are not the best pictures because he had just woke up and was not sure what was going on. He knew a picture was being taken but not sure who was behind it. But I figure he will only have to use it maybe a couple more times before he gets a new one. After that we came back to the apartment and all three toke a nap together. Then there was another knock on the door, our driver again with a CRIB!!!!!! Yeah we were not sure how this all worked but we are very glad to have a crib the couch bed is not very easy to sleep in with the three of us. Then we realized it was past Stephens dinner so we ran to the store to get food. We had not had a chance to do that yet. Now we are in for the night and happy to see night come so we can sleep a little with out the door being knocked on. I know Stephen might get us up a couple of times but that will be different. I will be happy to get up with him. I know soon I will not say that but this is actually starting to feel real. We are parents!!!!!!

Well now a little bit about the one you all want updates on. He is doing well. Does not look like he has put much weight on yet but we will fix that soon enough. I am glad I went by my gut feeling about his clothing size he is fitting in our 6 to 9 months right now. I brought some 12 and they just fall off him. I think he will be there soon just not while we are here. He really has not cried since we got him. We have been happily surprised. We thought for sure after he woke up from both naps that he would be surprised as to where he was. I just hope the rest of our time here goes just a smooth with him.

We will keep you all updated. Linda, Bob, Lindsey, Hailey and Johnny we hope you are having a good time with the dogs. Hope they are not being too bad. We promise to be home as soon as possible. We will miss you all once you move away. You are family. Love you guys.

Thanks again to everyone that has helped, sent good wishes for us and supported us through all of this. We look forward to introducing Stephen to you all some day.

To all the families that are getting ready to adopt just want to say good luck and see there is a light at the end of the tunnel.

Just a reminder to all that email us use babylarrick@gmail.com thanks!

We leave to pick up Stephen today

Well this is the day we have been waiting for. We get to make our last flight for a while over to Kaz to pick up Stephen. We are very excited. I hope I packed enough stuff for him. Well I guess we will find out soon enough.

Thanks again to everyone for your support and time. This part of the journey is almost over but we have many years left to come.

Have a great week. We will keep you updated while we are gone.

We got the long waited call today.

Well so everyone is up to date on what is going on. We got a email on Monday night that we need to get some paperwork updated right away. We got them done today and sent them over night to CHI. Then we got our call from Jeff letting us know that we need to be in country by July25th. So we will be flying out on July 23rd from Cleveland and arriving in Almaty on July 25th. We are not sure what our scheduled time there will be like but are really looking forward to see and getting Stephen home right away. Are plains are to leave Almaty on July 30th. So July 31st will be Stephen first full day in the US. We are looking forward to having him home and having fun.

Thanks to everyone that has supported us for all over the world to right next door during our journey. We would also like to thank everyone that has helped us with watching our other children (dogs) and our home while we have been traveling. You all have all be the best.

I can't believe it is almost over.