Photo credit: Stacy Wasmuth

The Kobe Family

Little did we know that our daughters were not yet conceived when we sent our initial application to CWA! They would not even be born for another two years, and during that time we found that we had much to learn about patience, trust, and God’s timing.

Kazakhstan was not a country CWA worked with when we began looking into the various options available in the spring of 2003. We originally prepared our dossier for Bulgaria, and after a year with little progress, we also submitted a second dossier for Mongolia. Unfortunately, CWA was not able to continue their development of programs in either country, which left us discouraged after being in the process for a little under two years.

Then, in the spring of 2005, we decided to put together a dossier for yet a third country, Kazakhstan. There was a frustrating delay at the Kazakhstani embassy in Washington D.C., but at the beginning of August our paperwork made its way to the appropriate government officials in Kazakhstan. It was processed with amazing speed, which surprised us since nothing in the adoption process up to this point had been quick at all! We only had 11 days between when we were requested to come and when we traveled to Kazakhstan.

We arrived in Almaty on September 2nd, in the wee hours of the morning, and continued on to Karaganda later that day. We didn’t know if we’d be able to visit the orphanage that day, but our stomachs had butterflies in them anyway. One of the funny memories we have is of trying to brain-storm baby names on the last leg of our journey; which, if you’ve ever been on a scary Soviet-era plane, is a good distraction to get you through the flight and to keep you awake after traveling for more than 36 hours!

We were not able to go to Multaka Baby House that day, but rested up at our hotel instead. Trying to get a good night’s sleep when you are going to meet your children the following day, as well as being on the totally opposite time zone, is a bit hard to do! The next morning we were driven to the baby house and ushered into the large visiting/play room. It was all a very surreal experience. You know that God is in complete control of everything, but it’s just such a strange feeling to see all these children brought in for you to play with, knowing that two of them are going to be part of your family forever!

When asked about what ages and sexes we were hoping to adopt, we said that we were open to whomever they wanted to show us. So they proceeded to bring in several babies, ranging in age from 6 months to 20 months. We interacted with and observed the children while snapping pictures and writing down their names, ages, and characteristics. Although it’s a little tricky to do all that at once, it helped to look back at the photos on our digital camera when we were discussing the children back at our hotel room.

During our afternoon visit, we had narrowed down the group to five or six children, but we were leaning very strongly toward two six-month old girls, who had birthdays about two weeks apart. It’s strange to sit and play with babies, all the while trying to get a gut feeling whether these children could be or should be your daughters! In one aspect it is such an awesome experience getting to do the choosing yourself, but on the other hand a traditional referral seems like a much more normal way to go about it!

By the time we wrapped up the afternoon visit we were both in agreement and had a strong sense that these two girls were meant to be our daughters. We prayed about the decision, which had been covered in prayer for weeks by family, friends, and of course us! On Sunday morning, September 4th, we officially let the orphanage staff know that we had made our decision. It was a liberating feeling knowing that the choosing part was complete, since it was something that had been on our minds since we decided to switch to Kazakhstan.

Three weeks of daily visits followed, which included morning and afternoon sessions. We spent our time in the playroom with two other adopting families who were with different agencies. Our translator was also present to assist us with questions we had for the caregivers or doctors. We passed the time by taking the girls for walks outside around the grounds, by feeding them bottles or bowls or cereal that the caregivers would hand us, or by simply playing with a few toys on a blanket in the visiting room. Although it’s a long visitation period compared to other countries’ adoption programs, the time you spend getting to know your child and helping them become comfortable with you is just wonderful.

Our court date was on September 21st in the morning. It only took about twenty minutes, and even though it is mostly a formality, it is such a relief to have it behind you!

We took the girls from the orphanage to our hotel the next day to keep them until the waiting period following the court date was finished. One of the best feelings during the trip was when we took them away from the orphanage, knowing that they would never have to return there.

We settled into a nice routine during the three weeks we had the girls with us, working on their sleeping patterns and bettering their diet. We took walks in the park almost every day with them, and of course there was plenty of playtime in between naps and meal times. Not having any of the pressures from "real life" like work or chores around the house helped us to really bond with the girls and get to know them better every day.

After a few short days in Almaty to take care of the S.O.S. clinic visit and our interview at the embassy, we began the rather lengthy trip back. There were plenty of times when the girls were fussy and wouldn’t sleep, but all in all it went quite smoothly. Immigration and customs in Detroit went well, and as soon as we passed through the baggage area, our girls became U.S. citizens! When we finally touched down at our final destination, we were incredibly relieved to be home safe and sound and to be surrounded by family members and friends who had come to welcome us home.           

Those first few weeks and months home seem almost like a blur now. One of the biggest hurdles was getting everyone, ourselves included, back on the right time zone. The holidays of Thanksgiving and Christmas were such joyous times for us as we cherished having our daughters finally home with us. We are deeply grateful and blessed that God chose to lead us on the long, but eternally worthwhile journey to our daughters, Sophie and Luci.

Andy & Jennifer Kobe