Finally...an LOI!

Who would have ever thought a government-issued, boilerplate document could be a thing of beauty? Well, I have to say that this particular document is just gorgeous to us. It's our long-awaited letter of invitation to travel to Kazakhstan for the purpose of adopting, issued by the Ministry of Education in Ust-Kamenogorsk after months of waiting. This is the magic document that gets us visas and the right to visit the boys! See the tiny number in the bottom right hand corner? That's the most magical part of the whole thing...it gets sent electronically to the Kazakhstan Consulate where our adoption visas will be issued.

Of course, there's a downside to everything...the ministry made the effective date of our LOI for late September so we can't travel until then...but we'll take it at this point!