Made it too Almaty

Rollercoaster ride to the end!! Yesterday we got a lot of good news on the ‘visa trail’ Nadia came through big time with Leah’s passport, she managed to get it processed in Ust on Tuesday then flown to the consul registration in Astana then flown back to Almaty all on Wednesday!! We also spoke with someone in the visa section who told us they wanted to help us and would process the visa within one day, woohoo!!

So, we arrived at the visa office bright and early on Thursday morning, full of hope and optimism. It didn’t last long, true to UK form we found out there was a massive amount of extra documents required that we didn’t have, we also discovered that they could only process a ‘visit visa’ in one day which would only allow Leah to visit the UK for 3 months!!?!! A settlement visa on the other hand would take a lot longer to process.

Cue a frantic 2 hours when we got as many documents copied and faxed to us from Nadia in Ust and also back home, I also wrote a few documents on my laptop and printed them out at an internet café round the corner, we also visited the vice-consul and pleaded our case for an early visa. After all this we went back to the visa office and submitted what documents we had, we must ring them tomorrow morning to see if they have been able to give us a visa in time for our flight on Saturday. It goes without saying but PLEASE PRAY!!! God’s timing has been perfect for us all along and we know He won’t let us down now!

On the plus side the last few days have been the first that we have really felt that Leah is our daughter! While we were in Ust it still felt like we were just visiting her but actually leaving Ust with her and flying to Almaty was a wonderful, surreal experience, thankfully Leah was an absolute angel on the plane!! It feels so nice to be back in a modern cosmopolitan city again, our apartment is situated right in middle of a massive pedestrian area teeming with shops, restaurants and cafes, all three of us enjoyed a nice stroll last night.

We are also learning more about her personality every day and we can safely say she is ‘no dozer’ as they say in our part of the world! She is as crafty as can be and is not slow in letting you know exactly what she wants, I feel we may have our hands full! J

Philip, Amanda & Leah


“Who are you calling nosey”!?!?!?


“Seriously, do I look stupid in this teddy bear outfit”?


Leah in her new buggy/cot/playpen


Almaty Baby!!


Our new apartment. Left tower. 15th floor. Features working lift!