Czech Day 2

Today Marshall and I met Justin, an American missionary that lives in Brno, who escorted us to our meeting with the officials in charge of adoptions in the Czech Republic. We had a really good meeting and we talked a lot about thier systems for adoptions and they were particularly interested in how we support our families before and after they take placement. Tomorrow we are going to visit two different orphanages one in Brno and one about an hour away.

After our meeting, Justin took us to a lovely little French restuarant run by nuns. It was very very good. I had onion soup and a spinach crepe. Marshall had chicken noodle soup which looked like high class ramen!

After lunch, Justin took us walking through Brno and told us a little bit more about the city. Brno is the home of Mendel who came up with genetics. We ventured up the very steep hill to Spilberk Castle. It's very small but has wonderul views of the city. Justin also let us know that we are so very close to Vienna which I didn't know. Brno is a merchant city it has one of the largest trade shows in Europe and we saw that building from Spilberg as well.

Its been a busy day, but I'm looking forward to tomorrow!

Day One: Brno

Marshall and I woke up and had breakfast at our hotel (the Best Western). It was really good. I had yogurt with granola, bacon, and a roll. Marshall had a HUGE omelete that I am going to try tomorrow!

After that Marshall and I went walking around the city. The city is very clean and quiet. We were up early (10am) I guess because there were not a lot of people out. But we walked around a saw a park down the street one way and a church the other way. Towards the downtown area we saw more places to shop, restaurants, and what I think was a theater.

The weather is a little cold here but I'm enjoying it. I walked around in a sweater, scarf, hat and gloves and was pretty comfortable. The hotel is very hot, I found out this morning that I could open my window and I am much more comfortable!

For the rest of the day we are free so I'm going to read and watch a movie. Marshall is downstairs people watching! Tomorrow we have our meeting with the adoption officials.

Made it to the Czech Republic

After 1 flight to London, a lay over, a flight to Prague, and a 3 hour train ride to Brno, Marshall and I made it to our hotel. It feels like it's been a marathon! But I'm happy to be here and I'm looking forward to seeing Brno tomorrow.

I'm a wee bit jet lagged. So I'm going to bed soon but I hope to be up and running tomorrow!

Highpoint of today: I've never flown into London before so it was definitely fun to ride the terminal bus on the wrong side of the road!

Gladney Center for Adoption's Humanitarian Aid Program

Kazakhstan Adoption Alert

On May 17, 2010, the U.S. Consulate General in Almaty received confirmation that the Ministry of Education in Kazakhstan has given instructions to the Kazakhstani Embassy and Consulate in New York not to accept new dossiers for inter-country adoptions. The Ministry said that this moratorium on new adoption cases will remain in effect until Kazakhstan implements a Hague Convention-compliant system, which it intends to have in place by September 2010. Kazakhstani officials have confirmed that this moratorium will not affect adoptions already in process.

Source: http://adoption.state.gov/news/kazakhstan.html

For a limited time (May 3-16), all Pei Wei restaurants in AZ and TX will be selling Cookies4Kids (Double Chocolate Chunk Oatmeal Cookie for $1.00). All proceeds from this promotion will benefit Gladney’s humanitarian aid efforts around the world.

Calling All Artists!

Have a little artist in your home? Here's their chance to make their mark. Knowing that children have endless visions of sugar plums and candy canes, Gladney is looking to its "babies" to design its annual holiday card. Budding artists can submit cover art, the inside verse . . . or both!

Entry form.