Good News....

Tuesday, May 30

This morning when I looked out my window it looked like it was snowing but I knew the temperature was too hot and the sun was out. It was definitely looking like big flurries going around but they were going up! Upon closer inspection the tree in our “backyard” in the courtyard was blooming big white plumes all over and the wind was blowing the feather like pieces all over. I kid you not it looked like it was snowing! I tried to take a picture but it did not turn out well enough to see.

We went to bed praying and praising God and expecting something good to happen today. Several things did. I know what Paul meant when he said, “I thank my God for every remembrance of you.” Garrett’s parents Ray and Sandi and Brandi his sister called us at 9:00am…which is 11:00pm the night before at home, to cheer us up. What a blessing to hear from love from home and a familiar voice in English! It was definitely good medicine to us to hear someone is pulling for us and praying for us. Sometimes it is too hard to go it alone. We are thankful we have each other but had become a little weary. It is hard to have so little say about what you say and what you do especially when you are so independent. Going without a car and needing help to go different places is a challenge on your perseverance. But we are not giving up! The prize is to valuable! We know it is not the easiest path we have chosen to stay here the whole time but we know God is with us and we will get through this. We heard much encouragement and good advice yesterday but most important it is good to know you are loved and missed! We love you all so much. Thank you!

We also got a call at 7:00pm from Galina, Marina’s assistant. She told us in her limited English that she had GOOD NEWS for us. Our court date has been moved to June 1st at 9:00 am!!! We are so excited! This puts us up a little bit and every day counts. This means our waiting period of 15 days starts on Friday, unless the judge decides to make history and be the first in Karaganda to waive it! Hey, it could happen! Somebody has to be first, why not us? So obviously we are very glad about this news! Praise God!

Sasha has needed a complete ensemble for court. He does actually get to come and address the judge so this is a big day in his life. We bought him some khaki pants in America and a blue shirt and tie. The shirt and tie fit great and the pants are…shall we say high riders or flood pants! That is unacceptable and he has found out Garrett is wearing BLACK pants and shoes….so off we go to the Zoom. We found a great little pair of black shoes and quite reasonable at 2600 tenge, about $24.00. We were unable to find pants. It is hard to find basic black this time of year apparently. He remembered he had a pair at the orphanage but now that we will be going to court Thursday morning we do not have time for the 40 minute drive to get them so we will have to go back shopping to another place…maybe Green Bazaaaaarrrrrr. I wish you could hear them say it. It has started getting hot here so outdoor shopping does not appeal so much to me.

We had another English lesson today and Alona told us about how smart they both are and how quick Stella is picking up English and memorizes her words. She has a difficult time reading fast and I think it is because of her vision. We have an eye doctor appointment for both when we get home.

We went to bed with praise on our lips for God’s favor.

Praying for Good News!

Monday, May 29

On Monday at 2:30 we had our preliminary court date. This is a new concept to us because we have not heard of one before. Marina explained that Timertau does this sometimes and we can expect to get an actual court date 3-4 days afterwards. We were a bit disappointed by this news but were praying for favor and that we could perhaps get a Tuesday court date. The preliminary court date involves only the judge, our lawyer, the social worker and a representative from the orphanage. We are not invited to attend which is a little weird to us but hey this has been a whole new adventure in the unusual and different. Many times different is good. It gives you an appreciation for what you have and other people. This was by far the worst day of our trip. This was the last thing we expected and we experienced a new level of low. Let’s just say Garrett and I were really bummed out!!!

On Monday evening Marina, our coordinator here, called us to tell us she had bad news for us. Our court date was set for Thursday, June 6th which would be day 31 in the process. Our court date should have been day 21 or there abouts. This was shocking to us and Marina. This puts us a full week behind schedule which we know is a flexible schedule but we were hoping to be close to our target date of June 20. I was the one that answered the phone and when she told me the date I said ok and she said no it’s not ok, this is not acceptable. I must say it brings me great comfort when you hear news that you think is bad and the people telling you are devastated also. We like her very much. She told us something very hopeful to us though. She said the Director of Sasha and Stella’s orphanage was going on Tuesday to visit the judge to see if she could convince him to move the day up. That sounds real good to us.

We spent the day around the apartment except for a visit to the red market. It is the smaller of the two and they have little shops upstairs like toiletries, linens, toys, YES TOYS, and office supplies. We came home with groceries, hubba-bubba which they call who ba - boo ba, some chocolate, a bow and arrow suction cup thing and an imitation Barbie named Barbra! Coincidence...I think not! As you can imagine it was a pretty successful trip as far as the kids were concerned. Alona came at 3:30 for English lessons and after dinner we had a little Mr. Bean! The kids were happy and Garrett and I were feeling pretty lousy but hoping for favor with the judge tomorrow.

A cute picture of a cute kid

This is Stella while we were out today shopping. She wanted a picture of herself.

Waiting Again

Sunday, May 29th

Today we had a quiet day. I think our busy days have caught up with us and the kids asked if we could stay home all day and not go anywhere. So we did! They stayed in pajamas a little longer and made forts and lounging areas. You know it is always more fun to lounge in new and exciting locations. They had a good time. After lunch they watched a movie and Mama and Papa had some quality time together and a nice nap. We do not always sleep well at night with lots of dreams.

We were invited by our friends Ron and Sharon and Oolia to come down to their apartment and blow bubbles. Sasha made his own bubbles tube and impressed us with his large bubble making talents. You just discover new talents everyday! It was good to have a nice talk in English. They will be leaving soon to go back to Canada for their waiting period. We are choosing to stay for the waiting period. We had a discussion with Marina during dinner where she laid out the plan as to how long the remainder of our process could take. We are hoping to get a court date ASAP! Until then we are on hold. The waiting period is 15 days after court. The after waiting period finalization is longer than we were told originally. We were told about 5 days and Marina is saying it is about 7-10 days. God Help Us….The information we have is not very encouraging but we choose to stay up and believe God has a plan and only good is coming our way.

WE WOULD LOVE TO HEAR FROM YOU OUT THERE AND WHAT IS GOING ON AT HOME. WE MISS EVERYONE AND FEEL WE ARE LOSING TOUCH WITH WHAT IS GOING ON.

May God Bless You Indeed……

To the Aqua Park...better bring your wet suit!!!

Saturday, May 27

This morning we had to peel them out of bed after dosing them with Benadryl for sinus headaches. Stella would rather play gameboy than eat breakfast. Apparently whenever we go back the visit at the orphanage he trades out games. He brought home the Barbie one for Stella and she has been wanting to play gameboy ever since.

She decided to try on her outfit we brought for her to wear in court with her new shoes we bought at the Zoom. She had to make sure they went with it. She looks so cute in it. She likes to twirl and primp in the mirror fixing her hair. We had an English lesson with Alona today at 11:00 and she spent an hour with them each. It is going well and they are learning eagerly. We have another lesson on Monday.

Garrett has talked to them about how he wants to learn more Russian while they are learning English. Stella has taken this very seriously. Papa had Russian lessons for at least an hour yesterday. She would teach him how to say something in Russian or point to an object and tell him to say what it was in Russian, which he did not know. They decided to start on the Russian Alphabet. She is a tough teacher! If he did not know the answer she would say “No Leapster, no Gameboy, no computer, no good night sleepin’.” She may be a teacher in the future for sure!

After lunch Nastya came over and escorted us to the Aqua Park!!! We were shocked and amazed to find out the water was A LOT colder. It was nice and warm last week. The water was a nice shade of bluish this time though so they must have added more chemicals, water or the heater turned into a cooler! In no time at all Sasha was shivering and his lips turned blue. He wanted to go get in the sauna but we did not rent the room this time because last time we spent no time in the room at all. We must admit next time we may have to consider the room rental with the sauna. I was able to do some laps which helped to stay warm but if you stopped moving around for any time it got cold fast. The kids toughed it out and swam until we pulled their shivering bodies out of the water two hours later. Sasha would come over to the side of the pool and look at us with his goggles on and his bottom jaw shaking. We could not help laughing it was so funny.

The warm sunshine was a relief for our chilly bodies as we went outside and rode the taxi home. We may have to get a temperature report next time before going. We passed a bowling alley on our way to the pool. We decided we would try that some time soon.

We had fun talking to some friends last night on the computer. Skype is a wonderful thing and has made this trip much more delightful. The kids talked to our good friend Greg last night and are always happy to talk to someone in Russian. He was our translator over the last 9 months with the kids and we all love him very much. They chatted for a good long time about who knows what and had a wonderful time. Then we talked to our good friends Buck and Keira in Kentucky or Lu-tucky as their daughter calls it. It is good to have the love and support of friends and family. We can feel the prayer support and the love all the way on the other side of the world! We are eternally grateful and know great will be your reward in Heaven.

A Little Sightseeing

Friday, May 26th

Mr. Sasha has made a shocking realization. Stella has more clothes than he does! He only has ONE pair of jeans, she has TWO. She has other pants and lots of shirts. He has 4 shirts. This gross injustice MUST be rectified! I explained to him that we knew what size Stella was and so it was easy to buy clothes for her and bring them with us but we did not exactly know what size he was so it was more challenging to bring stuff for him. Now on a side note he DID give away 2 shirts, a pair of shorts, and a pair of shoes to Andrey. So it is not quite as one sided as you might think. We made plans for a big shopping adventure with the company of our trusty Nastya and headed out to the Zoom. Now Sasha is a very discerning shopper. He knows the look he is after and it does not matter the cost that must be sacrificed for the complete look of an outfit. He is not interested in say “just” a pair of pants. He is going to push for the matching shirt! How could we want him to be seen in just a new pair of pants when that t-shirt would make the complete ensemble… and just when you think he is ready to make a purchase he looses interest and walks away and kinda shrugging his shoulders.

Stella on the other hand, when you pick up a cute skirt goes “oh, yes!”, and claps her hands, tries it on and sings a little song as she dances out of the store carrying her bag! Sasha tends to be most distressed with you when he doesn’t get what he wants and will possibly not talk to you on the way home till he works out of it. And he is working out of it…new parents…new rules…lots to figure out. It’s tough on a little guy. They have a tendency while we are out to keep up with how much you have spent on this one and that one. This severely irritates their parents! I know all you seasoned veteran parents are snickering right about now. I am having flashbacks of my own childhood when I may have had a few imperfect moments and us leaving a store a little… shall we say, prematurely.

All in all we are having a glorious time. The kids are great and every day is another opportunity to learn more about them and this whole thing called family. After shopping we were invited by Sharon and Ron from Canada to go visit a Russian Orthodox Church about 20 minutes walk from here. The church is very elaborate inside and out and is just about 8 years old. There is scaffolding on the inside of the church where they are painting a mural on the ceiling. It made me snicker because my cousin Stephen and I traveled Europe in high school and it seemed like every beautiful and historic building we went to was covered up by scaffolding. The inside of the building is carved wood and very beautiful. There are many paintings two and three stories high. Nastya attends this church and she says they have services that last 2-3 hours long. We noticed there were no benches and she said they stand for the whole service. It’s very different from home. We met one of the Priests at the church and he asked if we were Protestants or Catholic. He told us it did not matter because we all serve the same God.

There was a very loved Priest that died about 9 years ago here in Karaganda. After his death, he was made a Saint. They have his body in a coffin at the church wrapped in a shroud with a small glass window on it. People of the church pray to him and kiss the coffin and believe he answers their prayers. There are other differences in their beliefs from ours too. They have a cross that looks very different to ours with three crosses vertically in one but we don’t know why. Nastya says they have their own Pope in the Russian Orthodox Church. He is in Russia. I think she said his name is Alexander the 2nd. I could be wrong about that…I know it is the 2nd though.

On our way home we stopped at another grocery store/mini mall. Their malls are all in one two to three story rectangular buildings. Makes sense with their cold winters. Then we headed home for dinner. It is so nice to just show up at 6:00 and have dinner waiting on you. It really helps us to be on a schedule and that helps the time go well each day. Although we are definitely NOT bored!

Tomorrow we Aqua Park!!! Can you feel the excitement! They have only asked me 14 times “Mama, you swim?” I am praying for blue water!!!!!!!!

Nastya and Sasha

Here is Sasha and Nastya Friday afternoon on our way to visit a Russian Orthodox Church that is within walking distance of our apartment of about 20 minutes. Sasha decided he wanted to try Nastya's sunglasses so being the gentleman that he is he gave her his to wear. We told her she looked like she should be wearing all leather and be in the movie "Matrix". We love Nastya!

Goodies at the Park

This is at the park in Timertau. They had quite a line up of baked goods. It was like one big bake sale with no cake walks. We got a potato filled pastry thing and Garrett got something with meat in it. We decided to bless it and trust all would be fine. It was of course. We figure if God protected Daniel in the lion's den he could handle a meat pie in Kazakhstan!

Sasha's School Teacher

We choose Joy!!!

Thurs. May 25

This picture is of the park in Timertau and shows some of the graduation costumes mentioned below.

I wanted to clear up something that I have had several questions about. Sasha will go by “Sasha” if and until he wants to change it. Over here Sasha and Alexander are synonymous. If you ask him his name, he calls himself Sasha Gabriel because he considers the names to be one and the same. At some point he may want to be Alex or Gabriel, that will be up to him but we wanted to let you all know before we see you all at home.

We were invited this morning to go to Timertau to see a Graduation Ceremony at Sasha and Stella’s school. None of their friends were in it so it got old fast as far as they were concerned. It was very interesting how different it was from our usual sit and listen to speakers and then call out names as we each parade across to the Principal to get our diploma. In this case it is all done by the graduating class. They call their names at the beginning and they parade out in their costumes boy and girl holding hands. They have blue sashes that look like a beauty contestant would wear. They have words on them, I can only assume that it says “Graduate”. The interesting thing to me is the girls’ outfits. They have on what we would call a maid costume. A black top and very short black skirt with a white frilly apron that goes over the shoulders and ties in the back is the costume with lace knee socks and heels or flats. They also wear big white puff balls of the same fabric in their hair. Most unusual to us. They also sing and perform at least 25 songs in different little acts and parade flowers to different groups of teachers at different parts of the program.

After 1 hour and 20 minutes we decided to leave. We went down to where Sasha’s classroom is and waited a while to meet his teacher. She was very nice and speaks English. She teaches it at the school. She is a different teacher from the one that taught Sasha English at the English Club you have heard us talk about. She had only wonderful things to say about Sasha which is very common from anyone that knows him. We have quite a remarkable boy and girl as if you did not already know it! I can hear the grandparents saying, “We know it!”

We visited with Sasha and Stella’s mommas and had tea. It is such a great opportunity for us to understand more about them and experience their lives here. They will be going to camp June 8th and we are invited to go for a visit with swimming in the river and a picnic! We look forward to it! Sasha never likes to turn down an opportunity to swim.
We visited a Botanical Garden that Temirtau is very proud of with banana trees and peacocks and squirrels. It was right next to the park that we took Andre, Rada and the kids to last week. We went over to the park and got some food since they were having special food for the graduation celebration. We have decided most of the Kazak diet is bread, potato and sweets. They also serve Shish kabob but we have not been brave enough to try it when you see the uncooked meat laying on a plate uncovered for who knows how long. It kinda kills the appetite.

We left at 3:00 with our friend Andrew who drove us back for free for English conversations with him. He is such a nice man. We exchanged some money at the bank. The dollar continues to drop in value over here. It was 125 when we got here and is down to 120 now. We hung out at the apartment and the kids did their English homework all by themselves without us asking them to do it. Stella came over to get Garrett to go over words with her.

They watched the end of “Madagascar” and then the little song at the end “I like to move it, move it!” came on and they broke out in crazy dance. Garrett even did some serious River Dance. Sasha tried his best to imitate but Garrett’s moves were just too fast. It was quite humorous here!!!

At the end of our day we found out some disappointing news. We have been assigned a preliminary court date of Monday at 2:30pm. We are not allowed to be there, just our lawyer. They will meet and then the judge will assign the court date 3-4 days after. We were expecting one court date and definitely NOT two. We have never heard of such but apparently in certain parts of Karaganda they do this…lucky us. We were very bummed yesterday but went to bed praising God and declaring victory over this situation and we have FAVOR in this situation…far and beyond…head spinning favor… We are expecting good things and are doing our best to encourage ourselves and each other. We heard of another family here that was given some very bad news about their adoption so we are thankful for what we have. There is always something to be thankful for if you try hard enough. Please pray for this other family.

Waiting for Court...

Wednesday, May 24

Marina told us last night that the court is requiring that we sign paperwork stating we know the children’s medical history and that they had a family here in Karaganda that returned them or as Marina says “betrayed them”. The kids also had to sign paperwork stating they want to be adopted by us. We were a little surprised because only Sasha is allowed to go to court with us because he is over 10 and he has a say in the adoption.

We were picked up at about 11:30 and taken to a home office where we waited a while and then were given papers to sign. We did not have an interpreter this time so it was a little weird to just blindly sign paperwork but hey we are reasonable people. We understand we must sign or we will be delayed on our court date. Marina told us the details of what would be the intent of the document beforehand. The kids were given paperwork and it was read to them and there were lots of smiles and giggles. They were especially surprised when they realized our birthdays. Their previous adoptive family changed their birthdates but not birth year. Sasha’s birthday is Nov. 22 and Stella’s birthday is Sept.7. They thought it was really neat when they found out mine is Sept. and Garrett’s Nov. They told everyone. With our birthdays less than 10 days apart it will be busy months.

After we left we drove to Alona’s house, our English teacher for the kids, and she read our document to us which was good. They will take the notarized documents to the court. We are still waiting for a court date and do not know why we have not heard about a date yet. We just know it will be soon!!!

We went to purchase a video DVD game for the kids to play on our computer but are having a little trouble loading because the text is either Russian which is fine or all ???????? as the text. We have someone coming over that will help us later today. In the meantime we found a place nearby where we can go and pay 60 tenge for a hour of computer games. We had to monitor what they were playing. They tried to play Grand Theft Auto and we said “NIET”. They were not too disappointed and found other games to play. The games are so different here. To describe them would take to long! We played/watched for 1 hour and then it was time for dinner. Sasha was a happy boy on the way to computer games and not so much on the way back. He is one of those guys that has a hard time with transitions sometimes, well they both do. But most kids do, I guess.

Marina told us we also had to go to see the Social Worker today at 4:30pm also but then at the last minute cancelled us because she realized we are having court at Timertau and not Karaganda. We will see the social worker in Timertau just prior to court. They will check the children to make sure they are coherent and understand what is going on.

We watched most of Madagascar and they liked it but we had to turn it off because we are going to get up early to go visit at the orphanage. It is the end of the school year and their will be graduation ceremonies and the kids last opportunity to see their teachers.

Mr. Acrobat

Sasha wanted everone to see how talented he is on the jumpy thing. He loves to jump and then come over and see the picture. He thinks he is cool! Of course he is!

Photo Opportunities

Tuesday, May 23

Today I was not feeling well so we had a quiet morning and then after lunch the kids had English lessons with Alona. They usually have about and hour of lessons each and then she doles out homework. They are very eager to work with Alona which is great. So about 3:30pm Nastya came over and we headed downtown by taxi to get Passport and Visa pictures. The pictures turned out fine but they are not the most flattering pictures of the kids but the man gave them both an extra picture to have and they were very excited about that.

While we waited for the photos to be developed we went to the Asia Store. It is a small store around the corner that has handicrafts and local arts and crafts. We want to take some native souvenirs back for them. They both got a hand crafted inlaid box to hold treasures like jewelry in. They also got necklaces made of silver. Stella got a cross like momma, and Sasha got a sword. They were very pleased. We will get some more stuff before we leave. There are some beautiful pots and dishes made of wood and hand painted. There are also dolls and Garrett would like to find some glasses like the ones he saw on “The Hunt for Red October”. He figures this is a good place to look.

We went to a digital processing lab and had photos printed for our court date. You need to have pictures as a family that are happy for the Judge look at. We also bought some photo albums and made pictures for Andrey and Rada to have of our adventures here. We also went to a bookstore and bought some native books like Pushkin’s Fables and a couple of other books for them to read in Russian.

We were going to go to the Orphanage tomorrow to see the kids teachers and schoolmates since it will be the last day of school but we have found out this evening we have to go to the notary at 11:00am to sign another paper for court. We also have to meet a Social Worker at 4:00pm so that takes care of our day! It is always an adventure here. We might go back on Thursday if that works out. We still don’t know when the court date is we hope to find out tomorrow.

After dinner we watched “The Princess Bride”. They seemed to really like it. Until tomorrow…My God shall supply all my needs according to His riches in glory! May God bless you all!

A Little R and R

Monday, May 22

Everyone was a little tired this morning after our fun-filled weekend. Our power went out around 9:30am and Marina contacted us shortly after to let us know we needed to be ready at 11:30am to go to the notary to sign papers. So we took a shower under the glow of our flashlight we brought from home and prepared for who knows what. She told us we needed to leave the kids here and would get a sitter for us. It was not until we got in the car with Sharon and Ron, our friends from Canada adopting Oolia, that we found out we were going to sign many papers for powers of Attorney for court related procedures. You just never know what is going on in the morning. Each day brings new adventures! We planned to go get Passport Photos today but that all changed. I guess we will try to do that tomorrow.

In the afternoon Garrett, Sasha and Stella went “magazine”, which means shopping, at the market. Sasha was hoping to find a computer game store that he heard was in our area but they did not find one. They needed some snacks and boy did they get them! They had all kinds of fun stuff when they got back. Garrett found ice cream and decided to try it. It tasted more like ice milk. Some things are not as sweet over here like chocolate milk and chocolate ice cream. They have small amounts of chocolate in them. Sasha has a taste for chocolate and does not like the lesser chocolate taste. They have a lot of sweets here in general. In the grocery store the sweet section is huge like ¼ of the store. They have little individually wrapped candies usually and ice cream is individually wrapped and sold. I know we have a lot of sweets at our grocery stores at home but it seems like Halloween here all the time instead of seasonal like home.

We stayed in the apartment until after dinner when a serious tickle fight broke out and we realized there was a little extra energy here. So we decided to go outside around 8:00pm which is a first for us. We usually watch a movie after dinner. We enjoyed the excursion and played a little basketball. Stella grew tired of it and went over to play on the monkey bars and met a lady with a small child in a stroller. In no time she was pushing the child around talking up a storm. She has started getting up in the morning and making Chai for Momma and Papa the last couple of mornings. She likes to bring it to us on a tray with a few cookies. She is such the little hostess.

After baths we snuggled in on the sofa bed and watched Ice Age. They both liked it a lot and Sasha was especially happy to know we had games too for Ice Age. He played that for a while and then it was off to bed for us all. Good night and sweet dreams!

Fun Filled Weekend-WHEW!

Saturday 20th and Sunday 21st

We thought since they went to bed late they would sleep in for a bit but they were up at 7:00 and so were we! Andre and Rada were not very hungry Saturday but more than made up for it Sunday morning. We had 12 eggs, sausage type meat and chai along with plenty of bread! A big favorite here!

We went to the Aqua Park around 3:00 and not to soon as far as the kids were concerned. ample space to dress. The Aqua Park apparently used to be a hotel. It is about three stories tall and all the rooms face the enclosed pool. There are two big slide tubes and two kiddie pools as well as a large main pool. The only negative is the water is green. We were not real sure about the sanitary situation but all the grounds were very clean and they were constantly mopping up around. Maybe they use different chemicals. Garrett made the executive decision that I should video and take pictures and he would swim with the kids. They gave the kids inner tubes, who am I kidding, we paid for them but it was the only way they would let them swim in the big pool which is good because they do not have a lot of experience in swimming. We all had a great time, especially the kids. I took lots of pictures and video. Sasha was the best swimmer of the group but basically only dog paddles. The others really do not know how to swim without a floatation device. After swimming and sliding we went back to the room to dry off in the sauna in our room. It worked great, they were all dry in no time. Sasha wasted no time in asking when could we come back to the Aqua Park, Monday or Tuesday. We got back to the apartment just in time for dinner. The rest of the evening we spent in the apartment watching a movie and diffusing arguments. It was a challenge having the sibling group here for the weekend. Sasha & Stella did not seem to understand that Andre and Rada were our guests, to them they were just family so they did not deserve special treatment.

Sunday we spent the morning here in the apartment and then took our first adventure on the Kaz bus system, unchaperoned, without Nastya. We went to the park and all made it in one piece. We picked up a pair of Sunglasses for Andre and Rada. They had a good time trying on the glasses and making their final selections. Sasha had the great idea that Andre should take his sunglasses and let him pick out a new pair because he saw some he liked better. Andre said no. In Sasha’s defense he picked out a great pair a few days ago and his sister accidentally broke them. When we went back to replace them they did not have another like them.

The kids enjoyed riding the swing rides, the roller coaster, jumping on the moon walk and eating ice cream. We took lots of pictures and video of Andre to help him in finding a family in the U.S. The park was probably the high light of our weekend. The kids asked if they could get together again. Of course we will but not for the 8 days they are proposing! School is out Wednesday for the kids so it will be easy to plan more get togethers. I think we will go there next and hang out. We might try to go Wed. so they can say bye to their schoolmates.

After the park we met Nastya for her to escort us to the restaurant, Aladins. It is very kid friendly and they have cokes, hot dog, pizza, hamburgers which could actually be chicken, fish or beef. They call them all hamburgers. Once Nastya had us settled she headed out and left us to work out the ordering. Rada and Andre come in very handy for that. Rada speaks better English than Andre but they both are impressive. At 7 our driver Sergey came to pick us up and Stella and I decided to be dropped at the apartment and let Garrett and Sasha take everyone to the orphanage.

Andre really warmed up to having his picture taken. It took us a while to explain to him that it is good to smile and all pictures do not need to be serious. Once he got it he came out of his shyness and wanted me to take pictures. He sometimes called me Kelley and sometimes Momma. He wanted to have a picture and then wanted to see it right away and would nod in agreement. I told him we would make him some pictures too. This is good for him to have some family pictures too since other kids from Kidsave have photos. We just know there is a great family out there for Andrey! (Correct spelling)

Stella and I hung out at the apartment and checked email and talked to Mimi for a few minutes. The boys showed up around 9 and we were passed out by 10:30. What a time we had. All in all it went well this weekend. I must say having two kids seems so much easier! Praise God for His goodness.

Buddies

Here is a picture of Andre, Stella and a little guy his momma calls the "Energizer Bunny". He is a more recent addition to the orphanage and it is unsure if he is available or when he will be. He sang a litle song with Stella the first day we saw the kids at the orphanage. He is SO cute!

Stella is sporting her Mickey Mouse ears look with her hair. She feels very stylish and wants you to know even though her hair is short she can do things with it too!

Let's Go to Detskidom!!!

Friday, May 19

We spent the morning in eager anticipation of Rada and Andre coming over to visit. The kids were constantly asking what time are we going to get them. We told them it would be after lunch but they could hardly wait. About 3:00 we got a phone call from Andrew telling us he was coming to get us. Sasha and Stella already had their shoes on and were ready to go. Andrew gave us a free ride to the orphanage in exchange for us talking English to him. He wants to go to Canada and is a Electrical Engineer here in Karaganda. He is about 33 years old and has a wife and two sons ages 7 and 9. He wants to go but does not have training for electricity in Canada so it is unsure as to when he would be able to go.

We arrived at the orphanage at 4:00 thanks to Sasha’s excellent navigation. Everyone was glad to see us. We had many gifts for them and they love gifts. What kid doesn’t? The mothers were excited to have the water heating elements. We bought one for each group and we found out the whole orphanage will be going to camp on June 8th. That will be our last chance to see the kids before we leave. That is very sad to us. They will be gone until August 26th.

We talked to Sasha and Stella’s momma for a while. It was great to have another translator with us there at the orphanage. We had not met these mommas before so it was great to see them. Sasha’s momma had wonderful things to say about him and asked how they were behaving. We told her there was some arguing occasionally but things were good over all. She seemed surprised because he gets along so well with the other kids in his group. I guess it is just a sister thing!

Stella’s momma spoke English! What a treat! She used to teach German and English about 10-15 years ago so her English was rusty but got better the longer we talked. We were just about to leave when they told us they wanted to serve us tea or Chai as they call it. They serve tea that has little balls of tea that sit on the bottom of the mug and we had cookies, apples and lots of candy. They explained to us they were embarrassed to serve us such an unacceptable snack and we told them we had snacks like that in America. That seemed to go over well.

We left around 6:15 crammed into a hatchback 7 people! Garrett said we looked like clowns at the circus. We got back at 7:00 and they brought dinner to us which was wonderful. They played gameboy and leapster and lots of drawing and coloring. We also watched Mighty Joe Young. We had snacks and tried to get an acceptable game plan for sleeping arrangements. That was the worst part of the day!!! I thought we would never work it out. Apparently flexibility does not work with children. We kept expecting S&S to be good host but forgot these are their brother and sister in their eyes. Stella refused to let Rada sleep on the sofa bed with her which made Rada uncomfortable so Mom and Dad to the rescue. I scooped that girl up and she got to sleep in the bunk bed in Mama and Papa’s room. What a day! We need some good night sleepin’!

Up for an Adventure this weekend

Thursday May 18

Today Sasha decided to redo the entire “office” on the balcony so he took the roof off which is made of a few thin pieces of wood trim propped up on the edge of the concrete walls of the balcony and the other end inserted into a small groove in the wall of the exterior of the apartment. He has covered the sticks with clear plastic that he found somewhere in the apartment to make it basically waterproof. Fortunately the balcony above us gives most of the protection from the elements. Both of the kids spend a lot of time in their office playing well together most of the time.

Nastya, Ron & Sharon from Canada, who are adopting Oolia from another orphanage here in Karaganda, and I all went to the Green Bazaar today to buy gifts for the orphanages. We will each be going to the orphanages tomorrow to visit and to bring gifts which will make it go easier for the children not being adopted. We bought balls, badminton racquets with the birdie, indoor bowling, and art supplies. The Director of the orphanage told us they need shampoo, soap, and little electric water heating rods that you plug in and stick into water and it heats it quickly. They do not always have hot water in the summer. They turn the heat off as soon as it gets hot so they have no more hot water. We have small water heaters in our water closets so we are very thankful for hot showers and we also have an air conditioning unit in our den that is very nice. We feel we have a lot of perks where we are especially compared to others that live here.

We will be going to the orphanage around 3:00 and we have a complimentary driver that is learning English and only asks that we talk English to him. What a deal! He told us he would call us at 3:00 to confirm picking us up but instead he said “I will kill you at 3:00.” We had a good laugh over that!

We will be bringing Rada and Andre back with us for the weekend. We went to the market earlier today and bought snacks for the kids. They were so excited they picked out two snack cracker type things and for each of them and a Snickers bar. They came home and unloaded the groceries and Sasha placed them on the counter in little stacks for each kid and then took a picture of them. They are so excited they can hardly contain themselves!

On Saturday we are going to the Aqua Park. There is an indoor pool and rooms that you rent that have billiards and table tennis and a sofa. We will be there for a few hours and then go to dinner somewhere in town. On Sunday we will go to the Circus which should be a great experience for us all. We have heard it is very good. It will only be here for this weekend and then will go on to another town. After that we will take Rada and Andre to the orphanage Sunday night. I am sure we will have quite a few stories to tell over the next few days.

Stella at the Amusement Park

This is Stella on one of those jumpy things. She loves it! We pay 60 tenge for 5 minutes. Which is about 40 cents.

A View from our Apartment

Tuesday & Wednesday, May 16 & 17

We stayed in the apartment both days and the kids worked on their “office/fort” on our balcony. We went to the market on Wed. to get a few grocery items and Stella a pair of shoes. We noticed her shoes were too small and she needed a bigger pair. Fortunately the grocery market also has a mini-mall above it where you can get other things like shoes, notebooks, makeup, and many other items.

Not much happened of interest. We continue to have great lunches and dinners each day made for us upstairs in Marina’s apartment by her cook, Illena. We had heard before we traveled to Kaz that the meals were really good and families were gaining weight here and we believe it. The food has been fantastic to say the least. We have lunch at 1:00 and dinner at 6:00 each day. We have very traditional Kaz dishes and they are so very good. We have lots of salad type dishes, not with lettuce, but with many fresh veggies like cut tomatoes, cucumbers, olives, shredded cabbage, shredded carrots, sliced beets with mayo is also something we have almost every day. We have had a great dumpling type dish with meat inside that was moocho deliciouso, different pastries with meat inside, a great meat cake looking dish that looked like a layered cake that had about 8 thin layers of meat patties with sauce and other stuff layered between each layer, it was very very good. The kids both love sliced tomatoes and cucumbers which we have at almost every meal. Sasha in particular will eat an entire plateful in nothing flat. They love bread too and Stella must be watched to make sure she does not fill up on it alone. We also have soup every day. Many different kinds, most have different meat and veggies, some meatballs or chicken. We also have a lot of cut up chicken on the bone in a stew type style or cut up beef ribs or diced pork mixed with a sauce and other small veggies. We always leave stuffed. Well, Garrett always leaves stuffed and the rest of us are very satisfied. We would love to have the recipes for some of the many dishes we have had. This is a nice perk for being with Marina as our coordinator in Kaz. Other families who are with other coordinators must fend for themselves for meals, either cooking or going out, we are very blessed.

"Lucy, You got some splainin' to do!"

Another cute one! He does kinda have that Ricky Ricardo look to him, don't ya think?

Which is which?

They entertained us the other day by dressing up in each others clothes. They are close to each other in size but Sasha is heavier built. We were all laughing pretty hard. Garrett and I were saying calling out "We want a show", and they were behind the double doors of our den saying "one minute". It was very cute.

Day 10 and Counting

Monday, May 15

Another great day in Kazakhstan. We had our translator over to discuss some obedience issues with the kids that we just could not quite explain through our limited Russian language skills. Nastya has been an invaluable tool for us. It went pretty well but Sasha was not real happy about it. It seems kids don’t usually have much parental supervision and children as early as 6 or 7 wander the streets at will. This will be a huge change for Sasha and Stella who have had so much independence even at the Orphanage. We had lunch then went to town to try to find a computer game place, like an arcade, that Sasha said they went to often when they lived in Karaganda. When we got there it was closed down and another shop was in its place. We then walked around the area of town they used to live in and went to play at the playground of their former school. It has been really warm here lately and today was no exception.

After that we went back to the park in town that has a few rides, ice cream and drink vendors, and shish ka bob stands. We all rode a big swing ride similar to the one at Six Flags that spins in a big circle. The kids wanted to ride a second time so they did while we watched and took pictures. After that we walked over to the lake there and the kids took their shoes off and played in the sandy area there making sand mounds and wading in the chilly water. They found a floating log about 3 feet long in the water and enjoyed each picking up one end and tossing it back in. They were supposed to not get their jeans wet but…they got nice and wet to say the least for our journey back to the apartment via the Karaganda bus system, which gives you a real feel for the people here. At that time of day it is crowded and hot. We are the last stop or the first stop at the bus system which is good because you know when to get off. We have not tried the bus alone without a translator yet. We are getting our bearings though. Sasha prefers the taxis over the bus. He does not like to walk the 5-10 minutes to the bus stop. He has been suffering from sinus headaches and we need to find some Tylenol sinus or something.

We met with our lawyer and Marina, our coordinator here after dinner. They had all the paperwork for our court date which takes place on day 21-23. We are on day 10 in the process and they cannot file the paperwork until we are through day 14 of our bonding period. We have asked if the court date could be moved up a bit and they are not sure if that is a possibility but they will ask. If we could just pick up a day here and there it would make a big difference in when we get to come back. Please pray with us that we will have favor in the process. It was explained to us that if the judge moved it too much that he is checked by other higher judges and they will accuse him of being bribed and that would not go well for them. So sometimes their hands are tied.

Marina says there has never been a waiving of the 15 day waiting period in the history of Karaganda adoptions. They even had a girl that needed brain surgery recently and was scheduled for it and they would not waive the waiting period. It is during that time that they investigate the child’s history to make sure there is no claim or other siblings. We believe we can still be the first to have it waived or shortened. PLEASE pray in agreement with us for this.

After that we went through all the questions that the judge could ask us in the interview.
Stuff like how will we discipline, would we ever give them up, how will we keep their heritage, etc… Garrett answered that we wanted them to keep their language and said in Russian that “He speaks a little Russian”. The ladies in the room lit up like a Christmas tree and got very excited and chattered in Russian. They all agreed Garrett needs to speak Russian to the judge and the interview could be over like that because of him being impressed with him. Apparently that is huge!

We feel like we are somewhat prepared for what is coming. Everyday is a lesson in flexibility. To God be the glory!

A Good Day

Sunday, May 14

We pretty much stayed in today. The kids had a lot of work to do in their “office”. They are enjoying having their own little space. Garrett gave them a couple of oranges peeled and they wanted to keep the peeling to play with. They decided they needed some glasses and squeezed the oranges into juice then froze the juice and made popsicles. Sasha has a great love for my I-pod and sometimes puts it in its case and listens to it in his “office”. This morning he was listening to Darlene Zschech’s song, “You are Holy”, and was out there by himself singing, “Hallelujah, Hallelujah …. Holy, Holy”, in his Russian monotone. It was so AWESOME!!! I wish I could have a recording of it. I just love his little voice when he reads. He is reading very well.

We have started reading English children’s books that are here in the apartment. The English books they use for Russian children does not teach sentences like we talk. They way stuff like “How many rabbits have that boy?” So since we are working with the kids English while the teacher is preparing for an exam I decided he should read books that talk more American. They are not exactly excited about it but we only do it for 30-45 minutes. Anything we do is better than nothing. Today Sasha read “If you give a mouse a cookie”. He liked it. Those are good books. Dahlia has several and even I enjoy them. After he read the book he said, “Mama, I want a mouse.” Let me think…

Stella is working on small words. She knows her alphabet and numbers which is good. We are considering tutoring options for this summer when we get back. We miss you all. Thank you for all the emails. They are a lifeline for us here.

A Day of Rest?

Saturday, May 13

We had a quieter day today. The kids went outside with Garrett for a little while to play and when they came back they had a big bouquet of flowers they had picked. They also had taken captive a few bugs. They are like flat lady bugs. Well that became a major production. They spent the rest of the day out on our balcony, which is small, and made houses for their bugs. At first the houses we quite primitive but as time passed they became more like a bug condo. They were all over the drawers and bookshelves scavenging for supplies. There is a thing of dirt out there and they made a nice terrain and then of course the bugs needed to eat so they had to run down the 5 flights of our apartment building to get food for them. I did not know but little spring onions are a delicacy of these little bugs, or so I am told.

The introduction of onions took us to a whole new level. We released our bugs and cleaned the deck quite well putting away everything and started out fresh with what is now called their “office”. They found an old phone, papers, pens and other important documents and have quite an elaborate set up. We are very impressed with their organizational skills. Then we moved right over into science. We took little shot glasses with cut up pieces of spring onions and some water, salt, and heated in the microwave. They told us they would not be drinking them but their breath said otherwise. Whew!

After dinner Wrestle Mania III broke out. It was pretty wild. Garrett says the back of his neck feels sunburned from them leaping off the sofa and grabbing him. We thought we were getting ready for bed but then Sasha had a great idea. He wanted to build a fort. So they made a lovely fort after a few failed attempts. They played Gameboy and listened to the I-pod for a while but then when they were ready for bed they put everything away and crawled in bed. That was about it for day 8. Until tomorrow God bless you and keep you.

Do you have that in a size 7, please?

This is one of the shopping places. The Green Bazaar, Karaganda's K mart. It is one big flea market. If you are looking for a pair of shoes you just walk around and look for a shoe, if is your size and fits you are golden, but it is not like they will have another one like it in your size. What you see is what they have. They may have 25 different shoes, all different, no duplicates or they may have another one.

There are vendors all over with tarps seperating them. The nicer the tarp, the more expensive the stuff. It is all Chinese goods and this why anything from China is looked down on here because it is of the lowest quality. Lots of knock offs with "labels" on them like Puma, Adidas, Polo, but the quality is not so good. There are chandeliers, linens, kitchen appliances, wedding dresses covered in plastic, etc. Everything you could want, you just have to persevere and find it. The girl in the picture is Nastya, our translator and of course me and Stella. We were looking for a pair of shoes for her for court. We just started day 9! Yeah!!!

Bitter Sweet Reunion

Fri. May 12, 2006

Announcing the new names…Alexander (Sasha) Gabriel and Stella Josephine!!!

We had a packed day today. The Director of the Orphanage invited us to a concert at an Auditorium that was performances with the kids from three detskidomes (orphanages) in the area. There was singing and dancing by several children from both of Sasha and Stella’s family groups. They had elaborate costumes with glitter and satin, sequins and trims. We were fully entertained until about the third hour when we were getting hungry and thirsty. They were about to finish and the kid’s groups had already finished and walked back to the orphanage. The Director sent Rada and Andre (their “brother and sister”) to be with us and escort us back.

It was only a short walk to the orphanage. One of the girls in Sasha’s group named Luda had a birthday and we were invited to the party. We had a cake that the kids in the family group had made and we gave the kids a few balloons to take to the party. They had a big time playing with the balloons. It was neat to see Sasha, Stella, Andre and Rada playing and interacting. They are like a little family. Rada is like the mother. We had tea which they call Chai with the cake and Sasha’s mother talked to us through Rada our interpreter. Praise God for Rada!

After the little party we took the four kids and the birthday girl, Luda, over to an amusement park across the street. They went into what I would have called an arcade but all computers. You pay 30 tenge for 30 minutes of computer time and they wanted to play a game called Grand Theft Auto. Oh my Gosh!!! We won’t be playing that game at home. We went and rode a couple of small rides and in between them some were thirsty so we got them drinks. Luda was shy and did not want anything. Andre was very appreciative. We went back for more tickets to ride another ride and they were on a break so Garrett said he would get everyone an ice cream. Andre looked at him and said “You have money?” Garrett said “Yes”. He just smiled and said “Yes, please”. He speaks good English. Everybody got ice cream. Garrett was relieved because the birthday girl relented and got something too. Then the girls and boys split up and rode a separate ride and we met back for one more round of computer video games. We headed back to the orphanage and waited around for our ride and Andre asked when we would come back and if they could come to Karaganda. There is a circus and a bowling alley so we will go for a few excursions.

When it was time to go we headed out to the car and I hugged Rada and said bye to Andre. He followed me to the car and tapped me on the shoulder. When I turned around he had tears in his eyes and said when are we coming back. I said next week and he said what day? It is so hard. We are praying for someone to want him in the U.S. He is a great kid!

The kids were so tired. We picked up Oolia on the way home and she will be spending the weekend with her parents. We watched “All Dogs Go to Heaven” and then off to bed. It was a good day.

Andre & Sasha (Both 11 Years Old)

Andre did not go to the U.S. because he was not at the orphanage yet. He is a great kid, very polite and speaks English well. We have heard that there may not be a Kid Save program for Kaz kids this year so Andre won't get a chance to go to the U.S. We are praying for him to find a great family soon. Since Rada is being adopted and will be going to the U.S., it would be great for all of them to have U.S. families. Andre, Rada, Sasha & Stella all lived with a family for 6 years in Karaganda before being given back to the orphanage. They are all great kids.

Sasha & Stella's Family - Andre, Rada, S & S

A picture's worth

May 11

Today was not really worth posting in words because the parents were challenged in their parenting skills today. Whew! The good news is we survived and life is good and God is good. We are instead posting a few cute photos.

We went out before lunch and had a good time with the ball. Garrett is a possible super-hero in Sasha's eyes because he was able to throw the ball OVER the power lines that were maybe 60 feet high. Very impressive to a kid. He keeps reaching over and feeling Garrett's biceps. I don't think Garrett minds TOO much! Thanks to all our family and friends for all the love and prayers and support. We love you guys!

Wed. May 10

We woke up this morning and were about to have breakfast when the doorbell rang. It was the taxi driver here to take us all to the orphanage. We knew we would be going back soon to see the Director, but we did not know exactly when and nobody said anything about 9:15am. I guess this is part of being “flexible”. We rushed to get dressed and get their suitcases together and get downstairs for the taxi driver. We had no interpreter and the driver spoke no English so we were depending on Sasha to tell for us. It takes about 40 minutes to get to Timertau. When we got close the driver started asking us questions about how to get there. Sasha sat up and seemed to maybe know where. As we continued the driver stopped several times and asked directions. We were clueless but at some point we turned left and Sasha perked up and said turn right. The driver stopped again to ask but when the guy said one way Sasha was emphatic it was the other way. The driver believed him and he was right. We found our way. Sasha was very proud.

So we had no interpreter at the orphanage and no one spoke English except for Rada, S & S’s “sister” from their former home. We were so grateful she was there. She became our interpreter. She showed us pictures of her family in Colorado that is adopting her. They have family that lives in Atlanta and come often so we will be able to see her when she goes to the U.S. We are praying it goes quickly till she comes. Stella asked about Andre and if he will come to the U.S. someday. We told her we do not know. We hope so.

The Director has the right to decide whether or not a child can stay with their parents all the time or part of the time. The government checks with the Orphanages regularly to account for the children for funds. The Director was very nice and asked us lots of questions about ourselves like our jobs, age and did we have children. She seemed to like us and thought we would be good for the children. She is going to let us keep the children for the whole time it would appear. That will be great instead of going back and forth.

We left around 12:30pm and had lunch. Then we had English lessons at 4:30pm for the kids. The teacher tested them and they are at different levels. Sasha can read very well and understands what he is reading. He just has a problem with grammar and cannot talk well. There is a big difference in Russian sentence structure and that is difficult. He is doing very well. Stella knows little so they will each have a 1 hour lesson. We do not know how often though.


A family came in from Canada today and are adopting a girl Oolia that is 7. They are very nice and we enjoyed talking with them and sharing their experience. They have been waiting 2 years which makes our 9 months seem small. We will be eating with them for lunches and dinner. They do not know if they will get to keep her the whole time or not. She will be going back to the Orphanage tomorrow afternoon.

We are here! We have internet!

Wed. May 3-4, 2006

We finally got on the internet after many days without it so I have written down our events along the way so you will know what happened in our lives so far.

We had a nice flight to Frankfurt and arrived around 7:15 am. That would be 1:15 am Atlanta time. We tried to sleep on the plane but were not able to. Something about sitting and sleeping don’t work so well. We entered the twilight zone somewhere over the Atlantic and started to realize this thing is really happening.

There was much opportunity to shop but we did not want to add to our already generous baggage. We knew it would be weighed in Almaty, Kazakhstan (Kaz in the future for obvious reasons) for the prop plane to Karaganda, Kaz. We had breakfast and went to look for a place to crash for a while. They will not let you to the concourse early so we had to find some other place. The oddest thing to us was this large hallway on our way to the concourse that had 40-50 lounge chairs in a darkened area. People were passed out. I thought how strange to sleep in front of all these people as we passed by! Funny how sleepiness changes things… An hour later we were grateful and praising God for the two seats we found together. It is hard to sleep with people walking by, announcers over the intercom, and vehicles wheeling by but we sure tried.

Our next flight was about 7 hours with a stop in Astana, Kaz. We so were ready to get off the plane! We passed through customs easy and met Lola and her driver outside. It was 1:00 am May 5th there and 3:00 pm the 4th at home. We found out we were going to an apartment instead of a hotel. But were a little alarmed when we pulled into a back alley and went behind a very dark building and pulled up to another car and a man got out and started walking back to the car. I was imagining the headlines of “Two Americans Missing” for just a second knowing Lola was very trusted. She checked out the apartment and we went in and it was pretty decent. We wasted no time in going to bed!!!


Friday, May 5th

We slept until around 9am and Lola was coming at 10am to show us a few things before our flight at 8:30pm. We went to the bank to change money into Tenge. She showed us a shopping place they call Zoom. It is multi story with vendors that sell lots of stuff from all kinds of electronics to clothes to souvenirs. We went to a restaurant called Mama Mia’s. They have an English menu which is good. The food was excellent.

We got a calling card at the Zoom and called home to let everyone know we are doing good. After that we rested before the plane ride to Karaganda. I was nervous about how much our luggage weighed since we were allowed 44 lbs. each. We knew our luggage weighed 70 lbs each and that does not include our carry on which they typically weigh as well. We had a lot of gifts and clothes for the kids at the orphanage as well as gifts for all the parties involved. When they weighed ours they did not include our carry on which was so great. We had to pay about 40 dollars extra for the overage. Not bad. It should be lighter coming back.

We flew on an old, old prop plane and it was loud but uneventful for two hours. When we got to Karaganda around 10:30pm, it looked like the place was closed down. Everyone went to the building and the doors were locked. Finally someone came up behind us with keys. Marina our coordinator met us and we loaded up in the van with her driver. The airport is in the middle of nowhere, as Marina put it. They took us to our home away from home in the same apartment building as her. She is going to be providing meals for us so it will be very convenient for us to not look for food and prepare in a strange country. We are a little farther out than some of the other families so we will need to take a taxi or bus to downtown. The apartment is on the 5th floor and is about 500 square feet. It has a hallway, where you leave your shoes. There is a den with a sofa bed and a bedroom with bunk beds and two different closets for the bathroom. One is the w/c. The other is a tub, sink and washing machine (no dryer). It is nice. The bed is a little stiff, not much padding. We unpacked our stuff and got organized and went to bed. We should be seeing the kids tomorrow afternoon. We are excited to see how they look.

Saturday, May 6th

We woke up to no power. We know it went out for a few minutes last night but it came on before we went to bed. It was out until about 3:00pm. We were supposed to have lunch at Marina’s at 1:00 but they came down and told us we would be delayed a while because of the power. They brought us lunch around 2:00 and said they would come get us when it was time to get the kids. They came to get us around 3:30. We were some kinda ready. It takes about 40 minutes to get to Timertau. They live in a Steel Mining Town and there is a lot of pollution. Marina says she put them there because it is one of the best in Karaganda. When we pulled into the orphanage Garrett said he saw Sasha run in the building. Everyone was looking at “the Americans” as we walked in. Since it was Saturday the Director of the orphanage was not there but they took us up to where Sasha lives. They both live on the second floor but different wings. Sasha lives to the right of the stairs and Stella on the left. Each wing has a kitchen, a den, and two large sleeping rooms. One for the boys and one for the girls. They have bunk beds which explains why Sasha wants “big bed”. It is very desirable to stay here because they are in family groups with a Momma. There are two Momma’s that come in shifts for each kid group. The kids range in age from 5-16 and there is about 8 kids in each family group.

When we walked into Sasha’s living room he was sitting on a sofa with the other kids playing Gameboy. As soon as we walked in he jumped up and smiled and gave us both a big hug. We sat down and it was a little awkward. The kids giggled and stared. They told us they went to get Stella and she came in and gave us big hugs. She almost comes to my chin! She looks the same with a little more hair as does Sasha. Then we were invited to go see where she lives. When we got there they had a performance all planned. We FORGOT our video camera in our haste to leave. She danced a little routine with two other kids for a song. Then she sang a song with the cutest little guy of about 5. Then another girl about 15 sang a solo with Stella dancing backup. It was so cute. I am sure we will get a command performance at the goodbye party later on. We also met Rada and Andre who lived with Sasha and Stella for six years in their former adoptive home. Rada is so sweet and speaks perfect English. She is 11 and Andre is 10. Andre has only been at the orphanage for 6 months. Rada was at Kidsave in California last year.

It was time to leave so the kids got their suitcases together and headed out. The kids were a sad. It was difficult for them they have been through so much. We got to the apartment and we gave them their backpacks with toys in them. They enjoyed playing for a while. We tried communicating and it goes okay. We had some tea or “Chai” as they call it together in the kitchen with some cookies. We definitely can communicate but is difficult because you can’t tell them exactly what you want but Garrett has done well with his Russian. It seems to mean a lot to the kids that Garrett knows how to talk it and Sasha is using his English very well. We told them we wanted them to teach us their words too. Bed time came and they decided to sleep in the den on the sofa bed because the bunks were not so comfortable.

Sunday, May 7

The kids were up around 7:30 playing Gameboy and Leapster. They were very cute all snuggled in their bed. We went to the market to get some snacks for them and they were more than happy to show us what they wanted. They love apple juice or “sok” but granny smith flavor is their favorite.

We have our meals upstairs at Marina’s apartment. They are wonderful with salads of shredded carrot with red pepper and sometimes meat, cabbage salad with vinegar, beets with mayo, soups, chicken in stews, and potatoes. Halfway through lunch Garrett started having a reaction to something. He is allergic to Salmon and sometimes other fishes. We looked all around and could find no evidence of the fishes. It got worse so he stopped eating. By the time we got down stairs, his tongue was swollen to about twice its normal size. He had two Benadryl but it never affected his breathing. He had trouble talking because of the swelling and I had trouble not laughing because of his speech impediment. We found out later there was fish in the carrot salad and they soaked it in vinegar so it no longer looked or tasted like the fishes. We had a good chuckle. He is fine now and they will be avoiding a fish in the future.

Nastya, our translator, came over and we went to a park with amusement rides. We are on a four day holiday here in Kaz for “Victory Day” from WWII. They were having ceremonies with military and parades. Stella told us she had been there before with her other family. They rode on a slow ferris wheel and a chair swing that goes in circles. I saw someone eating cotton candy and asked Nastya what they call it and she said “it is funny the translation is like sugar cotton.” She is a college student at the University and is in her last year majoring in English and German.

After the carnival we went to the Zoom here in Karaganda. It is the nicest, most expensive mall here in town. It was nicer than the one in Almaty. Of course the kids saw everything they “needed”. Sasha wanted some black tennis shoes like Garrett and I have to go with his “costume”. (like an outfit to us) Stella wanted a doll. She loves dolls and babies. She also needed clothes, shoes, nail polish, a hat, candy, hair bows… Sasha rolled his eyes at her immature needs. He just wanted an MP-3 player, cell phone, sunglasses, toy gun and a sweat suit. When we left we were so tired.

Evenings seem to be the best here. Sasha discovered our DVD player and wanted to watch a movie. When he saw we had “Mistear Bean” he was so excited. He is definitely my kind of guy. We played UNO for the first time tonight and they liked it a lot. Sasha likes to win.

Monday, May 8th

This morning we had breakfast and they ate a lot but since we slept in a little we ate around 10:30. It was the first time they ate much. They have had small appetites so far. When it came time for lunch we were not hungry except for Garrett of course. They feed us large portions with usually 6 dishes.

We went to the playground next to the apartment building we are in and they monkeyed on the bars. We all took turns doing acrobatics. Then we played ball with a little rubber ball. They do not always share the best but do all siblings? They do get along exceptionally well though. They really watch out for each other. We really had fun interacting as a family.

We went to the store to get some more snacks and the serious whining started. Stella must have said “Papa puhlleeeze” 400 times! We have been working on different things everyday, this will be next.

After dinner we hung out at the apartment and then all of the sudden “Wrestle Mania” broke out. It was two Kaz kids against Garrett. There were arms and legs flying everywhere and loud laughs as they zinged onto the bed only to jump back up for more. It was really great fun and some serious bonding. You can tell Sasha is enjoying getting to know Garrett. They have a lot in common. Stella likes to hug and hold hands and pretty much has Papa wrapped around her finger. She is the little helper too. She cleaned the whole kitchen, swept the floors, straightened and they both insist on carrying grocery bags home. When Stella started cleaning the kitchen Sasha came in and surveyed the situation and told her to clean the walls too. She started to but Papa stepped in and said “Niet” (no) on the walls. We all crashed about 11:00.

Tuesday, May 9th

We woke up early and I checked on the kids and they were still passed out in their bed but I wish I had a camera. Sasha was on his stomach and Stella had her head on his back curled up in a ball. Garrett and Sasha went to play ball at the playground and Stella and I went down later. When we got there Garrett was playing Basketball with three other kids with Sasha looking on. Apparently he set it up for Garrett. Garrett thought they all were going to play but Sasha said no you play with them. He told me Garrett was good! Sasha is a serious climber. He likes to climb anything. I think he is Spiderman.

In the afternoon we met up with Nastya to “go magazine” which is shopping. This time we went to Green Bazaar. This is the cheapest market. Everything is Chinese made and is an outdoor flea market. It is not very exciting. Garrett said it was meat and shoes everywhere. Everything is supposed to be very cheap. It was raining some and very windy. It is unseasonably cold here but when it gets warm it gets hot quick. It has been pretty comfortable to us. We rode a bus there and back and Nastya helped us talk to Sasha. We asked him if he understood what all was going on with the adoption. He did but had a few questions about when the court date is going to be. He says he feels he is ready to move to the U.S. He also asked what sports Garrett has done. When he heard Karate he said “I want Karate too, please” in English.

Garrett had been flexing his muscles to Sasha the night before and he told Nastya about it. Garrett said he had been small when he was little too. Sasha wanted to know what had he done and Garrett said eat a lot and exercise. Well when we got home we had a snack which Sasha and Stella inhaled. I never saw nuts disappear so fast in my life. They looked like chipmunks preparing for winter with their little cheeks bulging. Later at dinner when he inhaled two big helpings of dinner it dawned on us he was starting his eating regimen right then. We have to explain not warp speed eating.

We had another Wrestle Mania where we learned Sasha is the world’s most ticklish child. It is hilarious. We had a great evening and wore them slap out. Sasha passed out at 7pm. We woke him at 8:30 and he took a bath and Stella followed. By 9:30 they had turned out the light and were asleep by 10pm. Day 4 of the bonding is done. Thanks be to God. We are all having a wonderful time.