Tooth Fairy, Anyone?

Tuesday, June 20


This morning Karen and Marat came up to play with the kids for a while but the funny thing is when they come up here they just sit in a row on the big blue sofa with gameboys in hand playing away. Occasionally they will show the other one something they are playing but mostly it is silent gameboy…if the volume is turned down! They had come down to clean Karen and Brett’s apartment and Nastia was mopping the floor and basically trapped Brett in the bedroom. So we had a nice visit until he was free and then went up to have lunch. Sasha, Stella and Marat like to sit together on the little banquette that is so common in the apartments mostly because of space and having permanent booth like seating in a corner makes it tight space friendly. It makes it a little more challenging to oversee what they are doing but it is working out pretty good. They giggle and love to fill their glasses with juice and toast each other at the end of the meal. The only downer is Stella is missing little Olya and having a girl companion because the boys will exclude her in typical sibling fashion. Oh, I remember it so well! She is struggling a bit but we did have Olya for 4 weeks so this is a nice thing for them. I think Marat and Sasha are going to continue to be friends in America.

After lunch Brett, Karen and Marat went to their orphanage for their farewell party since the kids from Marat’s orphanage are leaving for camp tomorrow. We were scheduled to go shopping for the orphanage with Marina and she told us we would go after lunch when the drivers had a chance to eat. So we hung out in our apartment on the ready because we usually get a knock on the door that they are waiting on us with no notice. So we waited and we waited and finally at 4:00 Marina said they were ready. So much for any plans we may have had…but we did not have any. We have learned the best way to be flexible is to not have plans and wait. It works pretty well and we can see the light at the end of the tunnel. Soon we will be the keeper of our own time!!! It is the small things we are thankful for the most.

We went to the Green Bazaar and had a good time looking on the outer perimeter with less crowded shopping areas. They are also indoors which was a good thing since it was lightening and looking quite stormy. Mr. Sasha found a good looking pocket watch with a train on it. He has been wanting a pocket watch for weeks and this one was just 500 tenge. We are blessing it to work well and last. It has a chain and everything! He is so excited. We found most of what we were looking for and picked up some picture frames for the mamas at the detskidom for family pictures of us. We headed back home around 7pm and just before arriving home saw Brett, Karen, Marat and Natalia in the taxi next to us. We waved and the kids were very excited to see them. Of course then it was a race to see who would get home first. We did. You can imagine the excitement. They were full of stories about the party experience and found out a most interesting story in our Sasha and Stella story. Marat is from an orphanage called Kolancheck. When Karen and Brett shared about knowing two other kids from Kidsave it turns out two mamas from there were in Atlanta and Sasha and Stella lived there for 10 days before flying to America last summer. The detskidom in Timertau had already gone to camp so they sent them there for the interim and they were in the same family group as Marat! I asked Sasha if he remembers Marat and he said no but that Marat was a lot younger last year. I think that qualifies as a LOL. They showed us pictures of the kids and mamas and Sasha recognized some of them. It was cool to have another piece in the S&S puzzle.

We had dinner in our apartment that Irina prepared for us and brought down. It was very good. One thing she prepares for us that is a favorite is a pastry type bread that has meat in the middle. The kids love them and want more than one usually. We also have coleslaw that is cabbage with mayonnaise and tomatoes. It is very refreshing. We also had yellow rice with pieces of pork in it. Garrett is craving some good old fashion chicken and rice. I had only eaten part of my bread thing and offered it to Sasha and he said “Yes!” It is hard for you to hear his resounding Russian voice but you will soon enough. Anyways he took a big bite and then got a funny look on his face and pulled out something small and white from his mouth. I was thinking it was a piece of bone which we find on occasion in our food but then Garrett said it was a tooth! I tell you what, parents for only 7 weeks and already our first tooth!!! I felt like I should keep it of course, and asked him if it was ok and he said yes. So now it is in a little box that I bought over here. It is so little! You can see where the new one is coming in and there is another that is loose next to it. Another unexpected surprise in our adventure in the land of Kaz. God is so good to us! We had Brett, Karen and Marat up for a little gameboy and chatting. They are so fun for us. We plan to see each other again and keep up after we all cross the big water.

We love these two Rusky’s and they love us too. There were many hugs and kisses and then we were off to bed a little late, but hey, it’s 2pm at home.