Baby Adventures - Part 2

On Our Way

2006-07-10T17:49:00.000-07:00

It was a long and arduous journey but we finally made it to Boston. It’s as if you go into another world. The twilight zone if you will. You can’t sleep because you’re tending to a baby and worried they will roll out, crawl out and just plan jump out of the bassinet. So you fall into this sleep deprived trance. In the last 24 hours I had a grand total of 2 hours of sleep!

All the flights were very long and very difficult. Although there were blessings mixed in; on the first leg (Almaty to Amsterdam) ended up with an empty seat next to me; which makes a huge difference during 6 ½ hours of flight time. On the second leg (Amsterdam to Detroit) ended up seated in a row with 2 small girls and their mom. Their mom was so helpful to me, I couldn’t have made it through the 9 hours of flight time without her help.

Two other women stopped by to offer help as well. I had to take one of them up on the offer when my row mate was sleeping, and I had to go to the bathroom. No way I can hold onto Hayden and pee at the same time. So found the “grandma” who had offered her help earlier; dropped Hayden off and ran to the bathroom.

It is simply amazing to me that it is always the small kindness of others that truly make a difference in our lives. My seatmate even sought me out in the hub bub of getting off the plane/going through customs to say goodbye. I had been looking for her as well; but she found me first. I was so sleep deprived though that I can not now for the life of me recall her name. But she will forever stay in my mind.

The last blessing was that Allison/Chandler and their kids were also on the same first two legs with me. Although we were not sitting together or nearby we waited for each other and helped each other get to our next gates with all our kids in tow, changing diapers and feeding them along the way. At Detroit we said our goodbyes and parted ways.

Got to Boston to see the film crew waiting for us along with Spencer and Bob. I didn’t say much to them or even recall looking at them much. I was so relieved to see Spencer and Bob waiting for me and they just simply filmed our hugs, kisses and tears. Then we were finally on our way

We’re renting a condo near Bob’s parents and will be spending the next few days with his family. Heading home on Wednesday, July 12th this time all of us as a family will tak take the last fight home together.

THE DAY

2006-07-10T17:48:00.000-07:00

Our appointment at the US Embassy was set for 3pm, so Annie and I decided to head out for some sight seeing this morning. First we needed to run a quick errand over to Annie’s airline to finalize Lilly’s ticket. We asked Bolat last night if he could take us and he told us he “was busy”. So we figured we would get a taxi ourselves and go.

Headed out and found a taxi stand near the mall entrance. Annie’s flying on Lufthansa and their office is at the Hyatt, so easy to convey to the driver. Got there, and asked our driver to wait for us; bought the ticket and asked the gal at Lufthansa to tell the driver where we wanted to go next.

We headed over to the Cathedral. It’s built of wood and entirely without nails. It’s in the middle of a large, beautiful park, and it’s the main tourist attraction. Turned out the Cathedral was open so we got to go inside, no service, but plenty of people praying at the various alters. It’s a Russian Orthodox Church, that has been restored and we actually met the priest, who obliged us with a photo op. Next we headed over to the monument of “15 Kaz Soldiers” who died defending Moscow. Quite the sight.

After all this we had originally wanted to head home for lunch but couldn’t seem to find a taxi, while we were walking we ended up running into a HUGE market area, filled to the brim of small vendor stalls selling their goods. Annie’s guide book says it’s called the Asia Market. This had to be about 10 times the size of the one Bob and I found in Karaganda. Now this would have been the place to buy the souvenirs!! Had everything we bought already and at the “locals” pricing. So of course, we had to pick up one or two more items!! The place was jam packed. Wandered around, found a café, and ordered up lunch. Our waitress spoke a tad bit of English and helped us figure out how to find a taxi.

Headed home before our appt at the Embassy. Bolat arrived early asking for his fee. Now mind you this is an outrageously high fee, so I told him Annie and I should spilt the fee, since he has done no additional work for either of us; it’s as if we were husband/wife. Our staying together in this apartment has made it tremendously easier for him. Well, we got into a heated argument, mainly because he accused Bob of not paying the right fee on his way out with Spencer. I won’t get into all the details, let’s just say, it did not go well for either of us. He stormed out saying he would meet us downstairs.

Once we got to the Embassy he deliberately was not assisting me. Turns out there is nothing mysterious about the process and by asking other folks there, Annie and I were able to figure out what to needed to be down without his help. All the more evidence his fee/service is nothing more than a farce.

The interview at the Embassy consists of a few simple questions, mainly asking if we encountered any problems during the process. Then they explain all the paperwork/visa and what to do with them, once you arrive in customs at the US. Very very simple and uncomplicated!

But I need to get to the airport at 4am tomorrow morning, and I didn’t’ want to have to figure out how to get a taxi on my own; so on our ride home, I agreed to pay the fee but not until he came to pick me up for the airport. Tomorrow can not come soon enough!

Med Clinic

2006-07-10T17:46:00.000-07:00

Had our appt at the Med Clinic today. It’s basically a cattle call for the 3 of us that arrived from our agency together. Allison/Chandler are also here in town on their second trip back to pick up their 2 children. They arrived yesterday and are also in an apartment but it’s not near ours.

So we met up with them at the clinic. The nurse took each of us back to get the children’s current height and weight. Hayden now weighs 16.2 lbs and is 26 inches long. Quite a bit of progress in a short time. Especially happy to see the weight gain. Once I met with the doc; he indicated his weight is now on the charts in the 10th percentile. So definite progress it is!

The clinic is very well equipped and I would even go so far as saying it’s modern looking. It’s called the SOS International Clinic and all speak English/Russian. Ended up chatting with the doc during our appt and found out he’s been here for 2 months and is on a 2 year assignment. This is his 3rd post and he’s originally from South Africa and he mentioned that he himself was adopted. So it’s rewarding for him to see so many adopted children coming through the clinic on this post.

After our appt Annie and I headed over to our respective airline offices to pay for the airfare for our kids. It was unbelievably hot and humid today and even though I’m walking around with my hair up – which it has been for weeks – I am still nothing but a wet rag the entire time. Sweat all over my entire body and with Hayden strapped onto me in the front; it only makes me all the more hot. The heat alone has made it very hard!!

After our tickets were done, we asked Bolat to drop us at the Almaty Tsum – a local, older mall for some more souvenir shopping. We walked in, and a wave of heat smacked us in the face! I could barely breathe. We hadn’t eaten so we looked around for a café, but could find none. Headed out on the street, looking for some air conditioning and could find none! They have tons of restaurants all shaded but outdoors, we finally settled on one. I was lucky and got Hayden to lay on one of the chairs to sleep so I didn’t’ have to have him strapped to me while eating, plus it let me cool down a bit!.

For dinner it turns out we are directly across from another mall. This one is their biggest and newest mall. Has all the up scale stores you could want. We walked into one looking for a dress for Lilly only to find out it costs 102,000 Tenge – which is about 90 US!! So of course Annie passed on that. We did find the food court this time around and ate a Kabob type dish, but wasn’t the one I wanted. We couldn’t seem to get what we wanted across to the gal who takes the orders, but it was edible. Yesterday we stopped a restaurant on the upper floor and I had the luxury of eating my first cheeseburger! They seem to use a lot of pepper in their burgers, but it was a good substitute and hit the spot.

Tomorrow’s The Day; we head to the Embassy at 3pm. That’s when we will get Hayden’s Visa in hand, and that’s what allows us to leave the country and head HOME!!

WOW What a Whirlwind

2006-07-10T17:45:00.000-07:00

I lost my internet connection on my last day in Karaganda, so I wasn’t able to post to last entry there, or any others since. But I have been writing none the less, so here are the last few entries.

Tuesday July 4th

It’s independence day in the US today, and it also feels like mine as well. Today we’ve released to fly into Almaty to begin Hayden’s immigration process of becoming a US Citizen. Once he touches down in the United States in Detroit on our return flight home with his Immigration Visa approved; he will become a US Citizen and will hold Dual Citizenship until he is 18 in both the US and Kazakhstan. At that time Kazakhstan requires he make a choice as to his citizenship status, and can only hold one. I wonder what he will choose at that point in hid life.

The flight into Almaty was uneventful, but we flew on a different airline called Air Astana and I felt as if we were flying First Class. This plane is so much different than the other plane we flew on, my mouth hit the ground when I got on. Instead of a plane that looks as if it’s seen better days by years, and that it just may fall out of the sky; this plane was new and actually had leather seats!! Unbelievable. Thought out loud how screwed we’ve been to be paying to fly on the other airline!!

As we left the apartment and said goodbye to Lena, she gave Hayden a small gift; a basket with a cloth horseshoe inside for good luck. She told me to quickly hide it so our driver wouldn’t see that she gave us a present. Sad but true they do not encourage her to become “friends” with any of us. This is a business after all. But I was thankful she thinks of us as friends anyway and told me she would write to us. I ended up not leaving our DVD players for the next folks and decided it would be put to better use in her apartment and she was surprised to receive such a gift. Said her friends (from the US Missy and Kelly) will enjoy using it.

Annie/Lilly along with Hayden and I all flew together and the plane wasn’t even half full so we each got a row to ourselves. Hayden spent the entire flight sleeping, which made it very easy on me.

We all arrived to very HOT and humid weather. Bolat picked us up and told us we wouldn’t be staying in the hotel but an apartment. Said the hotel is full and is charging 170 US a night!! The apartment on the other hand was 100 US a night. Annie and I couldn’t believe it and asked if our apartments would be close by each other, NO we were told. So we decided to share the apartment and split the cost.

We arrived with my one bag and Annie’s 3 bags, got settled in. This apartment has one bedroom and a very large living room area with a bed placed in the corner, alongnwith kitchen and bath. The apartment is very run down, and not nearly functional as our old one in Karaganda. Never the less; we’re only here a few days so we should be able to survive. I’m thankful to be sharing the place with Annie, gives me comfort in numbers. Almaty is a huge city, over a million plus.

Before arriving Annie and I had been trying to work out a way to make it to our med clinic appt and the Embassy without Bolats help; since the fee he charges is simply outrageous for the work entailed. Since Bob’s been through it once already he’s walked me through most of the steps of the processing that needs to get done. I had even set up our own appt at the med clinic today; but by the time we arrived and got our luggage up there was no way we could make the appt I set up. So Bolats appt is set for tomorrow at 9:30 am and we’ll have to attend that one.

Flower Delivery

2006-07-10T17:43:00.000-07:00

Earlier today Hayden and I ran out and bought our next door neighbor a bouquet of flowers to say Thank You. She’s much like having a guardian angel and has kept a watchful eye out for all of us, but especially for Hayden and I since Bob left.

Yesterday a woman rang my bell, I decided to open the door. The door is so noisy that when I open it our neighbor can hear me; so she came out too. She grabbed my hand stepped in between us and began to shoo the lady away. She was obviously irritated with the lady and scolded her in Russian. The woman promptly turned and left, with our neighbor standing guard until she heard her leave the building. Then turned back to me and gave me the universal sign for money. Apparently, the woman was asking me for money.

She’s also the one who came by to tell us about the water situation, and helps us with the water and gas meter readers. It was nice to see her genuine surprise over receiving the flowers. I also packed up all our left over supplies, plus some fresh fruit I bought earlier that day and we gave them all to her. I’m pretty sure she’s on a limited income, because she began hugging/kissing me and blessing me when she saw the groceries. Snapped a final pic of her and Hayden together.

Hayden and I are all packed and ready to go. Our bags are parked at the front door, our clothes for tomorrow are laid out and our plane tickets are in hand. Not sure how I’ll get to sleep tonight.

It’s been a long road home and this is the start of the end. We leave tomorrow Tuesday 7/4/2006 at 11:30am and will arrive in Almaty around 1:25.

Safe and Sound in Almaty

2006-07-04T19:11:00.000-07:00

Well...the good news is Gina made it to Almaty safe and sound. She missed the July 4 medical appointment because her plan was late, but Hayden is scheduled to go to the doctor's on July 5 in the morning. Then it will be a mad rush to get all the documents to the embassy by noon. If she misses the deadline....who knows what will happen.

It ends up the back up plans were thrown out the window. The hotel she wanted to stay in was booked, and the escort in Almaty put her in an apartment near the embassy. She & Hayden are sharing the apartment with Annie and Lily. There are no cribs, so she had to make a crip out of turning a coffe table on its side, two walls, and the suitcase. She then threw down a comforter, and plopped Hayden down. He slept throught most of the night, so it worked. I guess this is the last test. If she passes, she and Hayden get to come home.

The local news channel is going to wait to air our story until they get some coverage of me and Spencer meeting Gina and Hayden in Boston. The Boston CBS station liked the story so much, they are going to air it as well. I guess we'll get our 15 minutes of fame on both costs. (okay, maybe 30 seconds). They said it will most likely air on Monday, July 10 or Tuesday July 11...we'll probably see it in Boston before we do in Sacramento.

Shuttle Re-Entry

2006-07-03T18:48:00.000-07:00

Gina and Hayden are beginning their adventure home. Much like the Space Shuttle re-entering earth's atmoshphere, Gina and Hayden will be out of contact for a while.

About now, Gina and Hayden are being picked up and taken to the airport. Tamara our faciliator was able to get all the paper work lined up. We even have our friends Chandler and Alison taking over a power of attorney to Almaty for me to Gina, just in case.

Gina is prepared to "work the system" in case the facilitator in Almaty flakes on them. She set up the appointment for Hayden's medical check up, and is ready to charge over to the embassy. The biggest problem is that all the paperwork and the medical forms need to be in the embassy's hand by noon the day before the visa processing appointment. The embassy is closed on July 4. So...Gina needs to get the medical done either July 4 or early on July 5 to get it to the embassy. Then...the final processing isn't schedule to July 6 at 4:00 pm. The flight out is on July 7 at 7:15 am....so if there are any mix ups....she's stuck for a while.

Fortunatly, she is teamed with her new buddy Annie, and they will be takin' on the town.

Deep breathing and lots of prayer are in order.

Frog Man

2006-07-02T06:54:00.000-07:00

Hayden and I ran some “getting ready to leave” errands this morning. Hit the ATM, picked up my pants from the cleaners and got something to eat. Supplies are low since we’ll be leaving town in a day.

After all those activities, Hayden and I hung around the apartment today. Couldn’t sit on my hands any longer and started packing! I’m that ready to leave! I kept thinking I don’t have that much to pack. But surprisingly once you get it all together it starts to add up. Did my final load of wash by hand and hung them on the line to dry. Did a dance of joy around the apartment chanting “no more washing by hand”!! Hayden didn’t quite understand what was going on!

I’m amazed when I sit back and look at him now. He has learned to do so many things in such a short time. He’s now crawling and can get to anything he wants. He sits up on his own, and can crawl forward from sitting. Just recently he learned how to get back into a sit from the crawl position. He’s trying so hard to stand up on his own. If you hold out your fingers, he’ll grab onto them and then will lift up, takes a few steps towards you all while holding on. He’s still really wobbly when standing but he’s coming along. He lifts up with his legs with his hands on the ground a lot, the tri pod stance; goes up and down and sometimes this is how he gets around. He looks so much like a frog from behind that I’ve dubbed him the frog man! Pic attached.

He’s a happy fellow, smiles a lot and has that big open mouth smile/laugh going on in the pics I was able to catch today. It’s so hard with these digital cameras, they need a faster shutter speed designed to catch the kids in action!

Tuesday can’t get here fast enough for me, another day down with only one more to go – then it’s off to Almaty!

Passing the Time

2006-07-01T08:42:00.000-07:00

Why is it when you want time to move fast, it does the opposite and moves ever so slowly? Time is passing for me now at an exhaustingly slow speed. Seems as the day draws nearer for me to leave Karaganda, time has crawled to a snail pace. There is a blessing disguised in there. All this time here has caused me to ponder about life here in Karaganda.

Life here is so opposite from our life at home. Here there is a small apartment, walking, walking, walking, no washing machine/dryers, trash everywhere, poor water quality, and the list goes on. Yet living here is full of extreme opposites as well; although technically up to speed, their infrastructure is not; luxury cars are in abundance yet housing is so compact; a pack of cigarettes costs 85 Tenge yet a fisher price toy costs 9,000 Tenge.

I suppose coming out of Soviet rule takes time. Is there such a thing as a second world? If so what countries are considered second world? Or is it now referred to as an “emerging country”? (maybe one of my nieces/nephews could answer that question for me?) That’s how I would describe Kazakhstan – it is “emerging” and shows potential to be a flourishing economic power. Its oil reserves alone will probably make it that in due time.

Anyway such are the things Annie and I were pondering today. She’s good company for me to pass the ever so slowly moving time with. Today we took a stroll through town; I’m a bit shopped out and am saving my budgeted allotment to see if I can find any keepsakes in Almaty. So we ventured out for a stroll around town instead. Pics attached.

Saw 5 different brides today, all taking photos at the town center. It’s picturesque there and I can see why they all make it a stop on their list to take photos. Shot some myself. The large water fountain cascades into a series of large pools of water, each lower than the next. There were lots of kids “swimming” in these various “pools” of water. Thought they were looking for coins at first, but they weren’t – just enjoying a “swim”.

This town square as I said earlier leads down to the lake. Turns out there is a “beach” area and swimmers in the lake. I had always been passing by on weekdays, so I hadn’t spotted any swimmers. Still I question the water quality. But it’s a busy spot, they rent paddle boats, and people take their shoes off for a knee high dip in the water. Me, I kept my shoes on!

Not much else going on to comment about. Just another day done! 2 left to go……..

The Wall

2006-06-30T07:26:00.000-07:00

It’s been a rough day for the Morrison clan on both sides of the world. Both Bob and I have hit the wall with being apart and taking care of the kids as single parents on opposite sides of the world.

Bob called a shortly before 6am (his time) to tell me he’d been up all night with Spencer. Seems Spencer’s gotten sick and has been vomiting all night. Bob called the advice nurse, then me to see if we had pedialite in the house. Unfortunately I packed it all up for this trip, not thinking we’d be separated. So of course, I didn’t bother to buy some more for the house. Our extras are sitting here with me in Karaganda!

I asked Bob to call our local Mary Poppins (grandma) to see if she could assist. He didn’t want to call her that early. Our call ended abruptly because he was out of minutes/time. Luckily, since I had run out of my minutes/time this morning (my time) calling Bob, I went out earlier today to buy some more calling cards. So I called Mary Poppins directly and asked if she would call Bob, to see what she could do to help. Thanks yet again Mom!

Thankfully he’s got a Mary Poppins to assist him. Over here, I’m not that fortunate! Hayden’s teeth have really been bothering him today and so we’ve both been cranky and edgy. Did manage to get some errands done this morning, and Lena also called this morning saying she was taking Annie and me to the “souvenir store”.

On our last trip through I didn’t get a chance to make it to the "souvenir store", so I was really looking forward to going. I was vividly imaging a large, spacious store with a lot of merchandise to select from. Boy, was I ever disappointed! The store is quite small and has many of the same items in all the others stores we’ve been shopping at. But being the sport that I am, I did manage to find one or two special items. Most everything I’ve bought are items made from Kazakhstan or Russia and are for Hayden/Spencer’s bedrooms for them to always remember their heritage and birth country.

Since we were both so cranky we took long naps in the afternoon, then I decided we should head out for a walk for some fresh, humid air. These photos are for Bob, lest he think I am not doing my duty by educating Hayden about Road Construction. Although my terminology may be off, after all I am not an engineer! All I know is they are awfully large trucks, but Hayden got the drift of things and enjoyed watching for a spell. Last photo is just of some kids playing at the apartment building next door to ours.

On a brighter note; KOVR/Channel 13 was successful at getting me re routed to Boston! We had to pay a fee for the re routing of course, but it’s better then buying a whole new ticket. We really appreciate their endeavors on our behalf! Not sure when our story will air, last I heard they wanted their affiliate station to shoot some footage in Boston of me/Hayden getting off the plane and our family being reunited. Not sure if that’s still the plan but, once we get word on when it will air we will let you all know. Then we can all tune in to watch. Thanks again to KOVR/Channel 13!!

This trip, our story, let alone our family would not have come about without all the helping hands that have assisted us along the way!!

Not Much

2006-06-29T08:39:00.000-07:00

Not much happening on my side of the world. Seems new activities are grinding to a halt. Did meet up with Annie today and we did some more shopping. She has a lot of friends back home she is buying gifts for. So really I am only tagging along at this point. But it’s nice company and a good way to pass the day/time. Also gets me and Hayden out for a stroll.

Shot some photos today. The fountain is in a large town square that has a parkway which leads down to a small lake. That’s me in front waiving, have to look hard. The carnival with the kiddy rides is also attached to a path that leads from the lake. Unfortunately the lake has a lot of litter in it. Don’t think it’s safe to swim in, and I have never seen anyone swimming. It’s sad but they have a lot of garbage/litter just lying around. You can’t walk down the streets without seeing trash and litter just thrown onto the ground all over the place.

Our apartment complex though seems to be making an effort to improve their trash situation. While we’ve been here they installed 3 more trash bins, for a total of 6 now. With a large garbage truck coming to empty them just about every other day. It’s odd because, last time, we never not once saw a garbage truck; someone would come by to burn the trash instead. And since there used to be only 3 bins, the trash would pile up high and overflow onto the ground. Thus causing the litter all over the place!

Next photo is one of the places I’ve been spending a lot of time; it’s one of two malls in the area. I’m on the steps again waiving. Then the building with all the banners on it; we’re not quite sure what it is. I love the colors in the banners, and think these must be plays or musicals? The last is a statute of a pilot in combat, can’t read the dedication because it’s all in Russian, but against the dark ski, thought it was picturesque.

I will be leaving Karaganda, Kazakhstan on Monday July 4th. Will be flying to Almaty, Kazakhstan where I will begin the process of immigrating through the US Embassy located in Almaty in order to bring Hayden home. That will consist of an appointment with the US Medical Clinic to exam Hayden and assure he is healthy, then meeting/being interviewed by the US Embassy itself to process Hayden’s Immigration papers.

On the other side of the world: Bob’s not sure when our story will air on TV. KOVR has contacted KLM/NWA; who indicated they would fix the problem. So we’ll have to see how this story ends. We owe our thanks to KOVR for intervening on our behalf, and are hopeful this will end on a happier note.

Will keep you posted. Till then – another day done!

KOVR

2006-06-28T05:28:00.000-07:00

On Bob’s side of the world: Bob and Spencer had their interview earlier today with Channel 13 Investigates; KOVR. Bob relayed the following to me:

A cameraman and the producer came out to interview Spencer and myself. I pulled out Moo-Moo and sat on the couch to read it. All the while they were "running tape". After reading Moo-Moo twice, Spencer went off with Clemmy. Then asked me some questions regarding our situation, basically the who, what, where, when and why.

Lastly they asked "what would you say to the people who say the rules are the rules." To which I responded “there are exceptions to every rule...we aren't asking for something for free..We are simply asking for NWA to help us with our problem”.

Spencer did great...the interview went well .In the end, they had me hold up an 8 x 11 family photo we printed off, and look sad in front of the camera.

I sure do hope this all works. Thanks for the idea, Acsa.

Back on my side of the world: Regardless of whether this works or not, at least we tried. We are thankful KOVR took interest in our story and plight.

I also told Bob to watch out; the phones should start ringing off the hook! This is after all Spencer’s first TV debut and I’m just certain Hollywood moguls will be knocking on our door soon since he such a cutie!!

Hayden and I are doing well. Today marks the half way point in our stay. We’ve been here 11 days by ourselves with 9 more to go. It’s bitter sweet. Glad we’re ½ through our time, but the days/time are moving very slowly for us.

Annie should be coming by again to visit tomorrow. Other than that, it was just another day done!

Small Favors

2006-06-27T08:49:00.000-07:00

Woke this morning to not only a new day; but the cold water is back on! Hip Hip Horray—no more filling of the toilet to flush! Thank goodness for the small blessings in life!

Annie came by today, so thankfully I did not to have to give her lessons on how to flush! Instead, was just able to tell her about my day yesterday. To which she was truly amazed. We ventured out again for another round of shopping.

Ended the day with dinner with a chicken from the chicken lady, made some rice and had fresh tomatoes. Haven’t eaten a good full meal in while, since Bob/Spencer left, and neither has she. So it was good for both of us. Enjoyed the company and the day.

Not much new to report. This is a pic of the local Fire Truck. The station is directly in front of our building.

On the other side of the world: Bob/Spencer are getting interviewed by Channel 13 today. We paid and exorbitant amount of money on our airfare. Bob has been trying to get my flight re routed to Boston so we can visit with his Dad/family. KLM/Northwest has been unyielding in their stance that we can not re route my flight. So, our friend Acsa suggested we contact “Channel 13 Investigates”. A segment on the local news to see if they could look into the problem or assist in any way. Well they are looking into it, and we’ll have to see what they have to say/can do. Might not work, but definitely worth the shot. So, waiting on pins and needles to see how the “interview” goes.

Problem Flushed Away!

2006-06-26T06:31:00.000-07:00

Life here is hard. Have I mentioned that lately? It’s been a rough day for me today. This morning it was raining off and on again. In between showers, Hayden and I headed out to our local grocery store and ATM, with umbrella in hand and tromping through mud. Walked in and the ATM machine is in the processing of being replaced by a new machine. But the new one is not operational yet! So I shopped for the urgent items that I had enough cash to pay for.

With groceries in hand, I headed off to find another ATM. Remembered Bob mentioning one across from the Casino a few blocks down. But missed crossing the main thoroughfare at the light, so had to go a few more blocks beyond it, take the underground, cross over and back track to the ATM.

On my first attempt it asks if I want a receipt. Yes, I answer. Then it spits my card out saying it is temporarily unable to print a receipt. OK, I try again, this time asking for No receipt. Spits my card out again, saying my bank “declined processing the transaction”!!

So, I immediately have visions running through my head—the bank has frozen our accounts because it sees withdrawals from Bob in the USA, and me here in Kazakhstan so they MUST think fraudulent activity is going on! I check my watch better call home ASAP. It’s 11pm Bob’s time, but I have to alert him so he can call the bank and straighten this all out, so I can get some money!

Call Bob he says, NO it’s just that particular ATM that doesn’t accept our card! Apparently, when he was telling me about this ATM’s location, the second part he told me (that apparently I did not hear) was DON’T go to that ATM because it doesn’t accept our card! I need to go further up the street, down the road, and find another ATM to use!! Ok guess I failed that particular training session!

As I’m talking to Bob, there’s a knock on the door, which I know is my next door neighbor. I had ignored her ringing my bell earlier this morning, because I was not fully dressed. So I know she heard me come in from my errands. So I ask Bob to hold on. Neighbor comes in. Hayden sees her and starts crying, I’m on the phone with Bob and the neighbor’s talking to me in Russian!! Ugh….too many things at once!

Told Bob I would call him back, neighbor picks up Hayden for me. Eventually he stops crying. And through miming and speaking with our hands to each other, come to find out there will be NO COLD water for TWO DAYS!! OK well, I think, that can’t be that bad, I’ve already lived through half my stay here with no hot right?! So I go to the bathroom before I call Bob back, and learn, well, no cold also means no flushing of the toilet!!

For crying out loud! I almost wanted to scream!! But I put Hayden down in his crib for a nap instead, and sat on the sofa considering this new twist of fate. Then my McGyver instinct kicked in, and I think, well it just means the tank has to be refilled, then it should flush. So with this old pitcher that’s used to fill the wash basin I run back and forth 3 times to fill the tank. It flushes only partly, because in between running back and forth and lifting the lid 3 times, half the water drains out.

Call Bob back, and let him know how much fun I’m having over here. He’s half asleep, telling me about the nice dinner/time he had over at Acsa/Phil’s house earlier that evening. Not particularly what I wanted to hear at this moment in time. So we cut the conversation short. I go back to my couch pondering my situation, cursing that I should have chosen to stay at the hotel after all!

Then it occurs to me. OK, need to fill the tank up -- all the way up –and in one trip all the while without lifting the lid too high (because that pulls the lever up that drains the water out). So I grab one of my old empty water jugs (the big 5 liter size); fill it up with hot water; turn the lid slightly sideways so there’s a crack to pour through and without lifting up the lever, fill the tank up.... all the way up …….And success is in my hands! A full complete Flush!!

One can only be thankful for small favors. Repeat after me……..Nothing in life worth having comes easy!!

Another day done!

Two pics to commerate my day.

Lena's Place

2006-06-25T08:29:00.000-07:00

Today started out as a very mellow, lazy Sunday. We’ve had a few showers off and on throughout the day. The rain has brought along with it a cool breeze, but the humidity is still a bit high, especially toward the end of the day.

Spent most of the day engrossed in one of my new novels and managed to finish my first one off. Only two more left, as I’ve already read one of the 4 books sent to me. So I better start rationing/spacing them out so they will last me the duration of this trip!

Lena called and invited me over for dinner. She arranged a taxi for me. She calls ahead to the taxi company and they give her the license plate along with the make/color of the car. Then she calls back and gives me that info so I know it’s the right car. Cost me 200 Tenge (less than 2 bucks!). When I arrived at her building Missy was waiting for me below/outside and walked up to her apartment with me.

It was such a nice and pleasant evening. I was thankful for the company and to spend time with other Americans. Lena made us chicken, mashed potatoes and some veggies. Turns out she’s a pretty good cook, but had told me earlier she never cooks. Now she says, well, she really doesn’t have any one to cook for. I know the feeling. Since I’ve been on my own here, my own cooking has dropped off dramatically since Bob/Spencer left.

She’s been working hard to update her place and it shows. She’s redone her kitchen and has new tile, cabinets, and appliances installed. She just finished work on her bathroom; again has new tile, fixtures and a WASHING MACHINE!! Actually when we first arrived she had offered to do my wash for me when I first asked her about the laundry place we spotted. I told her absolutely not! I was not going to have her doing my wash for me and that I would be just fine using the laundry place!! But that’s how she is, if treated well, she reciprocates in kind and I’ve enjoyed spending my time with her and her friends.

At the end of the evening a friend of hers called, asked Lena to run an errand with her. So instead of a taxi home, her friend dropped me off instead. Snapped a pic of Lena cooking and of her friend. Last pic was from this morning -- Think I'll run out of water??

Shopping!

2006-06-24T07:50:00.000-07:00

Today we had a really fun time with Annie and Lilly. Turns out Tamara gave Lena the day off, but Lena offered to arrange a taxi for Annie to come and spend the day with us. So she arrived just before 1pm. When we spoke in the morning it had looked to be a beautiful day, sun shining, some clouds with blue skies and a slight cool breeze. But as I said earlier, the weather changes rapidly here. Shortly after Annie arrived it poured. But the rain didn’t last long.

After Lily and Hayden finished playing for a bit (pic attached); we all headed out to the stores!! It was so nice to have company with me for a change and to be with someone who wanted to shop! I never once heard “Gina, that’s not what we came for” (usually said by my husband)!. So shop we did and Annie bought the place out!! Being cooped up in the hotel all this time, she hasn’t been able to get out and about to see any of the stores, so out came her wallet. I was more restrained, but did manage to find one or two special items.

After our shopping was done, we did what most shopping pals do – we headed for a late lunch at Mario’s Pizza. Annie hadn’t been and wanted to visit, and I never say no to pizza! Just as we were finishing up; this time a torrential downpour started. This one lasted quite a bit longer, we waited it out and once it was lightly raining we headed home for my apartment. Tromping through all the mud puddles, with Annie trying to push the stroller and carry the umbrella at the same time (pic attached). But we had fun laughing about it all.

Hayden is doing well, but he is hard to get down for an afternoon nap. He stayed up the whole time we shopped and finally at 6pm decided to crash out on me. But that’s too close to bed time, so it was a short lived nap for him. He has really been advancing physically. He is really trying hard to stand up. Hasn’t been able to pull himself up yet. But uses things to “prop” himself up (pic attached). Soon enough he’ll be standing and walking!

Another day down!

Just Another Day

2006-06-23T06:21:00.000-07:00

I’m glad that I decided to stay in the apartment; both of us are doing well. I like the independence the apartment gives me. Lena’s taking good care of me and checking in often.

This past Tuesday Hayden and I headed out to the art/jewelry store. Was quite the walk, takes us about 45 mins one way. Plus I made a short pit stop at the mall’s benches for a rest. It was hot that day and carrying Hayden in the Baby Bjorn, against me, makes it even hotter, so I took a short rest.

As soon as I walked in the owner says to me; where’s your friend? I said some of them have gone home already. She says what about the friend with the beard (stroking her chin) meaning Bob (don’t think she realizes he’s my husband) said yes, he left too. She was very disappointed (think she has a crush on him)!

Hayden and I try to get out every day. Today we hit the market and fruit/veggie stands. I’m hook on their tomatoes – they are delicious and very inexpensive! I have invited Annie to come over tomorrow. She’ll get picked up at her hotel after the first visit to the orphanage is over (around 12ish). Lena lives close by my apartment so Anatoly will drop Annie off here with me and pick her back up before the second visit. Looking forward to spending some time with her/Lilly.

Mom your package finally was delivered to me today. It arrived a few days ago, but this morning was Lena’s first chance to pick it up from the post office. So I now have books to read! Thanks a ton Mom!! I was beginning to get sick of the DVD’s. There are only so many times you can watch the same movies over and over!!

Yesterday I also managed to blow up our rechargeable batteries and/or the recharger itself. I used the adaptor to plug it in – but completely forgot to use the converter! (Bob didn’t give me any training sessions on that!) So I’m pretty sure the higher voltage blasted it. So had to go buy regular batteries today also (they don’t sell them in the groceries stores here). So no new pics today. Hopefully will get some tomorrow while out and about with Annie.

Till then…..another day done!

On the other side of the world: Got an email from Linda Bennett, who watches Spencer once a week for us (3 days now till I get home) she said:

Just wanted to let you know that Spencer is having a BLAST with his little friends!! He has been so excited this morning. What a talker...wow, his sentences are complete and we even got "I love you" from him. He's adorable. All the kids were so excited to see him and he's just running around with such excitement. I was really expecting him to have a tough time after not being here for awhile, but he's so excited about his friends, it's cute. He was even excited when Shawna took him back to wake up Tyler. When Shawna came to him, he said "I have a brother....Hayden". What a cutie!! You don't need to worry about him at all....he seems to be right into the routine here already! They're building the tinker toys right now!!

Makes me even more certain we made the right decision in getting home to a regular routine! Thanks Linda!

Party Time

2006-06-22T07:13:00.000-07:00

Today we celebrated with the caretakers of Hayden’s room. Before the festivities began, I ducked out and made a stop at Spencer’s old room. Delivered chocolates and photos of Spencer and our family, then headed back to room 4.

It was quite the spread. I bought chocolates, tea, salami, cheese, two breads, apples, bananas, juice, pepsi, a cake and a bottle of vodka. Yep, vodka. Lena kept telling me they probably wouldn’t drink it. But I told her last time we bought some for Spencer’s room, and bought wine for our meal with the doctors.

All nine of the caretakers came; Galina, 4 Tatiana’s, Ludmilla, Maria, Valentina and Lyazatt. We cracked open the vodka, and made lots of toasts all around. They laughed at my “boat drink” of vodka and raspberry juice; until Tatiana (to my right) tried it and said -- she’s right it IS good!!

They wished us well with Hayden, telling me they knew he was waiting just for us; that Hayden was the strongest of their group, the first to roll over, and had strong arms and legs. I told them he was crawling now and sitting on his own, and showed them his bottom two front teeth coming in (the second has just begun to surface). They were surprised at all his accomplishments and all remarked he looked as if he was being fed well, and had gained some weight.

I am forever indebted to each and every one of them. It’s hard to express in words. These are the women who provided my sons a home, gave them their love, fed and cared for them until we could come and take them home. These women work hard, and I mean hard. They work very long shifts caring for so many children at once. It is evident in their actions, touch, and smiles how much they come to love each of these children. You can feel their genuine joy, when they get to send one of their babies off with their forever family.

In each room you can’t help but form a special bond with one or two of the caretakers. In Spencer’s room I’ll never forget Tanya who came running after us to give Spencer one last kiss in the hall as we left. When she saw him on this trip she went out of her way to ask us to stop by to say hello. In Hayden’s room, Galina has a glorious spirit about her and her joyous nature is contagious.

Before I left they showed me a little baby girl, 4months old; they said they wished we would come back for her. She was sleeping when they showed me to her and she is beautiful. I cried when I saw her, but I know her family will be coming for her soon. They sent me and Hayden off with lots of hugs, kisses and tears, and it was very hard to leave Matluka today. Lena told me on our way out; it was the best party she’d ever seen, because it was so sincere and she could tell the caretakers felt appreciated.

It will be some time before we can bring our sons back to visit again. Until then may God bless each and every one of these caretakers and all the children who are waiting to find their own forever families.

Pics attached of our day: it was HOT in that room, sauna HOT, I was literally dripping with sweat, but fun for all anyway!

1st pic: Galina saying hello to Hayden
2nd pic: Grp shot: Tatiana, Ludmilla, Maria, Tatiana, Lyazatt, Tatiana, Galina
3rdpic: Lyazatt, Tatiana, Galina w/Hayden (we stripped him down to his onsie it was sooo hot), Tatiana, Lena
4th pic: Valentina in the middle (missed both group shots); Tatiana's on both sides of her
5th pic: Final Grp shot: L to R: Tatiana, Ludmilla, me, Maria, Lyazatt, Annie (who dropped in to visit), Tatiana, Tatiana, Tatiana, Galina

What a Long Trip It's Been

2006-06-21T08:33:00.000-07:00

After a 54 hour sojourn from Karaganda, Kazakhstan to Sacramento, California, Spencer and I made it home at exactly 12 AM on Tuesday, June 20, 2006. For such a long journey, the trip went really well.

You’ve seen the pictures of Spencer and I loading up in the car on Sunday morning in Karaganda. Spencer didn’t catch on to the fact that we were leaving Mommy and Hayden behind. He thought we were going on an adventure….Not until we arrived in Almaty did he start asking, “Is mommy Sleeping?” or, “When will we see Mommy?”. I think he finally understood in Almaty the fact that Mommy was/is staying with Hayden in Karaganda at the apartment.

We actually had a nice day in Almaty waiting for our flight to Amsterdam. After checking into the wonderful (not!) Hotel Kazakhstan, we headed to the Gondola to the top of a foothill overlooking Almaty. This was the most picturesque area I have seen on my two trips to Kaz. The view of the city was gorgeous, the landscaping looked great, plus they had a great play area for Spencer to run around on. It was a perfect spot to burn a couple hours.

After the park, we went back to our posh surroundings at the Kazakhstan Hotel. This was possibly the worst hotel room I’ve ever stayed in. It came fully equipped with the neon sign blinking outside our window all night, but no black out curtains. This on top of the permanent rust stain on the tub…not brown stains…I mean rust stains on the tub. At least there weren’t bugs.

Our wake up call was at 3:30 am. Spencer was up and ready to go, we were on the road by 4:00 to the airport. We paid for our seats, and then waited in a huge line to get our passports checked by the Kaz police as we left. At the front of the line, some Kaz Ladies took pity on me and made the people in front of me get out of the way because Spencer was getting fussy in the stroller. Once we finally made it on board the plane, Spencer crashed most of the flight. When he was awake we played w/play dough, and made miniature dolls of the family; Hayden, Spencer, Mommy, and Daddy. It was really cute.

Our seven hour flight, from Almaty to Amsterdam, landed right on time. We walked directly from our landing gate to the departure gate, and literally walked on our next plan. We didn’t even have a chance for a bathroom break. The 8 hour flight to Detroit was pretty miserable, but at least they had on demand movies. Spencer managed to watch Nemo, Lion King, and a Bugs life….The biggest problem was we had a 40 minute delay because a passenger got sick. You know you’re in trouble when the PA announcer asks, “is there a doctor on board? If so, can you please report to seat 43 D” Then 20 minutes later the same lady asks over the PA, “Is there any one who speaks Armenian and English?:” Because of the delay, we missed our connection to SFO.

We made it through customs with our 6 bottles of Vodka in tact. Spencer started screaming in the middle of a huge line waiting for the passport check…this worked like a charm and we got to go to the front of the line. Guess I’ll have to pinch his butt more often in crowded situations! Our flight to SFO was delayed 2 hours due to weather…so we ended up getting in to SFO around 9:00, and didn’t make it home until 12:00.

Spencer was a real trooper. When we got home he started asking for Hayden and Mommy…I explained they were back in Karaganda at the apartment, but….He knows something is missing, but…hasn’t figured out why.

Bob

On the other side of the World: Hayden and I got a chance to meet up with Lena’s friends, Kelly and Missy from Indianapolis. Had dinner with them at the Assortie. Pic attached.

They're Home!

2006-06-20T05:56:00.000-07:00

Bob/Spencer made it home safe and sound. Their plane was late into Detroit and late into San Francisco. Instead of arriving at 5:35pm; they arrived after de boarding/going through Customs at 10pm. Grandma and Auntie Helen were there to greet them both.

Then Grandma drove home to Sacramento, arrived around midnight, with Spencer wide eyed and bushy tailed. Now the fun begins in getting him back onto our time zone/back into a routine. Thankfully, Grandma will be staying with Bob for a bit to help out.

Not much new on my side of the world. Lena has an American couple staying with her at her apartment, while they are over here adopting a child. I was supposed to meet up with them tonight for dinner at the Assortie. Ended up canceling out when a storm set in around 5pm. The thunder and lightening was something to see/hear. Those of us on the west coast don’t get too many storms like this. Not much rain with it though. So I’ll have to meet them another day.

Hayden is fine except he has become very skittish since Bob/Spencer left. If I haven’t’ said anything in a while, and them speak to him it startles him. After my shower I went in to get him, and when he saw me with wet hair he started to cry, I mean really crying hard. So I guess I’m not the only one who misses his Dad and brother.

Another day done, until tomorrow.

Sand Man

2006-06-19T06:48:00.000-07:00

It’s as if the Sand Man has dropped a full load of sand bags on top of my head and I have succumbed to the tidal wave of exhaustion. I have slept today like never before. When Hayden goes down, so do I.

It was a rough night of sleep. I was woken up 3 times last night to people calling on the phone. Not sure what they’re saying, I say “Nyet” and then hang up, but they call right back again! So on the second go around I just picked up the phone, and drop it back down in the cradle, not even bothering to speak. The last call came at 11:40pm, when I was dead asleep, so it took me a while to get back to sleep again, after being startled awake.

Heard Hayden stirring at about 5:15am, managed to open one eye slightly to look at the clock, but couldn’t manage to get out of bed. It was like I was paralyzed. Closed my eyes thinking I would get back up in 5mins. Then 45mins later woke up again! Hayden was playing happily in his bed; otherwise the crying would have woken me up – right?!

Luckily I was smart enough to have prepped the bottles the night before so I was armed and ready. Fed him at 6am; then we both went back down to sleep at 7:30am. Both of us conked out with barely a whimper.

After my late morning shower, we headed to the ATM and grocery store. Was quite the outing for us. Was able to work the ATM machine thanks to Bob’s training. Then got to fully browse and peruse the store at my leisure. Just a few items to buy and then we headed home. Yes, Auntie Laura we made sure we were aware of our surroundings and were very careful, especially with a pocket full of cash on me. Arrived home without incident. Even managed to avoid the neighbor dude across from us.

Conked back out again at 12noon for our second nap of the day. Thankfully I woke before Hayden this time, he took one dozy of a power nap today! Total of 4hrs, which is a new record. Think he’s feeling the effects of the sand man himself. Plus without his brother storming around the apartment, naps are a bit more peaceful and productive for the both of us.

But I am still on pins and needles waiting to hear from Bob/Spencer about their travels home. Should be arriving today at 5:30pm PST.

Pics are of Hayden hanging out with Mom.

Silence

2006-06-18T06:42:00.000-07:00

There is now a deafening silence throughout the apartment. Yes, I decided to stay at the apartment on my own with Hayden, until it’s our time to leave for Almaty to immigrate through the US Embassy. There’s a comfort here, to me, in this place. It’s hard to describe. I love my little tiny kitchen, and its’ window. I love to sit at that window and gaze out upon the world that created and supported our two sons, before we could come and bring them home.

So for now, I’m on my own. But it’s a bit daunting. I often think to myself; OK I’m 42 years old, I lived on my own for 10 years, I bought and owned 2 houses before I even met/married Bob, I worked my way up the mgmt chain of “Corporate” America, so I can do this!! Why then, does this already feel so foreign to me? Is it really fear? Or do we just become so accustomed to our lifestyles that any change is daunting? I don’t know the answer, probably a bit of both mixed in.

I do know for sure, that it is awfully quite in here without my “3 footer” (Spencer) running around. Now it’s just me and Hayden, who is much more amenable to my way of doing things. He doesn’t want to watch Wheels, Polar Express or ABC’s for the 125th time. He lets me watch whatever Mommy wants!

But it was hard. It was a hard choice to make, and a hard choice to execute. Saying goodbye to Spencer and Bob this morning tore my heart out. I have literally never been away from Spencer, or Bob for that matter, for this length of time. With the exception of course, of our last trip here when I was the one who had to leave early. When did life get so difficult?

But my own fathers’ words always ring in my ear…. Nothing in life worth having comes easy……….

Happy Father’s Day everyone

PS. Bob/Spencer arrived in Almaty safely. They celebrated the day with a Gondola ride; which had a nice playground/restaurant at the top of the mountain. Later they had dinner at a local Irish Pub. They are heading to bed early as they are being picked up at 3:30am to go to the airport. Will be flying from Almaty to Amsterdam; then onto Detroit then into SFO; they will arrive in San Francisco at 5:30pm PST. Please pray for their safe return home

Goodbye Karaganda

2006-06-17T07:45:00.000-07:00

I am purposely not titling this blog, “Goodbye Hayden.”, for I will see you soon, my son. I will truly miss you and your mother. Please know that you are in wonderful, caring, loving hands. From the moment we saw you, we knew you were our son. Your mother and I would do anything to protect you and keep you from harm. So rest well…until we see each other in 20 days.

To the city that helped make us a family, I say thank you. Your dirty water, your chicken lady, your unique charm will not be forgotten. We will be back, and by the time we come back I hope to God you get a face lift.

To my wonderful wife: You are caring, loving, and brave. I would not be leaving this place if I did not have faith in you. You will be fine…If I can do it, you sure can. Just remember not to flash your money in public, subtract 2 zeros from each tenge to convert to US dollars, and put that mean look on when you go out. (you know the one…that one that says, “Stay away, I ain’t takin’ no ^&%**.”)

The picture is Spencer's way of saying, "Goodbye Momma and Hayden."

I love you, Gina. I love you, Hayden. God Bless you and keep you safe.

Boat Drinks

2006-06-16T07:11:00.000-07:00

Well, Spencer and I have two more nights in Karaganda. It is extremely bitter sweet. Leaving your wife and new child behind to go home is not any easy thing. We really have begun to bond as a family, and learn each other’s strong points.

I sure will miss the Vodka. We’ve concocted our summer “boat drink” of vodka and raspberry juice over ice. It’s really smooth, and goes down well on a hot evening with no AC. Gina and I pour a couple after the kids go to bed and start writing the blog. It’s actually our favorite part of the day…it makes us reflect on what matters most. Plus I get to see Gina do her dance of joy around the apartment!

Spencer and I ventured out today to buy Gina a DVD player since the DVD player on the computer is broken. Gina is out of books, and the TV shows are really bad and in Russian. The only good TV is the one World Cup soccer game they show each night, and Gina hates any televised sporting event. Doesn’t see the point she says – much like I say about her having to watch American Idol.

The DVD transaction went pretty smoothly considering the two sales guys only spoke Russian and German, and I only speak English and very little German. I pointed to the DVD player I wanted. The salesperson said “Sprecken sie Duetsch”, I said “Ein Bischen” and then he proceed to spew a whole bunch of stuff in German (I must look German) . I said “Da” a lot, and then they ended up hooking up the DVD and showing me how it worked. It’s a pretty good DVD for $82/US. Now Gina can watch Bourne Identity for the 125th time….

While out I had to switch out some more of the money for rent. There are currency “changers” on every corner. They sell you Tenge at one rate, then buy Tenge back at about 1% more. So they make about 100 Tenge on every $100.00 (about 1$ US). But today I got the last laugh. The currency exchanger tried to pawn off a beat up $100 bill on me , But now I’m inspecting them closely and said “NYET!”; rejecting it and giving it back to her for a new one! HAH!! Take that I thought, and told Gina as soon as I got home.

You know you’re getting too comfortable in a place when you start to yell at the cars. There was some road work on the way home from the store on the busiest street in the area. The workers closed one lane of traffic forcing motorists to merge through the intersection. When the light turned to allow pedestrians to cross the intersection, the traffic never stopped. Spencer and I ventured off the curb to cross, and a bus driver didn’t stop for us, so…I gave him the what’s up sign, then started running cuz the next guy wasn’t going to stop either.

Gina ventured off to the store on her own this morning. This was a trial run to see if she would get any flack. We figured that no one is going to give her guff at 10:00 am…Unless you count the Russian lady who yelled at her yesterday because Hayden doesn’t have a hat on. She was waiting for me outside yesterday, actually asked me to go back upstairs to get Hayden’s hat. When this lady walks up to her and starts yelling at her in Russian, making very clear gestures that she shouldn’t have Hayden out in the cold without his hat. Right then I got downstairs, and could tell what was going on – and showed the old lady the hat in my pocket. She shut up right away and walked off.

Ah well, tomorrow we’re off to the carnival again. Spencer still wants to ride the horses!

The pictures are of Hayden have a good ol' laugh after daddy tickled him, the second is of Spencer directing the paving crew (engineer in training).

Money, Money, Money

2006-06-15T08:24:00.000-07:00

That seems to be the topic today. On our first trip over to adopt Spencer and we rented this apartment, we figured we could pay our rent in Tenge. Once we got here though we were told very sternly NO, rent was charged in US dollars per night. Well, we hadn’t brought any cash with us; so we ended up pulling Tenge out of the ATM then walking over and converting it back into US dollars and paid our rent. But you end up losing a nominal amount on the exchange rate.

Right now the exchange rate is about 119-122 Tenge to a dollar, depending on the day. So this time, thinking we were smarter, I pulled out enough US cash and brought it over with us to pay for our rent. Lena asked us to pay ½ the rent yesterday; so we whipped out our stash and paid her. She looked over each bill carefully and then told us several of the $100 bills were unacceptable. What? We asked, it’s cold hard US cash!

We apparently had several bills with watermark stamps on the back. No doubt used back in the good ‘ole USA to “verify” the bill is authentic. Lena tells us, these bills would not be accepted for exchange. We replied, No Way; we’ve been exchanging them and have yet to have a problem with any of the bills. She says, well, that means sometimes you have to take a lower exchange rate. Ah!! Now we get to the heart of it! The exchange rate!!

So off we trotted with about $1500 US dollars, that were rejected by our translator. Had to exchange them over to Tenge, then reconvert them back into cold hard US cash with no marks or creases in good ‘ole Ben’s face.

Bob heads into the exchange booth, and of course Spencer is hot on his heels. They get in the room, and all Spencer wants to do is turn the light on and off. When you’re counting out this amount of cash, you don’t want to be doing it in the dark. So Bob gives Spencer the boot. Once he does, it’s melt down city in the mall for all to see and hear. Everything and anything I say to him or try, makes him scream louder. Bob hears all this going on, so he high tails it out of the booth, not doing a thorough count. We drag Spencer out, literally kicking and screaming all the way outside. Once outside we let him throw his tantrum, and take what time he needs, for all of us to calm down. Took a while but we finally we made it through.

Can’t blame him though, he’d been up since 5am on the nose, and when we put him down for a nap, he only slept about an hour. Tried everything to get him to go back down, but nothing worked. So, decided to forge ahead anyway thinking he would fall asleep in the stroller. Wrong! The walk wasn’t long enough, I suppose. Just another sign that we’ve made the right decision to get him home and back to a regular routine.

In the midst of all this though Bob didn’t have a chance to inspect the bills, to be sure there were no creases or water marks. I just got done looking them over and wouldn’t you know we’ll be at this all over again tomorrow, only this time the stash we need to reconvert has been reduced to $300. Amazing, what one has to do!

We did however get some shopping and sights in on our journey today. I have been wondering for a long time now, where exactly everyone buys their clothes? They can’t possibly buy them in the malls, they are just a few clothing stores I’ve noticed, but they are always very pricey.

Well today we found our answer. Headed over to the outdoor market, and when we were looking to our right, noticed the building next door housed small little booths, selling their goods. By this time the boys were both asleep so we ventured inside and found Mega Mall Galore. It’s a huge building filled from corner to corner of these small booths, selling shoes, bras, underwear, clothes, etc etc.

And these booths are small, some are probably only about 5ft x 5ft but very tall, about 12 feet high. So their products are on display up to the tops of the ceilings. Found one stall, and Bob stopped to try on a shirt (photo attached), but I wasn’t fast enough to catch him with his shirt off! As we had been walking around I began to wonder where does everyone try on the clothes? Well right there, if you’re a man, it’s Ok to whip off your shirt, but for the ladies I noticed most stalls would hang up a bed sheet, and they would duck behind. Amazing!

Also by the way we became the feature attraction, we believe that not too many Americans venture over this way or this far. Most of us have conquered the 2 main malls. But we, most definitely, were the oddity at this bonanza. Tried to catch a photo of it inside, but it doesn’t do it justice. It’s really an interesting sight to see. Last photo is of our apartment. The top floor window is to our patio where we string up our clothes to dry.

Hot Showers

2006-06-14T07:06:00.000-07:00

I must say it’s been the longest wait ever, but today we finally got our Hot Water back. Can you believe it?? Only took 19 days to be fixed. Two days ago we took a new route to Mario’s Pizza for our second visit to the restaurant. Along the street near our apartment, men were working and digging up a line in the street. As we passed by Bob said I hope that’s our water line they’re fixing. That night turned on the hot and the water was brown. I mean literally dark brown.

Bob said we needed to flush all the lines. Turned on all the faucets and ran them for about 5 mins. The water got no better, so we shut them all off. The water was so dirty and full of mud, I had to scrub all the sinks and tubs with Comet, very hard to get rid of the dirt. Not sure how it sticks so fast and hard to the tubs in that short of a time span, but it does.

Later that night went to turn on the water and there was none at all. No hot and no cold. We panicked a bit, but we still had two jugs of bottled water; so we figured we could use that to cook and take a sponge bath with.

Yesterday morning Bob went to the grocery store and there had been a “run” on all the large bottled water jugs. So he had to by us 6, 1.5 liter bottles, and bring them all home. Good thing the stroller we brought along with us has a small basket underneath. Later that day; we got cold back. So we figured well at least we just have to boil the water and now we can flush the toilets!

This morning we woke to find our hot water on, but it doesn’t get very hot. This time at least the water is clear, and no mud. Not sure how they got rid of the mud in the lines. So we got our first Hot Shower in weeks today.

Last week our weather took a turn on us, and got very hot and muggy. Was beginning to wish for the rain to cool us off and get rid of the mugginess. It was so hot; the minute we stepped outside we began to sweat. And then when we strap on Hayden in the Baby Bjorn, makes whoever has him all that much hotter. Well yesterday a storm set in; got rain in the late afternoon and is continuing off and on today. But thankfully it has brought in a cool breeze/wind, along with it. Hoping this cooling trend stays with us, because there is no air conditioning in this apartment and being on the 3rd floor, makes it hot in here.

Saw Lena today, worked on getting our docs ready since Bob is leaving early. Haven’t seen much of Lena other than for our court appearance on Monday. Once they saw that we were pretty self sufficient, our “check-ins” disappeared, along with our trips to the store. Got to the store twice with Lena/Anatoly the first week; to get set up; then once the following week; but nothing ever since then. Just as well, we are pretty self sufficient and prefer it that way.

We have “first” to report. Hayden’s first tooth is finally appearing. His bottom front tooth broke the surface today! Wow, he just may be talking by the time we get home!

First photo is of Tamara our facilatator, Annie who has adopted Lilly, Lena our translator and Chandler/Allison from NC who have adopted two kids Alayna and Nate. These were taken outside the courthouse. The second pic -- you ought to know who; big smiles because we were granted our adoption.

Plan B

2006-06-13T06:53:00.000-07:00

We had originally intended to fly my Dad over to take Bob’s place. He graciously and willingly agreed to do so. Even began the process of filing for a Tourist Visa, and looking into flight arrangements. But after giving it more thought, we’ve moved on to another plan. Plan C, if you will; I am going to stay behind with Hayden and Bob/Spencer will fly home. I guess we’re just not intended to take the full trip together, either time we’ve tried.

Spencer has been a trooper throughout this trip. But it’s time to get him home and back to a routine and familiar sights/activities. It’s been hard to manage him and Hayden at the same time, under these particular circumstances. So we thought it best for him, to get him home and at the same time for Bob to get back to work.

Bob/Spencer will be leaving Karaganda on Sunday morning 6/18, flying to Almaty. On Monday 6/19 they will leave Almaty and fly home to SFO. I have been debating over whether to stay in this apartment or to move over to the hotel where most of the other American families are staying. Annie, one of our new friends is a single mom and is already at the hotel now with her daughter Lilly (who’s turning 1 yr this Thursday). They will be flying out on the same date as me/Hayden and are flying on KLM as well.

But it is hard to imagine staying within the confines of the Hotel. This particular Hotel is out in the “boonies” and not in a very good neighborhood, with nothing around it. No shops, no grocery store, nothing. So you are literally confined to the Hotel and its’ grounds. The apartment on the other hand, let’s me come and go, but would have no adult “companionship” for me. For an introvert like me, that’s not necessarily such a bad thing. But I am without any books whatsoever. Have read them all now, even all of the leftover books that I thought I wouldn’t want to read, but there is still the Tom Clancey Bob just finished. But it definitely is not my genre.

So it’s a hard choice to make, still some time left to decide. I flip flop by the hour. Either way, it will be hardest to say goodbye to Bob/Spencer for the 18 days we’ll be apart. Hoping all will go well for us during that time.

Attaching a photo of Bob/Hayden/Spencer with the Chicken Lady. Photo of us with Ludmilla owner of the Assortie. Lastly here’s a photo of what our days now look like in the apartment, Spencer has become a permanent fixture in front of the “boob tube”.

It's Official

2006-06-12T09:58:00.000-07:00

Hayden is officially our son!! At 11:00 am Karaganda time the Judge made the adoption decree official. We really are a family.

I was a little nervous going to court, but Gina had nerves of steel. They told us court was at 10:00, but there were at least two other families before us, so we didn’t make it in to see the judge until around 10:50. We were shown into a small courtroom and ushered into the front row. The prosecutor sat at a little table to the right of the judge. The court reporter/administrator was to the left.

The judge started the proceedings by reading our request to adopt Hayden. Then the prosecutor started asking us the basic questions: Why do you want to adopt another child? How much do you make? What are your occupations? How will you care for the child?

Then our facilitator, Tamara, gave a speech explaining the reasoning behind our adoption. The Judge then turned to us and asked, “Do you have anything to add”. To which I said, “no”. Then they asked Gina, “Do you have anything to add.” To which she replied “No” and then said “Thank You”. So our translator asked us again if we had anything to say; so we both looked at each other and said again “no” and sat down. Lena leans over and says “you were supposed to give your speech about why you want to adopt Hayden” Well, no one filled us in on that one! Besides, they pretty much heard all our reasons for adopting Hayden. So…there was an acquired silence.

The judge then left the court room for about two minutes. Came marching back in, read her decision in our favor…and the decree was official!!!!

Yesterday we worked on preparing a statement about our request to the court to allow our 15 day waiting period to be waived or shortened. We even translated it our selves via the internet. Got to the court this morning to be told by Tamara, that she “would not deny our right to make the request” but it would not be granted. She went on to say that we could not ask the Administrative Judge who would be hearing our adoption case, because that Judge would not have the authority to waive it. We needed to speak with the Chairman, and after our court hearing she would take us to met with him.

After celebrating our good news with the other 2 Americans along with us, we headed upstairs to the top/3rd floor. Walked into a large office area, with a stern looking man seated behind a long desk. He had his TV on in the corner, muted it but did not turn it off. Tamara led the way and “briefed” him first. We sat at the conference table, which jutted out from his desk.

Bob pulled out our statement and began to read from it. He never even got to the third sentence when the Judge cut us off and in Russian began speaking to Tamara. Basically we were told, with respect, that he understood our circumstances, but would not waive the time, he does not have the authority to waive it. It has been issued by Presidential Decree, and then the story/translation goes that he began to scold Tamara for bringing us in to see him. After all of this she then took her turn in scolding us down in the lobby, we made amends with her. But the proof of that will be in our getting our docs on time and in order. So we shall see.

We left with mixed emotions. We were blessed with a wonderful new addition to our family, yet concerned on how we are going to get him to see his paternal grandfather. My brother, sister, and mother really worked hard to get a letter from my Father’s doctor to show to the judge. So we have no choice – we’re moving on to Plan B.

We're Going to the Fair

2006-06-11T08:21:00.000-07:00

Alot has changed in the 11 years we’ve been married. Who would imagine that we would have two great boys, be stuck in an apartment with no hot water, and love every minute of it.

Our anniversary weekend was not full of wining and dining, but it was fun none the less. Yesterday we headed over to the fair for our anniversary dinner and some entertainment. We went back to a BBQ place that had good chicken and beer. Can’t mess that up too much. The owner was very nice, and even swapped addresses with us. We have no clue what he was saying, but we think he was inviting us back next weekend for dinner. His picture is attached.

Hayden just kicked back the whole time and took it all in. This was his first big adventure out in the stroller with us. He looked around and checked out the crowd. He ended up sleeping most of the way home. See photo.

Spencer is still talking about going on the antique merry go round. They looked old, but they still worked. Not a lot of safety built into these rides, so Dad was next to him the whole time.

Today was another gorgeous day. We didn’t venture too far out. We spent most of the day preparing for Court tomorrow. We found a computerized Russian translator on line and translated our request to reduce our stay. I just hope it doesn’t come out like, ”Hayden’s my kid, now let me go home”. Although that’s way we feel.

Tomorrow’s a big day…Hayden will officially be our Child!!!!!! We’ll let you know how it goes.

Happy 11th Anniversary!

2006-06-10T07:45:00.000-07:00

Hayden, let me take a moment to tell you what a romantic your Dad is at heart. 11 years ago, your dad and I got married, and this is how your Dad proposed

It was Labor Day weekend. I had taken a promotion, so I was living in Clayton, and your Dad had taken a “rotation” w/ Cal Trans in Stockton and was coming to see me for the weekend. He asked me what time I’d be home; 5:30pm I replied.

When I walked into my townhouse, there were rose petals all on the floor, leading to the kitchen table. On the table were 3 dozen more roses, and a hand written poem. Some day I’ll show you the poem but for now, I looked over to see another path of rose petals leading upstairs to my bedroom. At the end of the path was my bag, which had been packed and your Dad said “Let’s go”. Where?, I replied, he said you’ll see.

Obviously I knew something was up and that perhaps, he was going to ask me to marry him. So on the drive, we both were very quite. I was planning out a long eloquent speech I would say, just in case he did ask me. I was going to tell him how much I truly loved him and wanted to spend the rest of my life with him.

We arrived at a very posh, boutique hotel with 8 guest suites on Hwy 1 just outside of Bodega Bay, called Sonoma Coast Villa. We were shown to a suite, where another dozen roses awaited. When I saw the flowers, I reached for the card and it read “Will you marry me”. I turned around and your father had the most gorgeous, brilliant ring in his hand, and asked – Gina will you marry me?

Gone from my head was the eloquent speech I had thought out, but I did manage to barely squeak out a “yes”. We both cried and then headed in to their restaurant for dinner. Since your Dad had called ahead with his plans, they had Champagne waiting for us. I can’t remember what we ordered, but I do believe it one of the best meals I’ve ever had in my life!

Months later your Dad, told me about all the prepping he had done, to make this such a special moment in time for us. So Hayden, when you find the one woman you truly love, be gentle, kind, generous, thoughtful, and make her feel as special as your Dad has always done for me.

We celebrated the day by taking the boys to the fair and these are some photos to remember the day by. Also a special photo just for Auntie Judy.

PS. It's official! Hayden is crawling -- army style. The last photo caught him headed out of the living room down the hall and on his way to the kitchen. Guess he was hungry for a bottle!

A Prayer Request

2006-06-09T07:01:00.000-07:00

This trip has been hard for us in many ways. It’s difficult to adjust to this time zone, to the schedule/needs of two children, making do without simple conveniences, but most especially it is difficult to be away from family and friends.

Bob and I are adjusting as best as possible to our new routine. Hayden wakes promptly at 5am for a bottle. Both of us are usually exhausted because Bob has been staying up late doing work and making calls, because it’s morning time at home. I’m usually awake with him, although I’m in and out trying to sleep through his tap tapping and talking.

We’ve fallen into a routine of Bob getting up with Hayden, allowing me to sleep through. Once Spencer wakes up at 6am; I move into the bedroom and then Bob gets me up at 7:30am when Hayden goes down for his morning nap. Bob then takes a turn sleeping with Hayden and I usually wake them up around 11am. So gone are our morning walks around town. We now usually get out late in the afternoon, between the boys different nap times.

In the mornings I’m still boiling water for my bath, again for the dishes, and then also for Bob when he gets up. In the evenings, the boys get a bath, so more water to boil then I do a load of wash each night by hand and string it up on the line to dry. So yet some more water to boil.

We have made peace with it all, so don’t get me wrong, I am not complaining. What has been the most difficult for us has been to get word on Bob’s dad’s health. His dad, Don is fighting lung cancer and has gone through two rounds, with 3 sessions each, of Chemo Therapy. We went to visit him the first week in March with Spencer, along with Bob’s brother Andy’s family.

Unfortunately though at his most recent medical exam, the doctors have indicated the tumors have continued to grow, and have given him approximately 2 months to live. We learned of this news last week, and it has been very difficult for us, because we are so far away. We are especially grateful to his sister Judy and his brother Michael who are both close by and are able to assist his parents at this time.

We have decided to ask the Judge at our court appearance on Monday 6/12; if there is any way possible he will waive our mandatory 15 day waiting period. We discussed the matter with our facilitator Tamara, who responded that she would not ask the Judge because “the laws are the law”.

So we have decided to ask ourselves, at our appearance. We don’t know if this is within the Judge’s discretion to grant a waiver or not. If the Judge does grants the waiver, then we will re route through Boston to see and visit Hayden’s Grandpa Don

So we ask for your prayers. This weekend please take a moment to pray for Don and Pat, for Bob’s family and please pray that this is within the Judge’s discretion to grant us a waiver, and that he will do so. Thank you all for your support and prayers, we can not do this alone..

Weather Report

2006-06-08T07:15:00.000-07:00

The weather is very unpredictable here. You’ll get sunshine in the morning but by the afternoon, dark clouds come in with thunder and rain storms. Reminds us of the weather in Grand Rapids, MI. People there used to always say; if you don’t like the weather just wait a few hours. Think that applies here too.

Not much new to report. Bob and Spencer headed out for some water, this morning. It’s hard to lug those bottles home. So when walking we can only get two at a time, and we run through about one a day between all four of us.

We know we haven’t posted many photos lately. It really takes a while to load one. So we’re going to play catch up and here are three photos. First is of some random buildings on our walk to the mall – just gives an overall sense of the street scene/area. The third is of both the boys – Spencer had just finished eating spaghetti so there’ still a bit of sauce on his face. The second is of Bob “multi tasking” inside the mall one day. I snapped it coming out of the jewelry store (I’m working on getting a new anniversary present, but Bob says No Way!). I guess a girl can dream or window shop anyway!

Grandma K Saves the Day!!!

2006-06-07T07:52:00.000-07:00

Earlier when Hayden was sick we turned over our one and only bottle of baby Tylenol to the Baby House to use. But you never get the leftovers, if there are any, back. So we were without any for Hayden, who we think has begun to teeth. Spencer already has the molar on his left coming in. It has broken through the gums but still has a lot more movement to go. So we were concerned we would run short of the remaining Tylenol we had.

So we asked Lena if we could have a package sent to her home; she agreed and gave her address. Emailed Grandma to see if she would/could ship it (the address was in Russian). Also at that time we hadn’t broken down and bought Peter Pan, so we asked if Grandma could find some VHS videos to send as well. Well, Grandma saved our bacon alright! Not only did we get the needed Tylenol, but we also got some new videos. This was extremely critical because wouldn’t you know, the DVD drive on the computer is malfunctioning. We can’t get it to play any of the movies we brought over. And that means no more Peter Pan!!

Not sure what’s up with the computer. Bobs tried and tried to figure out what’s wrong. So if there’s any computer whiz out there that can help us figure out what’s wrong, please let us know! In the meantime though, we got some new videos to help us along and add to Spencer’s current play list. But they only going to come out at the rate of one new one per week!

Also in this package we got a real live Ice Cube Tray!! I have looked high and low for one around here, and for the life of me, can not find one. So in one of my "McGyver"moments, I came up with using the egg cartons to make ice. They are made of clear plastic here and not styrofoam, so it works. But every once in a while we puncture one of the egg holes and then we can't refill that one. When in Rome, resourcefulnes is the key. What a luxury it will be not to have to worry about that anymore! Thanks Mom!

We had sunshine today, mixed with a light drizzle for a moment or two. Met up again with Allison/Chandler and also invited Dee Dee/Garrett over to our apartment. From there we all walked over to Mario’s Pizza, ordered #18. The pizzas are small; but enough for two and #18 we found out came with pepperoni and mushrooms.

Yesterday at the “prosecutors” we ran into two couples from Hayden’s room; who told us #18 was the winner. The menu is all in Russian, no English version so they discovered this pizza number by trial and error. Bob and I had heard of the restaurant on our last trip but never made it over there. Was tasty, but again no tomato sauce, and it hit the spot just right.

Yesterday we bought Hayden his Kaz Angel painting to hang over his crib. It’s a painting by a local artist and the same artist that painted the one that hangs over Spencer’s crib. Allison wanted to buy one too, the owner said she would get some more and we could come back today to look at them. But there were no angels at all in her new lot. And she sold the other angel painting we looked at yesterday to some “other Americans” just that morning! Actually she said we were just like “Russian women, one get a dress and then the second has to have one too and then the third and so on”! But we were bummed out for Allison.

Life goes on in Karaganda. Hayden is doing well, really beginning to crawl/roll around. Seems happy, except when we put him down to sleep. Then he cries, cries and cries. Today we put him down before Spencer, so when it came time for Spencer to sleep, we didn’t have to roll Hayden’s crib out into the hal,l then back in again once they were both asleep.

But now with no movies to watch what will we do? Didn’t even bother to bring books with us, but there were two left over from some other folks, and I’ve already finished mine. Have to wait till Bob’s done so we can switch. Thinking we might have to find a computer store and buy a new DVD drive!

For all those that inquired, our answer yesterday to the prosecutors last question was -- we'll have to think about that!

Do You Swear To Tell the Truth………

2006-06-06T10:06:00.000-07:00

Today the rains let up and we were able to meet up with Alison/Chandler. We all headed over for lunch at the Assortie. We were able to show off Hayden to Ludmilla (the owner) and snapped our pic with her. Told us she just became a fist time grandma last week.

Alison/Chandler also let us know that we had an appointment to meet with the “prosecutors” today. Natasha would come over to sit for the kids and we were getting picked up at 3:50. Took us by surprise, since we didn’t have to meet with the “prosecutors” last time around.

We were passed a list of the “questions” they were going to ask us. They were the same list of questions as last time around; only we were asked by the Judge not the “prosecutors”.

Arrived on time, to find the room filled and overflowing; with just about every American couple we’ve met so far. Turns out most of us have the same court date. Lena tells us we are meeting with the Dept of Guardianship, so we still aren’t clear if they are in fact the “prosecutors” or not. But they appear to be the equivalent to our social workers, who need to sign off and give their consent that we are “fit” to be parents.

Our interpreter, Lena, came in with us, and she made sure we were prepared. She told us what to say and when to say it, but you can’t help but get a wee bit nervous. Lena told us it was better to have only one of us speak. So we decided that I would do all the talking. But I prepared for the list of questions Lena gave us and not the ones the actually asked us!

When we walked in the room the main “prosecutor” recognized, me right a way. But right off the top they didn’t stick to the script and starting asking about how Spencer was doing. This threw me for a loop.

They asked why we wanted another child, I couldn’t think and looked at Gina, who stepped in and gave the appropriate politically correct answer. Then they asked how is Spencer doing? I couldn’t actually say what I was thinking that “Spencer’s been running around our tiny apartment like a banshee”. So instead, I made this running motion with my hands and arms. To which they asked “Is he too much to handle, is he not right in the head”? By this time, I totally gave up in trying to say anything. I let my calm cool collected wife take over. She of course stated, “Spencer is a normal two year old, and is very healthy. He gets a check up every three months, and is doing very well.”.

Finally at the very end they got back on script and asked if we could support 2 children, and what was our income. Fortunately, this was one of the questions I could answer. Prior to this “interrogation”, we had a 5 minute discussion with Lena on what to say…don’t include the net income; just the gross…don’t mention the stock sales, real estate sales or anything else… Whew! Got that one right!

All in all it went very well, but their final question to us – So when are going to come back for a little girl??!!

Rain, Rain Go Away....

2006-06-05T07:53:00.000-07:00

It’s been another exhausting day. It has been raining and pouring all day, which has kept us inside all day long. Spencer has been bouncing off the walls and frankly so are we. We got desperate today and bought Peter Pan on DVD for Spencer to watch. All we have to say is Hooray for Walt Disney!

Thankfully they have an English language option, and it was a hit and kept him occupied. Those that know me well know what a diversion from my usual philosophy this is. It probably wasn’t until Spencer was about 18 months old that he actually got to start watching a video. And that was only because we came to an impasse at shower time. He would stand at the shower door whaling until I was finished, which made for an extremely harried shower for me. After trying everything I could think of, I finally relented; stuck him in front of a Baby Einstein video, and I returned to a peaceful shower in the morning with one less battle to fight.

The same applies here. With him bouncing off the walls, we have come to rely on the 3 videos we brought for him. For better or for worse, we have even cursed ourselves for not having the foresight to have brought more of them. So off Bob went to get our Monday night chicken dinner, and he came back with Peter Pan!

We are hoping the rain gives us a break tomorrow. We were supposed to have Chandler/Allison over for the afternoon (another American couple adopting two kids). They are, along with all the seven couples from our agency, staying at the hotel. This hotel ends up being very close to the Baby House; but on the completely other side of town from us. Since our daily visits are over at the Baby House; we are a bit isolated. Which can be a good thing and a bad thing; add the rain in today; and that makes for a bad mix!

All of this on top of the fact that Hayden managed to fall of the bed today and bonk his head, while we (meaning me, Gina) weren’t looking. Went to change a blow out diaper on Spencer. Saw Hayden in the middle of the bed; thought to myself; self you should move him to the floor, but then said; he’s in the middle – no way he can roll off that far!! Then got caught up in the blow out and….Yes!….he can in fact roll off that far! He is fine just a little scared (we were more alarmed than him). Bob had to jump out of the middle of his bath to help. I had one up on the changing station with poop all over the place and one on the floor! With Bob running in slipping and sliding to help. Thankfully no head bonks for him!

No harm, no foul, as Bob always says. Just don’t tell the Kazak authorities before court, or we’re screwed. Now, when Hayden’s wife reads this she can laugh and say, “so that’s what happened to you. Your parents dropped you on your head.” Sorry about that little guy….

It comes in threes…loosing the keys, Hayden bonking his head,….what’s next????

Strollin' Through Town

2006-06-04T07:36:00.000-07:00

All of us were tired of being cooped up in this 450 sqft apartment, so we took a 4 hour walk around the city today between the rain, and by the end we were all pooped out.

There is a ton of construction going on in the city, but it seems like a patch on a huge wound, plus its 30 years behind the times. High rise apartments are going in, but they are right next door to what appears on the outside to be run down soviet block style housing. Right outside our apartment they just finished painting all the playground equipment and they took out the one rickety swing that was there, but didn’t put any back in. They also installed two basketball nets, but they are at least 12 feet tall. They are working hard on paving the roads (construction season is short here), but they aren’t improving the drainage systems which caused the pavement failures in the first place.

There are at least 4 new 10 story high-rise apartments going in around the city. The schematic drawings are beautiful, but the construction seems a little rough. All the walls end up being constructed using bricks and mortar, including the interior ones. That means any time you want to hang a picture you need a rotor hammer. Boy oh boy what happens if the picture is not in the right place and you have to re hang it 5 times like I do (Gina always “thinks” it’s off kilter)! It brings a whole new twist to the saying “measure twice, and rotor hammer once.”

They are grinding off 4 inches of asphalt on the busiest street in the city, during rush hour traffic. It’s quite a site to see. I can only guess what the motorists are yelling to the workers (no Cal Trans congestion management going on here). This is one situation where the words transcend any language barrier. The grinding operation is now on week two. The machine they were using broke in the middle of last week, so it’s taking a little longer than expected. Spencer has been monitoring the progress; and I’ve only been accompanying him, giving him detailed explanations when he asks. Gina loves it all too!

Their “national guard” has been cleaning the park (we assume since they’re in camouflage outfits).This would be a simple mow and blow job in the States. But I don’t think any one has had the forethought to begin a landscaping service here yet (Ric this would be a great spot for you to start up!). The “troops” are in uniforms moving ever so slowly. Makes State Workers look efficient. I went past the other day. One of them asked me for a cigarette. I said “Nyet” and kept on walking, two of them began following me and Spencer. Luckily some other folks came into view, and so they turned around. So, needless to say, we won’t be venturing that way, if they start up work again tomorrow (Monday).

Gave our neighbor who found our keys, a bottle of wine. He was so happy he kissed Gina’s hand and insisted on getting Spencer some candy. Gina said Nyet, Nyet, (everyone is always shoving candy at Spencer, gets Gina all riled up). So instead he bought two apples, which made Gina much happier to be feeding those to Spencer.

Walked to the “Art Gallery” store, the one where I bought Spencer’s Kaz Angel that hangs over his crib. No pics were up at all, it does look like they are “redecorating” a bit. The back room is turning into a jewelry area. Must means that’s selling better. The woman spoke English so she called the artist and they’ll have 3 painting for us to look at tomorrow afternoon.

Ran into Scott/Christina on our walk around town (another American couple adopting). They are taking two trips, so will be leaving on Thursday. They told us that last Thursday was International Kids Day, so that was why the Carnival was so jammed packed with families. Apparently everyone takes the day off, and there was only one visit to the Baby House for them. Lots of visitors tour the Baby House and some of the kids put on a “show” for the visitors. Was interesting that we’d never heard of this Holiday before. Learning something new each time we’re out and about.

The boys aren’t going to sleep well together. They both set each other off and cry,cry cry. So we’ve taken to wheeling Hayden’s crib into the hall, let them both fall asleep separately, then wheel Hayden back in. Must make the door ways larger here, because if you’ve ever tried and we have, your can’t fit a crib through the door way back home! Makes it very convenient!

PS. Still no hot water. We were told it would be back on Sat. But Sat has come and gone, sunday too, and no hot water.
First Pic is of the grocery store by our apt. Second is of the park way they have "groomed" by putting dirt all over the weeds. looks great for now, but think the weeds will be back!

Life in Paradise

2006-06-03T06:56:00.000-07:00

Today was a better day. The boys woke at 6am giving us an extra hour of sleep. Nap time was interrupted though, by the phone. We get some random calls in Russian, don’t know what they are saying. So we say “Nyet” and hang up. Think telemarketing has hit here as well. But we need to answer the phone, because one; it’s very loud, and we can’t turn the volume down. And two; because Lena calls us just about each day, says “Gina/Bob this is Lena, how are you doing?” We say “fine, how are you?”: Lena: “Do you need anything” Us: “Nyet”. To which she always laughs.

The first photo is of Lena and her sister Natasha (both very beautiful) who just returned from Russia where she is studying to be an interpreter, she speaks 3 languages. . Which always makes me ask myself why doesn’t our educational system teach our children a second language? To be a “world power” where our youth only speak English makes me wonder. And to be fluent in 3 languages at the age of 20 amazes me!

Anyway, I digress; Natasha was assisting on the 28th when 3 more couples arrived from our agency. One couple was not able to find a child and went home. They were specifically looking for a baby girl and found one, but she won’t be available till August. So they will be heading back here then. Or that’s the word on the vine anyway.

Hayden’s health has improved dramatically. He is rolling around, playing, laughing and eating a bit better. He is able to scoot across the floor, if he plants one foot well enough.. Not really a “crawl” yet, but he does get up on knees and hands, does the rocking back and forth but there is no momentum. Falls back onto his stomach and rolls around. He’s able to roll his way around the room fairly well. Well enough to get whatever is his interest at the moment. He is trying to sit up on his own, and is able to sit for a longer period of time as each day goes by.

The second photo is of Spencer and Hayden “playing” together. Spencer was showing him how to work the Leap Frog Radio – thanks Grandpa! In reality it was Spencer playing keep away from Hayden! As anticipated Spencer has become very protective of “his” toys, and of course Hayden is interested in whatever Spencer has. So we have fun!

Bob’s been doing a lot of work from here. But it’s gobbling up our internet minutes. Last time we had a flat rate account, now we have to buy pre paid cards, and we are flying through them. We end up spending about $6 a day in internet fees. Some folks end up sending huge files, that literally take 2 hours to download. It’s like going back in time 12 years to when we got our first computer. At least the computers are more advance than the water system . :)

Not Our Best Day

2006-06-02T07:59:00.000-07:00

Okay..Murphy’s law hit us pretty hard today…

1. Spencer and Hayden woke up at 5:00 am. Mom and Dad were definitely not ready for that.
2. Hayden wouldn’t eat anything all day. We’ve tried it all. He is not on solids yet… so we were offering the bottle any time he cries. (like right now!!!). I have been freaking out because he has only had 20 ounces of formula today….Yes as Gina says that’s probably fine at this point, but…we want to fatten this boy up.
3. Spencer was cranky….because he woke up at 5:00 am. So he wanted all our attention all day long
4. Mom and Dad were cranky…..so, you all know how that goes.
5. THEN I LOST THE KEYS TO THE APARTMENT!!!! Not a wise thing to do in a foreign country. It literally takes 5 locks to get into our apartment. We searched for an hour and couldn’t find them. Fortunately, the guy across the hall found the keys hanging in the front door. He came over with his daughter to, “say hello.” We can’t figure out if he knew we left them in the door, or if he wanted his daughter to play with Spencer. I left the keys in the front door when I went out with Spencer. (see items 3 and 4). Now we think the neighbor is looking for some kind of special gift…..yes, we’ll get him something. By the stench of his breathe; I think Vodka would be a nice gift.
6. Hayden wouldn’t go down for any of his naps…..he cried, and cried, and cried. On the first time, I rocked his crib until he fell asleep. On the second nap, we pulled him out of the crib so his big brother could sleep….and after two hours of crying figured out we could put him in the stroller and rock him to sleep. At bedtime, we….let him cry it out. (only took 15 minutes).
7. We still don’t have hot water. This is getting old…It literally takes an hour to boil the water, mix with the rancid cold water, and then take a bath. Now imagine doing that for four people.

If this is our worst day…then it will be a good trip. We’re alive, we are healthy. We have a great family, and a lot of support. Thank you for hanging in there with us. We only have five more weeks to go.(ugh!!!!!) Knowing your out there pulling for us really did make a difference on a day like today.

Bob

Spring is in the Air

2006-06-01T08:28:00.000-07:00

This stay has been so different in many ways. But one of the biggest has to be the weather. The last few days, were a bit muggy and some rains came in the late afternoon over the last two days. The thunder was so loud, Spencer started crying, so I went running in to see what was the matter, and he fell off the stool in trying to get to me! That thunder really was loud, it scared even me. Reminded me of the thunder at my Grandma Kielbasa’s house when we were little.

Lots of activities today. Spencer and Bob found “nirvana” as Bob tells me. They found a park next to some road work being completed. Bob “The Engineer” had a field day observing, but of course he tells me it was Spencer who was completely enthralled with the process!

At the beginning of last week, we found the “lake” and the “fair grounds”. The fair grounds are on the boulevard leading to the lake. We found all this on one of our morning walks, so at that time of day none of the rides were open. And we weren’t sure if/when they opened. Asked Lena, and she says she didn’t know anything about it. So today Bob suggested we go and see if it all was open. And what a Carnival it was! Tons and tons of people/ families. With all the rides open. Spencer wanted to go on one, but we couldn’t figure out how to buy the tickets for that particular ride. So we pulled the bait and switch method on him. They have a park in the middle of all this with slides. So Bob went on this really big slide with him.

These rides are once again very very old, but they are functional. It was a bit sad to see a huge line waiting for the bumper cars though, because there are only two of them that are operational!! And I’m not completely sure I would put my child in one of them!

Walked around and observed all the sites. They had a center stage with local dancers, all kids performing traditional dances. Spent a lot of time there. Was great to see and Spencer really enjoyed it all. We then spotted a BBQ pit and went in to eat. The gentleman who seated us went so overboard to make sure we got everything we needed, and went out of his way to find someone to assist us in English. She didn't really speak english...basically Bob got a tour of kitchen and pointed to the things he wanted. (Thankfully, no cockroaches) The whole meal was only $10; we were shocked so we tipped the gal who helped us out, who in turn was a bit astonished. Don’t think that happens that often by the smile on her face.

With the spring air, everyone is out and about, and it is so pleasant. The rain cleared out the mugginess, and there is a spring to everyone’s steps!

We left the apartment without two things. Our cameras or a bottle for Hayden. So we had to make an exit to get home just in time. The crowd was changing over at dinner time anyway, just as it would at any typical fair. The families were leaving to get home and the younger crowd was coming in.

The pictures attached are of some of the local playground equipment and the local fruit stand. I guess it’s survival of the fittest on the playground eqpmt. If your kid doesn’t fall of the 10 foot tall circular monkey bars, then he’s a keeper.

We’re still boiling water

2006-05-31T08:00:00.000-07:00

And we’re not too happy about it. This is day #6 for no hot water, plus this morning we woke up to no gas on the stove. No gas happened to us last time, because the bill wasn’t paid. Everyday we ask about the water, but get “I don’t know when it will be back on” as our answer. Asked if the bill was paid and was told the “government” provides the hot water so that would not make the difference. So it’s beyond me in trying to figure out why no hot water. So wrote our Agency this morning to see if they can get us an answer and help us to find out when we’ll have it back on.

As far as the no gas for the stove, they do have a two burner electric hot plate, and I can make do with that. But it takes a full 45 mins for the pot of water to boil for our baths, so that’s making for a long morning in getting ready for the day! We switched Spencer’s bath time to the morning; because we keep hoping each morning we will wake up to hot water! We might need to rethink that one!

The boys spent the night together last night and tonight and it is going much better than expected (Bob and I are still on the couch in the living room). First off we got a second crib. We weren’t sure if we would be able to get one or not. Spencer still sleeps in a crib. He doesn’t try to climb out of it yet and we really haven’t wanted him coming into our bed in the middle of the night just yet.

We were told before we left there would be two cribs available for us to use. But when we got here, the second one never materialized. So we considered buying one, went to price them, but a very, very flimsy crib cost $180 US, and a decent one $240 US!! So we had to pass and told them it was too expensive, so thankfully, they got one on “loan” for us from the orphanage.

Spencer woke this morning with his feet hitting the ground, and a ton of energy to spend, we needed some things at the store, so off Bob and Spencer went. Each apartment complex has a park area, but they are not maintained well and it’s a shame (both for the kids here and for Spencer). There are no swings and the slides are barely serviceable. Will post a photo of the parks soon.

We have met our neighbors. One our first night coming in our next door neighbor came out (third photo); and in Russian began speaking rapidly to us, motioning to Spencer the whole time. She hugged and kissed us; and pointed to Spencer making a rocking baby motion. We think she was trying to tell us she remembered us. Next day, she greeted us again and we snapped the above photo. She also brought pictures by of her grandaughter, and a pic of when she was much younger and took a trip to New York! Today Sergie the neighbor across the hall from us, gave us flowers and a toy for Spencer. Said his English wasn’t very good, apologized, but it seemed fine to us!

This afternoon, we got to see a crane lifting up one of the sheds below our kitchen window onto a flat bed (first photo above). Spencer was glued to window watching them work. They use these sheds as garages, the other day saw a dark blue Porsche Cayenne parked out front! All the luxury cars are here in mass quantity.

The second photo of Hayden, shows our home made "boppy" pillow, and the book he just finished reading was a Tom Clancey novel!

PS. This afternoon, we smelled gas. Bob had us running all around making sure we weren’t leaking gas. Then I suggested maybe they’re refilling the tanks? Looked out our front window and saw a rally old beat up truck. Kind of the shape of an ambulance, only longer. Looked like it was from the 1940’s, with a really long black hose the workers were rolling up. The guys jumped back into the truck, so I didn’t have time to snap a pic. Went to try the stove and we have GAS!!

Hayden is Home!!!!

2006-05-30T08:20:00.000-07:00

Today was a big day for us. Today, we brought Hayden home with us forever.

As many of you know, this blog was created for you to “join” us on this adventure. But it is also for Hayden, and when he is old enough and the time is right, he can read all about how we became a family.

We want to give many thanks to everyone who has assisted us in getting here and to this point. There have been many helping hands along the way. We appreciate everyone’s support and prayers as our family grows, by one special boy.

And so, the following message is for Hayden.

Our dearest son Hayden,

Today is the day we became a family, together forever. We will never be able to put into words all the love that we feel for you. But it comes from deep within our hearts and our souls. Mom, Dad, and Spencer traveled the world to find you, and to bring you into our hearts and our wide open arms. You are now part of our family forever, and it is the way that God meant it to be.

Since the day you were born, you were loved. And from the first moment we saw you we knew that you were meant to be our son and a part of our family. God opened our hearts and placed you in our arms to protect you, love you, care for you and to guide you through your life’s journey.

And when we are gone from this earth, you and your brother will be together sharing a bond that is not created by blood, but by love. Love transcends all and it is by God’s grace and love that He has created our family.

When you read this we hope we are still singing our nightly song, along with our nightly family hugs: “Mommy and Daddy and Spencer and Hayden together forever, God made us a family….God made us a family” It is a song that gives us great joy to sing to you both. Love is the glue that binds us together as a family, forever.

We LOVE you, Hayden

Mom and Dad

Hayden is Coming Home........Tomorrow

2006-05-29T07:50:00.000-07:00

Good news…Hayden should be coming home tomorrow!!!

Other than the good news…today was pretty uneventful. Attached is a picture of our day. Looks like our two boys are going to be two peas in a pod!

Happy Memorial Day Everyone!!! We can smell the BBQ and the beer....

Hayden's Room

2006-05-28T06:26:00.000-07:00

Room #4 has 12 children; three others are being adopted in addition to Hayden. It’s a warm and inviting room, where the care takers truly take their jobs seriously. There are seven woman who staff the room 24/7x365 days a year. And there are always 2 women on duty at any given time. So that means each lady works at least 48 hours a week, and pulls one overnighter.

The day starts around 6:00 am when the little guys (and the majority are boys) start waking up. The caretakers give each baby a bottle and set them back down to sleep. The real fun begins at 8:00 when the whole crew gets up. They feed and change each child with amazing efficiency. We don’t arrive for Hayden until 10:00, at which point its snack time.

The snack consists of some pourage with bread mixed in. While Hayden and the other adopted babies go play with their parents, the remaining children take a nap until 12:30. Then it’s lunch.

In the afternoon it is play time for the babies. They range in age from around 4 months to 10 months old….so they aren’t very mobile. Most of the time the playing consists of being on their backs in a huge crib with play toys. The care takers come over when one of them starts to cry, but there is so much work to do the children don’t get a whole lot of individual attention.

We arrive for our second visit at 4:00. This is “bottle time” for whole gang. Each new parent gets to feed their baby, while the care takers feed the others. Afterwards, babies and parents head off to play, and the remaining babies take a nap.

By the time we are done visiting at 6:00 it’s dinner time. Hayden generally crashes for a while, but we imagine he wakes up for dinner and some more play time before going to bed at around 8:00. I’m not sure how the babies can go to sleep at 8:00 pm because it stays light here until around 9:30, and there are no heavy drapes over the window. All the drapes are sheer and lacy. Sunrise hits around 5:00 am.

This is one of the lucky rooms in the orphanage. Most of the kids will be adopted out because they are the most popular age range that most parents seek (less than 12 months). The entire orphanage houses children from newborn up to 5 years old. The two times we have been here, for the 20 babies we seen being adopted, we have only seen one child older than 2 being adopted. We hope and pray for more!

When visiting sometimes we take Spencer to the orphanage’s play ground, there are always kids outside playing. Today 3 of them started coming over to play with Gina. It’s so hard not to love them all…we’re very blessed to have found our Hayden.

June 12 - Here We Come!!!!

2006-05-27T07:48:00.000-07:00

The highlight of the day was getting our court date set for June 12, 2006!!! This keeps on schedule to leave in early July with Hayden. We truly wish there was a way to bring Hayden home earlier, but the rules are the rules.

The second highlight of the day was finding a place to get our clothes laundered!!! A few days ago, Bob and I were shown a new grocery store that is about a 5 in walk from our apartment vs the old one we used to go to which is about a 15 min walk away. When toting a 2 yr old, 10 mins sometimes can make all the difference in the world!

The grocery stores here are part of a mall of sorts, in addition to the grocery store there are a variety of small stores inside the building as well. This mall is 3 stories and is pretty new. When Bob and I went the other day, we saw a drycleaner w/a large washer/dryer and they were laundering shirts. So we asked Lena, can’t we get our clothes washed there? The response, “I don’t know I’ll have to ask Tamara”. This is the standard answer we get to many of our questions.

Our Facilitator Tamara runs a tight ship and everything gets run through her. Don’t get me wrong, that’s actually a plus at times. Based upon our experience last time around and this time; when talking with some other couples you can tell that our agency Christian World Adoption is running a great program. And we believe the biggest reason why is Tamara. This woman gets it done; there is no question about it.

Anyway, Lena got back to us and said she would have to check it out; by either calling or going there. So yesterday was grocery day (we go and get groceries with our driver/Lena 2x a week). So this time we went to this mall. Lena checked out the laundry place and this morning told us we could go there to get our pants/shirts cleaned!! I am so excited about this news; I could jump up and down. Now my nightly routine of washing out clothes etc has just been cut by 2/3!!

Hayden is doing great. His health is good, still has a cough, smiles readily anyway, and loves to giggle when his daddy tickles his tummy with his beard. He’s got quite the grip on him and it really hurts when he locks onto your hair. One of us actually has to pry his hand open! Spencer’s still getting up between 5-5:30 am; so we all get very tired very early in the evening. I’m hoping with time this will work itself out. He gets so tired by the time we’re ready to leave the baby house, that today he had a meltdown. But that’s to be expected and on the whole he’s been an outstanding trooper!

Today we were “quasi” released from “quarantine”. Galina, one of the more outgoing caretakers, motioned to me to go ahead and go into the playroom with Hayden (Bob and Spencer were already in there). Then she told one of the translators (not ours) in the room that as long as the doctors weren’t there (it’s Saturday) we could be in the playroom. It was great!! So nice for all 4 of us to actually be in the same room together! Spencer could jump away in the ball pit and we were both right there. Thanks Galina!! But once our translator returned to the room, she chided us saying Galina is not the doctor and she will have to talk with Galina about that! But at least she didn’t make us leave.

The attached picture shows Bob's utter delight at being released to the play room.

Roughing It

2006-05-26T08:39:00.000-07:00

We are very slowly adjusting into life here. We have revisited the Chicken Lady and she is the same. She seemed to remember Bob, but we’re not entirely sure about that. The chicken was still great, making soup with the leftovers today, but the price has gone up. Now it’s up to 750 Tenge!

We’ve also revisited our friend Ludmilla, the owner of the café Assortie. She didn’t remember me at all, but once she saw Bob, she seemed to recall us. Think it’s because of Bob’s beard, everyone here is clean shaven, or it’s because he’s so handsome!. Her food is still fabulous and we told her once we get Hayden full time, we’ll swing by to say hello again.

With Spencer along we’re slowly developing a different routine; we definitely don’t have as much leisure time in between our visits to the Baby House, because we have to work a nap in for him. Spencer’s been getting up around 5:30 am -yes I did type that right. And we’re usually out of the house around 8am to walk around. Lots of people out and about getting to work and whatnot. But most shops don’t open till 9am, so we don’t get much of that accomplished.

We get picked up by our driver and translator promptly at 9:40 (they do not like you to be late at all!), arriving at the Baby House by 10am. Then we head back to our apartment at 12pm. Spencer goes down for his nap almost as soon as we get home. Sometimes Bob will run an errand while I stay with Spencer. Or we wait till Spencer gets up and then all go together. Just depends. We all are picked up again at 3:40 and visit with Hayden until 6pm. So by the time we get back home and get dinner going, it’s bath time, and then Spencer heads off for bed at 8pm. With Bob and I crashing shortly thereafter.

Once we have Hayden home; we’ll have to slowly work out a new routine. We’re not sure when exactly we will get Hayden full time. We were told today it will be sometime after Monday. How’s that for definitive?!

Still no hot water, although Lena and Anatoly’s are back on, our building is not. So we boiled water this morning to give Spencer and ourselves a bath. Ended up cutting my hand badly on some sharp loose tile that I was gripping to get out of the tub. Luckily we packed a first aid kit, and Neosporin, so I should be fine.

Life here is certainly requires much more work than ours at home. We live such a complacent lifestyle, with our washing machines, dryers, dishwashers, fresh water, and driving everywhere by car. Here they wash by hand, hang to dry, walk to the markets carry their groceries home, boil water or lug the water bottles home. Bob and I have decided that if we lived back in the pioneer days, which required even more work by having to grow your own food, build your house, etc. we both would have died by now!

Off to hunt and gather some more….

Still in Quarantine

2006-05-25T07:41:00.000-07:00

Hayden’s health is improving rapidly. Must be all the prayers, today he looked the best we’ve seen him. But the doctor will not release us into the “general population”, until Monday. Ugh! That means we stay in his room for our visits. The hard part about that is all the toys Spencer is interested in are in the playroom with everyone else. So Bob and I take turns taking Spencer into the playroom, with the other staying behind with Hayden. Plus there is not much socialization for us, since all the other families are in the playroom. But Monday will be here soon enough.

Today Spencer gave our translator Lena her gifts. We brought her over two bracelets. It’s really hard to buy for a woman you don’t know, but she seemed to like them. She is helping us out a lot with Spencer. As he grows more comfortable with her, he will sometimes go with her into the playroom, without us. There’s a large pit of balls he likes to jump around in, a swing and a slide. All just his size.

The weather here has been incredibly gorgeous. We’ve had sunny skies, a cool breeze with the temps in the upper 70-low 80’s and no humidity. Very, very pleasant. The baby house inside however, is another story. They still keep it very warm. Last time I thought it was because it was winter. We actually break out sweating before our visit is over. There is about a 15 degree difference between the rooms and the hallway.

Today a woman stopped in the playroom while I was there with Spencer, and when I looked up she was wearing the t-shirt we gave Spencer’s caretakers as a thank you last time round. It was great to see that they actually were using them! Thanks again to Auntie Helen; the shirts were from The Chronicle.

We woke up this morning to no hot water. And I mean NO hot water, not even lukewarm, just very cold. Not sure why. Asked Lena, she says, they must be switching over from their winter to summer system, but has no idea when the hot will be back. Says she doesn’t have any at her apartment either. Hoping tomorrow we can take some showers. Speaking of the water, in this apartment anyway, the quality seems to have improved. It’s much clearer, but still has a slight odor to it, and for sure we still can not drink it.

We’re back into the Kazakhstan adoption routine. It’s great for family bonding, but…gets pretty old, pretty quick. The picture posted includes two of his care takers in room #4, Tatiyana & Galina.

Family Day

2006-05-24T07:55:00.000-07:00

Today was our first full day as family. Spencer and Hayden met for the first time and this is what Spencer told us to tell everyone:

“You know Mom and Dad have been talking about me becoming a big brother, and I haven’t really understood what they meant. But today I do. I met my brother Hayden today, and immediately waved to him and said ‘Hi baby Hayden’. I shared my trucks with him, picked up his rattle when he dropped it on the floor and even sat down and tried to hold him in front of me. Mom and Dad were close by trying to get a picture of it. I even ran over and gave him a hug. Hayden stared and watched me running around, and I think he’s going to like playing with me and I’m going to like being a big brother.”

Honestly in my wildest dreams we couldn’t have asked for our visits today to go any better. Even in spite of the lack of sleep on both their parts, these brothers were meant to be together. Hayden still has a cold/bad cough but is getting better by the day, and Spencer has had a rough time adjusting to the time zone. The last two nights being especially rough for Spencer, he is also cutting his 2yr molar on the left. In spite of all this, Spencer showed what a loving and caring big brother he will be.

We’ve posted the family photo. Hayden has blue eyes with long lashes and has those blond almost transparent eyebrows just like his Dad.. He only has hair fuzz, but looks as if it may come in blond with a touch of brown, we’ll have to wait on that call. His skin is very fair and we think we’ll have to load up on Coppertone stock, since we love to be out in the California sun swimming our summers away.

Today Spencer was the feature attraction at the baby house. The doctor of his old room wanted to see him and we snapped a photo of them together. Natasha, his sitter for the last two days, also paid a few visits. The “old” Lena (our translator last time around) still works for Tamara part time so they visited. Rosa the Director of the baby house also stopped by. Once our new room’s caretakers found out, they told everyone passing through the room.

Our “old” Lena is assisting 5 Spanish couples for the next few weeks, so we see her daily. Speaking of the Spaniards, because there are so many families here, they are using two play rooms, with the Americans in one and the Spaniards in a completely separate play room. So we only see them in passing on the stairs.

There is one other couple Chandler/Allison and a single mom Annie from our same agency, all of us arrived on the same day. Plus 3 other couples: Scott/Christina, Geoff/Laura and Denn/Carolyn, the last two arriving on the same day. Another single mom Jamie, along with her parents arrived today. So that makes 7 American families; 12 total counting the Spaniards. Plus, our Agency has 3 other couples arriving on the 28th. Quite the busy place, it’s simply amazing

Today Spencer gave a gift to Anatoly our driver. He gave him two Swiss Army knives, when Anatoly saw them he began speaking quickly in Russian to Lena, then Lena pulls out her wallet and fishes for a coin. Anatoly leaned over and in Russian began speaking to Spencer giving him a 10 tenge coin (about a dime). Bob and I were looking at each other wondering what was up. Lena then explained, in their custom it is bad luck and considered bad for the relationship to give a person a knife, you are only supposed to buy them or steal them. So Anatoly was buying them from Spencer with the 10 tenge.

We also delivered photos of our friends Steve and Amy from San Diego, of their daughter who was also from Hayden’s room #4. Galina and Tatiyana got a big kick out of seeing them, and remarked that both Spencer and Goolnaz (Aliya's given name) seemed to be fed well and well looked after. Galena especially asked us to say hello to you guys and to Cassidy.

Baby Hayden Stats…

2006-05-23T08:11:00.000-07:00

Hayden Oliver Morrison

DOB: 11/15/2005 – Yes he is only 6 months old.
Height – 62.5 cm (24.6”)
Weight – 5.6 KG (12.32 lbs)

Today was our first full day with Hayden. He is doing much better. He seemed very happy to see us this morning and breaks out into smiles easily.

He is a little guy, but he is on the charts for height and head circumference, but not for weight. He has only gained 6 pounds since birth! But as Gina said, we can fatten him up in no time flat, with the 'ol double dosing of formula. We did the same with Spencer and we had him gaining weight like mad. So, our goal is to get him on the charts by the time we leave.

We feel doubly blessed to have connected with Hayden. This selection process was completely different than our first experience. This time around, we were shepherded into a room with another couple, and literally 12 kids were paraded in front of us. We were then asked to chose one, and move on. Neither Gina nor I bonded or felt a strong connectiond with any of children. We asked if there were any other children available, and were told “Nyet”.

At lunch we talked about it, and searched deep into our hearts and made the decision to ask our facilitator if we could continue looking. On our way to the orphanage we let the facilitator know we had some major concerns. Shortly after we arrived we were told there was one little boy that was too sick to be shown to the other families. He was literally coming available for adoption that very day, and we could see him if we wanted. We were shown into a huge room filled with 15 empty infant cribs, room #4. One little baby lay waiting for us. Upon our first look at him, he smiled, and we cried….and we knew in our hearts and souls we had found our little boy.

Hayden’s fever broke this afternoon. Amazingly enough that also coincided with us providing the baby Tylenol and Pedialite this morning. They don’t sell either one of the two products in Kazakhstan, so the doctor gave them to Hayden as soon as we gave them to her. Okay, okay, it may also be the fact that he is on antibiotics.

The doctor did say Hayden has a sore throat, but cleared us to go back into the general population. Up until now, we have been “quarantined”. They asked us to stay in Hayden’s crib room away from all the other kids. They did this to help limit the exposure of this virus to the rest of the orphanage.

Because of the “quarantine”, Spencer has still not met his baby brother. That will happen tomorrow. For the last two days, Natasha from the orphanage has come over to watch and play with Spencer, for each of our visits. She has been a real godsend. The two bonded instantly, and this afternoon Spencer invited her into our “Family Hug”. She doesn’t speak a lick of English, but she sure has made an impression on Spencer and us.

Once again a special thank you goes out to Dr Ruben Rucoba, Gina’s cousin, for his assistance in getting us info to help us evaluate the development stages of the children.

Tomorrow is a special day for us….we will be a family for the first time. Mommy, Daddy, Spencer, and Hayden will be together forever.

The Choice

2006-05-22T14:27:00.000-07:00

It’s an interesting experience to go through this process again. Just as no birth is the same, and no child is the same, this process is never the same either. It’s inherent with its own set of circumstances which makes the experience unique unto itself.

Becoming a parent the second time around, is a daunting experience. I think even more so than the first time, because you have a whole new set of worries that goes along with it. But then at the same time, it feels familiar which allows you to be sure of your choice to become a parent again. This time you actually have some knowledge about what it takes to be parent and even through all the fears you still go forth willingly, in spite of the challenges that you know will lie ahead.

We’ve chosen our son today. And just as sure as we have ever been, we know now that we were all meant to be a family, together forever. It’s been a chaotic day, filled with tension, anxiety, trepidation, but most of all joy. Pure joy at meeting our son, building a family and starting on our new journey through life together.

We feel doubly blessed to have our son, Hayden Oliver Morrison, join our family. He’s fighting a bad virus with a fever at the moment. Please say a special prayer for our son's health, so that he recovers and bounces back quickly.

We’ll keep you posted with all the details… We are exhausted….

10517 Miles Later

2006-05-22T14:17:00.000-07:00

Okay, okay… we’re not exactly sure on the mileage count, but its close. We do know that it took 50 hours of travel time to go from our house in Sacramento to our apartment in Karaganda, Kazakhstan.

We went into the trip with some angst over our tickets. We used a different travel agency this time around and were not given the flight plan we were promised. Instead of a non stop flight from SFO to Amsterdam we had to fly through Detroit with a 2 hour layover then onto Amsterdam. Which meant we also had to leave SFO 2 hours earlier.

So we drove to SFO. We’ve decided there must be a hierarchy of levels for the airline folks. The last time we flew we encountered the same problem. The baggage clerks are very unfriendly and won’t help us with our seats. On this flight the 3 of us were not seated together, so we asked for help and were told they couldn’t reassign the seats because the flight was booked and there was probably nothing the gate agent would be able to do either. Of course this made us extremely nervous, because how do you fly with a 2 yr old without us being seated together?

So, after saying goodbye to grandma who drove us, we headed up for the gate agent. The gate wasn’t open yet so Gina camped out at the desk to be first in line. Turns out the gate agent assisting on the flight landing took pity on us and asked us what we needed. We explained the situation and he stepped in to help. And boy did he ever. James generously gave us bulk head seats for the longest leg of the trip; Detroit to Amsterdam. Not sure why the baggage folks couldn’t do what James did. Maybe they have a different airline code that only the gate agents know about.

So off we went, caught our flight, and made it to Amsterdam. Once there, we found out there was a hotel in one of the terminals. We were dead on our feet, so we checked in for our 7 hour layover and all 3 of us crashed out and slept.

Flight to Almaty was long and unremarkable. Arrived at 7am their time and our next flight was at 8:20pm. So again, checked into a hotel to crash/sleep and rest up for the next flight. We kept Spencer’s naps to a minimum hoping it would help him adjust to the new time zone. Partly worked. He did great on all the flights except our last one, from Almaty to Karaganda. By this time, 4 planes later, it was melt down city. We were finally able to get him to sleep for the last hour of the flight.

Picked up by our driver and translator Lena. But turns out this is a different Lena than our last translator, so we could not help giving her the 3rd degree to make sure she really was our contact person. Turns out our “old” Lena has moved on to a new job, still works for the orphanage but on a part time basis. But turns out our “new” Lena is more outgoing and personable.

We were taken to our apartment that night, and it’s the exact same one we were in last time. It’s a double edged sword. Thankful to be in the same place, it gives us a bit of comfort, knowing the area immediately surrounding us. But if you recall there is only one bedroom and the main bed is horrid to sleep on. Last time Bob and I took to taking the mattress off and sleeping with it on the floor in the living room. Looks like we’ll be at it again this time.

Baby Adventures - Part 2

2006-05-18T20:09:00.000-07:00

Here we go again, off to Kazakhstan. Our nerves are frazzled, and our heads our spinning. What are we doing??? We are about to adopt another child. HOLLY COW!!!!

Spencer is very excited to meet his new brother or sister. It's our stomachs that are just beginning to churn. We've kept ourselves busy planning for the trip, but now it's actually here. I don't know if it's better to know what's going to happen our not.

We will be working with the same facilitator, same translator, same driver, same orphanage....but this is going to be a completely different adventure.

About 7:00 pm on Sunday, May 21, 2006, Pacific Standard Time, we will be proud parents of our second child.

Stay tuned