Final day of trip one

This will be the last blog entry we’ll be making for a while. In a few hours we leave for home. We don’t know our court date yet, and are told we should know within a week or two.

Today’s last visit with Emma was tough. Our facilitator accompanied us to the baby house so we could ask the workers to write farewell messages for Emma in a book. Our facilitator will translate it while we’re gone, and give it back to us when we return for court. We also gave them a picture of ourselves to show Emma while we’re gone, a blanket and a toy. The worst part was when they told us that Emma now waits by the door for us each day.

We distracted ourselves by keeping busy this afternoon, We had lunch at a nice restaurant with new American friends Nicole and Matt and their darling baby girl Saule. They are here in Almaty doing final paperwork before bringing their daughter home.

After lunch we had our driver take us to the hospital where Emma was born. We took a picture to show her one day. Then we headed home to pack. We won’t be back in Almaty for a month or so, but packing should be easier next time.

We are excited to get back home and hug everyone. Thanks to our amazing family (especially Aunt Lynne Morris and Grandmas Petre and Penava for taking care of the boys), friends, staff, and yahoo looper friends for all your kindness and support. We are blessed to have all of you in our lives. You have helped to bring us one step closer to bringing Emma home.

Visitation completed today

Today was the last of our 14 days of required visitation. We will be here until Wed. AM, and have permission to go and visit Emma tomorrow even though the visits are officially finished. Emma is getting used to searching through her toy bag right after she greets us. Even so, she most enjoyed taking the cap on and off her juice bottle. We got a picture of a lovely woman who came into the room several times during our visit to play with and hug Emma. While we are going to miss our little girl immensely between now and our return visit for court, we are glad she is in the hands of such caring people. Our visit was shorter today, as electrical work was being done outside the building entrance and they needed to get us through before the workers started. We waited outside for our driver for about 30 minutes in zero degree weather, and found ourselves jogging in place to be sure we could still feel our toes.
The afternoon was spent printing out and making captions for 14 days worth of date stamped photographs to give to the judge. These were taken to the law office, where we did more paperwork before heading home. We were going to shop a bit tonite, but found ourselves enjoying the warmth of the apartment, So we started packing for home instead.
By popular demand, we are including photos of the inside of our apartment. Simple but adequate, we still think it is a better choice than spending four hundred dollars a night for a hotel and having to decipher Russian menus for every meal. We cooked beshbarmak for ourselves today, and it was delicious and filling. We look forward to seeing everyone again in just a few days!

Subzero Sunday

Temperatures in Almaty today were below zero. We hear it's freezing back home in the Midwest too. Despite the cold, we kept busy today. It is taking more creativity to keep Emma occupied and entertained in the small visitation room. Today we read books, played with shirt strings, swung her in her toy bag, introduced her to music on the Ipod, and counted the butterflies on the lockers. Emma has also learned the American art of playing with her food, and made quite a mess pounding her spoonfuls of soup on the table for fun. Today Emma clapped when she saw her juice cup. She likes to leave a little juice in her mouth and make gargling sounds for our entertainment.

We went to a mall this afternoon appropriately named "Mega." It had shiny gold elevators, a fountain, huge rock climbing wall, indoor skating rink, bowling, a food court, and movie theaters! We didn't buy much, as prices were quite high and the dollar keeps weakening, but it was fun to walk around and take it all in. The fashion here in Almaty is uniform, with the women wearing tight jeans and high-heeled black boots, and the men all in dark jackets with black dress shoes. They definitely look their best when they are out and about.

Tonite we enjoyed dinner with an American family living in Almaty. The husband works for the US Embassy as a primary care physician. His wife was the lady who spotted us as Americans when we were struggling with our grocery cart the first day we were here in Kaz. They have five kids, who were well-behaved and delightful. Another guest was a woman working for the US Embassy in neighboring country Kyrgystan. It was a fun and fascinating evening, and we got insights into life as an expat in this area of the world, and also discussed how different medical practice is here vs. in the US. Hopefully we can meet up with our new friends again at a future visit.

Glimpses of baby house life

Today was the first time we heard Emma say “mama.” It was great to hear those two syllables! She also said “Yay!” at the end of a game of patty-cake. She is now pointing to what she wants, and starting to fuss a bit if she doesn’t get it. We see her becoming more relaxed and confident with us, and we are all thoroughly enjoying one another.

We had a special treat today - we got a glimpse inside the rooms where Emma lives. Until today, the only room we had seen was the small visitation room. At the end of our visit, a young woman motioned us inside a playroom with a large playpen in the center. We were unable to get the young woman’s name, but she was very kind. When I took out my camera she said khara-sho, which we have learned means “that’s fine.” We were able to get a few pictures of the playroom. Then I put my head on my hands indicating that I wanted to see where Emma sleeps. We were taken inside a room with wall-to-wall cribs and allowed to see which one is Emma’s. We were not allowed to see any of the other children Emma lives with, but it was wonderful to see what we did today.

After our visit, we went on a quest for beshbarmok, which we are told is authentic Kazakh cuisine. We were dropped off at a restaurant reputed to have the best in Kazakh cooking, but it turned out to be closed. We ate at the hotel Alma-Ata’s restaurant instead, which was fine, but no beshbarmok. We did order something on the menu called “Allthings National” which was a variety of cut meats. I didn’t sample all of them, but Jim did, and insists one of them was horse meat. Not sure how he could know that, but that’s his story and he’s sticking to it. The restaurant was across from the beautiful Opera House, which we photographed and put on today’s blog.

After lunch we went to the Central Museum (of Kazakh History). We were surprised at how much we enjoyed this, even with the vast majority of exhibits described only in Russian and Kazakh. Jim got a picture of the costume of a “prince warrior,” which we’ve posted, before we saw a sign with a camera and an X through it. Kazakhstan was once conquered by Mongol warriors, who are said to be ancestors of many Kazakhs, and we think the prince’s costume is representative of that time. That was the only photo we were able to get of the museum. There was an amazing gold exhibit, with intricately engraved horses, rams, and warriors on the artifacts. There were also several gift shops, and we purchased a few treasures before heading home for the evening.

Learning about Emma

Today was a somewhat unusual day (unlike most days, in which we, as other Kaz adoptive parents have said, often feel like the main character in the movie Groundhog Day). Our adoption facilitator called this morning and said she was going to accompany us to the baby house. She said we would have the chance to ask some medical questions about Emma. I got my list together and put it in the toy bag.

When we got to the baby house, we were given a copy of Emma’s daily schedule and diet. We also signed the book that is used to prove to the court that we have been visiting Emma. Emma is completely on table food, feeds herself independently, is off the bottle, has never used a pacifier, and has even started toilet training! They sure grow up fast here.

You’ll see in today’s blog a picture of our facilitator Janeera. She, Emma and I are looking over my list of questions. You’ll also see a picture of one of Emma’s caretakers, Bibigul. We were told that each day Emma has two people looking after her. One is the caretaker, whom we were told does the “easy stuff,” like play with Emma and teach her. The second is referred to as the babysitter, and does diaper changing bathing, and dressing. The caregivers are with her the entire day, but she has a different two assigned to her daily. All in all, she has six caregivers and two babysitters at Baby House 3.

We didn’t have as much quality time with Emma today, as we were trying to ask questions while watching her. There was time, however, for a little rough housing - enough for her to shake the pretty bow out of her hair. There was also time for teething, even on Dad’s watch and the sole of her shoe. The biggest giggle of the day came when she heard me yell “Ow” after she pulled on my hair:) I think a ponytail will be my hairstyle for the plane ride home with her.

Emma’s given name is Anel. We were told her first name was given by hospital staff who liked the name. At the orphanage, the staff call her Anela, a nickname for Anel. It is pronounced Uh-NEL-uh, which isn’t too far off from Emma. We have tried to use both names during our visits with her. After our visit we just did errands - exchanging money, buying a new I-card for more internet minutes, and grocery shopping. Jim made some delicious chicken soup, and we are now in for the evening.

We hope all of you have a great weekend, and that Nick and the Rivermont basketball team win their homecoming game! We enjoy your comments. We plan to print out this blog and share it with Emma one day. Your comments will be part of that, and we thank you for giving them to us.