First real visit at the baby house

First Family Photo! Eli came to us and did not cry. For the first part of our visit he just took us all in. Shortly we were playing ball and his first smile was at Abbie. I think Abbie is the class clown at school so I am sure you do not find it surprising that she would be the one to make him laugh first. Brian says Eli has a strong grip. He is thinking he could really tighten a bolt.

It was so great when he started smiling and even laughed one time. Eli is a happy baby. We played ball and he palmed the ball. What a guy!

The only time he was sad was when we wiped his nose. I don't blame him. They gave us a rough cloth to wipe his nose with just at the sight of the thing he cried. We got out our soft Kleenex and he didn't cry at all. He has a runny nose and congestion. Several kids in the orphanage have that right now. What a pitiful face but how adorable.

These are the two ladies that are making all of this possible for us. On the left is Elena our translator (we could not live without her). She has been very good to take us to the store and communicate for us. No telling what we would end up with if we did not have her. On the right is Svetlana. She is our attorney here in Pavlodar. She seems to know the right people and make things happen.

Eli is doing very well developmentally. He will stand momentarily but is not taking steps yet. He is a big boy. He weighs 10kg now (22lbs). We found out today that his mother was 18 when she had him and gave him up due to not having a job or the financial means to support him. We go back to the baby house tomorrow at 9am and can't wait to see more of him. He is teething. He did cry when the cargiver took him from us today. It is amazing how he felt like a part of our family the first time we met him.

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"Bear" Bryant

What an awesome day! We went for our second interview around noon and that lady was very nice and liked the girls. She worked hard for us today so we got to go to the "baby house" at 4pm today. They showed us three children and Eli was the last one that came to see us. That was very emotional. Your heart goes out to those other children. You would like to help them all but it just is not possible. Eli was perfect! They had him dressed in his blue 55 sweatsuit and he had a new hair cut for our visit. He had a crew cut (watch out JoJo) with some hair left in the front. It was too cute! His hair is black and eyes are brown and he is fair skin. He is big and healthy. His nickname at the orphange is "Bear". That will stick. By the looks of him he could be a professional football player or wrestler. You can tell they really love him at the orphange. We only got to spend about 15 minutes with him today.

We go back tomorrow at 12:30 for our first two hour visit. We will get pictures then and post them. The girls loved him!

Abbie says "He looks like Elvis with his hair cut and he looks like one of those sumo wrestlers." Abbie told the translator that he looked like Elvis and she said, "Who is Elvis?" We all laughed. Abbie then told her Elvis was the king of rock.

Issie says "He is cute and he looks healthy so we feel he is the one." (How mature for a 6 year old.)

We feel so blessed right now. God has answered our prayers and provided for us and Eli.

Approval

We got the approval from the Department of Education lastnight so we are going to the Office of Guardianship and Care for an interview sometime today. Hopefully they will give us the approval immediately so we can go to the orphanage today. We don't have much time so will post more later. There is a beautiful snow fall this morning.

Update

This picture is for Mrs. York's class. Abbie took this picture from the airplane and today she was doing her homework on clouds so we thought the class would enjoy this.

We forgot to tell you earlier but our plane ride to Pavlodar was fine. No animals and it was comfortable.

This is an eternal flame and memorial for the Russian soldiers who faught against the Nazis in WWII. Neil, our apartment is about 1 1/2 blocks North of this. Don't know the address. Let us know if you find us.

Supper lastnight in our apartment. Abbie made Mac & Cheese and warmed some shredded chicken (that we brought from home) . Her and Isabelle have been great help in the kitchen since we have been gone. They have washed almost all of the dishes and Abbie is interested in helping cook. We have really enjoyed our family time with no TV, cell phones, or work. Right now we are spending most of our time waiting. We have to stay in the apartment from 9-5 waiting for phone calls. Our translator and driver did take us to the grocery store today. It was much nicer than the first one we had been to. We even found Nestle Hot Chocolate mix. Brian made us some this afternoon. It was great!

Unfortantly we never got the good phone call today. Please keep us in your prayers. It is hard to be here and just waiting. We can't wait to meet Eli. It is so hard to know he is in this town but we still cannot see him.

We did go for a short walk today during lunch time. We met an American that has lived her for 6 years. He was nice and helpful. He gave us his number in case we need anything while we are here. He has a wife and 3 kids and has a humanitarian aid company here and volunteers at the local college. We also met our neighbors. They are a couple from Canada and adopting a 9 month old. They have been her for 4 weeks.

Pavlodar

The girls outside the entrance to our apartment. The girls bedroom, they each have a twin size bed (they don't use top sheets here - that takes some getting use to), the living room.

We arrived in Pavlodar on November 26th around 11pm. Our translator, a coordinator, and a driver met us at the airport. We were the only Americans on the flight and stood out but everyone was nice. They took us to the grocery store to get some things. That was quite the experience. We then went to our apartment. It is rare to find an elevator here so no surprise our apartment building did not have one (were on the 5th floor). We all carried up but Brian had to bring the four large suitcases as they were to heavy for the rest of us. To say the least he worked up a sweat. The apartment is very nice. We have a large kitchen/dining area, living room, two bedrooms and two bathrooms. The kitchen has refridgerator, microwave and stove top but no oven. We were glad to see the microwave so we can cook our Dinty Moore dinners. After our trip to the grocery store we did not regret bringing a suitcase full of food. It will come in very handy. Abbie said, "We had a great time our first night here." Brian and I were not so sure at first but things are looking up this morning. We really missed our American friends lastnight. They are in a different region of the country.

We went to the Department of Education who invited us to this region. We had a short interview and are awaiting a signed paper so we can go for one more interview. Once it gets signed off then we can go to the orphanage. Doesn't look like we will get to go today but should tomorrow. We continue to learn to not plan in advance because nothing seems to happen here like you think it should.

Now that it is daylight we can see the city. It is much cleaner and nicer than Almaty. We are at the internet cafe right now. We have to use their computers and they are in Russian so it is difficult to navigate. We do not have internet access in our apartment.

Brian spotted a Russian Orthodox church from the apartment view. It is very pretty. We hope to attend a service to see what it is like.

Jet Lag

After 36 hours from time of departure from Carmi we finally arrived to Almanty, Kazakhstan. We had an unexpected 12 hour lay over in Germany. The plane we were to take was broken so they had to fly one in. As you can tell from this picture we were exhausted when we got to the motel. Aren't they sweet! The girls have been great travelers. They haven't complained at all. We all got very little sleep during the 36 hours we traveled so it was nice to find a bed. The mattress was firm to say the least but we were so tired we did not care. Brian loves the water pressure here. The shower was the best but beware don't let the shower head come loose or you may never catch it. It flies around like a fire hose. For those of you that know how Issie hates showers you can imagine how she liked this but we improvised and made do.

When we arrived it was beautiful. They had their first snow and the ground and trees were covered in snow. It was so pretty but it warmed up and melted before we got any pictures.

After we took a short nap we took a walk to the shopping area. We were excited to see this Christmas tree being put up. It was artificial but very pretty.

We met Dawn and her mom at the airport. We were all looking for Oleg at the airport. He was there holding a sign with our names. He drove us to the motel and was very helpful. Dawn is a pharmacist and is adopting two siblings. They are from North Carolina. We had dinner together Sunday night at the motel (Sunday am at home). It was so nice to have other Americans to talk to. We enjoyed their company very much. They seemed to enjoy the girls. The supper was very good to our surprise. Brian had salmon which was good but had caviar sauce and eggs on it. He was not very crazy about that. The girls and I shared Steak on Texas. It was very good also. We enjoyed it so much we ordered another one.

After supper we went to bed at around 7:30pm and did not get up until about 6am. We still have some jet lag but feel so much better. We had breakfast at the motel this morning. It was not so great but we are surviving. As most of you know Issie is not a very good eatter. We are so proud of her. She has been eatting things I would have never expected.

This is the entrance to our motel. The entrance looks very nice. The rest of the exterior of the motel is not much to look at. The room was clean and large.

Unfortantly since we arrived in Kaz 9 hours later than expected so we cannot get a flight to Pavlodar until today (Monday) at 8pm. We will not get to go to the orphanage until Tuesday so that starts our bonding period a day later.

Everything has gone great this far. We appreciate everyones prayers and ask that you will continue to remember us. We can receive email but are having trouble replying but please keep sending emails and comments on our blog page. You don't know how great it is to hear from home. We will try to post more tomorrow when we get to Pavlodar. We love you all! Sandra, Brian, Abbie and Isabelle

On Our Way

We left home at 9am on November 23rd. Mom and Dad took us to the Louisville airport. On the way Dad treated us to lunch which we are thinking might be our last good American meal for awhile. Abbie and Issie enjoyed there first plane ride in a big airplane. They were funny. When we got ready to take off Abbie was coloring and she asked us if her box of crayons would float through the air. We told her no we are not going into outer space. They both did well on the flight.

We are at O'Hare in Chicago getting ready to board our LONG flight to Germany. We will post some pictures as soon as we can.

Kazakhstan or Bust

It Is Almost Time

We will be departing November 23rd at 3:57pm and will arrive in Kazakhstan on November 25th at 12:35am. We will most likely get a motel to get a little sleep and then we will take one last flight to Pavlodar. This flight is about 1 hour and 45 minutes but should be a flight of a lifetime. We have heard this flight is more like a subway ride. There is standing room only, it is cold, and there might even be animals on the flight with us. Should be interesting!

Confirmation Number

Tonight was another big milestone as we received our confirmation number. We are scheduled to be in Pavlador on Sunday, November 25th and meet our son for the first time on the 26th. We can't wait! Please keep Eli in your prayers and us as we prepare to travel.

Our new son

The last 24 hours have been very exciting! We received information about our new son yesterday. He just turned a year old as his birthday was 10/21/06. Ironically he is one day older than AnnaMaria (our new niece from Guatemala). They should be good buddies as they grow up. He will be lucky as he has two other boy cousins that are also close to his age. We hope to get our confirmation number tomorrow so we can book our flight and meet our new son around the middle of this month. Please keep him and us in your prayers.