Update

Well, we took the weekend off from the Internet Cafe. We love hearing from everyone from home but just didn't make it to post an update. We wish we had a connection in our apartment. It would be much more convenient.

We had a great weekend and enjoyed more of Pavlodar. Friday night we went with our neighbors to a Russian restaurant. It was VERY good. The best food we have had yet. The girls enjoyed a steak and mashed potatoes. Two of their favorite foods. Steak is definately Issie's favorite food. When all else fails feed her steak. The restaurant was also decorated neat. They had large trees, log cabins, and chickens (?). Brian and I enjoyed our meal also and the company was great. We then walked by the Christmas lights on the way home. Alice and Larry have more in there front yard than they have here in the whole city but it was still neat.

Saturday and Sunday we slept in (or atleast I slept in). I am enjoying not having to set an alarm clock. Saturday after we saw Eli, Simbat took us to a Turkish restaurant and then to a movie that was spoken in Russian. The restaurant was good. The girls had steak and mashed potatoes again. Brian and I thought we were getting a large piece of pot roast with potatoes and carrots but to our surprise we got a soup bowl with meat, one potato and 1/2 a piece of carrot. It was still tasty. The movie theater was similiar to ours but they have carmel corn rather than buttered popcorn. Some how we enjoyed the movie and followed the story line eventhough we could not understand the words. Simbat summarized the movie for us on the ride back to the apartment.

Sunday we had our own church in our apartment then after lunch Simbat and our driver took us shopping. We went to "Children's World" to develop some pictures. We had been in the store before but did not go on every floor. They have three floors and the top floor is a miniature "Chucky Cheese" minus the pizza. We let the kids play for about an hour. It was a nice treat for them. We then went to the nice mall again. It was much larger than we realized. We got some gifts to bring home to our family. Don't get excited there is not a big selection here. They have some bumper stickers here we like and I thought they would work for Eli's scrapbook also so the driver told us we could get them on the street. We didn't know what that meant but then Simbat took us out some doors outside and it was major "flea market" time. If it wasn't so cold we would have really enjoyed it. They call it bazaar here. Mom be sure and show Grandma and Grandpa great this picture. It is not quite Nashville or Texas but was a neat treat to see.

Sunday night our neighbors had invited us to a hockey game. It was just a few blocks away. We really enjoyed the game and our team won. Pavlodar played a Russian team. 6/2 was the final score. We then walked back to the apartment which was our coldest walk yet. It was around -32C. Made us not want to get out of the apartment again.

As you can tell we had little time for the internet cafe. Simbat has invited us to go to her brothers wedding this weekend in a village about 20 minutes from here. We have been wanting to see the country side so this would be a great experience. But I told Brian I would gladly be on our way home and miss the wedding but that is a long shot.

Questions:

• Simbat has a full-time job teaching English but when she is not working she is more than happy to go with us. She enjoys our time together as much as we do. We really hope she could visit us someday.
• The food that we eat out is similiar to what we have at home but you have to be careful what you order. We don't understand why the grocery stores do not have such a good selection. Simbat is wanting to take us to a Kaz restuarant.
• It is about a 10 minute drive to the orphanage. The city is about 300,000-350,000 but with everyone living in apartments it doesn't cover too much territory.
• They do like Americans but are leary of us. We stick out like a sore thumb in our camo boots, Carthart, hot pink, neon green, and orange coats. People here dress nice all the time in there dress clothes and dark colors. They have stopped tracking us in the stores and mall so we feel like we must be making some head way.
• Mrs. York - we hope your daughter is feeling better. Abbie will be glad to hear from the class. We appreciate the prayers.

Misc. Info

We are going out to dinner with our neighbors tonight. They speak Russian so it makes it much easier. We cannot wait! Ramon noodles, mac and cheese, Lipton soup mix and Dinty Moore dinners are getting pretty old. Thank goodness they have cereal and Coke and Pepsi here.

Our daily routine is eating breakfast, doing homework, hanging out, lunch, going to the orphange for about three hours, internet cafe, supper and then whatever. The girls are enjoying Fashion TV and music videos. It is all there is unless you want to watch something and not understand the words. Abbie has enjoyed National Geographic. It is so cute hearing them in there giggling. They have gotten very creative with feeling their time. Brian and I have enjoyed reading books and playing games on the computer. We generally all watch one episode of The Unit on the laptop before going to bed. We also play cards. Issie has taught us "Aunt Carrie's" card game and we are teaching rummy.

We forgot the camera today. We will put some pictures on tomorrow. We woke up to another beautiful day here. The trees were snow covered. It was so pretty.

We had another good day with Eli. He really had fun with Abbie today. I guess we backed off a little and she really enjoyed having time to play with him. He is getting really good at walking. He pretty much goes wherever he wants.

Our neighbors didn't go to the orphanage with us today so it was quite funny when one of the ladies tried to talk to us. We finally figured out that she wanted a ride from our driver. It is so hard to communicate here but overall it has went better than expected. Our driver reminds us of Grandpa Ralph. He just grunts at us. We really wanted to go to the grocery store today when we left the orphanage but with our unexpected guest riding with us we hated to stop to ask. Brian was all prepared to say grocery store in Russian.

When we go out walking or shopping the people are not overly friendly to us. Issie has perfected thank you in Russian (Spasiba). She says that as we get ready to leave and it gets a smile out of all of them.

Eli's Group

I love my sisters!

Give me that camera Daddy.

Ah, a Johnson and Johnson baby.

Eli and the chicks. We have been talking for a long time how there was room on my lap for all three of them. It was nice to be able to have him and the girls set on my lap altogether.

Eli and mommy bonding! It is amazing how it seems like he has been ours forever.

Eli in the snowsuit we brought him.

There are several different groups in the orphanage. Eli's group has 10 boys. Yesterday when I went to get Eli I got to take some pictures. I saw the room where all 10 cribs were. They fed him while I was up there. They place the bowl under their chin

and use a tablespoon to shovel the food in. I had never seen anything like it but it was effective. He is a very good eater. I couldn't believe how fast he ate. Then she gave him the coffee cup with some kind of juice and he drank it by himself not spilling a drop. That was quite amazing.

This is the little bathroom off of their playroom. In the back ground you can see the little potties I was telling you about.

Half of our bonding period is now over. Due to several holidays coming up our attorney is going to take our paperwork to the judge tomorrow. We still need a couple more pieces of paper but this will help get the process going. We pray that the judge will squeeze our case in before the holidays or we could be stuck here longer than we had planned. Keep praying for this to happen.

Eli

Some of you have asked when we get to bring Eli to our apartment. We only get to visit him at the baby house until we get to take him home for good. We don't really like their rules but we must follow them. We just cherish the times we get to visit him. It keeps us going day to day knowing we get to see him again. We really will not know more about when we get to come home until we have our court date.

Happy Baby

We are making up for no post yesterday with two for today.

Big boy

Eli sucking his thumb. We had nto seen him do this until today.

Future hunting buddies. Isn't this a great picture.

This is Nina. She is over the Department of Guardianship and Care. She stopped by for part of our visit today. She felt Eli interacted well with us and could tell we loved him. She will go to court with us and is recommending to the judge that he approves our adoption. She asked us today if we would like to take another child home, but we figure we better stop with one. However, there was one little boy I saw today that I would love to help. The mom gets to go to the "group" and pick up the child for our visit. There are 9 boys in Eli's group. They have two large cribs in the main room that the kids play in. They have one high chair and they each get their turn to eat. The room they sleep in is full with 9 cribs. Everything is numbered. I think Eli is #2. Eli wasn't in the main room so I went around to a little side room. It was so funny when I walked in I saw 4 little boys on potty chairs. I couldn't believe it. They were all setting there like little angels not making a sound, not trying to get up, etc. They were perfect. I just couldn't believe it. What really got to me was one little boy that had cleft lift and palate that had not been repaired. I don't know his age but he was tiny. His legs were smaller than Issie's arms. I am sure that he does not eat well. I wish we could find a way to get him the surgery that he much needs.

To answer some questions:

• There is about 50% Kaz/50% Russian population in Pavlodar
• Our 14 day bonding period ends on 12/12. Our local attorney will take our case to the judge on 12/13 to get a court date. When we get a court date we will know more about when we will get to come home. We are still praying that Eli could come home with us but if that happens it will be a miracle. Most likely Brian (or maybe both of us) will come back in January to get Eli.

We are having a great time but will be glad to get back home.

Strike A Pose

This is the outside of the baby house. The children range in age from newborn to 4 1/2 years old. They have between 80-100 children. Next door is another house for special needs children.

They have a nice playground in front of the baby house.

These are our neighbors. They live in Canada and are adopting this cute little guy. He is 9 months old. We have enjoyed having someone to visit with. We ride together to the baby house.

(If anyone can tell me how to rotate pictures, please do. We can't make out the Russian word for rotate so you will have to turn your head.)

What a sweetheart! There is nothing like a naked baby. Abbie loved his soft skin. He looks perfect.

We just love this face! He is a very busy boy and plays hard. He has a little bruise on his forehead. That does not surprise us the way he is on the go.

Issie taught Eli a new trick. Most of you know Issie's trick (touching her nose with her tongue). He imitated her but couldn't quite reach his nose but he sure had fun trying.

Thanks Tant the Great for the outfit. I look great in it.

Daddy's little boy! Bian has been waiting a long time for a boy and he sure is enjoying it. He actually made me and the girls a little sick talking about all of the guy thinks him and Eli were going to do.

Eli giving Daddy a kiss. Brian is the only one that has got a kiss yet. Eli actually puckered up and gave him a kiss.

We had fun dressing Eli up in his new clothes. He was so tolerant. We were afraid it would make him mad but he could care less. 12 months fits but is getting tight. 18 month fits the best.

Sights of Pavlodar

Weddings are a big thing in Kaz like at home. There is a park close to our apartment and there is wedding after wedding there on Saturdays. As we were out walking we saw several wedding processions. They decorate the cars and honk like we do. Some had rented limos for the day.

This a Russian Orthodox church that Simbat (one of our translators) took us to today. It was really pretty on the outside. The part we went into on the inside was small. We had to pay a sacrifice of 300 tenge to be able to take pictures on the inside. We thought that was unusual. There were homeless diging through the trash near the church and setting outside and in the foyer begging for money. That was the first homeless we had since except for the man who digs through the trash behind our apartment each morning.

Our translators husband is Korean. He took us to a Korean Christian church. We met the minister and he was very nice. You could tell it was more like what we have at home. We may try to attend sometime.

This is the main Mosque in Pavlodar. Brian was surprised at how tolerant the different religions are of one another. We could not take photos inside but did get to go in and no one minded us being there. They were having prayer while we were there. It was quite an experience.

This is our translator, Simbot and her husband. This is her first weekend working with our agency as a translator. She teaches English but has never translated like this before. She is doing an excellent job. It is so much fun because she wants to learn all she can about the English slang and our country. We want to learn just as much from her so it is fun exchanging information. We really had a fun day with them. She was very helpful. After our sight seeing she took us to the "trade centers" (malls). These shops were much nicer than the ones within walking distance of our apartment.

We found the kids some authentic Kaz clothing today. We also got a vest and hat for Eli. Abbie wasn't sure that she wanted one but we convinced her. Our translator says that she prefers the vest over the dresses and she still wears this authentic clothing. We have not seen anyone in it on the streets but we have seen it on posters and billboards. As far as the dress code everyone dresses very well here all the time. It would be like we dress for church. It is amazing how the ladies get around in their spike heel boots in the snow and on the ice. PETA (people for the ethical treatment of animals) is definately not in Kaz since everyone is wearing animals on their heads and backs. Uncle Jeff could make some money skinning animals over here. Fur is a hot item.

We don't get to see Eli on Sunday's but will get to go back tomorrow. Some of you have asked questions in emails or the blog and we will try to answer them here.

• Our address is Bekturova, 56-12 for those of you that are looking for us on Google Earth. 56 is the street number and 12 is our apartment number.
• Amazingly when we ask people the temperature they do not know. They just say this is nothing it is usually much colder. Some have said it is going to get colder next week. It was -12 C when we got here and it has felt cooler a couple of days. We will try to find out and let you know.
• Eli has 4 teeth. We found him a teething ring today. The kind that you put in the refridgerator. I am hoping that will be comforting to him.
• The first day we met him I asked if he was still taking a bottle. The caregiver in the orphanage said oh, no. She seemed surprised that I would think he would still be on a bottle. He is drinking from a cup and eats from a spoon. We get to feed him sometime this week and meet his group. There is 8-10 children in a group. Their ratio of caregivers to groups was very good.
• I think he will be in 18 months clothing but plan to try some on him tomorrow so we will know forsure.
• The orphange looks better than most buildings on the outside and there is a playground (we will try to get pictures tomorrow). The inside is not so nice. I have learned to go to the bathroom before we get there because it is not very clean (the Pavlodar airport bathroom was worse but this is a close second - that is another story). The toys are very old, the rugs on the floor do not look real clean so we take a blanket so we can play on the floor. It has a strange smell when you walk in. We think it smells like fish and we have heard they they puree whatever food they have to feed the children. We have heard other people call the smell pourage. But the main thing is that it is evident that the caregivers love Eli and the other children. When we left yesterday you could tell he really liked the caregiver that was there. It is hard to leave him each day but this has been his life for the last year and they have taken good care of him so I am sure they will for a few more weeks. He always looks clean but they do not have a lot for the children. We took diapers on our last visit for them to use on him and we can't wait to give him a good bath and lotion him up in Johnson and Johnson. There is nothing like that smell on a baby.

Well I am sure that is more than you wanted to know. We enjoying keeping in contact with all of you. This is an awesome experience and we are glad you are helping us celebrate Eli joining our family. I have heard that Eli is famous at WCRC (the retirement center where Sandra works). They are reading updates from the blog with morning anouncements and posting his pictures for the residents to see. That is so cool. I can't wait to bring him in for all of the residents to meet. They always love babies. It is neat how accepting they are of him at their age.