This is just a quick note to let everyone know that we made it home safe and sound. It felt so good to sleep in our own bed on Friday night; it was like sleeping on a cloud! Patti and I decided to take Monday off since we had such a busy weekend (Easter & Patti's birthday) but will return to work tomorrow.
We miss Daniel and can't wait to bring him home! The mandatory 15 day appeal period will expire on April 3rd. Our translator will then need about a week or so to complete our paperwork. We hope to make our return trip around April 10th or so. We will then fly to Karaganda and pick him up from the baby house and fly him to Alamty. In Almaty, we need to apply for his passport and also take him to the US Embassy for his medical exam. The three of us will then fly home and begin our lives together as a family!
Monday, March 24, 2008
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Quick Update!
Patti and I went to court this morning; everything went very well! The judge granted our request to become Daniel's legal parents! It was a very big day for us! The court proceeding was a lot like the MOE interview except it was much more formal. We were in the courtroom for about 20 minutes.
We then returned to the baby house and had a small party with the doctors. This afternoon, we had another small party with Daniel's nannies that work in his room. The nannies told us that Daniel was shown to several adoptive parents and were all very surprised when he was returned to the room. They all thought that Daniel would be adopted quickly because he was such a happy and active little boy. When he would be brought in to see other prospective parents, he would become freightened and/or overwhelmed and start to cry very loudly! It seems as if Daniel was waiting just for us to come and get him!! We're very glad he did!! He is the perfect child for us!
Patti has done a lot of packing tonight. We will begin our trip home tomorrow afternoon and complete our 44 hour journey back home. We will return to Karaganda in about 3 weeks to bring the new addition to our family home! We can't wait to start our new lives together!
We then returned to the baby house and had a small party with the doctors. This afternoon, we had another small party with Daniel's nannies that work in his room. The nannies told us that Daniel was shown to several adoptive parents and were all very surprised when he was returned to the room. They all thought that Daniel would be adopted quickly because he was such a happy and active little boy. When he would be brought in to see other prospective parents, he would become freightened and/or overwhelmed and start to cry very loudly! It seems as if Daniel was waiting just for us to come and get him!! We're very glad he did!! He is the perfect child for us!
Patti has done a lot of packing tonight. We will begin our trip home tomorrow afternoon and complete our 44 hour journey back home. We will return to Karaganda in about 3 weeks to bring the new addition to our family home! We can't wait to start our new lives together!
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Court Is Tomorrow!!
We were not able to get seats on our flight on Thursday so we will be delayed by one day. We will be coming home on Friday night at 11:3o PM. This means that Patti will be home for her birthday (and Easter) and I will be home for my Fantasy Baseball draft on Saturday night (if all goes as planned)!We forgot to bring Daniel a St. Patrick's Day outfit but we were able to borrowed a bib from one of the other mom's in our visiting room (thank you Jennifer)! I love the expression on his face in the picture of all 3 of us! Patti's favorite picture so far is the last one. She loves his expression and Daniel is looking right at her! I don't think Patti will ever be able to say "no" to this little guy; especially with those eyes (she just melts)!
We have court tomorrow morning at 9AM. We are both a little nervous but we think that things will go well. Then we will have a small party with the doctors and the director of the baby house. In the afternoon, we will have a small party with the nannies in Daniels room. On Thursday, we will visit daniel one last time before we make our long journey home.
We will be making the trip back to Karaganda in a few more weeks. Most people have the children escorted to Almaty where the children are handed off to the parents. Our agency does it a little differently in that we will actually come back to Karaganda to pick up Daniel and bring him to Almaty ourselves. Patti wants to be there when he leaves the baby house (and it also allows us to pick him up a few days earlier). We should find out exactly when we will be returning tomorrow.
That's it for now! See you all soon!
Saturday, March 15, 2008
Court Date March 19th!
Today was another great day with Daniel! When we walk into his room to pick him up, his face lights up and he gives us a wonderful smile! Then he kicks his walker in high gear as he makes his way to the Patti!
This morning was a bit of a bummer. Daniel had to go downstairs to the doctors office to get a some kind of a breathing treatment for his cold. They put hin on a puffer for a minute or two and he gags and screams. Then the doctor lays him on his stomach accross her lap and gives him some chops on the back. Then she turns him around and does the same thing to his chest. This takes a lot of the wind out of his sails as he is content to just sit on Patti's lap for 30 - 45 minutes before becoming active again.
We do have a court date for this coming Wednesday morning at 9AM. We have to reschedule our flights back home and hopefully be back home on Thurday evening. Before we contact our travel agent, we have to make sure we can get from Karaganda to Almaty on Wensday evening.
It's going to be very difficult to leave Daniel here while we go home. Just this morning, Patti and I discussed (again) the possibility of staying the entire 2 months until we could bring Daniel home. with us. We have both decided that it would be better if I saved some of my benefit time from work and be able to take some time off when we get him home with us.
Thank you to all those who have shared comments with us. We really look forward to hearing from everyone and check our comments a few times a day! Patti and I know that Daniel is beautiful, but we love to hear everyone else say it too!! Please keep your comments coming!
We do have the BBC new channel in our hotel. It's the only English speaking channel that we have available to us. Unfortunately, there has been no sound on that channel since we have gotten here! Just 2 days ago, just in time to hear Gov. Spitzer's resignation speech, did we finally have audio!!
Talk to you soon! Wish us luck for court!!
This morning was a bit of a bummer. Daniel had to go downstairs to the doctors office to get a some kind of a breathing treatment for his cold. They put hin on a puffer for a minute or two and he gags and screams. Then the doctor lays him on his stomach accross her lap and gives him some chops on the back. Then she turns him around and does the same thing to his chest. This takes a lot of the wind out of his sails as he is content to just sit on Patti's lap for 30 - 45 minutes before becoming active again.
We do have a court date for this coming Wednesday morning at 9AM. We have to reschedule our flights back home and hopefully be back home on Thurday evening. Before we contact our travel agent, we have to make sure we can get from Karaganda to Almaty on Wensday evening.
It's going to be very difficult to leave Daniel here while we go home. Just this morning, Patti and I discussed (again) the possibility of staying the entire 2 months until we could bring Daniel home. with us. We have both decided that it would be better if I saved some of my benefit time from work and be able to take some time off when we get him home with us.
Thank you to all those who have shared comments with us. We really look forward to hearing from everyone and check our comments a few times a day! Patti and I know that Daniel is beautiful, but we love to hear everyone else say it too!! Please keep your comments coming!
We do have the BBC new channel in our hotel. It's the only English speaking channel that we have available to us. Unfortunately, there has been no sound on that channel since we have gotten here! Just 2 days ago, just in time to hear Gov. Spitzer's resignation speech, did we finally have audio!!
Talk to you soon! Wish us luck for court!!
Thursday, March 13, 2008
Play Ball!!
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
A Few More Pictures!
Here is Daniel and Daddy hanging out at the baby house! We played ball for about 15 minutes today but we were having so much fun, daddy forgot to get some pictures or video of it!
Here you can see Daniel flashing his "pearly whites" (both of them) to everyone at home! He can't wait to meet everyone!
Big Day!
Today is our last day of required visitation! It's also Daniel's 10 month Birthday!
Yesterday was the first day that when we went to pick Daniel up from his room, we were greeted with a HUGE Smile! He also gave us that same smile when we picked him up for our afternoon visit! I was staring to worry if it would ever happen but it finally did!
Today was also an exciting day! As soon as he saw us come through the door, his whole face lite up! We grabbed him and headed down to the visiting room. After about 15 minutes, our translator came to us and told us to bring Daniel back to his room and that we had to go to the Ministry of Education for our interview!!
There are several other families in our hotel who are a few days ahead of us in the process and they were told that they would probably be going on Friday (and have court on Monday). We were hoping to have our interview on Friday but thought that we may be pushed back until next week since they are ahead of us. We were pleasantly surprised to have it so quickly. We were also glad that we had only a 45 minute notice. Patti was very nervous and said she probably would not have been able to sleep if she knew last night (me either).
The interview itself was much more formal that I was expecting. There were 3 people who were representing the Kazakhstan government who were sitting at a table accross from us. They were all very intimidating (especially the "Big Cheese")! They all asked us questions and we answered through our translator. Our translator told us to smile and act confident and she would take care of the rest. Some of the questions we were asked were; How long have we been married? Was this our first marriage? Do we have any other children? Are we prepared for the changes that a child will bring to older people who have never had children? What our professions were? How much did we make each year? What kind of house we live in? How much do we pay for monthy mortgage? Why did we choose to adopt from Kazakhstan? Do we have any diseases (they think that some people will adopt and use the adopted child for organ transplants)? If we were looking to adopt a boy or girl? How does the child respond to us as he sees us each day? What feelings do we have for the child?
The entire interview took about 6 or 7 minutes so it wasn't so bad. I think because there were about 8 - 10 families all lined up in the hallway, they wanted to get through us quick (before lunch)! The Ministry Of Education interview is a big step toward finalizing the adoption. The next big step is to petition the court to legally become Daniel's parents. We are still not sure when that will be but our translator told us that she may have the date as soon as this afternoon. We are really hoping to go to court on Monday. This would give us a day to fly to Alamty and then catch our scdeduled flight to Germany on Wednesday morning at 4AM.
On our way to Kazakhstan, if you remember, I was shocked that I had to pay $24 for 2 Filet-O-Fish, a large order of cold fries and a box of water at the McDonald's in the Frankfurt Airport! Just over 2 weeks later, that seems like such a small price to pay; I guess it's just a matter of perspective!
Well, It appears that my spell check is not working but I don't have time to play with it. Lets see what hapens when I try to post this to the blog today!
PS - Sonya, I did run into your translator and she was very happy to hear from you and that things were going well. She told me that she would give me her email address and she would be very excited to hear from you. I haven't run into her again to get it but I'm sure I will see her in the next few days.
Yesterday was the first day that when we went to pick Daniel up from his room, we were greeted with a HUGE Smile! He also gave us that same smile when we picked him up for our afternoon visit! I was staring to worry if it would ever happen but it finally did!
Today was also an exciting day! As soon as he saw us come through the door, his whole face lite up! We grabbed him and headed down to the visiting room. After about 15 minutes, our translator came to us and told us to bring Daniel back to his room and that we had to go to the Ministry of Education for our interview!!
There are several other families in our hotel who are a few days ahead of us in the process and they were told that they would probably be going on Friday (and have court on Monday). We were hoping to have our interview on Friday but thought that we may be pushed back until next week since they are ahead of us. We were pleasantly surprised to have it so quickly. We were also glad that we had only a 45 minute notice. Patti was very nervous and said she probably would not have been able to sleep if she knew last night (me either).
The interview itself was much more formal that I was expecting. There were 3 people who were representing the Kazakhstan government who were sitting at a table accross from us. They were all very intimidating (especially the "Big Cheese")! They all asked us questions and we answered through our translator. Our translator told us to smile and act confident and she would take care of the rest. Some of the questions we were asked were; How long have we been married? Was this our first marriage? Do we have any other children? Are we prepared for the changes that a child will bring to older people who have never had children? What our professions were? How much did we make each year? What kind of house we live in? How much do we pay for monthy mortgage? Why did we choose to adopt from Kazakhstan? Do we have any diseases (they think that some people will adopt and use the adopted child for organ transplants)? If we were looking to adopt a boy or girl? How does the child respond to us as he sees us each day? What feelings do we have for the child?
The entire interview took about 6 or 7 minutes so it wasn't so bad. I think because there were about 8 - 10 families all lined up in the hallway, they wanted to get through us quick (before lunch)! The Ministry Of Education interview is a big step toward finalizing the adoption. The next big step is to petition the court to legally become Daniel's parents. We are still not sure when that will be but our translator told us that she may have the date as soon as this afternoon. We are really hoping to go to court on Monday. This would give us a day to fly to Alamty and then catch our scdeduled flight to Germany on Wednesday morning at 4AM.
On our way to Kazakhstan, if you remember, I was shocked that I had to pay $24 for 2 Filet-O-Fish, a large order of cold fries and a box of water at the McDonald's in the Frankfurt Airport! Just over 2 weeks later, that seems like such a small price to pay; I guess it's just a matter of perspective!
Well, It appears that my spell check is not working but I don't have time to play with it. Lets see what hapens when I try to post this to the blog today!
PS - Sonya, I did run into your translator and she was very happy to hear from you and that things were going well. She told me that she would give me her email address and she would be very excited to hear from you. I haven't run into her again to get it but I'm sure I will see her in the next few days.
Monday, March 10, 2008
We're Getting There!
Patti and I completed day # 12 of the required 14 day bonding period today! We continue to visit Daniel twice each day, except we have only one visit on Sundays. This coming Wednesday, we will have met our legal requirements. We then hope to meet with the Ministry of Education for a “pre-court interview” on Thursday or Friday. We hope to have our official court hearing early next week. At that time, we will petition the court to allow us to become Daniel’s legal parents. If the court rules in our favor, we will return home to wait out the 15 day “Appeal Period”. My guess is that we will return to Almaty, Kazakhstan, around mid April to complete the final paperwork and medical exams and be able to bring Daniel home by April 23rd (our last date to travel on our Kazakhstani visas).
We have really enjoyed every minute that we have spent with Daniel! We can’t imagine the joy that we’ll feel the day that we finally bring him home! To say that it would be the happiest days of our lives would be a tremendous understatement!! We are also impressed at the conditions at the baby house. Everything so clean and runs like clockwork. The caregivers are fantastic and there is no doubt that they do all they can for the children. You can tell that Daniel obviously has a few of his favorites (in group 2).
Daniel is still battling a cold (that he gave to me). Although he doesn’t have too much to say (yet), he takes everything in. He makes great eye contact with us and he is constantly scanning the visiting room for new and interesting sounds and / or activities! The last few days we have even been able to see a few smiles and is also just starting to learn the concept of waving hello and goodbye (Oh, and did I forget to mention, he is the most beautiful child in Kazakhstan?)!!
Patti and I have been to a few places that have been suggested or we’ve heard about on the blogs. We’ve had pizza at Asotri’s and also went to Mario’s Pizza last night with several other families. We went to the Circus and have visited the City Mall. We’ve done some shopping for baby clothes at the Mickey House and also shopped at the out-door market. On Saturday, we went with another couple and boarded a city bus to downtown to visit a park with a ferris wheel and ate pork on a stick (it was very tasty)! We’ve taken taxi’s, used an internet café, visited the Ram Store and tried to use body language to try to pantomime even the most simplest of concepts (with mixed success).
Some things off the top of my head that I would mention to those of you who have yet to travel; always keep a business card of your hotel on you to show the taxi guy, always have a calculated to give to someone who you are buying something from (you will not understand the numbers when they are spoken), bring your own ketchup from home, give some thought on how you would draw your favorite food item (just because you say it slowly and louder than normal, will not help them understand what you want)!
After being brought a Pepsi and not wanting to appear rude due to their obvious oversight, I asked “Could I have some ice, please”? I never thought too much about this but I received the same exact response from two different restaurants! The waitress, looked puzzled that I would ask such a question, they then rolled their eyes, shook their heads and said “Silly Americans with their ice”!! When they serve you soda or water that is any cooler than room temp, they apologize because it is cold!
It’s time to give this a try on the blog! Wish me luck!! We do have some good pictures to post but it will have to wait until we make it back the internet café!
We have really enjoyed every minute that we have spent with Daniel! We can’t imagine the joy that we’ll feel the day that we finally bring him home! To say that it would be the happiest days of our lives would be a tremendous understatement!! We are also impressed at the conditions at the baby house. Everything so clean and runs like clockwork. The caregivers are fantastic and there is no doubt that they do all they can for the children. You can tell that Daniel obviously has a few of his favorites (in group 2).
Daniel is still battling a cold (that he gave to me). Although he doesn’t have too much to say (yet), he takes everything in. He makes great eye contact with us and he is constantly scanning the visiting room for new and interesting sounds and / or activities! The last few days we have even been able to see a few smiles and is also just starting to learn the concept of waving hello and goodbye (Oh, and did I forget to mention, he is the most beautiful child in Kazakhstan?)!!
Patti and I have been to a few places that have been suggested or we’ve heard about on the blogs. We’ve had pizza at Asotri’s and also went to Mario’s Pizza last night with several other families. We went to the Circus and have visited the City Mall. We’ve done some shopping for baby clothes at the Mickey House and also shopped at the out-door market. On Saturday, we went with another couple and boarded a city bus to downtown to visit a park with a ferris wheel and ate pork on a stick (it was very tasty)! We’ve taken taxi’s, used an internet café, visited the Ram Store and tried to use body language to try to pantomime even the most simplest of concepts (with mixed success).
Some things off the top of my head that I would mention to those of you who have yet to travel; always keep a business card of your hotel on you to show the taxi guy, always have a calculated to give to someone who you are buying something from (you will not understand the numbers when they are spoken), bring your own ketchup from home, give some thought on how you would draw your favorite food item (just because you say it slowly and louder than normal, will not help them understand what you want)!
After being brought a Pepsi and not wanting to appear rude due to their obvious oversight, I asked “Could I have some ice, please”? I never thought too much about this but I received the same exact response from two different restaurants! The waitress, looked puzzled that I would ask such a question, they then rolled their eyes, shook their heads and said “Silly Americans with their ice”!! When they serve you soda or water that is any cooler than room temp, they apologize because it is cold!
It’s time to give this a try on the blog! Wish me luck!! We do have some good pictures to post but it will have to wait until we make it back the internet café!
Saturday, March 8, 2008
More Pics!
Long story but we haven't been able to do very much with our computer in the past 2 days. I fianally put a few things on my flash stick and walked to the internet cafe. Now, it seems that my Word Doc. did not transfer correctly! Well, anyway, here are some pictures for now! We will keep trying.
Wednesday, March 5, 2008
One Week Down!
Blogger is giving me some troule posting pics today. I'll post them tomorrow if I can!
Today was day # 7 of our required 14 day “bonding period” (I will let Matthew do the math – but if he needs some help, I’m sure that Nicole, Raven or Kayla {or even Daniel} will be able to help him out)! It was another hot day in the baby house. When we got there in the morning, they were having a rehearsal (in our visiting room) for a musical that the “older children” are participating in for “Women’s Day” (March 8th). I think this holiday is something similar to Mother’s Day in the USA. Maybe someone who has already been here can fill us in on the details. As they were leaving the room, I saw that they were closing the windows so that gave me an idea for the afternoon visit!
I did open the window for the afternoon visit but only a little enough to cool the room down to 85 degrees! We put a chair in front of it and rigged the curtains so they would not give us away! Usually there are not any caregivers in the room with us, except for the ones that bring in the meals for the other 2 children. They were in and out quickly so they didn’t notice.
We had 2 good visits with Daniel today. He still has a cough but it does seem to be getting a little better. His breathing also sounded much better. In the past few days, as we were holding him, you could feel his coughing almost coming from his toes. It was taking so much out of him. Patti and I were concerned that they may bring him to the hospital or at least not let us visit him until he was feeling better. We are not concerned about that anymore.
Daniel was able to spend much more time on his tummy and back today. He was playing with his toys and having a good time trying to figure out how things worked. He has a little radio thing that plays a dozen little songs and nursery rhymes; he really likes that. There is also a diner bell that is made from a very heavy metal material. He loves to play with that. He loves to listen to the ring and then turns it over and tries to remove the clangor! You can see the concentration in his eyes! He is determined.
Today was fairly uneventful (which is a nice change)! Yesterday, we almost got in an auto accident! Our driver was cursing down the street and some knucklehead pulls out of a hosing complex and doesn’t even see us. It was like it was in slow motion; we just knew we were going to get T-boned! At the last second, our driver makes an evasive maneuver that would make Bo and Luke Duke proud!! But that also put us into 2 lanes of on-coming traffic and when we do get back in our lane, we almost clipped an older woman crossing the street! Our driver (who just started this job and was the same one who couldn’t find out hotel a few days ago) had a frightened look on his face. I’m sure he thought he was going to get fired if we told the adoption coordinators. I looked at him and gave him a huge “Whew!! As I wiped my brow - “Spa – see-ba””!!!! (Thank you in Russian). He wasn’t sure if I was joking at first, but then he started laughing!
I also changed the first 2 diapers of my life yesterday! Patti was teasing me about changing diapers so I thought I would take the wind out of her sails and volunteer to do it. The first one wasn’t bad at all. I cleaned him up and had him changed in no time! Patti was so disappointed that it wasn’t Haz-Mat incident that she told me that it didn’t even count as changing a diaper! I didn’t think that was fair! If it wasn’t even going to count, why even have me do it?? The second one, on the other hand, made the first one smell like a dozen roses!! Now I know why she said the first one didn’t count!! But being a cop for almost 20 years, I had seen and smelled much, much worse (at least, that’s what I told her)!! Patti even gave me extra points for that one; it was THAT BAD!!!
Today was day # 7 of our required 14 day “bonding period” (I will let Matthew do the math – but if he needs some help, I’m sure that Nicole, Raven or Kayla {or even Daniel} will be able to help him out)! It was another hot day in the baby house. When we got there in the morning, they were having a rehearsal (in our visiting room) for a musical that the “older children” are participating in for “Women’s Day” (March 8th). I think this holiday is something similar to Mother’s Day in the USA. Maybe someone who has already been here can fill us in on the details. As they were leaving the room, I saw that they were closing the windows so that gave me an idea for the afternoon visit!
I did open the window for the afternoon visit but only a little enough to cool the room down to 85 degrees! We put a chair in front of it and rigged the curtains so they would not give us away! Usually there are not any caregivers in the room with us, except for the ones that bring in the meals for the other 2 children. They were in and out quickly so they didn’t notice.
We had 2 good visits with Daniel today. He still has a cough but it does seem to be getting a little better. His breathing also sounded much better. In the past few days, as we were holding him, you could feel his coughing almost coming from his toes. It was taking so much out of him. Patti and I were concerned that they may bring him to the hospital or at least not let us visit him until he was feeling better. We are not concerned about that anymore.
Daniel was able to spend much more time on his tummy and back today. He was playing with his toys and having a good time trying to figure out how things worked. He has a little radio thing that plays a dozen little songs and nursery rhymes; he really likes that. There is also a diner bell that is made from a very heavy metal material. He loves to play with that. He loves to listen to the ring and then turns it over and tries to remove the clangor! You can see the concentration in his eyes! He is determined.
Today was fairly uneventful (which is a nice change)! Yesterday, we almost got in an auto accident! Our driver was cursing down the street and some knucklehead pulls out of a hosing complex and doesn’t even see us. It was like it was in slow motion; we just knew we were going to get T-boned! At the last second, our driver makes an evasive maneuver that would make Bo and Luke Duke proud!! But that also put us into 2 lanes of on-coming traffic and when we do get back in our lane, we almost clipped an older woman crossing the street! Our driver (who just started this job and was the same one who couldn’t find out hotel a few days ago) had a frightened look on his face. I’m sure he thought he was going to get fired if we told the adoption coordinators. I looked at him and gave him a huge “Whew!! As I wiped my brow - “Spa – see-ba””!!!! (Thank you in Russian). He wasn’t sure if I was joking at first, but then he started laughing!
I also changed the first 2 diapers of my life yesterday! Patti was teasing me about changing diapers so I thought I would take the wind out of her sails and volunteer to do it. The first one wasn’t bad at all. I cleaned him up and had him changed in no time! Patti was so disappointed that it wasn’t Haz-Mat incident that she told me that it didn’t even count as changing a diaper! I didn’t think that was fair! If it wasn’t even going to count, why even have me do it?? The second one, on the other hand, made the first one smell like a dozen roses!! Now I know why she said the first one didn’t count!! But being a cop for almost 20 years, I had seen and smelled much, much worse (at least, that’s what I told her)!! Patti even gave me extra points for that one; it was THAT BAD!!!
Tuesday, March 4, 2008
A Few More Pics!
I'm so glad I can post pictures now; it will give my finger a well deserved break! We don't have any good pictures of the 3 of us yet. We are hoping to get a decent one soon.
When we went to our afternoon visit, the room had to be over been 90 degrees; it was almost unbearable. Patti brought only the one blue (heavy) outfit with us so she decided that she was not going to change him. Of course, the passport photographer showed up a few minutes later to take Daniels' photograph! He looks so pretty in pink!
Daniel was kind of cranky this afternoon with still having a cold and the room being so hot. Patti and I took turns walking him around the room to keep him from fairly quiet. We were able to get a few minutes of good video this morning.
One of the Spanish families in our room went to court today. They were very nervous but everything went very well. They will return to Spain to wait out the 15 day Appeal Period, then return to Karaganda to pick up thier 13 month old little girl in a few weeks! She is absolutely adorable!
Blogger is giving me some warning indications that I may have some problems posting this. I'm going to stop right here and try to post this.
Monday, March 3, 2008
How Does She Do It??
We’ve just completed day # 5 of the bonding period. Daniel is still not feeling well but we still had a very good day. As each day passes, he seems to get a little bit more comfortable with us. He still is a very serious little boy. We can get him to smile if we toss him up in the air or swing him around but otherwise; he just looks at everything going on around him. This is all still very new to him and you can tell he is not quite sure what’s going on. We are hoping in the next 3 or 4 days, he starts to show more of his personality.
We were driven to an apartment building this morning and our driver pointed to a door and motioned us to go inside (he doesn’t speak a lick of English). I had no idea what was going on so shook my head “no” and motioned him to lead the way (my police training and the fact that I still carrying an enormous amount of money had me very paranoid). He opened the door and it was an office and we saw our translator and 2 of the other families that we knew inside. Our translator asked us to sign some papers that are required for court. We then were taken to the baby house for our morning visit with Daniel.
Patti never ceases to amaze me! I don’t mean this in a bad way, but whenever she says something, it turns out to be right. We don’t argue at all because when we have a difference of opinion, I know that in the end, she is going to right (and it usually doesn’t take me too long to figure that out). I’ve kind of resigned myself to this fact! I wouldn’t exactly say that I’m “whipped”, I just learn very quickly!
Karaganda is a city of about 600,000 people. There seems to be hundreds of apartment buildings that look exactly the same. They are white / grey, have 12 – 15 floors and look very rundown. They line both sides of all of the streets that we have been on. I also haven’t noticed any street signs and all the store names and billboards are written in Russian. I can’t imagine anyone actually knowing how to get from one place to another without being a long term resident.
We had a different driver at noon to take us back to the hotel after our morning visit. He first had to drop off the Spanish family, who were staying in one of those apartment buildings, about 5 or 6 miles away (In a direction that we’ve never been before). I had absolutely no idea where we were so I was glad to have someone who knew where they were going. Our driver drove for 15 – 20 minutes and made about 10 or 12 turns and pulled into the parking lot of a big blue building. He looked at me and seemed to be waiting for us to get out. I shook my head “no” and he had a puzzled look on his face. Patti then handed him a business card of out hotel and he still had a puzzled look on his face!! He took out his cell phone and tried to call Max (our regular driver) for directions but unfortunately, he didn’t answer the phone. He looked at me and kind of shrugged his shoulders to let us know he didn’t know how to get to our hotel! I started to panic!!
Patti was sitting in the back seat. She told me that our hotel was not far from here. She said it was right up the road, take a left turn and then it should only be about a half mile on the right! I turned around and looked at her, “Are you out of your “%&@! “ mind? How in hell do you know where our hotel is?” It took me a few seconds to realize who I was talking to (Ms. Always-Right)! I tapped our driver on the arm and with all the confidence in the world; I pointed him up the road! Within 5 minutes we were pulling into the hotel parking lot from a direction that we have never taken before! I’m still shaking my head! How does she do this???
Our afternoon visit with Daniel went very well! We brought a few outfits from home with us so we decided to change him into one of them. Most of the people who come here to adopt are looking for little girls. When they bring their babies home, they donate most of the clothes that that they bring over here. Because of this, most of the clothes at the baby house are pink and/or yellow. I don’t really mind the yellow, but I have to draw the line with pink (3 days in a row). Today was the first day that I was able to see my son in blue!! It was a very proud moment in my life! He is such a beautiful baby boy! I still can’t believe how lucky we are!
I’m still felling a little under the weather so we didn’t get a chance to get to the internet café today. We hope to do it soon to post some of our pictures.
We were driven to an apartment building this morning and our driver pointed to a door and motioned us to go inside (he doesn’t speak a lick of English). I had no idea what was going on so shook my head “no” and motioned him to lead the way (my police training and the fact that I still carrying an enormous amount of money had me very paranoid). He opened the door and it was an office and we saw our translator and 2 of the other families that we knew inside. Our translator asked us to sign some papers that are required for court. We then were taken to the baby house for our morning visit with Daniel.
Patti never ceases to amaze me! I don’t mean this in a bad way, but whenever she says something, it turns out to be right. We don’t argue at all because when we have a difference of opinion, I know that in the end, she is going to right (and it usually doesn’t take me too long to figure that out). I’ve kind of resigned myself to this fact! I wouldn’t exactly say that I’m “whipped”, I just learn very quickly!
Karaganda is a city of about 600,000 people. There seems to be hundreds of apartment buildings that look exactly the same. They are white / grey, have 12 – 15 floors and look very rundown. They line both sides of all of the streets that we have been on. I also haven’t noticed any street signs and all the store names and billboards are written in Russian. I can’t imagine anyone actually knowing how to get from one place to another without being a long term resident.
We had a different driver at noon to take us back to the hotel after our morning visit. He first had to drop off the Spanish family, who were staying in one of those apartment buildings, about 5 or 6 miles away (In a direction that we’ve never been before). I had absolutely no idea where we were so I was glad to have someone who knew where they were going. Our driver drove for 15 – 20 minutes and made about 10 or 12 turns and pulled into the parking lot of a big blue building. He looked at me and seemed to be waiting for us to get out. I shook my head “no” and he had a puzzled look on his face. Patti then handed him a business card of out hotel and he still had a puzzled look on his face!! He took out his cell phone and tried to call Max (our regular driver) for directions but unfortunately, he didn’t answer the phone. He looked at me and kind of shrugged his shoulders to let us know he didn’t know how to get to our hotel! I started to panic!!
Patti was sitting in the back seat. She told me that our hotel was not far from here. She said it was right up the road, take a left turn and then it should only be about a half mile on the right! I turned around and looked at her, “Are you out of your “%&@! “ mind? How in hell do you know where our hotel is?” It took me a few seconds to realize who I was talking to (Ms. Always-Right)! I tapped our driver on the arm and with all the confidence in the world; I pointed him up the road! Within 5 minutes we were pulling into the hotel parking lot from a direction that we have never taken before! I’m still shaking my head! How does she do this???
Our afternoon visit with Daniel went very well! We brought a few outfits from home with us so we decided to change him into one of them. Most of the people who come here to adopt are looking for little girls. When they bring their babies home, they donate most of the clothes that that they bring over here. Because of this, most of the clothes at the baby house are pink and/or yellow. I don’t really mind the yellow, but I have to draw the line with pink (3 days in a row). Today was the first day that I was able to see my son in blue!! It was a very proud moment in my life! He is such a beautiful baby boy! I still can’t believe how lucky we are!
I’m still felling a little under the weather so we didn’t get a chance to get to the internet café today. We hope to do it soon to post some of our pictures.
Sunday, March 2, 2008
Day 4 of Bonding Period
HI everyone! We are still having problems with our internet connection. It appears that we can send text (sometimes) but getting pictures up on the blog is very difficult (video is out of the question)! Unfortunately, someone told us that Dennis no longer works at the Hotel’s Business Center. Jeannine, thank you for letting us know about the Internet Café! I asked our interpreter and she didn’t know of any in the area. We will definitely check it out in the next day or two to get some pictures up!
We just completed our 4th day of the required 14 day bonding period. Daniel has a cold. We talked to the doctor yesterday and were told to go to the pharmacy and pick up some medicine for him so we hope he is feeling better soon. It’s terrible to have to watch him cough so hard for such a little guy.
The baby house is about 2 miles away from our hotel. Our driver and translator pick us up at 10AM and we spend 2 hours with Daniel in a visiting room. After 4 hours at the hotel, we go back and spend two more hours with him from 4 – 6PM. The visiting room is a large room with some toys and a piano. There are 2 other families that share this room with us. Both of the families are from Spain are very nice. They are both adopting little girls and they are both “almost” as adorable as Daniel! One of the fathers speaks English fairly well and he likes to practice on anyone who will listen!
As I said, Daniel has not been feeling very well since we first met him. He has a hard time lying down because he coughs so much. He is also teething so he has been cranky for some of the time. He doesn’t really cry loud but he just whines a lot (Patti said he takes after me – I have no idea what she is talking about)! As soon as you pick him up and start walking around the room, he quiets right down. Patti and I switch up after a few laps. Our backs are not use to the extra 15 pounds. When Patti walks him, he will look at me until he gets closer to the other children; then he starts watching them. We brought a little baby photo album that he likes to look at. We have pictures of Mom, Dad, Kathie, Kailin and Molly; he likes to look at that.
I think Daniel is just starting to recognize us when we walk into his room to pick him up. As soon as we open the door, we are greeted by 5 or 6 children who run us over with their walkers. They all seem to be a couple of month older than him. Daniel will give us a smile once in a while but not very often. He is in a strange (visiting) room and a new baby room that he just moved into (room #2 for those of you who have been there). He also spends 4 hours a day with people who speak a language that he has never heard before. When he hears anyone speak Russian, his head spins around to see whose talking. He is going through a lot of changes right now.
Patti and I visited the City Mall and also went to the Russian Circus this afternoon. We went with the 3 other families that stay in our hotel and also one of the Spanish families. It was a good time. It was the first time that Patti and I ventured out of the hotel since we got here. We haven’t been sleeping very well and have been very tired (I’m also woke up this morning with a sore throat). We are hoping to get out and about more this week.
Our hotel also has a bowling alley in it. We haven’t bowled yet but we have been to the snack bar. No one there speaks English nor do they have English menus. The first time we went there, I starting drawing a picture of a cheeseburger. I got about 80% done when he yelled out “Cheeseburger” (he had a huge smile on his face and was so proud)!! I nodded my head yes!! It tasted really bad and it’s the first cheeseburger that I’ve ever had that didn’t have any cheese on it! The next day I wanted to try the chicken wings so I drew a stick figure chicken and an arrow to the wings. I was going to do the “Chicken Dance” for him but Patti did not allow it since she didn’t have the video camera with her.
Thank you so much for those of you who have comments. Patti and I really look forward to reading them and hearing from all of you. That’s about it for today. I’m going to bed early to try to fight off the cold that I feel coming.
Muriel – can you send me the name of the restaurant that you said was so good and was inexpensive. I think it was Brew something or other.
We just completed our 4th day of the required 14 day bonding period. Daniel has a cold. We talked to the doctor yesterday and were told to go to the pharmacy and pick up some medicine for him so we hope he is feeling better soon. It’s terrible to have to watch him cough so hard for such a little guy.
The baby house is about 2 miles away from our hotel. Our driver and translator pick us up at 10AM and we spend 2 hours with Daniel in a visiting room. After 4 hours at the hotel, we go back and spend two more hours with him from 4 – 6PM. The visiting room is a large room with some toys and a piano. There are 2 other families that share this room with us. Both of the families are from Spain are very nice. They are both adopting little girls and they are both “almost” as adorable as Daniel! One of the fathers speaks English fairly well and he likes to practice on anyone who will listen!
As I said, Daniel has not been feeling very well since we first met him. He has a hard time lying down because he coughs so much. He is also teething so he has been cranky for some of the time. He doesn’t really cry loud but he just whines a lot (Patti said he takes after me – I have no idea what she is talking about)! As soon as you pick him up and start walking around the room, he quiets right down. Patti and I switch up after a few laps. Our backs are not use to the extra 15 pounds. When Patti walks him, he will look at me until he gets closer to the other children; then he starts watching them. We brought a little baby photo album that he likes to look at. We have pictures of Mom, Dad, Kathie, Kailin and Molly; he likes to look at that.
I think Daniel is just starting to recognize us when we walk into his room to pick him up. As soon as we open the door, we are greeted by 5 or 6 children who run us over with their walkers. They all seem to be a couple of month older than him. Daniel will give us a smile once in a while but not very often. He is in a strange (visiting) room and a new baby room that he just moved into (room #2 for those of you who have been there). He also spends 4 hours a day with people who speak a language that he has never heard before. When he hears anyone speak Russian, his head spins around to see whose talking. He is going through a lot of changes right now.
Patti and I visited the City Mall and also went to the Russian Circus this afternoon. We went with the 3 other families that stay in our hotel and also one of the Spanish families. It was a good time. It was the first time that Patti and I ventured out of the hotel since we got here. We haven’t been sleeping very well and have been very tired (I’m also woke up this morning with a sore throat). We are hoping to get out and about more this week.
Our hotel also has a bowling alley in it. We haven’t bowled yet but we have been to the snack bar. No one there speaks English nor do they have English menus. The first time we went there, I starting drawing a picture of a cheeseburger. I got about 80% done when he yelled out “Cheeseburger” (he had a huge smile on his face and was so proud)!! I nodded my head yes!! It tasted really bad and it’s the first cheeseburger that I’ve ever had that didn’t have any cheese on it! The next day I wanted to try the chicken wings so I drew a stick figure chicken and an arrow to the wings. I was going to do the “Chicken Dance” for him but Patti did not allow it since she didn’t have the video camera with her.
Thank you so much for those of you who have comments. Patti and I really look forward to reading them and hearing from all of you. That’s about it for today. I’m going to bed early to try to fight off the cold that I feel coming.
Muriel – can you send me the name of the restaurant that you said was so good and was inexpensive. I think it was Brew something or other.
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