Sunday April 30, Kickin' Back In Uralsk

Okay before we get going for today, Laura and I wanted to let you know how much we appreciate everyone reading the blog and sharing this incredible experience with us each day. We also want to remind you how much we do miss talking to all of you. Finally we would like to remind you that “WE ARE IN KAZAKHSTAN!” We keep checking the blog to see who has commented and I have to tell you that this behavior is not easily extinguished! We keep checking and checking throughout the day. So for those of you who think you do not have anything to say – no problem, just say hi…anything! Remember it is probably simplest to click on comments and then select “Other” for adding your comments….now back to the blog….

It did not take too long this morning to decide this was going to be a slow day for us. It has been and continues to be fairly cool – in the low to mid 50s – and slightly overcast. It was just one of those “lay on the couch” Sundays. We got up and checked our email. We heard back from our doctor back home who is an international adoption specialist. We had sent him the updated medical information about Joseph from yesterday and he said he had no concerns so we felt great about that news. We had our usual breakfast at the Chagala and then prepared for our morning visit with Joseph. Our preparation includes the choice of toys and outfits – by default we bring along five diapers so that is a no-brainer. Today Igor was early so we were out the door and on our way by 9:50am. I like to get Igor to laugh, so I greeted him with dobrae ootro (good morning) and because it was Sunday a hearty khristos vaskrese (Christ is risen; usually uttered by the priest here on Easter morning)! I got my laugh. We then picked up Olga on the way to the baby house and she told us that today a photographer would be stopping by to take Joseph’s passport photo! Although we still have a long way to go, this was another sign that we were moving ahead toward our court date and finalizing our adoption of Joseph.

Joseph came to us in one of the outfits we bought for him. This was a size 6 months which actually was a bit short on him so he is progressing. It was not long before the photographer, with lots of gold teeth, arrived and setup for “the shoot”. He had me place Joseph on my lap while Laura called to him so he would look at the camera. After about 5 or 6 shots he was finished and went well. After the shoot we played in the room but in the end we played a bit of kick ball then just hung out and cuddled until our visit was up. We decided not to do anything but go back to the hotel and grab a bite to eat for lunch. While we were waiting in the Chagala Louge for my “beef burger”, we decided to break out the Dominos – wild crazy fun! For those in-the-know we only have a double six set with us but it was perfect for the lounge and the café table. This is also the place we get to watch our new favorite, yet very bizzare music video. It is the new Coldplay video which splices them into an old Linda Dano talk show from the early 90’s highlighting an octogenarian woman and a 40ish man doing a bizarre dance/gymnastic routine in skimpy black leather outfits. I can not begin to describe the how funny and strange this is to watch! Anyway we finished up and got ready for our afternoon visit.

Not too long into our afternoon session with Joseph, Olga went to check if he was going to eat lunch and returned to say it was not time yet but we could take him outside if we wanted. This was great as last week he was not feeling well enough for them to let him out so we jumped at the chance. We did not bring any outdoor wear for him to the baby house so Olga brought us a yellow furry outfit which was too small for him so she added the hat instead of squishing his little head into the elastic banded hood. I have to say he looked a bit like a mini-San Diego chicken but that is my opinion – you decide. He was very interested in being outside and Laura gave him a good tour of the play area. We stayed outside for about 10 minutes but then went back in as it became overcast and a bit windy. After releasing him from his chicken suit bondage, we listened to some Disney music, banged plastic cups and looked out the window. It is usually Laura and Joseph’s daily routine to look out the window and to see what is the same and what has changed from day to day. Although he had been outside, he and I took a seat on the window sill and just hung out listening to the music. It was a perfect Sunday afternoon for the three of us.

Nothing much to report after the baby house on this quiet Sunday. We stopped by the bakery to buy some cakes. I asked Olga to pick two out although not telling her we would be giving them to her and to Igor in a few minutes. While we were there one of the red-hat sales women came out of the back, saw me and started to laugh. In many places in Uralsk, the same people seem to work all the time, every day and this particular woman has waited on me in this bakery many times. Her English is worse than my Russian (which is not saying much) so I expect the laughter was “here we go again” but this time we had Olga to translate! On top of the cakes, I asked for a hot chocolate to take with me. We left the bakery and headed across the street to make a pickup at Ex-Photo. On the way we told Olga we were missing being able to walk around with a cup of coffee and were told that no one does this and so it was odd I was walking around with this cup of hot chocolate…another badge of being an American…oh well. On getting out of the car at the Chagala we left them with the cakes and they were quiet surprised but hopefully they would be happy with Olga’s choices. We will see what they say in the morning. Nothing much left to share about the afternoon and evening. We said good bye to the families who will be leaving Monday morning for Almaty, had a nice dinner at the Chagala and then spoke to our parents before heading to bed. Thanks for reading and keep sending those comments!

Saturday April 29th - Saturday In Uralsk

Well folks, there were no belinchiki for me at the Chagala. I asked and was denied, although I did not understand the complete denial, I had to settle for my kashi, yogurt, juice and toast. Still good but no belini; oh well. Laura and I did have breakfast with Anne and her new daughter Aida who is about 11 months old and just has an incredibly infectious smile. Anne told us that she heard today is the day that all of the couples will be able to visit the orphanage which is home to older kids including teenagers. We are all excited about this opportunity and we actually have a package from home for Sholpan, one of the new English teachers there. Sholpan is a sponsor daughter of a family in New Jersey and they asked us to bring her some teaching materials for her. Of course it was our pleasure to help out. Anyway, we were as excited as usual to get ourselves ready to visit Joseph. Today is the day we speak with the doctor in charge of him to hear about his health etc.

On the way to the baby house this morning our cell phone rang and we got a nice call from Shachar in Israel. He is a very good friend and always is there watching to see if he can help us – Thanks Shachar! Our morning visit with Joseph started off by introducing him to a Spinone and told him stories of the slobbering lovable dog that awaited his arrival in Chicago! He seemed to like the idea as you can see in this photo. Just after this we were able to meet with the doctor. She came into the music room right away after Joseph arrived and she sat down with his medical records. She ran through some basic statistics about his birthday (9/20/05), his height/weight at birth etc. His teeth started to come in around 5 and half months (we can see two bottom teeth) and besides his current cold/congestion he received medication only once before around 4 months of age. She explained how many times if one of the children receives some medication for an illness, the others may as well as they are in groups so have close contact with one another. She remarked what a good eater he is and that he just needs individual attention and a family – we of course told her that was no problem any longer! We asked what she thought she would like us to work on with him and the translation came out to be massage and gymnastics. Olga said she could arrange for us to see what they do in the baby house in this regards. This is great so we can do things he is already comfortable with doing. The doctor also said he had received his vaccinations and has not shown any signs of allergies or negative reactions to any medications. All good news for Joseph! The doctor was very pleasant and even made cute sounds and smiles across to Joseph being held in Laura’s arms. After the meeting we only had about 15 minutes to hang with Joseph but it was a lot of fun.

After our morning visit we went back to the hotel and then took a nice walk. We decided to head to one of the local bakeries for lunch. We ordered several of the pieroskies to sample and all of them were great. After lunch we headed over to the promenade near the Atrium shopping mall. The photo shows how busy it was in the morning and that it was a sunny day. It was really nice to see everyone out and about. The cell phone company Beeline was sponsoring an area cleanup and afterwards provided some entertainment and food. The woman on stage in the photo is a singer who is fairly well known in the area. We learned this from the two guys from Beeline who rushed up to us as we were walking away from the stage. They seemed excited to speak English to us and then had their photographer come over to take a group picture of all of us! It was pretty funny to see their enthusiasm over meeting us. After a bit of shopping we headed back to the hotel to await our afternoon visit with Joseph.

This afternoon at the baby house, Olga asked us if we wanted to feed him his bottle. This was great and unexpected as usually you are allowed to feed him just once. This would be our second bottle and then the other day we fed him his semolina so we were feeling very privileged. The feeding went very well and he just chugged the whole bottle of formula so he really is a good eater. He really puts a great deal of work into getting it all out of the bottle and even worked up a bit of a sweat! After the bottle he was pretty relaxed so we did our standard music playing, ball playing and of course book reading – he really likes books. As you can see in the photo he has even taken to baseball caps like his Dad and for the afternoon was our Chicago Joe! Pretty cute isn’t he? He is also testing out an American style pacifier and seems to like to chew all parts of it. We think he also loves the handle as it allows him to manipulate pretty easily. As the clock approached 3pm we, as always, were surprised how quickly the time passed and we had to say goodbye until Sunday morning. Now it was time to join up with the other folks at Zhas Duren which is the orphanage for children from about 8 to 17 years of age. We were really looking forward to this trip.

The drive out to Zhas Duren took about 20 minutes from town and was just off the Chagala River (which we learned was very polluted). The drive took us past a bunch of summer cottages which are weekend and summer homes for people from Uralsk. People visit and stay in these small cottages as well as plant vegetables in the summer. You enter Zhas Duren from a long winding road and on the way to the main building you pass wonderful statues, play areas, outdoor concert stage and seating as well as open fields. We all met at the main building on this rainy (a bit of sleet too) day and then went into this large foyer. In the foyer were about 30 kids, both boys and girls, of all ages. They were very excited to meet us and there was a bunch of energy and noise in the area – it was great. Kids were surrounding each of us to say hi and really loved to be in and to take photos. Here are only a couple of them but my camera alone took about 40 or so. I hung out with a bunch of 10-12 year old boys who wanted to take photos, look at my iPod and in the end challenge me to endless thumb wrestling competitions. Laura spent time speaking to a couple of the older girls who told her about how they all go to a Summer lake house after the school year ends and how their Kazakh and Russian folk dance troop travels around and has won several competitions. One of the girls has recently been awarded a scholarship to the university to study English next year. Just like our visits with Joseph, this visit soon ended and we were on our way back to Uralsk. It was a great visit although bitter-sweet. He had so much fun seeing the kids and they seemed to have as much fun seeing us. Of course we thought about how some of them were probably like Joseph one day, waiting for a family that never came to adopt them. We have heard of many families from our agency (World Partners Adoption, Inc) who have come to Kazakhstan to adopt an infant but who also then sponsor an older child at Zhas Duren. They consider these kids their adopted children as well and the kids think of these adults as their parents. It is really a wonderful thing. So once again our experience in Uralsk has touched our hearts and made us think about how lucky we are and how perhaps we can make a difference.
See you tomorrow - Remember , no comments too small to leave for us! WE'RE IN KAZAKHSTAN and we love reading your comments!!!

Food Friday!

Today started out with some awesome kashi (oatmeal like)! It seems to vary a bit each day and at what time we make it down to breakfast. They did mix it up a bit with the addition of some fresh hot yeast rolls which were really good. After consulting with Tamara, Milana and Beata, it appears that I can ask for belinis for breakfast so I will give it a shot perhaps tomorrow. If you continue to read on belinis actually come into play later on today! You can see here a photo of the Chagala (pronounced Sha-ga-la) Hotel which has been our home in Uralsk. We may be moving into an apartment after Monday when the other couple flys back to Almaty. The Chagala (or Shag-a-la) is simple but nice and the staff has been very kind to us – not to mention the complimentary laundry service! We take turns doing laundry which consists of putting our dirty clothes in a plastic bag, filling out a ticket, and placing them outside our door! Of course whoever is in charge needs to put away the clothes after they are returned to our room, ironed, folded and on hangers (life is tough in Uralsk!). We were very excited this morning to get on our way as today we would be able to feed Joseph his semolina breakfast!Upon arrival, Olga brought back his clothes to his caregiver and we were brought into the feeding room. There on the table was a honkin’ big bowl of semolina with pureed fruit and a cup of black tea with a cookie in it! The “man” himself appeared in his University of Chicago attire with a bib in place and his caregiver Tanya demonstrated the shoveling technique. As Laura got the first bottle the other day, I gave the solid food shoveling a go. I did okay but was not as skilled at the technique as Joseph would have liked but we managed. You can see from the photo that I did a good job of getting near the target but not always succeeding! After a bit Laura gave it a go as well and tossed in a little tea to wash things down. The funny/interesting thing was that the tea was just standard black tea in a mug! Laura just lifted it to his mouth and gently poured it in and he drank it – with his hands alongside the mug! We have been told he is a good eater and did finish it all. After the bowl of food and tea, they brought out a half baby bottle full of more tea and yep, he drank all of that too. I was feeding him that tea and at one point I took the bottle out of his mouth to give him a break. He then reached down and squeezed the nipple which proceeded to squirt him in the face with tea – very funny! He did not mind. We then moved into the music room for about 15minutes of our remaining time. He was feeling much better today and we were looking forward to the afternoon playtime.

We did not do anything much in between our morning and afternoon sessions and just did some note taking, emailing etc. When we arrived back at the baby house Joseph entered the room with big smiles for us and you could just tell he was feeling much better. We set up the blanket, the books, toys and yes the music as it is our routine. Today Joseph got to experience the musical stylings of Michael Buble and he loved it (or that was my interpretation). He was definitely in a good mood as he was full of smiles, waving his hands around, kicking his legs and doing a bunch of babbling – da da da ma ma ma - etc. You can see Joseph in this photo all decked out in his University of Chicago outfit! He is a good looking man! Of course the hour flew by even faster than normal and we were saying good-bye until Saturday. Too bad we can’t watch Saturday morning cartoons together yet but soon…very soon!

After we left the baby house we ran some errands including going to “X-Photo”. We need to provide dated photos of us visiting Joseph to the court so we wanted to give it a test run using my flash drive. Unfortunately they were busy today as a bridal couple and party were in getting photos taken. The photo to the left shows their decorated wedding car! Olga told us that weddings are primarily on Friday’s and Saturday’s and that the only photos taken are at a studio/photo shop not by a photographer on site. The wait was unclear so we took off for the hotel. On the way back we were talking about going to dinner and ask Olga for a recommendation. It turned out there was a restaurant / club at the end of our block that she said was good. As she was unsure about them having a menu in English, we stopped by and she ran in but soon returned. She found out that they did not have a menu in English and no one there spoke English. What we then decided was to go back inside with Olga and place our whole dinner order now and then return to the restaurant later to eat it! The place was very Romanesque inside and we sat down at a nice table with a very nice woman who went through the menu with us and made recommendations. We ordered everything from the wine to the salads to the dessert. I asked if this nice woman would be there when we returned at 6:30pm and the answer was no but that she would “tell someone about us”. That was as good as it was going to get as Olga would not be able to join us – we were on our own.

Just before dinner we met with the two other families and their newly adopted kids in the Chagala Lounge. The one apartment did not have water so they were over here to have a pizza dinner. After visiting for a bit we left for our night out. We entered the restaurant, handed over our coats (all coat checks here seem to be free) and walked into the restaurant. We were guided over to a table and as you can see from the photo it was all set up for us including the salads, wine and bottle of water we had ordered earlier! It looked great!! The music playing was American Blues and the waitresses had outfits on that you might see at Caesars Palace – short green velvet dresses. The salad was great and so was the wine. The wine was from the republic of Georgia and was similar to a Merlot. After the salad, the waitress poured us the cherry tea which was incredible!!! We really really liked it. The entrees, Laura’s fish and my pork steak, were great and were served with a vegetable rice pilaf. Finally for dessert I got my belinis! They were served with honey and whipped cream! All and all without any English and our few words of Russian we had a great meal. As we left the restaurant with our empty bottle of wine, I was taking a photo of Laura outside as she was pretending to drink out of the bottle. We heard a laugh and we turned around to see it coming from a guy dressed in a hat and raincoat smoking a cigarette sitting on the ground…with no legs. He was a happy panhandler and so we donated some tenge to him for making us smile. Another interesting day in Uralsk!Now we just have to get through the night so we can see Joseph in the morning! See you tomorrow!

Thursday April 27: Meet "Grandpa Joe"

Today was a quiet day for everyone including Grandpa Joe (see photo – nice cheeks huh!). It has been overcast for a couple of days now and today it was particularly windy. Our visit this morning was uneventful. We had to arrive at 9am as the other two families were having their good-bye party in the music room at 10am. This is the party at which families bring a cake and some gifts for the care givers as a token of their appreciation. Joseph was still dealing with his congestion and so was not up for much play time. Besides a little cup playing we spent most of the time hugging him and walking around the room. He just could not get very comfortable and eventually he fell asleep in Laura’s arms until it was time to go.

After a quick trip to the grocery store for more water and lunch, Igor picked us up at 1:45pm for our afternoon visit. In the afternoon we brought his CD player for our fun session and thought it might get him excited to play as he seems to really like the Danny Zane CD. We played a bit with his cups, his musical rabbit and of course his books. Whether looking or chewing he really seems to enjoy his books. The baby house does actually have quite a few toys in the music room and we took out a Sponge Bob blow up ball and Joseph seemed to really like it. We are starting to think balls are a favorite toy. We passed it back and forth and he had fun but his congested chest just keeps him a bit down. As nothing was really getting him excited we figured we had to do something different. I remembered that when our friend Vicki (Klegman) was in law school at Pepperdine in Malibu, she used to watch Elvis movies and sing along. We figured it was worth a shot and good thing I had brought “Fun in Acapulco” – Joseph loved it! After the sing-a-long with Elvis, Olga asked us if we would like to feed him in the morning and so we are looking forward to it. At 10am is when he gets his morning 100 grams of semolina, 100 grams of mashed potatoes and…tea and biscuits! It will be interested to see this performance! The hour ended and it was time to say good-bye until the following morning. We asked again to confirm that we would meet with the doctor this weekend and supposedly it should happen.

Laura was feeling like she was getting a bit of a cold, probably from Grandpa Joe, and so wanted to take it a bit easy after lunch. I decided to take a windy stroll around our “neighborhood” and got a few photos along the way. The main drag is about 2 blocks from our hotel and has what has become our favorite bakery. As May is looming, there were many city workers out preparing the gardens in front of buildings as you can see from this photo of them turning over the soil around the rose bushes. The banner in the background has the President of Kazakhstan on it. There also is a great deal of sweeping up going on and you can see that it is very common to see these brooms which look homemade – made of twigs or branches – a rough type of whisk broom. Although there is a great deal of exposed dirt and dust there is very little trash on the streets. As you leave our hotel you enter onto this “side street” which continues down towards one of the main thoroughfares. As you can see there is a paved road but then dirt paths to walk down. In some places there are some remnants of sidewalks. As you enter onto the main street things are much different. There are very colorfully painted buildings some of which are government or university buildings. In front of one of the university buildings is the statue of the famous Kazakhstan philosopher Abay. Although there may be a great deal to see, there are many interesting things to see which you would not see in Chicago. (Note: if you click on any of the photos on the blog you can display a larger version in a new window.)

Well it was a slow day today but that is always good to have at times. Tomorrow will be a good one as we will get to feed Joseph. Hopefully he will be feeling better and better with each day. See you then and remember to keep on dancin’ Bossa Nova baby….

Ringing In A New Day

Most days we awake with calm thoughts of Joseph but today was a bit different. Today we awoke to the sound of the hotel fire alarm! About 6:30am we heard the sound of a bell and like all well programmed American school children, we sprung into quick but orderly action. Although we grabbed the standard shoes, coats, and flashlight, we modified and modernized what we had learned in elementary school as we added our cell phones, laptop, camera, and adoption paperwork (…and passports and moneybelts)! We entered the hallway and only ran into three people – one guy in our hallway looking a bit dazed (perhaps it was more annoyance) and the other American adoption couple Henry and Anne. It turned out as we approached the front desk that it was a false alarm and they could not figure out how to turn it off. As you can see from Laura’s look (see photo of snappy fire outfit!) she was prepared but alas her preparation went untested – thank goodness. We returned to our room and prepared for breakfast where we were reunited with Henry and Anne.

Today was a very rainy day and we were waiting for a few minutes for Igor to pick us up. The streets were pretty crowded and the usually dusty streets were full of large puddles and people crossing everywhere. We shared our morning visits with the Mangum Family (Lori, Wes and Lucy) and their son Henry. Today is also their court day so we did not see them at the baby house for a shared visit as usual. It is the day we all look forward to as it is the “gotcha day” when the adoption is completed. We had another fun visit with Joseph and learned that he has been on an antibiotic regimen of Kanamyacin. He is still congested but hopefully it will help. We brought some new toys and of course the puppy book for him to read. He hung out with both of us and the time just seemed to fly by. We did get a family photo again which is always nice to see. As it was raining we just headed back to the hotel to wait out the 2 hours until we would return to see our son.

This afternoon our normally playful visit of music and dancing was more cuddling again. The photo shows Joseph in his cute little bear outfit with our translator Olga who has been a big help to us. Although he just ate his lunch (no, we did not get to feed him), Joseph seemed hungry and just restless. Even when restless he does not cry but just squirms around and can not get comfortable. We tried working on crawling and sitting but it just was not a work day. We must say that he did hold a sit on his own for a few seconds so that was new for us. He tossed out a few smiles and grins but just wanted to be held….held upright. We gave him a taste of John Lennon but Laura thought Michael Buble should wait a bit longer (I’m bringing Dino tomorrow!). Just being with Joseph is great so his parents were content just to be there. After our visit, we went looking for some souvenirs and bakery goods with Olga. We found some cool bookstores with kids books written in three languages - Kazakh, Russian and English - so we nabbed some of them. Additionally we bought a few Kazakh gifts including some tapestries which ward off bad luck. I did my pastries including the Kazakh version of our pizza fritte or strufolli – it’s a universal comfort food that you just can’t deny! I also was able to get a small pyramid container of milk so I could have tea. This will be much better than I bought the other day thinking it was milk until I poured it into my hot tea and watched it curdle to the surface! Yuck!

This evening we went out to dinner with the two other couples for their Gotcha Day dinner (see photo). They got through their court visit and made their adoptions official. They had it at the Kamelot (yes, spelled with a K) with each family, the coordinator Olga (I) and Aleea (translator) making very touching speeches of thanks and good luck. They were all exuding such happiness and joy you could feel it for miles! It was clear to see that even though the folks here like the Olgas (I & II) and Aleea are doing a job, on this night they see how their work results in creating families and goodwill across the globe. The coordinators connect children to parents and the translators convert words and syntax into feelings of love. They hold the key to the locked door of parenthood for so many people including Laura and I. I could not help to think that someday very soon (May 10^th?) Laura and I will experience the same high high joy as we will officially become Mom and Dad…a day that for us has taken many years, tremendous heartache, and now to the other side of the world to meet our little boy Joseph...see ya tomorrow.

Bottles, Books and Bargains

To all of those wondering the answer to today’s question - NO EGG – although Laura had mixed it up a bit and had scrambled. (if this makes no sense, see yesterday’s post). Not that each day isn’t special but today was full of Firsts for us and Joseph. This morning’s visit was a bit more relaxed than most as Joseph was still battling his cold and just seemed a bit fussy. Fussy, but not cranky or crying – basically unsettled. So for this session we did our usual admiring, kissing and hugging – trying to get Joseph to smile or laugh. We tried many positions with him – back, belly, sitting up, but nothing lasted very long. Finally Laura was walking him around cradling him when the first “first” occurred – Joseph fell asleep in her arms! It was just a beautiful sight and Laura was the envy of the other Moms! Laura had a big smile on her face and was looking so content. It turns out that the poor boy did not sleep very much between his cold and another child not sleeping very well and therefore keeping several of them awake last night. We grabbed a few photos of this (data not shown) and when our allotted hour was up, Laura had to hand him off to the caregiver while still snoozing…the story of the first “First”.

Following the morning session Olga asked us if we wanted to do anything and Laura requested we go to the open market. It turns out there are three open markets; the Chinese one, the Moscow one and then the “Other” one. Apparently they differ in quality with the Moscow one being the best. There were two goals, hats and shoes for Joseph and potentially a few souvenirs. After a few booths and questions of price we found some shoes in Kazakh colors as well as a couple of hats. As you can see from the photo, they will fulfill the cuteness requirement. Laura asked Olga about traditional gifts given in Kazakhstan during certain lifetime events such as a wedding. We would like to buy him some gifts from Kaz which we can give to him for his birthdays or even his wedding. We really could not get a good handle on such gifts besides money. We did come across some Kazakhstan jerseys which were pretty good looking at one stand and wanted to get about 6 or 7 of them. We once again got the party line “They are 8000 tenge but for you, 7800 tenge”. I then told Olga about haggling which she really did not have any practice with so I began to work with the guy and offered him 7300 tenge. He finally agreed and I was so happy with myself that I got him down to about 1200 tenge (about $10) each. This was our First; our first experience with bargaining in Kazakhstan! Olga thought I did well but when I asked a bit more she said that these sorts of things come in from Almaty and she would expect to pay about 700 tenge each….In the immortal words of Homer Simpson…Doh! My beaming pride quickly faded with my obvious overpayment!...the story of the second First.

Following another great primavera pizza at the Chagala Hotel, it was time to return to the baby house for our afternoon visit which includes more play – music, reading etc. Usually we share the music room at the baby house with one of the other families but today both of them were at pre-court getting ready for their court appearance tomorrow so we had the whole place to ourselves! Joseph arrived looking as cute as always and seemed to be feeling better after his nap. We started up the Danny Zane CD with a nice selection of toys his Momma selected and began to play. One of the books we were so kindly given was a puppy touch-n-feel book including fake dog fur and today seemed to be the day for reading for Joseph. Nestled in his Mom’s lap he decided he better start practicing getting used to feeling dog fur as he has Bacio and Luigi waiting at home to cover him in kisses. You can see from the photo that he took to the book with the diligence of a future UofC student! Not long after a few smiles and giggles Olga appeared with a bottle for him and told us we could feed him for the First time! We were very excited and as you could see from the photo his Mom did a great job and they looked like they had been doing this forever! They both looked so content, although by the feel of his head, he was working up a storm sucking down his formula! You can not see from the photo, but it was a good sized glass bottle with a honkin’ sized nipple on the end of it! While he was eating Laura said he watched me the whole time as I was walking around the room, taking photos etc! It was a great time for all of us. From adults to infants, food has always brought people together and it was no different here today in the baby music room in the tiny town of Uralsk Kazakhstan…the story of the third First.

Another great day for all of us, the US including all of you reading this blog as we feel so happy to read your comments. Although far from us in distance we feel your presence with us in sharing all of these wonderful times. The importance of your support is immeasurable….See you tomorrow….

Drool, Churches and Cemeteries…now that’s a day

The start of our first Monday in Kazakhstan started pretty much the same as our weekend days in Kazakhstan – the carton of yogurt, the delicious Kazakh oatmeal and the equally predictable questions from the hotel waitress “eggs? Omelet? Toast?” We are not sure if at the hotel, all they serve hot for breakfast are eggs/omelets or is that Americans may be thought of as egg eaters for breakfast. Anyway, the choices are getting a bit old but we are hanging in there as everyone is very pleasant and polite in accepting our attempts with Russian words. As we left the hotel our driver Igor was waiting as usual with a big smile and a “hello, good night sleep?” He is really a great guy and seems to get a kick out my electronic language translator (Thanks, Margie) and my phrase book. I try to search for funny phrases as he says he speaks “English – little” but nonetheless my attempts at phrases like “lets grab a drink” in Russian seems to make him laugh.

This morning at the baby house Joseph arrived in the cute outfit Laura had provided today along and with the outfit from Sunday and a shirt – they dressed him in three layers of clothes to keep him warm…in a room in which made me wonder if I was getting sick or was it just warm inside (…two independent sources confirmed it was warm inside!). This of course was because Joseph is still nursing a cold that you can hear and feel in his chest but it is getting better. We had a good morning visit but once again made mostly of hugs, kisses and some reading of books. He really likes his teething ring and goes right for it with both hands. The clenched fists which greeted us at first are rarely seen anymore which is really nice. The morning hour ended quickly and we packed up and headed to the “big market” with Olga our interpreter. This was an indoor mall like place with very small boutiques and shops. We were interested in some KZ bumper stickers but we need to go back at the beginning of May. I also wanted to get a cable for my iPOD and although I saw the parts in a store it quickly appeared to me that I would have to assemble it myself – solder and all. I took a pass this time but will keep looking for a complete cable. We stopped at the bakery and purchased several pastries filled with meat, meat & cabbage and just cabbage which were delicious in taste but am not convinced they have not started to “say hello” to us this evening – we will see.

This afternoon was another good but quiet visit. Joseph as you can see from the photo was a bit drooly but was moving around a bit on his stomach and dancing when on his back. We are working with him on sitting up on his own and he seems to get the concept but needs some more practice. It is really just fun hanging out with him and waiting for that smile or giggle which may just pop out every now and then. We tell him about Luigi, Bacio and Lucy and to be prepared for a bunch of kisses from his face to his feet – we can not wait to see all of that! Laura had a great idea and had given Olga a little book to translate our questions to the caregivers into as well as the answers. She also asked for the caregivers to write a note to Joseph that he could read later in life. Today we received that book back from Olga and it was very informative about his likes and dislikes – a good eater, not a great sleeper, loves music and loud toys as well as other kids etc… The caregivers also wrote some very nice words wishing him health and happiness; congratulating him on having a family (Us!); to be strong and to remember his home town as he gets older. I think he will really appreciate his Mom’s efforts with this one. He seemed to be feeling better by the end of the visit but then it was time to go until Tuesday when we will start again. Although sad about having to leave Joseph, we were looking forward to this afternoon as we were scheduled for the famous “Uralsk Excursion” with Olga and Igor.

The excursion was quite nice and included many war memorials (May 9th is Victory Day and is a holiday here) two churches and a cemetery. The first church was a great surprise as we got an impromptu tour by one of the priests – he was very nice and quite proud of his church. He told us about a famous saint (can not remember his name) who was portrayed in a hanging along with a relic (a rock). Although his story was long and involved we felt our interpreter gave us the Reader’s Digest version which we still could not follow (or she had difficulty interpreting). They offered and then removed the glass in front of the icon just so I could touch my own medals (crucifix, St. Joseph and St. Francis) to it. It was very generous and moving to see his devotion. The priest told us to remember the church and the saint as he helps all those in need that pray to him. The colorful flowers you see in the photo are actually cemetery flower arrangements which were being sold across the road. All in all it was a great time and the only thing we forgot was to go for ice cream which I promised everyone – something to look forward to doing tomorrow. See you all of you tomorrow where you will find out if I chose eggs or omelet…perhaps neither….hmmm…

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Sunday April 23 - Happy Easter! – Russian Orthodox Style!

Easter in Uralsk was great!

Today was an all around great day – a great day with Joseph and it was Easter here in Uralsk. This morning somewhere around 4 am we heard the local church bells ringing out loud announcing Christ’s rising (although we were not yet ready to do the same!). The churches in our area look just like those around our house in Chicago and we can not wait to show the people here our churches as I think they will be impressed and surprised. We had breakfast with Henry and Anne and the hotel restaurant had some Easter decorations including traditional eggs and bread (which is similar to pannetone). It was nice to start the day with this special holiday.

At 9:50am, as usual, Igor picked us up and after wishing him a Happy Easter (Paska) he produced a beautiful blue Easter egg from his glove compartment with the Madonna and Child on it (see photo) – it was just wonderful and then gave it to me! It was VERY kind of him. We had a good visit with Joseph although he was a still a bit tense and still dealing with his cold. Aleea, one of the interpreters, asked the care givers if there was something we could give him but they said they no as they were giving him medicine. Laura had brought him a very colorful outfit perfect for our Easter visit! We took it a bit easy with him and had a more relaxed morning visit but it was great nonetheless. It was clear he was still congested, a bit warm and just not feeling at the top of his game.

After our morning visit, we went with Igor and Olga (translator) to meet with the other Olga (II) in order to see an available apartment. It was very nice and spacious but we decided to stay at the hotel at least for a week to get our bearings as this apartment was a bit off the beaten path. Olga (II) then gave us an Easter egg and some Easter bread (kliche) which was very kind of her. We then dropped off Olga (II) and asked Olga (I) if we could swing past a bakery as we wanted to bring Easter Bread to the caregivers at the baby house. We had to try two different places as people had bought so much of it the previous day in preparation for today. We then had enough time to go back to the hotel for a great, yes great primavera pizza at the hotel – it was excellent. During lunch we prepared our list of questions for the caregivers – surprising for us that it was only a list of 23 questions!

Following lunch we packed up the baby CD player, CD’s and the toys and blanket and headed back to see Joseph. He was already out waiting for us with Olga and he looked so much better! You could just tell he was feeling better and then did he prove it to us. His hands were not tense; he was smiling and then even laughing with us. We are pretty sure he is starting to remember these strange new faces. We set up the blanket, toys and started the music and away he went. He was grabbing for toys, for our glasses and noses and then with the music playing Laura got him laughing a bit as well. He was on his belly and on his back and seemed to like his back the best. His little arms and legs were bouncing around to the music and we couldn’t have had bigger smiles on our face! What a blast! As usual it ended way too soon especially after this breakthrough visit of ours! We can not wait until tomorrow! Oh yes, the caregivers were VERY happy and surprised with our gifts of Easter Bread. It is clear you do not need an interpreter to understand acts of kindness and respect. Until tomorrow….Happy Paska!!

April 22 - Introducing….. Mr. Joseph Maxim Roman!

Today was finally our day to visit with Joseph – no interviews etc. Just holding, playing and cuddling. We arrived at the baby house around 9:30am, the director came into the room, Laura handed her a diaper and a cute outfit. A few minutes later the little man appeared all dolled up and was handed to Laura…his Mom! Although he did not cry, he did seem a bit tense with his little hands clenched and his feet curled, but that did not last too long. He loosened up and seemed to feel a bit more at ease with these strange new faces with big smiles. He has at least two bottom teeth coming in and so he was all over the teething ring/toy. He has a bit of a cold and was a bit drooley but still incredibly cute. We were able to stay with him for an hour and then we was off to eat. It seemed so short but we were then scheduled to come back in the afternoon.

When we came back in the afternoon we were going to head outside with him but then because of his cold we stay indoors in the music room. We brought with us our kiddie CD player and a children’s Ukranian music CD as we thought the sounds would be somewhat familiar to him. We had another good visit with him and he took again to the teething ring and the crunchy baby book we brought for him. Once again the visit seemed to come to an end too quickly for us but are already geared up for tomorrow. We hope his cold will get better so that we can play a bit more but holding, hugging and kissing him were fantastic activities for us.

This evening we went to Camelot right here in Uralsk. Camelot is a restaurant and just as you would think with such a name. We went with two other couples who are here adopting children although about 10 days ahead of us. The menu was in English with “clever” names such as Laura’s “Gentle Kiss” or my “Apple Lamb” – both were delicious for sure. This was our first venturing out of the hotel for food and we were given a bunch of hints and suggestions from the other couples. Tomorrow is Russian Orthodox Easter so we hope to see some of the festivities in town. We are also looking forward to the May 9^th Victory Day celebrations here as they are supposed to include a parade etc. More to follow as that time gets near. That is about it for today, a good day – visits with Joseph, good weather in Uralsk, CNN on the TV and a jar of peanut butter by our side.

Welcome to Uralsk - Friday April 21

We made it to Uralsk! After being picked up at 4:45am by Kirill and getting through security at the Almaty airport (including the guy falling asleep as he was scanning our luggage) we had an uneventful flight to Uralsk. At the Uralsk airport all of our luggage arrived and we were able to meet two couples leaving Uralsk with their children – 2 each! They reconfirmed that we were going to have a great time and that we were in good hands. We also met for the first time our translator Aleea, driver Igor and Olga our coordinator. It was a beautiful day outside, about 60F and sunny, and we drove to the Chagala Hotel and checked in. The hotel is nice but very simple. Olga and Allea spoke to us about the legal procedure we would go through today and we then set out for the Ministry of Education. We met with the committee (one man and three women) and they asked us about ourselves, our work, our family and questions about adoption. Although Brian started out, they quickly switched their questions to Laura which she handled expertly! In fact during one of her answers, Laura’s response brought a tear to one of the committee member’s eyes. Two things seemed to get their attention: our long friendship prior to being married (discussed in Russian several times throughout the day) and the American/Kazakhstan pins which Amy procured for us and the family-they were a big hit (THANKS AMY). After this we went back to the hotel for a quick bite and some rest.

Igor picked us up around 3pm and took us and Aleea to meet Olga at both baby houses (#1 & #2) so we could see and meet several children. Both houses were very nicely decorated with nice murals and photos of the children doing various activities. Finally we met little Maxim at 7 months (yesterday) who will soon be our little Joseph! Although brief, we had a chance to each hold him and have him look at us and give us a couple of big smiles – what a handsome boy (my hairline and laura’s cheeks)! We will go back tomorrow morning at 9:30am (oh, by the way Uralsk is 10 hours ahead of Chicago not 9) to meet with the doctors to hear about his history etc. We will hopefully be able to share some photos with you soon. After our visit we went back to the hotel and crashed around 6pm…one of the busiest 14 hours of our lives! We had a nice call from Brian’s folks and Rob on our cell phone (Aleea said she loves when her couples have cell phones). We had pizza for dinner and finally were able to unpack as we will be in this room at least for awhile. That is about it for now and we are getting ready for bed. We would love to hear from you – you can leave a comment after each blog entry (see the icon). Stay tuned for more Joseph updates....

Arrival in Almaty - Thursday April 20th

We arrived into Almaty pretty much on time and made it through immigration without a problem although we were a bit nervous. As for our bags, only one was “misplaced” and it contained the generous donations to the baby house from our family and friends. Luckily it was still in Frankfurt and is to arrive on the same flight tonight. We (Laura, Joseph and I) will bring them to a baby house here in Almaty when we return in a few weeks. Today we met with our adoption coordinators to review the procedures and documents and once again everything went great. Our driver, Kirill, is very nice and took us shopping for a phone card, currency exchange (125 Tenge per U.S. dollar) and groceries at the ever famous Ramstor. We took him to lunch for….pizza in the food court – not too bad either. We also received our cell phone for in country use and then proceeded back to the apartment to rest and regroup. You can see from the photo our bedroom which has a crib just waiting for another baby. The apartment is very nice and clean! We decided to eat at home tonight so we could enjoy our purchases of Barilla pasta and sauce – we are easing into things…well we did buy Russian chocolate and bread. Tomorrow (Friday) Kirill is picking us up at 4:45am (that is 5:45pm Thursday in Chicago) for our flight to Uralsk. It sounds like tomorrow we will meet Joseph!!!! We will then be only 9 hours ahead of Chicago – Kazakhstan is big! We are being booked in at the Chagala Hotel in Uralsk – we think they have a website. So we expect tomorrow to be very very exciting so stay tuned!

Departure Day April 19th

Well we are on our way! We are writing this from the United Red Carpet Club in Frankfurt Germany. No problems on the way over. Our travel agent got us the best seats in Economy Plus - HUGE leg room. Yesterday was a bit stressful with all of the final preparations, the five bags of checked luggage, the house preparations and of course saying good-bye to Bacio, Luigi and Lucy - as well as our family. Laura of course was the organizing master with all our paperwork, gifts, donations etc. We had to pay for our overweight bags but really not a big deal. I am worried that we may have to drag them up several flights of stairs when we arrive at the hotel or apt (not known) in Almaty at midnight Thursday local time. We are just taking it one step at a time and going with the flow.

Easter Sunday: The day draws nearer.....

Today is Easter Sunday and we are 2.5 days from leaving for Kazakhstan to meet Joseph. Yesteray our family gave us a baby shower - a tremendous and generous baby shower! We had many of our friends and family there at the Bloomfield Club House and organized by Laura's sisters Karen and Amy with some wonderful help of our mothers and Brian's brother Robert and Karen's husband Chris. The whole room was decoraded in Kaz colors and flags as well as the chosen theme for Joseph's room - PUPPIES. One of Chris' pastry chef students created a tremendous cake for us (photo's to follow) - it was just unbelieveable. The floral centerpieces were gorgeous and were created by Holly in Kaz colors as well and on the table were "Joseph" monogramed pencils just to add to the whole theme! To mention all of the wonderful gifts would take a LONG time but they were all so generous and touched both of us. Not only did Joseph receive gifts but we collected many donations for the baby house which will make their way into our suitcases too. It was so very clear how much our whole family is looking forward to meeting our little boy.

Brian and Dad at Margie's Swedish Christmas Smorgasboard