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....