Almaty

Wow, so I love Almaty. When we first got here, I wasn't too impressed; and then we got to Pavlodar and our translator said, "Isn't Almaty a wonderful place?" And I thought No not really--although I didn't say it out loud. But after 8 weeks in Pavlodar, Almaty is heaven. I'm sitting in a Gloria Jean's coffee shop in a mall using wireless internet and drinking an iced mocha. All unheard-of luxuries in Pavlodar. So we feel we have made it back to civilization. We've all had a stomach virus, though, so we haven't been able to enjoy it too much. But we're getting better and we're only a few days from going home. We're starting to have more of a family dynamic going. It's getting more hectic and more fun. Anyway, we'll see you all soon. Our next post may be from Frankfurt. Love you all! Angie

Tickets Home

We have actually got tickets all the way home! We are leaving from Pavlodar in 2 days and will be in Almaty for 5 days. We'll fly on the 26th at 3 am from Almaty to Frankfurt to Houston to Dallas to Shreveport, and get into Shreveport at 8:30 pm, still on the 26th. Talk about a long day!
things are going well here and we're starting to learn each other some. It definitely gets more normal every day. I think about a week ago, when we had only had Angelica for a few hours, and we've come a long way already! Can't wait to get home and see everyone and eat some Buffalo Wild Wings (first stop in Shreveport!) We love you all and will have some great stories to tell of our time here-but right now we need to go eat some lunch!

Big Family

Well, as expected, the pace of life has gone way up. It has been hard and fun in rapid succession. One big challenge is that I have a 6 year old who thinks she's Angelica's mommy and a 5 year old and a 2 year old who both think they're the boss. So 2 parents trying to parent 1 mommy and 2 bosses... You can see that conflict is inevitable. :) But 48 hours in, I feel pretty encouraged (that could be because we finally slept past 6:30 this morning!) We are having fun, though. Dinner last night felt pretty normal--it was weird that it felt normal too, if that makes sense. I think it's because it was the first meal that both girls didn't scarf their food down in 4 minutes or less. They just ate like regular kids. I am so happy when I look into their eyes and they just smile at me. I'm also a little scared and overwhelmed, but I think that's natural and inevitable. We're like a blended family now. I didn't realize how strong the bond between the girls would be, so I didn't think of it quite like that before, but now I am realizing that we are actually combining 2 families into 1. So we're all learning. And it's a great adventure...

pictures

I know I promised pictures last night, but I was too tired. Then of course I got in bed and laid awake until 2:30. So here are a few, but most of them are on Greg's computer, which won't get onto the internet. I'm also adding our first family picture from picking up Angelica this morning. I'm sure I'll post more later. Love you all and can't wait to be home!!!! Angie

Goodbye and Birthday Parties

So yesterday we got to pick up Julia and she's here now. Actually here, I mean, sitting on my lap while I am typing. Which obviously makes me lots slower. But, hey, I'm not complaining. Not about that, anyway. I am complaining that the judge forgot to sign our final judgment before she left yesterday and obviously had the day off today and so we not only couldn't pick up Angelica today, but we will be delayed 2 days now because of it. So we had tentative tickets out on the 24th and now we will have to go back to the 26th. Grrrrrrrrr. Anyway, we had a good party at the orphanage and we had a great birthday party here with all of our English speaking friends. We left for Kachiry at 8am. For anyone who has read about steppe and wondered what that is, I took my last chance of photographing it and so I will post steppe pictures. It's the pictures of nothing. That's the steppe. I always wondered what steppe was until I got here, ever since I read a book set in Tsarist Russia. Then we got to the orphanage and they gave Julia a dress for a birthday present, which is just as pink in real life as in the pictures. Some of her friends got up and sang and some of them recited poems. Then she got up and recited a poem about being a big girl. But the whole time every time she looked at me she would ask, "Doma?" which is "Home?" She didn't want to hug anyone or tell them bye or anything. Some of the girls in her group were crying. One, named Galia, was so sad, I wanted to take her too. She is a cutie. Anyone want a 6 year old? Because then they could hang out together in America. Anyway...
Julia started crying about halfway back to Pavlodar. She's an emotional avoider. She doesn't like to say goodbye or anything that is sad--she just ignores. A survival strategy I'm sure she's needed. Not to mention this is a very "keep it all in" kind of culture. But she cried for a couple of minutes and then stopped and we went to Doner for lunch and had fun. Then we had a nap and then we went shopping for stuff for her birthday party. We had a riotous birthday party here--I was scared someone was going to call the cops b/c the kids were so loud. All boys and her. But she had fun playing hard with the boys. No girly-girl last night, just crazy loud running around with the boys. Anyway, I am gonna go. This post has taken me about 45 minutes, during which time, I have had 2 different kids on my lap, a brother/sister plot to clean out the tub with the mop and a pringles can, and a pinecone flushed down my toilet. Now this is LIFE! I'll upload pictures tonight. Love you all! Angie

Almost There!

So I had a comment asking if the lack of posting was because I had my hands full now. I'm sure that will be the case in a few days--we get to get Julia on Wednesday and Angelica either Thursday or Friday--but for now, we really haven't had much to say. We've not even been able to go to the orphanages for the last few days, so we've just been pottering around town. Yesterday was Nazarbayev's birthday (he's the president of Kaz) and today is Capital Day, which is the 10th anniversary of when Kaz changed it's capital back to Astana. The celebrations downtown were nothing like as big as for the Holiday of the Protection of Children! We didn't even find any huge cotton candy. :( Nicholas did get to ride a donkey, though, and he thought that was cool. I have also included a picture of a marajuana plant, which are everywhere in the city here. We think that is pretty interesting.

A cool fact--we get to pick up Julia on her birthday. Isn't that kind of fun? I'm feeling so much more laid back now than I was a week ago. I think it's because I know I'll have my girls here in just a few days and we'll be able to start learning how to live like a family. I have been feeling like the usefulness of the orphanage visits is past and we're just wasting our time and money here now, but once we get to have them, that won't be true anymore. So I'm feeling lots better about life now that I'm just 2 days from having Julia and 3-4 days from having Angelica. We did get to visit Julia on Friday and we had a great visit and I was happy to see that she didn't act like she was in the orphanage again, which is something I was afraid of. Anyway, I'm sure we'll put up some pictures of Julia's birthday/goodbye party Wednesday night. Until then, we love you all and can't wait to see you all again! Angie

Boredom has set in!

We are bored. We had such a great time with Julia that now everything is kind of boring. But we're on the final countdown to getting them. On Wednesday we will get to pick up Julia. And on Thursday or Friday we'll get Angelica and then we are just waiting for paperwork to come home! Not much to say, though...

Found a great restaurant. With fajitas! Yum Yum!

It was 102 degrees in Pavlodar yesterday! Hooray for a/c in our apartment!

That's about it. Love you all! Angie

Still here...

Hey everyone, it's been a while since our last post. Our internet in our apartment went out, and since we are now spoiled to not having to go to the internet cafe we just waited it out for the most part. It was easier to do without internet for a few days because Julia got to come and spend the weekend with us from Thursday until Monday. We had a blast. There are so many things she's never seen/done. We went to the kid's castle and let her play there and went shopping and baked a cake. she'd never seen anyone cook, or a washing machine; because those things are done in other parts of the orphanage. Her face when she watched the clothes going around in the front-load washer was priceless!!! We also took her to church at the English speaking house church. Obviously she didn't understand any of that! It was a really good 4 days. It was funny--she was like a different child by the last night. I was really sad that we had to take her back, because we were making big steps, both in English and in bonding; but I didn't have much choice and I was reassured by how well she and Nicholas played together and how well we communicated. Also, how quickly she seemed to get comfortable with us. We took her to the babyhouse and had a little reunion with her and Nadia Angelica and I think Julia was upset that she didn't remember her. I keep having to remind myself that these kids are tough--if they weren't, they would not have made it this long in orphanage conditions. But I don't know how long they'll stay tough! The last night Julia stayed with us, she had a bug bite that she had scratched the scab off of. We had been putting medicine and band aids on it for the last few days, but her band aid had come off. Nicholas cut his knee and I made a bit of a fuss over him, getting him a band aid and kissing it etc. All of a sudden she makes this sad face and fake sob/whine sort of noise and shows me her bug bite. Obviously needed some TLC also! So we had to have kisses and band aids for both of them! Not that I mind! As Greg says, if all they need is a little bit of extra fussing over and loving on they made it into the right family with me around! Probably why Nicholas is still a bit whiny for being 5. Oh well, there are worse things! Anyway, all is still looking good and I'm glad to know that we are on the homeward stretch! An update on the family we asked you guys to pray for--they are now through with court and also waiting to be able to take their daughter home. One of the other families is also through, and the last has court on Wednesday. I'm attaching pictures from the museum here in Pavlodar, where they have the bones of a wooly mammoth that they have excavated near here. I also put a couple of me and Nicholas from the river cruise. It looks funner than it was! Also, the first picture I have of all 3 of my kids together. Unfortunately, Greg took the picture, so we don't have a whole family picture yet. Then I'm attaching some from the last night Julia stayed with us. It's pretty easy to see the difference in her face from the earlier orphanage posts and those from that night (and yes she is wearing purple eyeshadow--I've wanted a girly-girl for so long!).
Love you all! Angie