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