What! I'm posting on my blog?

Well, I don't know if anyone will ever look at our blog again, after my not posting for 2 months, but I just wanted to reassure anyone that does read this that things are going well. The girls are learning English, everyone feels like real family now. We are all attaching nicely to each other and loving each other more and more. The girls have gotten clean bills of health and Angelica had eye surgery, with the result that she can now see in 3-D and her eyes aren't crossed any more. I'm putting a few pictures on here from when the kids were all playing dress up the other day. Two princesses and an army guy! Lots of fun here! Angie

We're Still Alive

So everyone has probably given up on checking to see if I put anything new, but I'm going to post this anyway. :) We are home. Just over a week now. I've never been so happy to be home in all my life. Everyone is settling in nicely. We have scuffles between the kids of course, but nothing major and we're getting things worked out quicker lately. The girls are working on their English. Julia will start school in a little over a week, and we think that will help her considerably. Everyone seems to be on task for attachment and stuff like that. They are doing great and we'll probably update the blog now about once a week or so. Not more than that though, sitting at the computer is not top on the priority list right now. :) If you want to, you can call me. I'd way rather talk than type! Good times! Angie

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