Hello once again from Ust!
Can you believe it? We have been in Kazakhstan for two weeks! Hopefully just two more weeks (or so) until we get back to the good old USA!
Each day that we spend with Ivan we get a clearer picture of the child that the Lord has blessed us with and we LOVE what we are seeing!
Wednesday we began our time with Ivan in the "ball pit". It is one of those soft-sided play areas that is filled with little plastic balls. He loved sitting and standing in it and handing us ball after ball. Sometimes he would attempt to mimic Daddy by throwing them, but he hasn’t quite got that down yet, so most of his fell back into the pit. After an hour or so of playing and walking our translator came into the playroom. It was finally our turn to meet with the orphanage director about Ivan. We asked our translator what we should do with Ivan while we met with Dr. Natalia. She said that we could take him with us to the meeting, take him back to his room, or leave him in the playroom with the other couples. The three other couples that were in the playroom with us quickly volunteered to watch him while we went downstairs. Charlotte gave him to Lorraine and Ivan immediately began to fuss. She took him over to the window to look at the world and to distract him while we slipped out.
We were the last couple in our group to meet her, so we knew what to expect. Before the other couples went we had hopes of getting some more information on Ivan’s birthparents. However, after hearing what the other couples were told, we knew that we would not get very much if anything beyond what we already knew. As expected, the director did not have much that was new to share with us about the birthparents. One thing that we did get is a black and white photo of Ivan the day he entered the orphanage. The picture is precious and we will always cherish having a photo of him at such a young age. Most everything else that Dr. Natalia told us we already knew from spending the past week and half with him. However, we appreciated her time and willingness to answer as many questions as she could about Ivan’s biological parents and his life up until this point.
Then we went back to the playroom. Ivan was not there, as it was time for lunch. So we walked over to his room, and we found him happily eating some soup. As soon as we walked through the door the other couples told us that Ivan had fussed and looked for us the whole time that we were gone, until he was brought back to his room for lunch. This was some of the most glorious news we had ever heard. Lorraine said that he just would not be consoled and continually looked at the playroom door, waiting for us to return. He is really starting to recognize us as "his people"! We know that he is in a tough place right now, straddling the line between his caregivers, and us but we are so thrilled that he looks to us for comfort. This is one of the reasons that the two-week bonding period is such a blessing. It allows the child and the parents to begin forming a bond.
We returned for our afternoon visit and played and walked as usual. Then we went outside for a long stroll using the Baby Bjorn. All three of us were as content as can be and only came in because the temperature was really getting to us. When Ivan is tired or insecure he likes to cling to his Mommy. A lady that is using another agency came into our playroom today for a visit. She just adored Ivan and kept talking to him. He stayed firmly in Mom’s lap while she was there.
The group decided to go out to another local pizza place last night. We declined and decided that a night in was in order. We ate downstairs again (this time we were in and out in an hour). We took the laptop and worked on our court statements that we will have to read to the judge. All in all a quiet but delightful evening alone…one of our last for quite a while!
Thursday we had another great couple of visits with Ivan. In the afternoon he was in a particularly good mood. Ivan and Mom were playing a type of peekaboo and every time Ivan would spot Mom, he would just bust out laughing! He was as happy as a clam all afternoon. Dad and Ivan enjoy more "rough play" like playing Super Ivan, where Dad lifts him up over his head and Ivan flies like an airplane. They also enjoy wrestling with each other on the floor. It’s a real hoot to watch 6’3 Joe with 2’3 Ivan on the floor!
Thursday afternoon went much like Wednesday afternoon. Another walk around outside until the wind and the temperature got to us. Inside, more playing and laughing.
Thursday was Alan’s 45 birthday so we decided that we wanted to make a night of it here in Ust. We went to a local Georgian restaurant that we had all heard about. We arrived at about 7:15. We quickly ordered some Georgian wine and settled in for the evening. As we were all chatting away a table of 12 walked in. They were obviously locals also celebrating a birthday. They immediately ordered a couple of bottles of vodka and cognac for their table. They had pre-ordered from the banquet menu and had food fairly quickly. They were quite a rowdy group, and they kept the pace rockin’ most of the evening. There was live entertainment for our listening pleasure. They played plenty of Kazak pop music as well as some American tunes. As we waited for our meals to arrive, the other group started dancing and doing Kareeokee. Most everyone from our table decided to get up and boogie as well. We quickly learned that it is a Kazak tradition for the birthday celebrant to get in the middle of the group and dance. So, Alan being the good sport that he is, got in the middle and danced for us all. With all of the excitement in the air, our table decided that it was time for us to order a bottle of vodka. So we did. It was served to us in lovely cordial glasses. Joe and some folks ordered some OJ to go with it, but Charlotte enjoyed hers straight up. As the band took a well-deserved break, our food arrived. Everything was just delicious! We both ordered the chicken soup. Charlotte ordered a steak shishkobob with onions and potatoes. It was served in a mini cast iron skillet and was still sizzling as they set it down. Joe ordered rabbit in a sour cream and onion sauce. He enjoyed it, but there were a lot of bones in it. Thanks to Curtis’ quick thinking and elementary Russian, we each received a little birthday dessert of peach ice cream with chocolate sauce and whipped cream. We sang Happy Birthday to Alan and the gentleman from the other table. As we were leaving the other table returned the favor and sang Happy Birthday to Alan. All in all it was a wonderful, unforgettable evening.
Friday morning we were taken to the Ust Maternity Hospital were most of our children were born. We all snapped a few photos from outside so that we could show our little one’s were they were born. Then it was off to the orphanage for our morning visit. Things are pretty much the same whenever we visit now. Lots of playing and walking and just enjoying being together as a family. Ivan continues to cling to us on arrival and when he is uncertain about someone or something. We love every minute of our visits, but we are ready to have him with us now.
Friday afternoon after our visit we all decided that we wanted to stay in town and do some shopping. So we were dropped off at the local "mall" and requested to be picked-up at the Supermarket a few hours later. Joe bought a nice new watch (his battery died and we were unable to figure out how to get just a new battery). We just looked around at all of the different vendors and strolled over to the Pizza place that we were meeting at for dinner. After dinner we went over to the Supermarket and restocked the fridge for a few days. If all goes as planned, we won’t need to stop there again so we all went ahead and bought more diapers and wipes in anticipation of Wednesday’s big trip to Almaty with the children!
Monday is court, so we are all getting a little nervous as that is the big moment that we have all been waiting for. Tuesday we should learn if the 15 day waiting period has been waived. We have learned that our agency seems to be the only one that gets the appeal period waived on a regular basis…so please keep those prayers coming! It is really too wonderful for words the peace and love that the Lord has blessed us with throughout this enter trip. Your love and prayers are crossing the miles, and we appreciate them all so much. We also love hearing from you all. Due to our Internet situation, we are not really able to respond to everyone, but please know it lights us up when we open our inbox and see mail from home!
Well, that about wraps it up for now. We will let you know about court as soon as we can on Monday. We send our love to everyone back home, and we can’t wait to see you all and introduce you to our new little man.
TTFN,
Charlotte and Joe
PS. We are 10 hours ahead of Home and we are anticipating having court sometime Monday morning between 9 and 10 AM local time.
PPS. Here are some quick observations about Ivan’s hometown…
The city of Ust-Kamenogorsk looks a lot like you would expect a town of the former Soviet Union to look. Most buildings are plain and boxy. The few exceptions are some of the pre-revolution buildings that were not destroyed…they are beautiful. Most everyone in town lives in an apartment and almost all of the buildings look exactly the same from the outside. While the buildings are really nothing too remarkable, the landscape surrounding the city is fantastic. No matter where you look you see beautiful mountains and rolling hills. Since we are here during the height of their growing season everything is green and lush. If we had come in the winter months we would have seen nothing but snow and temperatures that are normally 40 below zero and that does not include the wind-chill! There is also an interesting mix of cars here. A car is either a "Soviet Era" car (think Yugo) or a modern Japanese car Toyota, Mazda and Subaru are huge here. We have only seen one Ford the whole time that we have been here and that was in Almaty. The city and the country are changing very quickly. Kazakhstan’s economy is growing at something like 15% a year and it shows. There is construction everywhere here in Ust. There are gas stations under construction on just about every corner!
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