Hey everyone! This email has been written over several different days, so please forgive the rambling…
Hello from Kazakhstan! The T’s have arrived safe and sound. Our flights were smooth and uneventful, but it was a long trip and we were very happy to arrive Friday night. After we deplaned in Almaty we were met by a portion of our adoption team at the baggage claim area. Our group has 5 couples, three American couples and two couples from Ireland. The couples from Ireland had some trouble with their flights into Almaty and we have not met them yet. They loaded our group into two vans and off to the hotel we went. The other American couples are Lorraine and Alan from San Francisco and John and Curtis from Boston. We stayed at the Ai Ser Hotel in downtown Almaty Friday night and we are leaving for Ust-Kamenogorsk at 4:30 Saturday afternoon. We will be very glad when we are able to unpack and settle in to our temporary home in Ust.
Our morning here in Almaty has been very good. We ate breakfast with Lorraine and Alan and then we went on a little shopping adventure at the local "mall". It was more like an indoor flea market than a mall, to be honest. When we plugged in our converter this morning, both fuses blew and it was all over. We feared that we had hauled the laptop all the way here and now we would not be able to use it! However, Alan told us about a potential work around. All four of us piled into a cab and off to the mall we went. We were able to buy exactly what we needed to make the laptop work, and all is right with the world again.
We arrived Ust last night at about 6:30 and we are happy to report that at no time were we served Tongue for our in flight meals! However, at dinner this evening it was a very big item on the menu (tongue salad anyone?) but we all declined.
We checked into our hotel here in Ust, the Irtysh. We are right in the middle of town, which is nice. We can walk to dinner and the grocery store etc. When we arrived at the hotel, our coordinator told us that we would be allowed to go to the Orphanage on Sunday, instead of on Monday as we thought.
Our entire group (everyone is here now, some without luggage) went upstairs to "sleep". When we assembled in the lobby Sunday morning, we all admitted to getting very little sleep. How does one sleep when your child is only minutes away and you are about to meet them for the first time? You just don’t, that’s all.
Sunday morning also brought another surprise. The entire city of Ust had shut off their water supply in order to do maintenance on the lines. We would not have water again until 6 PM July 4. We all made the best of it though and eagerly looked forward to getting a long shower on Monday evening. As it turned out, the hot water did not return until Tuesday morning, so it was a very COLD shower on Monday night...but at that point water was water.
We piled into the van at 10 Sunday morning and sat in silence for the entire 15 minute ride to the Orphanage. We were all a bundle of nerves as we sat in the "waiting room" of the orphanage. Then Elena, our coordinator walked in at 10:30 holding two beautiful little boys. We looked at the one on the left and KNEW that she was holding our son. His eyes and cheeks look just like they do in the video we have of him from when he was two months old. She looked at Charlotte and said "Svirid" and she walked over and Elena placed him in her arms as tears of pure joy rolled down her face. She turned around and brought him over to meet his Daddy, who was also crying. As we held our son for the first time we said a prayer of thanks, as it was very obvious that the Lord had heard and answered every prayer that we had said for this little boy. As others met their little ones we were completely oblivious, so we have no idea how others reacted to meeting their children, but we assume that it was similar to ours. Pure joy…there are no other words to describe it.
We went upstairs to his group’s room, since the orphanage director was not there, we were not able to go to the "play room" where we likely have the rest of our visits. However, what a blessing this was! We got to feed Ivan at lunch time, meet his little buddies from his group and meet his caregivers (who are so wonderful, there is no way to tell you the love that they have for these kids, but it is SO obvious despite the language barrier).
Then we left so that the children could nap and we grabbed some lunch at a local pizza place. The van ride to the restaurant was filled with tons of laughter and joy. We were a different group now…we had met our children!! Everyone was gushing about their child and everyone else’s as well. It was fantastic.
Then we came back to the hotel for a few minutes and then back to the orphanage for another visitation. This time we just went straight upstairs and the children were brought in. The other two couples in our room (also adopting 15 month old boys) were told that they could go outside if they wanted, but we were asked to stay indoors as Ivan has a slight fever and a runny nose. So we stayed inside and had some time alone with Ivan. It was wonderful. It was obvious (even to new parents) that he was not feeling up to snuff, so we just cuddled and he fell asleep in Joe’s arms. After his little naptime, we were asked to come to the main room so that he could have his afternoon snack. Everyone else was just about finished when we arrived, so they handed Ivan his sugar wafer and he started to gnaw on it a little. His friend Ben (Lorraine and Alan’s little boy) reached over and tried to take it out of Ivan’s hand, but Ivan had a good grip on it. Lorraine and Alan sprang into action and told Ben "Nyet, Nyet". Crisis averted. As all of the others were taken off for a bath, Ivan continued to nibble on his wafer. He was quite content to sit there and soften it up a bit before finally polishing it off. Then it was washed down with a cup of milk. After that we said good-bye until tomorrow and he was off to get his bath.
We left and went to the grocery store and stocked up on some quick items for the room. Then we all went to dinner at "The Pancake House". It is a restaurant that serves mainly crepes filled with sweet and savory concoctions. It was great. We all sat around and chatted for a couple of hours and then made our way back to the hotel for an evening of much needed rest. I think that all ten of us will sleep better tonight than we have in months.
Thank you all for the love and prayers. We must tell you that EVERY prayer has been answered, from prayers about travel to prayers about meeting Ivan. Every one has been heard and fully answered. God has truly been with this family on this journey. We have some hurdles to overcome (court, living in a hotel with a new baby when the time comes, return travel etc.) but we know that the Lord will see us through it and give us exactly what we need. So, please keep those prayers coming, and know that we are feeling them more and more every day.
The "business center" where we are sending this from, is only open Monday through Friday, so we will try to email again, mid week.
TTFN,
Joe and Charlotte
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment