Greetings from Kazakhstan July 7, 2005

Hello Family and Friends!

The Lord continues to richly bless our little family here in Ust. We have now completed 5 days of the required 14 days of visitation with Ivan. Every visit brings us new joy and wonder. Ivan continues to take more and more of an interest in our faces, which is just wonderful. We both love it when he plays with our glasses. He really enjoys it when we kiss his hands and fingers and pretend to gobble them whole. He likes to do the same to us as well.

We have been slowly introducing new toys as well and so far the biggest hit is one sent by his Nana. It is a soft sorter called the "Puppy House". It has three puppies, a red, a blue and a yellow one. Plus the "house" has several different size holes to put the puppies in and take them out of again. Ivan started with this one on Monday. At first he did not even want the toy to touch him. Then he warmed up to that and started to put the puppies into the house, but would not take them out. By Tuesday morning he was very busy pulling the puppies in and out of the front door (the largest opening) and moving towards the smaller holes on the sides and the back. By this afternoon (Thursday) he was happiest sucking on the yellow puppies feet and pulling on the blue puppies tail with his teeth. We thought that we had won the lottery when he stuck the blue puppies tail in each of our mouths for a tug! We also have a child friendly picture book with pictures of Sherman, Nana, Papa Wayne, Grandma, Papa, Aunt Catherine, Uncle Mike and Wilson. So far, the most popular face to look at and touch is Sherman! Ivan will reach out and pet his snout and rub his belly. Sherman already has him trained and they have not even met yet!!

It is REALLY hot here now, and the orphanage has no A/C of course. Ivan is often drenched with sweat when we arrive (as are we after riding in the non-a/c van for 15 minutes). The good news is that at his age they are less apt to bundle them up in spite of the heat. When we arrive, he is often in just a tee shirt and undies. Sometimes in the afternoon, they hand him to us in nothing but undies! Wednesday we were allowed to have a fan in the room where we visit and that gave Ivan (and us) a new lease on life. We had the best visit so far Wednesday afternoon. We feel certain that it was because we were all a little cooler and less lethargic.

Ivan has started to make some babbling noises and stood for us a little bit on Thursday. He even took a few tentative steps while we held his hands. We aren’t pushing anything, as we have plenty of time for him to be "on the move".

Our group continues to be doing well together. Our dinner Tuesday at the Black Bull Pub was really wonderful. They serve a lot of grilled meats there. Our group sat on the patio were the fire was and it was a most pleasant evening. We stopped by the Baskin Robbins for dessert and all came back to the hotel feeling quite happy with life.

Wednesday night we decided to try the restaurant here at the hotel. We had all heard good things about it and we were all exhausted from the 100+ degree heat. We met outside at 7:30 for some beer and wine. Then headed inside about 8:15 for dinner. We wanted to eat outside since it had cooled off so nicely but we were told that they are awaiting insurance and cannot serve outside until they receive the insurance. We all laughed and came inside. We were the only customers in the place. The menu was over 10 pages long and VERY detailed. We all ordered and began the wait. The last entrée arrived around 9:45 or so. Alan was brave and ordered off of the menu. He requested a traditional Kazak dish, and the chef was thrilled to prepare something for him. He received a bowl of large egg noodles, with vegetables in a thin broth and horse. Yes, Charlotte sat next to a man who was knowingly eating horse. He offered us all a taste, but we all passed. Joe had a fried chicken dish and Charlotte had grilled shrimp with olive oil and green olives. Both were quite tasty.

Tonight (Thursday) the group ventured out to a local pizza place. We had a wonderful time, but ordering and paying were a little complicated. There were no English menus and no one spoke English, broken or otherwise. Thankfully, Curtis speaks some Russian and she helped us all to stumble through.

Friday morning we had a fantastic visit. It was the warmest morning thus far and the most humid (not compared to home, but for Ust it was humid). The orphanage Babushka brought in some toys from Ivan’s regular playroom. He loved playing with them and us! It was wonderful. Since the toys were familiar, he was into them from the get go. One of them was like the Little People Village that he has waiting at home for him, from Mike and Barbara! After some playtime Ivan decided it was time that we saw him crawl and pull up for the first time. What a moment that was for both of us. We now know with certainty that our house will never again be the same. We are thrilled! (Note to Sherman…get ready!)

As you can see our time with Ivan continues to improve and fill us with joy and anticipation about this new chapter in our lives. The trip here continues to be an adventure and an exercise in patience. We were informed yesterday that we would need to change rooms after the 10th of July. When we pushed for more information, we discovered that the "suites" that we are currently occupying have been booked after the 10th. These are the only rooms in the hotel with A/C, which has proven to be a must for sleep and rest. The hotel offered us 3 single rooms (code for two cots and four walls). Our group agreed that we need A/C and we need our own rooms. No one wants to bunk with another couple. Your room is the only place that you have to just be alone with your spouse, which at times is really necessary just to process all that is happening. So, we are heading to another hotel on the 11th. The only real downers about that hotel (that we know of) are that it is out of town, so there will be no walking anywhere and that it is twice as expensive. However, we have decided that we will make the best of it and just learn to use taxis in the evening for our dinners out. So, Monday we move to the Beibers Hotel in Ust.
Well, we had better go ahead and sign off for now. We have tried compressing the pictures, so hopefully we can send more at a time. We’ll see. Thank you again for all of the heartfelt prayers and words of encouragement. We miss you all and are really looking forward to introducing the newest member of the Tew clan very soon!

Much love,
Joe and Charlotte