'Twas the Night Before Court....

...and not a creature was sleeping, not even our "mouse".  I guess Melanie's decided the honeymoon is over.  She has given up on sleeping.  This afternoon it took almost an hour & a half to get her down for her nap, and she was up less than an hour later.  Tonight we are going on an hour & a half to get her to go to sleep.  Figures she would save her drama for the night before we have court, when we need our nerves to be settled. 

Corey & Christie came over with Sam again this morning for their visit.  Most of the morning was spent on the phone with Lufthansa trying to get Melanie a seat.  A word to the wise:  you might want to call Lufthansa to get your child's ticket booked as soon as you arrive in Kazakhstan.  We were told that the flight was completely booked.  We considered packing her with the luggage (hey, a little Benadryl, a little water, no problem!) but thought better of it.  David went back & forth between Lufthansa and USAirways (at great long-distance expense).  Right at a crucial moment, he ran out of time on his cell phone!!  Jeepers!  When Murphy talked about things going wrong, he wasn't kidding!!  We are pretty sure she now has a seat.  Phew.  I guess we'll rest easier when we actually have the paper ticket in our hot little hands in Almaty.

David went out running around with Aida while Melanie had her "cat nap".  They went to buy some souvenirs and groceries.  When they got back, they took Melanie and me with them to shop a little more .. and we stopped by to visit Corey & Christie one last time at their hotel.

Tonight Gulnara, our facilitator, came by to go over our "speeches" for court tomorrow.  I feel like we have everything under control.  She also had some paperwork for David to sign for the Embassy, in order for him to leave early.  After a quick supper of spaghetti (again) we are packing, getting ready to make a jack rabbit start to Almaty after court.  We have a 6:30 wake up call, since we are being picked up at 8:30.  Kinda hard for two lazy bums who are used to sleeping in until 8 every morning and not having to be anywhere until 10.  Need to break that habit pretty quick!  Court is at 9:00 Kazakhstan time.  I can't even begin to explain how many hours ahead or behind we are, so you do the math!

Oh .. and speaking of rabbits, I finished "Red Rabbit".  Finally.  Very good book. 

Now, if Melanie would just go to sleep, we could hit the hay ourselves ... wait ... what's that?  Silence!  Could it be?  Yes!  She's asleep!  Wahoo! 

Seeing the Light at the end of the Tunnel...

Last night we had Corey and Christie over for dinner. We put together some spaghetti sauce and pasta, which didn't taste half bad! It was nice to have some visit time with them, as we're leaving on Friday.

Another good nights' sleep for Melanie. She didn't wake up at all. Mom's happy. She makes some "nyum nyum" noises with her mouth; it's almost like she's sucking her tongue. I woke up a couple of times when she started doing that in her sleep.

I'm anxiously trying to finish "Red Rabbit" by Tom Clancy. It's a real page turner, but it takes so long for anything to happen! I'm dying here, let's get on with it already! It's a fictionalized account of the attempt on the Pope's life in the early 80's, with lots of KGB and CIA stuff in the background. I pick it up to read every time I get a few minutes.

Corey came over with Sam this morning ... Christie wasn't feeling well and stayed at their hotel. Melanie's first "play date"! She is so shy around them! Guess that's just stranger anxiety for ya!

After lunch I put Melanie down for a nap and got a few pages of my book read. After our nap, we went to the Baby House to take some measurements for the playground. We paid one last visit to Melanie's groupa, and there were two new babies in the room! They fill up the spaces pretty quickly. One of the new little boy was being dog-piled by a bunch of the little boys and he was just laughing and laughing. One of Melanie's caregivers, Gulistan, followed us down the stairs, kissing Melanie, and wishing us a good life. I don't think she wanted to let her go.

We went to an internet cafe to print out our speeches for court. No problem. Then we came back home and I had a tutorial from David about how to manage our digital pictures. Since he's leaving Sunday night, I have to take over the technical duties. Hah ... good luck! Maybe I will be able to do it without blowing up the computer, who knows?

Tonight: We took Aida to dinner for a "farewell" celebration. We were able to get a "kabinyet" or private room so Melanie could run around. We had "lagman" one more time. We so enjoy her company and will miss her terribly. She is going to Almaty the day after we do, so we're hoping we can hook up with her there.

Tomorrow: rehearsal for court! For some reason I'm not nervous about court; I suppose having been through it before, although it sounds like things are a lot more formal here than they were in Uralsk. Maybe I should be nervous!

Colin & Quentin: The first  photo is especially for you. We thought you would get a kick out of it!! If anyone asks what your parents brought you from Kazakhstan, you can say, "Barf!" It's dishwashing liquid from Iran ... where the Farsi word for snow is "braf". I don't know why they didn't just leave it "braf"?? Don't they tell people how words can translate into other languages funny ... like the Chevy Nova in Mexico: "No va" means "won't go". So much for good international marketing, huh?

Night for now ... Us

Thank Heavens for Family and Friends!!

Another good night's sleep for Melanie ... she did wake up once, but just for a minute. A little pat on the tummy and readjusting of the covers and she was back in dreamland. I slept a little better too, although I was on the couch (but frankly the couch is more comfortable than our bed, which c-r-e-a-k-s! every time you roll over. It's in serious need of some WD-40). She was up early, though, at about 6:00, and I laid her on my stomach where she dozed for another half hour or so. Then we decided it was time for Dad to get up too! She started going, "uhm uhm? uhm uhm?" as if to say, "Time to eat!!" so we all stumbled into the kitchen to get breakfast started. She chowed down on a banana and some cheerios while I scrambled some eggs and Dad made kasha. I think Melanie is in the "I have to shove everything in my mouth at once" mode, which is pretty typical of post institutionalized kids. When she sees that food will always be available, that will slack off.

At 10:00 we went by the Baby House to do a quick errand, and I was wondering how Melanie would react. She ran right into the room! David needed to take a picture of the radiators in the sleeping room, (don't ask me why?) and Melanie took off running into the room. She ran straight for her bed, followed by all of her groupmates. It was like a party ... they were all screaming with joy, as if to welcome her back to the fold! They ran and laughed and hid between the cribs. It was hilarious! Melanie didn't stop smiling the whole time ... she actually missed her buddies! It was a little bittersweet for me, to think that she may never see any of these little people again. Maybe the ones who will be adopted through WPA, but they probably won't remember each other. I wanted to freeze the moment in time ... but I guess I'm just terminally sappy and sentimental. We're going to go back again tomorrow to do some measuring in the courtyard; maybe she can spend a little time with her groupa again.

Aida took us to the photo store to have pictures developed. We have had to take a family shot for every day that we visited with Melanie, to show the court that we did, in fact, visit her for the two-week bonding period. We also took pictures of Melanie with each of her caregivers to give them as a remembrance. All these pics. we have digitally stored, so David had burned them onto a CD to take to the photo place.

We also did a little shopping for a Kazakh national costume for Melanie. Lisa has one that (I think) still fits, so that will make a cute picture when we get home. We also stopped at a little stand for some "samsa" which is like a flaky croissant-type pastry filled with meat or cheese. They were delicious!! It is very cold today, (probably in the 30's?) and the samsa were just out of the oven. Perfect to warm us up.

Meanwhile, Melanie, whom Aida bundled up within an inch of her life, in a turtleneck, sweatshirt & pants, tights, socks, fleece jacket AND a fur/leather coat, fell asleep in the car. And I mean out like a light. I carried her into the apartment and laid her in her crib just like she was, coats and all, and she proceeded to sleep for 2 hours! She missed lunch, of course, so was ravenous when she woke up.

Things are not good at home. Last Sunday David's dad fell at our house and fractured a vertebra. He has been in the hospital ever since, and my poor mother-in-law has been running ragged keeping up with all the kids and driving downtown to the hospital to be with D.R. This is the nightmare scenario that we all dreaded would happen while we were in Kazakhstan. Thank goodness, David's brother, "Uncle Bill" was able to clear his schedule and fly down from Maryland to help out for a while. The kids are crazy about him, so I'm sure it was a special treat. We feel terrible that this happened while we were on the other side of the planet, and are pretty much trapped here until after our court date. Today David got on the phone with Lufthansa and changed his ticket home; he'll fly out early this coming Monday morning (4 am flight) and be home Monday afternoon. I'm sure everyone will be relieved. My mom flies in to Almaty this Friday, so she and I will be able to hold down the fort and take care of getting Melanie's physical exam, and taking her to the American Embassy. Of course, as a woman, I am hard-wired to feel guilty about everything and I am really taking it on the chin with this one. I owe a huge debt of gratitude to Anne for being there for us, and to Bill ... and to all our friends and neighbors who all chipped in to help. Especially the Orrs, who have been taking Christian to cub scouts, and to the Creels who have driven him to baseball practices and games. I'm sure there are many others that I don't know about, but I will be able to thank you all in person very soon!!

Holding Pattern....

As things dwindle down to our court date this Friday, our activities have dwindled as well. We have a lot of "down" time in the apartment with Melanie. She is really good at puttering by herself, picking up spoons & forks and putting them in a bag, then dumping them out again. She also loves lugging around empty water jugs. We buy the 5 liter size, and have a pretty good collection of empty ones. She likes to stack them on top of each other and bang them together. She also loves tummy raspberries and being tickled. This morning when I was on the phone, she picked up an empty tin box of mints and put it up to her ear, imitating me. Too cute! Last night she slept pretty much all night, except for one cry. I just laid her back down again, and she slept on until about 7:30. I, on the other hand, did not sleep a wink, waiting through the night for any peeps or sounds. I ended up sleeping on the couch next to her crib. We're having a small problem with her hitting us in the face with hard objects, which we are addressing. Nip it in the bud, Barney Fife always said. Well, we're doing some "bud nipping" over here in Kazakhstan, although it's hard to be stern with her when she's so darn cute.

Aida was late picking us up this morning. We had plans to go to the baby house to present our gifts to the staff. We are trying to get as much out of the way early in the week, as court day is going to be busy, and our facilitator, Gulnara, wants us on the road to get to Almaty before dark. (It's a 3 hour drive). So we had a ceremony of sorts in the Director's office, where Madame Director made some speeches, and all the doctors, nurses, caregivers and "medical nurses" gathered around to pay their respects, I suppose. We also presented our donations to the baby house. The director said she was so happy that Karina (Melanie) was being adopted, and that she can get the medical attention in the US which is not available here in Kazakhstan.

Then it was time for David's private meeting with the director. There are plans underway for a team from World Partners Adoption to travel back to TaldyKorgan next June to put up a playground at the baby house here. David went to Uralsk in August of 2003 to build a similar playground at Lisa's baby house, so he has been unofficially tapped to present the Director with our plans for next summer. He put together a Power Point presentation and had some brochures of examples of what they could build in the courtyard of the BH. While David met with her, I took Melanie upstairs to eat lunch with her group. After lunch they went to the potty (en masse, of course!) and then got ready for their naps. I think Melanie was a little worried when the kids started going to their cribs, but at that point David was finished with his meeting, and we left to come back to the apartment. I put her down for her nap at the scheduled time. She played "stand up in the crib" a couple of times after I laid her down, but in no time at all she was sawing logs. She slept for a good 2 hours, 15 minutes. So did I!

In the afternoon we took Melanie to get her passport picture taken. She did very well. Then we went to the store to buy some supplies, and to our favorite shishkebab vendor for a take-home dinner. Melanie had some soup left over from lunch, with meat & potatoes. Now we're sitting around staring at each other, waiting for 9:00 to roll around (bed time for Bonzo). David beat me 2 games to 1 at Gin Rummy (he always does). I gave Melanie a good bath tonight, even washed her hair to get that "baby house " smell out of it. She was NOT a happy camper. I can't imagine what they did in the baby house to make her so fearful, unless they bathed them with cold water? We saw a picture in the baby house of someone dumping a pail of cold water over a toddler ... and were told that it makes the babies strong. Hmmm.

I think we will have to stop using the internet in the apartment as of tomorrow, in order for the internet provider to settle our account. We will make a point to go to the Internet Cafe to try and update the blog. It's going to be hard not to be able to surf in the apartment ... that's our main source of entertainment!! At any rate ... until tomorrow ...

SSSHHH ... Melanie's sleeping!

Big day today ... Melanie is now at the apartment with us. We got a crib brought here today, and borrowed a blanket from the baby house. She ate a good supper: takeaway from the Hessen Pub. She ate a pile of mashed potatoes and a hamburger steak, with some bread and banana. We gave her a bath ... which she does NOT like (we had been told that the kids didn't like to take baths, but three years ago Lisa jumped in and didn't want to get out!) This was the first time I think I really heard her cry. I did it as quickly as possible, then we did the baby lotion massage, and the tears stopped. She has been puttering around the apartment all evening, playing with her water jugs and plastic forks & spoons that I brought. She is happy and cheerful, but I'm wary about how bedtime will go. A friend of mine recommended some "Sleepy Time" herbal tea that helped her kids sleep, so I have some steeping in the kitchen. It smells wonderful ... like chamomile and herbs; maybe we'll start a bedtime tradition!

This morning was our usual visit. As the weather was not too cold , we walked around outside with Corey and Christie, then came home for lunch and a nap. About 3:00 Aida came to go over the main points we need to put into our speeches for court. That will be our task for the week. We went to the neighbor's house for the crib (it is Aida's but had been on loan to a lady in the same building).

It was strange leaving the baby house. The caregiver on duty, Marzhan, said (through Aida of course) that it is good for the children to be adopted, to have a family. It has been a rewarding and fascinating journey for us, to get to know all the children in Melanie's groupa and their various personalities. Most of them are not available for adoption; we have seen mothers and dads and brothers come to visit on the weekends. While it's nice to see that, Aida says that it's really not a good thing that the parents keep promising that they will come someday to take them out of the baby house, but that they rarely do. At least if they are "refused" by the parents, they have a chance to be adopted. As long as a parent visits, they can't be adopted. One morning a few days ago, we saw an older lady (grandmother perhaps?) with a large quilted bundle arrive on the steps of the baby house. She was going to "refuse" the baby, or deliver it to the baby house. The lady was all dressed up with a sparkly scarf on her head, and the "bundle" was bright red and covered with animals. It was an incredibly sad thing to witness.

David and I had our favorites in Melanie's group .. one little girl Jasmine, is quiet and somber, but hardly ever makes a peep. She is a tiny thing; but she runs to David everytime we come into the room to visit Melanie, and he used to hold and cuddle her. Her mother is only 16 or 17 and still in school, but she and the grandmother came to visit every weekend. One little boy, Sukhail, was "Uzbek boy" (as the caregiver said) and was new to the group. He was the one who cried so much when he first came to the group. He usually just laid on the floor sucking his fingers; I so worried about him and always tried to speak to and play with him. Aigerim was another beautiful little Kazakh girl who is going to be adopted by a local family. Same goes for a cutie named Alisher with curly brown hair. Miras was another Kazakh boy whose mother visited every weekend; and Aibek, who looked like a tiny little sumo wrestler. He never made much noise, just sat happily and watched the other kids. His mother and older brother visited him. Madi was a cutie who was always smiling. Damir, of course, I've already mentioned, really attached to David, as did Nursultan who is ALL BOY, pushing the furniture around. I think he was the oldest in the group. Oxana  left for Spain the other day, and then there's Aida. She is another cleft-affected little girl who had her lip revision surgery done at the same time as Melanie. Her cleft looks a little more serious than Melanie's. Poor Aida is the attention craver; she always latched herself on to my legs and wouldn't let go. She always had a huge smile on her face, but was pretty "high maintenance". David called her the "drama queen", as she was always "throwing" herself on the floor and crying when something happened that she didn't like...only to stop about 5 seconds later! David wants to pack several of them in his suitcase and bring them home...but alas, it is not to be. We love each and every one of these kids, and only hope that their futures are as bright as they can be, as we will definitely be leaving a piece of our hearts here in TaldyKorgan when we leave.

Post Script ... Melanie had a little trouble going to sleep, but finally eased off only 45 minutes past her scheduled bedtime. Now we'll see how the night goes!

Running Short of Humorous Titles

For today's visit we brought Melanie back to the apartment. We had fun putting things out of her reach as she would get into them; she FAST! We tried out the portable high chair and it's a dream! I'm so glad I brought it. I even took her clothes off to try on her pajamas, and she has FEET!! And ten little baby toes. All this time, I have never seen her feet; she has always had on tights AND four pairs of socks. Her poor little skin was so dry that I pulled out the Johnsons' baby lotion and gave her a little massage. She loved it; she just lay in my lap and let me rub her legs. Pure joy on my part. There is no pleasure on earth like the feel of baby skin smelling like baby lotion. Aida is getting a crib this afternoon, and tomorrow, Melanie comes to stay with us at the apartment full-time! We are off this afternoon to buy tights, a potty, and other paraphernalia that we'll need to have her here.

We brought Melanie back to the apartment again for our afternoon visit (it's so much better than sitting in a little room at the baby house, staring at each other!) She learned to brush our hair, to eat a piece of bread in her high chair, how to take things off the shelf one by one and hand them to me, then put them back on the shelf again, one by one. She's a genius! She also found some china on a shelf, the silverware on a tray in the kitchen, and the sharp knives. We put all of those up where she couldn't get to them. We also learned that she is NOT, in fact, potty trained. So we wasted money on the potty. The caregivers in the baby house were always telling us that she NEVER needs to wear a diaper, never. So explain why she "christened" the rug in the apartment the minute she walked in the door, huh? On with the diapers! Oh, and for all the expensive toys we brought, what did Melanie end up playing with? The empty water jugs and a hairbrush. Take our advice: save your money on the toys!

Tonight we ate dinner at the "Almaty Hotel" with Christie and Corey. Aida came in with us to help us order from the menu. At one point, I directly asked the waitress, "Morozhenoy yest?" (Do you have ice cream?) and Aida turned to the girl, and asked her, IN ENGLISH, "Do you have ice cream?" Talk about throwing her off! We were the only ones in the entire restaurant, but the service was excellent. Unfortunately, Corey had a dish called "Lamb Gristle and Vegetables" so for future reference ... skip that one. But the "Lamb Tashkent" was quite good, with french fries, and a "greek" salad. We had a nice visit ... our last as just the two of us! Melanie sleeps with us tomorrow night. I'm so ready to have her here!

This entry is completely short, I know, but we didn't have a very newsworthy day. It's still very cold, although all of the snow has melted. We can't believe that we are in the home stretch towards court. The time truly does go by quickly when each day is much like the last. Stay tuned!

What a Difference a Day Makes!

Go figure … yesterday I was wearing a tee shirt and we were at the Aqua Park, and the water looked quite tempting!  This morning we woke up to SNOW!  It has been snowing all day today, and everything is coated with a pristine layer of white.  As I was going to sleep last night, I heard the “hiss” of the radiators starting to heat up, so I suspected that something was up.  Sure enough, “sneg idyot” (it’s snowing).  Even though the town officials had decreed that there would be no central heat until three days of below 0 weather, they must have reconsidered when they saw Willard Scott’s forecast.

 

Another exciting surprise was that David woke up fever free!  He had decided to take another pain pill at midnight, but woke up at 5 a.m., having slept straight through.  The fever has officially broken.  He is a completely new man today, it’s amazing.  Maybe the pickle juice and vodka did the trick after all!  Or could it be the Cipro that he finally took?  We may never know.

 

It was interesting to see in the news that a Soyuz rocket blasted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome yesterday.  Seems like I did hear a slight sonic boom early in the morning … (yes, Liz, that would be like you hearing something going off from Cape Canaveral while you were in Charlotte).  Still it’s neat to be here knowing that something that newsworthy was going on not far to the west.

 

Today is Saida’s third birthday.  When Aida came to pick us up, Saida was dressed in her Sunday best, and had her hair in two enormous white bows.  We had brought her a Nutcracker Barbie, which she opened in the car.  She was so happy to have it!  Aida brought a cake to the Baby House, and we celebrated with the older kids’ groupa.  We all held hands and walked around in a circle around Saida, singing the Kazakh “Happy Birthday” song.  Then David and I sang her the American version.  All the kids in the groupa had a piece of cake, as did Melanie.  She lapped it up.

 

After the party we went back to Melanie’s groupa and spent the remainder of the visit with the kids.  Back at home, we had another delicious lunch prepared by Inna, and collapsed for our afternoon siesta.  I think we are going to bring Melanie to the apartment in the next day or two, so our lazy days are coming to an end.  Suits me just fine!  I can’t wait to give her a bath, and get used to her routine. 

 

This afternoon we missed the “going away” party for our Spanish friends, as they showed up an hour earlier than our visit time.  We were disappointed, but apparently they were in a hurry so had to dash in and dash out.  I think they were driving to Almaty this evening, and the roads were probably bad.  We have their address and email anyway .. we’re already planning a family vacation to Barcelona in the future.  Way off in the very distant future.  Way off.

 

We had a nice, uneventful visit this afternoon.  We have reclaimed the little playroom that the Spaniards always used, so we could spend time alone with Melanie, and not with 10 other little kids climbing all over us.  Not that that’s a bad thing, it’s fun, but a little “alone” time is nice too.  It seems that we always get them riled up anyway, when we come and go.  David’s little friend Damir just cries and cries when we leave.  Melanie is so “two” it’s not funny … we have a little spitfire on our hands.  Put it this way: the only toys we take on the plane with be very soft ones. 

For dinner, Aida took us to the “Astana” restaurant, where I decided to do as the Romans do, and tried the “Five Fingers” national dish, “Bishparmak” that is made out of … well, Mr. Ed would be shocked to hear that they eat his relatives here.  One little shot of vodka along with it helped ease the guilt a little.  (Suddenly after we finished I had this urge to answer David’s questions by beating my hoof on the floor).  Actually it tasted a little like lamb to me; quite delicious.  I didn’t need for Aida to tell me after dinner that they also eat “dog” here … the Korean population seems to think it’s a delicacy.  We won’t go there.  <woof!> 

 

Next week will be busy:  passport pictures to take, speeches to write, “rehearsal” for court.  Bring it on.

 

Later!

 

P.S...David here -- we apologize for any technical difficulties that we had regarding our posting our blog last night...boy do we miss our DSL!!!  Hopefully, we have corrected those problems to your satisfaction.  For complaints, please call our help line -- 555-GoJumpinaLake!