Celebrations and Snowy Sunday--Dec. 13 and 14--Days 20/21

Orphanage Doctors and Representative from the MOE

(Adelyn's room Doctor is on the left)

Tea Party Spread for our celebration with the Doctors

"Sleeping Beauty"

On Saturday we visited the orphanage twice as usual. Adelyn was a bit cranky, her two teeth are all the way in and we don't see any evidence of more coming in. Ironically, we hear from home that Andrew has 2 loose baby teeth! We think that we totally interupt their schedules with our visits, so it may just be overstimulation. The babies seem healthy again for the most part, so hopefully this will continue in our absence. We hate the thought of her being sick while we are half way around the world. Would they call us? Would we be able to get to her? A mirage of thoughts go through our heads. We do know the caregivers will take very good care of her and this is all she has known, so that gives us comfort.

We also had a very nice party for the doctors in the orphanage. There were 2 doctors in attendance and the lady from the MOE. Natasha and Tamara wished us well and answered any questions we had. It was quite a spread, with chicken, ham, beef, cheeses, fruits and vegetables. We had 2 delicious cakes--one an ice cream cake and the other a honey cake. Natasha tells us it came from "secret" bakery and you have to order cakes 2 days ahead of time.

Unfortunately, we will not be coming back for awhile to pick up the babies. There are several holidays coming up, Christian Christmas, Russian Orthodox Christmas, Independence days and New Year--the biggest KZ celebration, which is somewhere around the 6th of Jan. She said the courts will be closed and they can't begin to process the paperwork until the 8th of Jan. We are looking at coming back around Jan. 25th, but they will let CAH know for sure the date when it is determined. This is going to be really hard!

Today, Sunday is our last day at the orphanage. It will be very hard to leave her. We have parties for the caregivers to attend and begin our long trek home tonight at 11pm. We will arrive back at Washington Dulles at 4pm on Monday--just in time for rush hour traffic! Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers during our travels. We miss everyone and are looking forward to getting home....it is bittersweet leaving Karaganda, our daughters birthplace. Everyone was upset on the ride back to the hotel and it was a quiet, somber trip reflecting on how far we have come, only to leave them now. We pray that they will remember us when we are reunited.

Well, we didn't escape the snow completely! It is snowing now, about 2-3 inches have fallen, so we hope it won't affect our flight this evening.

Our tea party with the caregivers was so very nice! Our experience here in Kazakhstan has been incredible! Natasha took part, so we were able to communicate with the caregivers. 2 were in attendance--a Nurse, Valentina and Sollee the assistant. They wished us well and are so happy that the 2 babies in our room will have families! It was so sad because they love these babies, but of course only want the best for them. They thanked us for taking their children of Kazakhstan! We talked about how Kazakhstan has changed since gaining it's independence in 1991 and whether things are better or worse since then. We talked about our jobs and where we lived in the US. We hope to see more caregivers this afternoon to say goodbye. Valentina assured us the babies would be taken very good care of while we were good--she actually made sure to tell us twice and was so sincere. Most of the women have worked there many years. We gave photos of our daughter with each caregiver to them....it was very touching to see their reactions. One more visit this afternoon and we'll be on our way home..........we have to remember the sooner we get home the sooner we will be able to bring her home for good. She is so sweet, we can't wait for everyone to meet her!

Andrew remember how many kisses Mommy has saved up for you? I hope you can stand getting so many--we will get our Christmas tree on Tuesday, ok? Love you!