Home Sweet Home

We made it!!! We are finally home and things are going so well. I am just waiting for all the breakdowns and meltdowns that I hear are so common but so far we have not experienced that.

Our flight home went very well. The girls were extremly tired since they didn't get much rest. Aida met us at 12:30 AM to catch our 3:20 AM flight and the girls didn't get to sleep that night until 10:30, so you can see how much rest we got. They slept on the flight from Almaty to Frankfurt. We got lost in the airport in Frankfurt (the signs were wrong!), so we were not able to get them any food or drink, so when we boarded in Frankfurt they were famished. The steward was very kind and got them some things. They won everyone's heart on the airplane from Frankfurt to Chicago. They were laughing and loved the earphones, they were dancing to the music and switching the channels on the TV in front of them. As we were getting to land in Chicago they were singing America, America!!! It was so cute!!!

Immigration was a little tricky. I didn't know what I was doing and it seemed that no one else did either. I only had an hour to catch my connecting flight so it was a bit tense for awhile. Even as I was leaving passport control they man asked me for my paper (which they did not give me), but by that time I was antsy and told them I was going to miss my plane! He let me go and told me it was not his fault if my papers were messed up. I figured I rather work that out at home over the phone than wait in the airport for another flight. We'll see how it all plays out.

Larry, the boys and my mom were waiting at the airport when we arrived. Anastacia was so excited, and Maria was too until we touched ground. Then she started clamming up. I think it started sinking in. She was a little quiet at first but as we started driving home and when we got home they were both brimming with excitement. They loved the house, they loved their rooms. They thought it was so neat they had their own private park (our backyard!). We had some toys and clothes in the closet for them and they just loved them. It was so fun to see their utter joy and excitement over everything.

I do admit that I feel that I have two toddlers to look after. Because they are not familiar with things they are into EVERYTHING!!! They love the phone and run to answer it all the time. Sometimes hanging up before I can get to them. They love the computer and want to be on it all the time. They love the TV, DVD player, CD player, everything and anything electronic. They touch everything and they don't have the concept of not everything is theirs to touch.

They are fearless. We asked them if they knew how to ride a bike, they said yes. Both hopped on the bikes and started riding. Maria did and was OK, Anastacia did not and fell immediately. But yet she tried to do it again several times. We had to watch her like a hawk so she wouldn't hurt herself. The same thing happened with swimming. They both said they knew how to swim but as they jumped into the pool it was very apparent they didn't when they both started drowning. Thank heavens Caleb pulled Maria to the side, and I got Anastacia! It is so amazing to me. I would have thought that this type of knowledge came from age, but it is apparent that is comes from experience. Even with the curling iron, Anastacia grabbed it by the metal side and burned herself. It is a learning experience for me to remember to act and watch them as I would a 2 year old!

But they are learning so fast. They are amazing. It has been so much fun. Everyday we have had lots of people visiting to meet the girls and while they are shy at first, they open up really fast. Anastacia is constantly giggling and is so cute. She loves everyone. Maria is a little more reserved, but has meet some friends in the neighborhood and they absolutely love her. I have had more kids at my house in the last few days than I have in the past year! It seems to be OK for the girls. I sometimes wonder if they are overwhelmed but they seem to thrive on it, especially Anastacia. I think I am the one overwhelmed! To go from two kids to four is double the work. But it is great.

Larry and I said many times while going through this process that if we had known how hard it was going to be we would not have started it. But after having these girls in our homes and in our family, we would have done it and more. They are precious and wonderful and it feels like they have been ours forever. We are so grateful for these two beautiful girls!

We're Coming Home

Today we had a great blessing! I went to the embassy and asked if we could have our interview today and we were told no. I explained that I didn't realize it was a holiday yesterday and that my plane tickets would have to be changed and it would cost money, and I was told no. I asked if I could pay an expediting fee, I again was told no. So I started to leave with a lot of sorrow in my heart. I then remembered that we didn't even have a time for the appointment for tomorrow so we turned around to ask. Something inside of me told me to ask one more time and maybe even ask if there was someone else I could talk to. We went back to the window and waited, and waited and waited. The lady was talking to someone else who Aida said was the consulate. I thought I am not going to leave until I talk to her again. Aida wanted to leave but I said no. The lady finally came to the window and told me to take a seat. So I did. About 15-20 minutes later she called me up and told me I could have my interview today!!!!! Then she told me how sweet and cute the girls were! I was so grateful I almost starting crying. I know it was God's answer to mine and many others prayers.

So we had our interview and we are leaving in about 2 1/2 hours. It went very smoothly.

The rest of the day we took a walk, went to the market, and went to lunch. There is a cafe underneath us that I like going to but today it took an especially long time (over 1/2 hour just to get our drinks!) In Kazakhstan don't expect to be in and out of a restaurant quickly, it is at least an hour and sometimes more. But it was good because it filled up time. I had a little problem with the girls, the communication is hard and they don't understand what I am doing and I don't understand what they are doing and we sometimes come to the wrong conclusion, but they still love me and they are so excited to go to America. They are especailly wired tonight.

The sister missionaires came over one more time and taught the girls about prophets and baptism. Since our friend Hannah is getting baptised this Saturday I thought it would be good that the girls understand what they are going to. Once again Maria was a very quick learner. She said she wanted to get baptised as well, but we will probably wait for awhile, at least until she understands English. It was great to have the sisters here. They stayed past their time but the girls LOVED having them here and it was good for them to help me explain the trip better to the girls. Things like don't run away from me in the airport and make sure you eat when they bring you your food because your not getting anymore until the plane lands! Just simple things but they need to be communicated. The sisters were a great blessing to me and I am so grateful for them!!! Although they feel they didn't do much, just the knowledge of them being here, coming over each day, and teaching the girls was a great blessing to me.

The girls are so excited to go they can hardly stand it. I hope they crash on the plane because it will be a long 24 hours! They are so cute, they just jump up and down and giggle. Maria is constantly hugging me and saying she is going to America to see her Papa and brats. (Brat is brother is Russian!)

Almaty is a wonderful city and I think my desire to hurry and get home is more from the fact that I want my family reunited rather than I want to leave this city. In fact it would have been a lot of fun to visit the zoo tomorrow with the sister missionaries. But just having us all together is what is driving me to get home. It will be wonderful!!!!

Counting Down The Days

Today we visit in the embassy and yesterday we had our doctor's appointment. It went very well. We were an hour late because of our driver, but luckily they waited for us and had us come anyway. The girls were pronounced very healthy, and the only thing the doctor said was that Maria was quite short for her age. I already knew that!!

Afterwards, Aida, our driver/translator (but she really doesn't know english very well!) took us to the big mall here in Almaty. It had pizza (more like American pizza than what we had in Petro), hamburgers, dunkin donuts!, Baskins Robbins, and an ice skating rink. That was fun to be there. We even let the girls try their hand with ice skating. Although Maria had said she had been before I don't think either of them had ever had ice skates on their feet! It was funny to watch. Anastacia scouted around the rink twice holding on to the edge before she gave up, but Maria actually started venturing off to the middle and really skating. She is a determined little girl.

Afterwards the sister missionaires of our church came by and stayed a few hours with us. We took them to dinner and the girls loved them. They taught them a little about the plan of salvation, which they were very surprised at how much Maria knew! She answered all the question right! When they were talking about sin, she said that when you do wrong things God knocks on your heart and tells you you are doing wrong. I thought that was a cute expression! The only thing she did not comprehend or know was the difference between our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. To her they were one in the same instead of two distinct beings. But afterwards when they were asking Anastacia who the picture was of, Maria was quick to say Jesus Christ, not God. It was interesting to hear of her beliefs and when asked where she learned about God she said she taught herself. She said that she was so smart that she doesn't even listen at school because she already knows everything!

Anastacia was more interested in putting on makeup, nail polish and doing the missionaries hair than listening. I don't know if she learned anything. I was wrong about her being our tomboy. She is ALL girl. She puts on makeup, does her nails, and wants me to do her hair about three times a day. She is constantly wanting to put lip gloss on me and brush my hair as well. It is so cute! She also LOVES dresses!

It was a good day. At night we had a little more trouble getting to bed. Maria doesn't like to go to bed and we seem to have a problem there. But we finally go to sleep. Then I heard noises at 2:00 AM and went into their room to find the light on and they were wide awake playing! I had Maria come and sleep with me and know I fing Anastacia on the floor sleeping. I don't know if she feel off or what! It is cute. I guess I won't be having her on the top bunk for awhile!

We have really been blessed. The girls are wonderful and as hard as this process has been I see an end where our family will all be together. I cannot help but express my love and gratitude to God for blessing us so much. I have learned and continue to learn so much and one thing has been my dependence on God and how when I do depend on him, he always has things work out for me and comforts my heart. I guess he is down there knocking on my heart telling me what to do!

We Already Miss Maria

Well yesterday we had to wake up the girls to get them ready for chuch. There were so tired. They are use to taking long naps everyday, and then they go to bed around 10:00 and wake at 6 or 7, but without the naps I think they will sleep a little longer. I fixed breakfast (scrambled eggs) and they devoured it like they haven't eaten in months! They have been so hungry since they have been with me! I showed the blankets that they Grandma Darlene had made for them and they loved them, and I bought them dresses for church. They loved the dresses but then Maria said she didn't want to wear it today. I thought she didn't like it but then to come find out she didn't want to match Anastacia. I always buy matching things!!! I guess my matching days are coming to an end, the kids are getting to old. She wore the dress anyway and they both looked very cute!

The sister missionaries met us to take us to church. We had to catch a couple of busses and that was quite an experience. Evidently the busses are on the own profit center, there is no schedule and they drive as fast as they can so they can get to the next stop before the other bus does so they can get the money! They will start moving before you are even on or off the bus!!! It was quite interesting. Church was wonderful, it felt just like home. That is one thing I love about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, it doesn't matter where you are it is the same, the people love you and you feel like you are at home. I wanted to stay there all day. There were several Americans there, and one girl was getting married in October to an American and moving to Safford, AZ!! She was so excited to hear I was from Arizona and said now she had a friend in America. They were all so kind and they translated every meeting for me. Everyone thought it was wonderful that I was adopting the girls and wanted to talk with me.

Big Maria came with us to church but had to leave after the first meeting. She had to get to the airport. That was a moment I don't want to relive and I wasn't wanting to come. I personally will miss her so much, and the girls will too. She has become part of our family. We were all crying, the girls were just sobbing as we watched her walk away. My heart just broke. What was I going to do without her?? And I am sure that is what the girls were thinking as well! Everyone at church didn't quite understand what was happening and was wondering why we were all crying. But some young women took the girls hands and took them to primary. I think being there was the best place we could have been to have Maria leave because there were others who could still talk to the girls and comfort them and translate for me. And we were able to direct our attention to something else. The Primary President said that they did really good and once she started asking them questions and making them think of something else they stopped crying. Anastacia was hugging and kissing and flirting with everyone by the time church was over, she loved it! She said she was going to go all the time to church. Maria said she wasn't going to go again, but I know it is because she was still having a hard time with big Maria leaving. The missionaries will come over on Monday and teach them some more. I am so grateful we found them, they will help with this transition of losing Maria. They could never replace her, but they have definately helped!

The girls are fascinated with all the electronic equipment we have. The gameboys, the DVD player, the laptop. We played on the laptop learning the alphabet quite a bit. I am trying to teach them the ABC song. Maria kept typing over and over again Papa, Caleb and Nathanael's name. It is amazing to me how fast they learn. I will be so glad when we can communicate. This is definately harder than I thought. Especially when I told them it was time for bed and scriptures and prayers. Anastacia was very complying and went along with everything, but Maria did not want to do anything but play on the computer. We had a little power struggle and after I put away the laptop she moved to the DVD player, then I said no, and she moved to the gameboys. After a very firm "NYET" she realized I was making her go to bed and she started pouting and crying. I thought, I have a very spoiled child already!!!! But of course I couldn't communicate with her. At first I thought she was doing it to get her way, but then her tears turned more than that and I could tell she was really scared, really worried about the future. It is just as hard on her as it is on me to not communicate. I keep praying that the communication of love and the communication of the spirit will help us during this time. I just held her and hugged her. She finally settled down and was completely happy and back to the laptop again. Once again I said no, she gave me a pouty face but this time went back to bed and finally settled down. It is interesting how she and Caleb have such similarities and Anastacia and Nathanael are so similar!

Well I have two more days and counting, at least I hope! I hope the embassy will allow me to meet with them on Tuesday so we can come home on Wednesday. If not, the sisters said Wednesday is their P-day and they will take us to the zoo. They said the girls could ride the camels and it was an incredible zoo! So we will see what happens.

A Brighter Day

Now that I have food in me and I have slept a little, things are much brighter!! Reading over my last blog I feel silly for being so emotional. Many people get diverted, many lose their luggage, many cannot figure out how to work the silly phones, and many get scared. It just is hard when it is you that it is happening too! But to think of more serious concerns, this is not all that serious. I am here, I am safe, and I am much better!!

I did however miss picking up the girls at the airport. Evidently Aida and I miscommunicated and when she came to pick me up I was out getting a bite to eat. So they all showed up at my door around 6:00 pm! It was so great to see them. They were so excited and just chatting up a storm. There were exploring everything, it was fun! They wanted to send an email right away to their papa and brothers, but my computer battery had died by that time and I didn't have my converter. We took a walk around town, go them some food (they ate a ton tonight!!) and went to the supermarket. While we were there Maria asked if all this food was free! It was very cute. I don't think she has ever been in a market before.

It took awhile to get them to bed tonight. Luckily big Maria agreed to stay with us tonight so Aida could take me to the airport at 1:00AM (Yes that is AM!!!) to get my luggage. I wanted them to be asleep before I left. They giggled and played but finally drifted off to sleep. It was interesting watching them in their nighttime routine. For one, at the orphanage, they didn't flush the toilet paper down the toilet! So we had a little training there, Maria was amazed that you could do that! Another is that they always sponge off in the sink before going to bed. Also they are not use to wearing PJ's. So that took awhile. I couldn't figure out what they were doing so long in the bathroom with the sink running, but then big Maria clued me in!

Tomorrow we are meeting the sister missionaries to be able to go to our church. I am so excited about that. They said they would come every night and teach the girls while I am here. That is a huge blessings, especially because big Maria will leave us tomorrow! I will miss her so much. But she is needed with other families.

Thank you all for your prayers in my behalf. When traveling to Kaz the first time there was a place you have to be where nothing really matters anymore, at least things that are not that important. It is a inner faith that comes to you knowing that God will take care of everything. I had to come to that place once again today. Who would have thought that I had already forgot what I learned the first time!!! I guess that is why I needed some trials the second time!! These are great learning experiences, and hopefully I am becoming better because of it.

I miss the boys and Larry a lot though. As I was walking to the market I saw some camels the boys had played on the first visit and it made me so homesick for them. I wish they could all be here, that we could all be here together. That is where the true joy comes, all your family together. Soon we we will have that, hopefully in the next week!!

Meanwhile, back at the ranch...

This is interesting. DeAnn and I are both blogging from halfway around the world. I am in Arizona and she is in Almaty. Oh...Technology!

In Arizona, we are very happy that DeAnn made it to Almaty. I was worried about her for her whole trip and I was checking my email at work every five, ten and fifteen minutes. My day wasn't nearly as frustrating as DeAnn's but I haven't slept much or very well either. I did take the boys to see "How to Eat Fried Worms." Cute show, but a little gross, like Fear Factor gross.

Well, not to be too long-winded on the blog right now, but there are a couple of emails that I wanted to share. One made me tear up yesterday morning. Caleb didn't quite understand why. I told him I was happy and sad at the same time. The other mades me relieved and not so worried.

The first was from Maria, Maria and Nasty...

Dear Larry!I'm here with Masha and Nastja. We are writing an e-mail for you.
Masha is writing:Dear Papa, we are already came to Masha. The whole day we were waiting for her, because we wanted to go home soon. We miss you very much! We cant wait when we can see you! I miss my brothers!
Nastja:I want to papa!
Masha: I miss Mama and Papa very much.Nastja: And I miss Mama.
M: And I miss the whole family!
N and M: Buy buy!
Dear Larry, you cant imagine, how much they were happy when they were leaving! You really cant imagine how mich they want to see you! I'm so happy for you and for them! Miss you a lot!
Masha, Masha and Nastja
P.S> Svetlana knows about DeAnn flights. Aida will fech us and her.

The second email was from DeAnn...

Things are getting brighter.
I did take a nap and it was very helpful. I went and ate and that was helpful too!
They called me about my luggage, it is coming in on a Luf... flight tonight at 1:00! I got ahold of the missionaries. They had their phone off this morning for a zone conference with their mission president, so maybe I will meet him tomorrow as well.
Aida still doesn't know when the girls are coming, so I am waiting on her to call. I am feeling better and can't wait to get my luggage.
I won't check my email until tomorrow and I'll update you then.
Love ya!!!!~
DeAnn

So...anyway. Maybe we just needed a little (well I am sure DeAnn doesn't think little) reminder of the lesson we learned on our first trip. So we hop on and let God be the driver again and we can enjoy the ride.

Larry - signing out for now.

I Can't Wait Until This Is Over!

Well here I go again! I am in Almaty (thank heavens!) but things definately have not gone as plan. I don't even know if I want to go over the story again for fear that I will break down again and cry. I am sure all the airline agents from here to Denver think I am the biggest emotional wreck to ever fly the friendly skies! To make a long story short, my plane was delayed in Denver and I took a long way to get to Almaty (though Moscow which I would never recommend, especially if you don't have a Russian visa!). I made it but my baggage did not!

Sometimes you wonder why things just can't go smoothly, and that is where I sit today. One 10 minute rainstorm in Denver has caused me so much grief. I was picked up at the airport and dropped off at my apartment. Aida is a nice girl, but she is not Maria! I have nothing!! I don't even have her phone number to get ahold of her. She said she will call me later this afternoon to tell me what time we will go to pick up the girls. That is the one bright side, I made it here before the girls.

I tried calling our church missionaries, but for some reason the phone isn't working correctly. I can't seem to dial any number, not even the airport to see if there is sign of my luggage. I suppose I will venture out into the city to get some needed items like a toothbrush, a hairbrush, some water, and some food! How I wish Larry was here with me!!!! This has definately been one of those experiences that has pushed me to my farthest limits. At times I almost just got on a plane back to Phoenix. I don't know why it has to be so difficult but it has been.

I also found out that I may not be returning home on Wednesday. That is the day we are suppose to visit the embassy. I was upset that our agency did not know this fact beforehand. It is something they should have had arranged, but I will try to go early Tuesday morning and beg them to see me Tuesday!!! Please everyone pray for me. I just want to go home!!!!

Hopefully I will be able to figure out how to contact the missionaries, hopefully I will find my luggage, and hopefully I will see the girls tonight. I am totally leaving everything in the Lord's hand, he is my traveling companion on this trip.

Here We Go Again! (Well, DeAnn Goes Again!)

Hi Everyone. I guess it is my turn to take a whack at this blogging thing. DeAnn has done such a wonderful job at it. First of all, I know DeAnn promised to post some more pictures. So there is a few at the end of this blog.

WE ARE SO ANXIOUS TO GET THE GIRLS HOME WE CAN HARDLY STAND IT!!!!!

The last couple weeks at home has had its own challenges, albeit a little different than being in Kazakhstan. The time has gone slow and fast at the same time. Our trip to Kaz seems so surreal at this point. Adjusting back to Arizona time was much more difficult than I expected. One good thing though, we do have hot water.

A few days after we got back, we received an email from Big Maria that Little Maria was in the hospital. The Saturday after we left, she was complaining of stomach pains and then she fainted. She is OK now. They didn't really find anything wrong. We suppose it was probably just nerves and anxiety. They kept her in the hospital for about a week and a half . One, just to make sure that she wasn't sick so the other children in the orphanage wouldn't get sick and two, that's the way socialized medicine works. In the United States, a stay in the hospital for a week and a half usually means something is terribly wrong. Big Maria kept us in the loop though and helped us keep from getting too worried. We knew Little Maria was in good hands. Actually, I think her stay in the hospital was another little blessing. We were worried about how well the time would pass for her and as it worked out, it seems she got a lot of attention from hospital friends and staff. And, very importantly, Big Maria was able to visit often because the hospital is in Petropavlovsk, not an hour's drive away. As for Nastya? Well, I guess she has been doing fine. She just seems to be as happy go-lucky as ever.

The plan now is for Big Maria to bring the girls from Petropavlovsk and meet DeAnn in Almaty. So far that side of the plan seems to be working OK. Maria will have the girls at her home overnight on Friday and fly on Saturday.

Here's the catch! Who would have thought that another major problem would arise. We thought we were home free at this point. DeAnn's itinerary was in place. We communicated with Coleen at Focus on Children. We were set to go. Me and the boys said good-bye to DeAnn this morning. They went to school. I went to work. DeAnn went to the gym one more time. Everybody was happy. DeAnn's mom, Naomi took her to the airport and off DeAnn went to Denver. Everybody was happy!!! Then... Denver!!! The WEATHER of all things!!! DeAnn's plane was delayed a few hours. It was delayed long enough for us to know that there was no way she was going to catch her connection to Almaty from Frankfurt. I got a couple calls from her in Denver. She wasn't a happy camper! At this very moment, she is somewhere between Denver and Frankfurt. The original plan was for her to land in Almaty on Friday night about midnight. It was all supposed to go smooth. DeAnn was real excited to be in Almaty before the girls to meet them at the airport. DeAnn called me with three options of how she was going to get to Almaty. Only one of them got her there before the girls. So now, she is going to catch a flight from Frankfurt to Moscow, and then from Moscow to Almaty. The last leg, she will be flying on Air Astana. We are saying our prayers and I am worried about her. We hope her luggage follows her all the way and I hope she arrives in Almaty with her wits intact. Just one more trial to go through, but I know she will be OK, especially when she gets to hold and hug the girls. She was worried about going by herself and then this. So I am waiting anxiously. Maybe I'll hear from her in an email from Frankfurt. I may not hear from her until she arrives in Almaty. So here I sit....waiting....waiting...

We Are Home!

I know I should have posted earlier because everyone is wondering if we made it home or not. Especially when we traveled on the highest security alert day ever since 9/11! But we did make it home safely. We caught all our connecting flights, despite the extra security measures, and we only had to lose our juice boxes, and water bottles. We lucked out!

I wanted to post some pictures, but for some reason it is not letting me. I am not sure what the problem is. So I am sorry. I got some beautiful pictures of the girls that I wanted to show off, maybe I can figure it out when I have more time.

The miracles didn't stop after the adoption for us. On Wednesday, after court, we had to fill out a lot of paperwork before we could leave. Our lawyer, Svetlana, was worried we had not allowed enough time (we left at 1:00 pm), so she started working early that morning. We had to get everything notarized (especially our power of attorney for Maria) and when they went to the notary's office, the power was out. That meant no printing, no computers, no paperwork!!! I am so glad I wasn't there at that time because I would have panicked! But luckily (or by the grace of God), there was a construction crew working nearby who had a generator. They were able to give the office some power for an hour or so, so we could get the paperwork done. The lights went out while we were signing, but that was OK because you don't need electricity to sign papers! We were so thankful, we were able to catch our flight and head on to Almaty.

On the plane to Almaty we met some Americans from California who had adopted a little boy, that was fun. And we met an American woman who married a man from Kazakhstan. She was very nice and is staying in Almaty until August 31st! I was hoping I would be able to catch up with her when I returned, but it looks like I am not returning until September 1st. Our little Nathanael also threw up on the flight home, just as we were landing in Almaty. Without a barf bag handy, Larry was quick and caught most of it in his hands until I could pull out a crumpled plastic cup I had in my purse. It is a rough ride in those old little planes!

When we landed we were asked if we wanted to stay in a hotel or apartment. Since we really loved our apartment in Petro we opted for the apartment, but asked real fast, does it have hot water??? We were told yes! We got there, I bathed Nathanael and we feel asleep since we were totally exhausted. And guess what happened in the morning when we got up to shower??? Yep, they turned off the hot water for a day! It was just our lot in life!

One thing that was wonderful that happened the one day we were in Almaty was Larry's chance meeting our church's missionaries. We did not think our church had missionaries in Kazakhstan, but when Larry went to the supermarket that morning he saw two young men in white shirts and ties. Now, all the store clerks were young men in white shirts and ties, so how Larry knew these were missionaries is truly remarkable, but he did, and they were just as surprised as he was. We took them to dinner that night. We found out that there are about 40 members in Almaty and we got the address and time for church. I was so excited to see them there because when I return I will know I have someone I can call if needed. Also, they will be able to teach my girls all about the church in their native tongue, and I will get to take the girls to church in their country so they know a little more about what they will be doing when they get to America! It was such a blessing and a miracle!!!! Can you imagine, we were only in Almaty one day, there are over 1,000,000 people that live there, and we meet them at one of the 1,000's of supermarkets, at the right time, at the right place. I know it was another tender mercy of the Lord. Especially because we were not even looking for them because we had thought they weren't there!

We had a little more drama after we got home. Little Maria (our daughter) was put in the hospital after we left. She was complaining of a stomach ache and then fainted. She has been in the hospital in Petro this whole week. We don't know when she will be released, but I am so thankful that Maria (our translator) is there and watching out for her! We think it is because her anxiety is so high. She told Maria that she had cried all night because she didn't want us to leave. I feel awful, but what can you do. I am just so grateful big Maria is there to comfort her and take care of her. She has been taking her fruits and juices and toys. We owe her so much! Maria will be OK, and I can't wait to see them on September 2nd!!!!!!

The Adoption Is Final

Today we finalized our adoption of Maria and Anastacia. They are know officially our children. The court went rather easy, we were very fortunate that Maria's sister agreed to watch the boys so we didn't have to take them. It was about 1 1/2 hour drive to the courthouse, the courthouse was under renovation so it was quite interesting being there. We waited in the hallway for awhile, and then we were called into the judge's office. They held the proceedings and it was over within a matter of 30 minutes! The judge didn't even ask us any questions, he said he knew he was going to approved so why bother, he just wanted to make sure the paperwork was correct.

Both orphanage directors attended and afterwards we went back to Poludino for a big feast! We didn't have a lot of time since our court was late in the afternoon, and the director told us that he just wanted us to come for tea, but when we got there they had prepared a big feast for us! Fish, chicken, pelemi, potatoes, it was great. I even ate the fish (which still had its head and eyes attached!!!!) Those who know me would be very proud. Actually it tasted very good. The directors joked a lot with each other, and the director from Maria's orphanage kept making sure we all were eating. He is the one who wouldn't let me leave unless I ate the fish! We had many toasts (as before!), and we really appreciate all the work and effort that these wonderful people go to for the children. The directors are great, they are loving and kind, and they have been so kind to us. We are grateful for our lawyer, Svetlana, who did so much for us. This was the first time we met her and she was lovely and kind too. And of course you all know how much we LOVE Maria and all that she has done for us.

We got to see the girls one last time. They are so cute!!! It wasn't as emotional with them as yesterday was, but when we got in the car and drove away, I couldn't help but cry. I wish so bad we didn't have to wait the extra time, especially since they are ours!!! But we have been told that this is a precaution because others have adopted and taken the kids and abused them. I guess they figure if you are willing to go through all this to adopt a child, you won't likely abuse them!

We fly out tomorrow, spend a day in Almaty and then home on Friday. I will come back August 30th to get the girls and bring them home. So this will be our last entry from Kazakhstan. I will post some more pictures of the orphanage and children when I get home so you all can see more of what we experienced! And then of course I will update again when I go back to get the girls.

Thanks to all of you for your comments, support, love and prayers. It was wonderful to check each day our email and comments, you all have been great! We love you!!!!!

Fun In The Forest

Wow!! Only two more days left here in Petropavlovsk. I wasn’t going to blog anymore until we had our court date tomorrow, but I had to tell you about our excursion to the forest. It was a lot of fun.

They eat a lot of mushrooms around here, and one of the reasons is because they grow out in the birch tree forests abundantly. You can buy along the side of the road almost anywhere you go. We ask Maria if we could go, so she and Sasha took us out Saturday. Maria told us that her family would go every year with her grandparents and take the whole day. They had a big car and they would pick so many mushrooms that it would fill the whole car. Then they would bottle them for the winter. We were kind of late in the season, and since so many people do it, we thought there might not be any mushrooms left. But we found some!!!

The forest is very beautiful, but there are lots of bugs, spiders, and spider webs. We had to make sure to wear long sleeves and long pants to avoid getting bit by mesquites (which we have had lots of experience with here). It was a haven for the boys! They found inch worms, a tarantula, a wasp nest (actually Sasha found the nest), and frogs!!! There were more interested in finding the bugs than the mushrooms, but once we started finding the mushrooms the boys got more excited. I didn’t realize how many varieties of mushrooms there are, and you have to know which ones are the right ones, because some can make you sick. Luckily, Maria was an expert, there were a few that were suspicious and she had us throw them out because she wanted to make sure we showed up for court on Tuesday!

They also had these berries in the forest (they have strawberry plants, but they were out of season!) that Nathanael and Caleb loved. They were a little sour, but I enjoyed them as well. Nathanael ate them all the way back to the city, while watching his little inch worm crawl all over him. It was quite a cute sight to see!

Afterwards we treated Sasha and Maria to lunch. Lunch is their big meal of the day here in Kazakhstan, and it usually involves meat. Sasha took us to a Georgia restaurant (not Georgia the state, but Georgia the country near Turkey!). It was really good. They served us this salad that had crushed walnuts all over the tomatoes and cucumbers – Mom, you would have loved it!! Also the meat was seasoned very well, and there was his bread pastry thing with cheese in it that we liked too! It was fun.

Yesterday we walked around the city one last time; we made it back to our apartment before the big rain came in. You never know when it is going to rain because the clouds come in within minutes, but once you see the clouds, you start for home, because they will burst on you!

Today we visited the girls and said our goodbyes. It is possible that we may see them tomorrow, but we didn’t know for sure. I was asking Anastacia if she would be scared to go with me on the plane, and she told me that she wasn’t scared of anything. I know that to be true! She is one spunky, adorable girl. Maria drew a picture of me and her outside our home. She had a very hard time saying goodbye. She had told the caretakers that today was the last day she would see us and she was going to cry all day. And I guess she had! She cried when we left, and it broke my heart. We drew her a calendar to mark off the days and put in a couple of extra days in case something goes wrong. That way she will be surprised if I come earlier. Maria is going to be able to visit them and after our visit we went to the market to buy them some little trinkets like nail polish, jewelry, sunglasses, etc…. so she would have something to bring to them. I don’t know if I want to visit them again tomorrow because it was so hard saying goodbye today. I don’t want to go through it again. Anastacia took it well; she didn’t seem affected at all. We gave them some dolls today and when we went back to their room, Maria was crying and Anastacia just said, “I’m not leaving my doll here.” She is such a character, she just makes me laugh!!!!!

I was thinking of some things that I will miss here, and then I started thinking of some things that I miss at home. I will be grateful to get back to my bed and pillow!! These beds are very hard, and the pillows are even harder! I also miss my washing machine and dryer. I don't think we ever really learned how to use the washing machine correctly because our clothes just don't seem to get very clean. I told Maria I was going to bring her back some food from America. Things like maple syrup with your pancakes (or blingies as they are called here), ranch dressing instead of mayonaise as salad dressing, MEXICAN FOOD!!!!! (I miss my Someburros!), chips and salsa, tortillas, and peanut butter. Most things you can find here but not these things. If I ever come back here again I will also bring bug repellant! All of us have been eaten alive by the mesquitos and our nighttime ritual is casing the apartment looking for mesquitos before we turn off the lights. When we get them we slap them and then you get blood all over you, because they are so full of our blood! Poor little Nathanael's bites have swollen up so large!

But I will miss things here too! I will miss being to walk anywhere I want, the fresh foods in the market, the peaceful times in the park, the friendly attitude everyone has (unless they are driving and then they are crazy!), the beautiful scenary in the countryside, the market!!!! Today we brought a gift to the little boy that our boys have been playing with that lives below us. We had Maria go with us so we could actually talk to them and find out their names, but he was taking a nap. When Larry and the boys went back he was so excited and the parents invited them in and they talked (communicated through sign language!!!) They even gave our boys a gift, which I didn't want them to do, but they are just so kind. Larry said that was one of his highlights, to be invited into their home for awhile. We will also miss the friends that we have made here, like Maria and Sasha!

Well, tomorrow is the big day. We hope everything goes well and the adoption goes through. Maria tells us to be ready, they could ask us anything, and you never know what they will ask, so you can’t really prepare. We told Maria that no matter what we said, she just tell them the right answer! In less than 24 hours we will have officially adopted two girls. It is amazing.

I tried to add some pictures today, but the computer is acting funny. I don’t know why some days I can add pictures easily and other days I can’t. So sorry!!!!

Tender Mercies

Today is Sunday and I have been thinking of the last month here in Kazakhstan. We have shared much with you and we have realized that many have been following our blog, some we know and love, and some we have never met. This is something we did not expect. I have felt to share some of the thoughts I have been having the last couple of days, but I would like all of you to realize that these thoughts are special and not to be taken lightly, they are real to me and important to me.

One of the apostles of our church, Elder David Bednar, gave a talk on the “Tender Mercies” of the Lord. These are events in our lives where the Lord blesses us sometimes without us even realizing it; these are the little miracles that come to each of us. This weekend, as we prepare to wrap up our stay here in Kazakhstan I was thinking of the many tender mercies the Lord has shown to us.

OUR GIRLS

Finding the children we did was truly a miracle from God. If someone would have told me that I would adopt older children (especially older than Caleb), I would have said absolutely not. That was not my intent in coming here. In fact I was already having a hard time adopting the 3 & 5 year olds that we originally were going to adopt. I don’t know how they work the system here in Petropavlovsk. You can be told there are no other children and then the next day there are children! Some people are told one thing, others another. The couple that came a few days after us were shown two girls (ages 6 & 8) at the same orphanage, you can ask, why didn’t they show us those girls??? Who knows!!! But what I do know is that Maria and Anastacia were meant to be in our family. As many of you have commented, it seems like we have been together forever. I know the events leading up to us meeting Anastacia were put in place so that we were humble enough to recognize who she was. We had to be humble enough (or desperate enough!) to drive 5 hours, and pay extra money to visit Maria in her orphanage. We were only the second couple to ever visit her orphanage! So although it seemed like a huge hassle it really was a tender mercy leading us and guiding us to “our” children.

THE TIMING

As many of you know we were hoping that we would come here in March. It was a huge struggle for me to wait the additional four months, and the constant not knowing when we were going was agonizing. But now that we are here I wished I had more faith in God’s timing because now is the perfect time for us to be here. For one, the girls were not available until the week we came (they still weren’t even on the list!). Second, the weather here has been the best for ME. I know I complained that when we first got here it was really hot, and it was! And then it got cold, but if we were here in March there would have been tons of snow and you all know how I feel about snow. I would not have walked around the city and enjoyed the wonderful things about it. We would not have gone to the park, and I would have been especially miserable with no hot water if it were 20 degrees outside! We have the fresh vegetables, the green countryside, and this past week the weather has been absolutely PERFECT!!! In addition the boys only had to miss the first week of school. I was able to attend our girls’ camp and I was able to accomplish everything I felt I needed to accomplish the past six months. Also, in just another few weeks we are told it will be getting colder.

OUR TRANSLATOR

We have been absolutely blessed with our translator Maria (Masha!). She is kind and sympathetic, and I think she goes the extra mile in showing us the wonderful things about her city. She has taken us to the museum, shopping, and she and Sasha even took us to look for mushrooms out in the forest. I know that she played a very important part in helping our little Maria feel comfortable enough to agree to come with us. Without her (big Maria, as the boys call her), I don’t know if she (little Maria) would have come. We feel very comfortable around her and so do the children, which for me is very important. I am so grateful that she has agreed to visit the girls while we come back home, it is a great comfort to me to know someone is looking out after them.

OUR APARTMENT

When I first got here I did not want to stay in this apartment. I was VERY upset that they had not arranged for us to be at the Skiff Hotel as we had requested. But after being here and living here, I am so grateful that we are in our apartment rather than at the Skiff. First of all, I think we have experienced more of the culture by shopping here and living as the people really do. We have been able to associate with the people at the park; the kids have played with the other children here in the apartment. We have been able to make our own food, which has been quite a blessing because the food is different and every once in awhile it is nice to have something that tastes like it came from home (ie: Larry made tortillas and we had cheese crisps!). The apartment is bigger than a hotel room. We have a separate kitchen/dining area, a family room and a bedroom. We can get away from each other when we need to, the kids can play, and we can be in a different room reading or what not. We have the internet connection, we have a washing machine, and we have everything we need. I love this apartment. When we complained about no hot water, they installed a little hot water heater in the shower. When we complained about not being able to call certain numbers, they accommodated on this as well. We have been well cared for!!!!

Another reason we wanted to stay at the Skiff was to associate with other Americans, and we have found out that there is only one American couple at the Skiff right now. We have met them already because they go to Poludino as we do. We have enjoyed the time we have spent with them, but we don’t feel we missed out on the camaraderie of being at the Skiff. This apartment has been a great blessing, and despite my whining and begging, I am glad that God in his wisdom made it possible for us to be here and that we listened to him because that first weekend we were going to check in ourselves but felt we just needed to wait a little bit longer. I am so glad we did!! (Not to mention the 1000’s of $$$$ we saved being here instead!)

THE BOYS

You all know how spunky our boys can be. We debated whether or not to take them many times. Especially with the cost of the tickets being so expensive, but every time we thought about it, in our hearts we felt we needed them to be here. How grateful we listened to our hearts and not to our minds or wallet! Being here all together has been great for our family. It has been great for the boys. Caleb has especially really grown here, and we have been able to have conversations and learning experiences that would not have happened elsewhere. I am grateful we have been able to bring them!!! We are also grateful for how well behaved they have been this trip. I know some here would not think they are well behaved, but for those of you who know them, they have been INCREDIBLE!!!!!!

THE BOOK

Just before leaving I was trying to find the book “The Hiding Place” to read on the plane and during our layovers. Many ladies in my church were reading it this month and I thought it would be great. I couldn’t find it anywhere! I went to at least three bookstores, so I was kind of discouraged. Elder Groberg’s book “The Other Side of Heaven” kept coming to my mind. I had bought it a few years ago after seeing the movie and always wanted to read it, but never got around to it. So last minute I threw it in. That book saved me the first week we were here. With all the troubles we were having I am so grateful that I was reading that book. It inspired faith in me and helped me overcome the difficulties I was facing. It was inspiration from a loving Heavenly Father for me to think of that book. It was exactly what I needed to be reading at the time.

KOSTUYA

This may seem like a little thing but it was huge to us. The first day we were here we were left in our apartment not knowing anything. Our driver, Sasha (who we like very much) picked us up at the airport and tried to show us a little but he spoke no English. We had two days before Maria would contact us and we had no idea where she was (later we found out that she was out of town on holiday!). That night we prayed for help, it was a discouraging night. We felt lost and alone. Larry specifically prayed that someone would be placed in our path that spoke English. Well, first thing in the morning, Kostuya, a bright young man knocked on our door and he spoke English, very fluent English. It was a direct answer to our prayer. He was a friend of Sasha’s and he willingly agreed to help us out and show us around that first day. We tried to pay him that day, but he wouldn’t have it. He was a wonderful blessing.

FAITH

We have been blessed with a tremendous amount of faith. I know many have commented on how they have admired our faith, but it is not us, we have been blessed with this gift. But it has been remarkable what I have learned by not knowing what I would find when I got here, and solely relying on God. We also are so grateful for the faith of two little girls who are so willing to leave all they know and come with us, complete strangers, to a strange land, and learn everything new again. We get the feeling that they are leaving not because they want to get away from the orphanage, rather, they seem to really enjoy our family and want to be with us as much as we want to be with them. I feel that they were being prepared before we ever came and that there are things that occurred that we may never know.

PEACE

Traveling halfway around the world, with two small boys, to a country that you know nothing about it is a scary thing. But trying to decide if you want to bring two other children into your home without being able to communicate with them and just by seeing them alone is especially worrisome. This would change our life forever!!! We didn’t want to make the wrong decision. How grateful I am for the first time I saw Anastacia that she reminded me of Nathanael. But more importantly how grateful I am for the peace and knowledge, through the gift of the Holy Ghost, that these are the right children for our family. How can anyone make such an important decision without the peace that comes from God knowing you are doing the right thing??? There have been times that I have gotten a little nervous, a little discouraged, a little scared, but as soon as I would read from the scriptures and pray, a peaceful warm feeling would come to me and I knew this is the right thing. Throughout this whole experience, since being here, I have been blessed with a great sense of peace. This city, to me, is just peaceful. I feel that I have learned to trust the Lord more, to just “let go and let God,” as many say.

There are other tender mercies and I could go on and on, but I think the point that I want to share with everyone is that God does really answer our prayers, he really does know what is best for us, and he really is blessing us even when we don’t know or feel that He is. Larry has said on this trip, “God is a good driver.”

As I think about the whole adoption process and the times I was about to give up, I really did feel that God was ignoring me, there were times I really felt that He didn’t love me as much and that he was purposely putting roadblocks in place to punish me for unknown reasons. Yet now looking back, I realize that he was putting everything into place for these great blessings. God does not ignore us; He LOVES us. That is the greatest knowledge I have learned on this trip and that is what I want to share with all of you. If any of you are discouraged or feeling this way, please know that God is there to help you too. He is sending "tender mercies" and we just need to open our eyes to see.

I hope to remember it in future times when I am discouraged, overwhelmed because things “aren’t working like they are suppose to”, or just plain tired of waiting for my prayers to be answered. I hope to remember to have faith and leave it in God’s hands. He will send the “tender mercies” to sustain me and take care of me, I just need to look for them in my life and remember …. Always remember….that He Loves Me (And You!) and all that we go through is truly for our good.

We Love Petropavlovsk

Today I thought I would share a little more about our experiences in this wonderful town of Petropavlovsk.

As I had said before, most people live in one of the apartments. You get to know your neighbors pretty well, and if we could communicate with ours I know we would be great friends! There is a lady next door that always opens her door when she hears the kids come up the stairs (ours are the loudest kids, so I know she knows it is us when we come!), and because it is four flights of stairs the kids are usually up there fast waiting for us to huff and puff our way up! She just starts talking to them and smiling. Who knows what she is saying but she is very nice.

Outside our apartment, and most I think, there are play areas for the children. It is usually deserted during the day, but around 4:00 there are lots of people coming and going, and the children are out playing, the babushka’s are sitting on the benches talking, and there is quite a lot of activity going on. Although there are a lot out and about, everyone is peaceful and quiet and it is so enjoyable to be outside and read and watch people. As I watch the people coming and going I am reminded of people I know at home. It is funny how you can see someone half way across the world and think of someone else. The Babushka’s are my favorite to watch, they all wear these scarves on their heads and most are usually in dresses. It is just as you would imagine!

Everyone walks here. There are lots of cars but I have wondered where they park their cars. Today I found out that there are these little tin shed garages, so some people have to walk ½ hour or so to get to their car! So usually you walk unless you are going far distances. Also you must be on guard while you are walking, because the cars seem to have more of the right away than the pedestrians. We had to get use to the lights also, they will flash yellow just before they turn green, instead of just before turning red, and when the do not walk sign comes on, it truly means do not walk, you have NO time left, and the cars don’t care if you are still in the road, they are going! Larry almost got hit today on a little sidewalk while at the market where mostly people were walking. He had no inclination that a car would be making its way down the narrow path. The mirror of the car actually hit him and the driver starting yelling at him, he just stood there and shrugged his shoulders.

One of the popular things to eat here is “Sheshshalee” (and I know that is not how you spell it, and I am still trying to learn how to say it!!), but basically there are these outdoor grills set up all over town, and they are shish-ka-bobs. There is chicken, pork or beef, and they eat them right off the stick like a corndog. They also put ketchup on them and we found that it is one of the favorites of the girls! Yesterday when we took the girls for the day, the orphanage was very specific in how we were to feed them. They weren’t allowed to have soda or candy and we were to make sure they rested during their nap time. We had them “rest” while watching Tom & Jerry, and we figured the ice cream was their dairy supplement, and the chips were their vegetables!!! We told them to make sure they told the caretakers that we fed them “good” food!

All joking aside though, the people here eat very healthy. Everything you get off the streets is fresh from their gardens, the tomatoes are vine ripened and wonderful!!! Same with the fresh raspberries and melons. At the orphanage they eat everything from scratch as well. For the luncheon they served us, they told us the lamb was from a donated ewe that someone brought last week! The children help with planting and tending the garden, and everything is healthy. We have been spoiled having everything so fresh! Tomorrow Sasha and Maria are going to take us to the forest to pick our own mushrooms and maybe raspberries!!!!

The children here are very well behaved. I may have mentioned this before, but I am just so amazed, especially at the orphanage. I really believe the diet and the structure have a lot to do with how the children behave and many in America would benefit in putting these practices into place. I think that is why they were so specific with us. But I think it takes more disciplined parents, and we weren’t even able to follow their guidelines for the one day we had them!! Although, I was really good to not buy them the Soda and the Cotton Candy that they begged for!!! I am learning though, and this has taught me a lot.

We got to visit the girls again today. We weren’t able to go in the morning because Maria met with our judge (by the way, she said it went well and even the judge commented on how much all the children look alike!). So we went this afternoon. The girls are always so happy to see us and come in with huge smiles on their faces. One of the favorite sports here is Football (which in America it is called Soccer). Boys are always playing it downstairs in the park. Since it is time to sign up for the Fall League in Soccer I asked the girls if they wanted to play soccer. Nastya immediately said “Da” which is “yes”, but Maria was hesitant. I asked her if she would rather do gymnastics, which brought a huge smile. She then told Nastya that soccer was for boys, so then Nastya said she didn’t want soccer. But when I told her that girls play soccer too, she went back to soccer and made a “in your face” look at Maria!!! They definitely act like sisters, but they are so different in personalities. I got special permission to have Nastya play on Nathanael’s team so she is very excited! And Maria is excited to do gymnastics; she is constantly showing me her “moves”.

Today I also brought a book, first 500 words, with lots of pictures for the girls to get familiar with. I am hoping if they need something they can point to one of the pictures. One page is of a doctor’s office and I told them girls they would be going to the doctor and the dentist. Nastya immediately told me she didn’t need to she was perfectly fine. Another page was of a grocery store with different foods, and another of a kitchen. One is of a birthday party and I was telling Maria that we would have a birthday party for her when we got home because her birthday is September 16th! She said she had never had a birthday party before so she was very excited. I told her she may not have that many friends of her own yet, but that she had tons of cousins, and neighbors that would make a great birthday party!

I also was showing them different foods and asked them what their favorite was. Nastya told me she loved all food!! And judging from what I have observed I am pretty sure that is true. Yesterday while eating the Sheshshalee they brought a napkin full of raw onions. She just started downing them like they were candy!!!! I about died!!!!! Now I will have to buy onions!!! And when I asked her what she liked best about yesterday she said “the food!” But she did say that she had a stomach ache last night when going to bed. Many have asked how to say her name, you would say it “NAHS T (like the letter t) YA” with the emphasis on the NAHS.

Maria is my story teller. When we first met Maria her teacher at the orphanage told us that she made up wonderful stories and told the children about her dreams all the time. We are starting to get a sense of what her teacher meant. Sometimes when Maria is talking Masha will just look at me like you won’t believe this, and then tell me what she said. I think most of the time the stories are true (I think! Who knows!), but they are quite interesting and sometimes exaggerated. But they are always quite entertaining!!! Maria is also very coordinated and will be our computer whiz. She already has figured out the game boys, she saw the laptop while she was here and insisted on us showing it to her, she grasped it very well, she is great with the soccer ball, plays badminton and is very good, and she is learning very quickly. She is a very smart little girl. We are still trying to get information regarding their past but nobody seems to know anything. Maria has many stories about her Dad but never about her Mother. I was told our lawyer, Svetlana (we haven’t met her yet but Masha talks to her all the time!) has some information and will bring it when she comes for our court date on Tuesday.

We talked some more about us leaving and then coming back. They both have accepted it and are doing well. Today Maria said the prayer again, but this time Masha was here to interpret. She thanked God for us coming to visit today, and she thanked God for getting to come be part of our family. It was very sweet! We also got permission to have Masha come and visit the girls while we are gone. That will be great, and I might even have her bring the girls to Almaty and meet me there. Sometimes it is hard to get a flight from Almaty to Petro (as we know because we had to drive 4 extra hours when we first got here!), or you can’t get a flight the same day you fly in (as we know because we will be spending an extra day in Almaty when we leave!) so having her bring the girls might save me on time and money. We will see how it goes.

All in all we are starting to get sad that it is coming to a close this next week. It has been so fun to be here for us. Caleb says he wants to live here and loves it, but our little Nathanael is getting very homesick. He has been having a harder time with the adjustment and sometimes doesn’t communicate his feelings as well as Caleb does. But today I knew he was frustrated so we just talked and the thing he wanted to talk about was Tippie, our dog. I knew he missed home. He misses his dog, and he misses his friends, and he can’t wait to start school. I think I will have a hard time with them going back to school after being with them so much this trip. I know this sounds crazy but I don’t want them to have to go to school as soon as we get home!

Oh, one more story I have to share about Caleb. Yesterday at the park we had Caleb and Maria ride these little quads (50 horse power). Because Caleb has gone out many times with his cousins on quads he was very confident and felt that he could drive fast and stand up and do all sorts of things. Well that was at least until he took a corner too fast and crashed!!!! He went over the protective tires and I think scared himself, and all those watching. It also humbled him a bit and he stopped “hot dogging” it!

A Glimpse Into The Future

Today was our first full day with all four children and now tonight I have a headache and want to go to bed!!! So this will be short with no pictures!

Actually it was a wonderful day, but trying to pay and give attention to four chatterboxes is very difficult. I got my first dose of what it will be like in another month. I am glad I have a month to prepare!

We were able to have the girls come to Petropavlovsk because we needed to get their passport pictures. The orphanage was kind enough to let us have them the whole day. After the pictures I took them shopping to get an outfit and tennis shoes. The definately have a certain flare as Bev described in her comment. They love bright colors!!! Which at one point I thought they would love my favorite bright color, lime green, but guess what?? That is the only bright color they don't like! But we finally settled on a hot pink skirt for Nastya and hot pink sweat pants for Maria. At first they had the same top except Nastya's was in white and Maria's was in pink, but I decided that Maria does not look very good in pink, so we changed it to white. (It just doesn't go with her hair color and complexion!) They were so excited to pick out their own clothes, I think it was the first time they have ever done that. We bought little purses, and pens and pads of paper to put in the purses. It didn't take them long to start asking for everything, and it didn't take long for us to start saying "Nyet!" which means "No."

After shopping we came back to the apartment and Larry made lunch. He made french fries which the girls loved, but they didn't like Ranch dressing or fry sauce! We played around here for awhile, they drew, watched Tom & Jerry (their favorite), played the gameboys, and then we left for the park!

The park was so much fun. It was the first time these girls have ever ridden any kind of ride. They loved it. One of the rides are these little quads, that are real quads but miniature sized. We let Maria and Caleb ride them and told Maria that her Aunt Kim and Aunt Tammy owned big ones of these and we go riding a lot! She was so excited and said that was her favorite thing of the whole day!!! We had a lot of fun riding all the rides. The kids got along so well!!!!! Caleb and Maria are really hitting it off and were together all day. They held hands as they walked and talked each other into certain rides. They did have their first fight on the bumper cars when they fought over who got to drive. Maria won! Even Nathanael started loosening up today and interacting more with the girls. He and Anastacia would just jabber with each other on the rides, and neither knew what the other was saying, it was quite entertaining to watch.

Larry wanted me to include that his favorite attraction at the park is watching the security guards walk around with their machine guns in hand! Not what you would find at Disneyland.

After the park we came back to the apartment and played with the kids. The girls wanted to do my hair and put make-up on me. Even Caleb got into the act. They gave me a great hairdo, simliar to the ones they did themselves in previous pictures! I curled their hair as well, and put makeup on them. It was fun!!!

But the highlight of the day for us was when we knelt to pray before the girls were to go back, Maria really wanted to say the prayer. (As I said before we seem to be able to communicate pretty well!) Masha wasn't here to translate for us, so we have no idea what she said, but Maria did say the prayer and it was wonderful. I was so proud of her. Larry said that near the end of the prayer she stop, so he opened his eyes, she looked at me and I guess she was done, but because I didn't respond, she bowed her head again and said "Amen". She is really a quick learner.

We are going back in the morning to visit at the orphanage! I can't believe we have less than a week left here in Petropavlovsk. We love this place and in some ways we don't want to go home! There is a certain peace we feel here that will be hard to leave.

A Day To Celebrate

Today, our 14-day bonding period ended!!! It is a great milestone for us and we celebrated with the Orphanage Asst. Director with a nice luncheon. I need to tell you more about the luncheon later!! Things really have been going well for us.

I know I haven’t written for awhile, so where do I begin. I’ll start with the weekend. Maria arranged for us to go see “Pirates of the Caribbean” part II here at the movie theatre. They used to play movies in English but they no longer do, so we went to see it in Russian. For those of you who know my boys, you know how much they LOVE pirates. Maybe this movie is a bit much for them, it was for me in some parts, but they looked forward to it all day Saturday, and it was a great bargaining chip for good behavior! It was quite interesting seeing a movie in Russian, but amazingly I think we got the gist of the movie! Of course, we want to see it again to hear the jokes and one liners that Captain Jack Sparrow has, but it was fun. Caleb constantly kept asking me “What did he say?” And I would have to say “I Don’t Know!!!” Movies are the same here as in America except there was not a concession stand, you bring your own food (I would love that, and not feel so guilty sneaking it in like I do in America), there are assigned seats like a concert or play, and as soon as the movie was over, everyone gets up and leaves. They even stop the movie before the credits end.

Sunday it rained and blew very hard. The weather has turned cold here. I am glad that I brought some sweatshirts for the boys and a jean jacket for myself. We are wearing the same thing everyday but that is OK. We stayed inside all day. We did have Sacrament Meeting (Caleb & I were the speakers!), and Larry had a primary for us all. We talked about Charity and it went over very well. I wish I had the new August Friend, because we have exhausted all the stories from the June & July Friend magazine.

We visit the girls every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. We leave at 9:00 each morning and return back around 1:00. It takes about one hour to get there, so we usually are with the girls for about two hours. Monday we took them back their jeans that we had exchanged. Maria tried hers on and said that they were much more comfortable. I thought that having two sizes too small for me would not be very comfortable either! We also took some magnetic dress up doll toys that we all played with. We taught the girls how to play Duck, Duck, Goose and they loved it. It is so fun to hear them say English words with their accent! We also taught them “Heads, Shoulders, Knees and Toes” and “Once Their Was A Snowman”. They had a lot of fun with the songs.

On Monday I also felt impressed that we needed to let the girls know how the next month would play out and to let them know that we were going back to America and then I would come back and get them. Nastya took the news very well. She really has fun with everything and she said that that was what happened with other children so no big deal. Maria on the other hand, had a harder time with it. She started crying, which then started me crying, and I felt horrible. I told Masha to make sure Maria understood that it was not us that decided this, that it was the court that was making us wait. She does ask a lot when she is going to get to come with us. I think Nastya understands it more because she has been in the Poludino orphanage and she has seen the process. The caretakers and directors really talk to the children and prepare them for what is going to happen. Whereas Maria came from a different orphanage and has had no experience with the process. I promised her that I would come back. I kinda felt that maybe she had been promised this before and had been let down by her natural mother, but who knows. I just know she was very upset and sad. After awhile we were trying to get her cheered up and I asked if there was anything I could bring her to help pass the time away and help her be happy! Guess what she asked for???? A Game Boy like Nathanael’s!! They learn so fast don’t they???

We also decided on middle names for the girls. We are going to keep these names as their first names (sometimes people change the children’s names, but because they are older and we like the names we are keeping them). We wanted to give them a middle name that would tie them to our family. Both our boys have names after ancestors. After giving it a lot of thought, we decided to name them after their grandmothers. We showed them pictures of their “Babushka’s” and told them how much they loved these girls already and told them what special grandmothers they had. Their names will be Maria Naomi Kettenring and Anastacia Darlene Kettenring. They were very excited.

Today we taught the girls how to play spoons. Maria caught on very quickly, but I am not sure where Nastya’s head is. She understood the game and would tell everyone to grab a spoon, but she wouldn’t get one herself! Or we would keep telling her to keep the cards that matched so she would get four of a kind, but she just kept passing whatever cards she wanted to Caleb. She is so funny!! I have decided that she reminds me of someone in the family. I don’t know if anyone else will see the resemblance, but she reminds me of Robyn (our niece in Utah)!! She is vivacious, fun, outgoing, sweet, funny, and definitely keeps you on your toes. Sometimes you don’t know where her mind is, or how her mind works, but she is endearing. She has an older sister who tries to keep her in line, and she will listen to Maria, but then go ahead and do her own thing anyway. She also has taken it upon herself to keep Nathanael in line, which worries me at times, but I know all will go well. She is such a character! I knew she reminded me of someone and when I had this realization of who it was just made me love her even more!

The girls have really bonded well with Larry and I, and today we wanted to focus more on the boys. Last time we were there Maria asked Masha if the boys could stay with her and just the girls go with Mama and Papa. I told her she had to get used to it and she laughed, I think she was joking. Today they really did get along well, especially Maria and Caleb. I think there will be a special bond between them. I had Maria go up and get Nastya’s photo album and she took Caleb’s hand and had him go with her. That made us very happy! Nathanael was having a hard time because he doesn’t quite know how to play with the girls. Nastya gets frustrated with him easily and goes and does her own thing. Today we had them play soccer together because we are going to put them on the same team when we get home. They did quite well and then started playing together more. Nathanael still doesn’t know how to say Anastacia’s name and calls her the “little” girl, and Nastya still doesn’t know how to say Nathanael’s name (there is no “th” sound in Russian). So ….. well see how it all goes. I think they will all get along well together.

Maria kept asking for her game boy today. It is amazing how well we communicate with each other. Masha was commenting on that as well. I have been so worried about communication with them, but it seems that I know what they are saying to me, and they can understand me. God is hearing my prayers. Masha did find an electronic game here in Petropavlovsk that played four different games, and had headphones. Guess how much??? 370 tenga ($3.70)!!!! It is not a game boy but an answer to my prayers. We also bought them some cute skirts and I tried to do their hair today with some clips. I realized how poorly out of practice I am. Their hair is short, so I will need to get some ideas of how to do short hair. On Monday the girls wanted to look very nice for us when we arrived. The took extra care to pick out their outfits and to wear the bows I had bought them. They told their caretakers to make their hair like this (see picture). It was so cute (and a little silly looking) that I had to laugh! They were so proud of themselves. That is why I tried a different style on Wednesday, but mine was not much better.

We have been able to pray with them every time we go. I am so grateful for that. Each time they are very respectful and it is like second nature to them. For me that is so important as well. I want them to have a strong belief and faith in God. It is going to be so hard for me to leave them. We have asked if Masha can come and visit them while I am gone and she has asked her boss. They are thinking about it and will get back to us.

Oh, and one more exciting thing we found here in Petropavlovsk, the MARKET! It is customary that you give gifts to those that have helped you with the adoption process, like the orphanage directors, the caretakers, the judge, our lawyer, etc… Maria was taking me around to buy these gifts and I saw this large area with lots of little stores. I asked what it was, so she took me there. I was so excited! Masha couldn’t believe I was so excited about this place, but for my family, if you imagine a Mexican swap meet, but 100 times larger, that is what the market is! There are hundreds of little shops (the size of a small room), each different filled with purses, or shoes, or clothes, or toys. You could spend hours and hours there! Masha told me to hold on tight to my purse because there are a lot of thieves there. I told her we had to come back and bring Larry. She even said that the people will bargain with you on price like in Mexico. She couldn’t understand why I thought such a place was so neat, I told her Americans love to find good deals and buy anything cheap! It was just fun.

We also got good news that we are allowed to bring Maria and Nastya to Petropavlovsk tomorrow to get their passports pictures. The Asst. Director likes us so she agreed to let them stay the entire day. I am so excited!!! Now we can take them to the park and take them shopping and really have some quality time.

Finally I need to tell you about the lunch today. We didn’t realize that this would happen today because usually you have a luncheon after the court date. But the orphanage director is out of town and the Asst. Director wanted to celebrate with us. We thought that we would give the Asst. Director her gift. We had found out that she didn’t have a camera and we thought that would be so great for her to have one. She is genuinely interested in the children and loves them. She needs a camera to remember them all. I am glad we brought the camera today since she had prepared this wonderful meal. (Also it helped in her approval for us to get the girls tomorrow!) Anyway, here in Kazakhstan, and especially in the smaller towns like Poludino, it is customary to have many toasts. There was another couple there and she poured them wine and the husband vodka. She was drinking vodka as well. You would not believe how many toasts we had!! Everyone had to give one, then we toasted the orphanage director, then the children, then the families adopting the children, then the president of Kazakhstan, and it goes on and on… The husband kept saying that that was enough, and she would promise that this would be the last one, and then she would have one more. It was so funny. I know the boys were intently watching Larry and I to see if we would drink the wine given to us. Even though we told them we didn’t drink she still poured us a glass because she felt that it would be rude of her not to pour us some. Anyway, I am thinking the husband wished he had admitted he didn’t drink and we all agreed that the Asst. Director could drink anyone under the table. We stayed there for a long time and talked. She is so kind and nice. Nathanael was a little restless, but finally fell asleep, and Caleb did so well just sitting there and listening. The girls had gone back to their groups so they weren’t there. I was so thankful for how well the boys did. Larry toasted that the country is great, the people are wonderful, and the children are beautiful (very profound I thought for someone who doesn’t toast much!), and I toasted to our wonderful translator Maria. What would we do without her. She has been reading our blog too, so Maria – you are so wonderful and we have grown to love you very much. Thank you so much for everything and for taking care of us so well!!!!!! This is Maria and her apartment is the top one of the building behind her.

Oh, there is so much more but I think I have written a novel already! Thank you for all your prayers and support back home. You are all wonderful. We are reading all your comments; although we may not respond to each of you, we really appreciate your comments. We love you!!

PICTURES!!!!

Since it is the weekend and cheaper for our internet use, I thought I would post some pictures! Enjoy!





This is the kids playing outside the orphanage, the first window on the 2nd floor is where their group sleeps and eats.










Maria is a beautiful girl, very sweet and both of them are very loving.













We visited on bath day last Friday, we thought it was on Saturay. They asked us to please stay and wait for them, they were back in like 5 minutes! They are holding their favorite new toys, Nathanael's game boy and our digital camera!












This picture really captures Anastacia's personality! She is such a fun free spirit!

Some More Disappointments

I guess God has decided we needed to practice more faith. This week we got some bad news, but not anything we cannot deal with. First of all we were officially informed that we would not be allowed to adopt this little boy in the baby house. It is discouraging but must be the will of God, because the excuse they gave us is not valid because we know of a couple that adopted two sisters in the same orphanage our girls are in, and a baby from the baby house that were not siblings just last month! Oh well, it is not meant to be. We felt that prior anyway.

Secondly, we found out that for whatever reason our court date is not set until August 8th. That is a week later than it should have been. It is discouraging news, and Larry is worried about missing so much work, but what can we do. We are grateful for his assistant back at work who is filling in for him, and everyone else at Princeton. They all have been so supportive. Shannon even rescheduled her own vacation for us, thank you so much!!! He will be working hard to catch up.

I will post some more pictures this weekend. It takes so long to download on this dial up internet! But they are so cute, I want everyone to see them!

Caleb has been having a hard time, and this adoptin process has brought up some feelings in him about adoption. He just wants us to be normal and for all of the children (him included) to have come out of my tummy like everyone else. We were talking about how sometimes Heavenly Father doesn't always works things the way you want, like him being my natural child and coming out of my tummy, but the end result is what counts. That is that we are all together as a family forever! We have to remember this as well. It doesn't matter how long it takes, or how much money it costs, he will make sure the end results happens, and that is we will be together. The girls will come home....eventually. Sometimes I wish he made it a little bit more easier though!

We will be home probably on August 11th. Then I will return the last week of August to come and bring home the girls. I really wanted to stay here, I love it here, but after prayerful consideration we decided that I was needed at home. Larry will be working a lot of late nights to catch up, the boys need to get in school, and they will miss the first week of school and need to catch up. I know the girls will be OK, I know the Lord will bless them and they will be surrounded by angels, but I still cried last night thinking about leaving them. That will be so hard for me. We will leave the girls in the Lord's hands.

We have had some great visits this week with the girls. Today we had our first family prayer. We talked about God and how we pray everyday as a family. We knelt and prayed and Anastacia started giggling a little in the prayer. Boy, did Maria scold her afterwards. I was impressed with her reverance and the importance it was for her. It was a really neat experience to kneel down and pray with these girls, and we had Masha translating for us.

Maria has been singing for us and she loves doing gymnastics for us. She is always going down in the splits! Nastya is just so cute with her dark hair and blue eyes. She is constantly giving us hugs and kisses, and today even Nathanael let her hug him! Small bits of progress are great!!!!!

They also wore their new clothes today and were so proud of them. But I realized that I had mistaken on their sizes. Maria is bigger than I thought!!! She is actually a size 8 and maybe could wear 9, and Anastacia is a size 7 going on 8. I was able to take back their clothes today which I am grateful for because they don't do returns here in Petropavlovsk. But I had been that store many times, and bought clothes for the girls and the boys. They thought I was a good customer so they exchanged for me.

We love being here in Petropavlovsk. The weather is really strange as it will be hot, then cold, then sunny and then rainy all within an hour! I am very excited because right now they are installing a little hot water heater for our shower!!!! I guess they got tired of us always complaining about taking cold showers. They told us the hot water would not be turned on again in our apartment until August 1st! They are good to appease us spoiled Americans.

I will post some more pictures this weekend. It takes so long and it is cheaper on the weekend. We have been getting some great pictures, I wish I could show them all to you!!!!!

Thanks to All Of You

First of all, I want to thank all of you for the support and prayers you have given to us and our family. We are just in awe how supportive and wonderful all of you are! Thank you for your comments, we love them, and thank you for everything!!!!! Sometimes you never know what you have until something like this, and this has made us feel so wonderful to have so many friends and family interested in our journey.

We have been getting to visit the girls, we went today and brought them some new clothes. They were so excited!!! We also brought some hair bows that Bryanna Slade and I bought before we came, and Bryanna, they loved them. Maria told me that she wants to grow her hair long like mine. Both of their hair is wavy and thick, it is beautiful. We bought them some jeans and jean jackets to match. They were very cute. The weather has changed drastically here, from very hot to very cold. So it hard to know what to buy. Masha (our translator, I just found out it is Masha, not Marsha, that is short for Maria!) told us it may be hot again next week. I also found some adorable jean skirts, it was so much fun to shop for girls!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Maria was looking through our pictures on our camera of us shopping the day before for them. She saw a picture of me holding up a very frilly yellow dress and got so excited, so started kissing and hugging me. I think she thought I had bought it for her, so I had Masha tell her that I will buy her a pretty dress, but I hadn't bought that one! It was so cute.

Today we had the girls draw pictures of our family. Maria was so excited because she drew all of us and then wrote all of our names. It was really cute. I have no idea what Nastya drew because our translator wasn't with us at the time. But the amazing thing is these kids don't care that we don't understand them, they keep talking like we know everything they are saying to us. It is so cute, especially Nastya. Maria is now excited to learn English, she wants to learn Gymnastics and is constantly doing the splits for us, and backbends. Both of them are very loving and give lots of hugs and kisses.

We brought snacks for them, and brought them in a little cooler to keep them cold. We brought them juice boxes and yogurt with candies on top. The girls didn't eat their yogurt so I kept asking Masha if they liked it or not. Finally Maria told us that it was too cold! They don't eat things cold here, and I had to laugh. I have two little boys who will not eat anything hot, and now I have two little girls who will not eat anything cold!

One thing that did touch my heart was when we were leaving Maria started tearing up a little. She said that she cried yesterday because we didn't come see her. She is so precious and I can tell she will be very sensitive. I really admire her faith and willingness to come with us and be part of our family. I am also amazed at how willing they are to accept us. I know that God has definately worked on their hearts to soften them towards us. I did ask Maria about her mother before, but she didn't want to talk about it. She said that when she did she cried. I could sense I would need to be very careful about this subject and let her tell me when she is ready.

We took the girls to their group and talked to her teacher for a little bit. The children are really cute there and it breaks my heart to know there are so many there. I don't know why they are not available for adoption, but there are so many. I want to bring all of them toys, and I am sure they feel bad when these girls come back with all their clothes and toys. I wish I could buy these things for all of them!!!

Many of you have been asking what you can buy for the girls, what sizes they wear, and what we need. They will only come with the clothes we buy here, so we will need everything. There has also been emails about many of you wanting to do "showers" or something. We appreciate that so much, but I think we only need one, so maybe you all in Gilbert can coordinate something together. It is hard to know their sizes, but judging from boy's sizes, which I hope are the same as girl's sizes, Maria is a little smaller than Caleb, she probably wears a size 7, but maybe could go up to an 8. Nastya, we will probably call her Anastacia when we get to America, was wearing pants that said size 6, so she is probably 6 going on 7. Maria's foot is 20 centimeters long (I don't think I will ever learn the metric system here), and Nastya had on shoes that were size 2, I am hoping that was an American size, but her foot is just a little smaller than Maria's. They are almost the same size!

Another sidenote, after the visits we came home, ate lunch, and then Masha took us to get the boy's hair cut. It only cost about $4, and they do such a great job. They take the time, shampoo it, blow dry it, and really take their time! It was a fun experience. While we were walking home we got caught in a huge downpour thunderstorm. We were soaked all the way though! As I said before, the weather here changes fast and you never know what to expect!

We Are Family!!!!

Today (I had a problem with downloading our pictures, so now it was actually yesterday, Monday) we got our first normal visit with the girls without any complications. I was looking forward to today all weekend. I really hoped it went well and that we would feel validated in our decision to adopt these little girls. Not only did we feel validated, but we can’t imagine our lives without them! Today was WONDERFUL!!!!!

They came in very excited and gave us each a hug and kiss. Maria went over to Marsha and held her hand and I was worried once again that she would not bond with us. But I showed her the new backpack and Barbie doll we bought and she was very excited with it, even more so than the first one we gave her. Maybe because she didn’t realize the first one was actually hers to keep. Anyway, she opened it up and brushed its hair and put on its shoes. It was cute to watch. Nastya started roughhousing with the boys right away and ever once in awhile stopped and made comments like I haven’t opened mine, or mine is still in the box. I think she is our tomboy and Maria is our little princess.

We brought some molding clay that my friend Bev had bought for us. It was such a great idea! It really helped us interact together. We all made different things and it was a lot of fun. The girls really started opening up to us. Well Maria started opening up; Nastya was open from the beginning! We were really having a lot of fun together. We gave them some Bath & Body works lotion and spray and that was a big hit as well. We really enjoyed our time together and we really bonded. I told them that their Babuskas (grandmothers) wanted lots of pictures so we started taking pictures. They loved the camera and kept grabbing it and taking pictures of their own. It was fun for them to see the immediate result! The cute thing was they didn’t know how to aim and most pictures were diagonal or with our heads cut off, or of our feet, and so on and so on.

By the end, both the girls were hugging and kissing us and couldn’t stop being by us. Maria realized that Marsha did not come with us to America and asked how she was going to communicate with us. Marsha told her she would have to learn English and I would need to learn Russian. They kept jabbering to me in Russian as if I understood, and even though I didn’t, I was just excited that they were talking and looking at me! It was great! I know they have definitely accepted us as their parents and are excited to go to America. I wish we could take them right now. I know they do too. Maria asked a couple of times when she got to come with us and not stay in the orphanage anymore. That was a good sign to me as well. She wants to be with us.

This has been such a great experience! I know it started off horrible, but today was so wonderful. I guess that is why we endure such pain and misery at times, because without it we couldn’t have days like this! We have to know the bitter in order to taste the sweet!

Today we will be shopping for clothes and shoes for the girls. I found out that when we get them they only come with the clothes on their backs and they would prefer us to buy them those clothes, so the orphanage can keep all the clothes and shoes they can. So we are going to need everything! Socks, underwear, shoes, pants, shirts, and because it is cold this week, sweaters, the list goes on and on!

For those of you who know my family and are following our blog, you may want to check out my sister Tammy's comment about her car accident in the comments under "Thoughts on Petropavlovsk". We are so grateful that she is OK, but we are sorry about her truck!

Also, for those of you following our blog and are wondering where we get our strength and faith from, you can read my sister Kimberly's comments regarding our beliefs and church. It is also under comments at "Thoughts on Petropalovsk". I am so grateful for my membership in this church, it is my strength, you can also check out www.lds.org for more information.

And finally I end with my children. As I was trying to take the perfect picture one of them would make a silly face, finally I said, OK, take a silly picture. This one is their favorite. So here are my children!!!!!