The Plane Has Landed

Well we are finally here in Kazakhstan. It is quite unbelievable and almost feels like a dream. It is very different here and we are going through culture shock. Especially with the food, I think me and Caleb are going to starve while Larry and Nathanael have seemed to like everything.

Our flight was actually enjoyable, as far as flights can be. The boys were great!!!! The worse part was from our home to the airport with Mom. They were so good on the airplane I was actually giddy! From Minneapolis to Amsterdam I didn't get much sleep and Caleb was too excited to sleep, but we laid Nathanael on the floor underneath our feet and he slept the whole way. Caleb finally fell asleep and got about 3 hours worth, Larry slept OK, but I got maybe 10 minutes. I was very worried for our 8 hour layover in Amsterdam and what we would do but we decided to take a tour into town and had a great time!!!

In Amsterdam we toured a wooden shoe factory, saw a couple of windmills, visited Museum Park, Dam Square, saw the Anne Frank home and the Rembrandt home. Saw many museums and took an hour long canal tour around the town. It was beautiful! We loved it and feel so lucky that we got to see this city. Our tour guide was great. The whole time there we were thinking of our brother in law Emile and his family. One thing I have to say about Amsterdam, there are very beautiful people there. We even got to see some flowers! Yellow Irises. Tulip season is over but we saw the fields!

The flight from Amsterdam to Almaty was great too. This time Caleb fell asleep very quickly and laid on the floor, and I got a whole middle section to myself so I got a few hours of sleep as well. Anxiety started to set in when we arrived in Almaty though. No one spoke English! We were met by FOC people (our adoption agency) and they informed us that there no were flights to Petropavlovsk so we had to take a flight to a town closer and then a car would meet us and drive us 4 hours to our intended destination. They were very nice, we got some breakfast (and I accidently ordered perrier water instead of regular bottled water which cost us $10 per bottle!!! and Caleb hated it!!!) and then we boarded our plane to this small town. It was interesting to check in our luggage, go through security and then be taken to a plane that was rusted and old and very small. All our luggage sat there by the plane and we had to load it ourself! Of course we had a ton of luggage and we felt like these rich horrible Americans that brought too much. And we probably did! We were the last on the plane and didn't know that it was like Southwest flights were our seats were not assigned. We all had to sit in different places, Nathanael started crying so a nice lady moved so he could be across the isle from me. It was extremely small and interesting flight. The airport we landed in was even more interesting. It was small and seemed abandon. The toilets were holes in the ground and the roads really bad. I don't know what we would have done if our ride was not there! Lucikly he was!!! But he came in a small nissan and not all of our stuff would fit. So we had to hire a taxi to take our stuff and we drove (all 4 of us) in the back seat of this small car, 4 hours to our town! But it was OK, we survived. Many times I thought how this was a piece of cake compared to the Mormon pioneers. Luckily I also brought Elder John Groberg's book "The Other Side of Heaven" to read, and that was a huge blessing. Reading of his journey made mine seem pale in comparison.

We were not able to meet with the orphanage people on Friday and were informed that we would not do anything until Monday. This was just as we feared and felt we would waste 2 days here, but what can you do. We also were taken to an apartment instead of the hotel we requested to stay in. They would not take us to the hotel and no one spoke English. We were left in this apartment and told to just stay put until Sunday night when our translator would come. Needless to say we were frightened, scared, mad, upset and several other feelings. I cried myself to sleep wondering what in the world I was doing here. I read some more of Elder Groberg's book and something hit me very profound. He said that when he wanted to go home, felt very alone, didn't understand the language and everything I felt he prayed. He realized that he could run away and go home, but then his selfishness would go with him, or he could stay and try to rid himself of his selfishness. It may not mean anything to you, but it meant a lot to me and really helped.

Today is a brighter day. A wonderful young man came to our apartment with our driver from yesterday and he speaks English. He is very nice and brought us to this internet cafe to communicate with your all! They are going to show us around, I think the driver felt very sorry for us.

Kazakhstan is very different, it is very much how I would imagine a Soviet Union country to be. Everything is old and worn out. The computers are extemely slow so we may not be posting very many pictures. But it is unique and we are determined to make this a great experience. Hopefully we will get booked into the Skiff Hotel Sunday night and we hope and pray that we can still visit the Baby house were we wanted to adopt from. (The reason we came early was to get there before the director went on vacation, but we were informed that she postponed her vacation and would be there Monday, we pray she is!)