Saturday, April 21, 2007

An Easy Saturday


Almira was watching the video we made at the orphanage. She was sitting on the couch sewing a hem in her pants, but stopped to watch the video. I love to see her laughing. She is doing more and more of that lately.

I also want to post a picture of 2 of my other favorite people, especially since I'm missing them so much. This was made in front of my house the weekend before we left for Kaz. Hi Mom and Sarah.

We had a good day of visiting with Almira and Boris today. They came in and we visited a little bit about what we are going to do tomorrow. We are having a little birthday celebration tomorrow for Almira. Boris is picking up Almira and 3 of her friends at the orphanage tomorrow morning at 11AM. They are coming here and watching Pirates of the Caribbean movie that we bought for her, but she hasn't had a chance to watch at the orphanage. She is afraid it would get stolen. Then we are walking to the Donner Cafe and having lunch. Then the van (taxi) is picking us up and taking us to go bowling. Almira wasn't too sure about bowling, but we assured her it would be fun. We went to the grocery and bought snacks for the girls watching the movie. I don't think she has ever done this either.

We also went and did a little shopping. Almira really wants a denim back pack and we couldn’t find one today. Then we came back to the apartment after buying supplies for the movie watching tomorrow. We also watched the video today that we made at the orphanage on Monday. Almira seemed to enjoy watching the video she helped make.

I bought Almira some black pants for court last week and they were a little long. I told her I would hem them today. I turned them inside out and had her try them on. I went and got my sewing kit and she wanted to do it all herself. I put her shoes on her and checked the length. I pinned them up for her and she went and took them off. She threaded her needle and then sewed them up by herself. She told me she needed an iron, which I had sitting on the ironing board, from where I had ironed clothes this morning. She ironed her pants herself and got them all ready. She is so self-reliant. I'll let you know how tomorrow goes. It should be fun.

Friday, April 20, 2007

A family Birthday Celebration




I was on the phone with Sarah and Mom this morning and the phone started beeping and then it just cut off. I don’t know what’s wrong with this phone.

Well Mom and Sarah just called back on Skype and we had our first official computer to computer call. It was pretty nice. We got cut off a few times, but finally got things going right. We’ve got all the fruit ready for the birthday party today. Maria is storing the cakes at her place, her freezer is bigger. More later after the birthday party. Jon and I ventured out today again and really enjoyed it. We went down to the big indoor market and I tried on a few coats. I am considering buying one. As Jon reminded me, when is the next time you can buy a leather and fox trim coat for $200.00. I’ll think about it. I’m paranoid about running out of money before we get out of here. But our main reason to go to the market was to buy Almira a pair of earrings for her birthday. Her ears are pierced, but I’ve never seen her wear earrings. Well, we gave Almira her new earrings as soon as we got to the orphanage so she could wear them to her birthday party.

We have just returned from the birthday party. I can honestly say it was not like any birthday I’ve ever been to. Almira was waiting outside for us when we arrived at the orphanage. There were also several other children there from her family to help us carry everything inside. We first went upstairs to where her family suite was and there were ladies there getting everything ready for the birthday party. We had ice cream cakes, baklava, a cake made by the orphanage that was some kind of apple cake. We also brought just loose candy like Hershey’s Kisses, other chocolates, Skittles, Starburst and Smarties.

Right after arriving we were taken downstairs to a small theater. There were chairs all set up for us and the director (or leader) of Almira’s family came and explained to Maria that the kids were going to put on a special show for us. We had singing, dancing and then some of the children from Family #9 came in and did a little dance. They are the 7 and 8 year olds. Almira’s family director, which takes care of Family #5 did all the announcing. He made a lot of announcements and talked about the family and how talented all the children were. There was a young man that played the accordion with an older man and they were really good. The family director introduced us to several of the students after the performance and said he had a very talented group of children. Many of them would be competing in a competition in Astana. He had several good athletes, singers, dancers and of course artist. I actually had to stand up and give a speech (quite unexpectedly) after the performance. Several of Almira’s friends came and gave her home made cards and one gave her fresh flowers and kissed her cheek. The family director talked about how loved Almira was and that she was the shyest in the family of almost 30. I got almost all of the performance on video tapes.

Then after the performance we went back upstairs to the family suite and all the children were in the foyer area. The kids’ places were all set at the table with bowls full of rolls, baklava, fruit, candy and then the ice cream cakes were on the table. Then the family director spoke some more and they presented her with a large picture of the birch trees with a big bow on it. Someone else gave her flowers. There were two ladies there representing a company that comes out and helps put on birthday parties.

The children sat at a long table in the hallway and the adults went into the kitchen with a table set. After the family director shut the door he went to a small closet and pulled out a bottle of vodka. Then they put little shot glasses all around the table. I know my eyes had to be as big as saucers. I tried to tell them I don’t drink but he poured me one anyway. Then they explained that you took a sip and then ate some of the sausage or cheese that was on the table. I’ll admit I did swallow a little bit on that first toast, it singed my throat. I then switched to the juice on the table. No one drinks water here, that just kills me. My throat was so dry and my mouth was so dry that I could hardly talk. We ate a little bit and visited mostly. They did a few more rounds of vodka shots and then we had hot tea with milk. We were there until after 6:00 and did very little visiting with Almira. The teachers and people at the orphanage made several comments today that they hope we will love Almira and take good care of her. I promised them we would and that we already loved her. I also promised that we would keep in touch with them and let them know how Almira is doing.

We did enjoy the visiting with the other folks from the orphanage and found out a lot about Almira and some of the other kids in her family. It was fun overall, but still nothing like any child’s birthday I’ve ever been too. By the time we opened the door to leave that small kitchen, Almira was standing at the door waiting for us. She walked us out and we told her we would see her tomorrow. I couldn’t tell if she was just overwhelmed today with all the attention or if she was embarrassed, but she was really quiet during all of this.

Maria reminded Almira that Boris was coming to pick her up tomorrow and she said “Good!”. I think she is so ready to be gone from the orphanage for good. I hate we can’t take her next week. I want to bring her home next week so bad, but I know we can’t. I’ll post a picture of Almira with her current Family. They made it clear today that they really do love her.

Thursday, April 19, 2007

English lessons


Before lunch today Jon and I went out walking and headed to the Skiff. We have heard so much about this hotel and hoped to run into some Americans. Well, no Americans and the food was not too great. Maybe we ordered the wrong thing. We had Chicken with Pineapple. Definitely not worth the walk. I actually had a piece of bone in my food. The white rice and vegetables on the side were pretty good. Then we went to the ice cream store close to the telecom building where the fish tank is. The ice cream was very tasty and very cheap. We ate at the Skiff and then had ice cream for less than $10.00.

We got back right before 2:00 and waited on Sasha and Maria. They arrived about 2:35 and we headed to the orphanage. Today I brought the CD player for Almira to listen to with the Rush into English CD. I also brought a drawing pad and colored pencils. Almira listened to the CD for over an hour.

When we first arrived and got out of the car we heard someone yell at us in English, “Hello” . I looked up at the window on the 3rd floor and there was Vika waiving at us. We waved back at her and said hello. We then went into the lobby and waited on Almira to come. I saw Vika coming towards me. She handed me a picture she had drawn. It was a picture of a cat with a bow tie and a big smile. It was really good. At the top she had written Cat and at the bottom she had written “I Love You”. I asked her if it was for me and she nodded. I gave her a big hug. I wish I could stick her in my suitcase and bring her home. She is just too adorable. I really need to find out more information about Vika. I can’t remember who, but someone told me she was from a large family and this is the only reason she hasn’t been adopted. If no one is sponsoring her by the time we get home, I hope we can. She is just the sweetest thing.

We had a quiet day with Almira today while she and Maria listened to the English CD. She followed along in the book very attentively. I told her if she got tired of listening she could draw instead. She finally did about 10 minutes before we left. She drew a picture of a teddy bear with a chair. This was our 10th day of visiting and Almira was even counting down the days. We signed our Petition to Adopt today and Almira wanted to read it while we signed the 3 or 4 copies of it. I'm not sure what all it said, but she kind of laughed when she was reading it.

Almira walked us out again today and seemed sad that we were leaving her. We did leave a few minutes early because we are going to buy supplies for her birthday party tomorrow with her family. We left the orphanage and went to buy a couple of ice cream cakes. We understand that we are not allowed to bring true birthday cakes into the orphanage. The orphanage is making Almira a cake and will serve tea. We bought 4 ice cream cakes and lots of fruit for the kids. There are now 26 kids in her family at the orphanage. We wanted to be sure to have enough for everyone. Sasha was going out this afternoon to buy all the fruit for us, apples, bananas and oranges. I’ll be sure and post tomorrow afternoon about the party assuming my computer is still holding up.
Today has been a hard day. The time away from Sarah and everything familiar has really caught up with me. We were told again today that Svetlana is coming in Monday and will take our papers to the court on Monday and get our court date. Maria mentioned again that we may not get a court date before the holidays, which are May 1st and any other days after that the Kaz government chooses to take. This was a crushing blow to say the least. I actually started figuring in my head the cost of flying home next week and coming back. All I can say is just please pray some more for a court date next week. I'm not sure I can emotionally take it if we have to stay an additional week and a half. I know it won't be good for Sarah. Everyone here is nice and we just live for our visits with Almira, but I've never been away from her this long and my heart hurts I miss her so much. This just can't happen. Please pray for us.

Till tomorrow,
Kathy

Wednesday, April 18, 2007

A Fun Day of Playing




We went to the orphanage for our visit today. I took my laptop and got the black screen again, not a good sign. We're back at the apartment now and I'm sitting at a table. I'm afraid to move my laptop again. It did this yesterday right before we left to go to the orphanage. Almira wanted to watch the video we had made on Monday at the orphanage. I got this black screen saying there was a problem with my computer. It gave me an option to start my computer in safe mode and I tried it. After several tries of trying to log on and then turning it off, it finally got back to normal, but it had done a system recovery, so all my pictures from Friday thru Monday were gone. Only what was left on my camera. I'm glad now I didn't delete them. I had been backing up with my flash drive, but did not do it Friday thru Monday. Then today at the orphanage it started it again. I could never get it working and Almira wanted to watch her video. Since we couldn't and I didn't bring anything else to do, we headed to the basketball gym. We had such a good time shooting baskets with Almira, Maria and some other people there at the orphanage. I'll try to post some pictures later if my computer will let me.

So, just in case you don't hear from me for a few days, you will know what is happening. If anyone knows anything about Dell laptops and why I'm getting this black screen, please let me know. The computer then gives me an option to start in Safe Mode, another 2 options and then start Windows normally. This is a 6 months old laptop and runs Windows XP. It reminds me of a hard drive crash I've experienced at work in the past. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks, Kathy B.

Tuesday, April 17, 2007

Rain rain go away ...


Well it started raining here yesterday afternoon when we left the orphanage. It is still sprinkling on and off. For those of you who are not familiar with Petro, it is very muddy here. The mud just never seems to go away. There is mud everywhere. The roads are paved and some of the sidewalks are paved, but there is still mud everywhere. The roads don't really looked paved, because they are covered in mud and there are no lines on the road or any lanes. Everyone just drives where ever on the road, even in the opposite lane sometimes. It is really quite interesting. But Sasha, our driver, takes good care of us.

This morning we had about 3 boxes of donations for the baby house that we had been saving up. Thank you, Michelle Palowsky, some of your baby items are now being used here in Petro. Boris from the Antares Foundation took us and we met with the director, Dr. Rimma. She was such a nice lady. After going through all the boxes she offered to give us a tour of the orphanage. Mom, all I can say is I'm glad you weren't with us. First let me start by saying that this orphanage is immaculate. The children have lots of great toys and things to play with. They seem to have the nicest of everything and some parts were being renovated. Dr. Rimma took us to see all ages, from the youngest babies down to 2 or 3 monhs old, up to the 4 year olds. Most of the kids were sound asleep, except some of the babies. They were all just adorable. We were allowed to walk around and look in some of their cribs and Jon spotted one darling little baby girl with strawberry blond hair sleeping. One good things is that Boris explained that the children are adopted very quickly from the baby house, almost as soon as they are available. One of the larger adoption agencies WPA had donated a very nice modern play set on the playground for the children.

Dr. Rimma explained to us that when she interviews people to come to work there, they must love children. She said the workers in this orphanage must love children because she wants her children to feel that they are loved and bond to their caregivers. This prevents a lot of problems later for the children. She obviously really cares about these kids. Jon said he couldn't get over how nice the orphanage was.

Then we went back to the apartment to wait on Maria and Sasha. They got there a few minutes after 2:30 and Maria explained that the lady from the Ministry of Education was in the car with us and we needed to go. She oversaw our visitation today as she did the first day we came. Every day before we leave we sign a book and talk about what we did that day. I think this book may come to court to show that we visited every day for 14 days.

Today I brought Almira the Rush Into English book and CD that I had brought her. We practiced some of the basic English things in the book. Maria translated for her and told her how some of the phrases are used. Then we played cards, Uno. This is becoming a favorite game for Almira. I'll send some pictures of us playing. The lady to the right of Almira is the lady from the Ministry of Education.

That's all for now. Till tomorrow,
Kathy B.

Monday, April 16, 2007

What a fun day!



Today we went to the orphange with Maria and Sasha. This was day 7 of visitation. Sunday when Almira was here at the apartment I let her pick from some of the things I had for us to do. She picked the bracelet making kit. So I brought that and also my camera and video camera. Maria checked with the orphanage director and made sure that we could film inside the orphanage. He said he could. He is just a wonderful and understanding man. I really like him. So I started off filming and about half way through Almira wanted to see how the camera worked and she took off from there. She was running down halls going in all these rooms and talking to people. You can hear her on the video just jabbering away in Russian. Some of it Maria translated for us. We got to meet her family, Family #5 at the orphanage. Almira showed us her bed where she sleeps. She sleeps in a room with 10 other girls. Then next door was a room with about 10 beds for the boys. There are a lot of older boys in her group. She video taped them today and said all of their names. She doesn't want to forget anything. We met her teacher, a Kazak man that seems to run her family. He was so very nice. The social worker was with us a lot today. She comes and goes and sits in our visits a lot. She is a very nice lady, tall blond and so nice. Her name is Tatiana. You can tell she wants Almira to be happy. She asked Almira today if she had any doubts about going home with us and she said "No!". By the end of our tour we had an entourage of kids following us. We saw the sewing room with the most incredible embroidry I've ever seen. The lady in the sewing room was so nice and gave me a handerkerchief that was embroidred. It is beautiful. We also went in the music room and were given a performance by 4 of the girls. I will post their picture. One was Saltant, one Sonya (I think) and the other two we didn't get their names. We went to a computer lab, the chemistry classroom. We ran into Almira's geography teacher who told us that Almira was very good in geography. We also went and visited the youngest family there, Family #9. These were the 7 and 8 year olds. Then we went back and finished up with the bracelets we had started. It is always so hard to leave and I have to give her several hugs and kisses. I'll post a picture of Almira sitting on her bed. She was showing us her bunny we gave her the first day.
Till tomorrow!

Kathy B.

Sunday, April 15, 2007

The UNO Card Shark


Today Boris and Almira arrived right at 11AM. Jon and I had been sitting and playing Uno until they got here. Almira immediately came in and wanted to see. Jon and her played several hands and she beat Jon a couple of times. We didn’t visit for long, maybe 45 minutes and then we left to go shopping. The first stop was the Iceberg to exchange money. Then we headed to the big outdoor/indoor market. I couldn’t get over the shopping there. Outside there are just tables or booths where the goods are laid out. Everything you could imagine. One of the first things I saw was power tools. Then another table had underwear and another bras. Then lots and lots of booths of shoes. Then you walked inside and there were these glass cubes that were like 10 x 12 feet. I could not believe everything that was packed inside these little cubicles. There was enough room in there for maybe 4 people and the sales clerk. Some were a little larger and other seemed smaller. We went in a shoe store that was about the size of a nice closet. Almira wanted to buy nice clothes for court. She wanted serious clothes. She wanted black dress pants and a plain white shirt. We found these and then we went to look for shoes. I thought she would pick some black shoes that were young and cute, but she picked the most matronly plain black shoes in the cube. She likes sensible shoes. It won't take long for Sarah to work on her about that. Then we shopped for something fun. She said she would like to have a pair of jeans with a jeans jacket. So we went in search of a pair of jeans and a jacket. We finally found a really cute pair that fit with a matching jacket. She is so thin and has long legs, so it is difficult to find jeans for her, actually her pants and her jeans were too long. I have a sewing kit with me, courtesy of Mom, and I will hem her pants later. We then found her a cute shirt to wear with her jeans.

Boris had been working on her English this morning. She was able to tell me, “I’m hungry”. So we headed in search of roasted chickens so I could make jambalaya. Almira picked a pea salad at the grocery that she liked. I made jambalaya and Jon added shredded roast chicken to it. I also had a small loaf of French bread that I cut pieces and buttered it and heated it in the oven, just like home. Almira loved everything. She had never had hot buttered bread before, at least not that I could tell. Boris even seemed to like it.


Later in the afternoon Almira tried peanut butter for the first time. She really seemed to like it and kept nibbling on it for a while. I'm glad she likes it.


Afterwards we played Uno for about 2 hours. It was so much fun and good for Almira. She knows all her colors and numbers in English. I think she knows more English than she lets on. I think she is so self conscious that she just doesn’t speak it. Sarah and Mom called this afternoon to talk to Almira and check on things. Sarah and Almira talked for just a few minutes, then Almira handed me the phone. I think she is overwhelmed and nervous about her English. Then Mom got on the phone and talked to her for a couple of minutes. She got really teased and shy. I told her what my mother was saying and Boris translated. She just smiled and blushed. I’m sure she’s never heard I love you and can’t wait for you to come home. We’re going to have so much fun this summer.

Today was just a wonderful day and I couldn’t thank Boris enough for doing this for us. We can’t wait to see Almira tomorrow afternoon at the orphanage, back to our regular visits.