Well bloggers, it's another exciting day here in the big K. It's 3:34 p.m. so I only have another five or six hours to try to entertain myself before I can go to bed. Hopefully, I will still be sane by then. (I have to admit, it doesn't look promising).
I was told by a lovely attorney friend in Carlisle that my blog was less than adequate. I was given several assignments and told to report back. Sonya, I did find those 15 people. Unfortunately, I have very little to report since my conversation in russian is limited to ones involving the words: Hi, good morning, how are ya?, beautiful, apple, boy, girl, good afternoon, I don't understand, good evening, see ya later, thank you and I love you. Satisfied now?
On a brighter note, I am being a little more adventerous. Yesterday, I decided to try a new flavor of yogurt. I can't read the labels on the Dannon cans here, but I can usually figure out the flavors. Because of my highly superior intelligence, it took me no time at all to realize the yogurt with the cherry pictures on them are cherry flavored, those with blueberry pictures on them are blueberry flavored, and so on. (Yep, no stinkin wonder I was Pitt's Valleydicktoryin.) Anyway, back to my adventure. There was one can with a picture of a peach and another unidentifiable fruit. Maybe it was a mango, maybe a papaya. Who knows? Being the risk taker that I am, I thought "what the hey?" and I gave it a whirl. It was pretty good. For those of you who are curious, it tasted like peach and some other unidentifiable fruit.
Hmmm, let's see, what else can I use to punish you? Surely there is more that I can make you read before you get to see pictures of Marissa. Oh, I know. Everyone keeps telling me to relax and have fun. So, I'm gonna tell you what we do for fun. To occupy our time, Micah and I have come up with a few good games. One of our favorites is the "Do we have cold water?" game. Granted I know this probably doesn't sound like a fun game when you first hear it. But that is only because you guys typically have cold 99.9% of the time that you turn on the spigot. If you reduce those odds to say 40-50% of the time, it can be really exciting. During our first week here, we had no cold water for two days. When we asked other families about this, they said it is fairly common. (We now know this to be true.) We started checking to see if we had cold water each time we came home from the babyhouse. Hence, the game evolved. Since we've had to stay longer than we anticipated, we have expanded the "Do we have cold water?" game so the experienced player can still be challenged. We now have the "Will the Toilet Flush After I've Peed?" game and the "Can I Shower Without Scalding Myself?" game. I don't recommend you try this one if you're a beginner. So, I'm definitely taking all of your advice to heart and having all kinds of fun, fun fun. (We also have the "Will the Electrical Outlets Sizzle and Throw Sparks At Us if We Try to Use Them?" game, but I'll save that for a later blog. I've learned that I need to space out my fun.
Speaking of spacing out the fun, there is no multi-tasking going on here. Today Micah suggested we watch a movie while we eat. I said that we should eat first and then watch a movie. Two separate activities give us more to do. I also try to drink a lot of water so I can pee several times a day. I only use this keep-me-busy strategey at home because they do not have toilet paper in public restrooms here.
We had our meeting with the social worker who is to represent Marissa in court. It was not fun. They really gave us a hard time about our age and the fact that we have a biological son. They basically told us that we should go back home and try to have more biological children because we will probably love them more. Ultimatley, they gave us a "positive decision" which means that when we go to court, they will argue that it is in Marissa's best interest to be adopted by us. I don't know if the whole thing was some sort of test since they knew about Noah and our ages before sending us a letter of invitation to adopt.
Marissa is starting to become a bit of a show off. She really thinks she is big stuff since she can pull herself into a standing position.
We have been applauding every time she does this, so now she expects it. Yesterday, she pulled herself up and turned around to make sure we were watching. We clapped and she smiled and yelled baby babble and flapped her arms. You could just see that she was pretty thrilled with herself. Even the caregivers are starting to call her the princess.
Everyone, please pray that court comes quickly for us and that we get a positive outcome. Hopefully, we will know the court date tomorrow. Thanks!
Take care.
Love,
Linda
Here's a short post to let you all know we're all home and doing well. We've had Marissa at home for a little over two weeks. She's adjusting very well. Noah loves being a big brother. Here is a pic of him feeding Marissa a bottle.
It's Marissa's last day in Kazakhstan and we went out for a walk with our new friends Amy and Gailen and their two kids. We checked out some of the parks and fountains around the old city center. It was hot, but I'm glad we got out of the hotel and experienced a little more of the city on our last day here. We stopped at the grocery store and stocked up on supplies for our long flight home.
My mom and I got into Almaty on Monday and slept the whole day, which was okay since Marissa wouldn't get into town until Tuesday morning. We picked her up at the train station at around 9:00AM and we've been cruising ever since. On Tuesday afternoon, we went for her doctor's appointment at the international clinic. She checked out just fine, but we had to wait for her stamped passport to arrive so we could have our final appointment with U.S. consulate.
We've just finished plans for our return trip to Kazakhstan. We will be there next week to visit with Marissa and appear in court. Let's hope that our travel is easier this time.
Hey Everybody,
