Matthew

I just want to say how much I love this kiddo! He's been so wonderful and everyone here thinks he is very handsome (of course I agree!). If you didn't already know, Matt has a blog about this experience from his perspective so be sure to check it out! 

Hello, My Name Is Trouble

I think this picture says it all!

I can’t even come close to describing the emotional events of the past few days. When we got here we were so excited but also incredibly apprehensive about what was going to happen and what our little kiddo would be like - I think this was more difficult considering we were meeting an ‘older‘ child with an established personality. Combined with the major amounts of exhaustion it added up to being totally overwhelmed. The first night here in Semey I had a dream that I was told bonding had to stop and we had to fly home the next day. Even going to see Little M was hard  - a strange place, strange smells, people watching us, not being able to communicate with this child that was mine, etc., etc., etc. I don’t want to paint a dark picture but this process is not easy. I think we’ve entered into it very prepared  - well, as much as one can be the first time around. Our adoption agency has been great in letting us know what to expect and they’ve told us repeatedly not to worry about the first few days…it will be tough…don’t expect much…be flexible…and many other great words of wisdom. But it was still completely overwhelming.

Today has been an easier day! We all got some good rest last night and that makes it so much better, plus, we are already learning a little bit about our child and the environment that we visit with him in. This morning we played inside for the morning hour. No bias here, but our kid is smart! We were “reading” a word book and he went through and named everything, even the bizarre stuff…all in Kazakh of course!

He really likes purple…and wanted to put it on every picture!

When we show him how to do something he catches on right away. I don’t think he’s had much exposure to much…for example he doesn’t even know which hand he prefers to hold a crayon with, and his coloring ability is that of a much younger child, but considering where he’s lived most of his life it’s no wonder. The baby house does a fabulous job with all of the kids (about 80 or so here now) but it’s just not the same as a family.

Here he is on his horse… he would lean over to hit the buttons on the little toddler table thing so he could get a few seconds of music to dance to.

Near the end of the hour Matt pulled out his iPod and introduced his brother to the wonders of modern technology.  Way better than the toddler table! He was listening to Holding out for a Hero - with his sword at the ready, too bad his horse is green and not white!!

In the afternoon we played outside again and had a great time coloring, playing with cars, and of course, the beach ball.  

Love his "hello my name is trouble" shirt. Could he be any cuter?! 

Matt is doing great with him - very patient and engaged. Little M just adores him and definitely copies everything he does! If it's hard for us as adults I can only imagine how difficult it is as the twelve year old, but Matt has handled this whole situation wonderfully. It's also a lot easier for us since he provides most of the entertainment!!

I think we are beginning to feel like a family! Today we were told that he used to ask about his birth mother, but that he now asks only about his "family" -- too cool!!

Don't typically like shots of me from behind, but this one is kinda cool. Thank you God!!

Day 2 - Part 2

In the afternoon we were picked up early in order to go get some power-of-attorney documents notarized. These will be used by our coordinator to file court documents and passport paperwork on our behalf.
It didn’t take long, and by 4 we were back at the baby house for the second visit of the day!

We picked Little M up in his room and he was really excited to see us. He grabbed our hands and practically ran down the hallway and outside -- okay by us!!

We headquartered ourselves at a different play area this time and got right to the fun. Pretty quickly our driver showed up with a lady. Now keep in mind that Pasha doesn’t speak English, and he’s trying to tell us something and we were kind of standing there like idiots. Anyway, turns out she was from the Ministry of Education and they were asking how things were going. The only thing he was asking that we could figure out was basically if we were communicating - to which we kept saying ‘good’ and smiling. Thankfully we heard that she liked us (she did see all of us playing nicely together) since she’ll be our advocate in court!

A really nice lady came out to talk to us a little bit later. She is the speech therapist there and speaks English very well. She just introduced herself to us and chatted for a bit. Maybe they were all checking on us…we seem to be the only family here right now!

Little M really likes to take pictures and he’s smart enough to have already figured out all of the intricacies of my big camera. He can take pictures, flip over to the view mode and scroll through the shots he’s taken…way better than the grandparents can do! J He really likes the silly face pictures and he is getting good at making some of his own!

We really dig the tights! 

He also really likes my watch.

The most amazing part of the day was at the end of the first visit…little M started to get very quiet when we were putting away the toys and it dawned on us that he was at least a little bit sad to see us go. Sure wish we could have told him we’d be back!

Day 2 - Part 1

Today was a big day! We started off by meeting with the baby house doctor at 10. She is a wonderful woman who told us that little M is very healthy. Apparently every three months they are weighed and measured, so tomorrow we should have a current height/weight, but as I mentioned earlier he is a tiny little guy.  After the meeting we went outside because the whole group (he is in a Kazakh group that speaks only Kazakh) was out there, and we got to play in the beautiful 70 degree weather for about an hour. It was so much better to be outside than in the bonding room because we all got to run and throw the beach ball and basically just let the boys be boys! In the play area we were in there was a little raised platform with some ¾ walls around it and a roof overhead. Pretty quickly Matt and Mini-matt came up with this game where they would throw the ball over the wall to each other. It was really hilarious to see how much little M enjoyed this!

He also really enjoyed “horseback riding” so I am particularly excited - he made some great horse noises too and seemed like a natural to me!!

We were wondering if he knew who we were or why we were there but when we asked about it we were told that little M had told his caregiver that he was excited because HIS brother, mother and father were coming to visit him again! Yippee!!

It's crazy - there are so many other great pictures but I don't want to overwhelm all of you! The second visit of the day's post is next....

Comments

I just borrowed Clint's computer to say that we love, love, love all of your comments! Please keep them coming - it just might be the only English we hear, and you guys are all so special to us. Thanks for your love and support  we love you back!!

WOW!! - Day 1

The past few days have been amazing! Completely overwhelming, but amazing!!  I don’t really know where to begin to explain all that’s happened so I think I’ll tell you about our first meeting with little M and save the stuff about Almaty and our trip to Semey until later!

We were taken to the baby house in the late afternoon and met with the director so fast that we really weren’t prepared (not complaining though!). We talked for a few minutes and the conversation was pretty casual and friendly, and then our translator went to get our kiddo. We heard some singing and then they opened the door and in came the most adorable little 5-year-old boy. He is a little peanut (wearing 3T clothing), but had this huge smile on his face. He was a little tentative when he saw all the people in the room, but he came over to us and shook our hands (sigh -so adorable). A minute later he was on my lap and he was clapping my hands and smiling.  It was a little awkward to try to meet this little boy with a bunch of other adults in the room, so I can’t imagine what it was like for him. After maybe 3 minutes they asked us if we would like to bond with him. Well duh?!!!

We were given a key to the bonding room so off we went to play. He and Matt hit it off right away and we were so glad that big M was there to help out - we just kind of stood back for a minute and watched with huge smiles on our faces. In a nutshell, little M is very happy, energetic, smart and talkative…only problem is that he speaks Kazakh and none of us understand it! Our translator’s husband knows some though, so we are writing down some things that we want to say and he’ll write back to us with how it’s all said. Yikes!

The boys played typical boy games and you can see them here attacking each other - brotherly love! Little M thought it was SO funny!!

The hour ended quickly, but we will be visiting him twice a day for the next two weeks!

My battery is dying so I'll have to post about day two tomorrow....but just know that we are already on Bonding Day 3!!

Leaving on a jet plane

God really had to pull some strings to get everything in place, but wow, we finally got to the part where we get on the plane and start heading halfway around the world! What a truly amazing yet surreal feeling.

This is definitely the most I've ever brought on a trip, but all things considered I think we did well luggage-wise...and to think that most of that is gifts for the kids and adults we will be meeting....  :) Not a single bag was overweight!

Even though we couldn't sit together, our first flight was thankfully uneventful and we have arrived in Frankfurt. We'll be here for six hours and then on to Almaty. I don't think we have begun to process the emotions we are feeling but the bottom line is that we are so excited we can't stand it!!

Many, many thanks to my awesome parents for the kindle...it arrived just as we were leaving and we got it charged and loaded with books before we left Dulles. It is the coolest thing - love it - and I highly recommend it to other families who are about to travel!! I think we pulled 10 pounds of books out of our bags when it arrived.

We have no idea what our internet set-up will be like so I can't say for sure when we'll be able to post again, but we think we'll have a little down time in Semey before we head to the baby house. Hopefully we'll be back online by then so we can share our first moments together as a family of four!!  In the meantime, we are praying for you guys back at home, and can't wait to hear from you!