We're still doing fine. Our visits have been going really well. Our afternoon visits have been moved up a bit so we now see Nadia/Emily from 10:30-11:30am and then again from 2:30-3:30pm. They moved the afternoon visits up because it was ending so close to her nap time and they thought she was pretty fussy for us the first time. It works better for us too since we're still adapting to the time change and it gives us a little more time in the evening to adjust to life.
And now, for a word from our sponsor...
I've (Jenni) been having trouble getting adapted to the schedule here. Or, rather, my sleep schedule. I've been falling asleep around 5pm (our time) and sleeping until about 12:30 and then I'm awake for a few hours doing email, blog updates, chats on instant messenger, etc. before I go back to sleep and wake back up to start my day. I think tonight I made it until 4am before I woke up and I decided to just stay awake and see if I can get myself adjusted.
Tonight during my waking hours I got almost caught up on my work email, did some instant message chatting with friends back home and worked on uploading some more videos and pictures to the blog. (Adding videos is a new thing I'm trying today so we'll see how they go! Let me know what you think! I'm hoping they don't all autoplay at the same time.)
After our morning visit today we had Misha drop us back off at the Atrium for lunch. We enjoy MacJohn's quite a bit because they make a very good attempt at making foods that we're used to... pizza, burgers, french fries, milk shakes, etc. We haven't gotten too daring with the Kazakh food yet, but I have a feeling that will be coming soon.
After lunch, we have about an hour at the apartment before Misha picks us back up for our afternoon visits at the baby house. We have been temporarily moved into the physical therapy room for our visits as the music room has been in use. It's a smaller room and we aren't supposed to put Nadia/Emily on the floor in there because it's "chilly" according to Kazakh standards... almost comfortable for us. (Most of the rooms here are REALLY warm.)
After our afternoon visits, we usually get dropped off at the apartment and settle in for the night. Today I think we are going to break the cycle and take a tour of Uralsk with Aliya and Misha. We (Americans) have been accused of being like the Japanese and taking tons of pictures... we can't let them down and will follow suit so we have photos for you folks back home and for Emily's memory book.
Here is a picture of Aliya, our translator and Olga, our in-country coordinator.
Here is Misha, our driver... with Tom. Misha has enjoyed picking on me for my preference for Apple computers... it just doesn't seem to matter which side of the globe you're on, people just can't seem to appreciate a good computer when they see them!
And, some more entertainment to keep the natives happy...
Please post some comments on our blog! We will be printing and saving these entries for Emily's lifebook. It would be great to have notes in it from all of you that are following along! Even if you've never met us in person... it's great to hear from people that are reading about our experience! We looking forward to reading your comments and remarks! Also, for those that have been here before us... if you have any suggestions on this we absolutely shouldn't miss in Uralsk before we head home, please let us know!
Thanks and be blessed!
-jenni
(jhypes@treca.org)
7 comments:
The video's worked fine for me.
I didn't realize my comments were going to be recorded for life, now I will have to start watching what I say. Feel free to edit my comments for Emily's life book :)
Anyway, miss you and love you and praying for you, yadda, yadda, yadda.
Good morning! (it's morning here anyway). Happy everything is going well. Nadia/Emily is beautiful and I can't wait to meet her and give those cheeks kisses! She is a doll!! I watch her video (the laughing one) over and over again. I love her and haven't even met her yet. She is for sure a precious gift from God.
Keep the posts and pics coming.
Love you guys and praying for you.
~Amy S.
Jen, Tom and little Emily.....We were in Uralsk 3-05 adopting our little girl (Ashlyn from BH#2) as well. We had Aliya and Olga to and our driver was Misha brother Egar. They were all wonderful to us as was the whole experience there. Enjoy Uralsk for its simple life and quiet atmosphere. We miss it there very much. We also were in the same apartment your are in and wrote in the journal there on the table for everyone to write in. Read it all as it has a lot of advice on everything there in Uralsk. God Bless and take care.
Paul, Terri and Ashlyn Mendelsohn
Born 4-04 and Adopted 3-05 from BH#2
Hello Emily -
You are one beautiful baby. I met your mother at a friend's Home & Garden Party in Waldo, OH. She was so excited about seeing you and that you would join your family very soon. And look here you are!
God's blessings to you and your new family.
Judy Stewart
Totally enjoying seeing you bonding with your little cutie. She is beautiful and it is nice to hear how well things are going for you.
Congratulations on your new daughter. She is beautiful! We were in Uralsk in June 2006 and adopted a little boy. Please tell Alyia hello for us. She is sweet and we had so much fun with her. You need to try the pizza at the Chagala hotel. We stayed there and I had it just about everyday. It was really good. We also liked the Dixie Pub, they used to have an English menu but it was outdated and the bartender spoke a little English. You also need to try the five fingers meal, ask Alyia what restaurant serves it. It was pretty good. I am trying to think of some of the other restaurants that we ate at. I will post more when I remember their names. We had chinese that was really good, I think it was called the Golden Dragon. I was worried about the meat in the summer time because they left it unrefrigerated but in the winter it should be okay. Enjoy your time there because when you get home you will miss it. Even if you don't think so now because you are missing everyone at home. You are in good hands with Olga and Alyia. Tease Alyia for us, we miss giving her a hard time. Rhonda & Marty Zimmerman
Noah b.9/20/01 a.12/23/03 Pavlodar
Ethan b.1/3/04 a.6/29/06 Uralsk
Wow. Emily is so precious! We can't wait for her and Lauren to play together.
You all are constantly in our thoughts and prayers. Thank you for keeping us so up to date by using this blog.
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