Surfacing briefly for an update...

I'm really sorry it's taken soooo long for me to get back on here to update you guys. I've been trying, honest.

The past week in review...
- We stopped using internet from our apartment because it cost us WAAYYY too much money to use it. We've since resorted to walking across the street to the internet cafe which has a slow (almost dial-up speed) connection or we walk to the Chagala Hotel and pay a little bit more for a faster connection.

- Friday was pre-court... everything went according to plan and was a snap. It was basically just for the judge to learn a little bit more about us and our adoption plans.

- Saturday and Sunday we continued visits with Nadya/Emily and did some last minute souvenir shopping.

- Monday was COURT. Court was a breeze was according to plan as well. Our petition to adopt Emily Nadezhda Hypes was granted and our petition for immediate execution of that decision (immediate custody) was also granted. We are blessed... this is the last region in Kazakhstan that still allows this on a fairly regular basis. With that, we left. We later went to the Records Office to pick up Emily's birth certificate and certificate of adoption. At 2:30 we arrived at the babyhouse to say our goodbyes to the babyhouse director, doctors and caregivers. One of Emily's caregivers in particular was genuinely touched and I could tell it was a bittersweet fairwell. We were also told that Emily wasn't feeling well... and the saga continues.

- Monday afternoon/evening and Tuesday... we reworked Emily's schedule. The had a very high fever when we left the babyhouse and we were given a list of 2 medicines to pick up on the way home. She had an upset stomach and diarrhea (I'll spare you the gorey details.). We are feeding her MUCH smaller portions more frequently. Fortunately, she still has a decent appetite and isn't fighting the feedings or bottles of misc. liquids. On Tuesday afternoon, the babyhouse doctor made a house call to check on her and gave Aliya a paper with 2 more medicines on it. Aliya and Tom picked them up later in the afternoon.

- Wednesday... I woke up feeling exhausted and somewhat scared... I'm giving this baby medicines that I know nothing about and can't read the labels on. Talk about trust. I have to put full trust in the doctor that she really knows what she's doing and in Aliya that she's readin the dosing correctly. Today I'm following "mother's instinct" and making a few choices of my own. Some of the medicine is going to fall by the wayside because I think it might be making Emily feel worse...

Anyway... big prayer request here... please pray that Emily feels better soon. We are supposed to be leaving Uralsk tomorrow morning and taking a 5 1/2 hour flight (1 1/2 hour layover in Aktyrau) to Almaty. I'm praying we don't have any diaper explosions for the trip and will probably double-diaper just in case. Yes, our kid is going to have a BIG BUTT tomorrow. ;-)

Anyway... that is a VERY brief update... the computer here isn't reading my USB drive so I can't copy/paste my actual journal entries... I promise to do that as soon as I can.

Take care and be blessed!
-jenni

jhypes@treca.org