Another Day in Paradise
Wednesday, August 16, 2006
Today we had another early visit with Kristin again. Everyday we become more enthralled with her. She has such a bright, beautiful smile when she sees us and readily comes to us. We successfully fed her today…finally!!! However, it took the both of us…Gary holding her face still and me having her on my lap and shoveling the porridge in. It sounds cruel but it’s the only way to do it. As soon as we get her home she will be on the bottle. Would you believe that she has to drink her milk from a coffee mug now? While in Kazakhstan we have to do what the Kazakhs do.
Someone commented on the pictures of Kristin with her class mates, asking why we didn’t adopt more than one. Well, all our paperwork that was submitted was for two kids. However, about a month before leaving we heard that they were not allowing the adoption of two unrelated children. I have asked Tatyana on at least two occasions about this, and she is sticking to her story. We have also found out that although there are a lot of kids in the baby houses, not all are available for adoption. The law allows parents to give up the kids for a period of time (up to a year I think) with a promise that they will return within that period of time to take the child(ren) home…and they can do this several times during the child(ren)’s lifetime, if needed. Those children would not be available, they are just being temporarily cared for by the government.
We invited Karen, the American lady from Boston, to have dinner with us today. She finally got word today that she has a court date set for next Monday. We were both so happy for her. She has been here by herself staying in a small hotel room for close to three weeks now. While Gary went to workout (and be picked by Kazakh women at the gym), I called her up and arranged for us to meet her at the shopping centre nearby at 4 PM. We went shopping for souvenirs and then went back to the flat for dinner. Valentina cooks sufficient food for a family of four everyday. We are all glad for each other’s company, so we let her know that she has an open invitation for dinner until she leaves. We walked her back to her hotel-about 35 minutes each way. I feel a lot more comfortable with venturing out now. We walked past parks, sidewalk cafes, the opera house…it seems like the best way to see the city is on foot and so plan to do that more often.
Today we had another early visit with Kristin again. Everyday we become more enthralled with her. She has such a bright, beautiful smile when she sees us and readily comes to us. We successfully fed her today…finally!!! However, it took the both of us…Gary holding her face still and me having her on my lap and shoveling the porridge in. It sounds cruel but it’s the only way to do it. As soon as we get her home she will be on the bottle. Would you believe that she has to drink her milk from a coffee mug now? While in Kazakhstan we have to do what the Kazakhs do.
Someone commented on the pictures of Kristin with her class mates, asking why we didn’t adopt more than one. Well, all our paperwork that was submitted was for two kids. However, about a month before leaving we heard that they were not allowing the adoption of two unrelated children. I have asked Tatyana on at least two occasions about this, and she is sticking to her story. We have also found out that although there are a lot of kids in the baby houses, not all are available for adoption. The law allows parents to give up the kids for a period of time (up to a year I think) with a promise that they will return within that period of time to take the child(ren) home…and they can do this several times during the child(ren)’s lifetime, if needed. Those children would not be available, they are just being temporarily cared for by the government.
We invited Karen, the American lady from Boston, to have dinner with us today. She finally got word today that she has a court date set for next Monday. We were both so happy for her. She has been here by herself staying in a small hotel room for close to three weeks now. While Gary went to workout (and be picked by Kazakh women at the gym), I called her up and arranged for us to meet her at the shopping centre nearby at 4 PM. We went shopping for souvenirs and then went back to the flat for dinner. Valentina cooks sufficient food for a family of four everyday. We are all glad for each other’s company, so we let her know that she has an open invitation for dinner until she leaves. We walked her back to her hotel-about 35 minutes each way. I feel a lot more comfortable with venturing out now. We walked past parks, sidewalk cafes, the opera house…it seems like the best way to see the city is on foot and so plan to do that more often.
posted by Mel and Gary | 5:20 AM
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