The Second Weekend

Weekend- Friday August 18-Sunday August 20

On Friday and Saturday we had visits 11 and 12 with Kristin. We have noticed that the bond with her grows stronger everyday. Feeding her is still very difficult, but we console ourselves with the fact that she that by the end of next month she will be home, safe and secure and can be bottle fed. Saturday afternoon, Galina took us and Karen to the Kazakhstan Museum of Art and arranged for an English speaking guide to give us the tour. The exhibition was interesting as you somewhat trace the history of the country from the pre-Soviet era the Soviet era and eventually independence in 1991. The tour was interesting and a welcome departure from our normal routine. The museum has very valuable works of art.

On Sunday we met Angie and James Peffley from Jacksonville, Florida. They are in the front left and right in the picture, Galina is behind Angie Peffley and Karen is beside Galina. They were on their second trip and had picked up their 10 month son from the baby house in Astana a couple of days before. They came to Almaty to take him to the “SOS clinic” for medical clearance and then the American Embassy for the interview. They will be homeward bound with their son Wednesday morning. The Peffleys, Karen, Galina, Igor, Gary and I had lunch at a kebab restaurant. Needless to say, we were all passing around our digital cameras, sharing pictures of our babies. Their son is 10 months old and already weighs 24 lbs. Kristin who weighs only16 lbs. has a lot of catching up to do.