Updates From the Past Few Days

3/11/2009
We are unable to get to the internet café everyday but we want to be sure to write something about each day we are here. We have been writing entries on our computer so that we don’t forget to include anything. I know that everyone is anxious to hear information about the baby but we also want to give details of the trip for those families who are waiting to travel to Kaz or who will look at our blog for travel/adoption information in the future.

3/11/2009 From Almaty
We are about 15 minutes from leaving our hotel in Almaty and heading to Pavlodar. We loved Almaty! We have been to the local mall several times and found that it’s very similar to the malls in America. Our translator says that her favorite show is Lost and we told her that we are probably the only people in America who don’t watch that show! At the internet café yesterday we met a man who showed us the Kazakhstan version of facebook and asked us to create an account so that we could be “friends” with him. We kindly said, No thank you :-) James and I are feeling refreshed after the long day of traveling. We went to bed at 6:00 pm last evening and woke up at 7:00 am. We can’t wait to get to Pavlodar and get settled into our place there. We think we'll meet Ava tomorrow! UNBELIEVABLE! We love you all and will update again tomorrow. Fun Kazakh fact of the day: The clean-up staff that works at the food court in the mall wear hospital scrubs. It also costs money to use the bathroom and to use a cart at the store.

3/11/2009 From Pavlodar
We arrived safely in Pavlodar a few hours ago. I (Kari) spent many hours over the past year and half worrying about the small plane flight from Almaty to Pavlodar. Wow, was I wasting my time. Our flight was perfectly smooth and we had much more leg room than we did on the international flight. They even served a meal on the three hour trip. Once we got off the plane we met Sveta, our coordinator, who was the sweetest women in world! She was so warm and friendly and we feel so good knowing that she is looking out for us. Our hotel here is amazing. It’s large and clean and the architecture is beautiful. Pavlodar is much colder than Almaty, it’s about 15 degrees. Sveta says that it should warm up a bit next week. Well, James and I will probably watch a movie on the lap top and get to bed. We think we'll get to meet our princess tomorrow. We are so excited. Another fun Kazakh fact…The women here are incredibly fashionable. Almost all the women wear skinny jeans with tall boots.

3/12/2009
Well today has definitely been a difficult day. First of all we woke up at about 4 AM too excited to sleep and still trying to recover from jet lag. We spent the morning counting the hours until 9AM, the time we were supposed to get going. Before we can go to the Baby House we need to meet with an official who will sign our paperwork off to the “city” level. Unfortunately we got all dressed up in our nice clothes around 9 AM, and waited in anticipation all day long. We first heard the official was going to be in a meeting all morning, and we’d have to wait until after lunch. Well lunch came and went and the rest of the afternoon slowly (and I mean slowly) vanished. Our only trip outside today was to walk a few buildings down to exchange money to pay for the hotel. At about 6:30 pm we did find out that we have a meeting tomorrow morning at 10:30 which was a bright spot of the day. Throughout the day we experienced many emotions. There was a time we were “loopy” from being awake too long, there was a time we felt helpless because we are stuck in this hotel room until the logistics are worked out, there was a time we broke down in tears because we feel so far away from a baby girl who is literally a couple miles away. It’s hard not to feel lonely, being in a foreign place with little to no contact with the outside world. We know this will get better. Once we get into the Baby House we’ll forget about these days of waiting. Hopefully we can establish a routine of visiting the Baby House a couple times a day while stopping by the internet café and/or doing some other fun activity in between visits. These are the days that make us thankful for all of you at home who are praying in our behalf. We have also been blessed by the daily letters written to us that were arranged by our good friend Brandi; thanks so much for that! Just a reminder, we should be able to check email every couple days, so your emails are encouraged! It will be nice to hear from friends and family at home. James wrote this blog but I am adding to it quickly before he sees. I can’t express how amazing he has been during this first week. He had handled all the money and arrangements so beautifully and on top of that has been there emotionally for me as I adjust to being here. He is the best! Fun Letterneau Fact of the day: We purchased a magnet drawing board for Ava and have probably used this to entertain ourselves more than Ava will this trip. We are also on the second season of Dawson’s Creek DVD’s, which has saved us from going completely stir crazy.