October 16

Saturday-
Krysta woke up around 9:00 and in a much better mood. One of her top teeth broke through and I think that helped a lot.
Andrei picked us up at 11:30 to go the Tsum store. We met the Sarvers and had lunch at the City cafe there. They had high chairs! Krysta ate a huge lunch of rice cereal, juice, apricots and about a zillion fruit puffs (they are like cereal but “melt” in baby’s mouth). She enjoyed pushing them around and picking them up. You should see her chew! She was given ground meat at the orphanage, so she’s a pro. After lunch, we went to the 3rd floor of the Tsum to buy souvenirs. I just wanted a few things for her to have later - post cards, a children’s book about Kaz written in Kazak, Russian and thankfully English, a flag and a few Christmas ornaments. I found a yurt (traditional Kazak house) with 4 dolls inside. I really wanted it but it was too big to fit into our already full suitcases. I’m still trying to figure out how I can get it.
After our afternoon nap (2 hours for Krysta), we walked to the supermarket and bought some prepared chicken wings and peroshkies. I really liked the wings - lots of spices but nothing hot or overwhelming.
Krysta had her 1st bath tonight. I am happy to tell you that yet another Harrison loves the water. She didn’t mind it in her face or when Mike rinsed her hair. We’ll try to post a picture.
-Miss you all - we’re counting down the days!
Mike here....I am currently unable to post any new photos. The computer will not recognize my camera, so I cannot get the photos onto the computer. I was using the Sarvers help in the past, but now they are too far away to walk to. But our apartment is very well located near 2 supermarkets and 2 restaurants and a park. The weather is nice again, so we will be out some more. It was around 55 and sunny today. Anybody that plans on coming to Kaz should look into a pocket translator. I have a small one that can translate words and give me the exchange rate for dollars to Tenge. It has come in very handy to make sure we bought the right thing and to make sure they are giving me the correct money when I exchange dollars into tenge. The translators are very cheap - mine was $8 on Ebay. It also has a calculator and clock - and fits into my pocket.

October 15

Friday
- Well, it was supposed to be 55 degrees today but the snow followed us from Uralsk. Mike & Krysta slept about 11 hours last night. I was up most of the night with chills and sweats. but I feel a bit better tonight. Wondered last night what I would do if I needed to go to a doctor.
We met the Sarvers for passport photos and lunch at the ‘American Bar & Grill’ (like a TGI Fridays). They serve breakfast until 12:00. We had a nice breakfast, though the pancakes were cold and dry as dirt. Next time I’ll order an omelette. ** Note to future travelers - they have booster seats but no high chairs.
Down stairs they have a movie theatre with a concession stand. After lunch, Mike & I wanted to upgrade the plane tickets to business class, so Andrei drove us to the Lufthansa office. We were unable to upgrade because we paid adoption rate for tickets. We’ll try again at the gate when we check in. We did buy a ticket for Krysta - for intercontinental flights, all passengers need a ticket. The cost was only $140.
Krysta is cutting her top 2 teeth and was fussy today. I can feel them poking through - poor baby! After that plane ride and all the changes in her schedule, not a great time to cut teeth. I guess it’s better now than on the plane next week.
Tomorrow, we are going to the Tsum (Zoom) store for souvenirs. We lost Krysta’s hat so we’ll have to get another one while we’re there. After that I want to go to Sasha’s to look at the dream quilts. For those who aren’t aware, Sasha (the Sarvers driver) runs a business selling Kazak artwork and quilts. They are also available from his website. I’ll print the web address tomorrow - can’t remember it right now.
Mike here....our driver is Andrei and he is excellent. He speaks very good English and is very good with Krysta. He does know alot about the area and is willing to do about anything we ask of him. I called him to night to arrange for tomorrow’s trip to the Tsum....not a problem. Since our apartment is within walking distance of a big supermarket and 2 restaurants with English menus, we probably won’t need to drive too much. We did talk about his charges. Just like we were told, it’s $5 per hour. So I asked if he charges for the full hour after he dropped us off at the restaurant then came back an hour later to pick us up - and he said that was up to us. Now,, isn’t that nice of him? He even told me I was the boss. Of course, we will pay him for that hour, but it was a surprise that he left it up to us.
Oh, the dishwasher here does an excellent job on the dishes. And the clothes washer works better than the one in Uralsk. The clothes actually come out smelling clean and not stiff. I wish we had this apartment for 3 weeks instead of the one we had in Uralsk. But it worked out.

Kryst and Alyssa together at the baby house on day we took them. 

Finally in Almaty

We actually made it out of Uralsk and are now in Almaty....it was quite a trip. The snow at the apartment had stopped, but as we neared the airport, it started up again. Oh, I forgot to mention that our flight had been delayed.....they were picking us up at 1 AM to leave at 3 AM. So we're driving in a small blizzard type conditions in the dark with Krysta. I was nervous about how they were going to clear the runway of the snow there in Uralsk. It's a small airport and you walk across the runway to the airport. It was below 32 degrees and windy.
-We did get to meet the 3 new couples that were coming into Uralsk and gave them a quick rundown on what to expect. A couple quick goodbyes to our drivers and interpreters and they were off to take care of the new couples that were starting their journey in the cold (they left 70 degree weather in Almaty).
The only good thing about boarding in Uralsk was that they allow women with children to go first (but we still stood outside at the bottom of the stairs while we waited for the clerk to clear something). We had one stop after a 40 minute flight, and we had to get off the plane. Not sure why we got off since it was a short flight. We went into a building with no heat for about 45 minutes, then went back onto the plane (it was colder out now). Now we had a 2 1/2 hour flight to Almaty. It is now 4:15 AM and Krysta is doing very good during her first plane rides. She slept during take off and landing and most of the first leg of our trip. During the 2nd leg, she slept at the beginning then woke up for some juice and was pretty happy throughout the trip. At about 6 AM, they served us food - our choices were fish or beef (for breakfast?). I had to eat something so I got the beef and ate some roll, veggies and danish. Eileen is still sick so she didn't eat. I was eating while Krysta was asleep in my lap - kind of hard to do. The Snugli came in VERY handy for carrying her while in the airport and onto the plane.
We arrived in Almaty at 10 Am their time (8 AM Uralsk time). Krysta was way off schedule now since we were going to wait til we got to the apartment to feed her. When we met the driver and interpreter, we were informed we had to go to the office to sign some paperwork first. We were, and still are, tired!!! We couldn't really go to sleep before our flight and had been up for over 36 hours by now. So we went to the office and signed a bunch of paperwork. Three other couples came into the office to sign paperwork, so the office was full of kids. Good thing they had people there to take the kids and keep them happy while we did our p/w.
Now off to our apartment in Almaty - 3rd floor apt that makes our apt in Uralsk look like the YMCA. This apt is soooo nice, with nice hardwood floors, a nice crib with a couch in her room as well, a stroller, a TV in the kitchen and the living room has leather seats and a flat screen TV with great reception and English channels. Oh, and the best thing for us right now is a HOT shower!!! That helped to wake us up. Krysta is in a very good mood for a baby that has traveled such as she did. She is hungry and happy. So it is time to feed her - then we will explore the neighborhood since it is 60 degrees outside.

We picked up Krysta

We now have Krysta. We went to the baby house with our gifts for the caretakers, director and doctors - along with our donations of clothes and toys. The doctor that was in charge of Krysta gave a speech blessing us and hoping for happiness for us. We gave them our gifts (the director, 2 doctors the 'group' caretakers and the isolation room caretakers. We were able to buy a cake for the group caretakers, while the others got gifts accordingly.
Krysta has been in a very happy mood since we brought her home. We had her laughing alot!! She ate very well, almost attacking the juice when we gave her the bottle. She did attack the bedtime feeding of formula. Right now, she is sleeping. She fights going to sleep. It took a while, but she dosed off.
Our flight to Almaty is at 3 AM - that's right, 3 AM!!! Who flies at that time of the morning? So we will take a nap and get ready to be picked up at 1 AM. Oh, it SNOWED today. Just a little light stuff at first, but at dinnertime, it was coming down pretty heavy. It was the big, fluffy stuff at night. It looked nice and almost blizzard like at times. It has stopped now, so we should still be good to fly out tonight.
- Next stop, Almaty.

Look, I can play the accordian...not! 

This is the day before court day. 

Gotcha day!!

We had court this morning and we got her!! We also got the immediate execution. That means we can start our journey home tomorrow with her. First a short stop in Almaty, then a long flight home. See you all soon!!!


Gotcha day
- I’m sure Mike has already posted that court went well, so I’ll not go into that. After court, we took the translators, drivers and Olga out to lunch at Kamelot. It was very nice and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. In a little while, we must go sign some papers then we will visit Krysta. We will not “take” her today because it is supposed to get very cold tonight and no heat yet. Also, there is no crib here.
Masha heard me coughing and sneezing at lunch and tole me I really shouldn’t visit Krysta. I’m going to go, just not be really kissy. That’s more difficult than it sounds - because when I’m with her I just can’t resist the chubby cheeks and soft skin on her neck. She’s very kissable.
Since everyone didn’t arrive on time to sign the paperwork, so we completed the paperwork late so our visitation overlapped with the Sarvers. We had visitation together for the 1st and perhaps only time. The girls seemed to enjoy having each other and we certainly enjoyed having Daaren and Crystal there as well.
Tomorrow we deliver the gifts and donations and bring the baby back to the apartment. Our flight to Almaty leaves at 10:00 PM - oh well - that’s something that’s beyond our control. We’ll let you know how that goes. We probably won’t post again until Thursday.

oct 11

Monday-
Today during the morning visit, Krysta spit up so we had to change her outfit. As I’ve mentioned before, she doesn’t like this very much. Well, she started to cry and put her arms out and said “Mama, mama!” I picked her up and comforted her but I was pretty skeptical about the mama part. But guess what? When she quieted down and I went to put her down, she clung to my shirt and said it again, “mama mama” Even Mike had to agree when she said it a second time. Wow!
Second visit was uneventful. She is very relaxed in the afternoon and likes to stare at us making fools out of ourselves for her.
-Tomorrow is court so we met with Assia and Olga to prepare. After that, Mike wanted to go back to the Golden Cat for chicken soy sauce and Daaren and Crystal came with us. Mike and I ordered the chicken soy sauce but they told me they only had enough for 1 order. So I ordered chicken cutlet, thai style. It turned out to be a fried boneless breast - no breading or obvious spices. OK- just plain. Daaren asked the waitress what her favorite entree was and he ordered that (beef something) and he ordered asparagus for his side dish(garnish). When it came, there was no asparagus, but instead some meaty, noodly thing. He ate a little bit and passed us each a bit. We can’t be positive but I would venture a guess that it was intestine or stomach. It certainly wasn’t veggie. He did try to find out what it was but the waitress got defensive and we never did figure it out. My guess, for the record, is intestine - having autopsied a few animals in my short career as a vet tech, that would be my best guess.
No Uno tournament tonight. The men have speeches to write for court. I’m starting to get a sore throat so I’, turning in early - Oh no, tetanus!

She's standing and holding on by herself 

Baby close up! 

That looks like a smile... 

October 10

10 days and counting down...

Sunday-
Gray- gloomy & chilly day. Went to Dixie Pub for lunch - today is Crystal’s b-day. Daaren and Crystal had tex-mex...burritos and fajitas. Mike & I had burgers - big mistake. 1st of all, the Sarvers got their food and ours didn’t come and didn’t come and didn’t come... They were almost done by the time our burgers arrived (about 15 minutes after they were served). The burgers were more like meatloaf - very mushy and had to be eaten with a fork but spoon style since piercing the meat only made it fall apart more. French fries were oily -> 2 thumbs down for Dixie Pub.
We bought Crystal a lovely cake at the Little market. However, the icing was like sweetened Crisco. Not our best food day today.
- had a lovely afternoon visit with Krysta - took a couple of pictures.
On the way out of the baby house, it was cold and rainy so I closed the outside door behind me. I felt something stick me in the finger and looked to find a sharp, rusty screw was the culprit. As we drove home, visions of tetanus danced through my head. Why didn’t I get the booster? It’s fine though - barely broke the skin. I told Mike to watch and see if I foam at the mouth - wait! that’s rabies! What are the signs of tetanus?
Mike here....I am glad our visit in Uralsk is almost over. It was fun and interesting at first as I tried to communicate with the locals and find food we would like. But now the pushy and obnoxous people are tiring. The men (and older women) are so pushy - they push past you in line or if you open the door for a woman, the men will push right past them. I did notice that it is still a man’s world over here. The servers will serve the men first. But I see that women can also be pushy. But the people that work in the stores are very kind and some get a kick out of me speaking English to them.
Food and clothing is very inexpensive here. The gloves we bought for Philipige are very nice and only cost 300 Tenge, and the jacket set for Krysta was only 1,000 Tenge. Too bad I couldn’t find a nice jacket for Logan or myself. And we did not starve here since the food is so cheap. A loaf of bread for 25 Tenge, and Pepsi for 45....and as we have mentioned - we have all 4 eaten for under $20.