TrumanTribe

Our Adoption Journey

2010-11-08T14:32:00.001-05:00

Long Time No Blog!

2010-04-30T21:06:00.005-04:00

We have so much to catch up on. I enjoyed looking back on our blog at those months we were in Kazakhstan. It seems like it was yesterday and not seven months ago! The kids have made so many strides in these seven months since coming home.

Their english is coming along quite well. I would say at this point that Zhenya speaks more clearly and correctly, but Alyosha understands more. He talks a lot and desires to share everything that's going on in his mind and sometimes things get pretty jumbled! They are both big talkers. They both have very outgoing personalities, something we would never have guessed from Alyosha those first few days with him at the orphanage. Zhenya has never met a stranger. She continues to talk to everyone she sees. She is a little charmer and usually has all adults giggling at her abrupt and loud greetings and questions.

Their behavior in the beginning was a little surprising to us. When we first brought them back to the apartment in Pavlodar they were pretty crazy acting. It was very hard to keep their excitement at bay. We were basically surviving there for those last couple weeks. We didn't know how firm to be with them and it was quite frustrating trying to find the balance of what to correct and when to show mercy. Everything was so new and exciting and we understood they had never really had to practice self control with things they'd never been around. By the end of our time there we were at our wits end for sure. I mean they must have turned the lights on and off hundreds of times which we can laugh at now, but at a time when we were dealing with paperwork and trying to get home it wasn't very funny dealing with the lack of obedience they were showing and hyperness in our tiny living space. The lights were just one example of their curiosity. It's pretty amazing what kids can find to get into in even the smallest of living spaces! Words cannot describe the relief we felt once we were home and could really begin cracking down on the toddler like behaviors from them both. It was and has been hard at times, but they have come so far. Only occasionally do they play with the lights now! Self control has been a huge issue with them both. The first few months home when we corrected Alyosha he would have meltdowns just like you would see from a two or three year old. He would get very angry and unreasonable. He was not used to adults seeing his every move and expecting things from him. He has a very easy going temperament and is a super happy kid, so it was again very surprising to us when he'd do this. Those outbursts are few and far between now. We are still working with both of them on their wills and breaking them because they were never broken. They were their only allies in life and they only knew how to look out for themselves. They have never learned the concept of thinking about anyone other than themselves. It so makes sense being raised in an orphanage that you would naturally be this way since we are sinful and self-centered beings. It is only God who can show us and make us into anything else by His grace!
Praise the Lord they have such sweet personalities and have very pliable temperaments. I really don't know what we'd do if we had kids with major emotional issues or kids that were having a hard time bonding.

We are bonding great with them. They are very loving and giving of themselves and have not seemed to resent anything. They have never seemed homesick or miss their homeland. At least not yet. We talk to them about the orphanage and ask questions. The first three or four months Alyosha didn't really want to talk about it. In recent months though he has talked a little about things there. He'll tell us about a child he remembers that did something or how someone got in trouble. He told us recently that for punishment the caregivers had the kids do squats or put their heads down between their legs while sitting on the floor. They were hit on the hands with a ruler too. Alyosha and Zhenya seemed to have both experienced some of this discipline, although neither seems to be able to recall why =) Zhenya has always wanted to talk about the orphanage. She knows we are very interested, so she is excited when she remembers something like how they drank some sort of yogurt drink before bed, or that they played with clay sometimes, or makes sure we know that at the orphanage they didn't have this or that.
Dave and I have our days when we still feel like we have a bit to go with feeling like they are totally ours. We feel close and loving toward them, but I think sometimes we feel they were someone else's and get frustrated at their lack of training and well, some days are harder than others. We know it's completely normal to feel this way some days and know with each day/week/month that passes it will all seem more and more natural. I know with each month that has already passed they feel more and more like our kids and Trumans =)

We're Home!!!

2009-10-12T21:18:00.003-04:00

So, after a whirlwind trip we made it home on Saturday. It started with an evening flight to Almaty on Wednesday the 7th. We had our doctors appointment on Thursday. The kids' exit visas came in late that night. Our embassy appointment was scheduled for Friday at 2:30pm.

We spent a lot of time and energy Thursday night and Friday morning deciding if we should fly home as soon as possible at a higher cost and retain our sanity, or wait until Sunday at a lower cost but go completely crazy. We took the first choice and arranged a flight for Friday night at 11:05pm.

After 20 hours of flight time during a 24 hour trip we made it to Memphis on Saturday at 1:00pm. We had the best reception and a wonderful time catching up with everyone. And then we went to bed and slept.

Gotcha day and our time so far!

2009-09-30T05:59:00.005-04:00

The day we picked them up at the orphanage was a really emotional and tiring day. Picking up Zhenya was somewhat painless as she has just been at the orphanage in Kichiry for nine months. She was ready to go and kissed each child in her group, hugged her teachers then immediately started taking her clothes off. She was ready to get the new duds on and get going!

We went over to Alyosha's building and all his class was there ready and waiting for us because they were putting on a special program in honor of his leaving. The kids were all dressed up in various costumes and excited when we arrived. We went into the music room and they immediately started the show! It was absolutely precious.

They quoted wonderful words to all of us about how happy they were for Alyosha and his new family. They said some really sweet things about Alyosha too (we only know through what Tanya our translator told us). They sang songs and danced. I was pretty teary eyed through the entire program and toward the end I could no longer hide my emotions. I believe I started a domino effect with all the kids and teachers. There was not a dry eye in the room, even Zhenya was crying. It was hard, but also a sweet time of saying goodbye crying, hugging, and kissing.

It is a day we will never forget. We will also never forget all those sweet faces of those precious precious kids and will continue to pray for them and the hope that one day they will get a family of their own. Everyone needs a mama and papa and I know if anyone met these beautiful children they would want to take them all home like we do!!!

Our last few days having the kids has been so much fun! Everything is new to them! They remind us of toddlers who start discovering the world around them for the first time, except that they're faster, stronger, and smarter! Once they looked everything over thoroughly and asked millions of questions, in Russian mind you, they have calmed down considerably.

Zhenya is just a ball of energy and has had a few strong willed moments and some mild meltdowns. I'm so thankful for Dave. He corrects her, calms her down and she has made positive strides in learning some self control. Alyosha is a quiet, sweet guy and the only thing we've had to help him with these last few days has been a little sneakiness!

We really have had a good time eating out, walking around, taking the bus, and playing here in the apartment. Zhenya is so cute when we're walking around. She is used to saying "drasty"(hello) at the orphanage whenever people walk by, so when we're out she says "drasty, drasty" to everyone and most of them don't say it back so I taught her to just shrug her shoulders and make a silly face..it's our little game :D

Okay, there is so much more I could go on about, but I'll spare you this time!!

We have been very disappointed that our lawyer and translator have not been able to apply for the kids passports yet. It's something about the bureaucrat who signs the birth certificates is on vacation so they're trying to find someone who can do it for us. This has been a typical hold up throughout our adoption process over the years. It seems there is only one important person who is able to do whatever you need done and they are either on vacation, or in another town, or are unable to be contacted for some reason or another.

So at this point we think that unless a major miracle happens, Friday the 9th is out and Sunday is looking sketchy. We will wait and see knowing that God is looking out for what is best for us and does not withhold anything good from us.

Tomorrow is "Gotcha Day"!!!

2009-09-27T04:36:00.004-04:00

Hey Everyone,

Yes, two blogs in one day! I guess we owe you since we haven't blogged in awhile :)

(just for the record, the food has been fine here, but we would not compare it to home)

We just wanted to let everyone know that we get to pick up the kids tomorrow at the orphanage! In the adoption world lingo we call it "gotcha day"!

We have their clothes all ready to go just like newborns we're bringing home from the hospital. The only difference is that Dave had to go through as much of the labor as I did!!! Yet another reason to adopt girlfriends!!

I believe we're going to first say goodbye with Zhenya and her group and teachers and office ladies then we'll go over to Alyosha's building. His class is going to do a small program for us and then we'll say goodbye to his class and teachers and be on our way! I think it's going to be harder for Dave and I saying goodbye tomorrow than it is going to be on the kids because they're excited and maybe don't quite get how far away they are going and how different their life is going to be.

There are going to be so many new things they are going to be experiencing in the next few weeks and then at home it's going to be an interesting time for all of us!

I hope we can sleep tonight! I know we'll need it!!

Love you all and we can never thank you enough for praying and caring for us and our family.

food around town(at least as far as we can walk)

2009-09-27T03:30:00.002-04:00

So here are some of the places where we have eaten. Sadly, we don't call some of them by the given names because we don't know them. The top two are from Krendel (how we pronounce it, probably not totally accurate but it works for us). We think this is one of the hardest places to order from but the food is pretty stinkin' good. What you see here is two eggs over medium, small steaks, potatoes, onions, tomatoes, cheese, all in a skillet = Delicious! The latte is called the "Balshoy Latte" in Russian which means the big delectable latte in English. They don't have an English menu for some reason, but once you figure out what is what, it is worth the trouble.

The next photo is from the "Russian Restaurant" which has a name but we don't know it and can't pronounce it. This is one of our favorite places, now that we know how to order. We have found that in most of the places we have been the food is extremely fresh, as in they might have just run out and picked the tomato and killed the chicken fresh. They have a menu in English which we also appreciate.

The last photo is from a place called (or should I say pronounced) Skief. We went there based on a recommendation from an American couple. He described an item with chicken and vegetables rolled up in the local version of a tortilla and deep fried (aka Chimichanga). We were drawn in by the cross cultural possibilities of finding Mexican-ish food in Pavlodar. We found they also had chips and salsa, onion rings, and shakes. Unfortunately, they were all breaded with the same batter and fried in the same oil. On this place we were split, Jeannie liked it and I didn't. However, I would go back and try something else because you just never know.

There are a couple of other places we go to probably too often. Classic Pizza has an English menu but there are some translation errors, like peppers in translated as pepperoni. So when you order the "piquante" (picante) pizza with "pepperoni" what you get is a nice ham pizza with nice spicy peppers. It was still very good and we have ordered it several times. Classic isn't Pizza Hut, but you know what they say...

The Old Englishman (one of the names we don't have any problem pronouncing) is also a favorite stop. No English menu but there are pictures. They have fajitas (pronounced phonetically fa-gee-tahs here by the way, just like it in pronounced in Tipton county, we have been corrected several times). They are very tasty. They also have a taco salad with the shell bowl, very good also. I would recommend something from the shish-ke-bob selection near the back. It comes with this wonderful salsa that is muy bueno, or karasho as they say here.

We found another pizza place this week that was also very good. It is supposedly named after a Turkish city - Ephes. It is hard to miss with the big giant retro PIZZA sing on the side of the building.

The last good place I want to mention is the one we call IHOP. It is not really an IHOP, that would be too much and probably like the Dennys in Japan. It is really called The Cherry or something like that except in Russian of course. It has a 50s diner look to it with lots of chrome and Naugahyde. We had the "Americanski" breakfasts which were pretty good. Two thumbs up.

There are other places too. One bad place to mention was BurgerMaxx - worse than McDonald's, can't say much more than that.

Eating out here is pretty much an adventure every time. We have advanced the "point and grunt" method of ordering to the "point and say 'eta' (this)" method. Early on we had some interesting meals where we weren't sure what we were going to get. And there is an occasion where we are surprised by what shows up at the table. 99% of the time, it is something good. We haven't accidentally ordered pigs snout or anything like that, yet. There was an occasion where we asked for the check and got tea (chai), which was understandable.

The prices are all very reasonable and the servings are proportionate for what you pay. There has only been one occasion where we paid $10.00 per person, and that was a lot of food. Normally we pay $7.00 each including drinks and tip. We could probably just order one thing and split it most of the time except that Jeannie likes gross things like onions and garlic.

I am working on getting these all put on Google Earth or Google maps along with walking times from the apartment and of course our expert reviews.

Sweet Moments

2009-09-18T08:06:00.005-04:00

Jeannie, Tanya (the interpreter) and I were talking today about how much the kids have changed since we first met them just over a month ago. They have both grown taller, gained a little weight, been given haircuts, and Z lost a tooth.
They have become more accustomed to being hugged and are clearly more comfortable with us. Initially Alyosha would give perfunctory hugs as if to say "I am doing this becuase I am being told to, but I really dont trust you yet." After a few visits he switched to deep, strong hugs as if to say "Please make sure you come back." Now he gives the very comfortable hugs of familiarity.

When I first kissed Zhenya on the check, my scratchy beard made her grimace. Either my beard has grown less scratchy or she has become more comfortable with it. Either way is OK way with me.

With all of these changes in the kids, Tanya pointed out the biggest change: when we first met them they didn't have a family, or even each other for that matter. They might have known they were brother and sister, but they had no relationship. Now, they have parents, grandparents, brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, cousins, AND each other. As Grandma Betty likes to say "What a deal, huh?"

The month's schedule

2009-09-18T07:24:00.004-04:00

Hi, it's been a week since court! We still have about ten days left until we can pick the kids up. Since the appeal period ends on a Saturday the last day will actually be on Monday and we will pick the kids up on Tuesday the 29th. That day Svetlana, our lawyer, will apply for their birth certificates and passports. We will bring the kids back with us to Pavlodar where we will wait to receive those documents which can take 10-13 business days(approx. 2 weeks) After we get those, we can fly to Almaty and get the kids visas at the US Embassy there. That should just take a few days. Then home!

We continue to visit the kids about every other day. We made a chart that we are using to count down the days with the kids. They get to draw a smiley face in the circle for every day that passes until they get to come to Pavlodar with us! Then we'll make a new chart for our count down to America!!

The kids seem very anxious to get on with things! We hadn't pulled out the photo album in awhile and today we did and Alyosha said "we will get to see the rest of our family soon" I was surprised because sometimes it seemed he wasn't that interested in the pictures, but he could name everyone and is ready to go!!
You know Zhenya is...she thinks everyday is the day for her to leave!

A new name with a beautiful pronounciation.

2009-09-15T07:25:00.003-04:00

Group Fun :)

2009-09-15T05:54:00.005-04:00

This is Alyohsa's group and teachers. The half with us are the ones that he schools with.(One half in the morning the other in the afternoon)

They are such sweet kids. We were able to come hang out with them and have a small birthday celebration with them for Alyosha. We brought some juice boxes, candies, a toy car for each boy and bracelot for each girl. It was a lot of fun playing and visiting with them, except that we want to bring them all home with us!

We are hoping that the orphanage director, Olga, will let us come teach a little English to the class on our visits in the next few weeks to the kids. Of course we'll ask if Zhenya can join us! Since we are trying to teach A and Z some English anyway we thought it would make it more fun to be with all the kids.

Today our translator, Tanya, and I went shopping for some clothes for A and Z. We wanted to get just a few things to get us through the few weeks we'll have them here, since they are given to us just like newborns with nothing to their names.

We hope everyone is doing well! Pray the rest of our time here goes quickly! Dave and I are missing the rest of the Tribe and friends and A and Z are anxious to get to America!

Video: Looking through the photo album

2009-09-12T10:16:00.003-04:00

So this is us looking through our photo album we made for the kids. It has pictures of family, friends, our house, but not the dogs. We have been sitting down with them and going through the pictures. It has been a lot of fun. One of our favorites was when Zhenya first saw the picture of my family from my parents' anniversary. The picture is of my parents, their 6 children, 3 spouses, and 13 Grandchildren. With so many kids she thought it was a picture of the kids from the other building at the orphanage.
Another time I was sitting with Zhenya asking her who was "krasiva" (pretty/handsome). I would point to someone like Jeannie for example and say "Is Mama krasiva?" She would say "da" (yes). We went through the family and got to the friends page. I pointed to some of the children and asked if they were krasiva, and she said "da". When I started pointing to some of the men in the pictures and asking if they were "krasiva" she gave me a curt "nyet!" (no). Sorry fellas.
Unfortunately neither of these made it to video so this will have to do.

Some Russian words that might help:
"Vota"- 'look at that', or 'and that', or any other similar iteration as best as I can tell.
"Babushka" - Grandmother
"Dadushka" - Grandfather
"Brat"(like the big hot dog) - brother
"sistra" - sister
and of course Papa and Mama.

Introducing Alexey Benjamin and Zhenia Claire Truman

2009-09-11T08:00:00.000-04:00

Pictured above is the Kichiri courthouse. It is where our two new little Trumans were officially deemed ours today! We can't believe this day has finally arrived! It's just really hard to believe that after 3 1/2 years of paperwork, waiting, disappointment after disappointment, and many tears we finally have these precious gifts of God!.

The picture of us was taken right after court when we went to the orphanage and we told the kids their new names. Zhenia accepted it all right away and was like "okay" and thought we were leaving right then for America! Alyosha was extremely shy acting and had his thought-filled face on. He was looking down as we told him and was mulling it all around in his mind and smiled slightly. I think he was overwhelmed with the new name idea. We hadn't wanted to bring it up until everything was official.
I can relate to Alyosha. I think it's going to take me a few weeks to get over the fact that I don't have to do another document for our dossier...don't have to get anything notarized, certified, and apostilled!! I'm going to go into withdrawals I think. I will be dreaming about reams of paper with special stamps and seals attacking me or something!

We headed back to Pavlodar after visiting with the kids and had a celebration lunch with our lawyer Svetlana, translator Tanya, and driver(S's father)Genadi. We went to a Russian restaurant(I know I thought they all were too)
It was very nice and such a relief for all of us! We can't wait to get home to celebrate with everyone in TN and to our wonderful friends, family and fellow adoptees following the blog THANK YOU so much for your prayers and encouragement! We have loved all the comments and emails..they all just mean so much to us!!!

Another Court Update

2009-09-08T21:59:00.000-04:00

Our court end date has been moved to Friday. Every day things get moved back means more days here, more expense and Dave's paid vacation days will be coming to an end soon :( Thanks for continuing to pray!

Court Update

2009-09-07T10:35:00.000-04:00

I was hoping to post about our time in court tomorrow and about it being done, but instead things are postponed until Wednesday :( There are a few more documents that were asked for by the judge (to do with the kids), so Svetlana is having to go to other villages to get those. We should be able to finish everything on Wednesday(Lord willing). Court today went well. We are done with our part. Dave did a great job presenting our reasons for adopting, financial state, and answering the judges questions. I just answered yes to a couple of questions and made a short statement about how I felt about the kids and bonding with them. I thought I would have to do more explaining about homeschooling, but Svetlana(our lawyer) explained how we would be educating the kids and the judge didn't even question it. I was surprised because homeschooling is a very foreign concept for people here.
It was an interesting day today. We were a little nervous this morning and for me a little more so when the judge came in the room. He was dressed in a velvet robe and had a Kazakh looking velvet hat on his head. It was intimidating to me especially since his manner was also somber. Once Dave was done speaking what he needed to say and asking to adopt the kids, change their names etc...I felt less nervous. There was someone there from the equivalent of our dept. of social services and also the assistant director of the orphanage who both spoke and were questioned also. It all took about two hours. Half of that time was paperwork exchanging/ organizing and waiting on the judge.
Tomorrow Tanya(translator) and I are going to get a few more things for Alyosha's class party. I think we'll still be able to have it on Wednesday after court.We appreciate your prayers for us as a few more paperwork issues get ironed out. Love you all :D

Alyohsa's b-day :)

2009-09-06T00:41:00.000-04:00

Alyosha turns 9 today! Although it was quite the little debate with him yesterday. Someone told him is birthday was the 9th of September, but we think either they or he was confused about turning 9 and his actual date of birth. In his paperwork his birthday is the 6th of September. We kept telling him it was the 6th, but he was insisting it was the 9th. It wasn't that important to us at this point to be right about his birthday, but our translator really wanted to settle it, so she asked the assistant director to go check for sure and tell him. She did and she told him and he was fine. We are going to celebrate with his class on Wednesday since we couldn't go out to the orphanage today and we have court tomorrow and Tuesday. We're really looking forward to celebrating everything on Wednesday(God willing!)
Today(Sunday)we will probably walk over to one of our favorite places to eat here called "Krendells". They have a bakery and restaurant. They have very yummy coffee drinks too :D It is our favorite Sunday place to go and often we are joined by fellow adoptionees :D. We have heard an American couple is coming in September. They are not with our agency, but we are hoping our paths will cross.
A few people have posted comments with success! Thanks once again for your prayers, encouragement and care for our family!

2009-09-03T22:23:00.003-04:00

Court Dates

2009-09-03T19:57:00.004-04:00

The pics are of A and Z with a few new clothes we got them...the one of both of them was their first taste of strawberries :D
We heard yesterday that we will have two days of court. Monday and Tuesday 10 am both days and we assume both sessions will be an hour or two.
Thanks for praying we love and miss you all :D

We have a court date!

2009-09-01T08:35:00.003-04:00

This afternoon on our way to the orphanage we were told we wouldn't know our court date until next week and our hearts just sunk! It was the worst ride to the orphanage ever especially after the bad news. It was raining and a car spun out in front of us and the road felt bumpier than ever...it also seemed there were just more cows, horses, sheep and goats along side the road that Genadi had to watch today too!! You know it's not so much the waiting as it is the waiting and not knowing! We just want a date! Something to plan by, something to look forward to!
On our way back from the orphanage Tanya got a call with good news that we did get a date today! Our date is Tuesday, September 8 at 10 am! Which is next Monday night for you all! That's two weeks after our bonding was over...not the week to ten days we hoped for, but we'll take a few days later! And ya know it was the best ride back we've ever had...the road just didn't seem as bumpy and the sun was shining!! Okay so there were a few cows we had to avoid, but other than that I'm sticking to the best drive back ever!

We had a good visit with the kids today. Zhenya and I had a very silly moment. I had gotten her this little change purse to go in the purse we also had given her and it's kind of hard to open. I was showing her with her little hand how to open it and we both just belly laughed and laughed over me showing her...she was just getting so tickled and made me just lose it. Another funny moment with her today was her combing Dave's hair and then beard...it was so funny! We also started playing a version of hide and seek and both the kids just get soooo excited about it! I pretend to not be able to find them and they make a run for Dave(he's the safety zone) It's so not fair because they run to him yelling "papa papa" and into his arms giving him free hugs while I'm the bad chaser monster! So not fair...I think we're changing it around next time!! Dave says "sorry Jeannie, it's Biblical"! He'll have to find me that verse!

Have I told you how Alyosha takes any extra snack we bring to his friends to share? He is such a sweet kid. He loves puzzles and building things...he loves to try and figure things out.

We are teaching the kids the English alphabet and sounds(Dave put great pics and letters on his laptop ad we use that.) Even though we've tried to make it fun I think they're getting the idea it's like school and are starting not be as keen on it as they were at first!

We love all the emails and hearing about everything that is going on with everyone!! Keep them coming!! And if you haven't emailed you need to!!! Thanks for all the continued prayers for us means more to us than we could ever express!

2009-08-25T02:12:00.003-04:00

OK, so this is Dave. Here are a couple more photos of the kids. Alyosha loves taking pictures and occasionally takes one of himself. Zhenya is doing one of her favorite things, eating. She loves those apples, and pears, and crackers, and cookies...
The kids are doing good, even the kids back home. We had to take a day off from visiting today because our lawyer Svetlana needed to use the van to take care of some paperwork. It is good for us to be able to take a day off from the drive. It also gives us a chance to catch up a little.

We are very happy with our lawyer here. We can tell she is really on top of things and cares about us and the kids. We can also tell that everyone else likes her too. She has well established relationships with everyone who is in the "loop" of the adoption process. And she has a good team working for her. Her father, Ganadi, is the driver. She has at least four interpreters, 2 are more for translating documents and court work, and the other two work with clients on an everyday basis.

The other to photos are just some things I found interesting. One is the local version of Pringles. They are not very good, but they have a great name. The other is detergent for washing clothes. I am not sure how they add the "Love" and how much of it is in the mix, but how can you go wrong with adding "love"?

There have been other things that are interesting around here. Jeannie talked a little about the wedding parties taking pictures in the park. One thing I like and I think we should adopt it in the States is the traffic lights. They have the normal green, yellow, red progression except that they yellow light flashes when the light is getting ready to turn green, how awesome is that! It would certainly help me out when I fade into what I call the "red light zone" while waiting for the light to turn green. I usually snap out of it when Jeannie (or Grace, or Josh) point out the light is green or when I notice all the other cars are moving. It would also making mini-van drag racing so much more fun. It would be just like a real drag race, and then Jody would have one less excuse when I smoke him.

Another is the drivers or should I say driving. This is the home of aggressive driving. It is like one giant game of chicken. The good part for us is that they are very careful about pedestrians in crosswalks. I think pedestrians in the road but not in the crosswalk count as bonus points however. Surprisingly we have seen very few wrecks. It seems that everyone understands the rules, knows the other guy is going to be aggressive, and it all works out OK.

Eating out has been an adventure. The food is different of course, but so is the service. Everywhere we have gone the service has been very good. The hardest part for me to get used to is that they don't bring the check until you ask. Since we are never in a hurry and don't really have anywhere to go we usually end up spending an hour or more at the place we eat, usually on the internet. By the time we are ready to go I have forgotten that we need to pay the check. We haven't skipped out on any bills so far, but I could see it happening. Oh yeah, there is no such thing as a "No Smoking" section in most places, bummer.

Oh well, enough for today. We will be visiting the kids tomorrow and should have some more photos. We hope to find out about our court date by the end of the week. It cannot, by law, be any sooner than 7-10 days after the end of the bonding period. There was also mention of a waiver of the mandatory 14 day appeal period. This applies only in cases of medical emergency where the child needs an operation.

Lovely Sunday

2009-08-23T08:09:00.004-04:00

These are just a few pics we've taken when we've been out and about here...we have kazillions more...well maybe I'm exaggerating, but not much! We've had a nice day today. We watched a message by Mark Driscoll(out of Seattle) on our laptop. He's doing a series on marriage that has been really good that we've been watching. Then we met up with our Australian friends, two Belgian families that are adopting and a single woman from Rhode Island who just got here. All are great people and we really enjoyed getting to know them better today. Wow, the Belgian families we have met all know about three languages. It's pretty amazing and we are very thankful because it means we have people to converse and share together with in English! It's been interesting getting to know them and learning a little about their cultures. Dave and I didn't know we'd be getting to meet all these families and we've really enjoyed it. It's all due to our Aussie friends though and their getting us all together, so we are really thankful. We are disappointed they are leaving this next week to go back to Australia. The wife is going to have a baby and they are headed back for several months, but at least we got to meet them and connect with some families here. We're headed back in a few minutes to the apartment and Dave and I may watch a movie on the laptop tonight.
We miss you all so much and are so very thankful for your love and prayers for us. We still have a long way to go here, but God has been very good to us and we are blessed indeed.

Getting Close

2009-08-22T09:21:00.003-04:00

Monday will be our last official bonding day. We will continue to go see the kids as much as possible in the coming weeks. We should know about a court date next week. Remember to please pray we get a date asap! The shorter the wait the shorter our time here and sooner we get to bring the kids home!
I realized yesterday we had been spelling Alyosha's name a bit wrong...I've been switching the y and o around :) It's actually his nickname...his formal name is actually Alexi...we don't know why Alyosha is a nickname...it's longer than his real name?
On paper his name will be Alexi Benjamin...we will ask him in the coming weeks what he would like to be called Alex, Benjamin or continue with the Alyosha. Zhenya's name will also stay the same on paper but we are giving her a middle name also, Zhenya Claire, which may change to "Jenna" once we get home.
Zhenya has really calmed down this week. Her focus is better and the excitement of all the new attention has quieted down.I feel like we're getting to know the real her now. She's still silly and tests us a bit, but is also very loving and sweet.
Alyosha is getting more and more comfortable with us too...he LOVES the camera and has enjoyed taking lots of pictures with it during our visits. It's been a good way to make eye contact with him. We had a really good visit with them both today.
We also went to the river park area again to saw more brides walking around and getting pictures made. We are collecting quite a few pics ourselves. I keep forgetting to tell Malorie that everytime Z sees her and Dan's wedding picture in our photo album she calls Malorie a queen when we quiz her on who it is! Z has never seen a bride, so queen is the closest thing she knows to someone dressed like that! Malorie you will forever be known as the queen of the Truman family! LOVE YOU ALL

Aloysha

2009-08-20T09:13:00.006-04:00

This is the building where A sleeps and Aloysha's rooms. Also pictured here are A(he's in the middle between twin brothers) some of his friends(he such a happy handsome guy!). I'm also unsure of how many children live here... my guesstimate would be 50 or 60? We haven't seen many of the kids. We have just been going to one room where we play with the kids, so it was a special treat to be able to go see their rooms and some of the kids they play with. Although, we've yet to see many kids Z plays with and it's funny when I ask about her friends she calls everyone by their last name?

Zhenya

2009-08-20T08:57:00.005-04:00

These pictures are of Z's rooms. I counted about 16 toddler beds in the room where she sleeps. As you can see it's very neat and clean and nicely kept. Next door is the room where she would go to school and then there is the bathroom where she keeps her little towel and cup. She was very excited to show us everything! There is another room just like hers across the hall. I'm not sure how many younger ones there are at this orphanage. There are more older kids(the ones in A's age range) in another building.

more pics

2009-08-18T08:33:00.005-04:00

Pictured here is our lawyer Svetlana and her father our driver, Genadi. We are told she is one of the best if not the best in Pavlodar. She is very nice and professional. The dish on the table was served at the "Cantina" a small cafe in Kichiri where they make homemade, yummy food. This dish was beef in gravy with macaroni. It was very tasty. We have gone there a few times now with Svetlana while we are waiting for someone or something. They have wonderful hot tea with milk.
Oh and below with me and Z is a picture of Tanya our translator. She is very sweet and we wouldn't know what to do without her :D

Getting into a routine

2009-08-18T08:01:00.004-04:00

I want to add to what I said yesterday about the cost of things here. When I wrote about prices not being so bad I was thinking of groceries. There are many things that are more expensive and a few things less expensive. I was going down a toy aisle in the grocery store yesterday and there were very cheap looking toys(like you'd find at a dollar store in the states) and they were between $6-$8. I believe toys, clothes and goods are generally more expensive here. We haven't shopped much yet so we'll be able to compare more as the days go on.
It's becoming more and more comfortable to visit with the kids and finding ways to relate. We got to see Zhenya's (pronounced kind of like "Jenya" j sound as in treasure) room today. I will try and put up pics of where she sleeps, schools etc..tomorrow.
I'm enjoying a chicken sandwhich as I write you this evening. Most of the food we've eaten has been very American like and good. We do want to try horse one day. It is a traditional Kazakh dish. Well, Dave wants to try it....yeah I know the picky one...I'll have to be feeling strong that day. We've eaten a lot of bread this week. In Kachiri, the small village where the orphanage is there is a small store we stop in to get this hot fresh bread...it's only 50 tenge(less than 50 cents) for a large loaf.
This is usually our lunch with cheese and some fruit. LOVE YOU ALL and please write and tell us what you've been up to!

Some Sights

2009-08-17T08:09:00.003-04:00

Pictured above is a mosque, the river and beach area, and orthodox church. We are told there is a mosque, orthodox church, and catholic church in every town of size. Everything is within walking distance from us and we are managing to see something different each day. The weather has been absolutely gorgeous and we are trying to take advantage of all the nice days we are having! We hear it can get pretty cold pretty fast.
We had another good visit with the kids today and are halfway through our bonding period. After bonding time is completed our lawyer Svetlana will set up our court date. Please pray our court date is appointed in record time! Why not right! We can ask after all!
Tomorrow Tanya(our translator) and her husband are going to take us to the movie theater. I think we're going to try and see "GI Joe" dubbed in Russian....we figured we wouldn't be missing much not understanding the dialogue. :) AND it will be half price 300 tenge(about $2) :) not bad huh...most prices compare with the States though...maybe a bit more on some things, but with the exchange rate we do pretty well.
I'll try and blog more tomorrow. We have more pics of kids I want to put up of course :) LOVE YOU ALL

Part 2

2009-08-15T10:40:00.003-04:00

Aloysha spoke a little more today. When I asked him what kind of foods he liked he said "all". He usually gives one words answers to all our questions :) But with Dave today he was talking a bit more and he smiles a lot and loves to play games with us. He wrote his name in cursive very well and we are told he is a bright student.
We always look forward to seeing them and get to spend a few hours with them each morning.

When we come back to the apartment we unload our bags we've taken to the ophanage with books and games and load them up with a camera and lap top. We have had a fun last couple days viewing all the wedding parties walking around the parks and taking pictures. Fridays and Saturdays are wedding days in Pavlodar. I don't think there is actually a wedding that takes place the way we do in the States. Their wedding day as told to us by our translator Tanya is them dressing up and going to a civil court where they may say a few vows and sign papers and then go all around the city taking pictures and eventually ending up at the mosque or orthodox church to take pictures. It was a lot of fun for Dave and I to take pics of all the brides the last couple days when we've taken our daily exploration walk. We are a short walk from the river/park area where all the action is.
We were told thank you and were given encouragement to take pictures. It seemed to be a compliment to them.

It's beens a very nice last couple days visiting with the kids, exploring, finding nice places to eat and shop, and huge bonus we met a very nice Australian couple that live just down the street who are here teaching english and volunteering at the orphanage. We had a nice time with them last evening. It was really encouraging.
God has been very good to us!

I wish I could write back to each of you individually and answer your questions! There's so much more I want to say!!! We have lots of pics we want to put up too! Our time is always limited as we want to get back to the apartment before it gets too late.

I'll try to get online tomorrow again. LOVE YOU all so much and HAPPY 21st B-DAY Jake and Dan!!! LOVE YOU so much!!!!

2009-08-15T10:31:00.002-04:00

This is what our hour long ride back and forth(2hours) looks like every day. We enjoy each day we visit. The kids always seem happy to see us and seem to be getting more and more comfortable with us. Well, I don't think Zhenya was ever not comfortable with us :) she continues to be a character. Today she was displaying her gymnastics to us. She said " I can walk on my hands" as Tanya our translator is telling us she actually started walking on her hands and we all cracked up! We didn't really believe her, but this chick has some skills let me tell you!

A day in the life

2009-08-13T04:31:00.002-04:00

First, a HUGE thank you to everyone who has been praying! Thanks is just not enough, you just don't know what it means to us. Yesterday and today we have been able to get online at a hotel lobby across the street from our apartment. We have so enjoyed reading your emails and encouraging words. Again, you just don't even know how much we appreciate your messages. I don't know what the people here at the hotel think of this strange foreigner woman crying over the computer, but there's nothing I can do about it!
We are disappointed that we are unable to get the internet at our apartment. I guess the apartment next to us has the capability, but there is a French couple there now and we will have to wait for them to vacate before moving in and being there. It's probably okay for now though because it's especially good for me to be out and about as much as possible as my body gets acclimated.
Many of you have asked about our routine and what exactly we will do each day. For the next few weeks we are doing a required bonding time with the kids. We are picked up outside our hotel by our translator, Tatiyana and driver, Genadi every morning. They are both very friendly. Tatiyana or less formal, Tanya is very sweet and we are enjoying getting to know her. We take an very bumpy hour long drive out to the orphanage. Once there we go to a special room to play with the kids. They come in and are told to hug us and say hello etc...soo cute. We have a few hours a day with them. I'm so glad I brought some things for us to do with them. As you can imagine it is a little awkward one big reason being the language barrier! Tanya is there to help us communicate with them, but it's not the same as you can imagine. I bought these cheap matching card games that have been a good way to interact, also Carla, remember you sent those jacks along with other toys like three years ago? Well, the jacks were a big hit with Aloysha today! He is very coordinated! Also, they both enjoy coloring and color very neatly. Dave has been great with A....he has been reading a simple book with him and learning Russian from A and teaching him some English in exchange.
As I told you briefly yesterday A is quiet and Z is a hummingbird. She goes from one thing to the next! She is super happy and just a little spit fire! Dave and I look forward to our mornings with them!
Today was interesting because a news channel was at the orphanage. They taped us playing with A and interviewed someone from one of the education offices there and asked us if we would do an interview. Our translator asked the director and others and they all agreed it would not be a good idea. There are just lots of rules and regs here and we wouldn't want to hurt our process.It was pretty awkward trying to play with A and having this big tv camera guy taping us for about 10 minutes. I mean he had that camera really close to us at certain points. We asked Tanya if she would find out when it went on tv and if she would record it for us. That would be neat to have for A in years to come.
We get back early afternoon and will probably be in the routine of coming over to the hotel to email or blog. Yesterday we walked and walked around town. We are close to everything here. There are several good places to eat. Tonight we are probably going to a pizza place that we tried a few days ago. It was very good and they have wireless if we want to check in again.
Last night we went to the store and bought some fruit, cereal, bread, water and of course Dave can always spot a treat! There are plenty of icecream treats to be found here just like Japan. In fact J,D,J,and G...the stores here remind us a lot of Japan.
Okay, there is still lots I could ramble on about...the people we are working with, the apartment, the city, but I'll save some things for my next blog okay! LOVE YOU ALL!!! MISS YOU ALL!

Meet the newest members of the Tribe!

2009-08-12T05:57:00.002-04:00

We know everyone is curious to see pictures of the new Truman Tribe! Here they are!!
They are such cutie pies!! Our son Aloysha is 8 years old(actually we just found out a few hours ago his birthday is September 6! so he'll be 9. Zhenya is 5 and we don't know her b-day yet. We are in the bonding period with them which will last 14 days. After that our lawyer will set us up a court date which should take place a week after our bonding is done. Then there is another waiting period before the kids can come home.
A is very quiet...he does well interacting, but is mild mannered...Z is a different story...she is in constant movement...think hummingbird :D
We can't wait for you to meet them!!!

2009-08-08T10:19:00.002-04:00

We are in Amsterdam! The airport here is very nice. It is suprisingly calm and has many amenities.
I was not feeling well on the plane ride from Atlanta and for several hours today, but am now feeling much better praise the Lord! It was rough there for awhile. Our flight to Almaty is delayed for a few hours making it a really long layover, but what ya gonna do? Well, our next post will be from Kazakhstan!

Love you and appreciate your continued prayers for us!

A traveling we will go!

2009-08-06T16:21:00.002-04:00

Grace is safe and sound in Washington state. She left this morning and is already there enjoying her aunts, uncles, grandma and cousins! She is pictured above with a shirt her friend Kristen painted for her :D (She will be the best big sis!)
Dave and I are finishing up the last of the packing. We just took one last run to Walmart! I think we feel pretty ready. I'm sure I will continue to find things to do the rest of the day and may repack a bit, but feel pretty good. We will try and keep the blog up even while we travel this weekend. Thank you to everyone for your kind words, encouarging cards, uplifting calls, unconditional love, and thought-filled prayers for our family!!!! We love and appreciate you all so much!!!

Paperwork Complete(at least on this side)

2009-08-01T14:28:00.002-04:00

The photo above is most of our dossier. There are a handful of documents we duplicated and our passport copies X10 making it a total of around 60 documents including 3 home study updates! This represents the last (almost two) years of our life.
We have to also bring another folder full of paperwork for our embassy appointment at the end of the adoption. Goodness I hope we have everything!
Wow, it's so nice to finally be done with all that. We were so happy to have received that last document from immigration on Thursday and were able to go to Nashville yesterday to apostille the rest of our documents! What a relief to now just mail off our last things to America World on Monday and just be able to concentrate on our house and packing! Woooo Hoooo :)
We are already not sleeping too well with things rolling around in our heads all the time, so prayer is much appreciated for all the details we have to keep! Not to mention thinking about the child/ren the Lord is preparing for our family! I don't know how many times I've played "the meeting" over in my head!! What a wonderful day that will be!

Getting Ready

2009-07-20T21:01:00.005-04:00

We had our "travel meeting" via three way call today with Kristen(our adoption coordinator). She shared with us some very good information about our schedule while in country. I feel like I've read so many people's experiences and information about how it all goes that there wasn't much left for me to know, but she really did share some things I didn't know yet and gave us a good picture of how our court appointment will go.
Also we been in contact with a few families who have adopted from Pavlodar, with our agency, within the past year and their answers to our questions and information they've offered has been invaluable!
We were emailed today by the travel agency in NYC that are entry visas and passports should arrive tomorrow!!
The picture I posted with this message is of two teddy bears we bought when we first felt led to adopt. I had found them on a web site and saw that they had a front pocket and thought we could put a picture of Dave and I there so that once we meet our children we could give them the bears and they could keep them when we were going through bonding with them and before they would be able to come home with us. I can't believe we finally get to bring them!

Have Tickets Will Travel!!

2009-07-15T22:29:00.002-04:00

We bought our plane tickets to Kazakhstan! I don't think we did too bad considering. We were directed to a travel agency in NY by our adoption agency, but the quote they gave us was more than what we'd found online, so we went ahead and bought the tickets we found.

That same NY agency is who will be processing our entry visas! We FED-EXed our applications and passports(scary) to them today and will prayfully be getting our visas back with our precious passports next week!

Dave has had a long day! He met Daniel and Malorie near Nashville. They picked up Josh in Ohio where he was on a mission trip helping out a small church there and Nashville is half-way between us and them. It was so very gracious of them to help us by doing that! He had to come home early because he has to get fingerprinted for immigration and be added to some important paperwork with them since he turned 18 this is required. We hated to cut his trip short, but we had to.

Things are coming together! Thanks once again for keeping us in your prayers!

We have our date!!

2009-07-14T17:25:00.002-04:00

We finally received our confirmation number and appointment date at the Ministry of Education in Kazakhstan!
We aren't yet sure of the day we'll be flying out, but our appointment is in mid August(if you want our exact date feel free to email or call us)! We are so very excited! We now apply for visa entries, finish up paperwork, and pack!
It's all feeling a bit surreal right now. Thank you for praying, loving, and supporting us! We are very thankful for wonderful friends and family who have been with us and will be with us through the rest of our journey to our child or ,God willing, children.

Paperwork Update

2009-07-02T14:34:00.003-04:00

Yay, our new home study addendum made it to the immigration office just before the deadline!
Now we are waiting for our appointment date for Josh to get his fingerprints and our update will be finished!
Then we just need to pray we get that new important piece of paperwork in the mail before we leave!
Not to mention having the time to get every piece of paper left certified and apostilled!

We also have our appointment this week for Josh to get his medical exam done and Dave and I will also get our updated medicals done. It looks like our doctor is coming in early a day next week so we can get those done! We owe her many thanks for going out of her way now a few times for us!

We are hoping to get our confirmation number this week so we can go ahead and get our passports in the mail to get our entry visas! Oh yeah and an appointment date would be nice so we can book our plane tickets!

Thanks everyone for your continued prayers on our behalf. I love the verse Doctor Jody used this morning Isaiah 14:27 "For the Lord of Hosts has planned, and who can frustrate it? And as for His stretched-out hand, who can turn it back?"

more paperwork! what a surprise!

2009-06-26T13:57:00.003-04:00

Josh turned 18 this week and with that came background checks including two sets of fingerprints. One set for the fBI and one set for immigration. Also additions to our home study. We also need to get a medical worksheet done for him. At least we know this time there is an end in sight and it helps to know we are going over soon and will all paperwork will soon be over :)

We received our Letter of Invitation!

2009-06-25T20:55:00.003-04:00

We are so happy to finally be able to write on here that we've received our letter of invitation to go to Kazakhstan!
We have not yet received our appointment date and confirmation number, but our agent Kristen told us we will get these within a few weeks!
Our letter does state that our visa entries will be good Aug 1 through Nov 1 so we know we'll be traveling sometime within that time frame!
We are beyond excited, thankful, and relieved after three years and four months from the time our adoption journey began to actually have a tangible time frame!!!! Thank you Lord!
We know by now His ways are not ours, but we do know HIs timing is perfect and I do trust that God has our child/ren in His hands and is soon going to place them in our care!

more paperwork

2009-02-16T18:43:00.002-05:00

It doesn't end. We have yet another piece of paperwork to have notarized, certified and apostilled.
This is one of our three power of attorneys that has to be used for something new.
It's not that big of a deal to have done. It's just signing and taken to an office then post office, then overnighted to another office then back, then to our agent. Okay, when I put it like that it sounds like work.
Can you believe we've done this probably dozens and dozens of times. In fact I could probably put all the addresses on everything without looking them up, but won't do that...I'm way too paranoid about all this stuff to do that!

Still Waiting

2009-02-13T22:39:00.003-05:00

It's been a few months since I wrote our last post, mainly because there's not been much to write about the adoption.
We still wait for "the call" with news of our letter of invitation given to us by the country of Kazakhstan in order to get our entrance visas. Along with the "letter of invitation" comes an appointment date to meet with the authorities there and proceed with our adoption. We have good days and not so good days waiting. We're trying to keep busy, without making too many plans for the future since we really should be traveling soon :)

We found out this week that we will have to have yet another piece of paperwork done, notarized, certified, and apostilled. The last time we travelled to the Secretary of State's office to get paperwork done the director there recognized me...well, she'd better I've been going there for three years! Everyone in all these offices know us and I'm pretty sure they think we're a bit addicted to paperwork.

We hope soon to be posting some good news on here about traveling over to get our child/children!! Thanks for praying :)

One more big wait

2008-11-25T20:17:00.001-05:00

Just when we thought we were done waiting here we are waiting for what we think will be the last time(here anyway!)
We got a call 8 days ago from our adoption agent, Kristen, who told us that our facilitator in Kazakhstan is working on getting our letter of invitation to go over! She told us we would be getting news any day!
It's been a long road and too many of these waits, but this one has to be the most excruciating of them all.

We began waiting this time last year when we finished up our dossier to send to Kazakhstan.
Before starting that dossier we had learned, after trying to adopt from Ukraine for a year and a half, that our dossier was being returned to us. There were many paperwork glitches and a handful of director of adoption changes at the adoption center there in Ukraine. It seemed to be bad timing for our family and several others that we heard about.
After praying about it and continuing to feel the burden to adopt. we decided to pursue adopting from Kazakhstan since you are able to adopt siblings there also, which is why we had chosen Ukraine.

We submitted our dossier(all the documents required to adopt) to be translated in January of this year. In February it was translated and then sent to the consulate in New York City where it was "okayed" and sent on to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Education in Kazakhstan. From there your dossier goes to a particular region. Our agency works with several regions. Our dossier was first sent to a region where it eventually was ousted because that region had been assigned more dossiers than they had children available for adoption. That happened in April of this year. We then waited all summer for it to be submitted to a new region. Finally in October it was assigned to the region of Pavlodar. We are now waiting for an invitation to go over and adopt from there. We received a call last week from our agent, Kristen, who told us the facilitators there in Kaz were working on getting our "letter of invitation" to go on over. She told us we should receive news any time!
In the meantime we have redone our entire dossier because many documents were getting close to expiring. We lost count of how many times we've redone paperwork over the last almost three years.

We've had a few highs and many lows during these past years. I know Dave and I have felt the Lord leading us, directing us, and loving us through it all. I know we've been stretched further than I thought we could be and still maintained our sanity and prayfully our trust in the Lord and His calling.

We now look forward to this new adventure and the Lord graciously allowing us to add to our family!

Thanks for your love, support, and prayers!