The Lockwood Lad and Lassies

Nat and Nina perform Calif Girls in Nick's messy room

2011-05-25T19:02:00.002-05:00

Anna update

2011-04-19T10:42:00.003-05:00

Our interpreter Anna is getting married and moving to Edmonton in June. His name is Kevin and he is 39. She is very happy and her son is excited to have a father. We are happy for them.

March update

2011-03-17T17:26:00.002-05:00

Wonderful times. Natalie digs at the park, minus 2 front teeth. Nina tries out a Princess Leia starter hairdo. Nick completes his DARE poster with the help of Homer.

We are enjoying Nina as she heads into the terrible twos. She was 1 of only 131 orphans to be adopted from Kazakhstan last year - we are blessed each day. She walks all around now, runs the house, and has around 20 words in her vocabulary. Her first word was "up" as in "pick me up!" Her favorite word is "bye bye" as in "let's go somewhere, bye bye!" She still loves anything electronic including cell phones, cordless phones, TV remotes, and computers. Her new favorite is the car keys - she hits the button in the house and listens for the car horn to honk in in the garage. All is good.

Clint

2010-11-16T10:47:00.003-06:00

Our precious son and dear brother Clint was born 8 years ago today. We keep him close in our hearts and stand amazed at his impact. We have witnessed God's love and power of restoration for our family - let us rejoice and always remember.

Anastasia on her Baptism Day in Austria

2010-11-09T09:49:00.001-06:00

Nick

2010-11-02T19:27:00.001-05:00

School Pictures Update

2010-11-02T08:09:00.004-05:00

Nick in 5th grade

Nat in 1st grade

Maverick Stone

2010-11-01T10:00:00.004-05:00

The Stones are in Kazakhstan this week and have sprung Maverick! God bless them.

Happy Halloween!

2010-11-01T09:47:00.006-05:00

Nina loved her first Halloween. Nick went out with Zach and Max and brought home 16 lbs of candy, or 25% his body weight. Natalie and Chloe covered the neighborhood as well while Nina hung out a home checking giving out candy.

Today, November 1, marks 6 months at home for Nina. She has been such a joy, and turned a major corner this week as she is now walking everywhere. She is really happy with her new found ability and freedom, and a lot less clingy which makes Monte really happy too!

Halloween Muffins!

2010-11-01T09:37:00.005-05:00

Chloe and Natalie at Eckert's

2010-11-01T09:35:00.003-05:00

Kentucky Lake Fishing

2010-11-01T09:28:00.005-05:00

Our end-of-summer weekend at Kentucky Lake. Nina hangs out with Monte.

While Nick catches the big one! 5 lbs, 24 inch catfish.

Nat catches a little one.

Then a big one of her own!

Nina on the move

2010-10-18T16:44:00.004-05:00

Nina's tooth count is up to 12 (4 front top, 4 front bottom, 4 molars). And she is starting to walk! Here is her greatest effort to date.

5th grade school picture gone wrong

2010-09-29T16:58:00.004-05:00

Sudden Impact 2010

2010-09-27T11:11:00.003-05:00

We had a special weekend in Champaign as our boys WON THE CHAMPIONSHIP with a fierce and inspiring effort playing against "select" teams from around the state. We prayed that they would play as a team and to the best of their abilities. The boys did just that, with 3 wins, 1 tie, and 0 losses. We were afraid we would hit a buzz saw in the championship, but we were the ones dishing it out and won 5-1 with everyone contributing. We are so proud of each of these guys.

Nina working on walking with Nick

2010-08-31T22:41:00.003-05:00

A beautiful little girl is picking up her pace with some assistance from big brother.

Bored boys on Saturday afternoon

2010-08-31T22:00:00.006-05:00

Here is some footage of Nick and his two friends, Zach and Max, finding something to do.

Amazing Maverick update!

2010-08-25T11:19:00.003-05:00

Here is an update from Greg and Becki Stone in their quest to bring their boy home. See attached youtube link. No sound but this is worth watching. Spoiler below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0gXOuUCXQpY

Spoiler alert *** against all odds it seems, the Stones won their appeal in court today! Maverick is still in Karakastek but officially a son of Stone. We are amazed and so happy. Now they wait for the passport/visa docs to be prepared and bring him home in a month or two. God is good and the Stone's love and perseverance has been rewarded. These precious children, Nina Deanna, Anastasia Sholpan, and now Maverick have found their way home. What a great day! Couldn't be happier.

Some fun this summer

2010-08-20T20:47:00.005-05:00

Nina & Cousin Tara

2010-08-08T15:37:00.003-05:00

Anastasia Sholpan

2010-08-03T16:20:00.003-05:00

Sunday was a great day. Nick's baseball team won the championship game in Affton. Monte made a great dinner for our friends who were visiting from Ohio, Rob, Anna, Carver, Darby, and Sophie. We had a wonderful time. And we received a beautiful picture of a little girl very near to our heart. Sholpan, now Anastasia, is doing wonderfuly, visiting Italy and France this summer, before settling in her home in Austria. Here she is. We love her and are so happy for her, Christine, and Co.

Best Father's Day

2010-06-20T15:47:00.001-05:00

Happy 6th Birthday - don't fly away

2010-06-20T15:28:00.002-05:00

Natalie at Nationals

2010-06-20T15:24:00.003-05:00

Natalie finishes 2nd at tumbling nationals. Awesome job!

Feet clap

2010-06-20T15:10:00.002-05:00

couple pics, one rockin video

2010-06-07T16:16:00.005-05:00

Nina sleeps on boat. Nick hangs out in tree. Nina rocks out in the car to country music.

US Citizen Certificate Arrives!

2010-06-02T19:09:00.002-05:00

New video - Aunt Aimee gets her going

2010-06-02T18:52:00.006-05:00

Nina continues to do wonderfully. She eats a lot. She sleeps through the night and has a couple naps each day. She swam in the pool yesterday. She crawls around and pulls on the blinds and curtains. She could not be any better. She is so happy and so are we. We went to the Greek festival this weekend and she fit right in with her dark hair and dark eyes. People were looking at us trying to figure out if I had stolen her, or maybe if I was her grandpa or something. Here is a new video where Nick and Aunt Aimee really get her going.

Sholpan home! Pray for Maverick

2010-06-02T08:00:00.000-05:00

Sholpan has made it to her new home in Austria! We are so happy for her, Christine, and Gerhard.

Please continue to pray for Maverick whose parents are struggling with a negative ruling from our same judge who is now saying "no more foreign adoptions" and the other children and parents in process.

Nina and Nat swinging

2010-05-15T08:48:00.001-05:00

2 weeks ago - farewell at Almaty airport

2010-05-15T08:26:00.002-05:00

We brought little Nina home two weeks ago today. She is thriving. She crawls all around and pulls up and stands. She sleeps 12 hours through the night. And of course, she eats! And gets very excited when sees a bottle or food. She is a happy and healthy little girl, and we are very happy too.

Here are a few pictures of us saying goodbye to our interpreter Anna and her son Gleb at Almaty airport. Anna was the first person we saw when we first arrived in Almaty in November, and was there when we were leaving. We appreciate all of her work for us but hope to see her and her son again in Canada if all goes well with her application this year.

Kazakhstan adoptions suspended

2010-05-14T15:40:00.003-05:00

We learned from Marina today that Kazakhstan is suspending all new applications for inter-country adoption as they move to comply with the Hague convention. Please pray that Sholpan and Maverick are not affected and they come home soon, and also for all the other children.

Stacy, who sent us the 5-month old picture of Nina, and our friends at Two Hearts for Hope just completed their mission trip to Almaty. Below are their comments about the Karakastek baby house. You can read more on their blog at http://twoheartsforhope.blogspot.com/

Karakastek

Thursday May 6th -

Today we were out of the house by 7 am to get on the road to Karakastek. It was about an hour and a half ride through the country. The baby house is literally in the middle of nowhere and in pretty bad shape. We brought 12 bags of donations, in them were shoes, cloth diapers, clothes, medical supplies, mattress pads and crib sheets. The director and doctor were very excited and appreciative of the items.

We visited with the babies first and got to hold them for a long time. Then we played with the toddlers. Boy was that hard. We walked into the room and every one of them ran up to us screaming "mama, mama." It was the saddest thing. The little girls loved our necklaces and the little boys wanted to sit on our laps and snuggle. We did some crafts with them and handed out the bananas we purchased. We go back on Saturday and will have a small party and play outside.

In September there were about 85 orphans at this baby home, today there were probably 60. 3 years ago there were about 120-150. It was very encouraging to see the numbers dwindling but still so hard to be there among the poor conditions and lack of care these babies receive. The smell is overwhelming and a little hard to deal with at first. The caretakers don't really change the babies diapers all that often and keep them in cribs for a very long time each day. Both are frustrating to see and hard to ignore.

After the orphanage we went to lunch and sightseeing. Tomorrow we visit the special needs orphange to bring the wheel chairs and have the ribbon cutting ceremony at the Children's Complex. Our team in Kaz was able to get a food company to donate ice cream for all the children and there are rumors of media coverage.

Please pray for our team. There are a few members that have become sick over the last few days and run down. We are needing energy and sleep.

Maverick court date - May 13

2010-05-07T08:42:00.003-05:00

The Stones of Ohio finally received their court date - May 13! Maverick is one step closer to going home.

2010-05-06T01:36:00.003-05:00

Ok. This girl is absolutely wonderful. She slept 17 hours the first night, and 12 hours each night since then. She loves to eat, and loves her mommy very much. Nina lights up when Monte enters the room. Nina is now standing with a little help. She crawls around and is very alert and engaged. Nick and Natalie are so sweet and happy she is here. We were expecting a rough transition, but so far, it has been great. She is coming alive before our eyes. Here is a funny video of her making some noise.

Bath

2010-05-06T01:29:00.002-05:00

She's freaked out by the bathtub, but loves the sink!

Finally at home with Nick and Nat

2010-05-06T01:27:00.001-05:00

Aunt Aimee, Grandpa Paul, and Jomama say hello

2010-05-06T01:18:00.003-05:00

Balloons!

2010-05-06T01:11:00.002-05:00

We learned she loves balloons!

The welcoming party

2010-05-06T01:07:00.004-05:00

Here is the awesome scene when we arrived. So many friends and family were there. We are so grateful.

When we landed

2010-05-06T01:02:00.002-05:00

We hop off the plane after 26 hours of flight time. We had been up for 40 hours. Nina was absolutely wonderful on the flight but it was still exhausting. We were so relieved to finally arrive in St. Louis. Monte cried.

HOME!

2010-05-03T00:36:00.002-05:00

May 1. The eagle has landed. We are so happy to be home with Nina. She was wonderful on the plane(s). We were so tired but even more relieved and happy. Once in her new room, she slept through half of the day and through the night from 4 p.m. Saturday to 9 a.m. Sunday - 17 hours! Nick, Natalie, and the whole family are very happy. We will post pictures and share more stories in the coming days.

Out of Kaz, in Seoul

2010-04-30T20:27:00.002-05:00

Anna, her father, and her son saw us off from Almaty last night. They were all so sweet. We had problems with Nina's ticket and were told "no open, no open.". We said we are leaving and she is coming with us so "make open, make open.". After 90 minutes, they finally figured it out. They walked us through customs and security just in time to make the flight. We were anxious about Nina getting through customs without extra cash or delay, but is went smoothly (relatively speaking of course). Nina had a lot of problems with her ears during take-off, but she finally settled in and slept. She was great the rest of the flight and during this 2 hour layover in Seoul where she is wildly popular. So many people smile at her and many stop and talk. Of course, they are speaking Korean, we speak English, and Nina only has heard Kazakh. But it is still clear that the Koreans admire her very much, and she likes them as well. We will be boarding in a few minutes for put 14 hour flight back to Chicago. We cannot wait to get her home!

Nina at lunch and park

2010-04-30T06:43:00.007-05:00

We had lunch at Mama Mia's Pizza. Nina behaved very well but we ate extremely fast out of fear she would erupt any minute (she didn't). Here is something very short but still cute.

The centerpiece of the park. Love this church.

Totally impressed.

Enjoying the flowers.

Time to go. Bye Almaty!

When birds attack

2010-04-30T06:26:00.003-05:00

We had a beautiful day touring Almaty today with Nina. The weather was perfect. Here is some footage from the park (warning: some scenes may induce stress for certain bird-fearing grandmothers). This one's for you Jomama.

2010-04-29T23:24:00.004-05:00

Just in case you haven't had enough of the cute baby eating videos, here is one more to put you over the top. This was too much fun to pass up. She is sleeping and eating so well, and such a beautiful and happy girl.

One for the grandmas and aunts

2010-04-29T08:19:00.006-05:00

(updated with right video) Here is a cute baby eating and interacting with mommy. A little long, but cute.

Nina and the traffic noise

2010-04-29T08:13:00.002-05:00

It has been fun watching Nina take in the world around her. Here is a little sample as we drive from the baby house into downtown Almaty.

Nap time

2010-04-29T05:02:00.000-05:00

Success at US Embassy!

2010-04-29T04:46:00.002-05:00

We had a great experience at the US Embassy, received Nina's entry visa, and learned that Nina Deanna will become a US citizen immediately upon touch down in Chicago. Yea! We were in and out in 20 minutes. She is paper-ready to leave. Only remaining step is the flight home tomorrow night. We cannot wait!

Sholpan

2010-04-28T22:55:00.003-05:00

And our time with Sholpan, for Christine.

Maverick

2010-04-28T22:11:00.003-05:00

We tried to make our most of our short time with Maverick and Sholpan yesterday. Here are a few moments of our time with Maverick.

US Embassy Today

2010-04-28T22:06:00.000-05:00

Nina slept through the night with her feet on the pillow and head against Monte. We were worried she would be upset missing her surroundings, but she seems to be adapting well. I woke to her laughter this morning as she was playing with the bottle she had just sucked down.

We are hanging out this morning and plan to go for a walk and lunch around noon. Our appointment at the US Embassy is at 3:00 p.m. Marina says everything is in order and it should only take 30 minutes. We should leave there with the American visa which allows Nina to leave Kazakhstan and enter the US as a permanent resident. We will get more details today at the US Embassy but our understanding is that she will remain a Kazakh citizen until she is 18. At that time, she can elect to become a US citizen.

We are enjoying our time here with her, and look forward to our flight home Friday night. Or I should say, we are looking forward to departing and arriving home, but maybe not so much the flight. The doctor gave Nina some meds that may help take the edge off, but said we parents are on our own.

Leaving Karakastek

2010-04-28T13:19:00.000-05:00

Our 30-month adoption journey hit a high-point today as our family's new life begins with Nina Deanna finally in our arms. Here is a picture of us leaving Karakastek where Deanna spent the first 12 months of her life. (and no, we did not vandalize the sign on our way out of town).

At the baby house, we had a good time saying goodbye to the doctor, nurses, and other children whom we have come to love. The doctor was so pleased with Monte's gift, a purse from North St. Louis, that she beamed with joy and thanked Monte at least 3 times. The nurses liked their scarves as well. Women love to accessorize even in Karakastek. I hope to post some videos a little later but here are a few pictures. Let's start with Anastasia Sholpan Polak, our second daughter of Karakastek, who should be heading home to Austria soon. She is looking so healthy and beautiful, and always melts us with that smile.

And here is our new friend Maverick, Greg and Becki Stone's boy of Ohio. He is a few months younger than the girls, but is getting so strong. He nearly tore my nose off.

Please continue to pray for these two wonderful children and their parents who are struggling with the delays and challenges that we faced. Pray that they are both home by May (Sholpan) and June (Maverick).

It was a wonderful site to see Nina take in the sights and sounds while running around with us today. She took in everything she saw and heard including daddy's camera (enough with the flash already).

She joined us for her first meal, a soggy french fry, at Mad Murphy's Irish Pub.

After running around all afternoon, we finally settled into our hotel where Nina met Nick and Natalie (and cousin Chloe too!) over a Skype video call. What a precious moment to see them interacting with one another. Nina really came to life hearing their voices. We cannot wait to get them all together (plus Tara, Brock, and Lexi, too) in our home.

This has been a blessed day for us. It is as if God placed a treasure on the other side of the world, and asked us to follow Him to find it. And when the road got way longer and harder than we ever imagined, we were given just enough strength to hang on. And when we finally found the treasure, she was more precious and poured out more blessings than anything we could have imagined. Thank God for this little girl, and for putting her on my wife's heart 3 years ago.

Landed in Almaty

2010-04-27T13:45:00.000-05:00

We just landed in Almaty without issue. Weather is great. Natalia (regional coordinator) and Anna (original interpreter) met us at airport. Shera Hotel is very nice with big rooms and plumbing. Monte is filling out our US Embassy paperwork now. We will pick up Nina and say goodbye to the babyhouse in the morning. Then we go to the SOS Medical Clinic for the post-adoption physical, required for the file, at 3 pm. US Embassy appointment is set for Thursday at 3 pm. At that point, we should be done and clear to leave as scheduled on Friday. Everything seems in order, and we even received Nina's passport. Check it out below. Looking forward to a fun day with Nina tomorrow. Will try to sleep now. More to come.

3rd Trip Begins

2010-04-26T10:38:00.000-05:00

We are in Chicago waiting for our flight to Seoul. 13.5 hours. Then straight from Seoul to Almaty. We should arrive Tuesday at 10:00 p.m. We need to fill out some embassy paperwork Tuesday night or Wednesday morning before we go to the babyhouse to spring Nina. We have the appointment at the medical clinic Wednesday afternoon and the US embassy interview on Thursday. We cannot wait to see her, and see how she reacts to us and the big world outside the walls of Karakastek. There will be a lot of "firsts" in this little girl's life in the next few days. We feel blessed to be a part of it.

Tickets bought, updated schedule

2010-04-21T12:22:00.004-05:00

No volcano will stand in our way. We are going around the world the other way to get her. We bought our tickets yesterday, heading through Chicago and Seoul on the way to Almaty.

Passport with exit stamp is being registered at Astana consulate now. In parallel, we are having our updated I171H cabled to the US Embassy in Almaty. Assuming it all comes together, we should have this schedule:
- Monday - depart STL
- Tuesday (night) - arrive in Almaty
- Wednesday - free Nina, get post-adoption medical exam at SOC clinic (same as before)
- Thursday - exit interview at US Embassy
- Friday - get Nina's American visa if it is not ready on Thurday; depart late night
- Saturday - land in STL at 1:10 p.m. Celebrate!

From the archive - world's first color photo

2010-04-20T16:35:00.002-05:00

At our last family get together, I came across this picture of Richard and Joanne Lockwood that my sister Elissa confiscated from my mother's house. (she is still working through her "middle child" issues). So this covers one set of Nina's grandparents - still working on getting a photo of the other set.

New I171H arrived today!

2010-04-19T17:36:00.002-05:00

Barrier #1 was removed today. We received the new I171H today from the US immigration office. What a relief! Working on Barrier #2 - volcano avoidance - looks like we can get to Almaty via Korea instead of via Europe. I guess that is the good thing about going 1/2 way around the world - there are 2 equally long paths to get there! Hoping to leave Sunday, returning Saturday, May 1. We're excited.

Nina and the volcano

2010-04-19T13:05:00.002-05:00

Nina is almost paper-ready to leave Kazakhstan! She has her passport and exit stamp which are now being registered at the consulate in Astana this week. With that in place, we can go to Almaty for the post-adoption medical exam and exit interview at the US embassy. It would be possible to go next week but there is this small matter of the Icelandic volcano! Flights have not resumed yet, and the initial check on airfare is $5k per ticket! (3-4 times higher than last time). I need to check to see if we can travel the other way around the world or something. Also, we are still waiting on our updated I171H US immigration paperwork since our fingerprints expire this Friday. This seems to be par for the course. Let's see how this all plays out this week.

Praying for week of April 19-23

2010-04-06T11:50:00.003-05:00

Today's update from Marina, our agency's in-country coordinator:

Hello Rich and Monte, Natalia was at the passport agency in Uzunagash to check on the passport status. She was told Nina's passport will be ready tomorrow. Natalia will get the passport and then she will submit it to the Visas Office and get exit stamp. Exit stamp is the permission for the child (Kaz citizen) to leave Kazakhstan for the USA for permanent residence. After this stamp is ready, passport will be mailed to Astana for Consulate registration at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. You will need to travel to Almaty after Consulate registration in Astana is ready. Approximate time until you will be traveling back to Almaty (after all the paperwork is done) would be about two weeks.You will need to come to Almaty for 2-3 days to complete the process with the SOS medical clinic and US Embassy. I will let you know the date soon. Please, let me know if you have further questions.

Nick Snowboarding at Breckenridge

2010-04-05T09:35:00.002-05:00

While we are waiting for news on when we can bring Nina home, Nick and I managed to get to Breckenridge last weekend. Here is some fun footage.

Nina legally our daughter; Cholepan gets favorable ruling

2010-03-22T12:40:00.005-05:00

Our agency received the signed court documents today following the waiting period. So Nina is legally our daughter! Now we just need to bring her home. The court documents will be used to create a new birth certificate (new name, new parents) which will be followed by a passport for travel. The passport must then go to Astana (capital) for some stamp. Then a visa must be applied for. This process will be managed by our agency, specifically Natalia. Once that is ready, we go get Nina. While in country, we visit the medical clinic (same place we visited last time) and have an exit interview at the embassy. We hope to make this trip the week of April 19-23 but it all depends on everything above being completed.

In other good news, the Austrians had their court date and received a favorable ruling on Cholepan. We are happy for them and Cholepan.

Cholepan court date

2010-03-10T13:21:00.004-06:00

Good news for the Austrian couple and Cholepan. They received their court date - next Thursday, March 18!

Goodbye Nina for a little while

2010-02-27T08:24:00.008-06:00

A happy day. Over 3 hours together as we say goodbye at the end of Trip 2. Nina will be legally ours in 15 days and we can bring her home a few weeks after that once the birth certificate, passport, and visa are in place.

Nina is suffering a bad hair day but is still so cute. Her eyes are so dark we have yet to find her pupils.

Off to a slow start today but she'll get going. Army crawl.

I remember these from the first trip.

But I don't remember them tasting like this.

Yuck! Let's move on to my favorite activities. Some things never get old.

Feeling better after a change of clothes.

I like this lady a lot.

A whole lot.

I am feeling my power today. Check it out. (some technical difficulties with the video but still worth it. Turn your head sideways and enjoy!)

I am happy. Things just might work out for me after all.

Trip 2 Goodbye Dinner

2010-02-27T08:06:00.004-06:00

The Koreans went all out for our goodbye dinner on Saturday. I think they were so happy we ordered something from their traditional menu, Korean short ribs, they filled the table with food. Gotta love 'em.

Sabir the Driver

2010-02-27T04:24:00.002-06:00

Oxana works part-time as a travel agent, arranging trips to Egypt and Turkey which are quite popular and low-cost. An all inclusive 10-day trip to Turkey is less than $1000 including airfare, food, and hotel on a beach. I had once asked my friend/co-worker Juha from Finland if he ever visited Turkey during his extended summer vacations (Finland is closed for 6 weeks each summer) when he travels Europe. He politely told me, "I try not to make a practice of vacationing in 3rd world countries." After our experiences here, I think I'm taking Juha's advice on this one.

Anyway, Oxana left Thursday for Turkey to prepare for the upcoming travel season and she was replaced by Kate the interpreter (seen earlier) and Sabir the driver (below).

Sabir speaks no English but sure likes to try. We have found him to be one of the bright spots of this trip besides Nina and the Koreans of course. He is very kind with a warm smile, arrives 30 minutes early each time to pick us up (and is ok if we are late), and brought us a translation book this morning. His car and driving could be improved, but he more than makes up for it with his positive attitude and spirit. Here he is, doing his job.

Oxana, Anna, and Demetri

2010-02-27T04:14:00.002-06:00

Oxana took us to dinner the other night with her son and our first interpreter Anna. Oxana and Anna are good friends since grade school. We ate at a traditional Kazakh restaurant (a nicer one) and had chicken and pork kebobs. It was fun to see Anna again. She is still hoping to immigrate to Canada sometime in 2012 (long process) where she hopes to have a better future for herself and her son Gleb.

Oxana's son, Demetri, Oxana, and Anna (Anna's son Gleb couldn't make it)

So Happy Together

2010-02-26T11:40:00.002-06:00

Rob, Thanks for this glimpse into the near future. Rich

Celebrate this Day!

2010-02-26T07:13:00.003-06:00

Dear Family and Friends,
Prayers were answered in court today! The judge gave a positive ruling to make Nina officially our daughter. We have a mandatory waiting period (15 days) plus a few weeks of paperwork before we can bring her home. But today is a great day for our family. Thank you for all your encouragement and support. We could not have made it without you. Monte and I will be coming home on Sunday after visiting with Nina one more time on Saturday. We will share the events of the day a little later today - nothing is simple in Kazakhstan - but it is done.
Rich and Monte

Our Girl

2010-02-25T12:21:00.004-06:00

There is one sure way to lift our spirits - seeing this little girl. She has bigger things on her mind though.

Her bouncey! But we're making her work for it today.

At last!

Since it is later in the day, she is a little tired. Here is some footage of her fading but trying to keep herself awake.

And the sweetest thing happens at the end of the day (no video, sorry). When Monte is handing baby Nina over to the nurse, Nina kicks and grabs Monte, trying to stay with her. You can see it in Nina's eyes each day, but this is the first time she puts up a fight to stay with Mom. It looks like we're all in this fight together.

Fight Night

2010-02-24T05:07:00.003-06:00

I love the Korean restaurant more and more each day. There are not many places that have such good food and entertainment. Like last night, I am sitting there eating my sushi, and a fight breaks out between a group of guys who have a private room. They finally calm down, have more to drink, and start fighting again 15 mintues later. This cycle repeats about 3 times. I was in a pretty foul mood myself after the day's events so it was a welcome distraction. It has been a long time since I had been to a place where fights break out. I think the last time was with my dad at one of his hangouts. Anyway, despite their hostilities to one another, they are all very kind and treat me like their favorite customer. The lady even gave me an extra Coke with our carry-out order today. And Monte is starting to like their seaweed/vegetable rolls. You could argue that they are really the only game in town, but we sure will miss them.

Day 7 - Court Date #2

2010-02-23T07:02:00.002-06:00

We were hoping to be writing with good news and going out for a celebratory dinner. Unfortunately, this is not the case. We had our court appointment at 4 p.m. and again did not receive a favorable ruling. We could tell things were not going well from the start. The court demanded that the baby house director attend the proceedings to address the court's concerns about how many other families have seen Deanna. The law requires that local families have first dibs, and the baby house had only documented two families that had seen and rejected her. The court was questioning if these families were real or made up.

Court did not start until 5:15 p.m. The baby house director went first and confirmed that two local families did see and reject Deanna. The judge seemed happy with that. Then DA was at it again, arguing that two is not enough, and that more local families must see and reject her. The law does not specify a required number of rejections and the baby house felt that two documented rejections was enough.

The judge then asked if we had anything to say. We were stunned, hoping today would just be a formality since the mother showed on Friday and we understood that to be the only issue. But saying nothing would have been very bad, so I stood up and started. I said that Deanna was a Kazakh girl by nationality, but also a Kurdish minority with a Russian father. She had been rejected by her mother, family, and community, and no local families will want her given her ethnicity. But we want her as our daughter, and love her with all her hearts. And that we will provide a loving family and great future for her, while she has no future here. This is all true, and we know the judge knows it. But it seems this is more a matter of politics than logic.

We then reiterated our request, expecting a decision right there as promised.

Instead, the judge said she would make the final decision Thursday at 3:00 p.m. After court, they said we could leave tomorrow as planned and have Natalia represent us on Thursday. And the court administrator tried to make us sign a paper saying that we had received the decision already. She argued that we must sign since we were leaving. We refused and said we're staying.

Before our court appointment, we had about 30 minutes with Nina to say goodbye before our planned flight tomorrow morning. I held her close and looked deeply into those big, dark brown eyes. She stared back at me and I promised her that we would return to her and bring her home no matter what the judge said today. I know she could not understand the words, but I believe her heart heard me.

Please pray that God allows us to deliver on that promise on Thursday. In the meantime, we're licking our wounds and preparing a final statement for Thursday while Natalia tries to work some magic with her contacts in the background.

iBaby!

2010-02-22T06:05:00.005-06:00

Given a choice between an iPhone and a teething ring, what will she decide?

Was there really any question?

After a few quick pointers from mom...

Let's rock!

That was fun. Now it's time for a bath - also fun.

Ok. Enough of that. You can watch me jam to No Doubt! one more time on your way out. See ya tomorrow.

Maverick

2010-02-22T05:09:00.006-06:00

We had another special visitor today for about 15 minutes. His name is Maverick and he is the son of Becki and Greg in Ohio. He is 7 months old wearing an outfit that seems familiar to us. Here are a few pics of this special little boy who will be going home soon.

Nina in November.

Orin - Karakastek 2006 Alum

2010-02-22T04:55:00.004-06:00

Dear Orin, (of the Keogh clan of Toronto, Canada)
Thank you so much for sending your pictures for the Karakastek Wall of Fame. The entire nursing staff was so excited to see how big and handsome you are. They turned to chatter boxes! We heard them talking about you for about 30 minutes after we gave them the pictures. You definitely made their day. Thank you!
Sincerely,
Rich and Monte

Aisha

2010-02-22T04:41:00.005-06:00

Here is a precious little one named Aisha. She will be 2 in June and is very sweet. Oxana managed to sneak in and take this picture today for a new friend of ours (you know who you are Indiana!). The doctor said that Aisha is still available and doing well. She can sit and stand and has all the right proportions, except for being a little slender. Here's a pic!

Ice Dancing

2010-02-21T20:33:00.003-06:00

We have one watchable TV channel which is 24-hour Olympic coverage with Russian commentators. They have been advertising LIVE coverage of the USA vs. Canada hockey game at 5 a.m. and we woke early to watch it. Unfortunately, live coverage means something different in Kazakhstan as the hockey game has been preempted by this.

This cowboy/cowgirl routine was followed by a couple sailors, and of course more cowboy routines. No hockey. I'm thinking this Woody character was better in Toy Story but he seems happy with his performance.

We're off to see Nina.

Day 4 with Cholepan plus some video!

2010-02-20T12:36:00.006-06:00

What a great day. Our old friend Cholepan joined us for the full 2 hours. She is looking good and really excited about it!

This makes Nina happy as well.

Tooth count: Cholepan - 4, Nina - 0.

Monte is a little worried that Nina has no teeth yet. The interpreter says: "Relax, have you ever seen anyone without teeth?" She's got us on that one.

The party continues with a wipedown which has become Nina's favorite.

Cholepan is pretty in her new outfit. She had on about 3 layers of boys' clothes when she came in.

Cholepan eats the entire plate of mashed potatoes while Nina only eats half. Nina's growth spurt has her pushing the limits of any 9-month outfit and Cholepan must be trying to catch up.

No time to rest after eating. More foot in mouth fun.

Cholepan likes her footrest but is wondering why it is moving.

Here are some precious videos of Nina so you can get a taste of the action.

First, here's that ever-present giggle.

Here's the new army crawl followed by some sweet moves.

Have a great Sunday. We're heading back to the baby house on Monday.

IT consultant and the president

2010-02-20T08:51:00.004-06:00

Here's the 10 year old neighbor boy, Alec, who hooked us up with an Internet connection. Monte paid him with pizza. He was excited.

Here's an example of the cool billboards portraying their most excellent president in various situations. This is my favorite as he strolls through the field in his suit overseeing the farmers.

Day 3 Intermission

2010-02-20T04:49:00.003-06:00

We took a brief intermission from our court saga on Friday to have some fun with Nina. It was short and sweet.

Nurse Cholepan delivers Nina to us.

Nina heard we had a hard time at court so she decides to dish a little out on Monte as well.

She loves to inspect.

And kiss.

And laugh.

And laugh more.

More kisses.

Time for a break. Look at dad.

A quick costume change and tickles.

Fun stuff.

A short visit but we'll see you again tomorrow.

Day 2 with Nina

2010-02-20T03:37:00.008-06:00

We cannot believe the progress Nina has made since we last saw her. She has advanced way beyond anything we dreamed was possible in such a short time, especially without a change of environment. How did this baby go from such a closed flower to absolutely thriving in just a couple months? Even the nurses' attitudes have changed from "Deanna who?" on our first trip to "my daughter Deanna!" as expressed by Nurse Chef Boyardee? Our interpreter says that our love breathed life into her soul. That may be a part of it, but it seems the hand of God has been at work in a big way. It is a miracle in our view. It is hard to show her progress, but here are a collection of pictures from Day 2 that may shed some light. (this is a bit of a rewind as the court date was Day 3 - we'll get our days straight shortly)

Saying Hello on Day 2

I like this lady very much.

I can push up and hold myself very high. No more wobbly head.

I have been seriously studying and slobbering on this book that mommy left for me. It has pictures of my new brother and sister. I love this thing.

Time for the bouncy that I wear out. I dance and shake my head to every tune.

I love inspecting this lady.

Bath time. That towel is cold. It cracks me up.

New clothes again.

I am no longer stingy with my smiles and laughs - they come very easily these days.

The baby in the mirror is cool.

Really cool.

Dude with camera. Can I help you with something?

Peace.

This Oxana lady is nice too.

I can roll over and army-man crawl wherever I want now.

They even feed me real food once a day now (bottles 3 times a day). This should make my grandmas very happy.

I get very sleepy after lunch.

Time for my nap. Come back to see me again tomorrow.

Natalia and Oxana

2010-02-20T03:32:00.002-06:00

Our regional coordinator Natalia and our driver/interpreter Oxana. Natalia is quite savvy and well connected. We're glad she is on our side.

(No, Rob, I'm not bringing you back a hat).

Pieces of heaven

2010-02-19T09:43:00.002-06:00

There are a few pieces of heaven in this country. The obvious ones are Nina Deanna, Cholepan, our new friend Maverick, and the other children at the baby house. Tonight I stumbled upon one more. It is a combination of two of my favorite food groups: sushi and pizza. How can this be? Can they possibly be found in the same restaurant? In Kazakhstan, anything is possible and here is the proof.

Now surely this blessing must have been the result of an Italian branching out, or perhaps a Japanese family with a taste for pasta. But that would be too obvious. This speciality is brought to us by none other than the highly underrated, yet most highly inventive minority group in Kazakhstan. You guessed it - the Koreans!

And it was delicious. Thank you for making our night.

Who is that?

2010-02-19T07:29:00.003-06:00

This picture is a gift from a new friend who found our blog on-line. This is Nina at 5 months, back in September, two months before we met her, and 5 months before her full head of hair she is sporting today. It is provided courtesy of Stacy Segebarth who does great things like traveling to orphanages to deliver supplies and build playgrounds. You can learn more about her work at http://www.twoheartsforhope.org/ Thank you Stacy for the earliest glimpse we have of Nina! Monte and Rich

Cooling our jets

2010-02-19T07:05:00.003-06:00

We have been so looking forward to this day of our court appearance when Nina Deanna would be officially ours (pending a waiting period of course, but this is the last major hurdle). We wake around 4 a.m. to rehearse our speech and organize our paperwork in case anything is called into question.

I wear a jacket and tie, and Monte wears this classy outfit that looks great on her. We are all set. Oxana and Natalia pick us up at 8 a.m. for our 10 a.m. appointment. The snow that melted yesterday has frozen into a layer of ice, and new snow is falling lightly. Our dress shoes are the worst possible things to be wearing but we slip and slide to the car without incident. Monte remains on her feet – no snow angels this trip, at least so far.

We arrive at the courthouse with 45 minutes to spare. Natalia checks to see if the judge is in, but no one is around except the receptionist. She does however confirm that the Austrian couple adopting Cholepan will have the same judge that we have. Their court date should be in a few weeks after the judge ensures the paperwork is in order.

At 10 a.m., we enter the courthouse and wait in the lobby. We give the locals something to look at. We get all sorts of odd looks and long stares. They are wondering why these white folks are here and what we must have done wrong. We are wondering the same about them.

In Kazakh fashion, our session starts 1 hour late at 11 a.m. The female judge enters, and she is joined by two other ladies who sit to our left. We learn that one is the court reporter who takes the minutes on a notepad – old school. We’re not sure who the other lady is, but it seems she is an attorney of sorts representing the state. We are soon to learn that she is our problem. Devil’s advocate or assistant are the nicest terms we can think of so let’s go with DA.

The judge seems very nice and walks us through our rights – that we have the right to ask questions, the right read the minutes, the right to complain – stuff like that.

Then she looks at us and indicates that we need to get started. We assume this means we make our pitch so I head to the podium with my stack of paperwork and pictures in hand.

I thank her for the opportunity, introduce ourselves, and indicate that we are seeking her approval to adopt. I give her our life story in about 30 minutes and cover the following ground (hints provided for future adoptive parents):

- Our first trip meeting/bonding with Nina Deanna

- How great she is and her medical diagnosis (hint: talk about how awful her condition is and your plan for getting her the best medical care)

- How well she responded to us and how much we love her

- Our family history (marriage, Nick, Clint, and Nat)

- Why we cannot have more biological children (hint: the key here was to stress that the mother is older than 35 which is apparently the hard cut-off for having babies in Kazakhstan).

- The long painful adoption application process

- Why Kazakhstan is the best place in the world to adopt a child (hint: talk about how wonderful the bonding process is, the cleanliness and high quality of care given at the baby houses)

- Our plan for providing for all of her needs

o Our house, how we have a room for her

o Our income and how we can afford her

o Our great schools including special needs programs if needed

o Our wonderful parks surrounding our house

o The great doctors standing by in St. Louis ready to care for her

o Our plan and funding for her to attend college

o Our life insurance plan and how we have people lined up to take over if something were to happen to us

- Finally, the plan to maintain her Kazakh heritage

o The journal we’re keeping with pictures of every day in Kazakhstan

o The Kazakh gifts we plan to give her each year until she is 18

o Our networking with other families adopting from Kazakhstan, and special events like Kazapalooza where US families get together annually to celebrate

o Our plan for her to visit Kazakhstan when she is old enough (hint: this of course assumes that bride kidnapping goes out of vogue by then; otherwise, she’s staying in the US)

Believe it or not, the judge doesn’t even fall asleep and seems genuinely interested. The judge then asks Monte to say a few words. She has to be thinking: my husband just rambled on for 30 minutes about everything we could possibly think of – what more can I say? So she plays the crying mother and talks about how sweet and wonderful the little baby is, and how she is already our daughter in our hearts (all honest and true by the way, including the tears).

The judge seems very satisfied and even smiles. We feel very happy about how it all went and are ready to celebrate our new daughter.

But the judge asks DA if she has any questions, and here we go.

She asks if we can afford to raise this baby on my meager salary. I show her my employment letter again with my salary and say, “Yes, I think we can get by.”

She asks if Nicholas and Natalie will be mean to the baby because she is adopted. I say, “No, they are really excited to have a new sister.”

She asks if Nicholas and Natalie will be jealous of her because she is getting attention. I say, “No, they will be too busy being mean to her.” Not really, I say, “No, we don’t see that being an issue at all. They are very excited and secure.”

She frowns at every response. Just when I think she is out of dumb questions, she looks at a picture of Nicholas and Natalie and asks where the picture with the swimming pool was taken.

I say, “On vacation?” and prepare myself for her asking where we bought the lamp in the next picture.

The line of questioning is odd but we’re thinking it is all harmless enough. The judge tells us to sit and we continue feeling confident about things.

The orphanage director is up next, and they have a long discussion in Russian which we could not follow. But we notice DA is quite active in the discussion.

That’s when we get slammed. It turns out that the orphanage director could not get Nina’s mother to come to court to refuse Nina before the judge. However, the director had documentation from Nina’s mother rejecting her at birth, and once again for this court proceeding. Most judges accept this level of documentation, but DA keeps pushing the issue and insists that Nina’s mother appear. We learn that DA said, “What if we give parental rights to these Americans today, and the birth mother comes in crying tomorrow ‘why did you give my baby to the Americans’.”

The judge buys DA’s argument. Court is adjourned with no decision. The orphanage director is given until 6:30 p.m. to produce the mother, and nothing is happening until she shows up. It is time to scramble. The orphanage director suggests waiting until 6 p.m. when the birth mother gets off work to try again. The previous meetings between the orphanage director and the birth mother’s family had turned nasty. The family is ashamed of this entire situation, and just want it to go away. Our coordinator Natalia thinks there is no way the mother will come, and pushes for a more aggressive approach. Specifically, Natalia decides to pay a policeman to go with the orphanage director, along with an official letter from court, to convince her that she needs to show up right away.

Natalia feels that making the request to court more official (or intimidating) is the only way to move forward. We’re not sure what is going to happen. There is nothing more we can do, so we leave the courthouse and go visit Deanna who is wonderful for us again.

Then we get the call that Natalie’s scheme worked. The birth mother and grandmother arrive at court and refuse Nina once again before the judge. We leave Nina and the baby house to head to court, feeling very drained but fortunate that things worked out. When we arrive, we see Nina’s birth mother and grandmother leaving. Our hearts go out to them. This must have been a very difficult day and we see the hurt on the mother’s face.

At the same time, we are hopeful that the judge will rule in our favor now that all requirements have been met. Unfortunately, we learn it is not so. The judge says that she is too busy with her caseload, and tells us to return on Tuesday at 4 pm for the verdict. We are stunned and numb.

We had high hopes for today, but it wasn’t to be. We will pray, make the most of our time with Nina (we get 2 hours each day, Saturday, Monday, Tuesday), and return to court on Tuesday, trusting that God makes it a great day.

Trip 2 Begins

2010-02-18T06:49:00.006-06:00

Here are the essentials from our second trip thus far. There is really only one highlight and that is seeing you know who.

The 24-Hour Plan Ride

We do not have the where-are-we-going anxiety of the first trip, and all goes well. We have lots of room on the plane, something like one flight attendant for every 3 passengers. That’s Monte way over there.

We have a 6-hour layover in Amsterdam and decide to head to the city center which is an easy 15-minute train ride from the airport. Monte and I arrive in the city and walk a mile or so in a pleasant snow to see Anne Frank’s house which is now a museum. I make the mistake of asking directions from a man with a hat with a marijuana leaf and “Amsterdam” written on it. Of course, he is a tourist and lost as well. Duh.

We arrive at the house/museum which is where Anne hid during the war and wrote her diary. Unfortunately, the line is really long and not moving – we hit the Tuesday afternoon rush apparently. Short on time, we have to skip it this trip and instead have a brief walking tour and lunch. The snow breaks and we even see the sun.

Monte sees a bunch of interesting things in windows. Here is one of the milder examples.

The Dutch love their bicycles even in winter. Bikes for everyone! (and a boat for a few)

This cat is running the show in this bakery while the baker is away.

Back on the plane, we're thinkin': “Just because they’re in plastic bags, doesn’t make them unused.”

We arrive in Almaty at 5:00 a.m. on Wednesday and speed through customs with the confidence of old pros. We even see some Kazakhstan Olympians returning home with their skis but no medals as far as we can tell.

Our bags arrive and we are looking for our interpreter Anna and driver Adil. Instead, we meet a new gal named Oxana, a triple threat Kazakh Russian of sorts who drives, interprets, and assists in the court representation. We are sad not to see our old friends Anna and Adil, but Oxana is on top of things.

We arrive at our flat which is not as good as our previous apartment (not available), but not as bad as the old farm house (hopefully condemned). No Internet of course. There are small shops to get the essentials within a short walk. We can survive this.

We sleep for 2 hours and then get ready for our appointment with a court consultant who helps us to prepare proper answers for questions the judge may pose. At the end, she casually informs us that we need to make a 30-minute speech to the judge about our history, reasons for adoption, etc. In other words, we need to make our case.

We learn that court date and time is Friday, February 19, at 10:00 a.m. We will spend 1 ½ hours with the judge and leave. In a separate session, Deanna’s mother will arrive at noon where she must sit before the judge and confirm that she is relinquishing her rights as mother. Wow! This is news to us. In the afternoon, we will return to the court and the judge will come back with her decision on whether Deanna will be officially ours. Please pray for Deanna’s mother, for the judge, and that God keeps his hand on this entire process.

Here is an updated timeline (all dates tentative as you know by now)

- February 19 Court date/decision – please pray

- March 8 15-day waiting period ends, apply for birth certificate

- March 15 Birth certificate available, apply for passport

- March 22 Passport available, apply for visa

- March 24 Visa available, ready to come home

After the session with the consultant, Oxana informs us that we are going straight to the baby house to see the reason we came. Oxana may be skilled in other areas but cannot match Adil’s driving ability or speed. While Adil was running at 120-140 km/h, Oxana never goes over 80 km/h and usually much slower. The 3-legged dogs, sheep, and other livestock on the road to Karakastek are safe this trip. I think we were passed by a galloping horse at one point.

Now for the moment we have been waiting for. We arrive late in the day and Deanna must be woken from her nap. They bring her in and she looks great! Her hair is much longer, has a hint of some curls, and is brown with some auburn highlights. It is very thick too, much better than the shaven boy-cut we saw last time.

She has grown so much and seems to be getting along well. She seems very healthy. Her deep brown eyes are as attentive as ever, and her long eyelashes seem to touch her forehead. She inspects Monte’s big buttons on her sweater, checks herself out in the mirror, and laughs and smiles when daddy holds her high.

We are so happy to see her. What a beautiful child! We will return again tomorrow (Thursday) before the big day on Friday. Enjoy these pictures.

Who are these kids in this chew toy?

I remember you.

Got your nose!

I remember you, too. The one with the camera.

Baby Cholepan! The Austrian couple and Cholepan should have their court date set within a few weeks. Natalia was at the court house today, pushing to get a judge assigned. Here she is.

Have you ever felt this way in the morning? Another boy at the baby house who was just selected for adoption.

We cannot wait to bring Nina Deanna home to these two. Next year, there will be 3 Gingerbread houses.

Court date set for Feb 19 a.m.

2010-02-05T14:38:00.002-06:00

We finally got the call! Court date is set for Friday morning Feb 19. Need to arrive on Feb 17 to prepare. We are very happy and scrambling for flights now.

Step closer?

2010-02-03T04:12:00.002-06:00

Today we learned that our agency's country coordinator, Marina, had her baby girl. And Natalia says we should know our court date by Monday. Of course this means we may know our court date by Monday but it seems things may be moving forward!

Baby step

2010-01-22T09:30:00.002-06:00

How long has it been? Almost two months since our first trip and still no word on the court date. Today we learned that a judge has finally been assigned to our case and our coordinator Natalia will be contacting him on Monday about the court date. Hang in there, Nina Deanna. We love you and hope to be coming for you soon!

Cholepan and Nina face-off again

2009-12-28T14:54:00.005-06:00

Our Austrian friends are in the process of bonding with Cholepan. That is great news in itself. And today we received a wonderful surprise. Christine sent a few photos of Nina who is looking quite good I must say in spite of the bad haircuts and outfits.

Nina, Nurse Cholepan, Christine, and Baby Cholepan

These girls must be looking forward to going home. Along these lines, our application has been accepted by the government and the regional chairman of the courts. The chairman is expected to assign a judge to our case next week, the week of January 4-8. We should know our court and travel dates shortly thereafter. Our best guess is end January but we won't know until we get the call. We cannot wait! Cholepan, Christine, and her husband are about 1 month behind us in the process. Hopefully both babies are home by February (Nina) and March (Cholepan).

Day 18 - The Longest Day

2009-11-28T14:00:00.005-06:00

Baby House Wall of Fame - Pictures of Adopted Children from Karakastek

At the end of an uplifting Day 17, we are dropped off at our apartment to finish packing. We kiss Nina and get out of the car. Adil will drive Nurse Cholepan and Nina and return them to the orphanage. Monte cries but is ok. Nina is returning to what she knows. She is safe and we will return for her as soon as the system allows.

Earlier in the day, Monte donated 13 baby outfits and 3 packages of diapers to the baby house. The nurses really appreciate our donation. We also brought chocolates and cookies as a gift and to honor their tradition as they prepare for a holiday celebration the next day. Since everything at the baby house is shared, the outfits and diapers will be used on all the kids. They will be a well-dressed group I think. We end on a high note with the nurses and hope some of this goodwill carries over and Nina gets a little extra care while we are away.

We also had a chance to see Nina's room. 9 babies. Nina occupies crib #4; Baby Cholepan crib #9. Here is a brief video of where these little ones live.

Back in the apartment, Monte and I pack up and get ready to head out. The country manager Marina stops in to say goodbye. She and Monte are like best friends. Then our interpreter Anna comes by with her son to finalize our application letter. This is Anna and her son Gleb.

We were not able to secure a great itinerary on Thanksgiving weekend. But it is time to go and time to suck it up. The trip home starts at 1:00 a.m. on Day 18. Adil picks us up and takes us to the airport. There is no English anywhere, but we figure it out. After 3 security checks, we have our bags checked and are ready to board. At 4:00 a.m., the flight departs on schedule. We are relieved to be through customs and on our way to Frankfurt. So far, so good. But we have 7 hours (!!!) to kill in the Frankfurt airport. We have not slept for so long and only dosed on the plane - we need a new travel agent.

We survive Frankfurt and are on our way again. Our connecting flight is not through some northeastern city. We have to go through Houston, 10 hours from Frankfurt. 8 hours into the flight I see the flight map as we fly directly over St. Louis.

On to Houston, we have 45 minutes to get through customs, re-check our bags, get from the international to the domestic terminal. and go through security. If we miss the flight, there are no more flights to STL until the morning. We make it with time to spare.

Jomama and Darwin meet us outside of security in STL. We are so happy to be home and get a big hug from Jomama. We arrive home at 10:30 p.m., 33 1/2 hours after we left our apartment in Almaty. We hadn't seen a bed in 50 hours.

Nick and Natalie have a welcome home sign for us but are in Nashville with Monte's parents until tomorrow. We cannot wait to see them. Until then, we will unwind and rest. Happy to be home.

Our timetable going forward is as follows:

- Bonding period ends - November 26

- Paperwork goes to government agencies - week of November 30

- Paperwork goes to regional courts - week of December 7

- Judge gets assigned and sets a court date

- 2nd trip best guess - week of December 28 or January 11

- 3rd trip to bring her home - 3-4 weeks after second trip

The court is by no means a formality. There is some risk the judge may reject our application to adopt Nina. The process is political and exporting babies, especially Kazakh babies, can be a sensitive issue. It works to our advantage that Nina is a minority Kurd. We will go a few days in advance to prepare for court and trust that God keeps His hand on the process.

In the meantime, we will enjoy Nick and Natalie and dream about bringing Nina home early next year.

Day 17 - Nina's Big Adventure

2009-11-26T08:30:00.013-06:00

Monte and I are heading to the airport in a few hours. We will follow with a more complete post, but here are the highlights from our last day in Kazakhstan.

1. We finally learn Nurse Goldtooth's real name. It is Gulzira. We settle on the name GT for future reference.

2. We learn that bride kidnapping is real in Kazakhstan. We had heard rumor of this but didn't really believe it. However, Nurse Cholepan revealed to us that she was kidnapped 21 years ago by a man she had only met once. That man is still her husband after over 20 years and they have 3 children. Her situation was non-consensual but it is accepted in the culture. Our driver Adil also kidnapped his wife, but his was consensual as they had been dating for 6 months. She would have preferred that he simply ask her, but he took this approach to assert his manhood and make his claim. So keep in mind that some things that are felonies in the US are accepted tradition in Kazakhstan.

3. Nina prepares for the big trip to the doctor's office with a full winter suit on a 40 degree day. This may be overkill, but the nurses insist that babies must be kept (really) warm. This outfit reminds us of someone but we can't quite put our finger on it.

4. On the way to the doctor's office, we learn that Kazakh car seats appear very much like a parent holding a child.

Monte, Rich, Nina, and Nurse Cholepan who is now our favorite traveling companion. Everyone is allowed to rest their eyes except Mr. Carseat who must remain alert at all times.

5. And the great news of today... Nina receives a great report from the Almaty International SOS clinic. The doctor, a kind man from South Africa, sees many adoptive children at his clinic. After spending 45 mintues with Nina, checking her eyes, ears, reactions, sounds, and everything else, he says her delay is from lack of food and stimulation and nothing more. There is no sign of any mental or any other problem, and he sees her as being very alert and responsive. He believes she is completely normal and that she will thrive when she gets home.

This is the news we were hoping and praying for. We are so thankful for this positive report. We end this first trip in high spirits and with great joy. We will miss our new daughter but look forward to seeing Nick and Natalie and preparing our home for Nina.

6. We head to the airport at 1:00 a.m. Friday morning, and arrive in STL at 9:30 p.m. JM and Darwin are picking us up. We cannot wait to see Nick and Natalie.

We thank God and thank you all for your encouragement and prayers through this process. We have appreciated and needed it very much, and will follow with a more complete entry once we get home. God bless you and your families this Thanksgiving. Here's my favorite picture from today - the match made in heaven.

Night 15 and Day 16 - Wimps and Wolves

2009-11-25T14:12:00.020-06:00

"Fear makes the wolf bigger than he is." German proverb.

Night 15 - Wimps Need Not Apply (We’re Wimpy)

Adoption is not for wimps, and tonight, we are feeling pretty wimpy. Honestly, it is a very tough and emotional night for us. Although she is making great progress, we realize that Nina is behind in all areas of her development and especially her language and social skills.

It is one thing when you hear about these delays in an adoption training course and think you are prepared for it. It is quite another when you have a call with your doctor and it is confirmed that your baby is developmentally delayed. That is where we are tonight.

Our immediate questions are:

1. Can this be fixed once we get her home? Can a loving, stimulating environment with high energy kids and tired yet committed parents pull her out of this?

2. Or is this some long-term problem where she will always be delayed? Is there something fundamentally wrong?

The problem is that at this stage and without any family history, it is impossible to determine the answer. Since doctors don’t need to prepare us for the former and nicer scenario, the discussions with doctors (and our minds) drift to the latter and more troubling scenario.

As our minds dwell there tonight, our hope turns to fear and fear makes the wolf bigger than he is. And on this night, the wolf is looking really big to us.

It is gut-check time as questions race through our minds. Are we doing the right thing? What will her life be like? How will this affect Nick and Natalie? Do we want to move forward given these risks? Our minds are racing. Fed by this anxiety, we find ourselves re-examining why we are adopting in the first place. Why are we doing this?

We reflect on the reasons: to honor God by taking care of those who cannot take care of themselves, and to give this precious little girl a chance in life and a family who loves her.

So do these risks affect our decision? Are we going to love this girl any less? Regardless of her development, is her life going to be better with or without our family?

After looking at it this way, the answer once again becomes clear. This little girl is already our daughter in our hearts. God has put her in our lives and we already love her. We will give her every chance to grow and love and reach her potential, whatever level that may be. Her life will be 1000 times better being part of a loving family compared to staying where she is. In spite of our concerns, nothing has really changed. Nina is still our daughter. We will deal with whatever happens as a family.

It seems God has stepped forward to carry our burden tonight. Next to Him, the wolf isn’t looking so big. At 2:00 a.m., we are completely drained and we crash.

Day 16 – A New Day

Things look different today and we go on the offensive. Anna joins us and we come up with a plan.

Today we are going to learn more about where Nina stands. We ask the nurses to bring in another baby to see how Nina reacts. We ask all the nurses on duty about their opinion of Nina and how they view her development. We research and find, with the help of our Austrian friends who are still in Austria, an independent doctor in Almaty who provides pre-adoption consultations. We secure a commitment from the orphanage director to release Nina to us so we can take her to the consultation which gets set for the following day.

All of this is happening in parallel as we begin our visit with Nina. She comes in and shows no reaction to us as usual. She is so sweet though and looks us right in the eyes.

In the meantime, we have given Anna the task list and she is chasing down every nurse on duty to learn more about Nina. And what we learn is both sad and enlightening. Nurse Cholepan tells Anna that Deanna (Nina) is indeed developmentally delayed, but that all of the children there are developmentally delayed. The reason is that the baby/nurse ratio is 10:1 up to 20:1. There is no play time and no interaction except for feedings (babies are not held) and diaper changes. That is it. The only social interactions are these brief encounters with the nurses, and what the babies can see and hear through the slats in their cribs.

Now think about this for a minute because it takes a while to sink in. What if your whole life was spent on your back in a crib with only a bottle stuck in your mouth three times a day and your diaper changed periodically? That’s it. No toys, no books, no music, no holding, no talking, no love. It is just you and your bed. Our doctor commented that Nina’s behavior is consistent with a significantly deprived environment, and this baby house certainly qualifies.

Nurse Cholepan said there is just no time for the staff to do more, and that the babies “must develop themselves.” Nina and the rest of these babies have been “developing themselves” for 7 months now. This is all they know.

It is hard to believe even though we are seeing it with our own eyes. How can a child survive these conditions and deprivation? This is so unimaginable that it takes a while to sink in, if it can ever completely sink in.

Another sad tidbit comes from Anna as she observes the nurses’ reactions to her questions about Nina. When Anna asks about the other babies in the baby house, the nurses tends to light up and say something sweet about them. However, when Anna asks about Nina, the nurses act like they don’t really know much about her. The vibe Anna gets, and this is reinforced by little comments the nurses have made, is that the nurses (all Kazakh) take special interest in the Kazakh babies. Nina, however, is Kurdish. She is an outsider, a minority, and the Kazakhs and Kurds (and Russians) in Kazakhstan don’t always get along. Unfortunately, the cultural and ethnic biases naturally carry over to the babies.

As we ponder these things, we gain a new perspective on Nina and how alone she is. We must be a complete shock to her. What are all of these toys and books and smiles? What is all the talking about? And holding? Am I supposed to smile when they smile at me? I think I like it but what is going on? It seems Nina has good reason to be delayed in her social and language skills, and in everything else. We have to get her home.

But today is not about sadness. Something magical happens in the room today - something magical that Mom and Dad really need after last night.

First, the baby they bring in to visit with Nina is our old friend Baby Cholepan. We are so happy to see her again. We just learned that the Austrian couple will return December 15 to see Cholepan. That is such great news to us. Fortunately, Cholepan doesn’t freak out when she sees Monte this time. Monte plays with Cholepan while I play with Nina. Group photo.

Note to nurses: button the shirt under the pants, not over them!

Nina warms up quickly today. And the baby that has such a hard time laughing and smiling changes into one who cracks up all day long. Her laugh changes from a smile and a giggle to a laugh that is full of life. She looks in our eyes and smiles at us.

Nina takes time to wrestle with Cholepan. Action sequence: kick to the side.

Roll over; elbow to the face.

Cholepan counters with the tongue.

Nina even passes one of our doctor’s tests by sitting up with the support of only her hands on the ground. Not bad for only two weeks of training!

And then we hear, for the first time, beautiful coos as she is lying on her back. She likes Mommy's cold rub-down.

It is as if Nina had been listening to the discussion we had with our doctor last night. She shows huge progress today in both the language and social areas. She seems completely normal in the way she looks and acts. We learn that her little spirit is way more powerful than her 7-months of isolation. Anna cannot believe the difference in Nina over the past 2 weeks, and Monte and I cannot believe the difference in just one day. Here is some full-of-life laughter.

We are so encouraged and really needed it. Our love and understanding has deepened so much for this little girl. She has many more surprises in store for us. God has turned last night’s anxiety to joy with this special day. He has come along side us, and the wolf doesn’t seem nearly as scary.

Tomorrow is our last day with Deanna before heading home on Friday. We look forward to her first outing from the baby house as we visit the medical clinic in the city.

Day 15 - The Book and the Mirror

2009-11-24T04:25:00.015-06:00

Today is a great day. The sun is shining. We are able to head out to the great little Chinese restaurant and forget about yesterday's day off from eating. And Nina hits several milestones. These are little steps and perhaps boring for most but a big deal for doting parents. Aren't you glad you don't have to sit through a slideshow when we get back? Here are today's accomplishments.

1. Nina stays awake for our entire 2 hour visit. She usually lasts about 1 hour and tires out. Today she remains alert for the entire time.

2. Nina sits with a steady head for the first 45 minutes. We support her back since she has never sat before and her mid-section is too weak. However, she doesn't fight it and keeps good control of the noggin.

3. Nina studies the animal pictures and mirrored pages on books for 20-30 minutes. She probably hasn't seen a book before and she has ignored what we have had to offer so far. But today, she shows great interest, especially in herself!

I am a mouse with overalls and a ribbon on my tail.

4. While on her tummy, Nina pushes up with her arms to get a better look at herself. This is the first time she has used her arms to push up. A week ago she would just lay there with her arms and legs out in skydiver position.

But the highlight is still her attentiveness to the books.

Nina doesn't sleep today but there is always a little time for bonding with Mommy. We hope tomorrow is another great day.

Day 13 and 14

2009-11-23T03:24:00.012-06:00

Day 13 - Sunday

Monte is watching birds fight on the National Geographic channel. I am watching some old TV episodes on Hulu. Monte asks me, “What are you doing?” about every 45 minutes. It is a slow day in Almaty but I think we need this day to reflect and rest after 2 weeks of continuous activity and high emotions.

We think about Nina Deanna and what things will be like when we get her home. We’re not experts in child development but it seems her development is more like a 4 month old. We knew from our training that children develop at a slower rate when institutionalized. The rule of thumb is that the children are 1 month behind for every 3 months in the institution. Nina seems right on target with this estimate.

She has been in a 7-month slumber and we signs of her awakening each day. More smiles, more activity. We look forward to more progress this week. My belief and prayer is that she advances quickly once she gets home with us.

Day 14 - Monday

Now it is Monday and we start the last week of our first trip. Four more days of bonding with Nina before heading home to await our court date. Elmo makes his triumphant return to the baby house today. The temporary ban has been lifted and he behaves himself.

There is not a lot of excitement but Nina is in a pretty good mood today. This is the first time she has picked something up on her own and made use of it. It is the teething ring which is coming in handy at this stage.

I caught some of this on video. When she is tearing through the house with Nick and Natalie, we will think back to these simpler times.

As usual, Nina tolerates her exercise and our silly talk for about an hour before she is ready to rest again. Mommy feels really nice. Daddy needs to give the camera a break.

That's better.

After her nap and a bottle, we head back to the apartment for the day. It is cold and rainy. It looks like our routine of heading out for our daily meal is in jeopardy. I have crackers and ramen noodles. Monte has tea and peanut butter bread. It is feeling like the first few days all over again. We will try to head out a little later. In the meantime, we will sit here and ponder the significance of our paper towels that have flowers and weightlifters on them.

His and hers? Fresh and strong? Hmmm.

A few pics from our stroll

2009-11-22T10:30:00.006-06:00

Old-school scaffolding.

Jennifer Lopez knows no borders.

Bonus Clip for Aunt Aimee - Day 10 Exercising

2009-11-22T06:10:00.003-06:00

Day 12 - Saturday

2009-11-21T08:50:00.023-06:00

Saturday is exercise day at the baby house, at least for our Nina. Yesterday was a little slow with few smiles so we picked up the activity today. Nina is in a much better mood and responds well. She is very happy with lots of smiles. The foot game is always a big hit.

Nina rolls over from her back to her stomach without too much trouble. Today we work on rolling from her stomach to her back.

She makes it 3 or 4 times with a little help. She tries so hard today and does great before wearing herself out. After a strong hour and 15 minutes, it is time for some rest.

We have the opportunity to see a brand new baby enter the orphanage today. She is so tiny and all wrapped up. We cannot get a snapshot of the new baby, but manage to get a snapshot of Saturday's nursing crew. They are all very kind to us.

We also see Nina's baby room with 10 cribs and a changing table in the middle. Nina is in crib #4. We will try to sneak a picture in future visit. We don’t get to see Nina tomorrow, but will return on Monday for our final week of bonding.

Monte and I venture out to Mama Mia’s. We give the sign a 1 out of 4 stars. We almost miss it. But we give the food 4 out of 4! It is great.

Check out the drink sizes. Kazakhstan needs to adopt the advanced concepts of supersizing and refills.

Across the street is the local gambling establishment.

What happens in Almaty Grand, stays in Almaty Grand.

Since we won’t see Nina tomorrow, we will take a break and see you again on Monday. For those hungry for more information on Kazakhstan (and who isn't?), here is some additional info and a few pictures of the World War II memorial at Panfilov Park and the cathedral we have been visiting.

The World War II sculpture is in memory of 28 soldiers from Almaty who died in battle against Nazi tanks near Moscow in 1941. Kazakhstan was a republic of the Soviet Union during World War II. Approximately 150,000 Kazakhs died in the war, part of the 25 million casualties suffered by the Soviet Union. In comparison, the United States had approximately 400,000 casualties, or ~ 2% of the Soviet casualties.

The cathedral is the Ascension Cathedral, or Zenkov Cathedral, a Russian Orthodox Church. The Orthodox Church is similar to the Roman Catholic Church as far as the worship service that we saw. They are in agreement on the important stuff (God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit). However, the Orthodox Church split from the Catholic Church one thousand years ago. The Orthodox (e.g. Russian and Greek) do not accept the supremacy of the Pope as the only successor of Peter. This is the issue for the split.

The cathedral was completed in 1907. It is made of wood, constructed without nails, survived the devastating 1910 earthquake, and is the second tallest wooden building in the world.
In the anti-religious communist era, the cathedral was almost torn down. However, it was preserved as a museum, and opened again as a place of worship after the fall of the Soviet Union.

Day 11 - Goldtooth's Return and Cholepan Sr.

2009-11-19T10:40:00.036-06:00

World War II Memorial

Our interpreter Anna joins us again today, and I catch Adil with his Terminator shades on.

Nina is a little tired today and doesn’t last long before drifting off to sleep. Before that happens though, Monte gets a chance to change the first of many poopy diapers to come. After that excitement, Nina gets another outfit. It is amazing how she and Monte coordinate each day.

Baby laughs during exercise.

It is a low-key day with Nina but we get a couple of jewels at the end of the day at the baby house. First, I am so happy to see who enters to get Nina at the end of our session. It is our friend Goldtooth! I was totally prepared for this moment, well almost. Nina gets excited when she sees her, and we have a precious moment where Goldtooth talks to Nina. Of course, we get a glimse of Goldtooth’s smile as well. I promise to find out her real name! In the meantime, here is the video. Please be warned that this clip is not without some technical difficulties that are as yet unresolved. You may want to tilt your head before hitting play. It is still cute though.

The second jewel is stumbled upon completely by accident. We are leaving the baby house and the nurses ask if we can give some lady a ride. We don’t know who she is or where she is going but assume Adil and Anna will figure it out. We say yes.

I decide to secretly snap a few photos of her with my iPhone for fun as she sits next to me in the back seat. She elbows me in the side after the 2^nd "snap." We ask Anna to find out who this mystery rider is. Her name is Cholepan! She is a nurse at the baby house who needs to go to town for some business. We say, “Cholepan? That is the baby we met.” The nurse reveals that she is the one who picked up baby Cholepan five days after birth. Since she only had a last name, the nurses named her. I guess Cholepan had naming rights and decided to named her after herself! Here’s the pre-elbow shot of Cholepan Sr.

Through Anna, we ask about Deanna and how she got her name. Cholepan Sr. confirmed Deanna was not her given name from the birth mother. She arrived to the baby house with only a last name. Since she looked more European than Asian, the nurses decided to give her the name Deanna. She is affectionately called Princess or Lady D by the staff. Cholepan said Nina Deanna is a beautiful name. She approves.

We arrive back at the apartment and head out to lunch and the local park. We visit the cathedral again and light a candle for my dad who would have been 72 years old earlier this week. I miss him very much. There are a lot of people in the cathedral today. It is beautiful.

Moving through the park, we visit the World War II Memorial (picture at top). We see the eternal flame. This place is the place to go for wedding pictures. We see at least six different wedding parties. Nothing says “party” like the eternal flame at a war memorial.

That’s all we have for today. We see Nina again tomorrow. In the meantime, here are some fun (?) facts and observations including some pictures from around town and comments on Borat.

There are approximately 15 million people in Kazakhstan. Most are of local Kazakh origin (nomadic tribes of Turkish/Mongolian descent) with a large minority Russian/Ukrainian. There are small pockets of Koreans, Jews, Kurds, and other people groups. Kazakh and Russian are spoken. English is spoken by the younger people in varying degree as it is a requirement in schools. The Muslim/Christian mix is 50/50. The government encourages high religious tolerance and it seems to be working here.

The Soviets seriously damaged parts of the country during the Cold War. Nuclear bombs were tested in parts of Kazakhstan without regard to the people living there! Also, in an effort to promote agriculture, the Soviets re-directed rivers that fed the Aral Sea to irrigate the desert. They attempted to grow cotton and other crops and didn't seem to mind that they killed the 4th largest lake in the world and the entire industry and communities surrounding it. The Aral Sea is considered a major ecological disaster and has been sinking since the start of the Soviet program in the 60's. Here is a photo of the mess (I didn't take this one :).

Pringles are $5 per can. Diet Coke is $1.00 for a 1 liter bottle. Bottled water is $0.10 for 2 liters. Some stuff is really cheap. Some stuff is really expensive. Overall we would say things are typically slightly less expensive when compared to home.

Most women wear beautiful fur coats that are either all fur or have fur trim. They are surprised that Americans do not wear fur. We eat animals, don't we? What is the problem with wearing their fur? It doesn't register with them. Here is a picture of two typical Kazakh women crossing the street. Not sure about the dude we are following.

What are the most popular vehicles in Almaty? Based on what we can see, the top 3 are Toyota, Toyota, and Toyota. The Toyota Land Cruiser SUV is very popular now that we are staying in the fancy part of town. We see very few Hondas, but many Mercedes, Subarus, and Mitsubishi. Kia is also emerging as the South Korean's have a presence here.

Twenty years ago in the Soviet era, all Kazakhs were driving Russian pieces of junk (the Russians never figured out how to make a car).The Kazakhstan people caught on after the fall and it is all about the imports today. Sometimes you see the old Russian vehicles limping along, especially in the country.

But in the city, it is all about the luxury and we see many high end Lexus SUVs, Mercedes, BMWs, ... Haven't seen many American made cars except a few Escalades and Chryslers.

The Kazakh president is posted on the baby house bulletin board, and on many buildings and billboards. He is well-liked and Kazakhstan has prospered under his leadership with 10% econonic growth each year. He maintains a good relationship with Russia and encourages cultural and religious tolerance in his country which is a bit of a melting pot. He is the only president the country has known as it emerged after the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991.

What about Kazakhstan's most famous pseudo-export to the US? What about Borat and his Cultural Learnings of America for Make Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan? I have searched the cities and countryside in my spare time for the birthplace of Borat. Sadly, I have learned that Borat isn't actually from Kazakhstan. He is a half-Jewish actor from England and has never even set foot in Kazakhstan No wonder why he doesn't look anything like the Russian or Kazakh locals. You can imagine my disappointment. I feel like Pee Wee Herman after he was told the Alamo has no basement.

Kazakhs either don't know or care about Borat or think his humor is ridiculous. In any event, their attitide seems to be that any press is good press. He has certainly raised the awareness of little know Kazakhstan in the West. Not sure if that is a good thing for Kazakhstan, but it is what it is.

Lastly for today, here's another trolley racing a BMW for my Uncle T.

Day 10 - The Easy Button

2009-11-19T05:07:00.028-06:00

God must have pushed the EASY button for us today. Everything went so smoothly. Traffic parted. The weather was great. Nina Deanna was perfect again. Oh, and we learned that we get to come home from this first trip early! Instead of December 5, we are heading home November 27 which is the end of the bonding period. Our regional coordinator Natalia is trying to expedite our application so we can get the court date as soon as possible. We are praying for a mid-December court date so we can be home from our second trip before Christmas. The end goal of course is to bring Nina home on the third trip in mid-January.

On with the day. I promised an updated picture of our driver Adil and here is the way we most often see him.

He may be reminding you of the neighbor from Home Improvement by now.

Maybe things aren’t so good. It is our last protein bar which has served as our breakfast staple.

In the category of knowing-your-Kazakh-culture, we learned that it is the responsibility of the youngest son to take care of the parents, and he must live with them their entire lives. The older siblings have the opportunity to move out. I don’t think Jomama wants me moving back in though. We should leave the responsibility thing with the firstborn which is a fine US tradition.

In other Kazakh culture news, the parents have the right to claim their son’s firstborn child (their grandchild) as their own son or daughter. Can you imagine the resentment the daughter-in-law must feel giving up her child to her husband’s parents? However, the father has the right to break tradition, and this is exactly what Adil did with his baby girl. He told his parents that he and his wife are keeping their daughter and his parents where ok with it.

Scattered through the city and countryside are monuments to Kazakhstan’s great warriors. We pass this guy daily. He must have drawn the short straw or been off grabbing goats when they were handing out memorial plots. He is 78 km from the city with very little traffic coming his way. Poor lonely dude.

We received independent verification today from USA Today (courtesy of our friend Rob Nabb who tracks such things - picture at top) that goat grabbing is indeed all the rage in Central Asian countries. In the Afghan version, they use a (headless) calf instead of a lamb. But it is the same general idea in Kazakhstan.

Moving on to the reason we are here, we arrive ½ hour early at the baby house as today’s good fortune allowed. We go through the normal routine and decide it is time for some exercise. She could move very little during our earlier visits, but today she is raising and holding up her head much better. She also figures out that her legs can go straight up in the air. She likes learning about these new bodily functions. She is getting stronger and happier each day.

We see some serious movement while listening to Mississippi Queen. Instead of laughing at Toucan like yesterday, today is all about imitating his behavior. This is our first attempt at posting video. Check it out. (Mom, before you panic, you must hit the little arrow on the lower left of the picture for the movie to play - good luck!)

Nina can handle about one hour with us before she is tired and ready for a nap. Daddy has the great idea that she needs to have her new outfit on before the nap. It is a good idea but poor execution. Apparently, he is not very good at putting baby shirts over baby heads. Nina starts waling so much that Nurse Goldtooth comes in to ensure everything is ok. Nina finally calms down with Mommy and Goldtooth tending to her, but gives Daddy the evil eye for about 10 minutes.

Note: no one has actually captured Nurse Goldtooth’s defining feature on film. Fleeting like Sasquatch and more elusive than Nessy, her smile vanishes when cameras are present. But this writer has seen it and is committed to securing the footage before leaving the country

Mommy calms her down; coordinating outfits help. Nina keeps an eye on bad Daddy.

Nina soon gets over it.

Other observations:

Back at the apartment, Monte observes that our shower resembles Austin Powers’ cryogenic chamber prior to the infamous “evacuation phase” at the urinal.

I observe that some (not many) of the things in Kazakhstan are better than in the US. Here is the prime and possibly only example – a miniaturized version of my favorite candy bar. Lots of them in a big inexpensive box.

They are so small they have no calories (or so it seems).

While you ponder these things, we are heading out to dinner. One more video before we go.