Day 13 waiting - surprise, surprise, surprise..(double click for pics)

Tuesday, August 1--- (Day 13 waiting period)

Privet from KA3ACTAHCKNN.. (If the N’s were backwards that would be how Kazakhstan is spelled here). We have been blessed with some incredible weather since we arrived in 2005...just kidding, but the weather has been awesome. We are not sure what the exact temperature is on a daily basis as most people do not keep up with this. They will just add more clothes if it is cooler and take some off if it is warmer. This may be another idea to bring back as our U.S. meteorologists are seldom correct. Anyway, it feels to be in the low 80’s with no humidity. After the visits, I usually put on a pair of shorts to walk around town and this gets a lot of stares from the locals…not many people in shorts around here.

To update the photo issues with the blog: (Sorry to all the upset grandparents)
We have been experiencing some technical issues in which we could not post any pictures. They should be updated now.

Where do I start today….morning should do fine. This was another typical morning with out any surprises (the kind we love) and we got to talk to several people, which is always great. We arrived at the baby house around 12pm and Kim again went to get Landen from his room. He was in a walker and started running towards her as he figured out she was there to pick him up. He had already finished his lunch, so the caretaker only had to change his clothes and send him off with Mom. From the minute he came into the room, until he gave Rylee and I our goodbye kiss, he kept a smile on his face. I think he knows what’s around the corner! Appears he may have gotten a good night sleep as he did not need to take a little nap during the visit. 2 more visits to go….

After the visit, Lena came with Sergey to pick us up and take us on a shopping trip for the party on Friday. Lena told Rylee and me she had a gift for us. Leeza had put together a bracelet with Rylee’s name on it and gave me a set of CCCP coins. This was an awesome gift as I love coins and to get a set of coins that have not been in circulation since 1990 was incredible. Lena knew I wanted as set from here, but her husband wanted to give me these. We started off the afternoon by mailing a few postcards and looking for some uncirculated Kazakh coins for gifts. We were not able to find the coins, but you will not believe what happened later. With the postcards mailed, we headed off to find some candy, gifts and champagne for the party. Lena took us to a neat store that carried all of these items plus more. As Kim shopped for the items, I went to an outdoor store above the grocery store. I found some Kazakhstan “official” badges that I had to purchase. I got one from: police, customs, fire department, and military. What a great way to remember our visit. The last stopwe had was to pick up some more pictures for the gifts on Friday. Our friends at the Kodak store were not in, but the young lady behind the counter handed me what looked to be a cardboard CD case and said it was from Sergey and Luba. It was an uncirculated set of Kazakh coins. They could not have had an idea that we had been looking for these, but they gave us an incredible gift. We have planned a return visit to thank them for their generosity and thoughtfulness. What an incredible and lucky day!

We are now getting ready for some dinner and to start putting together the presents for Friday. We are so excited and cannot believe we only have 2 visits left! Thanks for your many thoughts and prayers, they have helped tremendously! Poka, poka from Pavlodar…