Day 6 "Family of Four" - The final countdown (double click for pics)

Poka, Poka Pavlodar....

Wednesday, August 9th “Reflecting back on Pavlodar”

Privet from KA3ACTAHCKNN. (We have updated the pictures from yesterday’s post - our phone line was down almost a day.)

We were thinking about what to write in this post…our last post from Pavlodar, Kazakhstan…after some news of the day, we have decided to reflect back on how we started this journey, our trip to Pavlodar and what’s next in our lives. Basically another boring day….just kidding.

I was not totally kidding about another boring day…It turned fall overnight as a cold rain moved into the area and appears it will stay all day. Our great plans for touring Pavlodar with “spit up” bombs may wait till tomorrow or even another journey… Kim and Rylee did make it to the mall (imagine that) today to pick up some extra bottles. As for Landen, he’s doing well with the bottles (some with a little cereal) and we have slowly started to bring some bland type foods back into his diet. The challenge now is to keep enough food on his belly…and I do mean a challenge. He will play for a good while in the living room, then it hits…he is hungry and nobody’s going to stop him charging into the kitchen. We have noticed a ton of new things….like playing ball-he will roll a ball and chase after it, only to be stopped by a wall or Rylee… he is truly a man-if he sees a remote, it’s his or you better be ready to run with it….Also, you cannot just move something from his eye sight and think that will work-he will strain to look around you or behind the object, to the point that he will make you move it or he will. Overall we had some great family time today!

Kim and I started talking about adopting in November of 2004. An amazing fact is Landen was conceived around that same time…WOW, that’s amazing to think about how it has all been planned, we just completed the journey….

Looking back on our trip to Pavlodar, we have journeyed further than we ever thought we would….we have lived in another country for 7 weeks with out speaking the language (even though I like to think I’m fluent in Russian,…..we have met some of the most incredible and friendly people imaginable….we have learned to survive on cheese and pastries….we have seen things that most will only read about (they may not want to see some of them)….and we have been blessed with the greatest gift from God one could imagine-Landen!

Our trip would not have been complete without you! Doing this blog, hearing from our family and friends through Skype and reading your comments on the blog has been so meaningful and truly made it a lot easier…

As for the details from here:
-This is the last post we will do in Pavlodar. We’re not sure about getting on the internet when we get to Almaty, but we will post if at all possible.

-We will be picked up at 8pm tomorrow (8/10) and go to the Pavlodar Airport.

-We will arrive in Almaty around 12:15am, where Aeda will pick us up and take us
to our apartment there.

-Friday (8/11) we will have Landen’s medical exam at the US Embassy in Almaty.
We will also schedule our exit interview while there…this will be on Monday or Tuesday.

-Our return flight is on Lufthansa - leaving Almaty at 3:30am on 8/16. We will be gaining hours on the return flight, so we will actually arrive in Atlanta (after our layover in Frankfurt, Germany - Brigitte we will say hello for you) on 8/16 at 2:30pm. That will be such a great feeling to see all of you again….

-We will be signing off from Pavlodar for the last time, but we wanted to leave you with this….. Rylee - “I would also really like to adopt a baby sister, but I don’t want to stay here any longer….can we just snag one tonight? They have got so many they will never know….” God Bless and thanks to you all for taking this journey with us, supporting us, and for all of your prayers …. Until Almaty….