"Once more into the breach" said Shakespeare

After plenty of "mishagoss" (I'm sure I mispelled that) our fly away date for the second trip was postponed until 3 JAN. It's not all bad though. It gave us time to do the babies room, get ready for traveling 8000 miles with Alexei, and benefit from the experience of friends who went and completed the process while we were waiting. This week I am painting Alexei's room and refinishing some furniture. We also got to take advantage of the lull before the storm. With the Holidays upon us it may have actually worked out for the better for all of us. At least now there will be something to celebrate after the Holidays as well. Stay tuned for round 2 of "Seeking Alexei"

Happy Holidays to everyone!

By the way, there has been some confusion about what to call "him." His formal name is Alexei, his nickname is "Zach." Call him what you like, he eventually will respond to both.

Thanks to all of you!

After we returned on a relatively uneventful flight home Sue our neighbor and dear friend, and Darlene (Bonnie's sister), both who have been supporting us throughout this whole process of traveling, held a shower for Bon. It was a surprise party and boy what a surprise it was!! It was attended by our friends and neighbors, family and featured a guest appearance by the Gittledumper Girls (photo to follow). I had a part in it too. It was my job to get Bon out of the house and keep her away while they all set up. So I took her to breakfast and then to Babies Are Us "to register." Well the breakfast went well but try and get Bon out of a store when she is in shopping mode (much less Babies Are Us!!) and you'll know that it was "A Bridge Too Far" to be on time. Thanks to all of you for hanging around while I drug her out of the store kicking and screaming. The funny part was that once we had begun "registering" I somehow had to let the salesperson know that I had a house full of people and that "registering" was really a rouse to get her out of the house. Luckily Bon had to use the ladies room or we would have been there another hour. Bon was wandering the store like a 10yr old at FAO Schwartz two days before Christmas...wide eyed with amazment!

Photos of Alexei after we left.

One of John & Jen's photos

Our friends from Alabama (Jon & Jen who are adopting Roxanna) sent us this great picture after we had left. They were staying in KAZ for the duration. Jon is a school trained graphic designer and has a great eye for photos.

Ice skating

Well the last few days of our trip were a blur. So much happened that it was hard to keep track. Among them was a trip to the ice arena where we Sal & Tam I found out that the Kazakhs do play hockey. We also took Sabina (Brian and Maryellen's daughter) to see if we could burn off some energy. She was climbing the walls and this was a great diversion. Sal & Tam live in Roxborough and Brian and Maryellen live near Chester Pa I think. It was great to have other families finally join us in Kostani, especially Brian and Maryellen becasue they had been through this already with Sabina. Any way we all had a nice skate, visited the indoor water park and bowled a few frames. Sadly Alexei could not join us for this trip because at the time we had not been to court yet and they also didn't have skates his size!!

Get me to the church on time!

We went to a Russian Orthodox Church down the street. It was a sight to see. I know more about Islam than I do about Russian Othodoxy but I did recognize the art. Bon and Olyesa lit a candle and said a prayer, about what I don't know. in Bonnie's case it was either for the health of Alexei or hope that she does not have to kill me before we get out of Kazakhstan.
We have never spent this much time alone together and there are good things about that and bad things about that. It has brought us closer together and we have also gotten on eachother's nerves at times. Lesson learned...for us some space is healthy, but we can also operate as a team when we have to...very important.
On our way out of the church we met the priest pictured . What a face, fantastic.

Mem Park Pic

Here's an interesting picture of the Memorial Park. It is larger than life and speaks for itself.