Check-up Time

Both Benjamin and Nolan had annual check-ups yesterday, and I am happy to report that both boys are big healthy boys.

Nolan- 4 years old

47 pounds -97%
43.5 inches – 97%
Blood pressure 99/51 – good.
Eye chart was great!

He picked up Nolan and said he was just a big solid boy, nothing to worry about. This was the first time Mike had seen Dr. Love and after Dr. love saw Mike and looked at Nolan’s height information declared Nolan will be tall. Nolan got 2 shots and was not so thrilled about it.

Benjamin - 16 months old

27 pounds – 75%
32.5 inches – 75%
51 centimeter - 97%- head size

Ben head stayed above 97%, Dr. Love spent a good amount of time feeling his head and says everything looks good. He said most likely he came from a big headed family.

Oh, Ben has ANOTHER ear infection. Ben got 4 shots

He is EVERYWHERE!

Soon after Benjamin took his first steps he got really good at walking. Now he is into EVERYTHING, it is really amazing how much he can reach and get into. You can tell him no a hundred times and it not going to stop him. He just gives you that wonderful smiles and keeps on.

Ben is trying to give kisses and you are never really sure if he is going to give you an open mouth kiss or bite you, but he sure is cute. He is speaking new words all the time. He can now say baby, up above the world (from twinkle twinkle little star), car, cracker, and tons more.

Mike has always said that Ben would eat rocks...well last weekend he tried dirt. So far the only thing he has not liked to eat was the dirt.

Nolan is doing great also, I can not believe at the end of this month my baby is going to be 4 years old. How did that happen? Nolan informed us yesterday that he has been in action movies, he is so funny. He was helping me bake this weekend and I asked him if he wanted to be a chef when he grows up. He was very serious and looked at me and said, no I just want to be a Nolan.

Nolan and Ben are still getting along great and Nolan loves to play with him.

I have uploaded new pictures of the boys at:

www.kodakgallery.com/littlefamily

First Steps

Last night Ben was standing in the living room and all of a sudden took his first step! Watch out world Ben is on the move.

Birthday Time

I did not give birth to you in a physicial way, I gave birth to you in my heart! Bringing Ben into our family was a journey we had no clue about when we started last February. When we start Ben was not even born yet, but we knew our new son needed us and there would be a perfect child for us in Kazakhstan.

We (really meaning me) worked through the mounds of paperwork and many trips to Fedex. Then in early December 2008 we got "the call" , the call that told us to get our plane tickets and start packing. We packed our bags and headed for Kazakhstan, a trip that took us two and a half days to complete.

On Monday Jan 5, 2009, our coordinators picked us up at the apartment and drove to the baby house. I have never been so nervous! When we got to the baby house we walked into the baby house directors office , there was a women standing with her back to us holding a baby. We sat down , she turned around and handed us Ben. I think we were both in shock , I did not expect to see him right when we entered the office. We remained calm waiting for the baby house doctor to enter and tell us all about Ben (or as they called him Kairat). We only saw him for about 20 minutes, but we knew we wanted to see him again.

We would call home and talk to our pediciatrican about what we were told , he was able to put our minds and hearts at ease. We very quickly feel in love.

We had to leave Ben in Kazakhstan , but on March 7th we welcomed him home. Now we can not image our lives without you.

Happy Birthday Benjamin!

There are pictures of Ben's birthday party at www.kodakgallery.com/littlefamily

Life with Ben

We are finally getting into a grove. The first week and a half Ben was awake at all hours of the night, but we finally got his clock turned around. Nolan just adores him and wants to play with him all the time. I am sure once Ben is walking those boys will be everywhere and into everything.

Ben loves to eat and will eat ANYTHING! Mike says he would eat rocks and I believe it. He loves veggies, fruit, meat (Mike is thrilled one of his boys eats meat).

Ben seems to just fit in with us and seems like he has always been here. He has cut a new tooth , so we are up to 4 teeth and he is working on more. He said mama for the first time the other day and my heart just melted. Nolan wants so badly for Ben to say Nolan, but understands that may take a while to be able to say.

This is my last week at home so Ben is trying out daycare for several hours each day. So far so good, he has even made a little friend , Noah.

I am so proud of Nolan he is becoming a great big brother and is very helpful.

I have uploaded new pictures at
www.kodakgallery.com/littlefamily

Consider Adoption

If you want to grow your family adoption is the perfect way. Yes, you can love a child you did not create just as much as one you gave birth to. Yes, there is a mound of paperwork and it is really expensive , it is emotional journey, but in the end it is 100% worth it!

I would not trade Ben for anything in the world and I love him just the same as Nolan, they are my boys!

Finally a family of 4!

Long story will post more later...

here are pictures from last night

www.kodakgallery.com/littlefamily

More pictures of Ben

Our escort who is bringing him home has been kind enough to send us pictures the last couple of days . I have uploaded the pictures into two albums in Kodak.

www.kodakgallery.com/littlefamily


Only two days until he is home!!

Ben's Room

We are not officially ready for Ben. I have uploaded pictures of his room.

www.kodakgallery.com/littlefamily

Plane tickets are purchased!

It is offical we will be picking up Ben at the airport next Saturday March 7th at 6:31pm!

I can not wait to give him a big hug and tons of kisses.

Ben is COMING HOME!!!!

Our escort called this morning and said they have Ben's passport, time to book plane tickets. Our travel agent is currently working on the tickets, but it looks like Ben will be home next Saturday!!!!!!!

We are jumping up and down excited that Ben is coming home!

Passport Update

I talked to our escort today and they should have Ben's passport tomorrow (Friday)!!!! Then we can work on booking plane tickets.

Our coordinator in Shymkent has checked on Ben and said he is doing well.

When is Ben coming home?

This is a question we get all the time now. Ben's passport was applied for last Tuesday and we are waiting on it to be sent to him. Once they have his passport, we can book his one way plane ticket home. Hopefully we will know something later this week.

Until then we are finishing up his room and dreaming of seeing his cute little face again. We miss him tons and can not wait to have him home.

Signed

We got news today that the judge in our adoption case signed the papers. Ben is officially Benjamin William Little. Now our coordinator is working to get his passport done so he can come home to us.

We are still expecting him sometime the first week of March.

Dear Benjamin

It has been almost two weeks since we last saw your cute chubby checks or heard you babble. I know you will be home with us soon. I look at your pictures daily and talk about you to everyone. I dream of the moment that I see you again in the airport, and get to hold you and introduce you to your big brother Nolan. Daddy and I miss you a lot, and we know in the end this time apart will be worth it.

Finally home again

We are home!!!!!! We got in last night after 48 hours and 4 flights!

I have posted more pictures in a couple of different albums on Kodak Gallery. I still have more to upload in the next couple of days.

www.kodakgallery.com/littlefamily

Embassy Visit Complete

Today we went to the US Embassy to completed some paperwork , so that Ben will be able to come home . He estimated arrival date into the US is either the end of Feb. or the first week of March. Security at the Embassy was very tight and we were escorted everywhere, never left alone. It was wonderful to be able to speak to an American.

To celebrate having completed all of our paperwork we went to the biggest mall here in Almaty called the MEGA, were we found real American food. There was a sabaro pizza and a KFC. We ate pizza and KFC (chicken only). KFC of course did not have the great biscuts, or any of the wonderful sides, but it was a taste of home.

We are currently in the Almaty Kazakhstan airport waiting for our flight. We should be home Tuesday at 6pm. Mike and I are discussing who gets to hug Nolan first! I have told Mike I will push him down to get to Nolan first.

In talking with our translator today that people usually only go out to eat a couple of times a year. Which explains why the resturants are never busy, she said they are just to expensive for people.

Okay this really is my last post from Kazakhstan, see you all back in the states!

Last Day in Kazakhstan!

Last night we went to the other "American " resturant. Everyone in Kazakhstan thinks Americans are all cowboys, this place was also a cowboy theme. It did have American type food, and was outragous priced. Serious a T-bone stake was $75, and no Mike did not eat it. They did have cheese sticks and we at those and some chicken fingers, it was all really good. For an American place they still did not serve ice or cold drinks. Mike did order lemonade and after he took the first slip the look on his face was priceless. It was made with tonic water and not what he expected.

We did almost try another place to eat they had an English menu. We review all menu's before sitting down and this place offered horse meat. While I am sure we have unknowing eaten horse in the last 3 weeks, it is not something we were interested in again.

This afternoon we are headed to the Embassy and then to the airport.

We need everyone's good thoughts for a safe trip home and on time flights.

See y'all soon.

Saw a lot today

We went the mountains today, which are very similar to the mountain in Utah and Colorado. They were snow capped and amzaing. We saw the ice rink were hockey and ice skating competitions took place in Soviet times. Then we went to independence statue, just amazing. Then we went to the history meusum (only $1 to get in), we saw the bottom two floors and tomorrow we will see the top two floors.

For lunch we did find an american resturant with an english menu. I ordered chicken fingers ( not cooked in the American way) with fries. The food came out and some dipping sauses came as well. There was a red one that we thought was similar to BBQ, so Mike asked for his favorite Katcup and it was the stuff we thought was BBQ sause. Opps. Live and Learn.

The cowboy resturant from last night was great. Mike had steak and I had chicken the portions were huge. I ordered a side of "baked potato covered in cheese". What I got was a layer of potato, pickles and then melted cheese. Where did the pickle come from, not that great.

Tomorrow afternoon we go the US Embassy, then ate and hang out for a while and then head back to the airport. Our flight leaves Tuesday at 4AM (Kazakhstan time). This will most likley be my last post until we get back in the states.

Amazing Race Fans

Well amazing race fans, Mike and I did the amazing race pit stops today. We walked to the bazar and found where they picked up their flag. It was great, they even posed for pictures for us. Then we made our way to the check in point.

We saw the most interesting chuch today and a wedding.

By the way at the supermarket (their version) Mike got excited when he saw a bag of American beef jerky (brand he has bought before). He was thrilled , until he noticed the bag ( a small bag) was $30.00. Yes, you read that correctly $30 for beef jerky, needless to say it is still at the store.

We found a fast food place called "Burger House", we ate chicken nuggets. They were different but ok. The fries were good. The pictures showed coke (fountain drink) with ice. I got all excited just to find out the ice is only for pictures.

Here in Almaty were do not stand out as much. We have learned why we get so many looks, our coats are North Face and Columbia , which we found out are $300 plus coats here . Even though everyone wears fur we still get looks.
Quote of the trip - Ice is slippery when frozen

Almaty

It is Saturday afternoon here in Almaty. We have changed our airline tickets and we will head home on Tuesday morning arrived back in WONDERFUL Asheville at 6pm.

Our hotel is right in front of the Ballet house, very beautiful. We are going to walk to the bazar this afternoon. This morning Mike hit me with a snow ball when we found the Kazakhstan "pitstop" (amazing race watchers will understand), I have pictures do not worry.

We found an American resturant "Stetson" , yes just like the hat, it is a cowboy themed place....this should be interesting.

Tomorrow we are going to see the mountains and Monday we go to the Embassy.

Yes, we slept in the box spring bed but it is horrible!!! Expensive and horrible. Can I come home now.

Never leaving Kazakhstan

Well.....this has been a travel day from &&%#! Due to heavy fog we missed our flight to Almaty and our appointment at the US Embassy, which has been rescheduled for Monday. To make it even better there is only one flight a day at 4am out of Almaty to home, which means we are stuck here until Tuesday.

Sorry today has been a hard day, I just want to come home. I have tried of crapy beds, not eating, only eating one meal a day, not speaking the language, and just want to go home . I had my melt down today, tears and all.

happy Friday night to me!

We are a .....

family of FOUR!!!!!!! We went to court this afternoon , it lasted about 30 minutes , and we answered a ton of questions. At the end of court the judge said he approved our case! The court decision will be final on Feb 12th, standard waiting period in Kazakhstan. We are over the top excited to have a new son.

We had our last visit with Ben today right before court. It was hard to leave him there, but we know it is only for a short time and in the end it will all be worth it.

We want to thank everyone who has been praying and sending good thoughts our way.

In the morning we leave for Almaty and on Sunday we will leave Kazakhstan and head for Asheville. We are not sure if we will have internet access in Almaty, so this maybe our last blog post until we are back in the states.

Getting Ready for Court

Our court date is tomorrow at 4pm Kazakhstan time , which is 5am on the East coast. It should only last about 30 minutes, but no more than a hour. Tomorrow will be our last visit with Ben, right before court. I am sad just thinking about it. He was all smiles today, but when we get the camera out he stops smiling.

Some people have asked why we have to leave him here. There are three options for adopting in Kaza. Option 1 - You stay the entire process about 8-10 weeks in country (this is not even an option for us). Option 2- The parents make two trips to Kaza. The first trip is just what we have been doing. Then you go home for 2 weeks and then come back and finish paperwork, etc this is about another 2 weeks and then you fly home. Again not really an option for us due to working and cost. Option 3 - parents make one trip and have an escort bring the baby home a month later after the parents leave. While this option leaves Ben here, it is the best option for us. We think in the short term leaving him behind is the best option for our family.

We leave Friday morning to go to Almaty. We will go to the US Embassy and handle some final paperwork and then leave on Sunday morning at 4am returning to Asheville at 8:30pm on Sunday. We tried to find a flight leaving on Saturday , but nothing leaves out of Almaty on Saturday and this is the biggest airport in Kazakhstan.

We are not sure what kind of internet access if any we will have in Almaty. We will post again tomorrow to let everyone know about court.

If you could please keep us in your thoughts and prayers that all goes well tomorrow we would be greatful.

New Discovery

We found a new food!!!! In the MEGA (like a mall) there is a place that has all kinds of pastries, etc. Today we discovered they make waffles and top them with whip cream, ice cream and chocolate sause. We found heaven kaza style. The waffle was more like a dense cake than a waffle, but it was good and something besides pizza to eat.

We have a date!!!

A court date that is, thanks to our wonderful coordinator we have a court date for Thursday this week. We do not have the time yet, we just know it is Thursday. We fly to Almaty on Friday morning and in the afternoon take care of business at the American Embassy. We are trying to change our plane tickets home to leave on Saturday instead of Sunday, we really want to get home.

We had another great day with Ben today. It is going to be really sad to leave him, but the sooner we leave the sooner he gets to come home.

Again, thanks for all your continued support and prayers.

Another wonderful visit with Ben

Today we had a very short visit with Ben. It was his time to see the cardiologist , all children in the baby house see a cardiologist about this age. When we did get to see him, he was all smiles and given giggled today (which is a first). Somehow today Mike and I both thought he really felt like our son. We just want to take him home.

We have gotten some video of him talking and moving and will try to upload it tomorrow.

We hope everyone is doing well and we miss you all.

More pictures

We have posted more pictures of Ben and of Kazakhstan. Enjoy

www.kodakgallery.com/littlefamily

The Search for Food and Time with Ben

Today on the way to the baby house Mike noticed a new place to eat. It had signs with pizza , hamburgers, fries, it all looked wonderful!!! We talked about eating there the whole time were we playing with Ben. The hope of some good food. We found the place this evening and this was the first place we had been WITHOUT picture menu’s. This provided a new challenge. We ordered two hamburgers and one order of fries. We had had fries at other places and they were not really fries, more like under cooked fries, yuck. In resturants food is brought to the table as it is ready, so you do not get everything at once. We got the fries first and they were perfect! Now we had high hopes for the hamburgers….big mistake. We got the burgers and the first bite is all it took. Sadly we were let down. It was mystery meat burgers again. They were so bad, we could not stomach them and simply finished the fries and left.

We did see Ben today and he was very chatty today! He is now really good at getting on his knees ready to crawl and instead does a little hop, very cute!!! Once again towards the end of our time with him, he fell asleep and is so sweet when he sleeps. He loves to be bounced up and down. We are getting more and more smiles each day.

This weekend we will be finishing up our photo album and journal that we have to show the judge that we have bonded with Ben. If anyone is wondering his Kazakhstan name is Kiarat. We will post pictures from today over the weekend.

Are There Speed Limits

We have written about the driving here in Kazakhstan and how crazy they drive. It takes all we have everyday not to scream in the car. Well on our way back to our appartment yesterday I started wondering if they had speed limits on the road, since I had never seen a sign. As our coordinator is driving down the road section of road and cop walks out onto the road and flags her down. The answer is yes they get speeding tickets in Kazakhstan. We learned that tickets are very expensive , but slipping the cop between $5-$10 will resolve the issue.

New pictures

I have posted new pictures

www.kodakgallery.com/littlefamily

Enjoy!

A Hair Cut and Crawling Progress

I forgot to include in my post yesterday that when we arrived at the baby house Ben had gotten a hair cut. It looks really good, but kind of sad I missed it.

Also, he is sitting up great and is trying to crawl, but getting from the sitting position to the crawling position has been had. Then yesterday he finally figured out how to move his leg out from under him to crawl! We were so excited for him.

As we walked home from dinner last night , I could swear I smelled Ball Park hot dogs being grilled out. It smelled so good. Mike says he did not smell it , and I am just really hungery and imagining things.

We had another great visit with Ben today and again about 3:30 pm he was very sleepy and fell asleep in my arms. We are really going to hate to leave him, but the sooner we leave him the sooner he gets home.

Oh and in case we have not said Ben's full name is

BENJAMIN WILLIAM LITTLE

We have a Birthday party to plan

I just realized today that we have not told anyone Ben's birthdate. He will be one on April 9th. Time to plan a great first birthday party!!

New Breed of Idoits!

For some reason this morning Mike thought it would be GREAT idea to walk to the market (usually a daily trip) in the 40 mile per hour winds , snowing , COLD!! Stupid me went along with his idea. Once we got outside Mike announced that we were a new breed of idiots! We should have stayed inside. The walk to the market is 4 blocks each way. The return trip to the apartment was walking into the wind. I took a snowflake to the ice, had the wind not been blowing so hard it would not have hurt like it did. Yes, it is still snowing and we walked to our resturant, no one ever said we were smart.

Our visit with Ben today was great. He is getting more and more comfortable with us. Almost an hour and half into our visit he got so tired. Once again he feel asleep in my arms. Since we still had 30 minutes in our bonding session Mike made a bed out of our coats (mine on top grandpa) and we laid him down. He slept for the rest of our bonding session, it was so so sweet. Yes, I have pictures and will try to post them in the next couple of days.

Our coordinator is very busy preparing our documents to present to the court on Tuesday next week, which is when we get our court date assigned. We are hoping to be in court next Thursday.

For lunch today we went to Istabul (another turkish resturant) and we have gotten good at ordering food. This time Mike was asking for the check and somewho ordered hot tea. It took another 15 minutes before she came back and we could ask for the check. Here in Kazakhstan you must ask for the check it is never just left at the table.

Also, only gas station attents pump gas. They have 86, 90 and 96 octane gas and stations are everywhere. Keep in mind Kazakhstan is sitting on a very large oil reserve.

It's us again

Many of you have asked about Nolan and he is doing great!He has seen the pictures of Ben and seems to be excited about him. Nolan truely wanted a baby in the house.

I forgot to say in my post yesterday that I put Ben to sleep. We had a great play session and you could tell he was getting tired. I held him and got him to sleep. This is a really big deal. The babies in the baby house and simply lay them in the crib to sleep. They are never held and rocked to sleep. He melted my heart.

We had a great time playing again today and towards the end of our time Mike was holding him and tried to give Ben to me. I held Ben he looked at me made a grunt and stuck his bottom lip at me, he wanted his daddy. Mike of course loved this moment.

Here is no suprise it is snowing today! The snow makes it much easier to walk on the ice sidewalks.

I have uploaded more pictures at www.kodakgallery.com/littlefamily

It was sad today as we were leaving the baby house there was an ambulance that pulled up with a police officer and baby. A new baby had come to baby house. Just broke our hearts to see another baby without a family.

Another Great Day with Ben

We had another great session with Ben today. We have discovered that he really LOVES animal cookies. We break them into crumbs and he licks them off my finger. He usually comes to us with 3 to 4 shirts and at least 3 pairs of pants; we quickly take all the excessive clothing off and let him have feet without socks. I think this maybe the first time he has ever been without socks and he loves it. In each of our sessions with him, he loves to say dadadadada, all the time. I was hoping that maybe one of my boys would say mama first, but nope.

Let me also say that I am sorry for any typos or misused words in this blog. We get very little sleep here. We have all the time in the world to sleep, but cannot. There is a cat that meow’s all night, and then there is cujo (we named him) that lives downstairs that barks. Then the bed we have is a full size and is only a mattress, they do not have box springs here. The bed is lumpy and very worn out. Usually one of us sleeps in the bed and the other on the couch. The couch is like sleep on a layer of bricks. This is the reason we get NO sleep. We both really miss our bed. Yes, we know we are very spoiled American’s and we are really ok with that and miss home terribly. At this point I would feel comfortable being on the show survivor , I could do it.

Dear Shana, We sincerely apologize for ever saying you were a bad driver! Our coordinator has been driving us and we both have gotten car sick in the short 15 minute drive. This does not mean we are willing to ride with you again, just saying you are not the worst driver.

We know everyone wants more pictures of Ben and we will be posting them tomorrow evening Kazakhstan time/ Tuesday morning U.S time.

Our Trip To The Bazar

We went to the bazar today, which is a cross between a flea market and a Wal-Mart disturbation open air center (if there was such a thing). They had everything from meat, produce, baked goods, socks, underwear, fabric, blankets, winter coats,shoes, DVD’s, just everything you could ever want. It was isle after isle of stuff crammed into the bazar. The good thing was our coordinator took us , so it was easy for us to shop. We told her what we wanted to purchase and she took us to those items, otherwise we would have been there for days!

There was a very sweet old Kazakhstan woman who made the most beautfiul shaws . She was in her late 70’s and we must have been the first American’s she had ever seen. We commented that we had such fair skin and then asked if it really took 14 hours over the ocean to get to Kazakhstan. We later went back to her and purchased a shaw for 1,800teng or about $15. After I gave her the money she held my hand and said bless you and have a safe journey. She was what you think of when you think of the older women in Kazakhstan. Looking back we should have taken her picture.

One week in Kazakhstan

First, let me say if I have lead anyone to believe that this is a fun adventure or wonderful vacation, I have led you wrong. We spend 85% of our day here in the apartment. Then 5% going to the market everyday, gives us something to do. The last 10% during the weekday is spent at the baby house, the highlight of our day. I have read two large books , and Mike has also been reading. The TV is all in Russian or Kaza expect for the Germany station which is only sometimes in English. We did have CNN International for the first couple of days , which was like a life line for us , but it is now gone. Our coordinator did bring us some movies and sessions of Everyone Loves Raymond, which appears to be a big show here in Kazakhstan. We have internet at the apartment which is only dial up and we pay about $1/hour. To get high speed internet we have to go to resturants. The food….well we are trying new things. We do cook a lot at the apartment mainly grilled cheese and pasta.I know lots of carbs. I just want a really nice baked potato and some meat I know. Yes potatos are popular here, but the ones at the market just do not look that great.

We noticed on Friday more of a miltary presents on the weekend than we did during the week, so we decided to stay at the apartment most of Saturday. Today, Sunday we are going to the bazar (big open air market). This should be an interesting experience.

Another day in Kazakhstan

Another cold winter day in Kazakhstan. We discovered in our bonding session with Ben today that he loves electronics (know you would be thrilled grandpa) and we showed him pictures of Nolan on Mike's iTouch. We also gave him broken up animal cookies and man did he love those! I think he would have eat the whole box if we would have let him. Will post pictures from the session sometime this weekend.

We ate lunch today at a new resturant, they claimed to have a cheeseburger. Well it looked like a cheeseburger, but we are 100% sure it was not made from a cow. Mike did not like it so much , but I thought it was pretty good. At dinner tonight Mike tried lamb for the first time and it was good. Mike also tried a milkshake today, he said the ice cream hide the fact it was not cow milk that it was made with.

The snow and ice are starting to melt which makes walking around town much easier.

The baby house is closed on the weekends. Our coordinator will be taking us to the barzar on Sunday. This is where we are hoping to get somethings for Ben to always have from his homeland.

We will know on Wednesday our court date for the following week, right now it looks like we maybe able to come home 2 days early.

Baby House - Second Bonding Session

Today was our second bonding session with Ben, and what a great time we had. They keep him in many outfits at once. Under his once piece outfit he had on footed sweat paints and two other shirts. We quickly took off the extra pants and he started to crawl. He can get up on all fours and rock back and forth and go forward a bit. He wants to crawl so badly.

We have learned that he is ticklish on his ribs and loves to smile. I kept trying to get him to say mama, but no all he wanted to say was dadada. Mike was thrilled.

We have offically told our coordinator that we would like to adopt him. We have to take pictures everyday and start a short journal of our experience to prepare for court.

I have uploaded pictures of life in Kazakstan and by popular demand more pictures of Ben to enjoy. The people in Kazakhstan are very nice and we seem to be getting along ok without speaking Russian. Thank goodness for picture menus!

Pictures of Ben

We have spoken on the phone to our ped and via email and feel much more comfortable about Ben's medical information we were given.

If you would like to see him, please go to www.kodakgallery.com/littefamily

We get to see him again today from 2-4pm. We will be posting more pictures of Kazakhstan tonight (our time) /tomorrow morning East coast time.

By the way we made sweet tea yesterday and it was just like home! The burgers turned out great!!!

Christmas in Kazakhstan

We did not get to visit the baby house today, it was closed for Christmas. This is the first time ever the government of Kazakhstan has given workers the day off for Christmas. New Years is the big holiday here in Kazakhstan.

We will be going back to the baby house tomorrow afternoon, our visits are from 2-4 pm.

Everything is fine. At the store here we call wal-mart (does not even compare) we found ground beef. It was very expensive $7.70 a pound and I have no idea if it was ground chuck, ground round, etc. We were just excited it was cow. We did pretty well communicating with the lady at the meat counter, there was a picture of a cow. We pointed at the picture and the ground beef and she nodded, and we made hamburgers tonight, yummy!!

Jerusha

Please check your email.

Pictures of Ben

We know everyone is super excited and can not wait to see pictures of Ben. We got to spend two hours playing with him today, and it was great. We took him some blocks and he loved playing with and trying to eat them.

We have taken pictures of him, but we are waiting to post them. We have a couple of medical questions to address before post pictures of him. We enjoyed our time with him today he is a very calm and sweet boy, we are just proceeding with caution.

Thanks Alison for Milk information, I do not believe that is what we bought...opps.

Milk

We went to the market yesterday and there were lots of choices for milk. The question became which one is cow milk. Most of the containers had pictures of cows on them , but we are not so sure it is cow's milk. The milk percentages are very different, they have 6%, 3.5% , 2.5% and 1%. We have no idea what 6% milk is. We thought we had found cow's milk, but when I woke up this morning Mike tells me he tried the milk and is not so sure about it. He said the milk was very sweet and thick, not so sure if it is cow's milk or not....

The milk quest continues.

Nolan is great

Several of you have asked how Nolan is doing. We talked to him yesterday morning (US time). Grams says he is doing well and having fun with grandpa and the dog.

We miss him a ton , but are trying very hard to focus on our purpose here in Kazakhstan.

Rules of the Road

Riding in a car here is a very interesting experience. There are no rules! Take the rule book you got in drivers ed and throw it out the window!!! There are no driving lines, it is simply how many cars you can fit in the width of the road. If you are turning in an intersection and do not like how long the other driver is taking, pass them. Really it is ok.

And you must not forget to honk your horn as much as possible and frequently. You can park or stop anywhere you want.

Most of all people walking do not have the right of way, cars have the right of way, so look out.


We are so glad that we have someone to drive us, because driving is crazy.

Meeting Our Son

The baby house is closed on weekends, and today was our frist chance to go to the baby house. We first did some paperwork at the deparment of eduction, once that was done we headed over to the baby house. Let me tell you, giving birth (even via c-section) is much easier than standing in a room waiting. Waiting to be seen by the baby house director and then another woman turning around holding a child, your new child. Then the doctor coming into the room ready to tell you about the child's medical history and lack there of. Everyone in the room is speaking Russian , but us, with the help of our translator we were told information about the child.

No, we do not have pictures of him yet. We only got to see him for about 20-30 minutes. It was lunch time for him and he was hungery.

What I can tell you is he is 9 months old, brown eyes, light brown to blonde hair and big chubby cheeks! He took right to us and he even smiled several times. He did evenutally say nananana, but not much else. The doctor said he is sitting up , rolls over , plays with other child and is a quite happy baby. Mike says he has a good grip. Oh, he is starting to cut his first tooth. Wednesday is Christmas here, so we will get to be with him on his first Christmas, which we are super excited about. I know everyone would like to see pictures, but we do not have any yet.

We have the medical information from the time he was brought to the baby house, but nothing before that time. He was found abonded in a home. He came to the baby house when he was a month old.

The baby house director said that Ben looked like Mike. Mike swears he has not been to Kazakhstan......

We will be going to the baby house Monday- Friday for two hours a day, tomorrow will be our first offical visit. We plan to take some pictures tomorrrow and will post as soon as we can.

The time difference here is 11 hours ahead of the US East coast.

Life in Kazakhstan

Well life in Kazakhstan is interesting. We arrived in Shymkent on Sunday at noon. Our flight was delayed by two hours in Almaty for deicing of the plane. This was our last flight and was by far the hardest, we were so close yet still so far from Shymkent. Our coordinator greated us at the airport with her husband who is our translator and brought us to our aparment.

All the apartment her appear to be built during soviet times all very simple concret structures. Our appartment is insteresting. The bathroom is small with only a shower and the washing machine in the bathroom. The toliet is in a seperate room. The kitchen is simple but will work for our needs. Mike even managed to light the gas stove.

Sleep well we are not turned around yet, and last night we had dinner at 2am. I am sure our sleep patterns will around quickly.

I will share more information about life in Kazakhstan later, I promise. Driving is ..lets just say it is interesting.

In the apartment we only have dial up internet , to get a faster connection we have to go to a turkish cafe. If you send us emails and it takes me a day or two to reply this would be the reason.

Please know we are safe and things are good in Kazakhstan!

We have made it!

We have finally arrived in Almaty Kazakhstan at 12:30 AM on Sunday (Kazakhstan Time). We have one more flight to go , which will get us to our city where Ben is. We are not sure if we will get to see him today or tomorrow. Today if we do not get to go to the baby house we will a good chance to unpack and setup our appartment.

I must say that I never realized who FAR Kazakhstan is from the United States and both Mike and I now have a clear understanding of how far it is. The airport here in Almaty does not have free internet so I had my first experience trying to pay for internet time with someone that does not speak English and I who does not speak Russian. The good news is I did buy internet time.

Really for the first time in my life I realize just how much I stand out in a crowd.

We did learn that Christmas is Jan 7th here so we get to experience two Christmas', this should be interesting.

We have learned that there is CHICKEN in Shymkent , so there is hope for food.

I am running out of my time, but wanted to let everyone know we made it to Kazakhstan!