It's Official

We have officially committed to the cutest boy in Kazakhstan. He is 18 months old and very sweet. He is small for his age and walks while holding our hands. He is right on track for his circumstances. The standard is a child is delayed 1 month for every 3 months in an orphanage. He is actually very alert and very interactive.

We are having lots of fun playing with Andrew (his soon to be name). We have a great video of him laughing as Mark took him down a slide in the play yard today. It's amazing how much he has come out of his shell in such a short amount of time. He was actually reaching out for us when we arrived today.

We have decided not to include pictures of Andrew on our blog until we have custody. I had thought that our agency didn’t want us to give out any information until after court anyway. I have since found out that I misunderstood their instructions. We can give out information since we have formally accepted – we’re just being cautious on our blog.

Lots of folks have asked how Lainey is doing...amazingly well for a 6 year old. She would love to find some kids who speak English to play with. She is a very social child so that has been tough on occasion. Overall, she is being very flexible.

We have been treated very well by the CHI in-country staff. They have really doted on Lainey and that has helped.

A little more about our experience here - we are so glad we did a lot of reading before coming. It has helped with the culture shock. We are feeling really comfortable buying groceries, exchanging money, eating out, and walking the city. We are only able to visit Andrew from 10-12 pm each day so we have lots of time to acclimate.

As for the baby house, I don't think I was completely prepared for how I would feel as we are observed caring for Andrew. After delivering Lainey, the hospital sent us home after 2 days and no instructions. At the time, I thought that was scary. With Andrew, we are instructed in every area and told "nyet" many times. The head doctor is very strict. We appreciate that she wants the children to remain well and Kaz has their own beliefs about how to accomplish that. We try to respect their goal of caring for the kids. For example, we wanted to look at his cute baby toes so we took off his socks. We were told to put them back on and they said "you Americans like feet - you need to put his socks back on". We're learning.