Accepted our Referral

At today's visit, we met with the director of the orphanage who is also the orphanage doctor. She is a very, very nice lady and we think she is very concerned with presenting all the information about children and doing what it takes to make parents feel comfortable about their child's medical history and past.

The trip to Tokmok was fraught with frustration today as there was some sort of traffic jam. Boy, these folks don't have road rage, they just drive like there are no rules. There's a photo today of the BUS that was so close to us that if you stuck your nose out the window, you would have touched it.

We had a GREAT visit with "The Princess" today and she opened her eyes, smiled and cried. It was so good to "meet" her personality a little. I'm sure we will continue to see more of it during each of our upcoming visits. She managed to grasp our fingers tightly today as well.

Tootsies!
Here's you an "unidentifying" photo of my "boys" and "The Princess". And let me tell you, Josh is in LOVE with her. I can already tell that we are going to have to fight to get to hold her. :-) Maybe after the "new" wears off and she's home a while, he'll grow accustomed to her and not be quite so enamoured, but now ... wow! I think it was the perfect choice to bring him -- even though he spends a lot of time being "BORED" (I hear that a lot). In retrospect, I should have packed more entertainment for him. Oh well, now he realizes it's not all about having tons to keep him entertained.

We found the Metro Bar and Grill today with some help from some Americans that we brought a package over for. They were so nice and drove us over. The food was excellent there. Kevin had chicken enchiladas and potato skins; Josh had a cheeseburger and fries and I had chicken fingers. All very good.

We then walked down to the Zum store. It was very busy and very crowded and a very long walk, but on the third floor there were some very nice souvenirs. I'm not sure if we'll go back or not while we are here. We walked past The White House, several statutes and fountain areas on the way. It was all very pretty and we took lots of photos for Ellie to have when she gets older.

I've decided to make her a "Blurb" book (http://www.blurb.com/) with the photos from this and the second trip. I've already decided the title of the book will be "The Road to Tokmok". I've taken quite a few pictures of the people and sights and scenery along the road there and can also add all the photos of her as a baby and narrative from our trip here. I think I will likely do this in lieu of a "Lifebook". I'm excited thinking about making it and her being able to have it all her life.

Still not sleeping during the times I ought to but I'm getting about six hours per night so I'm fine. I'm usually up around 3 a.m. here and I get some quiet time before the day starts to get paperwork done. Maybe, by the time we leave, I'll have it done. :-)

We will visit with "The Princess" again today and we are excited about it. We are stopping along the way to get her some diapers. We stopped yesterday to buy some special vitamins for her.

Here are a few photos of just "stuff" for you to enjoy!

This is my favorite photo from today. I would LOVE to have a day where I could go around and photograph the faces of the people in this country. SUCH character!!

These are the buses people use here. There are no true bus stops out in the country. Just stand on the side of the road and wait for one to pick you up is what it seems to be. They are jam packed (as seen during the traffic jam)

I'm not certain but I think this is probably a church. The country is predominantly Muslim.

This is a local gas (petrol) station.

If you click on the photos, I think you can see them larger, but there are some workers in the far distance of this photo. These are the farm lands. Note the mountains in the back. On the other side of those are Kazakhstan.

Here's a photo for my mom -- it's a formal wear shop: