Appeals Period - Day 10

Well, Sunday was as boring as expected. We were up somewhat early (it's tough sleeping past 7:30am) and we had nothing to do until dinner time. There was a "celebration" going on outside our side window for Constitution Day (right in front of the statue of Abul Khair Khan). We could see the stage and the crowd from our apartment. There was music and dancing and speakers, but by the time we were going to venture out in the early afternoon, all that had ended and it was starting to drizzle. So much for going for a walk to kill some time in the afternoon. Back inside we went to watch more TV on the computer and do some reading.

We met the other American couple for dinner at Kemer (we had our usual chicken kebabs). The Joneses were very nice Southern folks from a small town in Georgia near Savannah. Alan is a youth minister for a Baptist church and Melinda is an elementary school teacher. It was so nice to have a conversation in English with people besides each other and Natasha. They are adopting a three-year-old girl (Marina) from the town of Alga which is about 40 minutes south of Aktobe. She is adorable. We will definitely be spending more time with them, especially after we all have custody of the kids. Marina is extremely tall (especially for being in an orphanage), so it'll look more like a 4 year old playing with a 1 year old when we get Max together with Marina.


After dinner, we stopped into the market and were very disappointed that they were out of our favorite ice cream dessert, the Maxi-bon (which is half ice cream sandwich and half Klondike with chocolate chip ice cream throughout...yum....we bought four of them today when they were back in stock).


Our visit today was another good one. Max was very excited to see us when he was brought in. He likes to be passed back and forth between us when he is first brought in. After 5 or 10 seconds with one of us, he reaches out to the other. That is usually how we spend the first few minutes of our visits. I know we sound like a broken record, but our visits are very repetitive. We're not complaining of course, but there's only so much you can do in the bonding room. We can't wait to get him out of there so he can see everything the world has to offer. He is always very attentive to sounds he hears outside the building....a passing car, an airplane flying by, birds chirping, etc. He also likes looking out the window, so we can only imagine how much he's going to enjoy going for walks and playing on the ground at the park and just being in the apartment since everything will be brand new to him.


Here's a few pictures...




And Jenny and I would like to send out some birthday wishes to Skip Niemiller, Rodger Pille, Lisa Wilhelmus, and Bev Ross, all of whom are celebrating their big day on the 30th or 31st. We wish we were home to celebrate with you!

7 days until we get custody of Max!!