Appeals Period - Day 8

Max was a happy little guy again today. Even more so when he got to have an apple as a snack midway through our visit. The caregiver even brought a half an apple for each of us and for Natasha as well. We felt bad though since we cannot eat an apple with the skin on it. We would have had to cut off the skin and make a bit of a mess, so we thanked her and proceeded to sneak it out of the babyhouse without her knowing. We would have felt even worse if she had found it in the garbage can after we left. But Max LOVED his apple. He even attempted to share his treat with us (as he sometimes does during Cheerio-time as well). Very thoughtful of him.




We asked Natasha to take a picture of the three of us for our first "official" family photo. After 9 or 10 tries, these two were as good as it got. We'll try again another time.

As we were leaving, we received yet another piece of bad news. We will not get to visit Max on Sunday. On August 30, Kazakhstan celebrates Constitution Day. We're not sure why this means that we cannot visit though, since obviously the orphanage is not closed (it's not like they can just send the kids home for the day since they are home). But we do what we're told and so Sunday will likely be the most boring day in our lives thus far. We are hoping that we might do an excursion to an outdoor market that our Alaskan friends Shannon and Jonathan recommended called the Sulpak Market. We need to find a cheap stroller that we can use when we get custody of Max. We went to a nearby mall this afternoon to look around and found some strollers, but the cheapest of these was still about $67. We are hoping to not spend more than $30 or so for something we will just use here in Aktobe and then also in Almaty.

10 days until we receive custody!!