We have arrived

Hello from Semey! We are here. Sorry we haven't posted yet. It has been a whirlwind of adventure. Our flight out of Chicago was delayed 2 1/2 hours so we arrived in Frankfurt with just enough time to catch our flight to Almaty. When we arrived in Almaty our translator and driver were waiting and they took us to a very nice apartment. We were in bed asleep by 3:00 am Friday morning (that's 2 pm Thursday for Texas) We slept about 4 hours and got up to catch our flight to Semey. I don't recommend flying to Semey for vacation! I, Kirsten, was very scared! It is a 60's vintage DC plane. We had to put our luggage onto the plane on shelves at the back ourselves. The back of the seats fold forward like car seats and there were rows of 2 seats on each side. So much for getting a little nap and snack on the way! Needless to say, I was never so glad to touch down! We ate lunch at a Turkish cafe and then went off to the orphnage. We had to meet with the director first and he had some questions for us. Afterwards, he asked the caregivers to bring in 2 boys that he called by name. We were allowed to watch the older boy play for a few minutes and he interracted with us some. They called us his "Mama" and "Papa." He was precious and just as the director said, he looked a lot like Michael! Then the younger boy was brought in. He was cute also but we were enamoured by the first boy named Dilan. After the boys left, we were allowed to go into the outer office to discuss the boys. Michael and I were in agreement that Dilan was the boy we were most interested in. We were given about an hour to play with him and to begin bonding. On our way back to the apartment we stopped at the grocery store to pick up some basics. Michael bought some very expensive Vodka (1265 tenge = $10)
Saturday, May 20, 2006
We were awake at 4 am local time since our bodies are still learning to adjust to the time change. Larissa, the translator, and Posha, the driver, picked us up at 10 am and took us to the orphanage to be with Bobby. The caregivers said he was asking for Papa this morning. He came right to us. He has a little runny nose today so we stayed inside to play. He loves books. He flips back and forth through them all the time. He likes to play ball with his papa. I am the chair it seems. He likes to sit in your lap a lot. I was kissing him a lot and he would kiss the pictures in the book. He pointed to a picture of a cat and barked! That was the only sound we have heard from him. He is ticklish and will giggle outloud. We will have 2 visits every day, one in the morning and one in the afternoon.

We have no pictures yet because our internet is not connected at the apartment yet. The internet office is closed on Saturday and Sunday so we should be able to post some pictures Monday. You will not believe how much this little boy looks like Michael. Larissa says he has my eyes and Michael's face. I told Michael that the stork got confused and put our baby down in the wrong country!