A Walking Caleb?

August 30

We are closing in on the end of our day here. It is 9pm and we just laid Caleb down for bed. Things continue to go incredibly smooth. We spent another day in the hotel for the most part. I went to the “Gros” store for some groceries today while Ethan stayed with Caleb. It is about a 20 minute walk. It was nice to get out and breathe some fresh air. Also, there was a lot of activity in the square and park on the way as today is a holiday here, similar to Labor Day. So there were families out in abundance. As to Caleb, he continues to amaze us. Today he was able to stand and with our assistance walk his little fat feet forwards. This is new, as in the past he has only been able to bear weight on his legs, now he is learning that if he moves his feet forward, he goes! Also, he has discovered that turning his head to each side is great fun as well. He continues to sleep very well, every morning like clockwork he wakes at 4:50 am and takes a bottle and then easily goes back to sleep. During the day he does fuss some, but is always consolable if we hold him. Tomorrow we are going to Kathy’s for dinner which will be Caleb’s first outing besides walks. We are grateful for the prayers that have been poured out in our behalf; we sense them and feel a peace. We could not have dreamed that this process would have been this incredible.
Mary

Caleb's Greatest Days

8-29

Hello to all! We continue to be loving life here in Kokshetau with our son. Caleb is adjusting well to having two parents and to living in a hotel room. He slept through the night except for waking at 5 am for a bottle and back to bed until 9 am. He is also taking nice long naps during the day, one was three hours. His activity level is so much more than what he is accustomed to, that he is sleeping more than normal. No complaints from mom and dad. He has fussed a little with taking his rice cereal, so taking my mothers advice, I gave him apples and he ate the entire jar. Caleb is learning to laugh more and more. Last night, Ethan introduced him to the tickle monster, big success. He squealed with delight, I have attached some photos of that activity.
It continues to be very hot here that we spent the entire day inside except for one 30 minute walk. Who knew, that I would be perfectly content to hang out in hotel room for 3 days straight. Ethan and I we are passing the time when he is sleeping by e-mailing, reading and watching the first season of Frasier. We continue to try to work out in the room, but that is proving to be a test of endurance with the heat. We did request a fan for the hotel room and they were able to supply that, which has helped at least circulate the air. Ethan is on his third night in a row of Big Bon noodles, and I my 8th meal in a row of oatmeal. Do not worry parents; we are eating a piece of fruit with each meal. There are hardly any vegetables here, even if we did have the means to cook them. I have seen some carrots, onions, POTATOES, and frozen green beans. Most of the food is fatty and starchy here, so we are trying to do the best we can with what we have available. Alright, that is the report for the day.
Mary

Our 1st TwentyFour Hours

August 28
We have survived our first 24 hours as parents! What a joy it has been. Thankfully the power came back on yesterday right before he woke up so his bottle was not a problem. Caleb went on his first stroller ride, which was fine. He did not fuss, just looked around, mostly at the cars. He had whole grain cereal, and was not too fond of that so we added peaches which he did a little better with taking. The whole concept of a spoon is new to him, so he does get distracted by it and forgets that the goal is to eat. He went down last night with no problems at about 9 pm. He then slept until about 4:45 and we then gave him a bottle, changed his diaper, put him back down and he woke up again at 8am.

Today we have stayed in the hotel room mostly except for going out for a walk in his Baby Bjorn and for a long walk in his stroller this afternoon with Kathy. He has done well in the room. Everything is a new discovery; the flowers on the sheets, the texture of the chair, and base board. It is all a new world for him. We have had a day full of laughter, smiles and talking. He is crawling from one end of the floor to the other. Ethan and I are savoring every moment of this thing called parenthood. We have feasted on Big Bon noodles for dinner (like Ramen noodles) and have bought an ice cream cake for dessert. It is very hot here, 80 degrees so the ice cream cake is a treat. I know that I will not get much sympathy from the Chattanooga people, but we have no air conditioner and the mosquitoes are coming in through the screen. That is about all to report.

Thanks to each and every one of you for your post of congratulations. It is difficult to be on the other side of the world while starting the parenting process, as we want so badly to share this experience with those we love. But the post and e mails of congratulations make us feel that we really are not that far away after all.
Mary

ADOPTION DAY!!!

August 27
“Every Good and Perfect Gift Comes From Above”

Today is a day of celebration, it is Caleb’s “Gotcha Day”! We had court today and the verdict was read and we are now officially the very proud parents of Caleb Benjamin Collier! Court was at 11am this morning. We were a bit nervous this morning. There was a lot to get together; speeches, gifts, donations, pictures and ourselves. We were picked up at 10:40 by our driver and interpertor. We went to the courthouse and were ushered into a large room, with no chairs and told to wait. About 20 minutes later we were called into the judges office (a female). We were accompanied by our interpertor, secretary to the Minister of Education, Dr. Victoria and a prosecutor. The judge gave a short speech describing why we were gathered etc. Then, Ethan stood and gave a five minute speech describing our marriage, why we chose Caleb, and asking the court to grant us custody. I then stood and gave my four line speech. The judge asked me if we had looked at other children before choosing Caleb, if I had looked into other countries, why Kazakhstan and not other countries. Then the doctor stood and talked about Caleb’s medical history. The prosecutor stood and stated he felt we should be granted custody. We all left the room, and were called back in two minutes later, we all stood and she said that the decision of the court was that we’d become his parents and his name be changed to Caleb
Benjamin Collier! What a time of rejoicing! Even though in our hearts he has been our son since we first laid eyes on him, it is a relief to have the official verdict read and become his legal parents. We left court, went to the store to pick up a cake for the hospital staff and drove to the hospital. We went into the doctor’s office where a nurse brought Caleb into us. He looked a little shell shocked at first to see us outside of his “room”. We took some pictures, goodbyes and thank-you’s were said and then we carried our son out to the car and were taken home to the hotel. We laid him on our bed and just stared at him. He started crawling all around, looking at things, like the veil had been taken off from his eyes. He has squeeled, laughed and babbled more in two hours then he did in the 20 days we visited him at the hospital. We then gave him a bottle, we were a little nervous that he would not take it since the nipple was a much slower flow than what he was used to, but no problems, He actually took it easier and slower than the one at the hospital. Then the long a waited bath time! He was such a champ, never a fuss or a cry even when Ethan poured the water over his head. After we dried him off he could hardly keep his little eyes open, we put a diaper and a tee shirt on him and laid him in his new crib, he did not cry just, fell asleep. He has now been asleep for 2 ½ hours. Ethan keeps going to the room just dying to wake him, I have held him back. I do not think waking a sleeping baby is a great idea. We do have one minor obstacle, there is currently no electricity, so we are just wondering how we are going to give him his bottle when he awakens. We are so happy to finally have our son with us, where he belongs. We look forward to seeing what the future holds for this special little boy and are honored to have been given the responsibility of being his mother and father! Praise to Him! Our cup overflows as my grandmother would say!

Adventures in KAZ!

August 25

Not much new is happening here in Kazakhstan. Caleb was sweet and subdued today. He discovered a water bottle that we had and it was half full and he spent about thirty minutes knocking it over, watching it roll across the table and head to the floor, Ethan would catch it, put it back on the table and the cycle repeated. Anything to pass the time in the little room. We have now been visiting for 19 days. We can only do so much to entertain a seven month old and ourselves in the space we have. So, if it is a water bottle, then so be it. We had a nice walk outside. Caleb fell asleep in my arms. I can tell he is gaining weight because my back is starting to hurt from carrying him so much. He is on formula and rice cereal now and overall doing well. He LOVES formula. Every time we feed him formula we have to stop him several times while he is taking the bottle because otherwise he would drain it in two minutes. His two little bottom teeth are making there way in, he seems to be handling it okay most days. He just chews on about anything. We had an eventful evening out with our friends last night at the Boulevard (picture included). I had a great salad with romaine lettuce, raisins, granny smith apples and balsamic vinaigrette. For my main course I had fish with vegetables that was baked in foil. Ethan had beef, tomatoes, potatoes covered in cheese. We danced and had a big time. Today after our visit with Caleb we went on a riding tour of the city given by our driver Oleg. We started the visit by going to a mound of rocks with two stone deer on top; it is called “Horny Husband Hill”. It is apparently a big deal here and I do not know the story behind it, nor do I really want to learn. We took a picture that I will include, there was a wedding party posing on top as you will see. We then drove around; saw the bus station, the suburbs and the lake. There was one little interesting piece of local culture that we learned as we were driving up to the top of this scenic overlook on a gravel road. Along the way there were young boys, like eight years old or so who had ropes across the road. We asked Inna and Oleg what they were doing and they said that as wedding parties drive on this road to go up to the overlook to get their pictures taken, the boys will block the road with the ropes and not let them go by until the wedding parties give them money. I guess you could say it is kind of like a lemonade stand in the states, they are just a little more ingenious as they turn a gravel road into a toll road every weekend. So, that is all for today. Just a quiet Saturday here, we are staying in tonight.

Those Eyes...

August 24
Hello! Not much new to report here in Kazakhstan. We enjoyed our evening out to dinner with friends at the Rainbow Café. Ethan had pork kabobs and I had chicken and mushrooms. The food was very tasty, but best of all good times with new friends. It is so helpful on this long trip to have the companionship of others who are going through the same process. Tonight there is a group of ten of us going out to the Boulevard, where we went Tuesday night. My thoughts are that we should enjoy going out now, because once we got custody, I really do not think we will be taking Caleb out for nice dinners. I do not see that going well. Speaking of Caleb, he was in a much better mood today. We entered his room and for the fourth morning in a row he was asleep. Ethan and I decided just to let him sleep. He awoke about 30 minutes later and was a new little man today compared with yesterday. He really is doing great; there is just not much else to say. He is eating well, interacting with us, smiling, and becoming stronger every day. We love him deeply.
Well, it is about 5:30 pm here and the horns are getting started, the weddings are in full swing. Ethan and I are preparing ourselves for some sleepless nights this weekend as the parties get cranked up. Oh well. Tomorrow we are going on a driving tour of the city. I look forward to that as the more we can learn about our son’s birthplace the better.
Happy Weekend!
Mary

Our Boy Teething

August 23

Life in Kazakhstan is good today. We spent our morning with a bit of a fussy baby. He is getting in two teeth, so I think that contributes. His little personality continues to develop. It is a blessing to see the child that God has hand picked for us. We look forward to having him with us all the time. Last night a big group of us played pool in our hotel. We had a great time. It was a good distraction from the loud party that was going on here at the hotel. At midnight, Ethan and I were walking back to our hotel room and heard the music just blasting away. We decided to peak our heads into the party hall, there were FIVE people in the room. Five, with the music turned up as loud as it could be. I slept with earplugs in, plus the static on the radio. I am glad for Ethan’s sake that he will be moving to an apartment in a couple of weeks. The hotel is nice, but the sound volume at night is starting to be a bit of a nuisance.

This afternoon I went to a spa and got a facial and pedicure. It was wonderful. Hands down the best I have ever had, I walked out of the spa and only had to pay $35.00. I figure, while I am here I might as well take advantage of the inexpensive activities. Oh, an interesting occurrence today just to kind of give you a glimpse of life here. We were driving back from the hospital with our driver and translator. We were in the fast lane of a four lane street. A car, Musweet pulled out into our lane from a parking lot across the street, cutting us off. Our driver honked his horn, but the Muskweet ignored it. So, our driver put the car in park in the road, got out and walked up to the guy in the Muskweet, with traffic zooming around and yelled at him. We Americans were all watching with our mouths open, our translator said “Well, he broke the rules”. Our driver got back into our car, put it in drive and we sped away. The Muskweet drove very slowly behind us thereafter following the “rules”. I will send you a picture of a Muskweet tomorrow. Tonight we are going out to eat with a big group of friends for chicken. I hear it is hot in Chattanooga; we are enjoying weather in the low 70s during the day and high 50s at night and rain everyday. Sorry everyone, that is one advantage of being in thy, Kazakhstan.