Friday, August 24, 2007

We Are Finally Here!!!!

Amidst several traveling challenges, such as a canceled flight, delays, sitting on the tarmac a few times, and losing all of our luggage, we arrived safely in Astana (Aas-ta-nah) about 11:30pm on Thursday. As we write this update, it is Saturday AM our time and we are getting used to the time difference and a whole new culture. So far we have experienced Kaz grocery shopping, a typical Kaz lunch of mostly meat and rice, and Kaz driving. Here there are no road rules (every man and women for themselves). Since we have been buzzing down highways at 90 MPH, Jen no longer feels like she drives fast. We have a translator named Ainura (Ai-nora) and a driver Yerken with us most of the time. They show us the in and the outs of the culture and make sure we know what we are doing.

We are in a nice apartment which has all the comforts of Kaz living. Today since we are well rested we will try to explore a little of the area. We are off the beaten path a little of the ways so to get to the store or internet cafe is a little of a hike. The area is city living amongst Lots of construction that is going on. They are trying to rebuild the city and you see cranes all over the place. Here the majority of residents live in apartments so there are high-rises everywhere.

On Friday evening we visited the baby house and meet with the director. She asked us a list of questions and wondered why we would want another child when we already have three. After the questions we were shown a few little guys. All are cute and unique in there own ways. We got to interact with one in particular. We took him outside played on the play set. Unfortually all the toys that we brought to interact with our son are in our luggage which is still lost and may not show up until Monday when the next flight from Frankfort arrives in Astana. More than the clothes, we miss all our snack food that I packed. Today we will visit the baby house in the AM and get more info on him and come to a decision. This is the part that Jay is struggling with, but he knows that God will continue to guide us on this adventure.

So that is the scoop on our adventure so far... the journey continues and we will update you soon...

2 comments:

Peanut, Buckaroo and Princess said...

hi
i'm talking 2 tralon rite know, he says ohio state is going to have a sucky season...hope u get ur bags soon..i'll email the blog i set up 2 update u guys..luv shelby

Catherine said...

Glad to hear you arrived safely. Praying that all goes well with the selection process and that you are able to spend time bonding with your new son!