3-23-08 Hoppy Easter!! I opened my Easter card from Joe and got ready to go see Emma. She really lit up when we walked in! She smiled and started bouncing from excitement. It’s so amazing the transformation from that first week when she just had that blank expression. I dressed her in this pink and white, spring-like outfit, with sewn on butterflies and flowers. We then had a “photo session” posing her with the many bunny and chick stuffed animals with the Easter basket I brought her. It was a tiny one I brought from home that fit in a little bunny and a chicken that when you pull the string, it vibrates. She found this interesting and got the hang of putting her finger thru the loop of the string while I pulled it. After feeding Emma her daily “cereal” and cup of “milk”, she opened her card, from Joe, and actually pulled it out of the envelope herself this time. Then it was time……….. we gave her a pink bunny Peep to eat. Well, she was soooooooooo funny! She first just squished them in her hands like what the hell is this??? Then when I put it in her mouth, she made this face like I put sand in her mouth (I think the texture was what was getting to her) she seemed to like the sweet and bit off a big piece. Now, picture us doing this trying to sneak it so no one yelled at us for giving it to her. It was like a secret mission. Her mouth was all pink and so were her hands!! They were all sticky and she didn’t know why! Then she started rubbing them on the blanket so not only was the pink getting on the blanket but now all the fuzzes were sticking to her hands. Oh we were laughing! Trying to clean her up with wet ones wasn’t easy either b/c the sugar crystals didn’t melt and they were all stuck b/t each finger like grains of sand. It was hysterical! Emma seemed very fun and interactive today. I played peek-a-boo with her from behind the door leading into the hallway as well as peeking thru the other side of a stained glass door. She got a kick out of it. Then Emma was in the walker, and Mom was “whipping” her from one side around to the other side of her, almost like being on a ride at an amusement park. She smiled during this, and when mom stopped, she arched her back like she wanted to do it again. She “chased” and followed me around the room in her walker. We then started a game where I’d roll her a few feet away, then said “come on, come here” she’d run toward me with a huge smile on her face. Once she reached me, she’d reach out both of her hands, I’d grab them and say YEA!!! After a few times of doing this, she then started clapping after the YEA! We all had a fun time. Mom and I decided to go out for dinner, and thought we’d venture over to the hotel where some of the other families had stayed (they had a bar, restaurant, bowling alley, etc). So we ask for the restaurant… we’re pointed to a door where, when we opened it, it was a huge room with levels of tables and a stage. We can only assume it was some type of entertainment area/dinner theater. And it was empty. We walked down the hall and saw a bar. It was closed. Then we saw some other tables where we made eye contact with a man behind the bar and he seated us with menus (in English). What a riot THIS experience was. We were asked if we wanted bread TWICE...never got it. Asked us for drink? juice? tea? we're trying to ask for wine. He had no idea till mom said vino? OH vine..... Brings us a wine menu with only 4 kinds that were sold by the glasss so we said no....how about a mixed drink......looked at us like we had 6 heads. Then........... we said vodka.... Oh THAT he knew. So I thought I’d go out on a limb here… cranberry juice? No. So I had it with cherry juice. (later find out that they charge you for juice and a charge for the alcohol) Mom had rum and orange juice. We asked the waitress to explain some of the dishes on the menu. She just kept saying NO. No what??? No you wont explain? No you don’t know what it is? She got so frustrated she sent over a waiter. Turns out, No, means “we don’t have that available today.” After we placed our order, we were asked if we wanted bread. We said yes. Eventually we got our tiny drinks in a glass with a bendy straw and 2 tiny ice cubes. He then looked at us, he took out a pad and pencil (like he was gonna take our order) and walked away. We waited 45 min and nothing. No bread. Nothing. We asked where everything was~ mom showed her watch and rubbed her stomach....waiter put hands in air and said sorry. Then made a phone call to the kitchen maybe and came back and asked me what I wanted on the side (which I told him with my order 45 min ago!) I knew he hadn’t even put the order in yet! Another 20 min go by and we finally get our dinner. No bread, but dinner nonetheless. We both ordered beef medalions with vegetables. Which showed up with no vegetables. We asked where they were, had to show them on the menu that it was supposed to COME WITH IT, and they eventually brought out one small plate (for us to SHARE-eventhough we were both supposed to get veggies) of 2 small slices of egg plant, 2 ¼ pieces of a tomato and 4 slices of pepper all grilled. My side dish was BOILED potatoes "in their own jackets' which I assumed meant w/the skin on..... nevertheless.....no jackets and NOT boiled but fried. Do we dare order dessert? Then dessert menu.... the pasty I wanted was another NO. (more of them not having any) and mom ordered a dessert that CAME WITH fruit, ice cream and chocolate. So she asked waitress if it was chocolates on the side or chocolate sauce on top. She said sauce on top. It comes 15 min later. Its 4 scoops of chocolate ice cream with some chocolate powder on top. Mom said "chocolate sauce" and waitress said no. Uh, YES…that’s what you JUST told us. Then we asked, where’s the "fruit"?????? She looked at us and said “oh you want fruit?” and had to go back and ask someone....She comes back with “No, just fruit OR ice cream”. Thats NOT what the description of the dessert was. Do they not even know what’s on their menu? Or does it just offer things then they make what they want and hope you don’t notice? Unbelievable. We gave it back and left. Asked front desk to call a taxi and went home. The drive home was nice, since we’ve never been out after dark. A lot of the streets have colored lights strung across them, like you’d see for a special occasion or holiday by us. Also, many colored lights lit up the buildings or had rows of blinking lights going down them, again, like Christmas decorations. And of course, its snowing again.

3-22-08 Today we didn’t go to the orphanage because it was a holiday here (the coming of Spring). So we’re switching for tomorrow, Sunday, Easter…so it works out for us getting to see Emma on Easter (didn’t think we would). There’s apparently a street fair of some sort downtown, so all the roads will be closed and if we wanted to go anywhere we’d have to walk. All well and good, except my back and moms sciatica are killing us so I didn’t want to walk ANYWHERE. We spent most of the afternoon catching up on old blog entries from the beginning of this trip (ones I couldn’t bare to have to re-live by writing them myself). Mom wrote and I did laundry, made some macaroni salad, hard boiled eggs, did dishes, etc. I’m always writing and mom doing the other stuff so it was a day for switching. Then we played some Sequence, ate dinner, watched another Danielle Steel dvd and went to bed.

3-21-08 Well today was sooooooo great. The orphanage was putting on a play for the holiday of the coming of Spring. We didn’t understand a word of it but nonetheless we went early, got Emma, she sat there the whole time. Even clapped when everyone else did. Workers, administrators, etc "performed" and dr.s and director and some older children were the audience. There was a little boy and girl in it and the boy made pretend he was playing a mandolin and the girl was "supposed to be" dancing but after one shimmy, she froze..... was like a kid on stage at a dance recital. We all clapped. They re-enacted what I guess is the tradition behind this "holiday" the coming of spring....Where a baby is born and the crib is blessed with smoke/incense. Then they bring out an older (maybe 4 year old) girl and put rope around her feet. (apparently in old times their feet were bound for a period of time) then she walks down this "aisle" and at the end the director cut the rope. Symbolizing her being let free into the world Then a boy played a sax and an older girl played the violin and sang beautifully Afterward, we were invited to join in the feast..... which was a spread of all food and "milk". It was REALLY nice that they invited us up. We tried some of the bread~good. There was a little cake there, so we gave Emma some and she couldn’t get enough of it! She doesn’t get anything sweet there so she was like mmmmmm. Then they say "try this" mom takes a bite and says "oh roast beef". Lady nods happily and says "horse" LOL! I did try it after that and it was a BIT different, almost tasted like deer meat. .Not really bad. Then this stuff mom thought was chopped liver was actually a chocolate "cookie" and tasted like diet sawdust! Yum Oh, and the meat was all cold. THEN there's this "milk". They DID tell us it was horse milk....so we were willing to try it. BUT............Mom took a sip and made probably THE worst face I've seen in my entire life! Her mouth couldn’t open up any further nor wrinkle her face any more if she tried! She looked like she was scanning the room to spit it out, but I was looking at her like “don’t you dare”. Now....EVERYONE is watching her try it! I said, "STOP WITH THAT FACE YOU'RE GONNA INSULT THEM!" (mom said I said it SO sternly to her Then she said, "ok YOU try it" I took the littlest sip b/c I knew it was gonna be bad..... It was like an ounce of warm milk (I think) and 10 ounces of vinegar. It almost turned your tongue numb! Apparently the horse meat is a delicacy for special occasions and the "milk" is very good for your stomach and heart. And for a hangover! LOL It was definitely an experience and I’m so glad we were there for it. During the break b/t visits we went to the Green Market/bazarre (outdoor flea market). It was pretty nice out, not cold or windy but everything was SOOOOOOO muddy and disgusting everywhere. We had gotten permission from the director to let me take home this one sweater and the jumper she always wears... if I buy another outfit to exchange for it. I wanted it b/c its 2 of the clothing items they put on her ALOT. That’s cool to have! So, we stayed for a bit, got some things for Emma, got an outfit to exchange for her jumper and left b/c our backs were killing us! At the beginning of our afternoon visit, Olga walked in with a box and I said "oh you brought me a present?" (I was kidding) and she said "yea" (I thought SHE was kidding) Then about 15 min later, she was leaving and I was like "don’t forget your box" and she said "no it’s for you". We jumped up and were like WHAT?!?!?!?!?! Susan sent a huge goodie box. Chocolate chip cookies, pretzels, cheetos, twizzlers, skittles, girl scout cookies, doritos, Swedish fish, pink bunny Peeps, M & M’s, a pink Easter bunny and 4 toys for Emma! We started crying before we opened it. Just from seeing her handwriting! We were cracking up saying "How the hell did Susan find the address? WE don’t even know where we live!!!" hahahaha!!!! Mom video taped me opening it and giving stuff to Emma. I brought the new snow suit I bought Emma, dressed her up and took her outside for the FIRST TIME! The Dr. said it was fine (she had to approve it first). She had NEVER been outside! She was looking at the sky like, where am I? Saw a dog and don’t think she knew what it was. It was a nice day, no wind, not too cold. We picked up some snow and let her touch it and at first she didnt really like it. Then she kept touching it. She was also listening to water run down into sewer drain and couldnt stop staring at the stream of water running down road. Looking up at the trees, etc….it was cool to see her so like... what IS THIS? She was looking up at the sky like "where's the ceiling"! haha The snow suit was a little big but may hopefully fit for next year. It’s so hard to judge sizes here….their way of labeling sizes is bizarre. One minute its in 1, 2, 3, then it goes by cm 63 cm, 68cm, then 3-6 mo, 6-9 mo, and sometimes the 6 mo are smaller than the 3 mo and hence we've done a lot of returns and exchanges! I don’t think a lot of the stuff at home will fit, yet, I have a shirt from Carters 6 months and it fits fine. But other 9 month stuff doesn’t. 9 month fits on bottom but 12 month on top. I have NO idea what'll fit at home. At least I have some things that fit here that I’ll bring home and then can kinda judge against what’s there. And its so "fun" to ask for your money back, in the store, b/c they just want you to EXCHANGE not return yet dont have any other sizes. Then they go in their own personal wallet to give you money back. We’ve done our share of exchanging and returning. We’ve gotten Olga to add that to our list of phrases we bring with us to just SHOW people “Can I get my money back for this”. We WERE going to have chicken cutlets tonight for dinner but we've been home 1/2 an hour and have had a corona, 1/2 the bag of cheetos, 2 peeps and 3 twizzlers! Mom said "We can make the chicken tomorrow" it was the best dinner we've had yet!! Mom said it was like a hug for her tongue. lol Samoas and thin mints for breakfast tomorrow! Lol It was soooooooo awesome!!! We had the BEST day today and that was the icing on the cake. Got online to thank Susan (of course not BEFORE we pigged out the second we walked in the door) and this was her story about sending this package for us: ____________________________________________________________________ “I go to ShopRite and buy all of this junk food… THEN I bring it to the UPS store..not post office. I tell them I need to get a box and ship this food internationally. The guy starts laughing, so I was like “WHAT?” He said you know that’s gonna be really expensive, right? So I said "I kinda figured...what ..like $100"???? So he says "your a little off"......are you ready.......$750.00!!!! I almost fell over!!! I was like What the……….????????????????? I said" for $750.00 I will buy a plane ticket and hand deliver it myself"!!!!!!!!!!! So he said to go to PO, it will be alot cheaper...I said if they tell me $500...I'm gonna go home and eat it all myself. So @ PO, box already taped up...I had to fill out a customs form and list everything in the box. I asked what happens if i 4get to list something, she said they would, make YOU pay the duty for it!!! I was like OH GREAT...Jen's gonna kill me if their like. Here's your M&M's, you owe us $50!!!!! “ _______________________________________________________________________ So there's a fair, or parade or something tomorrow and they're closing down the streets so we can’t get a taxi anywhere. We were gonna go walk to this shindig but our backs hurt so bad don’t think we'd be able to make it. We usually go to the orphanage on Sat and NOT on Sun but this weekend, again, there’s the holiday on Sat (coming of Spring) and therefore we WILL be going on Sunday. Which is Easter and they DON’T consider that a holiday here….but WE do, so we’ll be with Emma on her 1st Easter! I didn’t think we were going to be, so it’s a nice surprise and a change of plans that worked out in our favor! Found out that Monday I have to go to a notary here b/t visits.... for passport, blah blah blah, stuff... then Tues or Wed is my interview with MOE (Ministry of Education), then court on Thurs and we leave. Next week’s gonna fly!!!! Not looking forward to leaving Emma! Amazing how I can’t imagine going thru the days without her for the following 3+ weeks. So, the day started off with horse meat and horse milk and ended up with corona and peeps!!!! Can’t get better than THAT!

3-19-08 Its snowing...again! Water in shower today was one little trickle of scalding water. Then went to freezing then went off completely. I’m standing there with head full of shampoo. Then finally came back on with one little trickle. Took forever~. Didn’t even use conditioner. Snow doesn’t stop anyone they just drive right thru it (no 4 wheel drives) no plows, people walk thru it, slush and puddles everywhere. My pants were soaked up to my calves yesterday. Isaro’s parents (Spanish couple we like) and Pat & Brian (Daniel’s parents) are went to court today so we were in the room with the other Spanish people (Alia’s mom and grandma) that we don’t like. They came back from court and we said CONGRATS!!! And all cried. We took pics of each family and the 2 families together. Pat and Brian are staying until tomorrow but Isaro’s parents left and we cried, and told them we’d go in and hug her and send them pics. They appreciated that. We’re going to have both of those families look in on Emma while I’m home b/c they’re coming back to the orphanage to pick their children up about a week before I get Emma. They gave a party for the administrative women (which they said was very quite, tea, cookies, fruit and kind of “stuffy”) Then at the second visit had the one with the caregivers. This was was said to be more relaxed. It’s really dumb....so political. They make you bring gifts for all these people (director, coordinator, Dr., interpreter, 10-12 caregivers –when we’ve only seen 4) Then make you throw them a party, on the last day you have with your child! Now it has to be spent with the stupid director and administrative people. Then you can say bye to baby and leave. That sucks! Mom cries every time someone goes to court. When I go, she’s gonna be a basket case!! Mom and I went with Pat down to their baby room and asked one of the nanny’s to make Emma 2 pairs of booties. One with the pink/white yarn I’ll supply, and one cream pair. Emma’s eye was all better today! The Dr. came in to see her and we said “wow its all gone” she said he had put medicine drops in it last night. Guess it worked! The second visit we were stuck in the room with those other Spanish people we don’t like. The mom has her nose so far in the air…. Arrogant. Their interpreter doesn’t leave their side and she rudely instructed him to get up and take pics of her and the baby. We’ve even said to her “oh your baby is so tiny”…she nodded then mumbled, in Spanish, something about blah blah blah, Americanos. Snob. Then the interpreter puts on some whiny Indian sounding yet Spanish music that we won’t be able to deal with the next week we’re there with them. We’ll see what happens.

3-18-08 Well, found out my court date will be on the 27TH! One day earlier. So I'll go at 9am, then to the orphanage for Director's party and kids party, say bye to Emma (oh God dreading THAT) then back to apt and ready to leave for airport at 2:45 pm. Flight at 4pm. Get to Almaty at 6 pm and go to a hotel this time. Then flight out at 3 am on the 28th. Today Emma had all this green gook in her eye and her one eye was really blood shot on the edge. I asked Dr. and she first said "oh someone must have hit her with a toy". I was like "uh,no, its green pus". The only time's she's cried is today, or ever for THAT matter, was when the Dr. walked in! haha Then the afternoon she told Olga to get a certain med from the store and bring it tomorrow. I'm just hoping its not pink eye! At one point, today, she was sitting, playing, and looked up at me…. Reached up both her hands… I put out my fingers for her to pull herself up to a standing position and we started walking. Then it happened…. Ma ma ma ma. AAAHHHHHHHHH I couldn’t believe it! No, I don’t think it was intentional but she only ever said da da da . By the time we grabbed the video camera it was back to da da da. Well it was great for the brief moment! We didn’t go back to the apartment b/t visits. Went shopping and got her lots of stuff. Olga gave us the list of things i need to leave with her... a snow suit 2 pairs tights, 2 light outfits, 1 warm outfit, 2 undershirts, a hat, moms knitting a scarf, bottle, toys, etc. So we had the driver drop us off at a store, Gros, some other families told us about. We then got a taxi over to the Mickey House/trade center, had lunch, and walked around a few of the stores~buying outfits along the way. We then found the stairs that lead underground to cross to the other side of the road. Hmmm we didn’t see THAT last week when we dodged 4 lanes of traffic like the frog in Frogger! Had our driver pick us up at the Mickey House to go back to orphanage for afternoon visit. Mom's learning Russian: thank you (Das vie dahn nah), bye (spa see ba), good morning (doe brae ootra), grandma (ba bush ka), and we just learned “i love you” (hmmm forgot, have to check again). Mom had to use public bathroom today! hahahaha..... you had to pay (10 tenge) to get in and they give you 4 squares of toilet paper. A woman is ACTUALLY sitting there handing out the toilet paper!!!! Then there's no "toilet seat" you kinda squat over it. Just the porcelain part. The plunger to flush is built into the top of the tank so when you pull it up, the top comes off too! Unbelievable and disgusting!

**UPDATED ENTRIES FOR 3-5-08 AND 3-6-08**

3-17-08 St. Patrick’s Day!! First thing I did was wake up and open the St. Patrick’s Day card Joe had put in my suitcase… he also had one for mom and one for Emma~her 1st card! ;) I also remembered, that I had with me, the diary I was keeping at home so once I knew Emma’s birthday, I could refer back to it and see what I was doing on the day she was born. As I leafed through the pages I was saying “oh please let me have written an entry on May 1st” and sure enough!! It was actually the day I finished my autobiography for my dossier, the day my sister read it, the day I asked Patrick to be her Godfather, and the day I got my final reference letter (from next door neighbor Carrie), the day I filled out all my financial forms and got my first document notarized! It was actually the longest entry I had written! Gives me goosebumps! The final sentence in it was, I worked on adoption stuff all day, did nothing else. For a day that was “insignificant” at that time, its amazing how my mom, brother, and sister will ACTUALLY remember that day. Amazing. Emma lights up when she sees us now. Yesterday she was in the walker and started coming toward me. Today she smiled and reached up for me to pick her up. Its so exciting to see her getting attached to us and recognizing us when we walk in. There is a couple there who arrived before us, they say she's changed SOOOOO much since they got there, and saw her, to now~that we've been with her, she's like a completely different child. They said she always sat there in the nursery, never smiled and hardly moved, just looks sad all the time. Now she’s all smiling and very active. I had gotten her a full blown St. Patrick’s Day outfit. Little shamrock dress, white tights with frilly lace on the butt (was covered up by the shamrock panties that came with the dress), a “my 1st St. Patrick’s day” bib and of course a green barrette in her hair. I had on my green “Kiss me I’m a Jersey girl” sweatshirt too! Everyone was saying “oh Emma!! You’re so pretty! And loved the outfit! All the caregivers get the biggest kick out of seeing her in cute and different things. They usually have her in the same jean dress, a yellow sweatshirt, or a white sweater. I’ve actually asked if I could buy another sweater and jumper to exchange for those ones she always wears so we could have them. It’s what we’ve seen her in so often there, it would be nice to have. I let Emma open her card from Joe and she got a kick out of ripping the envelope. Then she played with the card most of the morning. I took many pics of this. She holds your fingers and pulls herself up then loves to walk (with you holding her hands above her head) she's a speed demon now. She still enjoys looking in the mirror and was giving herself kisses in it! So cute! Many pics an video of this as well. There is a ball “pit” in one of the rooms, so we surrounded her with all the green balls and again, took many pics. Hahahaha that’s what we do most of the time! The caregivers there are so wonderful and she gets a smile on her face when I return her to them, which does make me happy b/c it would kill me if she was crying not to go to them. In b/t visits, while our maid was here (wow wouldn’t that be great at home!??!) Mom and I played about 17 games of Sequence, which mom is getting better at b/c I’m barely beating her now.