When we woke up this morning, we again rejoiced at the bad weather
(imagine that) because we knew it would mean lots of fun at the baby
house. After spending the morning in the usual way (reading, e-mailing,
playing on the computer, etc.) we loaded up our cameras and headed
for the baby house. They brought Katie out in a beautiful eyelet bonnet
today; it was so adorable! The orphanage apparently uses lots of them
as we've seen other babies wearing similar ones. Another pleasant
surprise was that we got a chance to take a picture of the wonderful
woman who collects our pampers and clothes, then (we assume) prepares
Katie for our visit.
Once Katie was in our arms, the real confusion began. Since tomorrow
is national children's day in Kazakhstan, everyone in the orphanage
was in a frenzy to tidy things up. (Rumor had it that the president
would be coming by the next day.) Because of the busyness, we were
led back and forth to different rooms for us to play in, each time
getting turned around and brought to another room. We thought they'd
finally settled on a room that we were happily sharing with the other
adoptive couples, but then they pulled us out and took us to a different
room, all by ourselves. At first we were somewhat sad, but then we
were thankful for the lack of distractions and the opportunity to
see a new part of the orphanage.
Apparently when we were relocated, we were taken to the waiting room
for the in-house doctor's office. We sat on a little couch and enjoyed
seeing all the bright colors, fluffy toy animals and lively house
plants; it was such a bright, happy place. While we were there interacting
with Katie, we watched a few infants being brought in for treatments.
The best part was when the staff brought in a pair of baby ducks to
show Katie. For a minute, she was more fascinated with all the people
who came in (she's very social) but eventually she saw the ducks and
we snapped a couple of pictures. Finally, after an hour of visiting,
Katie got a little fussy, then fell asleep in Sarah's arms.
The only down part of our day was that our visit was cut a little
short, plus we were told that we won't be able to see Katie tomorrow
because of the holiday. We were very saddened by the news, but we
will get to see her again in two days. Dinara told us that instead
of going to the baby house tomorrow, we will visit the National Museum.
We've all been looking forward to this experience and the chance to
buy some traditional clothes and souvenirs for Katie (Erken tells
us they have the best prices at the museum).
Our day was finished up with a nice visit by our friends Jen and Jesse.
They are still having phone trouble at home so they came over and
borrowed our phone line to send e-mails and pictures to their friends
and family. After our e-mailing party, we all walked to the Ramstore
(a western super market) and made our first visit without an interpreter;
it was a big step for us! Now we're sitting down to a pleasant dinner
and a quiet evening ahead.