Wow! What a day. Incase you didn't catch it yet, today was Astana Day, a special holiday celebrating Kazakhstan's capitol city. The whole time we've been here, we've watched the preparations being completed and now it has finally come. This morning, we headed out with Dinara, Jen and Jesse to walk around and see some of the celebrations. We watched a dance/singing performance put on by some talented teens and a program celebrating Astana with poems, speeches, singers and dancers in Kazakh dress. We also viewed some Kazakh artwork and sampled some Kazakh food from the street vendors. Later in the day (after the baby house) we had Jen, Jesse and Jen's parents over for dinner and to watch all the people through our apartment window. It was a fun time, but most of the celebrations are just getting started right now (10:50 p.m.).
The day at the baby house was a little less exciting. When we arrived, we found out that Katie had been to the Doctor's again this morning to get her ears cleaned out. She had more cotton taped into her ears today. She was a little slower than normal but we still had fun bonding together. Sarah really enjoyed a segment of about 10 min. where Katie kept kissing her on the lips; she would grab Sarah's face and pull herself in. It was really cute! She also loved Sarah's hair (see page two for pictures). The sad part of the day came when Dinara approached us 15 min. early and told us that the medical director wanted Katie back in her room right then. It was sad giving her up early, but we really want her to get better and we are happy that the baby house staff are also concerned about her health.