Today was another busy day for us here in Kazakhstan. At midnight yesterday we finally called it a night and closed our windows to the noise of the Astana Day partying that continued till dawn. We slept in a little this morning and then quickly got ready to go to the baby house for our Saturday morning visit. It was much cooler here today so when they brought Katie out in just a little dress, we were very surprised. We finally had to ask Dinara for one of her sweaters because her little arms were getting cold and we had not brought any extra clothes for Katie today. (We typically just bring a diaper every day and then the orphanage staff chooses what she will wear out of the clothes that we brought her when we first started visiting.) It was definetely the first time that we have ever thought Katie needed more clothes than what they put her in. We could tell that Katie was feeling much better today because she just smiled and laughed while we played with her and she did not have the cotton taped to her ears. It has been really fun for us to watch how much she has changed and grown in the past 23 days that we have been with her. Katie can now keep her trunk vertical when we sit her up instead of just falling forward or to the side (she can't sit unassisted but she is gaining strenght every day), she tracks items that she wants with her eyes and then knows how to lunge for them or scoot on her belly to them, and most importantly, when she sees us, she has started really reaching for us and leaning her body toward us until we take her into
our arms.
While we had a lot of fun playing with Katie today, Dinara again came to us about 20 minutes before we were supposed to give her up and told us that the doctor needed to clean out her ears. Sarah tried to convince Dinara that she would like to hold Katie while they cleaned out her ears but Dinara instisted that the doctor did not think that it was a good idea because we would get too emotional. What they didn't realize is that Sarah would get twice as emotional not being able to hold Katie while she was screaming just 10 feet away in another room. It took them a really long time to finish cleaning her ears and then she handed her back to Sarah. It was so good to be able to finally be able to comfort our little Katie. We took her outside for the last few minutes of our visit and she was soon fast asleep. When we took her inside, we told Dinara that we needed to take Katie to her room to put her down for her nap and after checking with the medical director, we were allowed to take her to her room. This was a first for us! We got to see the area where they play (big playpens that are off of the ground) and then we were able to put her in her bed and make sure she was asleep before we left. It was so hard to leave her knowing that we can't see her tomorrow since it is Sunday and they will probably have to clean out her ears more while we are gone. We just want to have her with us forever so that she can start to realize that we are Mommy and Daddy and that we are going to be there to take care of her. Please pray for our patience while we wait for that day to come.
After the baby house, we got a quick break at home and then headed off to Dinara's graduation ceremony. We were very greatful to be invited to watch her receive her diploma for her second B.A. degree (in finance). The actual graduation part of the ceremony was very similar to our programs in the U.S. There were speeches from professors, presentations of diplomas and student presenters. The strange part however was the hour long children's talent show that came after all the diplomas were handed out. Although it was unusuall for us, we really had a great time seeing so many children dressed up and performing dances and songs. Many of them were in traditional Kazakh dress and were singing songs about the country and even the city of Astana.
(Read more on page two about our amazing experience with horse meat!)