Friday, April 9 (the day we THOUGHT we would be heading back home) Bonding is officially over (hooray) so our visits with Kirill now are “just because we want to be there.” We still took pictures of us with playing Kirill with today’s date on the picture just in case 15 days (instead of 14) is needed when we get to court.
I need to go back to our night at the Korean restaurant because we had more laughs last night than we have had since leaving home 24 days ago. When Iger picked us up at the baby house at 6PM we handed him a piece of paper with the name of a Korean restaurant on it, a recommendation from one of the other adoptive couple’s translators. Our American friends were going to meet us there at 6:30PM (20 minutes later). Iger turned off on some dirt/bumpy road lined with a close cluster of not so nice houses and mangy looking sabakas (dogs) and he stopped in front of a two story house and pointed to it. Sure didn’t look like a restaurant to us. Every Russian word we have learned (which isn’t so many) becomes useful at a time like this. I said “smart-tree” (look) and so he got out of the car with us to look inside. The front of the house had people living in it, one of the two side doors had a piece of paper on it with something typed in Russian. Iger pointed to one of the doors, smiled, and turned and went back to his car. I’m so proud of John and me. We were tempted just to follow Iger back to his car and do Ramen noodles and popcorn. Instead, we went in by ourselves, walked up the stairs (hoping that this indeed was a restaurant) and attempted to communicate to our waitress that there would be 6 of us eating. Ha, we can only count to 5 and with all our efforts, the idea that we were waiting on 4 more didn’t translate. No worries – a worker (who has a sister who lives in California, a father in Moscow, and a mother in Uzbekistan), who is higher up, knew maybe 20 English words and with that we were able to enjoy a delicious meal! To order lamb, we “bleated” like a little sheep, for beef, we “mooed” like a cow, and for chicken, we “clucked.” Most of their menu consisted of dog meat and we politely said “nyet,” that we loved our sabakas at home! Actually we had no clue what we ordered but we thoroughly enjoyed the element of surprise – the food was delicious.
We are especially grateful for our night with these friends. Once again, God has provided for our needs. They had all just spent the afternoon in pre-court, where we were to go the next day. They were able to “brief us” with all the questions they were asked by the officials at pre-court (which I think is sort of a trial run before court but without the judge there). Questions like, “why did you choose to adopt from Kazakhstan and not America?” and “What will you do if your child decides to become a Muslim?” and “How have you prepared for this child?” Both of these couples have previously adopted from Kazakhstan so they also were able to give us more insight into what to expect in court. The key is to keep the answers short and to the point, no humor needed, no chewing gum (not that I would), ect. It just feels better going into something more prepared and after our time with these guys we feel ready.
Morning visit with Kirill was good. He is so comfortable with us but still isn’t thriled when we hug on the other kids in his class. We spent about an hour outside, all bundled up. Trying to do the “Let’s go on a bear (meeshka) hunt” song with him but not sure if he gets it. Still wondering how this language changeover thing is going to happen. It’s clear to Kirill that we do not speak his language. He seems uncomfortable making an attempt to say a word in English (just as we are in repeating his Russian). However, he will repeat, in English, “candy” when he wants the candy that is in John’s pocket! We certainly won’t push it for now, but may have to use the “say it in English for a piece of candy” bribe when we get home. I was able to point to the calendar in Kirill’s room and get across to his teacher that our court date is next week and we will be flying home on the 16th and that Kirill would be flying to America sometime in May. She smiled in approval. We can tell that his teachers are very happy for him. We can also tell that every child in Kirill’s class is fully aware what is taking place – Kirill has a new mama and papa and that they do not.
4PM – We walk down to Café Ankara to meet with our translator, Zhanat, to go over our answers with him to the possible court questions. We have a 5PM appointment for pre-court. Zhanat tells us that Gulnara has just called him to say that she is still in Astana and we will not go to pre-court until Monday afternoon. John calls Gulnara to be sure that this delay in pre-court will not delay our court date that must be on or before Thursday since we have moved our airline tickets to next Friday morning (as Gulnara told us to do). She assures us we are still on schedule. We enjoy our visit with Zhanat and decide to spend a quiet night by ourselves.
I can honestly say that we are resting in the One who is in control. We are not anxious. We’re all prayed up and are ready to go to pre-court and court. We’re not expecting “smooth sailing” just because. But we are hopeful and confident in the One who is able.

Thursday, April 8 Bonding Day #14 – our last required day to bond before we are permitted to apply for pre-court (which will be tomorrow) and our court date (praying it will be next Thursday). Learned from our travel agent yesterday that our airline ONLY leaves Astana on Friday and Monday mornings so we are banking on being completely finished with court, ect. next Thursday and we will drive to Astana late that same night (for our 4:50AM departure from Astana). Hopefully the road won’t be blocked on our way out.
10AM – able to go outside with Kirill who is happy carrying around a stick and walking on the driveway which circles the baby house. We put him on the wooden circular thing that goes round and round (the other one is still frozen over) and he wasn’t thrilled with getting dizzy. Kirill had more fun having John get on the ride and making his papa spin. Didn’t spend so much time on swings, ect. The “sand” around all the play equipment is a dark brown mush which needs to see a few more sunny and warmer days before anyone tries to walk on it. (Actually caught some shots on TV from the Masters being played back home. So strange to see colors coming out of the earth and trees in Augusta. It still looks like the dead of winter here.
We were excited to be able to present Svettslanna , Kirill’s doctor with a gift. We weren’t sure if she would understand that this gift was especially for her (and not to be shared like the other gifts we gave her on Monday). I had written “dl’ya tee” (for you) on my hand before we left home for the baby house and was thrilled that she understood that this was for her and she received my hug graciously as well. She is the one worker here that we feel connected with. Maybe she will be the representative from the baby house that joins us in court.
Will head to the City Net to post these 2 blogs before going back to see Kirill at 4PM. (We will continue our twice a day visits, minus Sunday, until we go to court). Tonight we are eating at a Korean Kitchen!! Again, we covet your prayers and having you partner with us in our journey.

Wednesday, April 7 Bonding Day #13. “GROUP HUG – DAY”
Gulnara is gone for next two days (taking train to Astana to pick up new American single mom at airport and get this woman into the only baby house in Astana tomorrow). Thus, we are on our own with no translator and no coordinator and feeling quite empowered, if I may say so myself! We woke up to snow today with all puddles frozen over. 25 degrees high/14 low so no outside, “u-listu” time with Kirill. Now when we bring Kirill into the bonding room, he helps us empty out our backpack to see what we have brought to play with. We have tried to spread the new stuff (markers, crayons, coloring book, stickers, bubbles, candy, ect.) out over the 14 days of visiting so that we don’t run out of things to do. The battery operated race car set has lost its “wow” factor so we have moved onto other things. Really, he is content playing with whatever. Today he is loving the physical interaction.
All boy and wide open this afternoon (sort of on the hyper side but maybe he had a big bar of chocolate for lunch!) We found some dry erase markers in the teacher’s closet and drew on the dry erase board (nothing recognizable, but he was happy to be drawing). I turned my back for a moment and turned back to discover a multitude of circles Kirill had drawn on top of a round plastic children’s table. He was proud but John and I were mortified. We are working hard to stay on our best behavior while here and weren’t sure what they would say if they saw this mess. Fortunately, with a bit of elbow grease and our handy bubbles liquid everything came clean.
We enjoyed a great dinner at a German restaurant (why not?) with folks from our “native land.” Kind of fun to be enjoying meals and bonding time with people who are all very different, yet have this one quite significant shared experience between us. John and I decided to pass on the taxi ride home and went for a 15 minute, very brisk and very cold walk back to our apartment. Our days move at such a slower pace here than what we are used to at home. The “power walk” felt great.

Tuesday, April 6 Bonding Day #12. It’s a BIG WOW DAY!!! God is not letting any of our trials go to waste!!!
9:45 AM We go to our regular place to meet our Iger (our driver) and he is not there. Several minutes later a man, definitely not Iger, walks toward us speaking only Russian. We understood the word “Gulnara” in his sentence but nothing else. We’re not so comfortable riding off with some stranger just because he can say Gulnara. A little after 10, Gulnara arrives and tells us that this driver is “Alexander.” A very good man and that we are to ride with him to the baby house while she and Iger go back to Timmertow to finish their business. Not feeling so good that Alexander has not heard of Shopagot baby house as we are driving off with him. We really need to learn some more Russian words! We enter through some apartments close to Shopagat and evidently make a wrong turn. The snow/ ice is still heavy in the shade and Alexander’s car gets stuck. Not a good sound to hear the back wheels spinning and feel the rear of our car sinking. Not a good sound when he then hits the gas and we smack the rear of the car into a tree. Not a good sound when John and I stand behind the car now stuck against the tree and in the snow and try to push while the tires continue to spin. We do like any good Americans and leave our driver stuck in the snow while we run to the baby house, now 30 minutes late. (Actually Gulnara, by phone, instructed us to leave him). Great visit with our little boy. He is so happy and inquisitive with our camera (fortunately we can delete his photos as quickly as he snaps them) and with John’s iphone. He has a great deal of catching up to do in the electronic games department with Cooper but I am certain she will be a good teacher!
1PM Lunch at top of City Mall – pizza – and wonderful fellowship with two of the other American couples. So grateful to share the time with new friends. Their babies are all adorable (two look Kazak and one is Russian). So grateful to be bringing home a 5yo and NOT a little baby!
4PM Back to the baby house for the greatest time with Kirill so far. He loves his daddy and today just couldn’t get enough of John. We spent some time walking outside with the 3 of us hand in hand (would have been a sweet picture had someone been there to take it!) No interpreter was with us and it honestly didn’t matter (except for Kirill saying “coolyet” over and over again – still don’t know what that means). Wonderful hugs were had by all at the end of our time together. He doesn’t mind a bit all the kisses I’ve put on his sweet cheeks.
OK, SO THIS IS WHERE THINGS REALLY START TO GET GOOD – IS GOD AMAZING OR WHAT?????
6:15PM Iger stops to pick up Gulnara and takes the 3 of us to the same mall we went last night to have more copies made of our Timmertaw pictures and to tell us her news:
· Yes, Kirill is listed on all 3 registries!
· Official at Department of Education (the first office we went to upon arrival to Karaganda) met with Gulnara today . After hearing of our difficulties getting to Karaganda, our 5 day delay with the holidays here, our hours waiting at the first baby house with police, ect., the history of Kirill and seeing the pictures of where he lived for over 2 years, the wonderful way that Kirill is responding to his new mama and papa…..This woman wants to help fight our case. She plays a very important role in our court process and this is HUGE. She asked Gulnara to have additional copies of these pictures made so that she can show the regional and city departments of Karaganda even before we go to court. She said she will be at our pre-court this Friday and court next THURSDAY. These pictures are more powerful than we had imagined. Now it does not seem so important to have a written statement from the mother. There is so much evidence that the care Kirill received was from a mother who was not of sound mind.
· God has used it all, every agonizing moment we’ve been here. We don’t always get to see the why’s of what we go through, but today with such graciousness, our Heavenly Father has opened our eyes to so much. As difficult a start as we had with our attorney (who was sleep deprived from our first night stranded in our SUV and also stressed to the max from the obstacles we faced the first two days in Karaganda), Gulnara is the perfect facilitator/investigator/lawyer to accomplish the work that needed to be done here. Without any one of our obstacles we may never have chosen the boy we were sent to get. WOW, God must have great plans for him – we can’t wait to see!
Please continue to pray that this judge will say “YES” to us adopting this little boy. Court will most likely be on Thursday, April 15th (possibly on the 16th) and we will fly out of Astana at 4:40AM on Saturday, April 17th. Kirill will need to be taken to Almaty (17 hour train ride from Karaganda) for his exit paperwork, medical exam, ect. Hopefully this will take place 3 weeks after our court date (early/mid May). Either he will be escorted to the US and we will wait for him there, or I will come back to Almaty (with Tucker) for 4-5 days and bring him home myself. It feels so good to be writing about the finish line with such detail!!

Monday, April 5 This is a day that is hard to put into words. Bonding Day #11.
6:30AM Woke up early to call Cooper at the Rentz’s before she went to bed. After she asked, “Do you have my brother?” she laughed and said, “I have a lot of family!” Yes she does and isn’t family wonderful?
10:00AM Kirill was in what must be his Monday music class (about 20 kids dancing/moving to music). We sat with the other American couples (who were holding their babies) and watched Kirill’s class. We had bought Kirill some leather sandles the day before and got them out this morning. He quickly pulled off his other shoes and put his new ones on – success! We stayed in this big room (after the music class was over) along with the other adopting families today, but think that we will try and stay to ourselves with Kirill for our last visits. John and I enjoy the interaction with these couples, but it does take our focus off of Kirill and he deserves our full attention for now.
12:15PM We have an asian lunch with Gulnara and her friend (our driver for the day), Albert. Albert is a big guy from Germany (fluent in Russian and decent in English) who moved here with his wife nearly 7 years ago to work as a Baptist missionary, initially to build a Christian orphanage and now to serve in a church as a youth pastor. Gulnara has visited his church in the past. After lunch we spent the next 6 hours driving to and from Timmertaw (where Kirill was found) and taking in more sights than your eyes could imagine:
· Drove a couple of miles past factory after factory of iron and coal refineries, smoke pouring out the tops, polution filling the skies. We continued to pass a cluster of refineries until we were working our way up a road that was only passable with Albert’s four wheel drive (mud, slush, and small rivers in the road) up to large old abandoned buildings with conveyer ramps for coal. Then we turned into an area where maybe 10 men were working – bulldozers moving rocks and conveyer belts/ramps that were moving coal (I think), up 40 feet in the air. I’m seeing this in my head but I cannot put it into words. We were where Kirill spent the last 2 years of his life (just before he was found there and was brought to the baby house in July). The supervisor actually allowed us into this trailor (a maybe 6ft X 15ft metal box with a sink, a busted window, roof, no toilet, somethiing coming out of the floor for heat, couch, and a bed with a metal mesh foundation (no mattress) which is where the man said that Kirill once slept). A couple of the workers remembered Kirill. Evidently people are allowed to live in these “trailors” and get paid less than the going rate. Our attorney told them that we were wanting to adopt him and it seems that their desire for him to have better than he had when they knew Kirill is what motivated them to be so helpful in allowing us to take pictures (for evidence in court) as well as to give us more information about his mother. The mind blowing thing is to think that he lived 2 Kazakhstan winters here where temperatures go well below -20degrees F. From the looks of the mounds of gravel and rock (and rusted metal, ect) it could be a 3-4yo boys dream for a playground. But what kept him so protected and healthy all that time? If his mom did work, was anyone watching Kirill?
· Drove to previous landlord of Kirill’s mother, obtained very vital information from her and then drove to this next apartment (where his moms stayed after she abandoned Kirill) to take pictures of the bags of clothes/trash that Kirill’s mom left behind (including clothes and toys of Kirill) lef there when she and her boyfriend were evicted from this apartment. I am not sure why the new tennant had kept it there for the past 6 weeks , but we are grateful for more evidence that the mom has no intentions of coming after her son.
· 5:30 Drove to main office of the factory where Kirill’s mom worked (to obtain written documentation we needed)
· 7:40PM Drove to notary at the university to have written statements Gulnara received today (as well as identification cards of Kirill’s mom, boyfriend, and her father) copied and notarized.
· 8:15PM Drove to shopping mall to have pictures taken earlier in the day printed for our case.
· 8:30PM Grab a bite to eat with Gulnara before calling it a day.
It has been an “out of body experience” kind of day. We are confident that God provided us today with one of His own missionaries to Kazakhstan to help us on our mission. I have not felt stressed or anxious today. I think it is good we were able to see the place where our son spent almost half of his life. One day he may want to know. One day this will be a part of Scott Kirill King’s story, his own testimonhy.
Albert refers to Timmertaw as the “Sodom and Gomorah” of Kazakhstan. It certainly looks as such. We pray that God will erase all the horrible things that Kirill has been exposed to. From our time with him, we see no indication that he is scarred. Time will tell, but if God can get this boy home, I am confident He can get us through any issues that we may face. I can tell you that we will not be going into court “sitting down.” There will be a fight from within us to give this little boy a life that he deserves. Albert said that orphans here have no hope. At 16 they are released from the orphanage. Many turn to prostitution and drugs. Some will choose to leave and live on the streets before they are 16. Now having seen the dark place that Kirill has come from, it gives a greater meaning to his words last week, “I was lost and now I am found.” Our guy is going to America. Please, please pray. We are not finished yet.

Sunday, April 4 – No baby house visits today (however it is recognized as Day #10 – halleluia!)
Happy Easter, everyone. A Muslim country is probably not the best place to be on Easter, but then again, how wonderful to know that because Jesus rose from the dead on Easter, we can abide with Him and Him with us, in any nation! We declined Helen’s offer to take us to church after she brought it up again late last night as we were leaving her home. Don’t think she was planning on going and we are exhausted. It is a beautiful sunny day. Most of the snow/ ice is gone. Girls have sunglasses fashionably placed on top of their heads and some of the black coats are being replaced by lighter weight bright colored jackets. I’m still big time out of style with my very heavy, good for under zero, coat. I did break away from the giant snow boots I have donned each morning for the past 3 weeks (couldn’t do the stiletto heel thing)and ventured out in my white running shoes and black workout pants. I think I am the only female in this city wearing tennis shoes and I couldn’t be happier. My feet feel great and my shoes don’t get stuck in small places like they do in the boots.
We have written/typed our petition (speech) to present when we go to court (another sign of encouragement that we are actually making plans for court) and will send this to Zhanat for translation. We bought a pair of sandals for Kirill while we were out for lunch today. New shoes were being distributed to the children and Kirill told them that his mama and papa were getting him some so we don’t want to disappoint the boy. We are required to purchase an outfit for him to leave the baby house and to travel to US in, so hopefully these will be shoes and clothes that we will see on him on US soil.
Biggest prayer request at this point is to obtain a written statement from Kirill’s mother relinquishing her rights to him. Please pray.

Saturday, April 3 - Bonding Day #9 - Good visit with Kirill this morning. Each day after John and I unlock the bonding room, hang up our coats, and put on our indoor shoes (our crocks), we walk down to the end of the long hall where Kirill stays, open the door and all the children call out Kirill’s name. Today he was standing just a couple of feet from the door waiting on us. Kirill is a bit more reserved than most of the boys (and little girls) in his group and I’m glad. As we learn more of what he has experienced in his short little life, we are blown away with how his heart is still soft and willing to trust.
This is the morning that we presented gifts to Svettslana, our son’s doctor. These were small purses, perfumes, ect. that I purchased in Sept. 08 for our first trip which have sat in bags on our dining room floor for 20 months! I hope that they serve as an expression to these workers of how much their love and care for these children is appreciated. They do work very hard. The gifts will be given out at a later time to the workers at the baby house. (The other 3 families from Children at Heart Agency presented their gifts 2 days ago so I guess this week may feel like Christmas at the baby house.) Svettslana was very gracious in receiving our gifts and then proceeded to tell us (through Zhanat’s translation) the most precious words we’ve heard since we have been here. While checking on another child in Kirill’s group, she overheard him tell his friends, “I was lost but now I am found. I will be here with you a little longer and then I will go and live with my family.” Wow, we can’t ask for anything better than that from a child who has known us for only 9 days.
Lunch was at the Turkish Ankara Café (Ligmon soup) with the American families, followed by a visit to the Net Café to check our e-mails and re-write previous 2 posts which were stuck inside of John’s uncooperative computer. Thank you, thank you for all your e-mails /comments – our main connection with the real world.
Our afternoon visit with Kirill was cut short since Gulnara wanted to meet with us and Zhanat was not able to stay with us after 6pm. We were presented an Easter Cake by the other group’s translator. It looks like a giant cupcake with white icing and sprinkles. (John said it tastes like a piece of bread with icing, not so much like cake.) After parting with Zhanat, we headed to Helen’s apartment (along with Gulnara) . Helen had been a translator for a previous Night Light family and was very kind to have us over. Like the apartment that John and I are in, the exterior building and the stairway leading up to their apartment were not so pleasing to the eye, more on the scary side. Yet Helen (and her husband, Seragei) have a nice 2 bedroom apartment. Lasagna and salad and instant decaf coffee never tasted so good!
Gulnara had spent the day with Iger back in Timmertow and learned much more about Kirill’s past. Gulnara was able to visit the place that Kirill was found last July (a quarry worksite where he and his mother were living in an abandoned train car). She was able to obtain a more updated address of where Kirill’s mother and boyfriend lived after he was abandoned at the quarry. Gulnara went to this apartment and actually talked with the new tenant who had saved a bag of clothes and papers (including Kirill’s clothes) that Kirill’s mother left in February when she and her boyfriend were kicked out of that apartment for not paying rent. She was able to talk with the boyfriend’s mother who has not seen either her son or Kirill’s mother since February. She was able to talk with the policewoman who wrote the report of finding Kirill and who is very interested in helping Gulnara locate the mother in order to obtain a release for Kirill. It was a busy day for Gulnara and it seems that the momentum is building to complete everything we will need to have success in court. Praying, praying that this mother, who has made no attempts to see her son, after a police officer told her where he was being cared for, will allow us to care for him and for him to be a part of our family.