Monday, March 22 – Much better night sleep. Up at 6AM to make a call to my mom’s (8 PM there)since Cooper and Brady are with her Sunday night. Cooper tells us she’s 5 now. “Can I talk to my sister?” Fortunately we are now able to use calling card on our kazak phone for only 30cents/ minute.
Had a wonderful time with the Lord this morning and found what will be our theme for the week in Phillipians 3:13: But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead I press on toward the goal to win the prize. We truly are feeling optimistic now. The last several days have been crazy, but we are still here and still able to move forward (and not sitting in some Kazak police station). Hoping that our Muslim translator and Gulnara will be able to see and experience our God who is in control and who gives us His peace and confidence.
10:40AM Sort of stuck in our room waiting for translator to call us. Holiday music seems to be playing out on the streets while we wait (sure hate to miss a party!). Our kazak cell phone (card) ran out of minutes when we talked to Cooper and Brady this morning and we haven’t learned how to add money to our phone card yet. And we found out last night that we do not know how to call out on our apartmen phone (they have a few extra numbers that we don’t have). John gets brave enough to venture to the Absol Market by himself to put Tenge in a machine and hope that he presses the correct buttons to have minutes added on his phone card. (He has success!!)
1PM Janat comes to take us out to see the sights. It’s a beautiful and warmer sunny day (huge difference from yesterday’s windy gusts). With Kelly’s boots my feet have stayed warm through snow and slush. (Pretty funny that I wouldn’t even go out with John and the kids the day it snowed in Greenwood because I hate the cold!) Walk through Central Park where there are tons of families out celebrating the New Year’s Holiday (first day of Spring!). Lots of carnival rides that are here in the park all year long. Wonder if our daughte has ever enjoyed this part? Janat bought us each a glass of Horse milk which is the worst tasting stuff I’ve ever put to my lips. THEN I learned how old that horse milk is (30 days of churning it is why it tastes like vinegar). I couldn’t be polite and get another swallow down. John graciously drank part of his and poured the rest out in the snow when Janat and I walked ahead.
3PM Gulnara meets the three of us at a great kabob restaurant near Central Park . Gulnara treats us to pork, chicken, and lamb kabobs, giant anchoves (John had a rough time with that one), icecream, hot tea. Decided to call this “Linner” since we ate so much and the meal lasted until after 5PM (Gulnara kept the food coming – how could we refuse?) I gave Janat the Philippians 3:13 verse to translate to Gulnara to use as a toast she wanted us to make. Pretty cool to listen to our new Muslum friend quoting God’s word to our facilitator. All four of us are in complete aggreement that we need to forget the past (shakey start at the babyhouse on Friday). The toast is a good opportunity for us to put the past behind and to keep our focus moving forward. We are grateful for feeling like a team again with Gulnara.
6PM John and I go into an internet café withouth our translator. (Actually what I referred to in earlier blog was not an internet café but a resteraunt with wifi – clearly I remain a computer dummie.) No one here speaks English and since we are far from being experts at Skype we don’t know where to begin to ask for help. We get ready to call it quits and go home but fortunately a girl enters who speaks enough English to tell the worker what we need. Did have success skyping (talking and seeing) Kelly. It is the next best thing to being there! Equally frustrating to try and skype Tucker and we can see each other but he can’t hear us. Skyped Connie and could hear her but not see her. It must be how Dorothy felt in the Wizard of Oz as she calls out to her Aunty Am after the tornado hits. She couldn’t connect with her Aunty either. We’ve still got some learning to do with all this technological stuff.
It has been one week since we finished packing on a Monday night back home while thinking “in just 3 days we will finally get to see her.” The hardest part now is thinking that we are here, 7 days later, having made no progress and still facing so many uncertainties. Will the authorities at the babyhouse even allow us to come in and begin bonding on the 25th ? Our morning “pep talks” in the Faith Department are an absolute necessity. We are either the biggest FOOLS to be here right now, crazy and completely out of our minds, or we are right smack in the middle of God’s will. We serve a God who is not ordinary, not predictable, not necessarily safe, definitely not boring, and yes, good and AWESOMELY WONDERFUL. O God, help us know we are where you want us to be.
PLEASE PRAY: 1) our hearts and minds stay focused on the One and only One who is in control here 2) for God to use Gulnara as his tool, speaking only what He would have her say on our behalf 3) that God would remove any damage done from our first visit at the babyhouse on the 19th (from Gulnara’s continued insistance of us seeing our child on that first day). That somehow He would cause them to receive us in a good way this Thursday.
Had a wonderful time with the Lord this morning and found what will be our theme for the week in Phillipians 3:13: But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead I press on toward the goal to win the prize. We truly are feeling optimistic now. The last several days have been crazy, but we are still here and still able to move forward (and not sitting in some Kazak police station). Hoping that our Muslim translator and Gulnara will be able to see and experience our God who is in control and who gives us His peace and confidence.
10:40AM Sort of stuck in our room waiting for translator to call us. Holiday music seems to be playing out on the streets while we wait (sure hate to miss a party!). Our kazak cell phone (card) ran out of minutes when we talked to Cooper and Brady this morning and we haven’t learned how to add money to our phone card yet. And we found out last night that we do not know how to call out on our apartmen phone (they have a few extra numbers that we don’t have). John gets brave enough to venture to the Absol Market by himself to put Tenge in a machine and hope that he presses the correct buttons to have minutes added on his phone card. (He has success!!)
1PM Janat comes to take us out to see the sights. It’s a beautiful and warmer sunny day (huge difference from yesterday’s windy gusts). With Kelly’s boots my feet have stayed warm through snow and slush. (Pretty funny that I wouldn’t even go out with John and the kids the day it snowed in Greenwood because I hate the cold!) Walk through Central Park where there are tons of families out celebrating the New Year’s Holiday (first day of Spring!). Lots of carnival rides that are here in the park all year long. Wonder if our daughte has ever enjoyed this part? Janat bought us each a glass of Horse milk which is the worst tasting stuff I’ve ever put to my lips. THEN I learned how old that horse milk is (30 days of churning it is why it tastes like vinegar). I couldn’t be polite and get another swallow down. John graciously drank part of his and poured the rest out in the snow when Janat and I walked ahead.
3PM Gulnara meets the three of us at a great kabob restaurant near Central Park . Gulnara treats us to pork, chicken, and lamb kabobs, giant anchoves (John had a rough time with that one), icecream, hot tea. Decided to call this “Linner” since we ate so much and the meal lasted until after 5PM (Gulnara kept the food coming – how could we refuse?) I gave Janat the Philippians 3:13 verse to translate to Gulnara to use as a toast she wanted us to make. Pretty cool to listen to our new Muslum friend quoting God’s word to our facilitator. All four of us are in complete aggreement that we need to forget the past (shakey start at the babyhouse on Friday). The toast is a good opportunity for us to put the past behind and to keep our focus moving forward. We are grateful for feeling like a team again with Gulnara.
6PM John and I go into an internet café withouth our translator. (Actually what I referred to in earlier blog was not an internet café but a resteraunt with wifi – clearly I remain a computer dummie.) No one here speaks English and since we are far from being experts at Skype we don’t know where to begin to ask for help. We get ready to call it quits and go home but fortunately a girl enters who speaks enough English to tell the worker what we need. Did have success skyping (talking and seeing) Kelly. It is the next best thing to being there! Equally frustrating to try and skype Tucker and we can see each other but he can’t hear us. Skyped Connie and could hear her but not see her. It must be how Dorothy felt in the Wizard of Oz as she calls out to her Aunty Am after the tornado hits. She couldn’t connect with her Aunty either. We’ve still got some learning to do with all this technological stuff.
It has been one week since we finished packing on a Monday night back home while thinking “in just 3 days we will finally get to see her.” The hardest part now is thinking that we are here, 7 days later, having made no progress and still facing so many uncertainties. Will the authorities at the babyhouse even allow us to come in and begin bonding on the 25th ? Our morning “pep talks” in the Faith Department are an absolute necessity. We are either the biggest FOOLS to be here right now, crazy and completely out of our minds, or we are right smack in the middle of God’s will. We serve a God who is not ordinary, not predictable, not necessarily safe, definitely not boring, and yes, good and AWESOMELY WONDERFUL. O God, help us know we are where you want us to be.
PLEASE PRAY: 1) our hearts and minds stay focused on the One and only One who is in control here 2) for God to use Gulnara as his tool, speaking only what He would have her say on our behalf 3) that God would remove any damage done from our first visit at the babyhouse on the 19th (from Gulnara’s continued insistance of us seeing our child on that first day). That somehow He would cause them to receive us in a good way this Thursday.
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