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!!