What a beautiful, sunny day in Uralsk -- we did our morning market run without jackets and, although, we're not tan yet I'm thinking it won't be long now (well for Jack & Hailee anyway!). We hope that the weather has been as nice at home -- Lisa do we have tulips yet?
There is something to be said for Uralsk - you definitely get your exercise -- each and every morning we check what we have in the house, make a list and head to the market. It's an adventure of sorts . . . it's fun to poke around and see what's new at the store. You never know what you'll find. Today we were hoping to find an English-Russian book to help with learning English -- we knew we had seen one a few days ago. I'm not sure where it went, but it was nowhere to be found. We'll have to continue this mission until we found it.
Not sure if we mentioned yesterday, NO HOT WATER again -- back to boiling water for everything -- Hailee was the first one up today and the first one in the shower when it was running hot ........... and yes, she left some of that glorious hot water for Jack & I.
After yesterdays chat with Yulia & Nastya it was decided to bring Kiera Saltanat to their office to see if a meeting of the minds could figure out what's happening with her. It was an emotional meeting for all of us -- we talked about the orphanage children and what might be happening there, we talked of her feelings and ours and she told all of us three times that she wants to come home with us, she does want to be our daughter and wants to be part of our family. We tried to explain what being part of a family means -- looking at people, talking with them, explaining your feelings -- she seemed to understand. At times she was crying; as were we (well me).
At the end of the meeting Yulia told her that we would be taking her to our apartment without Luba to see what it will be like to be with us. To see that we mean her no harm and that we can figure out a way to communicate with each other. It went fairly well. Hailee and Kiera Saltanat played a computer game and Kiera Saltanat learned what a "high five" is after she beat Hailee a few times. There was some laughter, but lots of smiles. We feel/hope that it has helped her to see what it can be ............ mostly I hope that it just helps her to realize that everything will be all right. We'll figure it out together.
Yulia will be calling us tonight to see what we've decided -- do we want to continue with this or try for another child. She is very worried about us and said several times that the actions we saw may be the real child. For me it's hard to say . . . . how can you give up on this child? What would it mean to her - to us - to switch at this point???
Tomorrow the plan is to pick up Kiera Saltanat around 2 -- go for lunch and than to the zoo .......... for Jack, I and Hailee it's going to be a long night . . . .what if the child that greets us tomorrow is the child we have seen previously? What if today's breakthrough is gone? What do we do than?
We thank you for all the advice and support - you know much of what we read tonight we tried today; it's so nice to know that we're doing all we can -- and to know that we have all of you out there praying and offering your words of wisdom!
Now we're off to McJohn's for dinner and than walking back to the apartment -- it's about a 25 minute walk in the wonderful weather! Good night everyone!
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13 comments:
I am so glad to hear that she DOES want to be part of your family. I'm sure after 14 years of not having close, loving contact with a family this is as foreign to her as the English language. But if anyone can draw out the love, you guys can! I truly believe that. I'm not saying it will be easy, but you wouldn't be there if you weren't will to try.
Our weather here has been beautiful as well in the 60's and even the 70's. Spring has sprung here in Wisconsin!
Have a wonderful day at the zoo and say HI to the elephants for me!
Wow what an emotional roller coaster you are on. All I know is that you are such a wonderful and special family. I have you in my prayers and hope that Keira is able to open up a little bit for you.
Glad to hear the good news but I am sure you are questioning a lot as well. Maybe everything will be better now she understands what a family is like. Look what it took for me, just one Christmas and I was hooked, so don't give up! Miss you guys and wish we had nice weather here. We are getting hit with a snow, rain, hail, and sleet mix. It is horrible not much to do except wait it out so enjoy the weather. Can't wait to see you guys in July!
Update for you on the parental units, I just returned from the nursing home. Both are doing well. We met your dad in the activity room and he was enjoying a medium size chocolate shake. I told him Kiera Saltanat will be in your family, he cried/laughed a few times. It was quite emotional for him. I told him it will be awhile before you are back, he understands and says to tell you he is okay. He looked really good, and later we saw him by the birds. I asked him if he needed anything, he said no, I'm fine. Mom was good today, she had a small cup of shake, and then we went outside for the first time this spring. Only for a short visit, then she got to cold. We walked around for awhile and then went to watch Ellen. So both are doing great. Mom looked really pretty today, just had her hair done. Well the Zess's and Nanc are coming for dinner. Wish you could be here, missing you all. So I better go get the spaghetti going, sorry you can't make it Hailee. Hope you are loving your camera. We are anxious to see your photos. Lots of love and prayers, tell Kiera we are anxious to meet our new niece.
Hi,
I'm glad to hear that Kiera has decided to be part of your family. This must be a wonderful and terrible time for you in terms of wanting her to be part of your family but having conflicting feelings about not knowing how she is really feeling about the situation. Just based on my personal experiences, I've done study in foreign countries several times, and I've always felt a lot of anxiety about going to live with a host family because I always worried about would they like me, would they think I was stupid if I made mistakes with the language, was I going to have to eat really yucky food (basically any and all vegetables) just to be polite and keep in mind that my study abroad experiences have only been for a matter of weeks or months. Keira will be leaving her country permanently plus she has the whole language barrier to deal with. Combine those factors with the changing emotions of a teenager and I can see where she may seem like a different girl from day to day. She doesn't realize yet what a lucky, lucky girl she is to be given the chance to join your wonderful, loving family. So, I hope things continue to get better each and every day. I will be praying for you and thinking of you.
We miss you at school! We've managed to get three casual days out of Pete and Mark in the last two weeks - that's really the only important news from here : )
Ann
P.S. I hope you're changing your . . . (You know what I'm talking about, Cheryl! Hee hee)
Hi Guys,
It was wonderful to hear your voices today! I got a call from Jon maybe 10 mins later, and he was sad he missed you, he said he does have meetings from 9-to about 10 every morning, so maybe try him 1 hour earlier in the day he said that would be best to catch him at.
He knows that when Private comes up thats you guys..he will try to answer it...Anyways, I am hoping that by the time you post tomorrow things with the zoo visit and lunch went really well and you got to see who she is, and how she'll be outside of the orphanage. I LOVE YOU all VERY much..keep the updates coming, I love starting my morning reading them! Love You, Lisa
Its great to hear that she wants to be apart of your family, and wants to be loved and cared for and you want to love her and care for he, with all the love anything is possible, we keep praying for all of you. The weather is great hear mid 60's-70's sunny. Jack anytime you want to come back to work i'm ready for ya. Also forgot to tell you and if you already know but ali won the biggest loser.(lost112lbs)
Not much eles is going on Lori and I are the 2 That keep everybody at work informed, Everybody says hi and goodluck That's all
Love and prayers
I think that as the newest members of this family Sadie and Hayden would agree that this family is very worth getting to know, hopefully Kiera Saltanat will find this to be the case soon :)
Tonight I was explaining to Benjamin that Uncle Jack, Aunt Cheryl, and Hailee were in a very far away place, adopting a new daughter/sister. Ben said 'oohhh right just like on Webkinz'. I hope he is not disappointed when Kiera does not come with a stuffed animal and access code.
Tulip leaves are up and I have seen some daffodils in bloom, but one bummer that I'm sure you need not miss is the constant 'cooler by the lake' add-on to recent weather reports.
We are thinking about you a ton, and hoping that you can start experiencing more consistent good days.
Bonnie
Happy Thursday morning to you! It's now 8:30 a.m. your time, 10:30Wednesday night our time. Steve just called...he arrived safely in Vegas and is now in Mesquite, NV. He's on another "business" trip... Business my butt...he's golfing, gambling, eating, having a great time and attending an occasional meeting. :) (Can you tell I'm just a tad bit jealous that he's there and I'm not???? :)
We're so glad to hear that you had a good day with Kiera Saltanat yesterday. Hopefully the zoo trip today will provide more positive interactions and some additional bonding time. Jake, Trevor, and Kylie are very excited and are constantly asking questions about when you guys will be back. Kylie's thinking Hailee is pretty lucky to be getting a sister...we told her not to get any ideas. :)
Not much else is going on here. Baseball has begun and Kylie has decided she likes it. She actually came home from practice sweaty with grass stains on her knees tonight. I was pretty impressed, especially since she didn't complain about being sweaty or dirty. She did return home in her normal "drama queen" fashion though...flopping on the floor and telling me that she's "completely exhausted" and that she needs some time to "recover" before she can even move. :)
Have a wonderful, wonderful visit with your daughters today. Our thoughts are with you all.
Hello- Let's see if this works. I Didn't realize my test worked the other day. I got on the phone with sam to see what was wrong because the google kept telling me that I had to try another account. Anyways, We've been reading everyday. I keep you in my thoughts... All will work out for you guys... How is Hailee handling all of this.??? Let's see we went to see dad last sunday. As this sunday we will be in Platteville showing Garrett's beef steer. Kind of excited to see Sam. Back to Dad. He was in very good spirits. He was excited because the Brewers were on. We tried to go outside. It's so hot in there. It was a little to windy for him. It made him cold. As soon as we got inside-started to ask Garrett if he wanted to take his place on the bus and he could go to the game instead of himself because it was to cold for him.. It was funny. He would ask Garrett do you want to go and then he'd ask us if we had a way to get him....Finally I told dad that it must be a different day that he was going to the game because the brewers were in Ohio. Then he was fine and didn't ask anymore. He looked good though. Well I hope each day gets better for all of you.... Gotta go. Take care. Love kim
Well hello family. Hope all is well today and I am sorry that I couldn't talk that long this morning. But when you are the #2 hancho in the building, every problem gets put on your plate. Anyways, it was great to talk to you and hopefully next time Hailee can hear me so she doesn't keep telling me that the weather is nice. I was also thinking, it would be ok if you guys wanted to call when you get up in the morning since we have only 12 hours difference between us. We usually head to be about 10:30-11:00 but if I know you are going to call we can stay up a bit later. That way there is absolutely no rush and maybe Hayden will coo for you a bit. He has been a talker lately. Well, I have written enough let me know what you think. Love you all, especially Hailee the dork. Muah...there hopefully I can still embarass her over the internet.
Okay, so I have only checked the blog a million times today to see if you posted about the zoo and lunch and how things went. I was worried about you guys! However since it is almost 11:00 p.m. here, and 9 ish there, I am sure things went wonderful (okay I am hoping that they went wonderful).
I think we are all a little spoiled and used to you posting daily which I know is a challenge because you have to go to the internet cafe and pay for a certain amount of time on the computer/internet..but we are spoiled and a few people e-mailed and called as to how you were doing!
I LOVE IT..that everyone is reading your blog and knowing whats going on over there while you are away and we are all thinking about you and praying that things went well with everyone yesterday. I love you and cant wait to talk to you guys again!
I am glad you got a hold of JW! And Hailee, I told Jon he could only embarrass you from where he lives to home, nothing can bother you while you are over there!
LOVE YOU ALL VERY MUCH! Lisa
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