8/1/07

Greetings,

Today was day two of “full Lucy” at the apartment. She slept well again last night, went to bed around 8:15 and woke up at 6:00. Lucy seems to be very tired, more so then when she was at the baby house (poor thing, I’m sure there is a lot of over stimulation going on in the apartment). She went down for nap one at 7:30 and slept until 9:00. When she got up she was playing with Nana, and Momma had to go with Zhaniya to fill out more papers and pick up her birth certificate. We finally have a copy and can officially explore the city without limits. Yesterday afternoon I was beginning to feel like a caged animal. Having the birth certificate copy in hand is very good feeling : )

I arrived home around 11:00 and we took her for a walk to Panfilov Park. It’s a nice rectangle shaped park with lots of greens and walkways. In the center of the park is Zenkov Cathedral. The Cathedral is built entirely of wood and with no nails (pretty cool, huh?). There is also a play area so we took Lucy over. Of course once again we are not at home and things are not as safe. We put her on the slide and let her go down a few times, she enjoyed that and also just sitting in her stroller watching the bigger kids run around.

We then headed back home for lunch and nap number two.

We are still on track for next Wednesday, but I am thinking more that it’s about a 50/50 right now. We should have a better sense on Friday. Friday is the day we take Lucy to the SOS clinic for her medical exam, and it’s also the day that Zhaniya was told she could pick up Lucy’s Passport. If both happen in a timely fashion we might be ok. If the Passport is not ready on Friday I hate to say this, but I would guess we are not going to be back until Thursday or Friday of next week. Right now there are no flights on Thursday, but as I have been saying for the past week. We will fly standby, we will do what we have to, but I will not stay a day later then August 10th….That’s my cut off!!…

Ida is back at home doing the best she can to put the pressure on the Kaz team…She has been so helpful and supportive through this difficult journey.

Nana is enjoying her time with Lucy, I think she could do without the whole Almaty experience, but she is a trooper. Most days she does better then me, and it’s as if I’ve hit the wall so to speak. I’ve had it, I’m done and I want to go home!! 4.5 weeks is a long time to be away and I can see now why many families don’t stay for so long. It will all be worth it in the end, we have sweet little Lucy (ok she is a monkey, but still can be sweet at times) and she will be home in one week!! WOO HOO

We are a day behind on the blog, but hope to update tomorrow. Lucy goes for her medical exam tomorrow morning, and hopefully the Passport will be ready. Tomorrow is a big day in deciding on our departure. We need all the prayers we can get that the Passport is ready. As we know I NEED OUT!!......

Ok Nana is keeping Lucy busy while I update the blog and download pictures. We will be in touch tomorrow......

Love and hugs, Julie, Nana and Lucy