We Petition the Court

Today begins day 7 of visiting our precious daughter. Christopher is always the first one up the stairs to her room. He is such a caring young boy who is wise beyond his years. Not once during this trip has he shown any amount of discontent. He appears to truly understand the situation of these children and has been very patient and kind. Not only with the people of Kazakhstan but also with Dad and I. He is used to summer vacations of beaches and go carts and fun times. This is a trip of the heart as anyone who has walked this path can attest to. Our son makes us proud when we least expect it. We have a daily reminder of just how blessed we are to be his parents .
We are told by our translator that this particular baby room is named HOPE. The reason being is that in Kazakhstan if you cannot care for your child at birth you can bring the child here for a certain amount of time in hope of returning to re unite with your child. Mothers and other family members are permitted to visit with their children. We have seen already 2 different grandmothers visiting children when we visit. One child is in Leah’s room and he has the biggest brightest eyes and smiles each time we are there. The other child an older boy (4) sits quietly with an elderly women whom obviously loves this child and she gives him a small candy to eat. The poverty here is evident and it is hard not to feel guilty for all that we have.
On a lighter note we have completed the petition to adopt with the help of our coordinator Alma. It had to be hand written by us with all the particulars. We have learned now that Leah’s first name legally is Natalya not Natasha. Natasha is like a shortened version according to Russian culture. So we have decided to call her Leah Natalya Young. The petition asks the court to give us permission to adopt her and to change all her birth documents to reflect we are her parents. We are told these documents will be presented to the court after 15 days of visiting which makes the date July 27th. That day we will find out who the judge will be and when the court date will be. We are that much closer to having our daughter.
During the lunch break today we visited a beautiful park. The weather was hot but beautiful. Sveta and I spoke about Kazakhstan and Christopher and Chris played catch. People would walk by and look as baseball is not popular here at all and the park is more like a walking garden.
It is my impression Kazak people are quiet and reserved. Life is still pretty simple here although the undercurrent of a growing economy is evident. They have the latest fashions,cell phones and internet cafes yet along the side of the road the grass is being cut by hand held sickle. Its like two different era’s in history rolled into to one co existing. Shopping is available but in stores like yesteryear for us. There is no Macys, Gap or Sears. Yet all you need can be found. There are open markets much like we call flea markets. However everything is scaled way down. Everything is smaller. Just enough. No more no less.
We are sampling the food and it has been different yet tasty. We have learned that many of the restaurants are owned by the same people so the food is similar in each place. Soups are big here, prepared daily and are very good. We love the Borsch (sp ?)
Before returning for our afternoon visit we bought Leah her own girly socks, a new shirt to go with her jeans and her own girly pink underware which they use over the diapers we provide.
When we get to her room again she is all smiles and so is her brother when their eyes meet. Its awesome to step back and just watch that which is happening in our family. Here we stand in the HOPE room unable to speak the language yet I feel as though our eyes and hearts speak to each other in a universal language of caring. We are given more information about Leah. The care givers tell Sveta that Leah is like a different child. She used to cry all the time. Sveta relates what they said to us. We are shocked as this child has done nothing but smile and babble since we arrived. We have not seen a single tear yet. We have seen her feisty personality when she does not get what she wants (cookie) but not a shed tear yet. Tears or smiles we will take her as she is. Each time we return her the care givers ask Sveta Did she cry? The same answer is given. No. We are told this evening by the care giver Natalya has chosen you. Sveta translates to us what she said. We smile.