Day spent with friends

Last night was a very stormy night. The clouds here are much lower than those at home so the lightening and everything is gorgeous!


So today was spent with friends! We have (from left to right): Katie - Annette and Marwan's daughter, Karina, Martina, and Taylor! We shared all of our toys, had a few laughs and stole a few toys! Taylor seemed to kind of like hanging out with the other babies. Overall, she just wanted to be held today. She was rather cranky when she was on her tummy and towards the end of the day she was extremely crabby. She seems to be tired, even though we were told that she sleeps well through the night. I cant help but wonder if thats true...

The drum seems to be a hit! Taylor seems to enjoy playing with it and being able to beat it up! She is getting very good at stealing Tony's glasses. This morning Tony was leaning over her and she reached up very slick and ripped them off his head!

To the other families:
Payment over here - we tend to use our credit card at the RamStore and tenge everywhere else. We change money over about once a week and use tenge only. Most places do not take American money. Our return tickets - we bought our return trip tickets (Taylors too) when we bought the tickets to come here. It is cheaper that way. We will be changing the dates we fly out by about a week or so, so we will have to pay a fee to do so. We plan to stay the entire time. I do not think it is fair to leave and come back. The child becomes adapted to the schedule of seeing you and if you leave, then what?
Our coordinator here - Baheet is wonderful. She os a great person and we enjoy spending time with her. We do not see her on a daily basis but if we need her we can meet up with her. The first few days she is with you everyday, now that we are applying for court, she is around again. We have our translator with us everyday. We talk with our caregivers through her and we ask questions through her.
As far as seeing the rest of the orphanage, we are allowed to see anything we want, the only exception is that we are only allowed in Taylors room. It would not be fair to go into the other childrens rooms and get them all excited.
We have already experienced the children wanting us to play with them all the time. A few days ago we went outside with Taylor to walk around the playground. Tony ws holding Taylor so my arms were free. I had about 6 children holding my hands and dragging me this way and that! We see these kids everyday and and they still try to play with us! I couldnt imagine walking into their rooms!

For those of you wanting a picture of the family: