Today is Sunday and unfortunately we will be unable to visit Taylor. We will resume visiting tomorrow at 10am. It is sad not being able to see her but we do have plans to go out and enjoy the city! We are planning to go to the aquarium today and Gulsana seems to be very excited! She kept telling me that "we have sharks!" and then gave a cute smile. I explained that Tony liked sharks as well and she said we should go. So, we are going!

Last night we decided to venture out on our own. We walked along the river- our apartments are on the river- and we walked down to the RamStore. The RamStore is the grocery store and it is about a 15-20 minute walk from the apartment. We bought our first items as tourists! We just pointed and showed the number of fingers... Tony tried to open a glass enclosed case but got yelled at so we just learned to point. It was really nice to feel like we can do things without Gulsana or Baheet here. On the walk back home we got to witness some event going on on the riverwalk. I want to say that it was similar to a debutante ball back in the States.

We have made some friends here in Astana. Annette and Marwan are a couple that arrived on the same day as us. They are from New York. We are on the same schedule and plan to be spending a lot of time together trying to figure out the city. We have plans tonight to go to dinner at Ali Baba with the families who are already almost complete with the process. This will give us a chance to ask questions in a freindly environment. No translators or coordinators allowed!

To the families who are keeping up with our blog:
when we applied, we asked for a little girl between the ages of 6 and 24 months. We were told that since we were willing to accept a toddler that that would be the likely senario. We traveled blind here with no idea of the age we were to be referred but had not prepared ourselves for an infant. Actually, all the items we have at home (clothes and toys) are for a toddler so she will have to grow into them! Kazakhstan has become a blind travel country which means that they do not send you information before you travel. When you get here, you go to the director of the baby house and they bring in the one child that they want you to choose. They also show you other children but they have already chosen one for you. We were shown Taylor first, and they then showed us a little boy with cerebral palsy. They knew we were not going to accept the boy so it seemed to us that we only had one option.
It took us a couple of days before we were certain that Taylor was the one for us. Once we were able to sit down with the doctors and discuss her health, we were convinced. I will admit that it was a stressful time, but well worth it. For those who are expecting that you will know instantly, you won't. At least it wasn't that way for us. We are very happy and excited about Taylor now that we have adjusted to the idea of a younger child.

We absolutely love all the comments! We tried to tune into GHSN on the television, but we couldn't find it. Thanks for the laugh Mark! To our friends and family back home, we miss you already. Stay in touch!