This is Luke's first attempt at wearing dads clothes. He is funnier then heck and could barely lift his feet up to take a step in them. He's been wearing everybody's shoes he can get his hands on. For some reason he keeps being dressed up in pink so I don't want any b.s. about my son wearing pink :) hope everyone is well Dew and Stacey

This is Stacey and Luke, laughing. A beautiful site !!!

This photo is taken at the bizarre. There are two in town we're at and this was the small one. It's about the size of two Wal marts, and is the equivalent of an RCWILLEY, WalMart and Home depot rolled into one. Everyone is and independant business owner, and there shops are used shipping containers with some door modifications. If you ever want to stick out like a sore thumb just go through one of these. Everybody's staring at us big time when we go here.
They barter a little bit on price, but where we're the guests it's not wise to haggle to much we're told. They have a butcher shop in here that Stacey absolutely loved (not). It had rows of every type of carcass you could eat, and some form of stuffed intestines. I really wasnt hungry after leaving there.

IT'S OFFICIAL!!!!! We finally have gotten through the legal process on our adoption. After a quick trial yesterday at the court house with the judge, prosecutor, director of education, and the orphanage doctor all present. It was very interesting going through a legal proceeding in a foreign country. We had stated as part of the reason for adopting from Kazakhstan is because it's a desert climate, like we have at home. The judge and prosecutor were laughing between themselves, like we were making it up. They think the U.S. is nothing but green trees and lush landscapes. They actually believed me after I showed them photo's of our yard :). It was extremely emotional to hear the judge approve the adoption and pronounce Luke's official name to be: Luke Ray Warner. We know have a 15 day waiting period and then a couple of items to take care on his passport and we're on our way home baby!!!!

Natural Disasters

Stacey here, apparently we have been at the scene of a natural disaster. Kyzylorda is very very flat. It doesn't matter where you are you cant see anything past whats around you. There is a river almost as wide as the Mississippi that runs from China on the edge of Kyzylorda. Last Sunday while at the Baby House with Luke we heard and felt loud booms. We later found out they were using dynamite to break up the ice on the river. On Tuesday all the roads were closed down and there were policeman everywhere. Come to find out the river flooded its banks because of the ice. There were several hundred homes now under water. Officials flew in from the capital to assess the damage. We found a local station on TV that showed the damage, its pretty bad. These people don't have much to start with now they have nothing. Its frustrating not understanding the language and trying to piece together whats going on around you.
The power has been going out at the hotel and when its on its kind of a half power thing, everything is dim. So this is the first chance in days that they have let us use the managers office /Internet. We got our court date, YIPEEE, its Tues at 3pm. We are lucky they have changed a few laws since we have been here but they are grandfathering us in. They were going to make us wait another week before court. Luke is starting to explore, he walks around the room picking up and moving things. We found a swing that he LOVES. He climbs up and swings by himself. Dewey is learning Russian Billiards. Its sort of like American Pool but the table is a lot bigger and the pockets are much smaller. We did find one Euro news channel that was in English, but since yesterday it has been scrambled. So thanks for all the updates at home. When we get online we don't have time to check much. Oh and BIG THANKS to Dad and Winnie for calling the other night. IT WAS SO GOOD to hear a voice from home. Both Dewey and I were thrilled!!!! Sam thanks for the pics of the pups and update of home, we miss them like crazy!
LOVE YOU ALL!!!!
Stacey

This is a photo of a Roman Orthodox church we we're able to visit. It was built in the late 1800's, and the bricks were hand carried from over a 1,000 miles away. Czar Alexander had it built and it was foretold that he would be murdered if he did not leave the country. The prophecy came true, and some folks believe they are still carrying the burden of that sin in the country because of the crime. I'm probably destroying the story but that's what I could get from our interpretation. I remember the Discovery channel did a special on this Czar awhile ago. The church itself was amazing, and had some of the most unique photo's and frames i've ever seen. One picture in there was over 500 years old. We were fortunate when we visited as they were doing babtisims and they let us watch. We're definitley not in Kansas anymore Toto :).

Happy Valentines Day

We should find out our court date and time today, YIPPEE. We are hoping its this coming Monday. We filed our official petition to adopt Luke, it was filed yesterday. Mike and Leisa our new Kyzylorda friends are having all six of us (the two other couples and us) over for lunch today. Yummy, more homemade good food.
I managed to come down with a nasty cold, NO FUN! Dewey got to spend some one on one quality time with Luke. You get in big trouble if you go into the orphanage sick so I stayed in bed. Father and Son did very well. Dew went armed with lots of baby food and cookies and didn't even end up needing them. Julyia took him to the "pharmacy" to find some medicine. You cant buy even cold medicine at the market. Everything is behind the counter and you ask the pharmacist for whatever it is you want. Dewey is also an expert at laundry now. Which is no easy task since our water either goes out or the hot comes out in a tiny stream.
I'm starting to feel better, I'm sure I'll be back 100% in no time at all.
Oh and our laptop is now a paperweight. The hard drive is fried. That means no movies, no music, no games....
Hope all is well, hugs and kisses
Stacey

Luke Bundled up

Sorry I know the picture is sideways but it took forever to upload it so its staying that way :)
The orphanage is really more like a compound. It sits on about an acre with a large solid metal fence around the whole thing. (most of the houses in KO are that way too) Inside there are about 10 small buildings and play areas for the kids. They have one of the smaller buildings set up for the parents visiting hours. Luke's group is in a building next door. They take keeping the kids warm very seriously. When Luke is brought in he is bundled up and we bundle him up again to take him back. Think of the "Christmas story" the little brother all bundled up and couldn't move his arms or legs.
We went to the Bizare yesterday. Julia told us it was the "small" one. Its set up a lot like a swap meet would be back home. Rows and rows of vendors selling everything you could ever need here. Its bigger then any swap meet I have ever been to. I cant imagine what the larger one looks like. For employment here people either work in the oil industry or have a little shop at the Bizare or "mall". We bought a luxury item, a small plastic tub to make laundry easier to do. We figure it can work as a bathtub for Luke once we can bring him back to the hotel also.
Before we left I met a women on the Internet who lives here. We went to their house for dinner on Monday night. Mike and Leisa and their five adorable kids. They are an American family that has lived here a few years. She cooked a delicious dinner of Enchiladas, rice and beans. Dewey and I very nearly licked our plates clean. It was so nice to have good home cooked familiar food. We look forward to seeing them again.
Hope all is well with everyone.
Miss you!!
Stacey

view from our hotel

This photo is looking out the front doors of our hotel. I'ts an apartment complex across the street and is very standard for the city. The big pipe you see running along side the building is the heat source. All of the heat comes from to big boiler type systems that run the whole city. The fuel for these is a residue of waxy parafin type stuff that is a by product of the oil refining process. I thought this picture would be cool because I think we take for granted how well we have it in the States. Things like running water and electricity are expected, and here everyone's happy when it's working. The people here take alot of pride on there appearance and the inside of there homes, but the outside of all of the buildings and the landscaping looks a little run down. It's kind of like putting nice rim's on a dodge neon. Driving here is like playing death race 2000. I think you get points for how close you can come to a pedestrian at 40mph (I mean kilometers per hour) The record so far is about 2", and thats normal.

Hope everyone is doing well. Stacey and I can't wait to share more pics of Luke. His the cutest little guy. We're hoping to get to play with him outside of the little bonding room soon.

Take Care,

Dew

Father & Son

Things are grat here, we had our first real night sleep last night. We were so happy to see that it was 8:30 when we woke up. Hopefully that means it only took us a week to get used to the time. Luke is cuter by the day, he loves the toys we brought. He likes to take things in and out of containers. Blocks, cars, legos, it doesnt matter. We had our Visit with his Doctor yesterday and other then being small he is very healthy.
Dewey is not to fond of the roads and the way people drive. I just dont watch. We come within inches of other cars and people while driving. And there are no seat belts so its a little like "Mr toads wild ride" at Disneyland.
We have found great food, very different but not bad. I'm eating a lot more then I thought I would be able to. Dewey of course likes everything.
Better go for now.
Miss you all!!
Stacey

Baby Luke Warner

Kim here. Stacey and Dewey have asked me to post this blog with a picture of their newest addition: Luke Warner. He is 2 years old and is just absolutely a doll! We all can't wait for them to bring him home!!!

We are here!!!!

Stacey here,
The past few days have been a whirlwind. I cant even begin to tell everything that has happened. But it all pales in comparison to meeting our son. He is wonderful and amazing and everything we had hoped for. I cry every time I think about it. He is adorable with longer eyelashes then either Dewey or I. And the biggest brown eyes you have ever seen. So far his favorite toys are the little cars we brought. Dewey is pretty proud of that :) We get to see him two hours in the morning and two in the afternoon every day. The time flies while we are there. Today was our third visit and he went to "papa" without crying. We are told its a big deal since he has never seen or been around men. He is very small but walks and seems very smart. He fell asleep while I was holding him today. It felt like heaven..
We can only get online from an Internet cafe. So we are working out the kinks in how to upload pics. Hopefully we will be able to soon. We are here with two other families adopting. Its made it a lot easier on us having others to talk and share things with. There are very few people here that speak English. Our translator is wonderful. She is with us every day during our visits. She took us to the big store here in Kyzylorda. Its about the size of Todd's market. But it has most everything you need. We brought bread and cheese for me. We cant seen to get the water thing down. We cant drink the tap water so we keep trying to buy bottled but end up with carbonated water. Maybe tomorrow we will get it right.
We will check in soon.
Miss you all!!!!!!!!

Las Vegas Airport

Dewey here. We're just hanging out at the Las Vegas Airport, interesting folks coming and going through here. We made it through airport security without much fuss, we thought it was going to be more of a hassle but it wasnt to bad. I've already spilled my coffee all over the place and made lots of people happy with the smell of spilled mocha everywhere. The adventure has officially began!!!! Our next stop is Memphis Tennessee, then to Amsterdam, followed up with a flight to Almaty, and then finally to Kyzlorda. We should be arriving Friday sometime. Neither Stacey or I have spent this much time on a plane we'll see how happy we are on Friday...

Kazakhstan here we come!!!!!!!!!!

Thats right we are traveling!!! We leave Las Vegas tomorrow (Wed)then on to Memphis, Amsterdam and finally Almaty. We should be in Kaz by Fri Morning. From Almaty we fly to Kyzylorda. Hopefully we will be there by Fri afternoon.
We are thrilled and sort of in shock that this is really happening. We are running around trying to get all the little last minute stuff done. We are planning on leaving Cedar City this afternoon and driving to Las Vegas.
Wish us luck!

Update, not good news!

We are not leaving this weekend. And we are not really sure when we are leaving. Hopefully some time next week. We wont know for sure until we get our visa's and passports. And we don't know when we are getting those back. It could be anytime next week. As you can imagine things are a little tense at the Warner household. The horses are boarded at the the trainers. (money going out) Neither of us can work with new clients since we are leaving at any time. (no money coming in) So cross your fingers for us. We really need some good news soon.

AT LONG LAST..............

WE HAVE OUR LOI!!!!!!!!!!

This is what we have been waiting for, our Letter of Invitation to travel. From what we are told we should leave this weekend. We are flying out of Las Vegas but don't have our itinerary past that point. We will update again when we have more info.
Finally I think we are close!!!

New Years

Cassidi came down to spend the holiday weekend with us. When we woke up on Sunday it was
-5 degrees with snow. So we drove a hour and went hiking at Zions National Park where the temperature was 50 degrees. Cassidi's friend Billy came with us. We had a wonderful time in the Park and a yummy lunch in Springdale. It was the perfect way to end 2006!

Holidays

Well it looks like we are at least 3 weeks away from travel. Last Fri was the cut off date to receive our LOI (letter of invitation to travel) before the holidays set in. We did not receive it. Kazakhstan and the U.S.A both celebrate several holidays during the next few weeks. Meaning one or more of the government offices are closed.
So we are having a "make shift" holiday season. Since we didn't think we would be here we have not decorated. And everyone has made their plans around us not being here. It should be an interesting Christmas this year.

Less then two weeks to go......

Hopefully less then 2 weeks to travel. We spent our second to last weekend in St. George shopping and eating Sushi on Saturday and horse back riding on Sunday. It was warm and nice in St George on Saturday, we had a nice relaxing day with Sushi for lunch and then again with some friends for dinner. Dewey could not have been happier. Sunday we were planning on going for a horseback ride but woke up to a blizzard. So it was indoor riding for us. Notice the coats and gloves its was still pretty cold :) We received our apostlized documents in the mail. Big thanks to Scott /FOC for figuring out the best way to have them done. Apparently a Las Vegas marriage certificate is not a favorite in Utah. Go figure....
The pictures are of us and "the boys" Woolly had a hard time understanding that he was supposed to smile or at least look at the camera. Twister on the other hand knew just what to do. They are our cute as can be two and a half year old boys.

This is just a small sample of our mountain of paperwork. This is just the paperwork that needs to be filled out for our embassy visit in Almaty. This is not counting our Dossier , home study and Docs that are apostlized in triplicate. All of these papers need to be with us on our carry on. We are pretty sure that because of us there are a few less trees out there :) We went and had our passport photos taken for our visa applications. I would show them if they (mine at least) were not hideous. But they will do the job. Hopefully we will be leaving 2 weeks from today. FINGERS CROSSED

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