Checking in

Hello Stacey here,
Things are moving right along over here. The temps have dropped this past week, it is COLD!! In our hotel the windows have wood frames. So when the wind blows the curtains move on the inside. You can feel the cold air blowing in. Brrrrrrrr
A photographer came to the Baby house today to take Luke's picture for his passport. (Yippeee one small step to coming home) Luke was NOT a big fan of having his picture taken. No way would he stand on his own, so I had to hold him but out away from me so as not to be in the picture. Dewey was making faces and holding cookies to get him to stop crying. We don't know how but there must have been a split second that he did, the photographer managed to snap one with his mouth closed. We said Perfect or that's good enough. :)
We are semi planning (if everything goes according to plan with our documents) on leaving here the 22nd. We cant wait to come home!!! We get to pick up Luke from the Baby house on the 11th. That's our first countdown, 10 days to go. It will be so nice to have him with us.
Hope all is well with everyone!!!
Thanks for all the posts, we are so home sick we LOVE reading them!!!!
XOXOXOXOXO
Stacey

This is a photo of a major river that starts in China and works it way through Kazakhstan. I went ice fishing a few days ago with some local guys on one of the outlets from the river.

I learned a few new words, tis-bah (fish), Samsa (carp which we ate ), and I can't pronounce it but the meaning was" Get the hell away from me the ice is cracking".

It was a blast and i've officially been able to hang with the locals on the Vodka intake. These guys can seriously put it down, and they use full glasses instead of shot glasses.

Ice fishing over here is different from back in the states. They use two types of nets and no bait, and just pound out the holes for the nets with a long spike atttached to a pole. Overall there fishing techniques, are much more efficient then ours back home, but we don't eat carp either.

When we landed in Amsterdam this was the first plane we saw, and both Stacey and I said holy cow, we're far from home.

Here's a photo of the orphanage, this is one of the places they hang clothes to dry. It's a never ending battle with the laundry and they have one person who does laundry full time. The washers over here handle about two pair of u.s. pants, and dryers are to expensive so everyone hangs there clothes to dry.

During our flight over to Kazakhstan we had a six hour lay over in Amsterdam. We wish we would have had a few days to spen here. It was awesome, warm bear and mystery meat was the delicatesen for lunch. This photo's right off the central station, and of a bunch of apartments right on the river.We finally have a half decent internet connection so we're making up for some posts that we wanted to share

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!!!!!!!!