Bonding Day 10...Wow, what a difference one day makes!

Nastia/Livea was so talkative and playful with everyone in our group today! It is amazing how she is coming out of her "shell" a little more every day! The poor little thing still cries her eyes out when we drop her off to leave, though. It breaks my heart!


Livea's Bedroom that she shares with several other precious little girls and boys
Livea's crib is the one singled out with the pink/purple blanket hanging over the headboard.

Bonding Day 9

Sweet cuddles and giggles today!














Our Livea seems to be getting very attached to her new mom and dad! She cried so loudly and pitifully when I left her at our morning visit! It truly breaks my heart! Other than that, our time together was wonderful!
Livea will talk in single word syllables about the animals in the courtyard when it is just her and I out walking, however, as soon as other people come near she really closes up and hangs on tight! If anyone has had a similar experience I sure would love to hear about it. She is so cute; her new habit when we are inside the baby house playing is to either sit on my lap and play with her toy or scoot backwards right by my side to play! She seems to be willing to play a little with others around only if she senses me right beside her.
It is still so hard to believe we now have three beautiful daughters! Lindsay, Lilliana, and Livea - we are so blessed!
BTW: We had another great workout this morning! Everyone coming to Kaz definitely needs to have a "Strong Man" PT in their group! Again, we are so blessed!

Day 10 in Karaganda! (2nd Sunday)

There are no visiting hours at the baby house today so we do not get to see Livea today :( We have spent the day trying to replace a few items I need in the clothing department. Did I mention the Airline lost my luggage! :( To top it off, they seem in no hurry to get it to me. Oh well, I have less laundry to do (by hand and in the sink) than everyone else :)

We just returned from dinner with our crazy, wonderful group! We've found the most wonderful Chinese restaurant and eat there about once a week. If you are coming to Karaganda, I highly recommend it! I also recommend the fried cauliflower as one of your dishes and fried apples and Bananas for dessert! It sounds heavy but it really is very tasty, filling, and very light!


Most of the group visited the nearby art museum today and seemed to really enjoy it! Last Sunday we attended the circus, which was only in town for two weekends. We have a great video of that! Next Sunday we may try the 1000 acre zoo! The Karaganda Zoo is where the famous talking elephant, Batyr, lived from 1969 - 1993.

On the way back to the hotel from the museum today, some of our group was followed quite a long ways by a rather over-friendly and persistent intoxicated resident. I have read about this in other blogs so I thought it good information to pass on. Just when I was getting comfortable enough to venture out on my own.......Probably best to stay with someone when you are out of the hotel!

There is so much of this culture we want to learn about before we leave so that we can one day tell our children about their homeland. I have also bought a few items to give Livea when she is older.

That pretty much sums up most of our day today. It will be nice to see Miss Livea again tomorrow. I am amazed at how quickly we get attached to each other! And, I am so proud of my Lilliana! She has already been out shopping for Livea a pair of shoes! She is going to make a great big sister.

Janie

Bonding Day 7 and 8 (Half Way There! :)

Hello All! Sorry for the delay in posting! We had great internet access for part of the week, maybe because there was a business conference going on at the hotel we are staying at; however, once the conference attendees left, it seems so did our great internet access at the hotel!

The last two days with Miss Livea have been good although she has been a lot more clingy to me (Janie). She now CRIES HER LITTLE EYES OUT when I take her back to her class at the end of each visit. She also has not been so willing to venture to Dean's lap nearly as often if I get to far away! We had a teary-eyed girl at times during today's visit! She does like her daddy, though, as evident by the sweet picture of her sleeping on Dean's shoulder!

We have bought Livea some new outfits and have had fun dressing her up and taking pictures. No, I did not buy her the cute bumble bee tights. Those were clothes the orphanage dressed her in and I thought she looked to cute to change! We also bought her a baby doll and stroller which she seems to love pushing around outside! She is such a cutie! ( I can here Lilliana now, "Awwww......such a cutie, cutie, cutie!" Hi Lilliana! Mommy and Daddy MISS YOU LIKE CRAZY! But, we know you are having a great time with your aunts, uncles, and cousins! I have sooooooo many kisses and tickles saved up for you, you just wait!!!! :) You are such a big girl!

Lilliana has been practicing being a big sister with her Aunt Sharon and younger cousing Wyatt! Thank you Aunt Sharon!

The pictures of lunch and inflatable/tanks are compliments of Dean! ;) I know I promised Strong-man pics, however, the internet issue has slowed us down a bit. I'll just say for now that we had another GREAT morning workout with our Personal Trainer this morning! Thanks Al!

Bonding Day 6

Hello from Karaganda, Kazakhstan!

We had a really nice day today visiting with Miss Livea. We actually call her by her given name "Anastasia" when we are with her since that is the name she knows, however, everyone else in our group calls her Livea.

She was very wide-eyed and mild today. She seems to be "taking it all in"! We enjoyed walking outside with her and even bought her a new red singing telephone and took it to her for our afternoon visit. She just pushes the buttons over and over to hear the music play :) In the morning visit, she hung onto the little doggy that barks (which my precious Lilliana sent over for her to play with from home!) If you pat the puppies head, it barks and wags its tail! Livea has fun doing that! :)

When it was time to leave and I took her to her room and sat her down, she cried loudly! It broke my heart! I think she is beginning to enjoy her new parents! It will be hard to leave her!

The pictures above show just how mello our sweet little one was today.

Pics of our "Strong Man" early morning work out Coming Soon! The picture above is our entire group minus my sweet husband who is taking the picture. Our group is one of a kind! We are truly growing to love each of the dear parents we are so blessed to be making this journey with!

Thank you for the sweet comments and e-mails!

Until tomorrow,

Janie and Dean

Bonding Day 5

We had a wonderful day visiting with Miss Livea Kara-Ann today! In case you are wondering about the name, Livea is the name we had in mind before we came. We came up with Kara-Ann from her given name, Ann from Anestasia , and Kara (or chara - greek for Joy) and for the city from which we met her - Karaganda.
Yes, We got creative!

The first few days have been rough, to say the least, however, after the jet lag wears off a little and you start to get into a routine, things definitely get much easier! (This little section is for those PAP's yet to come :) Just remember the facts, stay positive, have a little faith!

We are with a group of wonderful couples! We laugh MUCH! We even have our very own "Strong-Man" Personal Trainer planning our daily walks, runs, and 6:15 a.m. workouts! He is great! He and another gentleman from our group were out a few mornings ago sprinting hills, lifting rocks at the top of the hills, doing lunges , etc. Before they knew it, there was another Kazakh resident following along, sprinting the hill and lifting the rocks at the top! Hilarious! Strong-Man has a following! :)

The people here are very nice. The young teens especially! They love to try to communicate with us in English at restaurants and such. We had a good day today!

I'll leave you with a few pictures of our visit with our sweet little one! Then I am off to bed for our 6:15 a.m. group workout! :)

Bonding Day 2,3,4 (Catch up! :)

Thank you for the kind comments! "Livea" is a sweetie! She has definitely stolen all of our hearts! My Lilliana at home is already "in love" with her! She (Lilliana) is being such a big girl! I'm so proud of her!
As for "Livea", she is about 20 months old. At first she would cry when we visited but now she pretty much just clings to both me and Dean! She does not like for either of us to leave her side for a moment when we are visiting. If I walk away she cries so pitifully! I will hate to leave her but it will be ok as she is very attached to her wonderful care-givers! The staff at the orphanage is spectacular! I can not say enough how impressed we are with them!

Arrival and Bonding Day 1...... Introducing....

Arrived Safely!

Hello All! I regret to say that this will be a short post as I am currently under the weather. However, I will post pics and information later about our adoption!

For now, I will just share that we are greatly enjoying our visits with our sweet little "Livea Kara-Ann"

Until Later :) !

J

10 Days To Departure!

Well, we are in the final countdown now and I think we are finally pulling it all together. Our biggest goal this week is to tie up any loose ends and then focus completely on Miss Lilliana and Miss Lindsay. They will be staying here with the help of House Sitters, Dad, Brothers and Sisters.

Dean is actually out right now picking up the "last" of the things we had on our list of things to buy. I am truly blessed with a wonderful husband.

Miss Lilliana is finishing her bath, just chattering away....as always! :) I don't know how I'm going to make it without her sweet little voice ringing in my ears almost nonstop! We are so thankful that we will have access to her via Skype!

Trial Run....

We met with a precious Kaz Adoptive couple tonight for dinner and chatting. We left Lilliana at my brother's home, where she will spend much of her time while we are gone. When I drove up to get her she met me at the vehicle......in the dark. I put her in my arms and she hugged me tight and said, "I thought you might not be coming back."
She had to have known of course, that we were. But she's definitely feeling anxious about our separation - all of our faiths are being tested!

She really is my "cuddle bug"! We love her so very much!