Safe and Sound

We arrived safe and sound in Karaganda at about 1130am today. Our flights were uneventful and we both got a little sleep on each of our 2 flights. We were greeted in Almaty airport by another American family adopting in Karaganda. We flew with them the rest of the way and they are staying at an apartment nearby.

We were met in Karaganda by Olga, our translator. Before we even got to the apt. she asked us if we wanted to go to the orphanage today. Very surprising! But of course, we said "yes''. We also found out right away that it is not possible to adopt 2 children at the same time. We were OK either way (although I definitely did want 2), but more importantly we wanted to know right away. Our driver and Olga dropped us off at our apt. and we unpacked (by we, I mean me). Our apartment is great. We have everything we need, including a living room, full kitchen, and bedroom. We also have a washer and a drying rack. Anyway, we were able to get in a good 2 hour nap and then shower with time to spare before we had to go to the orphanage at 4pm.

The orphanage was very overwhelming. We went into the music room with our translator and met the assistant director. From then, it was a literal baby parade. Ten babies were brought in by their caregivers and left with us, pretty much all at once. We were basically left alone in the room with our translator while we played with the babies. Now do you see the overwhelming part? How can we possibly decide? All of the babies were adorable!!! Joe was the funniest. It took him a while to warm up to the babies (and most of the babies to him) but it gave Olga and I a good laugh. We slowly had to narrow down the number of children. We had to have it down to 3 before we could go over medical charts with the doctors. Somehow, we managed to do it. It was the hardest thing I've ever had to do (well, that is before we actually have to decide which one is our new baby). We went over medical charts and then spent more time with the babies by ourselves (which proved to be challenging when one particular baby would cry every time you put her down). We were there a total of 2 hours. We will spend some more time with the babies tomorrow before we make our final decision. One thing we do know....IT'S A GIRL!!!

After the orphanage we went to the grocery store (bigger than our neighborhood one in Amsterdam, much bigger). We came back to the apt. about 7 and then waited for our internet to be hooked up. We ended up just eating some bread and cheese for dinner. We are too tired to do much anything else.