Day 19

Another day. That’s about all I can say. I haven’t felt very well today but I think it’s just mostly “homesickness”. There is also a virus going around the orphanage. A lot of the children are sick, 1 family’s son is even hospitalized. Luckily, Hannah seems to be fine, just the usual runny nose that we’ve grown quite accustomed to, nothing serious.

This afternoon, she was full of laughs. She even started to crawl. OK, maybe an exaggeration but for first time parents, it was good enough for us. She was trying to get the camera and moved herself (without any help from us). She was also getting up onto her knees more today and arching her back up. Very good progress! She’s gained so much strength in the 3 weeks we’ve been here.

Other than that, we did more shopping today. We have to leave a diaper bag with a few assorted items; clothes, diapers, wipes, and toys for the pediatrician who will escort Hannah to Almaty in a few weeks. The way it works…we go to court on Monday. There is a 15-day contention period after which the final paperwork is submitted to the Kazakh Embassy (at least I think that is where it goes). Between the 2nd and 3rd week we should get notification that we can travel back to get custody of Hannah. We will only be traveling to Almaty and will pay to have Hannah escorted by a pediatrician (via train) from Karaganda to Almaty. We will then spend a few days in Almaty going to the US and Dutch Embassies to get all the proper visas, etc. We only have to go to the Dutch Embassy because we are taking Hannah home for a few months before going to the US. And she isn’t a US citizen until she is on US soil; therefore she has to get a special visa to be allowed into the Netherlands. Oh the joys of living overseas.

Because of flight times, we don’t leave Karaganda until next Thursday, the 18th and fly home to Amsterdam on Friday. It will be hard to leave Hannah, but we know she is in very good hands with her caregivers! They are all so nice and it has been great getting to know them. We’ve been getting all of their pictures with Hannah and have asked they write a note to Hannah (which of course we’ll get translated) for when she is older. They truly care for the children.