Could not resist one more photo

OK People

Just one more snapshot for the day. We are off to bed and get our strength for Monday's big game. Hope you all were able to view the video. Jim and Janet...in Saudi...thanks for checking in..and do let us know who you are. We'd like to know. Thanks

OK...here's the photo from this morning....tho' it is only a Nija movie, one might think he is at the controls of some space ship or mega corporation or a Big Ten Football game. You be the judge.

And next time, we;ll post a video that is in not 90 degrees off. Sorry...this is a work in progress and we appreciate your patience and comments.

Becky and Steve

Sunday afternoon…one week anniversary

It has been a week since we arrived in Ust’. What a week! And it’s another sunny afternoon, but unfortunately, Mama still has a sore throat and is sleeping again. Hope these new local meds work…soon. Even Daniel seemed a bit sad this morning that Mama was not feeling good. They just blew each other kisses. It was cute.

For our only visit today, we watched a DVD of Nija Turtles. It is in Russian and Daniel sure laughed a lot. We were so curious if our little energetic, non stop action, climber, jumper good boy, would even be able to sit still. And sure he enough did. He sure din’t want to be bothered with any questions from the translator…he wanted to watch the movie. It looks like each of the Nijas has a different color mask over their eyes. I know that one of them is called Rafael…but who are the others and what are their colors…please!!!

We’re going to try a MOV file again. It is about a monkey and ends with a line about the monkey going Boop Ka. Yes, that in Russia is the same for all five year old…poo poo. Daniel laughs every time and so do we.

Hopefully our Monday update will include a healthy Mama for starters. We have a big baseball game planned on the SW lot of the orphanage. We have that globe ball and Papa did find a good size branch of a birch tree. It’s perfect for Daniel and we are sure he’ll be hitting ‘em over the fences. No exercise program needed for his parents; just the one of trying to keep up with him.

Well, just in case the MOV is too big, here’s a photo from our Sunday visit. We sure do enjoy all your comments and prayers and support. And yes, NAP…COL and Max will be awesome in 2008…you and MRR will be showing him a lot of stuff. And vice versa too NAP…lookout!!!

Bathed and Cleaned and a bit colder

This morning Mama woke up with a sore throat and little tired. She fought it off for most of the day and did pretty good during our only visit, but after getting back home to Shiny River, she is sleeping and fighting it off. So this post will actually be going out Sunday AM, Kaz’ time. (It is now Sunday, 7AM. Mama still has sore throat. Fortunately we have the name of an antibotic that we can get at the drug store this morning. Hopefully this will clear it up).

We spent a good portion of the morning looking for a clock radio and a plastic baseball bat. Alas, no luck despite trying about five places. Alas alas, Mama did find a bunch more puzzles, Nija Turtles, Memory Cards, and the like. We are sure trying to help the local economy.

We were successful in buying a clock radio at Daniel’s Supermarket. It is a couple o’ three blocks from here and the grocery store has a lot of good items…juices, fruits, soups, vodka, cheese, vodka, and more vodka. We purchased the clock radio in a store in the basement of Daniels, all by ourselves. The only statement we understood from the salesperson was six months. Apparently that is our warranty period. The hotel does not provide clock radios; so now we can tell the time in dark (and these room are nice and dark and quiet) plus listen to some local talk shows, local music, and even a couple of English stations too.

OK…getting back to that Baseball bat, although we never did find one, Daniel did - on the playground. He found a two foot long stick and started swinging like a major leaguer. While they weren’t all home run caliber, he sure kept his focus on the ball and was determined to do well each time. He now knows what “good boy” means. We doing better with some basic Russian and he is progressing on the English.

And oh yes, the weather sure turned a bit colder today. This morning Papa was out in a typical October attire for a Michiganer - a short sleeve polo shirt. But not for our visit in the afternoon as the temperature must have dropped about 20 degrees from the morning.

And oh yes (again) Daniel was bathed and clean today. We also found out he is ticklish. That will surely mean lots of fun back home in America.

CLOSING COMMENT...we are unable to post a photo, something is amiss with the Internet or our Blogspot. We will try again later. WE PROMISE!!!

Friday update...one week since we left

Another warm day here...shorts would be great to wear if we had any. Now we know we shouldda brought more toys and puzzles and the like. Just hope there ain't no Siberia winds heading this way. Hey, that reminds us...here's a map of Kazakhstan. Note that we are in the NE part of the country in Oskemen (Kazakh' name) or Ust-Kamenogorsk in Russian. We are about 200 miles from Mongolia, China and Russia.

For all those family and friends and new adoptive family friends, you all know what a process it has been for us...letters of recommendations (thanks Jacque, Diann, and Tom) way back in January, then a home study, a collection of assorted other papers for our dossier, and then just a few weeks ago, our Letter of Invitation. And then, the travel time and wear and tear on us to get here. Well.....it was worth all that and more. He is a great kid and we are honored to add him to our family. We are so blessed and extend our thanks and hugs and handshakes to all that have helped us along the way. We can hardly wait for you to meet Daniel.

Saturday morning is bath day at the orphanage, so we will miss our morning visit. The routine is very important and they have a set schedule. we sure will be missing him a lot tomorrow, yet also happy he will be clean when we see him in the afternoon. Taking a bath once a week sure reminds us of being young kids...tho' we just can't understand how our parents could stand the BO of four kids under toes and under lots of dirt too. As to how long ago that was...we are not going to give specific dates nor range of years. Needless to say, the majority of our blogspot viewers can also remember those days as well - especially at family gatherings when we all sit around and try to recall names of pets, neighbors, teachers, and the like.

This latest photo was taken with the timer on our camera. Papa had to run back to the couch to join Mama and Daniel. He sure loves to be photographed, and loves to see the pictures on our digital camera. A shout-out here to Ashley and Ryan for encouraging us years ago to get with the 21st Century and go digital. Sure glad we did.

Good to hear from NYC and Northern Michigan bloggers...soon Kentucky perhaps and Southern Illinois.

Bye bye...we are going to bed...nearly 9 pm here and we are pooped. Will be shopping and sight seeing with our driver and translator in the morning. Gotta get more puzzles and a baseball bat and.........

ok ok...just one more

We can't help ourselves...we know there are people in WI, and IL, and IN, and MI, and WA, to name just a few, that just wanna see more photos.

Look out hollywood...here comes Daniel J. Madison

Thursday PM...what a ride we are on

Steve sure enjoyed the meal last night at the Kaz' restaurant...Becky, so so. It was a traditional Kaz' meals...lots of meats and potatoes. Fresh tomatoes and cucumbers and juice, and some great rolls. Plus raisins, apricots, and peanuts. We are having rolls and peanut butter and soup for dinner.

We are sure on a roller coaster ride of emotions. After just four days of visits, we are ready to take Daniel home tonight. Alas,Kaz' rules require us to visit for 15 days, then we go to court, and ask to adopt Daniel. After that approval, there is more paperwork and procedures to be done. That could take a month, sometimes less. We will not know until the court hearing. We have to prepare a speech for the courts, and have that translated into Kaz'. Plus they will ask us questions, which we also need to prepare for.

This morning we got a tour of the orphanage. There are about 12 kids in his room, ten boys and two girls. Looks like they are in the 3 to 5 year old group. We met the social worker, and two care givers, including Mama Katcha. All are very nice, and they were able to tell us what a good boy Daniel is. They showed us some of his art work. He has talent, honest!! Each child has their own bed, and a place in the bathroom for their toothbrushes and towels. Very organized. Very clean facility.

This afternoon before our visit, Daniel got chocolate ice cream for his afternoon snack. It sure seemed to give him an extra energy boost. Kick ball, basketball (IU prospect for sure JJ), monkey bars, picking up stuff off the ground, and the like. We hope he sleeps well tonite, we know we will and can hardly wait to get back there for our morning two hour visit. We did manage to buy some more puzzles and games this afternoon, and a couple of new shirts.

OK...we had hoped to send a video tonite...but it is 25Mb. So here's our photo from this afternoon. It was about 70 degrees here, so Daniel din't have to wear that black hat. From our biased prespective, sure looks like he has some of those good Potts traits.

Oh, did we mention yet...he has big brown eyes and he's a lefty with the pencil and crayon, and a righty when it comes to frisbee and BB. So that means there will be two leftys at home now...Steve will be outnumbered and outsmarted for years to come

Thanks for all the posts. They mean a lot to us. We will be glad to get home to America, but we know now that it will be very hard to say goodbye and assure him that we will back. We asked Daniel who were his best friends in his group, and he answered...
Mama and Papa.....that says it all!

Thursday in Kaz'

Hi All

Thanks a bunch everyone...we have heard from the NW and WI and MI and all over in the last day. We can not tell you all how much we appreciate your notes.

Later today we will try to post a video that we took this morning. Our camera has the option to take a video, so we will attempt to post it here in a few hours.

Off for our 4-5 afternoon visit. Looks like the bag 'o goodies has the globe ball, a puzzle, silly putty, balloons, and a fruit snack from our Kaz' meal last night.

Stay tuned...love and hugs to all!!!