The Boys!

We've met with the boys twice now and will see them again in a couple of hours! How do you describe the first meeting with your new sons?? Gregory came bounding in and went straight for my lap! What a cute guy!! Andre came in a little more hesitant, and shy but went straight for Jenny. And there we were. The culmination of countless hours and prayers. Worth every minute of it! We spent a short while with the boys in the director's office and then headed to the play room where we spent quite awhile longer. Today we saw them again in the play room. They are a handful! Or rather, two handfuls! Good thing there are two of us!!

Okay, now that I mentioned the most important part, I'll give a little more info on the other aspects of our journey since last posting. We went back to the Almaty airport and borded a small 40 person plane. It had what can best be described as jump seats and we carried our own luggage up through the back end. Very challenging with the huge bags we have!! Fortunately we made it aboard and into our tiny seats! I think the plane ride was about 2 hours but I fell fast asleep so you might have to ask Jenny. After arriving in Semey we traveled to our apartment which is very nice! The outside and entrance stairwell are a little iffy but the inside is beautiful. We went to the baby house after freshening up.

We've been around Semey a bit and it's a fascinating city! The buildings look old and non-descript, but there are many storefronts with colorful signs and the pedestrians are very stylishly dressed. The mixture of Russian and Asian ethnicities is also interesting. We just came back from shopping at a grocery store and the items are very similar to the US, except the carts are way better! All 4 wheels swivel! What a novel idea! I've also seen the new little Nissan car with the round headlights driving around.

Back to the boys, actually, I'll let Jenny write some...

Ken

Gregory (nicknamed Greesha in the baby house) was thrilled to find a car and a book as soon as we went into the "bonding" room (play room) last night. He kept yelling the word for car he was so excited. Andre was interested in all the toys. He would take one or two, play with them for a few minutes and then neatly put them back where he got them and take out some others.

Today we picked the boys up from their little toddler suite and we all headed off hand-in-hand to go play again. They are so cute!! They love toys that make noise, but also love books and the huge (bigger than they are) stuffed animals. I found great satisfaction from taking a particularly huge, fuzzy, cat stuffed animal, crying "Meow!" and fluffing it around the boys' faces. They giggled and chuckled- so cute!!!

I know this is long, so we'll be going. Just wanted to get a bit of info. out to you!
Love,
-Jenny