Dedicated to our American Friend Jeremy!!!

June 24th, 2010

The other day the music room where we usually stay for our bonding sessions was not available so we stayed in the hallway to Dylan’s room. We’re not allowed to go in the room where Dylan stays and we wait at the entrance when they get him ready for us. Since the caregivers and the kids went outside and nobody was there, Fil took advantage of the situation and took pictures of where Dylan lives. It’s not complicated it’s just 2 rooms where 1 of them is their bedroom and the other is where they stay all day long, a bathroom and a little corner where they have a sink and some dishes.

Last week all the caregivers of Dylan’s group painted the rooms except a little section of a mural of a tree, sun and some cartoons. It took them 4 days to complete everything and let me tell you, it was hot and the paint smelled really strong. During the 4 days while they were painting, the children were all kept in their cribs in the hallway of the group next door and also spent some time in the park outside. It was nice that they spent some time outside because the paint smelled really strong, especially in that heat. It’s been over 40 degrees for the past 2 weeks.

Women here in Taraz work really hard. Last week when we were doing our tests at the hospital there was a section that they were renovating. There were 2 women plastering the wall and a couple of other women painting. Women here cut the grass by hand with a curved machete, clean the streets, remove the snow in the streets in winter with a handmade shovel and use a plastic sheet to pick it up. The other day at the orphanage there was a lady cutting the bushes and was also taking care of a mentally ill child in a stroller next to her. Women pretty much do everything here but not many drive cars. It’s very rare that you’ll see a women drive.

Tonight we invited our friends Jeremy, Becky, Nathalie and Damira over for supper. Actually we were all supposed to go out for supper because our friend
Jeremy is going back home to USA but Italy was playing soccer tonight and I said let’s just stay at our place for supper and we’ll all watch the game.

Jeremy and Becky have been here 6 months and now Jeremy has to go back home cause of his work. Jeremy is not looking forward to leaving his wife and his little boy and Fil and I are not looking forward to see him leave. We will miss you terribly Jeremy and Taraz will not be the same without you. It was an honour having met such a POSITIVE, VERY THOUGHTFUL, INTELLIGENT AND VERY FUNNY GUY LIKE YOU. We are so glad we still have Becky here with us and we will take care of Becky in any way we can.

Crib # 2 Is Where Dylan Sleeps!!





The room where they stay all day long when they are not sleeping.





This little table is where they change the babies.



The Potty is introduced at a very young age here, which is at 1 yrs. old.



Women at the Orphanage working.



Women working at Hospital.





Goodbye Jeremy, we'll miss you!!!

Emotional Roller Coaster

More changes to our plans but these changes are good.

Who would think that this adoption journey would be such an Emotional Roller Coaster!!! We very well knew that there would be ups and downs but we never knew it would involve so much uncertainty, so many problems 1 after another.

These past few days have been very difficult but we are doing better again and having amazing support around us both here and back home is GREAT!!!! Jeremy and Becky introduced us to Beth an american who has been working here for the past 7 years. She invited us over for supper on Sunday night and prepared a great good old American meal for us!!!!!!! She also invited 2 other american couples that do volanteer work here in Kazakhstan almost every year. They are teachers that come here to teach teachers English. We sat around and we all told our stories and they were all so touched and felt so bad for us. They asked if they could take a picture of us so they can pray for us every night until we get our positive answer. They were really sweet and it was very interesting hearing their stories about their teaching experiences here in Kazakhstan.
Beth also had 3 dogs and 2 little kittens of about 3 months old..... for those who know me......YES I WAS IN HEAVEN AND YES I MISS MY SONNY SO SO SO MUCH!!!

Dylan is doing really really great. He walks all by himself most of the time and has a very good balance. The best part of our day is when we go pick him up in his room. He jumps and screams and laughs much more and it's amazing how attached he is to the both of us. Fil and I love it when he stretches out his arms to either one of us wanting to be picked up......it just makes our hearts skip a beat!!!!!

"HISTORY REPEATS"

June 22, 2010

Our visas expire July 5th and we’ve been shopping around for a place to renew them and it looked like we were going to Dubai until we got an e-mail from our agency in Canada stating that the Sai (Secretariat Adoption International) wants us to come back to Canada if the results of the 1st appeal was negative. They want us to come back to Canada and wait until the case goes to the Superior Court in ASTANA, the capital of Kazakhstan. Nobody understands that waiting in Canada to see Dylan again will be much harder than being here in Taraz and then again the only ones that can understand are the ones who are going through it.

We got news of the results of the 1st appeal yesterday and they were denied so history repeats again. A very reliable source told us that the adoption problem is in Taraz. Both the Municipal and Regional courts are in Taraz and they stated if the problem does not get resolved before it gets to the Regional court it will be a denial once again. But they did say “WE WILL BRING DYLAN HOME ONCE IT GETS TO THE SUPERIOR COURTS because the court is in Astana and not in Taraz. Unfortunately it does make sense, why would it get resolved in the Regional Court when both the Municipal and Regional Courts are in Taraz but we were still very hopeful that someone down the line made some serious connections and came through for us and resolved the problem. We are not 100% sure that we will also get a denial but there seems to be a pattern here in Taraz and it does not look good.

We are extremely upset at the whole situation and much more than the 1st time. So much time and energy is wasted on all this waiting and the children and the adopting parents are really suffering from all of this. We feel horrible leaving Dylan in this orphanage and we don’t know for how long or if we’ll ever see him again. He’s older and he’s much more attached to the both of us because we’ve spent 3 months with him on our 2nd trip and everyday that passes without us will take a part of him that he will never get back and he will suffer just as much as us.

They tell us that we will bring Dylan home one day but they just don’t know when but who’s to say that’s true????
This situation never happened before and look at that……. It did to us now!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

FATHER'S DAY

We would like to wish all the dads a very HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!!!!

Medical Certificate in Taraz

June 17th, 2010

Today we completed our medical certificate, which is needed for the regional court because the previous one has expired. We also received our other documents (police certificates and letter of employments), which were sent from Canada. We passed many tests and it took 3 days to pass the entire tests and also get all the results. We really did not think it involved so many tests and I think we visited every department in that hospital.
We passed the following tests and keep in mind we had no idea what tests we were doing and what they all consisted of.

1. X-rays of our chest to check if we had tuberculosis
2. Cardio-gram- they stuck about 4 wires to our chest and if they took the test of about 3 heartbeats that’s even too much.
3. Eye exam- the eye exam consisted of reading a couple of letters (Russian letters) off the wall, asked what our vision was and if we needed to put any drops in our eyes for any reason.
4. Checked our nose, throat and ears with a metal medical tool.
5. Neurologist- The doctor had a stick with a black rubber at the tip and she asked us to follow it with our eyes without moving our head, then asked us to stand up with our arms out, close our eyes and touch our nose with our right finger and then our left finger. She then checked our knees and arms reflection.
6. Urine sample. We were told to bring a urine sample in a container of any kind. We went crazy looking for a container so we bought some baby food in glass jars and sterilized it and used that. But everyone used whatever they found at home, like plastic yogourt container, coffee jars, jam jars, water bottles. You simply had to leave it off at a very crowded corner with a little paper on it with your name and remove the lid.
7. Blood tests. Wow this test is something we will never forget. We wanted to make sure they used new needles so we checked everything they did. The only problem was they do not use needles for blood tests. The nurse took out a pointy blade, stabbed our finger and pushed the blood out into a test tube. Ok she did not fill up the test tube but let me tell you it hurt and we were so shocked. The test tubes are not covered and they just remain in the open uncovered.
8. Surgeon- We had to stand up with your arms out in front and bend our knees and go all the way down and come back up. We had to take off our sweater and she checked if we had any lumps anywhere.
9. Gynocology - nothing to say about that, a pap test is a pap test!
10. HIV – went to an Aids Clinic. But this time they removed the blood through our veins with a needle and this was simple and painless.
11. and lastly a general doctor that summarized all the tests and completed the certificate and told us we were HEALTHY.

The hospitals here have a very different system that we are used to having in Canada. Taking a number does not exist here, every department we went to for our evaluation or test we had to ask who was the last person and we had to remember so our turn would follow. But as we were waiting and people would continue to join the “so called” line up, there were continuous arguments with people trying to pass each other. It was very amusing to watch even if we didn’t understand a word they were saying but we could very well see the angry faces, the guilty faces and the ignorant people that would insist on trying to sneak in the line. Vera got into an argument with a man who was trying to cut the line in front of us and her husband Medet had to step in and calm her down and then he took over and the man finally got the point and waited his turn.

Another point which totally bothered me is, as people come in they’ll just open the doctor’s office door and look in to see if anyone is in the room. Not only is that rude and disrespectful but the hospital does not give you anything to cover yourself so you are pretty much naked while the doctor is examining you or making you do some ridiculous exercise.

After having a reason to visit a private clinic and a public hospital here, I must express how grateful we are for having such up-to-date medical equipment in Canada and I’m very grateful for living in a civilized country. Even if we have to wait forever to pass a test or see a doctor, at least we have advanced technology that can provide much more accurate results. Now I can totally understand why it takes Dylan so long to get over a simple cold or flu. It just makes me wonder what kind of cheap watered down medication they are giving these kids through their numerous injections. Yes I understand they do the best with what they have but sometimes that just isn’t enough!!!! I feel extremely sorry for people that get serious illnesses here because they must be suffering so much from their outdated medical equipment and from being so behind in their technology.

We would like to Thank Vera and Medet for taking the time to take us to the hospital 3 days in a row and helping us complete our medical certificate. Thank you Vera for being so CALM and PROFESSIONAL while you accompanied us individually in the examining room and explained and translated everything for us at very awkward times. You were very discrete and made us feel very comfortable at very embarrassing moments. Thank you Medet for RUNNING AROUND and PICKING UP ALL OUR RESULTS for us. We are so glad we were able to do the medical here in Taraz instead of going all the way to Almaty which saved us lot’s of time and money!!!!
Great job and Great team work!!!!

Private Clinic

June 3rd, 2010

Today I had to go visit a doctor because I’ve been feeling sick. Medet and Vera took me to a private clinic that their friend is a doctor at. I explained to Vera that my chest was extremely blocked and I kept coughing but nothing was coming out. The cough was extremely dry and very painful and my ribs were KLLING me for how much coughing I was doing. So the doctor examined my throat, ears and nose and never checked my lungs, did not check if I had temperature and did not check my blood pressure. He visited me maybe 10 seconds and he said my throat was swollen and prescribed me antibiotics, spray for my throat, some kind of pills for allergies, camomile and some other herb that I had to leave in hot water for about 10 minutes and then gargle with it and throat candies that I had to let dissolve in my mouth. The doctor also said I had to go back to the clinic everyday for 7 days to do a treatment that consisted of putting on a mask and breathing something into my lungs. That treatment made me cough like crazy but after a couple of days it was finally helping to loosen and clear my lungs. On the 4th day of visiting the doctor he said I had to go upstairs to get hooked up to I.V. for some treatment and I have no idea what was in that GLASS BOTTLE that was going into my system. Even if I visited a private clinic the medical equipment is extremely behind and I have to say I was a little afraid but everything went ok and after a good 2 weeks of coughing like a crazy women I’m doing much better. I was really sick and in bad shape that I did not go see Dylan for 2 days, so you have an idea how sick I was if I could not even go see Dylan. The equipment may have been extremely behind but I have to say Dr. Sasha was extremely competent.