Leaving Bishkek

I've been putting off writing this post for some time. It's hard to re-live the day I had to leave Bishkek. I knew before I even left for this trip that this would be one of the hardest things I will ever have to do. I am more than happy that I made this trip and got to spent what limited time I could with him. He is quite feisty and I have a feeling that he will settle in as soon as he gets home. He is definitely a child of mine!! I can't even begin to tell you how awesome he is and how much I love him.

On our last day we arrived at the BBH and I was greeted by his personal caregiver. I had some things that I wanted to put on his crib, and she walked me back to where he (and all the other babies) slept and allowed me to attach the toys to his crib. She put A in the crib and was pointing them out and having him play. She was all smiles when she picked him back up and gladly handed him over. Right away he reach for my face, and just held my cheeks...how could you not fall in love?? We went upstairs to the music room with Donna and her son. I couldn't hold back the tears, although at that point they were more happy tears that I had the opportunity to spend time with him during that week. I didn't take as many pictures because I just wanted to hold him in my arms. He's 1 though, and that didn't last long - he just wanted to play and crawl and slap books and throw my camera and rip apart the kleenexes.



I had to bring him back down to his room because it was time for him to eat. I asked (for the third day) if I would be allowed to feed him. Reluctantly his caregiver said yes. I felt very self concious while feeding him. They had me sit at a table in a folding chair. The table was to my left, so I had to sit A on my right leg and feed him left-handed. She brought over a giant bowl full of very liquid cereal and a metal spoon. I started to feed him, and of course, like any 1 year old, he started to grab the spoon. He was looking all around at the commotion going on around him. He burped once while I tried to feed him and the liquid cereal went everywhere. The caregivers in the room were watching and shaking their heads. After a while Kuba came in and they were telling him something. He smiled, but didn't translate. Of course I pushed for him to tell me. He said, "Well, they usually feed him that in two to three minutes." As you can imagine my jaw must've hit the floor. He laughed and then left the room. Those women totally thought I was incompetent. How in the world could you feed a child that much so fast? After a few more minutes they must've gotten impatient with me. The one caregiver took the bowl, heated it up, and then positioned him on my lap so that she could prop the bowl up under his chin and shovel the rest in. Wow!!!

We went back up to the music room for the remainder of my visit. I was rocking him back and forth while sitting on the floor (tears welling up of course). When I would stop for a second, he would push his head back so that I started again. Tears didn't stop then. He was just so fricken cute!!! He was babbling and yelling, so I put my fingers to his mouth and did the Indian call. Oh my - he loved that! He would yell louder and louder and then just laugh. You could tell he was so tired, but he must've known that it was the last day because he fought through it. When Kuba told us it 'was time'. I got him bundled back up to take him down to his room. I could not even compose myself at that time!!!



When I finally got to his room, I hesitated. I didn't want to give him back! I wondered if I could manage to run out the door with him under my coat. Would anyone notice? How far could I make it? A moment later, the door opened and his caregiver was standing there with a big bright smile. I walked into the room and just held him for a minute. She reached for him and he turned away. Oh boy!!! I was absolutely bawling by this point. She took him and then was standing about a foot away from me. She was making him wave and saying, "Do Svidaniya Mama." She must've said it at least 10 times, and all of a sudden he was reaching for me. She handed him back and right away he grabbed my hand and brought it to his mouth to do the Indian call again. His caregiver was wiping away my tears and asking if I was leaving today (making an airplane with her hands). I nodded, but couldn't take my eyes of A. She finally reached for him and he went to her. She walked us to the door and kept repeating, "Do Svidaniya Mama." I almost had to run out of the door because an uncontrollable sobbing fit was coming on. I waited outside trying to compose myself before Donna and Kuba came out. I didn't talk the whole ride back to Asia Mountain. That night we had to pack up because we would be leaving at 2:30 a.m. I didn't sleep much and the entire plane ride(s) home were a complete blur. I miss him so bad already!

Ryan was waiting for me in Minneapolis and when we got to the hotel, the first thing we did was go through the pictures and watched the short videos I had.

Now we wait...

Prayer Tree

My sister-in-law, Heather, got married in Mexico January 12th. For the wedding, my mother-in-law suggested that the four of us (me, my other two sister-in-laws, and my mother-in-law) each do one of the four: something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue. My mother-in-law did something blue and she had everyone in the family send a piece of fabric of something of their's that was blue. Ryan and I sent in a piece of my wedding dress (glacier blue), and teh tie that he wore for our wedding. My mother-in-law said she's pick something up for A to have a piece on there as well and she would give to us what she used. What Heather ended up getting was a rectanglular lace hankerchief with all of the squares of fabric sewed onto it. It turned out really awesome! The piece my mother-in-law picked out for A was a blue onsie, obviously too small for him, with little doggies, bones and paw prints. She cut off the bottom to use for Heather's kerchief, but told us to hold onto the top for good luck. While Ryan and I were sitting at the MSP airport waiting for my departure, I had him rip off a piece of the onsie to use for the prayer tree in Kyrgyzstan.



I had the piece of fabric in my purse the whole trip - Ryan kept the other piece at home, carrying it in his pocket every day. We had our visit to 12 Chimneys earlier in the week and totally forgot about the prayer tree. When we asked Kuba about it later in the week, he chuckled and said, "That tree is on the way out to 12 Chimneys." Well shoot! By that time we only had one day left. We talked a bit more about the prayer tree and Kuba told us that a prayer tree is started when someone puts a piece of fabric on a tree and says a prayer. So it could be any tree? He said it could pretty much be any tree. Well there you have it! Donna and I decided to start a prayer tree in the playground of the BBH. How fitting right?





So, on your next trip to BBH, please be sure to add your piece of fabric and a prayer to our prayer tree.

Tokmok

Today we went to Tokmok to visit with Ruby and Lynn Johnston from LAMb International. To my suprise Jayne Schooler was also there. We had coffee, tea, and great conversation . It was so nice to finally meet them and pray with them.

On our way back to Bishkek we stopped at the Burana. For more history, go here: http://www.fantasticasia.net/?p=132. It was really cool!!!





As usual our visit at the BBH was not nearly as long as I would like. When it was time to go our driver/translator came in and said, "Are you read?" Well duh! That was a stupid question. I told him no :) I think I threw him off a bit, and he said, "Well, we have to go." Sad time :( I cannot wait until he can be home and I can love on him forever!!!

On Donna's last trip she brought a photo book with our pictures in it for A. Of course when I asked if he still had it in his crib they had no idea where to find it. Took them a few days, but they finally found it and we looked at it today. A was mostly obsessed with his daddy's picture!

Tien Shan Mountains

We visited a restaurant in the Tien Shan Mountains called 12 Chimneys. What a beautiful mountain range!!! The pictures don't nearly show the real beauty of these vast mountains! Such an amazing view...for miles and miles!!!







Today we had to go late again to the BBH (Bishkek Baby House) and our time was cut considerably short. I am still very grateful for any time I get to spend with A. He recognized me right away and reached for me when his caregiver walked him to the door. We played hard and gazed into each other's eyes. He tried to eat my camera again ... this boy is going to be a photographer! He was also saying "Da, da, da". In Russian it means "yes", but I'll pretend he's saying dada like dad!

Happy Birthday!!!

I am so happy that I got to spend some time with A for his birthday! He is kind of congested and felt very warm. At first he was a crabby butt, but I did manage to get a few smiles out of him :) They even allowed us to put him in the outfit Grandma Scheel sent for him.

Nooruz

Today we went to the town square to watch the Nooruz celebration. Nooruz is the Kygyz New Year and also when they celebrate Spring Equinox. It was really a spectacular sight!!! The President was there, and there were snipers on the roof tops! Lots of dancing and singing, food cooked along the walk in the park, carnival toys and even some rides! There was an arm wrestling ring, gymnastics stage, kids doing relay races and more! The festival went on for blocks and went most of the morning into early afternoon.

Meeting my boy!

Oh my goodness ...

He is the most perfect baby ever! More beautiful in person than I could have ever imagined. I almost can't even put this post into words.

When his caregive handed him over, he came right to me!! I brought several sensory toys and books to read to him. He was very interested in my earrings and picking my nose!!! We played hard, ate books, dropped the camera, pulled hair and had a blast! It was such an amazing feeling to finally have him in my arms. We played so hard that he eventually fell asleep on my chest. It was the cutest thing. I did not want to let him go. I whispered to him and touched his face softly. He was sweating so bad from the ten layers of clothes they put him in. You would think that we were going outside for a play date! I am savoring the smell of my shirt and cannot wait to go and spend time with him tomorrow. This is going to be a hard week.

Bishkek

We arrived at the Bishkek airport at 5:25 a.m. (Bishkek time). We are so off on our time and had such a long layover in Turkey. We thought we had it down, but then we had to go ahead 4 more hours for Bishkek time :) Our room wasn't ready when we got here, so we had breakfast in the lobby and waited.


We got a call from our driver 5 minutes before he was suppose to pick us up and said that we could not go to the orphanage. As you can imagine I was very disappointed. He said that instead, we can go at 4. We arrived a bit early and had to wait in the car. When we went in, we went right to Donna's child's room door. After about 10 minutes she was allowed to go in by him. I was brought to A's room and his caregiver gave me the once over before handing him over to me. I was then brought to a strange room and was left alone with him. It was all very strange, but so nice to have alone time! Tomorrow we will not be able to go until 5, and probably won't be allowed to stay very long. I'm glad to get any time with him, just wish it were more...

Istanbul!

My flight from MSP to JFK was uneventful. Donna and I met at the Gate for our flight to Istanbul ... how fun!!! On the way to Istanbul there was a gentlemen who was either drunk or in severe pain. In any event, it made the flight quite interesting. In the last hour, we also had a man on the way to the bathroom vomit all over the seat right in front of us. Ick! I do have to say though, that the 10 hour flight wasn't quite as bad as I thought it would be.

We met a nice young man on the plan traveling for business. We asked his to join us on our mini tour of the Istanbul. We got visas from the airport had a Taksi (taxi) and they brought us downtown. We visited some really beautifl mosques and an underground water well! So cool. I also bought a Turkish pashmina scarf. I cannot believe that Istanbul has 15 million people! They really are beautiful people!!

So far Donna and I are having a blast!

Blue Mosque

Leaving on a Jet Plane

The countdown is officially over. Tomorrow morning, Ryan and I will be heading to the Minneapolis airport where I will depart for my first trip to Kyrgyzstan. It will be Arsin's birthday on Saturday and I'm so glad to be able to spend it with him. Unfortunately, Ryan will not be coming with. Instead, I will meet up with another PAP in New York before my flight to Istanbul, where I will have an eight hour layover.

I am so overjoyed and excited, I can barely contain it. I do, however, need to hunker down and finish my packing. Hopefully I'll be able to post while in country and share some pictures. This blog has been public since it's inception and I have not been able to share any pictures until now.

Here is a glimpse of the birthday boy!!!

Private Blog

Hello all and happy hump day!! I am going to be making this blog private as of this weekend. With all the craziness that has been going on, I'd like to keep this as intimate as possible without the whole entire world be able to view :)

Please send me an email if you are interested in continuing to follow the saga of this incredible journey... s.jesandryan@yahoo.com
I will gladly send you an invite! Please leave comments if you have any questions.

Peace and love.

Catching Up

I haven't been posting anything of any real significance lately, but that's because nothing is happening!!! There have been some meetings and some conference calls, but we haven't gotten anything concrete out of them. About a month ago we had a conference call with the US Dept. of State. A few things were confirmed:
* "They" have no idea what the actualy problem is.
* "They" have no idea when it will be resolved.
* 65 families have received referrals and area waiting.
* over 200 families have submitted dossiers

There were a few more meetings scheduled that week. Valerie Chittenden is our Consul in Bishkek. On February 12th, she had a meeting with the Deputy MOE. Here's some of what came out of that meeting:

On February 12, 2009, Consul Valerie Chittenden met with the newly appointed Deputy Minister of Education (MOE)...This was the first official discussion we have had with Kyrgyz officials since the halt in adoptions.

The Kyrgyz Government has formed an adoption commission that includes officials from the Vice Prime Minister’s office, the Ministries of Education, Social Protection and Labor, Foreign Affairs, Internal Affairs, and Justice, as well as the General Prosecutor’s office. This commission is responsible for drafting new adoption policy and legislation, with special emphasis on clarifying the roles and responsibilities of the different agencies involved. The commission will recommend whether the Kyrgyz Republic should join the Hague Convention on Intercountry Adoption. According to the Deputy Minister, the commission plans to report to Parliament by March 20. The Parliament will then choose what action it will take on these proposals. New legislation Parliament may pass will NOT affect existing cases other than to allow the Ministry of Education to resume processing adoption dossiers again. New adoption cases would be subject to any new requirements established by Parliament.

The Kyrgyz government does not intend to process any adoption cases, new or pending, until the adoption commission issues its report, expected March 20, and Parliament acts on these recommendations.

Only children with urgent medical care or special needs (medical conditions not treatable in Kyrgyzstan) can be considered for expeditious processing, that is, before the new regulations have been promulgated. (Developmental delays and related conditions are considered treatable in Kyrgyzstan.) So far, only one case among the 65 pending cases has met this definition, and that case has been approved for processing. Additional cases would be considered on a case-by-case basis.

The Embassy is seeking additional meetings with other officials, many of whom are also newly appointed to their positions in order to learn more about the Kyrgyz Government’s plans and to urge that the children who have been matched with adoptive families be allowed to join their permanent families as soon as possible.

On 2/11 a new MOE was appointed:
New Kyrgyz education and science minister appointed 11/02-2009 09:15, Bishkek – News Agency “24.kg”, By Aizada KUTUEVA

Abdylda Musaev was appointed a new Education and Science Minister of Kyrgyzstan. The Prime Minister Igor Chudinov introduced him to the cabinet Wednesday, February 11, 2009.

A week earlier the premier has introduced two assistant ministers – Umutkan Tynalieva and Boris Kubaev.

Note from the news agency “24.kg” – Abdylda Musaev is a principle of the Bishkek University of Liberal Arts, Umutkan Tynalieva is a former vice-mayor of Bishkek and Boris Kubaev headed the Institute of Strategic Information Technologies in Education.

http://www.eng.24.kg/personas/2009/02/11/7040.html

http://www.president.kg/ru/press/ukaz/3373/

March 3, 2009 - Joint Council is pleased to confirm that U.S. Embassy officials in Kyrgyzstan met late last week with the Vice Prime Ministers Office regarding the 65 in-process intercountry adoption cases and the future of intercountry adoptions from Kyrgyzstan. At this time Joint Council cannot confirm the exact contents of the conversation.

Further, we can confirm that police investigations are occurring in Kyrgyzstan in regards to accusations surrounding child buying for intercountry adoption. No further information on this subject is available at this time. As soon as more information is available Joint Council will release it on our website.

http://www.jcics.org/Kyrgyz%20Republic.htm

The only thing left to do at this point is to wait until March 20 and see what is reported. This waiting is sure getting old!