Moving day tomorrow

Tomorrow is moving day. We are packing up our children and taking the entire show to Almaty sometime in the afternoon. Hopefully the children will sleep and the trip will be uneventful. We have been told that Almaty is very dirty, crowded and not as nice as Bishkek. We ran in to a guy at the American embassy who told us that he is no fan of the city and prefers to stay in Bishkek. Gee, I can hardly wait to go.

Life is continuing to go on here. The rains have returned and we have yet to see the sun since the first day or two. We are all eating well and in good spirits. The hotel is taking great care of us and we will be sad to leave it, although it means that our return home is just that much closer. Our flight home is looming and I have mixed feelings on taking it. On one hand, who in their right mind would voluntarily takes a infant or small child on a 30+ hour plane trip? If I am to lose my sanity on this trip, the flight home is where it is going to happen. On the other hand, we are going home to our family and friends. Our wife, mother, sister, daughter, parents and grandparents who await us at the airport and we are looking forward to it. We also have the advantage of upgraded seats on the aircraft and the support of the other couples as we will all travel together to Atlanta.

We went out yesterday to a place called FatBoys and had a nice lunch. It is supposed to be where all the American expats hang out. The lunch was good and I even had a milkshake although it was not like anything I have ever tasted in the states. But we had a great time and I think all of us enjoyed hanging out there for a while.

All for now,
Scott

A little excitment

So normally I don't update this page until I wake up in the morning, but we finally had some excitement around here. We were on our way to the Kazakhstan embassy to pick up our passport when a car came tearing by us at high speed and then swerved out in to the other lane and almost hit a bus. The car came back in next to us and then a bunch of civilian cars came around us and boxed the car in. We kept on going but a bunch of men go out and took the guy out of his car. Funny thing is, we don't know if they were even police officers. They sure did not look like the police. Our driver and Sergei said nothing. On our return, some of the cars where there along with uniformed police. It really was not all that exciting, but compared to the last few days, it was something.

Jack has been out of sorts for most of the day today. I am not sure what is going on, but I think it might be the teething. Carolyn gave me some baby teething medicine but I don't know if it is working or not. Jack is almost ready to go to sleep and he is quiet unless I look over at him, then he starts to cry again. I don't know if that is a good sign or a bad one. It has been a long day and I am ready to go to sleep and start over again tomorrow.

You may have noticed the change of appearance for the website, I decided that black was getting old so I changed it. That's what happens when one is bored.

I have been enjoying calling my family while I have been here. I decided to use Skype to keep in touch this trip and it has worked out very well. I started with $10 credit and I have talked for almost two hours and still have well over $6 credit left. In case your wondering, Skype is a service that allows you to use your computer to make phone calls. You need a microphone, speakers and a high speed Internet connection and you can create an account. It works very well (mostly) and I think it was $10 well spent.

It finally occurred to me that I have a bit selfish in my writings here. Everyone has been commenting on how difficult it must be over here for me, but I was thinking about how Kate must feel sitting at home (ok, she is really working) and having to patiently wait for our return. I don't imagine it is easy to read the stories about Jack, to see his pictures and not miss him terribly. I wish we could all be together right now, but it will come soon enough. Before long I am sure we will both have times we wish we were somewhere else.

Sergei has been spending his days in constant motion and some of the battle scars are starting to show. He has failed to negotiate the turn going in to the bedroom several times at high speed and has bumps on his both sides of his head that look like a set of antlers are getting ready to pop out. Unfortunately he won't let that stop him, and is determined to set some sort of land speed record. The kid is tough as nails and has not let mere bumps and bruises slow him down one bit. Rita is much more covert about things as tonight John located one of her little candy stashes of chocolate she has been taking from the fridge. She is pretty darn smart and John and Debbie are going to have fun trying to keep ahead of her.

Well I am tired and ready to go to bed. My Friday is over while yours is just beginning. Have fun!

Scott

Passing time

Starting to sound like a broken record, but not much to report today. Yesterday we attempted to pick up our Kazakhstan visas, but they were not yet ready. Sergei was upset with them as they has told us they would be ready. I don't think this impacts us one bit though, we don't have anything planned until Monday.

Jack and I continue to spend lots of quality time hanging out in our room. The rains have stopped for the moment, but it is still very cold out. It actually snowed yesterday, but only enough to turn the roof's white. It is still too cold however to go running around with a mildly sick infant. I will say that our room is much nicer than our last trip. It is very large and has enough room to lay the bedspread out for Jack to play on (see pictures). He is having a great time and continues to impress everyone with his pleasant demeanor.

I am doing just fine as well (thanks for asking...). My diaper changing skills are returning and my times are really starting to improve. With some more practice I should be ready for the diaper changing nationals in June. Jack and I are beginning to settle in to a daily routine. I was given a schedule by the orphanage and I am trying to loosely keep to it. We eat and sleep, play and poop and just hang out looking at each other. I continue to try different foods with some successes and a few notable failures (thanks for packing the laundry detergent honey).

I cannot wait to bring Kate and Jack together as he really needs his Mommy! I do somethings very well, but I cannot compete with Kate in the mommy department. A boy needs his mom and this poor little guy has never before had a mother to love him.

He also needs his big sister to help him out and keep him out of trouble, so get ready Mac cause a little bundle of pure energy is coming your way and he goes by the name of Jack!

John and Debbie are doing amazingly well with Maggie and Sam. We had lunch yesterday and they were fantastic (of course there were cartoons on the big screen). They are so happy to be with John and Debbie and I am really enjoying watching them. When the parents had to leave for an appointment last night, Sergei (Sam) cried. It was very cute and must make John and Debbie happy to know the children are attaching themselves to them.

Carolyn is doing well except for an upset tummy. We got to see Daniel a couple of times yesterday and he is great. I think Carolyn's having a really great effect on him and he seems like he is adjusting very well. He is a cutie and I will get some photo's of everyone up on the website soon. We have all just been doing our own thing lately and have not spent a whole lot of time together.

Enough for now, keep writing and letting me know what is happening in the real world.

Scott

Just keeping on

Well, it is the beginning of day three with Jack and things continue to go well. Jack is behaving and having a good time, although he does have a cold. We are bonding and it is surprising just how fast that happens. Jack now even has a problem with me leaving the room. I left him with Carolyn yesterday so I could go to the store and he cried a bit after I had gone. Most of the time he is just fine, I think it is when he is tired that it is a problem. He watches me as I move about the room and makes all kinds of cute noises when I talk to him. He is very responsive and expressive. He really is a happy little boy.

There again is not much to report from here. Most of our time is spent at the hotel with the children. The weather is not that great and we can't really take the kids outdoors so they are stuck in the rooms. Tonight Ludmilla (our Frank Foundation coordinator) will babysit all four children while the adults get to go to the consulate for visa applications with Sergey (her husband). We don't even leave until 5pm so it will be a bit of a late night.

John and Debbie are doing well and the children are coming along nicely. They are starting to settle down and listen to Mom and Dad. We don't see quite as much of them as we would like as they eat most of their meals in their room to keep the kids stimulation down to a manageable level. The trick seems to be working and meals are reported to be much better than the first nights dinner. They are venturing out for lunch on occasion and perhaps can get down for a dinner or two later. Both John and Debbie are doing a great job and will have the kids well under control before long.

Carolyn and Daniel are also doing well. Daniel is keeping Carolyn very busy as he seems to be rather fond of attention. He is also very vocal when he wants something, be it food or something else. She does seem to love it though and is becoming very attached to him. As with Jack and I, Carolyn and Daniel are bonding. She really enjoys just being the two of them for a bit. She was telling me about how she has wanted a child for so long and I think that the time alone with Daniel is really special to her. Me, I just want to get home.

Well, that about it for now. I am running out of things to blabber on about. I will post more photo's as I take them.

More later,
Scott

Quiet time

It is 11am in Bishkek and we just returned from the US embassy located nearby. We basically gave them all of our paperwork so they could perform some advance investigation before we go to Almaty for our final interviews. Once we got through the security (think Fort Knox) it was very straight forward. Tonight we have to go and get more photo's for a new Kyrgyzstan visa as the one we got was only good for one entry and we need to enter the country twice so we can leave from Bishkek. More money and time, but should not be a problem.

I continue to be impressed with the people here. They have gone out of their way to be helpful. The staff at the Golden Dragon has been especially nice. They are taking very good care of us and I am very happy that we decided to stay here again.

The children are continuing to surprise us with how adaptable they are. Jack is acting as though I have been his daddy all along. Nothing but smiles from this kid. All the others seem to be doing just fine. I think Rita and Sergey miss some of their caregivers at the orphanage but it does not slow them down much. They are doing very well.

Speaking of Rita and Sergey, they are continuing to enjoy themselves but things are better for John and Debbie. They are much calmer today then yesterday, but don't think that means they are calm. These two are little dynamos and they just keep on going and going and going. Rita is actually starting to coral Sergey a bit (which he does not seem too fond of) and is helping her Mom and Dad out. Sergey is going flat out and he does not seem to mind which direction he is going flat out in. As long as he gets to keep moving he is fine. Watch out when he gets some good old American sugar in him.

Not much else is going on. I have a feeling this trip will be pretty boring in terms of news. Now that I have Jack everything else seems unimportant.

Daniel is also doing very well and seems very attached to momma. He is the thinker and always seems to be studying the situation. Carolyn is very happy and is doing well with the mommy thing.

CAPTURED AND IN CUSTODY!

Jack is now in my possession and all is well. He is one happy little camper and I am having quite a time getting him to calm down enough to get some food in him. We eat a bit, play a bit and then eat some more. He is pretty wound up at the moment and seems to be having quite a good time. Lot's of cooing and kissing sounds.

Aside from gaining a bit of weight, he is MUCH more active than I remember. We are now standing (with a little help from Dad) and bouncing on his legs. He really enjoys the bouncing part and is wearing me out holding him up all day. We are also getting up on our hands and knees and almost crawling. He is playing with his blanket and pacifier. His Mommy threw in a toy bee that crinkles and he is loving that as well. We are very happy in our little jail cell (see bars in the photo) and I just roll him over to wherever I am sitting so he is close by. Anyway, Jack is fine but I am starting to remember what having a baby is like.

We ran out of time for our party at the orphanage, but left the cakes for everyone. Too bad, but we did have the chance to tell everyone thank you. I won't say I am sad to never see that place again though, I have had enough of it.

Now for the Rita and Sergey show! They are of course very excited, which is to be expected. They got their new clothes which was a big hit, and then took a ride in a car back to our hotel. It was all very thrilling for them and our coordinator spent a bit of time talking to them about how to behave. I guess we shall see how that went. We left them to get their lunch, but this story is just getting started.

I think Jack is finally going down for a nap. I thought he would never slow down. I must say I am very impressed with the activity he is showing. Last trip he was pretty docile, but no more! He is already acting more like a normal 9 month old and I am really starting to miss my wife now. Get ready Kate, he is not the same baby we left two months ago.

I look forward to hearing from all of you,

Scott

Today is the day!

This will be a short entry as it is morning time and I am getting ready to travel to the orphanage to pick up Jack. I will take lots of pictures and document as much as possible.

More later,
Scott

Email problems

Hi everyone,

For some reason I am unable to get to my Yahoo email page. The Internet is not working very well and I can only go to a few sites. Fortunately Gmail does seem to work (along with my blog page) so I would like to ask that everyone please email me at mksslagle@gmail.com from now on. This will also avoid any problems with my email being downloaded when Kate and Mac check it at home. The photo is from my room and as you should be able to see, it is raining. What you can't see in the photo is a big rat running around in the bottom of that empty pool. I want to go out after breakfast and get a photo of it. It's cool!

It is 4am in Bishkek and I am of course fully awake. I have gotten some much needed rest and am feeling a lot better. All of us went out to dinner at the Chinese place last night and had a nice meal. The staff remembered us and were very nice. It was great to sit down and just have a nice meal. We also met with Ludmilla (sp?) for almost three hours to fill out paperwork and to ask and answer a ton of questions. All of our paperwork appears to be in order and things are progressing well. Everyone has asked about Kate and told me that they miss her and to say hello. She seems to have made a very good impression on Ludmilla and Surgey and they asked me to pass their greetings on to her. So "Hello Kate!"

Checking in to the hotel yesterday we had a funny moment. It seems they thought Carolyn and I were a couple and had put us in the same room. It took a bit of explaining to get them to understand that we each had our own room. I ended up with Carolyn's luggage in my room and had to go and find her to return it. It all worked out in the end and we finally got our rooms and were able to rest. I think Carolyn is on her third or fourth room as there were problems with the ones they would place her in, but she finally got a nice room on the third floor. My rooms curtains feel from the ceiling with a large crash just after my nap yesterday. The curtain railing separated from the ceiling and it took them some time to repair it. Overall though, we are happy to be at the Golden Dragon and they are treating us very well.

We will go to the orphanage tomorrow morning and spend several hours getting their records and discussing the children's schedules and such. We are also partaking in a small traditional party at the orphanage that occurs when children are adopted. We are to pickup small cakes and bring them to the orphanage for a celebration. Not sure how it will all work, but it sounds like fun and will allow everyone to say goodbye to the children. It is a big event when a child leaves the baby house. They will be getting all new clothes, going to a new home and starting a brand new life. It is a very happy, sad exciting time for everyone.

The two older children (Rita and Sergey) are really going to be interesting to watch. We are all looking forward to seeing their reactions as they explore their new world. Even here in Bishkek life will be much different that before. The hotel itself will be quite a change for them. I figure that much of my future writing will center around the adventures of these two. It should be very interesting.

Don't forget that you can leave comments on this webpage just underneath my entry. It is an easy way to respond with a word or two. I really need to hear from all my family and friends as it is a bit lonely over here without my beloved wife and daughter. Take pity and send me a note please;-)

All for now,
Scott

Touchdown in Bishkek!

After a long trip we finally arrived in Bishkek this morning at around 6:30 am local time. I tried out my new Skype account and called my Mom to let her know I was safe. She was surprised to hear me call. This trip was much easier the second time around but it was still brutal. I am tired and sore. I flew out of San Francisco at 6:30 am on Friday and I arrived at 5 pm PDT on Saturday. We had a 12 hour layover in Moscow and had to sit around the terminal the entire time. There are very few seats in the terminal and we ended up sleeping on the floor until we finally got a bench to share. Not much to say about the Moscow airport except to say you are not missing much if you never have the chance to visit. Even the restaurants are pretty grim. At least I had the pleasure of traveling with John and Debbie from Atlanta on, and Carolyn joined us in Moscow. They made the trip much better than it would have been otherwise. Misery loves company I suppose.

I don't have any new photo's up to the site yet as we have not seen Jack yet but will as soon as I get him. I don't get to see him until Tuesday when I go to pick him up. We have been told all our children are fine and ready to come home with us. I would like to see Jack but will have to wait for just a bit longer. I need the extra time to recover anyway.

Everyone seems much more relaxed this trip, perhaps because we have already been here once but it is much less stressful than the last time. We are all excited to be here and eager to get our children. The doubts and anxiety that everyone seemed to feel last trip are nowhere to be found now. We know we are getting the children and they are coming home with us. We are also planning on meeting three other families that are here with another adoption agency. They are staying at the Silk Road Lodge and we have been communicating through the Yahoo website for Kyrgyzstan adoptions. Should be fun getting everyone together for dinner.

The weather is nice here compared to our last trip. The temps are in the high 60's to low 70's and things are starting to turn green although it is still early and there could still be some cold days. The air seems to be a little clearer and I can breath this time verses our last trip where everyone was burning coal to stay warm.

Since I am still pretty rummy from my trip I don't have much else to say right now. We are all here and safe and that is the only thing that matters for the moment. I will spend the rest of my Sunday trying to recover and perhaps go to the market for a few supplies.

More later.
Scott

Big ol Jet Airliner...

Time is going by quickly now that we are getting close to the departure day. I can feel the little tingles of panic starting to eat away at the edges of my confidence as the time approaches to board the plane and leave the "real" world behind. There are lot's of things to do before I leave and we are working quickly to make sure we have everything in order. I don't know how anyone could feel wholly confident that they are completely ready. It is just an impossible task. In addition, I must ensure that I am caught up with all my tasks at work. There is a lot to do before leaving for two weeks and and I need to make sure that nothing will self destruct in my absence.

Tonight we pack my bags for the trip. It is amazing the amount of items that I will be taking for the exclusive use of Jack. My little corner of the suitcase will be a bit cramped as Jack's stuff will get most of the room. I think I will be doing a bit of laundry in my hotel room on this trip. Even with all the stuff I am packing I am sure there will be something missing.

Scott

Were just waiting...

Well, it is just a matter of time now and everyone is waiting for Jack to come home. I have my flights, the paperwork is almost ready (Thanks Kate for doing the vast majority of it) and I am eating lots of fat to pad my bottom for the long flight to Bishkek. I have not enjoyed the waiting period since returning from Kyrgyzstan and I am very ready to go get our child. Our trip was pushed back one week while a court process was completed so our wait was a little longer than we thought it would be. The other families that I am traveling with have also been pushed back a week and they are eager to get back to their children as well. The upside to that is that we will continue to be together as a group. One thing that is different about this trip (aside from getting our child) is that I am not going in completely blind, I feel much more confident about what I am doing this time around. While there are still plenty of unknowns, I now know the people and understand the process a little better than the first time. Heck, I can even figure out the currency exchange rate all on my own now. A few more trips like this and I can call myself a world traveler.

More later,
Scott

Back for Jack!

The trip is now booked for my return to Kyrgyzstan! I am scheduled to arrive in Bishkek on the 25th of March. This will be a solo run as Kate and Mac will stay at home. I will fortunately be traveling with John and Debbie, who were with us on our first trip. We are also meeting up with Carolyn in Moscow for the final leg of the trip in to Bishkek. I will pick up Jack on the 27th and he is mine from then on. We should touch down in San Francisco on the 5th or 6th of April.

This has been a long time coming and our entire family is ready.

Scott

First entry

First post ever on a blog, and I am an IT guy. Sheesh!

I wanted this site to be a place that everyone can come and read any news or view photographs. It may take a bit to get the hang of running a blog, but I am sure I will figure it out eventually.

Hang in there everyone, more stuff coming soon...

Scott