LIFE with LEXIE

Sorry I'm not keeping up with the blog but without internet in the room or even at the hotel it's really hard to find the time to get here. Then once I'm at the internet cafe Alexis and Mom don't find it very entertaining to watch me type. The quick version of our status is that the Kazakh Passport is hung up in Astana because they no longer accept the Power of Attorney I was told to sign, notorize and Apostille in the state. They wanted one from here so Flora had one drawn up today, I signed it several times and so did Zina for some reason I don't understand. Then they rushed it to the airport so that it could be flown to Astana. Hopefully it will meet up with Alexis' Kazakh passport tomorrow, get registared - whatever that is - and then flown back her on Wed. The bottom line is we are still in a holding pattern until it get's back here.

Lexie is just such a good baby I feel blessed with any time I get to spend with her even if it is in a cramped little hotel room or driving around in a hot little car with Mom, Lexie, Rosa, Irene & myself stuffed in the back seat or walking the streets of Almaty looking for some great local treasures that I can give to Lexie on each of her birthdays. I have done fairly well with that project. I have 13 of the 18 gifts I want for her birthdays which I plan to give her so she can have something from her birth country each year. Of course I will also be bringing home at least one more suitcase. Hey that can be for her 18th birthday when she's going off to college. I'll just get a KZ bumper sticker and slap it on it. Now I only need 4 more gifts. See life is good in Kazakhstan.

I'm getting the evil eye from Mom so it's time to wrap it up. I hope everyone is doing well and I'll try to bring my flash drive with more pictures next time.

I wrote for 2 hours as those pictures down loaded and it all went away when I went to post it. I think I made the guy typing next to me very uncomfortable when I started crying on the keyboard. I am so sorry I haven't been able to post anything this last week but I've found full time motherhood to be rather time consuming plus things have been a little crazy.In a nutshell, we are in a hotel (it's the second to last picture with the orange sign)in Almaty and Lexie is just great and gets greater every day if that's possible. I know I've said it before but I am so lucky to have her in my life and I can't wait to get her back home so everyone can meet here.

I'll fill you in on the details later as I have to get back to the hotel where I left Lexie and Mom napping. We aren't any further in the paperwork process to get us out of here than we were a week ago when I got her new birth certificate. I am meeting with Flora tonight at 7pm to find out what is happening and what went wrong. But it looks like another couple of weeks. We are so frustrated but at least there is more to do here. I promise to fill you in soon and explain those pictures.

This is Angie (Lou Ann's sister) and Jim with a quick update. Lou Ann and H.R. made it to Almaty Tuesday afternoon. The hotel is nice, it has very small rooms, but it does have air conditioning which they are very happy about. The hotel has many restaurants nearby as well. Alexis is doing great and besides having a little trouble napping with all the excitement she seems to be having a ball with her Mom and Grandma. Lou Ann has not been able to get to an internet site yet, but has heard of one four blocks away that she may use soon. They are working on getting all the documentation from Kazakhstan and then they can start on the U.S. side of things. That is all for now and hopefully Lou Ann will be able to update the blog soon.

At 4:04pm on July 4th 2007 Alexis Falen Quast left the Baby House as my daughter, so I’ve ordered fireworks all over America to celebrate. We are now officially a family and I’m officially her mom. What a great feeling!!! Of course, the day didn’t go as planned but it ended great with Lexie sleeping her first night with her Mommy. It may take us a while to get back home but no one can take her away now and that makes everything else just great. So Happy Fourth of July to everyone and when you see those fireworks just remember I ordered them for Lexie!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Just a quick note to explain the pictures of the Caspian Sea. Unfortunately, it was a bit of a disappointment. It looks beautiful from afar but when you get to close it stinks. Literally. As you can see people dump trash in and round the shore line which is a shame since they also go swimming, crabbing and fishing there as well. We went down twice and both times it smelled bad, even though our driver ReNot said it’s not always so bad. I think they might dump sewage in there since it smells worse than Stinky Bay in Port Orchard when the tide is out.

Anyway, you can see how it constantly changes. Some days are so still you can’t tell where the Sea ends and the sky begins. Other days the winds really kick up some waves and it reminds me of Malibu. The “beaches” are crushed rocks and shells, rocky inlets or really hard compact ground as you can see from the picture where the cars are parked right next to the water. It’s so different from the Puget Sound in Seattle that you really can’t compare them. After all, this sea is in the middle of the desert and the Puget Sound land mass is awash with evergreens and vast amounts of vegetation. As you can see nothing much grows near the sea. It’s still beautiful to look at and Lexie will have the ocean to grow up near, so she won’t be missing out on anything except Camel and horse milk. Yes they milk their horses too. But that’s a story for a different day.

The news on Lexie is that I may actually get to take her out of the orphanage a day early. I’ll know tomorrow but I don’t want to get my hopes up. I just want that final decision in my hands and then to get on the first plane out of here. I’ll let you all know how it goes tomorrow.