One year ago - Part 4

These are photos of our last week in Astana bonding with Miranda.

I'm starting to get the hang of this family thing.

How can you say "no" to this face?


I'm ready to go to Texas now. Please?

Who said it was warm enough for a walk? It's warm in Texas, right?

Yea! The Judge said yes!!!

One year ago - Part 3

Noah, Miranda & Damien

Balls!

Really, I have to wear the hat inside?

Whee!

I could get used to this.

You people wear me out.

One year ago - Part 2

Chicks Rock

Am I the only one who sees the pink bunny in the room?

Getting Miranda all bundled up to go get a visa/passport picture

One of my favorite photos of the three of us

Miranda and her buddy Noah who now lives in Atlanta

Miranda sitting up on her own for the first time

One year ago - Part 1

One year ago we were in Kazakhstan bonding with our lovely daughter. We were not able to post pictures of her on the blog at that time since she wasn't officially "ours" yet. It is just amazing to me how much she has changed in this one year. Enjoy.

This is the very first photo we took of Miranda

You sure did bring me tasty toys

I'm an Old Navy Baby!

I love my new Daddy

You want me to crawl to the rattle?

Happy Adoption Day

One year ago today Ben and I met Aigerim in the Astana baby house and we personally chose her to be our daughter. Even though we wouldn't go to court for four weeks, the adoption wouldn't be final for six, and she wouldn't be home with us for eight, that was the day we became a family.



To celebrate this anniversary, we had a family day that started with Miranda's first art class. It is a class within walking distance of our house that is designed for 18 month to 2 year olds. It starts with free time in the play-doh and paint rooms, then there is story time with a related project. Today's stories were about mud, then the kids got to play with clay. She had a good time exploring the space, but I think it will take a couple of classes before she really catches on to the projects.



After an abbreviated nap, we got all dressed up and headed downtown to have Miranda's Kazakh adoption reaffirmed by the State of Texas. It was a quick and painless process given Ben is an attorney, and one of the final steps in obtaining all of Miranda's official paperwork.



We wrapped the day with lunch, some shopping, playtime, then dinner with our friend Ryan Smith who is in town for a job interview. Overall we had a great day and I'm a little sad to get back to the grind of work tomorrow.

We're Back!

Two weeks ago I spent an entire week planning for our trip to Atlanta for Thanksgiving and last week we were in Atlanta visiting Ben's family and some friends. I didn't get as many pictures on the trip as I would have liked, but I do have some to share.

Miranda getting to know her Great-Gran Mitzi.

While in Atlanta, we got to visit the Georgia Aquarium which is one of my favorite places. Miranda seemed to enjoy it, but I think it may have been a little overwhelming for her. Afterwards we had dinner with our friends The Fowlkes.

I think these fish are very big!

Fish overhead!

We also got to visit with Amelia, Mark and Noah. Noah was in the same room as Miranda in the baby house in Astana. It was so awesome to see our babies playing together again. They have both grown significantly since our days in Astana and their little personalities have developed a lot since then as well. Noah, who used to be the couch potato of the group, had no problem showing Miranda where all the cool toys were. And then they threw them all over the kitchen.

Thanksgiving was spent at Ben's Uncle Bill's house where Miranda made some new friends.

I'm thankful for this bowl full of goldfish and the dog sniffing my diaper.

It was a really great trip to Atlanta and Miranda did amazingly well with the travel and all the new people. She enjoyed seeing her Grandma Paula and Grandpa Phil again and she also enjoyed meeting her Great Gran, all her Great Aunts and Uncles, cousins and new friends for the first time. Miranda is especially greatful to her Great Aunt Nancy (as are Ben and I) for her hospitality over the week.

Now we just have to convince Miranda to return to our normal, boring routine at home.

It is in the bag

So for you frequent travelers out there, what is the worst, non-life threatening thing you can hear while traveling?

If it is "Is there a doctor on the plane?" then we can check that one off the list. About one hour before landing in Frankfurt headed back to the states with Miss Miranda, we got that one. I was briefly concerned that this may cause us to land somewhere other than Frankfurt and cause more delays in our already agonizingly long trip. Luckily what ever the issue, the passenger wasn't so bad off and we stayed on course.

If it is "We don't know where your bag is located" and that bag happens to contain everything you packed for your new 9 month old child, the last of the gifts you needed to give in order to get custody of your new child, and 90% of what you packed for yourself (Ben got his bag), then we can check that one off the list as well. It has been nine days now since we made the initial report of a lost bag and Lufthansa still has no information for us so I'm not holding my breath that we will ever see this bag again. We are now convinced that "bag" will be Miranda's first word. Ben will ask me if we have this or that for Miranda, and my response is very frequently, "it is in the bag."

We did manage in Kazakhstan without the stuff we packed for Miranda through borrowing some things (thanks again Amelia, Mark, and especially Noah!) and purchasing others. We also bought travel insurance, so when I can find a few minutes to send in our claim form, we will get reimbursed for the stuff we had to purchase in Kazakhstan. Unfortunately we have to wait 30 days after Lufthansa stops looking for our bag to get reimbursed for the contents. I am so glad we won't be flying again for at least 6 months.

We're home!

It was a long trip home and the three of us are still working on getting over our jet lag. Miranda decided not to sleep for most of the trip home so she's actually adjusting to TX time much faster than I was expecting, but it's still day one, we will see what tomorrow holds. We have all sorts of interesting stories to share about this trip, and some new cute pictures of Miranda, but you'll have to wait until we get caught up on sleep.

We're off!

We're headed out soon to fly off to Kazakhstan and bring Miranda home. We're not taking the computer on this trip so we won't be updating the blog until after we are home. Wish us luck on our 24 hour return flight with a 9 month old baby!

She's ours! (almost)

So when we had court on March 6th, we were told that since the 15 day waiting period landed on the holiday Nauryz, our waiting period would be extended and until the 25th or 26th of March. Later we received an email saying that the waiting period would expire today, March 27th. So the judge's order is official now and Ben and I are the proud parents to Miranda Aigerim Nichols.




Unfortunately, she's still half-way around the world in Kazakhstan and we're in Texas. We are headed back next weekend after all the necessary paper work is issued and in order. I should have more interesting blog posts once Miranda is at home with us, the real question is whether or not I'll have the time.

Court Day!

We had court this morning and I'll just skip right to the end ... the judge approved the adoption! There is a 15 day waiting period on her order, which is getting lengthened to about 20 days since the Kazakh New Year holiday is in the middle of March, but we should be headed back here the last week of March or first week of April to bring Miranda home. Currently we are packing and cleaning our apartment. In the morning we will go to the baby house and see Miranda one last time before we leave. We probably won't be in communication much until late Monday since it will be a long trip home and we will need to adjust 12 hours again.

Last week in Astana

This is our last week in Astana. Sunday we went to the Presidential Cultural Centre which is an awesome museum. The museum is free but they have this weird pay for each picture you take policy, so we didn't take any pictures. The exhibits ranged from historical Kazakh clothes and jewelry, along with a full sized yurt (Kazakh tent, they were nomads) to Soviet era and then independent Kazakhstan. The most interesting exhibit was the Golden Man room. Here they displayed a recreation of a 3rd or 4th century BC Saka prince along with some of the original gold decorations found at the archeological site. There was another golden man found later who was also recreated, and a third golden man, who was not actually adorned in gold, but his horse was. This museum is the best thing we have seen in Astana.

Monday we did a little more shopping. In addition to souvenirs and books, we are also buying some gifts to give Miranda at special times. Ben and I both have colds, so Tuesday after our visit we just stayed home.

Wednesday was a busy day. After our visit we went for a walk to get some better pictures of some bronze statues near our apartment, and we hit the far away grocery store for the last time. In the evening, we went to the hockey arena so Ben could get a jersey for the Astana team. The really nice thing about their hockey arena is that it is open to the public for skating and practice when the team is not playing. I wish it was that way in the US, but I'm sure they wouldn't want anyone messing up their precious ice/field/court/etc. After that, we met the other two families at a Kazakh restaurant. It was strangely the first time we had Kazakh food since we've been here. I've been cooking a lot and the other places we've eaten have been American, Uzbek, or Russian.

Today was our last visit with Miranda before court tomorrow. The doctor said we could take her outside for a walk because it was warm enough (27F degrees) but Miranda didn't really enjoy being all bundled up in her snow suit. Also, she hates the sun, so I'm going to have to find some baby sunglasses for her.

Tomorrow is court and if all goes well, we leave Saturday night for our roughly 36 hour return trip. Luckily we get to visit with Miranda on Saturday morning before we leave. The family from GA is staying in Kazakhstan for the waiting period so they said they will check on Miranda and take pictures for us while we're back in the US. Also, our translator Zhana said the baby house will let her play with Miranda while we are gone, so we are going to leave the picture book with pictures of Ben and me and some of her favorite toys with Zhana.

It will be hard to leave without Miranda, but we are looking forward to being back home after 4 weeks out of the country. There could be a future blog post about things we missed from home, which may or may not include a picture of Ben french kissing the dishwasher.

We'll try to blog tomorrow after court, but it could also be a whirlwind from here until we are back with paperwork, visits, packing, cleaning, etc., so I'm not making any promises.

More Cooking in Kaz

Saturday night I made ham and lentil soup. I thought it would be trickier since I usually use chicken stock which is unavailable here unless you make it yourself. I was afraid plain old water would be too tasteless since I have limited spices as well. I found some big carrots, combined them with some tomatoes, onion, and garlic and was able to make a decent enough veggie broth for the soup. It turned out almost the same as when I make it at home. I would love to take some of these fat carrots home to the bunnies, but I just don't think they would make the long trip home.



Sunday night I decided to make a rustic apple tart since it seems the Kazakh dessert of choice is ice cream and I haven't been able to find anything warm and gooey. I did get some of their ice cream to top the tart.



As you may have suspected, I've been watching the food network a lot since I don't need to understand the Russian to understand the food. Plus, I think there is a food network gene in my family. There are only a few American shows, mostly British and Spanish, with some Russian. I would have thought the Spanish food would speak to me, but they always manage to put something in it that turns me away. The Russian stuff is hit or miss.

Busy Bees ...

This blog post is really just to let everyone know we're alive. We have been very busy trying to make sure we see all the things we want to see and do all the things we want to do since our time here in Astana is winding down. We have also been writing our speeches for court and of course, visiting our girl everyday. Ben has also been working about 3-4 hours a day while we are here and I'm lucky enough to just be checking and redirecting work emails daily. Thankfully it seems that people have finally read my out of office message and have stopped sending me stuff (after I've been gone for three weeks). Anyhow, it seems that we will be back a few days before we originally thought, nothing confirmed yet, but once it is, if you need to know, we'll let you know.

Correction to Earlier Post

Apparently I wasn't paying very good attention to our guide, because it is the Pyramid of Peace and Concord, not the Pyramid of Peace and Accord. My bad. The previous blog post has been corrected.

Bait and Switch*

Today we went to the good grocery store that is a longer walk from us. The plan was to stock up on some things so we didn't have to go back until much later in the week. I pick up some frozen shrimp to do a stir fry and some frozen fish fillets to bake. When we got to the check-out, the fish did not have a price tag, so one of the baggers went to check and came back with a different bag of fish with a price tag. Once we got home, I put the fish in the sink with a slow drip of cold water to thaw out the fillets. When I took them out of the plastic bag to prep them for cooking, these fish fillets seemed rather ... rubbery, almost tripe like. And upon further inspection, they were not really fillets, but tubular. I thought, some kind of organ? No, it definitely had a fishy smell to it. I looked at the label on the bag and read:

ФИЛЕ КАЛЬМАРА which roughly translates to FILE KALMARA

Yes, calamari, squid, that explains the rubbery texture and the fishy smell. It is also the one known food that will, well, kill me. Sigh. Straight to the trash. At least these three lovely fillet of squid only cost 411 tenge, which at today's exchange rate is about $2.75, a small price to pay for not dying today.

Luckily we have some Russian potato and chicken dumplings in the freezer that should taste great with the shallot/dill/lemon/butter sauce that was supposed to accompany the fish.

* the punny title is Ben's contribution to this blog post.

Astana - Part III

Today is Sunday so we did not get to visit Miranda at the baby house. Instead, we went to the Pyramid of Peace and Concord with the two other couples.



This Pyramid, along with most the other buildings we'll show you, is part of the master plan for the new Astana. This building was conceived as a symbol of the 130 different races and nationalities living harmoniously in Kazakhstan. On the lower levels (0-3) there is a very nice opera house. Unfortunately it was too dark to photograph well.

The upper levels have stained glass with doves and the sun.



After the pyramid, the other couples headed to the Bayterek and other sites we had already seen, so we just went back to our apartment to nap, work, and do some laundry. Tomorrow we get to see our girl again!

Budding Romance

Today during our last 15 minutes of visitation, all the kids were tired, so the moms were holding the babies talking while the dads were packing up all the toys. Noah is a little cutie about a month older than Miranda. He's very forward too. He just reached over and took Miranda's hand and the two just held hands while Noah's mom and I talked. Very cute.



Noah's family lives in the Atlanta area and Ben and I may try to stay in touch with them since we do visit Atlanta every few years to see family and friends. I know from our agency email loop that there are families in Austin and Houston who have kids adopted from Kazakhstan, but I'm not aware of any in San Antonio. We also plan to try to connect with some of those families once Miranda is a little older and can appreciate getting together with other Kaz-Americans.

Astana - Part II

Today we went into the Bayterek, from wikipedia "the monument is meant to embody a folktale about a mythical tree of life and a magic bird of happiness: the bird, named Samruk, had laid its egg in the crevice between two branches of a poplar tree."



This is one of the structures designed by Norman Foster. The observation deck within the egg is at 97 meters to symbolize the year (1997) the Astana became the capital of Kazakhstan. You can see our apartment building and grocery store from the observation deck.



Looking to the East, you see The Residence, and to the West, the state owned oil and gas company which reminds me of a Vegas casino. Beyond the building though, you can get a sense of the steppes of Kazakhstan.

Week 2

Two more families from our agency arrived Monday, one from GA and one from MI. Both are adopting little boys that are in Miranda's room at the baby house. We were all in the big play room today during our bonding time today. Having been here a week without many people to speak English with, we were happy to share our experiences being one week ahead of them in the process. We didn't have that much time to get to know them since Miranda had to get her passport and visa photo today. She wasn't smiling in the picture, which is probably appropriate since I can't imagine she'll be smiling when we go through passport control after 24 hours of traveling. Miranda has had a little bit of a cold since we got here. We purchased some meds at the local apteka (drug store) and she sounded a little better today.

We found another grocery store about 3 blocks away inside a mall. It is farther than the Gros right across the street, but this store has a much better selection of everything. Our driver also took us to a Ramstore closer to the baby house, but it was much the same as the store at the mall. We've been trying different types of local dumplings, all pretty good. I made some chili that we've been eating on baked potatoes. It's alright, as good as it could be with the limited supplies. Tomorrow night I'll be doing a stir fry with chicken, mushrooms, snow peas and a mustard and soy sauce. For breakfast tomorrow I'm going to make some berry filled crepes (all from stuff I found in the freezer section).