Tuesday, September 30, 2003
Ours
May I introduce you to ..........................
Tomas Isaiah Selin, our son.
Yes, he is officially ours now ..........the adoption is final !
Our hearts are singing praises to the lover of his soul.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Sorry you haven't heard from us in a couple of days, but things have been mighty busy in these parts.
Sunday was our last day in the orphanage ....and we promise you there are more photos coming from that. We weren't able to post on that day, though, as the afternoon and night were filled preparing for Monday, our courtday. Jon had a speech to write for court, Suzy had gifts to prepare for the caregivers and others who have been wonderful to us during our stay here, and of course, there was more borsch to eat ! (oooh that stuff is good!)
Here is the courthouse in AkKol. Wish you could have been there. It was quite an experience........
The hour wait for the judge .....the fact that the papas and the interpreter went in search of a bathroom about a minute before the judge walked in the room, leaving the mamas in courtroom with no interpreters (eek) .......the questions ..... ...the moment the judge told Suzy that she already had three children and did not need another , at which point Suzy thought she was going to faint (come to realized later he was just trying to ask why she wanted more children) ..... more questions ..... the moment the judge cracked a joke, Kaz-style ..... and of course the incredible moment the wonderful, brillant, but stoic, judge congratulated us and the Kembles on the adoption of our children.......AND wished us a safe, immediate trip home ......AND THANKED US for taking these AkKol children into our families and lives. Wish I had a photo of that man.
Have to share this picture with you.
After the court hearing there was paperwork to do around AkKol. Fortunately for us, we had two wonderful women - our facilitator and our interpreter - running around AkKol doing it all for us. Our job was simply to wait in a parked car, for 2-3 hours, where it was warm. After awhile, Sarah and I decided we needed to shop (well, tell me what woman can sit in a car for 2 hours when there is a shopping center across the street? ....even the Akkol shopping center is way too tempting). Geoff decided to escort us (although I think he wanted to shop, too).
Well, we were in one of the little grocery shops discussing which candy to buy for lunch (yes, you read it right...) when these schoolboys walked in and listened with delight to us talking, snickering to themselves. Then they very politely and very carefully, in beautiful English they said, "Hello! My name is_____" and introduced themselves. It was obvious they had learned some English in school and were thrilled to finally meet someone they could say their phrases to! They were so excited to meet us. And we were just as thrilled to meet them....four very friendly and very "smiley" Kazak boys! In fact, we were so excited to meet them I took photos of them (which they loved) and we bought them each a pack of gum and lollipops which we gave to them later outside of the store......whoops.....would that make us "strangers", the kind that offer candy to children?
After the gathering of birth certificates and other such papers, we headed to the orphanage for one last time .....
......to pick up our children - our SON Tommy ....and for the Kembles, their DAUGHTERS Nadia and Anna. :)
And the goodbye party began ......
Tommy and the Kemble Girls were dressed in the outfits we brought, and the other children were dressed in their best. Natalia, the head caregiver for Tommy and Nadia, presented them each with a card, little cars for Tommy and hair accesories for Nadia.
You should have seen the look on these faces when the children saw the fancy cake we brought for the party!
I missed it with the camera, but lucky we have that on video.
After the party treats, the children played some a couple of party games, and then began the goodbye dance. How I wish I understood Russian ! Tommy and Nadia stood in the middle as the others stood in a circle around them, singing and acting out a very special and symbolic song, I'm sure.
It was time to leave much too soon.
Here we are gathered for a group shot.........Tommy and Nadia's group at the orphanage.
In the back the three ladies are the three caregivers for this group, along with Papa Geoff and Papa Jon. :)
On the floor is Mama Sarah and Mama Suzy holding Nadia and Tommy.
And gathered all around are the rest of the sweeties.
Natalia then gave a wonderful goodbye speech to the new Mamas and Papas. Mama Suzy then started to cry.
Suzy and Natalia exchanged addresses and promised to keep in touch.
One last shot..... Tommy with "mamas" who love him very much.
And one last drive from AkKol....this time with a son on our lap.
It was off to the apartment for some packing, off to the Neighborhood Grill for some awesome pizza,.....
.....and then off to the airport for a 10 pm flight to Almaty ! (Samish Island is finally start to feel a bit closer!)
At the airport....the start of our journey home!
Tommy.
Get ready America, this little guy is as curious as they get.....he has already broken many things out of pure curiosity...he's just gotta take things apart and see what's inside - even things that aren't suppose to come apart!
But that's okay, because he's got that smile...and he's our little boy now.
What more can I say? He's on his way home.
Our journey home includes a four day stay in Almaty finishing up on paperwork with some appointments, and hopefully some sightseeing. Almaty really is a beautiful city....tree-lined streets.....and supposedly some great parks and monuments and stuff. Our camera is on it's last leg, though, in that our battery recharger died, so I can't promise many more photos....we'll see what we can do. But to be honest, we just want to come home. We've got our boy, the purpose of our trip, .... and all we really want to do now is get home with him to our other three honeys.
It's time.
Tomas Isaiah Selin, our son.
Yes, he is officially ours now ..........the adoption is final !
Our hearts are singing praises to the lover of his soul.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Sorry you haven't heard from us in a couple of days, but things have been mighty busy in these parts.
Sunday was our last day in the orphanage ....and we promise you there are more photos coming from that. We weren't able to post on that day, though, as the afternoon and night were filled preparing for Monday, our courtday. Jon had a speech to write for court, Suzy had gifts to prepare for the caregivers and others who have been wonderful to us during our stay here, and of course, there was more borsch to eat ! (oooh that stuff is good!)
Here is the courthouse in AkKol. Wish you could have been there. It was quite an experience........
The hour wait for the judge .....the fact that the papas and the interpreter went in search of a bathroom about a minute before the judge walked in the room, leaving the mamas in courtroom with no interpreters (eek) .......the questions ..... ...the moment the judge told Suzy that she already had three children and did not need another , at which point Suzy thought she was going to faint (come to realized later he was just trying to ask why she wanted more children) ..... more questions ..... the moment the judge cracked a joke, Kaz-style ..... and of course the incredible moment the wonderful, brillant, but stoic, judge congratulated us and the Kembles on the adoption of our children.......AND wished us a safe, immediate trip home ......AND THANKED US for taking these AkKol children into our families and lives. Wish I had a photo of that man.
Have to share this picture with you.
After the court hearing there was paperwork to do around AkKol. Fortunately for us, we had two wonderful women - our facilitator and our interpreter - running around AkKol doing it all for us. Our job was simply to wait in a parked car, for 2-3 hours, where it was warm. After awhile, Sarah and I decided we needed to shop (well, tell me what woman can sit in a car for 2 hours when there is a shopping center across the street? ....even the Akkol shopping center is way too tempting). Geoff decided to escort us (although I think he wanted to shop, too).
Well, we were in one of the little grocery shops discussing which candy to buy for lunch (yes, you read it right...) when these schoolboys walked in and listened with delight to us talking, snickering to themselves. Then they very politely and very carefully, in beautiful English they said, "Hello! My name is_____" and introduced themselves. It was obvious they had learned some English in school and were thrilled to finally meet someone they could say their phrases to! They were so excited to meet us. And we were just as thrilled to meet them....four very friendly and very "smiley" Kazak boys! In fact, we were so excited to meet them I took photos of them (which they loved) and we bought them each a pack of gum and lollipops which we gave to them later outside of the store......whoops.....would that make us "strangers", the kind that offer candy to children?
After the gathering of birth certificates and other such papers, we headed to the orphanage for one last time .....
......to pick up our children - our SON Tommy ....and for the Kembles, their DAUGHTERS Nadia and Anna. :)
And the goodbye party began ......
Tommy and the Kemble Girls were dressed in the outfits we brought, and the other children were dressed in their best. Natalia, the head caregiver for Tommy and Nadia, presented them each with a card, little cars for Tommy and hair accesories for Nadia.
You should have seen the look on these faces when the children saw the fancy cake we brought for the party!
I missed it with the camera, but lucky we have that on video.
After the party treats, the children played some a couple of party games, and then began the goodbye dance. How I wish I understood Russian ! Tommy and Nadia stood in the middle as the others stood in a circle around them, singing and acting out a very special and symbolic song, I'm sure.
It was time to leave much too soon.
Here we are gathered for a group shot.........Tommy and Nadia's group at the orphanage.
In the back the three ladies are the three caregivers for this group, along with Papa Geoff and Papa Jon. :)
On the floor is Mama Sarah and Mama Suzy holding Nadia and Tommy.
And gathered all around are the rest of the sweeties.
Natalia then gave a wonderful goodbye speech to the new Mamas and Papas. Mama Suzy then started to cry.
Suzy and Natalia exchanged addresses and promised to keep in touch.
One last shot..... Tommy with "mamas" who love him very much.
And one last drive from AkKol....this time with a son on our lap.
It was off to the apartment for some packing, off to the Neighborhood Grill for some awesome pizza,.....
.....and then off to the airport for a 10 pm flight to Almaty ! (Samish Island is finally start to feel a bit closer!)
At the airport....the start of our journey home!
Tommy.
Get ready America, this little guy is as curious as they get.....he has already broken many things out of pure curiosity...he's just gotta take things apart and see what's inside - even things that aren't suppose to come apart!
But that's okay, because he's got that smile...and he's our little boy now.
What more can I say? He's on his way home.
Our journey home includes a four day stay in Almaty finishing up on paperwork with some appointments, and hopefully some sightseeing. Almaty really is a beautiful city....tree-lined streets.....and supposedly some great parks and monuments and stuff. Our camera is on it's last leg, though, in that our battery recharger died, so I can't promise many more photos....we'll see what we can do. But to be honest, we just want to come home. We've got our boy, the purpose of our trip, .... and all we really want to do now is get home with him to our other three honeys.
It's time.
