We're here!

Hello friends,
Sorry we haven't been able to update until today. It's taken us some time to get settled in, work on internet details, get some sleep etc. but we are here and enjoying our time so far. Let me start with our flight landing in Almaty, Kz. We arrived Monday at 3:00am! Needless to say, we were exhausted. Then we hopped into a car that would take us to Taraz. The trip was a long one- 8 hrs! 8 hours in a very small, cold car. (The heater didn't seem to work real well..brrr) When it was finally morning and the sun was coming up we were surrounded by snowy mountains. It was beautiful. We got into Taraz and were taken straight to the baby house. We met with our translator and adoption coordinator. Then we went to the hotel. We have a nice 4 room apartment! That was a treat and it's very comfortable. We had some time to rest, have a little lunch and then return baby house to meet "some babies". That confused us because we had already been matched with a baby we thought, but we just went along with it all. When we arrived at the baby house the second time we waited with our translator while our coordinator talked with the orpahnage director and doctor. Not really sure what they were talking about but we waited patiently. Again, we thought we would be seeing several babies and having to choose one. BUT- at one point the doctor left and returned with our little one- Timur (tee-moor). The doctor motioned us to come near and faced Timur towards us and he immediately got a big lower lip and started to cry and cry. The Doctor comforted him, faced him to us again and he cried and cried--big tears. We were led into an office where the doctor placed him on my lap. He's crying and I am about to cry but held it together. Then for about a 1/2 hour Shane and I just held him, tried to entertain him and keep him from crying. Such a special time. The translator told us that the children don't see many men so I am conviced he was afraid of SHane, NOT me! :)

He is a sweet boy..fair skinned, light hair and big blue eyes! That is funny to us because most of the people we see, actually almost all the people we see around us are dark haired, dark eyed, Mongol/Asian looking. AND- he's very chubby! Big round cheeks. He's heavy! I think he probably weighs more than Elijah! After holding him and loving on him a bit, the doctor came back and took him. We then were asked what our first impressions of him were ("He's wonderful!!") and is he our choice? (Absolutely!!) We can't even imagine thinking "well, no, let's see another one". Seems so odd and so strange. We are hoping to begin our bonding process tomorrow. We can't wait to see him again.

While driving in the car to Taraz, I had all these emotions running through my head. i was so so tired, first of all from the long flights and virturally no sleep. I was freezing in this cramped little car and a little nervous driving so far with a man that spoke probably only 5 words of English in the middle of the night (and it was a foggy night too). Anyways, I was feeling like we were going to the ends of the earth for this little one. A verse came to my mind. It's the verse that says nothing can seperate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus. And now after seeing Timur and holding him, all that traveling and lack of sleep and long freezing car ride was worth it all. We will do what it takes.
Thanks for your prayers and words of encouragement.
-wendy