Family and Friends,
We have an official court date – Friday, February 11. Our legal bonding days have concluded (we will continue to visit Sam daily until we return) and yesterday, we met Bayan, our adoption coordinator, and Madina, our translator, at a notary’s office to sign the paperwork required to formally “pass papers” to the court and secure the hearing date.
Of course, even this joyous occasion came with its own bit of drama, as, upon arriving at the notary, Bayan discovered to her dismay that Steve didn’t have his immigration form inside his passport. Without it, she would not be able to submit the papers, nor would we be able to leave the country. No stress there!
Concluding that the form must have slipped out sometime during our trip, we made the 30-minute drive back to our hotel in Borovoe to search our room in hopes of finding it. Thankfully, it turned up quickly, so back we went to Schuchinsk, breathing sighs of relief and gratitude and then handing the immigration form off to an equally relieved Bayan!
Since arriving in late December, we’ve been working toward this ultimate goal of going to court. This is a major step in that direction.
Thank you, as always, for your prayers and support.
Steve and Tonya
Well, it was bound to happen. Each day, at noon, our hotel serves glasses of kymyz (koo miss) to the guests. Kymyz is a dairy beverage made from fermented mare's milk – carbonated and mildly alcoholic. The drink is important to the people of the Central Asian steppes, especially Kazakhs, who attest to its many health benefits.
In case you were wondering (we’ve come to ponder these things), kymyz is not always easy to come by, because milking a horse is no easy task! Here’s how it’s done: the milker kneels on one knee, with a pail propped on the other, steadied by a string tied to an arm. One arm is wrapped behind the mare's rear leg and the other in front. A foal starts the milk flow and is pulled away by another person, but left touching the mare's side during the entire process. Amazing!
Alas, we have always been at the baby house in Schuchinsk at noon, thus missing this daily Kazakh tradition. Until, that is, we met two sisters recently, Assel and Gulzhan, also staying at the hotel.
Assel speaks fluent English, and had been waiting for an opportunity to meet us. Finally, our paths crossed, and a wonderful time was had exchanging stories with these two special young women. Then the conversation turned to horse milk. “Have you been enjoying the kymyz - horse milk - each day?” Assel asked. “Umm, unfortunately not,” we replied, explaining our schedule. “Oh, you must try it! It is very good for you and is a very special drink in Kazakhstan.” “We’ll plan on doing that soon,” we promised.
At lunch the next day, two glasses of what we thought were Kefir (a buttermilk-meets-yogurt drink) were next to our plates – certainly different, but a taste we have become used to. Steve (of course), grabbed a glass and took a big swig, his eyes suddenly expanding to the size of silver dollars. “That’s NOT Kefir!” he managed to gasp after he caught his breath. Yes, you guessed it, our two dear new friends had asked the hotel staff to bring us tall glasses of kymyz as part of our lunch.
Since we doubt most of you will ever have the experience of drinking kymyz, we offer our formal review:
Kymyz’ appearance resembles traditional cow’s milk before it has been homogenized, but with a thinner consistency.
The kymyz first encounters the tongue with strong, tangy notes of 7-Up and grapefruit, and then transforms on the palette into a pungent essence of smoked gouda and parmesan cheeses with an alcohol-vapor finish. The effect lingers … and is then revisited.
A drink like no other!
As an added bonus, we have provided a video of Tonya taking her first drink of kymyz:
Kymyz is an acquired taste! However, it is definitely an experience worth having. Like so many things we have encountered here, it helps deepen our understanding of this wonderful culture and our children's heritage.
Steve and Tonya
Sam continues to grow and change literally before our eyes – he’s doing so well. We thought you may enjoy getting a tour of Sam’s baby house and seeing how we spend our time during each visit.
The baby house is very much the same as Lily Grace’s was in Karaganda, and as most are throughout Kazakhstan. They appear to have been constructed in the post-WWII era, and Sam’s baby house has been kept up remarkably well.
Enjoy the tour!
Steve and Tonya
Our trip to adopt Sam has been full of surprises. But nothing prepared us for the amazing experience we had this past weekend, when the torch relay for the Asian Winter Games came right through here with a major, high-fanfare stop at a national monument tucked underneath the mountains just outside the grounds of our hotel.
It’s a treat we might have missed, had it not been for the kindness of two men at our hotel who have befriended us – Abdulla and Gani, who invited us to come with them to the event.
In both cases, these men sought us out because they could tell we’re Americans (we’re the only Americans here of course) and they both love America. Gani has had the opportunity to visit the United States for a month, and Abdulla hopes for a time when he can visit.
They were proud to be able to show us some Kazakh hospitality by escorting us through the entire ceremony and giving us a taste of some of Kazakhstan’s oldest traditions.
The 2011 Asian Winter Games is a multi sporting event that will be held in Astana and Almaty, Kazakhstan from January 30 through February 6. This is Kazakhstan’s first time to host an event of this scale since gaining their independence from the Soviet Union. 27 countries from the Middle East through all of Asia are participating in this precursor to the 2014 Winter Olympic games in Sochi, Russia.
Torch Relay
The flame of the Games was officially lit in Kuwait (last host of the games) on January 11. The relay then began in Almaty and is traversing the cities and towns of Kazakhstan for 16 days before arriving at the opening ceremony in Astana on January 30. 
Because this is the region of his birth, Kazakhstan’s most famous Olympic athlete, Vladimir Smirnoff, ran the leg we attended. Smirnoff brought home Kazakhstan’s first gold medal for the 50km cross-country skiing event at the 1994 Olympics in Lillehammer.
At least a thousand people came in from all over and lined the road here for hours in -10F weather to wave flags and cheer as Smirnoff ran to the national monument, igniting a gold bowl with fire.
We have put together a slideshow and a video to help give you a sense of this special day here in Kazakhstan. It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience for us to witness, but the warmth and hospitality of Abdulla and Gane gave it a richness we would never have known, were it not for their willingness to share it all with us.
Tonya and Steve
Our official time of bonding with Sam has begun! He is a brown-eyed, sandy-haired nine-month old with an infectious grin and a lot of heart. This little fellow has overcome much, and continues to make great progress with the love and support of his caregivers and now with his new family-to-be.
Our first “legal day” of bonding was Wednesday of this week. As was the case with Lily Grace, we will be unable to share any pictures on the blog until we have cleared court in three weeks or so. So, we will try our best to describe our time with him in future posts.
What we can tell you now is that Sam LOVES picture books, particularly of babies and animals. And he therefore took to his new photo album from home right away, featuring his new Sissy. :-) And like Lily Grace at this point, Sam is not yet talking, and is beginning to make baby talk sounds when excited – like when looking at books. Oh, and without question, his favorite book is Pat the Bunny. For those of you who have this classic, you can picture his interaction with it – patting the bunny, playing peek-a-boo, and “putting his finger in Mummy’s ring”.
We still have most of this adoption journey yet to go, but we are so thankful to be placed officially on a path. Thank you all so much for your prayers and support.
Steve & Tonya
