More of Joshua, Dave & Amy

Really the afternoon visit! – April 16 - It was so special. Roma spends a lot of time playing on his tummy, and we had some great fun with him sitting on our laps and laying on the blanket. He found Amy’s mouth, hair and nose, and was really into examining our faces. Dave’s nose also proved particularly interesting. It was a nice relaxing visit. He’s at the beginning stages of crawling, but does need some help balancing himself sitting up, but we’ll spend some time on that each visit. It seems that after an hour all of us are pretty tired! Roma takes little breaks by rolling over on to his back or side for about 20 seconds (or less), then pops right back up for more fun! It’s a lot of stimulation for him, and he needs little time to regroup! Most of the children spend a lot of time on their backs or on their tummies, or in strollers. So having this much interactive time with grownups dedicated to him is all new. The caregivers, however, are fantastic, and give such loving care. Joshua Roman really has a special place in their hearts. Today, when we left, Maria his caregiver, was telling him we were his mama and papa. They want only the best for their babies and we will do our best to give Roma a wonderful life.

Observations: We shared a special night with the Morrison’s from across the hall. They celebrated their approval from the court today and are officially the parents of their 10 month old, Bryce. He’s a cutie pie and doing great. They bring him home Tuesday. We walked to dinner at the Dixie Pub (no English menus, but the waitress was fantastic and helped translate). Dave had a t-bone steak and Amy had chicken fajita. All very good! Beers and cheers were shared. The guys also indulged in celebratory cigars, and we did the Kaz version of stooping (you’ll know what that is if you know anything about B-more City!) outside the apartment when we got home, and took some pictures to capture the memory. Fortunately, one of the apartment residents came home and turned on the building light, so didn’t have to stoop in the dark – and it gets very dark, and a little on the scary side! This will be one of our favorite days in Uralsk. We will miss our new friends when they head to Almaty on Friday, but know we’ll be following them soon. We have learned another family is coming Friday/Saturday, and they’ve adopted from here before, so we look forward to meeting them.

On a final note: We have CNN International on the TV in the apartment and just learned of the shootings at VA Tech. We are shocked and deeply saddened to hear of the tragedy which occurred there today. All of our prayers go to the victims and families.