Day 9 of Bonding!

We got to the baby house early today and our little Jenya was still asleep in her crib. Her caregiver told us we could go in and wake her up, what a great experience. There were about 16 cribs lined up, 8 on each side of the room, full of sleeping babies. So cute! When we found Jenya’s crib, there she was under a blanket with her right thumb in her mouth and her left hand wrapped around the side of the crib. I picked her up, which woke her, but she didn’t even cry at all. She looked so happy to see us! Her caregiver quickly came over to explain that one of the other little boys in the room had hit her a couple of times today and showed us the bruises on her back. She felt terrible, but how can they stop that sort of thing from happening with so many kids to watch? Apparently, he is getting too old to be in the same room with Jenya and the other younger babies, so he may be moved out soon. I can tell how much Jenya’s caregivers love her by the way they treat her and talk to her. After all, she’s been with them for almost a year now. Most babies are only there for a few weeks before they are adopted out.

Today when we went to develop our family photos for court, the Kodak picture printing machine was broken. Since we still have a few weeks until court we weren’t too upset, but the thought that if it happened the day before court stressed us out a little. Apparently it is a new rule that we have to have a certain number of photos of all of us together from each day of bonding to prove that we actually spent time with Jenya for the required amount of time. If they only knew how hard it is for us not to spend every waking moment with her!

So tomorrow is Jenya’s first birthday! I wish we could be at home celebrating with a big party for her, but we will make it as special as we can here. We bought her a new birthday outfit, a cute dress and tights, here in Karaganda. We plan to look for a birthday tiara for her in the morning as well as a cake to share with her caregivers. I got some birthday candles too, but we’re not sure if we can actually light them in the baby house. But the thought is there! We’ll be sure to talk lots of pictures of her special day, and when we get home we’ll celebrate with all her family and friends for her baptism. We plan to do that not too long after we get her home.

Oh, I forgot to update you on our food experience for the day. Today we found a woman in the open air market frying the best smelling food! For 45 tenge each (about 30 cents) we got a fried hotdog wrapped in puff pastry and a meat filled pastry. They were absolutely delicious. So much for spending $50 on a meal - less than a dollar gets us an amazing, yet not very healthy, lunch at the open air market. And for those of you who know how much Rick loves hotdogs, you’ll understand how excited he was when I brought that home for him! He’s already talking about opening his hotdog stand here in Kazakhstan :)