March 29, one down for a little while

Well, as of this afternoon, Caleb and I are now solo in Kazakhstan. Ethan left at 3p today (Sunday) and is to travel for 36 hours before landing in Atlanta. Granted, there is 15 hours of layovers, but it still a LONG way home! It was hard to see him leave to say the least. He took Caleb out for dinner last night and explained to him that he had to go to work and would be gone for a little while. Caleb of course asked if diggers would be involved and Ethan said yes, there would be diggers at work. When I got home from my visit with Julia today, Caleb immediately asked for “Dada”, I told him to remember that dada went to work..Caleb said “riding diggers”. Cute. Please pray that Caleb will be settled once he realizes Ethan really is gone for a couple of weeks and not just the afternoon. I know this is hard on a two year old as he has limited understanding. We had a nice afternoon, running in the gym, playing basketball, eating ice cream, oh and eating dinner at the restaurant here. I am so thankful that we are in a nice, safe hotel!
Speaking of hotels, yesterday we moved to a new hotel room as our suite was booked by another family. This room is about the size of a bedroom. There is a small refrigerator and a closet. Thankfully, Caleb’s tent fits. The good thing about the room is that it is about a half the price of the suite. So, if we can make this work for the remainder of the stay, then we will save a lot of money. It may be doable, as the weather is definitely warming up. The only problem is evenings, since Caleb goes to bed so early. We’ll see.
Our little girl is just so much fun. I realized that one of her favorite activities is dancing. I was alone today at our visit as the interpreter and Ethan were at the airport. I turned on some music and started to dance, she LOVED it. She pulled up on a chair and danced along with me with a huge smile. So fun! Today we completed our 14 days of “mandatory” bonding. I think the Kazakhs really got this right. It is amazing to see how much more comfortable she is with us now after spending 2 hours a day for 14 days. This procedure seems to make the transition for baby and parents go much smoother. I just wish we had court tomorrow and home Tuesday since we had a successful bonding! Oh well. We’ll wait it out another 6 weeks and continue to jump through the hoops. Whatever it takes to get our little girl home is what we will do.
Oh, and Ethan and I went out on a great Anniversary date last night to an “eastern” restaurant. We had good food and there was good company with our travel partners! I posted some pictures of the evening. There was food and dancing!
P.S. For those of you who may be concerned, I am not alone over here. Our travel partners are here as well as a really nice couple we met at the grocery store has taken me under their wings. He is a family physician, so he said I could call anytime if Caleb or I got sick…So, God is watching out for Caleb and me.

Ethan and Julia right before he left today

Yes, red markers on his lips, just like mama