Leeza all dressed up and CRACKIN UP!

My brother Sean's HILARIOUS and he makes me really smile
I never knew I could laugh this hard I hope he stays here for awhile!!








This is my brother Sean..he's so funny!
He makes me laugh, even when my nose is so runny!



She's dressed to impress, but her dress is kinda short
Mommy, says Leeza...please get me a skort!!



Mom and Leeza, aren't they cute
Mom's 'ok' but brother's a hoot!!



a poem by Leeza

With my mom in her kerchief and me in my dress
I vowed with my juice I would NOT make a mess



Kazakh boy jammin out on his Dombra. He's actually pretty good!




2 Kazakh dolls..One by herself and one on her horse. She will eat him later. HA HA



Our Kazakh souvenirs we bought..BY OURSELVES..we are so proud!





Our Kazakh style yurt...what the Nomad Kazakhs used to live in..

When we went to see the lil miss today, she was all dressed up, in this pretty lil dress, sitting on the potty with her buddies. We got the cutest pictures!! She looked absolutely adorable! It’s like she knew it too, because when she ate lunch, she spilled nary a drop on her dress…not even when she guzzled her drink out of the tea cup! I asked Tatiana what it was they drank….it has apricots in it. It’s warm too, it’s like “warm healthy tea” made with apples, apricots, etc. She LOVES it and always drinks it all down. She usually spills a bunch too, it seems like almost half drips out of her mouth and into her bowl. However, today, she didn’t spill a drop! Sean said it was probably Aigul’s idea to dress her up since I am always so messy feeding her! WHATEVER SEAN!
During lunch, while I feed Leeza, Sean did his rounds playing with his pals. When we were fixin to walk around the baby house before we went to play in the visitation room, Aigul put down a towel and motioned for Sean to sit there. He stayed and entertained the kids. It was really precious to watch.
I have to say, I am VERY proud of Sean. I hate to sound like “one of those Mom’s" (who always brags about their kids incessantly) but I am just LOVING watching Sean in Kostanai. Don’t get me wrong, he still has his “pre teen moments” and he’s still “sassy Sean” and gets on my nerves sometimes, but I feel like I’m seeing a whole new side to him. It’s nice being away from the everyday life distractions to “re bond” as a family. He loves it here as much as we do, if not more. He not only entertains all the kids, but he entertains us too! We were playing this World History trivia game we brought last night, and not only is he WAY SMARTER THAN HIS MOTHER (but I already knew that) his witty comments had me in stitches. I am just so proud of him and so grateful for him!! He really is an “old soul” and he has such a way with children..it just melts my heart! You should see the way he gets these kids faces to just LIGHT UP! It’s really incredible to witness. Enough mush…

We did have a great visit with the lovely Leeza today. She is working on making those lil legs strong. She does love to stand up and play..and bang her toys on the table. I love her sweet lil legs..you can see the lil dimples in her knees in some of the pics I am going to post. She is DEFINTELY not one of those “skinny babies”. She is just perfect..practically perfect in every way…(there I go with those Mary Poppins references again..)
Sean had her CRACKING up today. I had not seen her laugh like this before. She was just giggling and falling forward in daddy’s lap and her lil shoulders would shake. He was jumping all around just acting goofy…but she found it absolutely HILARIOUS!

We did find out our judge today. It’s the cool judge, but also the “slow judge.” I remember when Khadine spoke about that on her blog. She is nice and fair, and familiar with adoptions, so for that I am grateful. I was just hoping for “faster” rather than slower, because slow means that Joe will be leaving after pre-court. In fact, this also means poor Joe will be making 3 trips. He will leave after precourt (hopefully we'll have that next week), then come back for court, then leave after court until we're done with the waiting period and have Leeza's passport and ready to take her to Almaty before we can fly back home. I feel bad for Joe, and bad for Leeza too, because she adores her daddy and I know she will miss him!! From what Tatiana told us, it's usually 3 or 4 weeks AFTER pre-court that court is held, but mostly 4 with this judge. We don’t have our pre-court date yet, but hopefully we’ll have it tomorrow. Honestly, I’m not in a hurry to leave. The 2 other familes here are done with the official bonding period on Wednesday and they are both leaving. They looked at me like I was INSANE when I said I was staying the entire time. I’m sure I’ll need to go back and re-read these comments around week 7 or so…but I truly love it here and the weather is perfect. I’m not working full time, and I just feel that I need to stay. I have heard so many people say that you do what feels right,and that is SO TRUE for me!! I pray everyday thanking God for bringing us here to Leeza. We are so blessed and so fortunate, I just can't see leaving her when we're just getting her used to us. she loves her caregivers and they love her. Sean, of course, thinks she is their favorite. Plus, Florida is hot, humid, and a tropical storm is heading our way. Big thank you to my BFF Jill for bringing in our all furniture, etc on our patio in case the winds get gusty. You’re the best! Hopefully, it won’t hit the Tampa Bay area at all, and if it does, hopefully it’s a category one and just gets a lil windy then passes by.
We had a yummy pizza lunch (and I had a really good salad with cheese, tomatoes, and red peppers) and then we went to the Kazakh souvenir store BY OURSELVES! Tatiana ordered lunch for us, then she had to go take the Wiley’s home from the baby house, so we got done eating, and walked to the souvenir store. I was proud of us, with my very limited Russian, we got Sean a dombra, a yurt, a darling knit hat for Leeza, a doll, and a lil doll on a horse. I have included photo’s. Sean has enjoyed jamming out on his dombra. He likes playing it, and can play the same songs he plays on his guitar. ROCK ON KAZAKH SEAN!! Sean also got a lil Kazakh pin with the flag on it to wear or put on his backpack!

To answer some of the questions: Yes, we watch the Olympics. It’s all in Russian, but Joe watches it a lot. It’s on right now, but I’m doing blog and picture time.
Joe is feeling better, but he is going to the doctor tomorrow. He cannot kick his cough, but he DOES NOT HAVE ANY SYMPTOMS OF PNEMONIA. It’s a very dry cough, we believe aggravated by the dust here. He is prone to sinus infections, then got a cold from Leeza, then the dust I think caused it all to settle in his chest. It doesn’t hurt to breathe, and we checked him against every symptom on web md for pneumonia, so please don’t worry. He said I am not allowed to mention him anymore because I made his mom worry. He is going to see a pulmonogist tomorrow though.
Heidi-Please email me at princess@tampabay.rr.com and I will email you back the names of our in country people. I am so sorry you are going thru such a hard time. I will continue to pray for you guys. I am so sorry!!
Laura D…Depending on when our court date is, I am thinking about leeting Sean stay with me until court. Maybe you could talk to Mr. Coddington for us and see what would be required of Sean as far as making up the work? I agree with you-Sean is AMAZING over here. Not only would I miss him, but the kids will miss him. Leeza will get depressed if all the fun guys leave her and she’s stuck with boring ole mom!!