These are few of her favorite things....

Everyone sing along to the Sound of Music...These are few of my favorite things...when the dog bites, when the bee stings, when I'm feeling sad...I simpy remember my favorite things...and then I don't feel....so......bad!!!!


Today, Leeza's favorite things were Mommy's bling bracelet and the ROCK Sean was kicking. Doesn't that show a nice balance for a baby sister? Bling for her "fashion forward mother", and rocks for her brother!! That's our girl!!!

I also got a couple shots today of her without her sweet bonnet so you could see her hair. She does have some-it's very blond. Also, no blue dots today. I didn't think to explain the blue dots because I am so used to seeing them from my "blog queen days",but the blue dots are what the caregivers put on the kids bug bites in Kaz. They are outside all the time in the summer, so, unfornately, their sweet skin gets bitten by bugs. We have not been bothered by bugs at all. Our windows are open,(in our apartment) and we even packed screen, but we haven't been bothered. I reckon we are not "sweet enough" for the bugs. They don't like us "stinkin American's" perhaps. FINE WITH ME!!The cool breeze must keep them away.


We had a wonderful Tuesday with the lovely Leeza today. Today was daddy’s turn to feed her lunch. As Sean KEPT saying, “Dad does it better than you, Dad is as good as the caregivers”….WHATEVER!!!! Yes, I know, Joe is good at EVERYTHING. However, Leeza ate more lunch when her messy mommy fed her yesterday. She seemed a lil stuffy today and she seemed kinda sleepy too, so we made sure we got lots of cuddle time. I can already tell that Leeza prefers to be BUSY! (Karen-her and Ryan are sure to be BFF’S!!) and she loves music. I have a lil baby Einstein radio thingy that plays classical music and she loves it. She also seemed to love mommy’s off key singing to Jesus loves me, Jesus loves the lil children, and He’s got the whole world in his hands. He sure does have the whole world is his hands, as he unites Leeza with her family!! I continue to give thanks and praise for the blessings bestowed upon all of us with this wonderful gift of a child.

We introduced to her to a couple new toys today. Yeah, um, maybe I brought too many, but we are only on day 4 and she does clearly like toys. She liked the lil sunshine today that had a mirror on it. She kept “talking” to the mirror..I think she was saying. “Wow-you are cute-will you be my BFF? Do you have “bling” like this lady who comes to visit me? Now, SHE has some GOOD BLING!!”
Now, it's clearly obvious that God ha a great plan in uniting Leeza her family…she loves BLING just like her mom. She liked my bling bracelet a lot and kept hangin on to it. Her other fav activity today was following the rock that Sean was kicking as we walked around the baby house today. She would follow that rock with her eyes, as he kicked it along. I think she has some pretty good vision-she was mesmerized with the rock. Joe said….”Ah Leeza, you have all the toys, yet you like the rock BEST…you are a very normal baby!!”
However, she also DOES like the toys too, and she likes my bling.

Tatiana was taking Nick today to meet his family in Almaty so her boyfriend, Ivan, picked us up to take us to the baby house and also took us to lunch. We tried out a new place..that I have heard a lot about in my other Kostanai friends blogs..DOLCE VITA. It was “ochnen cusna”…very delicious. I had a beer, and pasta with pesto and pine nuts. Sean had noodles with meatballs, and Joe had lasagna. Ivan speaks really good \English, and is a very nice guy. Everyone is so nice here!

The other family with our agency arrived today and all 3 families are meeting up for dinner. They meet their kiddo tomorrow. All in all, I have to say life is very good in Kostanai for the Serra family. We are well aware of what is happening with our agency in the states, and we are sick about it. However, we are done with our agency in the states since our dossier and our family is already in process in Kostanai. My heart goes out to the other families affected by this latest news.

Leeza likes bling, Mom likes the beer, and Dad has his trio working again, and Sean is pretty easy going anyway, so we’re all pretty happy. I think lunch cost us around $9. I cannot believe how cheap and good the food is. I just really wish I spoke and read Russian fluently. I am glad I know the few words I do, as every little bit helps.
My heart is very full.

Thank you all for your comments and emails. They mean the world to us. I can read my emails, but I can’t respond to them for some reason. My outlook doesn’t work when I try to send. Skype is a godsend, as we got to talk to my dad, Joe’s parents, and my sister last night. Since I don’t have my phone, I don’t have a lot of people’s phone numbers if I didn’t have yours memorized. The connection on skype is really good too.

Please keep up the comments, prayers, and well wishes. Leeza is our daughter in our hearts, but not an "official Leeza Grace Serra" legal family member until we get thru court and the waiting period. Every second we spend with her, we all fall in love with her more. I wish we had more time with her…2 hours flies by and leaves us yearning for more. I cannot wait to get her home and walk around the neighborhood in the ergo, and go to Cafe Bebe, and walk with Lisa at the park....so many things to look forward too.