"Officially bonded"

Zhanna with her
new Valentine
"sabaka" (dog)!








Hello! Everything is fine--just took the weekend off from "blogging". Zhanna and I are officially bonded--according to the law in Kazakhstan anyway! There is so much more to discover and learn about each other as the days go on. I am now learning the different words for body parts in Russian, as Zhanna explores and tries to play dentist and poke my eyes out...all in the process of getting to know each other. She has been great--she now puts both arms up in the air to say "pick me up" and begins to squeal when she sees me. I cried the first time she did that. She squeals and babbles a lot--no words and no teeth yet. I understand that in one picture it appeared that she had a tooth. So far, no teeth, but lots of drooling, so maybe soon.
Just found out that Karaganda is in the midst of many mountains, making take offs and landings rare in the early spring--which is now. Mom will be coming, but will have to take an overnight train from Almaty. What is another 12 hours when you've come this far? Anyway, depending on the weather and date, we may all be taking the train to Almaty after our 15 day waiting period and paperwork. That will be an experience, but the locals say "she will like" with the emphasis on will. Apparently, "is like hotel with 2 beds" in the train. This is the faster and more expensive of the trains, the other one is cheaper, but takes 21 hours. Who knew that only 2 inches on the map could possibly take that long?
Lena and I went to the mall yesterday to purchase a walker for Zhanna to use in the apartment. She is very active, and the babies are in the walkers at a very early age. We will donate it to the baby house when we leave. She does not walk or totally sit up by herself, but boy can she boot scoot in the walker! Two more days (hopefully) at the orphanage and then she will move into the apartment with me! (Again, depending upon the judges decision in court). We will continue the same schedule, visiting from 10-12 with a bottle of juice at 10:15, then 4-6 with "snack" at 4:30pm. The snack is actually the same size as lunch and dinner--usually cream of wheat with grated apple, banana or chunks of softened bread. She has now learned how to do "raspberries" with her mouth, and loves to show me with a mouthful of food. Doing lots of laundry these days!
Enough for now--will write tommorrow (Monday).