Merry Christmas to All!

Dear Family and Friends;

Hard to believe Christmas has already come again. 2009 has been a very busy year for us as we continue to grow as a family and we're looking forward to 2010.

We pasue for a moment to give thanks for all we have been given and pray for a great year to come. This year, for the second time in a row, our Christmas travel plans were derailed by blizzard conditions on the east coast, leading us to travel directly north to Michigan. The change in palns wasn't all bad as it did lead us to take a short side trip to visit another family who was in Petropavlovsk this summer. We met their son during our trek two years ago, so it was a small reunion to see him again.

Below is our annual Christmas photo and letter. Cathe had a lot of fun with the Jib-Jab "Elf Yourself" web site, even getting Bob into the action!


And what about Bob? What's he doing while we're on our annual winter trek? Well, he's chillin' at the Berry Hill Doggie Spa and Gardens! When we broke the news that he wouldn't be coming with us, it only took him a moment to grab his shades and favorite ball:

Our 2009 Christmas Letter

Dear Family and Friends,

Merry Christmas, Greetings and Salutations! 2009 has been a year with many peaks and valleys, but we can thank the Lord that there were far more peaks to celebrate.

Bill is still working for a small defense contracting firm based in the Memphis area. Not quite the same level of excitement as working for a bigger company at a military base, but the commute is great (just two lights and a school zone) and there was no move involved with taking the job. It’s a program/project financial analyst position, so Bill is always up to his eyeballs in numbers!

Cathe is now in her sixth year teaching at the same school, a new record given all our prior military moves. This year her role has expanded to include more staff development duties and came with a new title, Elementary Instructional Technology Specialist. Although the new title didn’t come with a raise, it continues to bee both challenging and rewarding. This year she was invited to present at a Discovery Educator Network event, and loves the embroidered polo shirt that came as a presenter’s gift!

Although Stephen completed his active duty military obligation in the spring of 2008, he has been on the rolls in the Individual Ready Reserve (non-drilling status). He recently received notification that he is to report to Fort Jackson, SC in January for re-activation and possible deployment. Please keep him in your prayers.

Meanwhile, David and Kate are adjusting to the full school workload with no special accommodations. We are very proud of the huge progress they have made in just the two short years they have been home. Reviewing the monthly marks on the kitchen doorway, Kate has grown over seven inches while David has grown over eight. The neighbors have accused us of putting MiricleGrow in their orange juice!

It has been a blessing to see and stay connected with old friends and extended family. This year we have even gotten to visit a few of David and Kate’s friends from their old school in Kazakhstan. We hope to see you, talk to you or at least share a few e-mails with you in the coming year.

With the warmest wishes for this Christmas Season, С Рождеством всех!

Getting to see another old friend from Petropavlovsk

Happy Anniversary and Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you!

The Thanksgiving holiday has an extra special meaning for our family as it also marks our family homecoming anniversary. November 21st, 2007, the day before Thanksgiving, we welcomed David and Kate home. This year November 21st also marked "National Adoption Day."

Wishing you all the best at the beginning of the Advent season!

Bill, Cathe, David, Kate, and Bob

Has it only been two years?

Fall has already arrived and the days are quickly becoming shorter. We're over half way through the first marking period and sprots activities are keeping us very busy.

Today, October 3rd, 2009, is a very significant date for us: Two years ago today, the four of us met for the very first time. That Wednesday morning, Bill, Cathe, Masha, Sasha and the "D.O.G. Lady" packed into Sasha's Lada and headed to the Petropavlovsk Regional Boarding School.

The scarriest part for us was that we were going into this visit 100% "blind." After arriving in Kazakhstan and meeting with the Department of Guardianship representatives in Petropavlovsk, we had traveled 250 km cross-country to the small town of Saumalkol to visit the Airtau Orphanage. Circumstances didn't work out so we headed back to Petropavlovsk for a fresh start. All we had at that moment was the confidence that God had a child or children waiting for us "out there somewhere" and we just had to find him, her, or them.

Talk about trust: There we were in a stranger's car with a lot of cash in our pockets, out in the middle of absolutely nowhere, and having no idea where we were actually going. We would challenge anyone in that situation to tell us with all certainty that they didn't have all their trust in God, that He was leading them where they should go!


Meanwhile, David and Kate were getting started with their school day and were completely unaware that a significant change was about to take place.

What came together that day is nothing short of a miricle. We will forever hold a debt of gratitude for what Masha, our translator, Tatiana Tokareva, the RBS Social Worker, and RBS Director Kokpenov did in matching David and Kate with us. On the home front, Scott our house sitter and Anne our Social Worker also pulled off an amazing feat by providing us with a Homestudy Amendment, increasing the recommended adoption age range so that there would be no questions regarding our court application.

We find it nearly impossible to comprehend that it has now been only two years since the day we came together for the first time as a family. So much has taken place and we have done so much catching up that it seems to be now as it has always been. There have been challenges, but nothing extraordinary. And we're sure there will continue to be challenges. That's part of any child's process of growing up.


There comes a point in time when a blog changes from the topic of adoption to recording life's events. Like many families whose blogs we followed during our preparations and travels, we have decided that this is a good point in time to wrap up our adoption blog since our family has now transitioned from Adoption-mode to Facing Life's Challenges-mode. Although we plan to fill in a few details, and perhaps an occasional anniversary note, this will be our last regular entry.


We want to thank our family and friends who encouraged us through the peaks and valleys of the adoption process, sharing the joys and giving us the leg-up when we needed it the most.



For those considering adoption: Do your homework and DO consider adopting an older child or children. We had the opportunity to go through all the early reader books and quickly progress to higher level books as we helped the chrildren thrugh the early stages of learning English. We also were able to do a lot of activities right away and enjoy each others company. Perhaps this is a big part of what makes it hard for us to believe that only two years have passed since we worked our way through the age levels at an accelerated pace. We don't feel that we missed out on anything, rather that we have experienced much more since the children could share their experiences with us as well.

We found tremendous support and a wealth of information through several Yahoo Groups such as Kazakhstan_Adoption, PAKK (Parents Adopting Kids from Kazakhstan), and our regional group, PVPK. There are also groups set up for each state. The first place we found and started reading was Kazakh Adoptive Families (http://www.kazakhadoptivefamilies.com/).

Groundhogs and Daffodils

Here we are, just posting our February update and it's almost time to begin working on our March entry.

Before starting this draft, we looked back to last year's February entries to see how they compared. It would be very easy to cut and paste those entries with only a few minor changes in the details. Funny enough, some things change and others don't!

One change which we were happy to see was a non-repeat of last years Night of the Tornados. During the anniversary week of that event, we did experience unusually warm weather and a few minor thunderstorms, but thankfully nothing like last year. Being from more northern climates, we're still not used to that sort of weather in mid-February. We're still on the temperature roller-coaster though: yesterday hit 72, today's high will barely hit the 60's and we're expecting snow flurries in the morning... Daffodils began popping right on schedule around the 14th and this week we are seeing the start of flowers on the bradford pear trees. Although Punxsutawney Phil predicted six more weeks of winter (or to quote Bill Murray, "I'm predicting Spring on March 21st"), the signs of spring are beginning to show in Memphis.

A little side project Bill has been working on for the past six months has been to check weather readings and sunrise/sunset times and compile the list in an excel file. The last daytime high temperature in Petropavlovsk above freezing was on December 7th and the shortest day, December 21st, only offered 7 hours and 12 minutes of daylight. Of course, the big trade off comes in summer when the days in Petropavlovsk can be over 17 hours long!

In honor of Groundhog Day, "День сурка," which also happens to be Kate's "Half-Birthday," our friend and Cake Man Extraordinaire presented us with yet another masterpiece. Kate got into the spirit of things while helping bake a big batch of cupcakes to take to school for her celebration. The Groundhog cake was greatly enjoyed during Super Bowl Halftime at a neighbor's party. (David and Kate thought the 3-D commercial was pretty neat!"

Academics have been a challenge which David and Kate have taken on and continue to amaze us. Granted, there is a lot of parental pride in this statement, but also much humor. Kate is still a bit confused, but David is quickly grasping the absurdities of the English language. Recently, David has been dealing with synonyms and homonyms and we had a good laugh when he simply stated, "English is crazy! How can "pound" be how much something weighs at the same time as hitting something?" Welcome to our part of the world!

Despite all the challenges, David scored another academic success this month: His Science Fair project was selected as one of a few to represent his school at the county level. We are extremely proud because the project was truly David's work with only a little parental assistance. Drawing on Wikipedia and his Большая книга экспериментов (Big Book of Experiments), he put together an excellent Water Wheel project.

Sports and Scouts continue to keep us busy. David just earned the rank of Tenderfoot and is well on his way to Second Class Scout. His basketball team wrapped their season with a 12-1 record as the league champions for their age/category. The following Tuesday David started tennis and Kate's basketball season began. Tomorrow, we'll be back in the swing of shuttling between games, practices, etc. They're also looking forward to the lengthening days so they will have more time to enjoy scooters, bicycles, and a new Rip-Stick skateboard.

In addition to school and sports, both are also learning about charity and service to the community. Tonight is the first of this year's Lenten Fish Frys and they will be earning service hours by helping set up and run the event. Last weekend, we trekked downtown to the FedEx Forum to enjoy the annual "Soup Sunday" fundraiser for Youth Villages. We had a very interesting discussion one afternoon last summer when the kids wanted to know why we went all the way to Kazakhstan instead of just going to the Detsky Dom not far from our home. Since they had been placed at the Priute Shelter Home before going to the Regional Boarding School, they quickly understood the difference.

While at the FedEx Forum, both took a few minutes to pose for photos, Kate with the "HAPIBUG," and David trying to get an early start on the soccer season... 8-D

Be sure to periodically check the Antares Orphans blog, http://antaresorphans.blogspot.com/, and last, but not least, we want to put in a plug for Kazapalooza (http://kazapalooza.blogspot.com/) which will be held at the Opryland Resort in Nashville, TN this year (June 5th-7th, 2009). Although geared mostly toward younger children, Cathe REALLY wants to see the Grand Ole Opry. Anyway, do check out their web site for more information.

Happy New Year and Merry (Orthodox) Christmas!

Happy New Year and a Very Merry Orthodox Christmas to everyone!

Although this is "technically" David and Kate's second Christmas at home, they both said that it seems like their fist since last year was just a blur and they had been home such a short time.

With many takes and some help from a neighbor, we got some great Christmas photos, and even "Bob the "Rein-dog"got into the spirit of things. (doesn't he look happy?!?!?)

Our ambitious travel plan was waylaid by wintry weather. Due to winter storms, we had to delay departure by a day and cut out the DC portion of our trip. Instead, we visited the St. Louis Arch en-route to Michigan. They both thought that the Arch had to be something out of a sci-fi movie instead of being something they could actually visit. We even made the trip to the top and enjoyed the view!

Although we had planned to visit the Smithsonian since "Night in the Museum II" was filmed there (expected release May 2009) and Ночь в Музее (Night at the Museum) is one of their favorite films, we'll have to save that for another trip... Instead, we enjoyed wandering through the Museum of Westward Expansion. David did his best Grizzly impression, but Kate wasn't thrilled with Lewis and Clark's 19th century "Laptop Computer."

By the time we reached Ft. Wayne, Indiana it had started to snow and the roads were getting slick. David and Kate got to witness firsthand what happens when someone is driving too fast and hits their brakes... While stopped at a traffic light, we watched a car slide through sideways then overturn when it hit the snowbank. A true testimate to the effectiveness of seat belts, the driver climbed out unscratched, despite his car being a total loss. After a short delay while waiting for the police to arrive, we were back on the road and arrived safely.

Both enjoyed playing in the snow and building snowmen, but David was disappointed that the snow wasn't deep enough for him to do the back flips he loved to do in Petropavlovsk. Kate's snowman looked great Christmas Eve when grandpa's little tree was lighted up, but even better at sunrise on Christmas morning.

Christmas morning was an exciting event, and both could hardly wait to empty their stockings to see what Santa left. They didn't quite understand the "Lump of Coal" (chocolate of course!) that they each got, but all the adults had a good laugh!

In addition to the gifts and all the great meals (Cathe's mom loves to cook and puts out an incredible Christmas spread!), we brought along a gingerbread house kit. We all had fun decorating it, but Kate could hardly wait for the most important part: Eating it!

Sadly, it was time to head south all too soon. Fortunately, vacation wasn't over yet... We still had New Years to look forward to and a visit by Cathe's brother and his family. We didn't go to visit Elvis, but did have fun feeding the local ducks (an armada arrives as soon as they hear the rustling of bread wrappers). As you can guess by Kate's lighter attire, it is MUCH warmer in Memphis than Michigan!

We also wandered down Beale Street and took in the sights.

Meanwhile, Bill has been checking the weather daily in Petropavlovsk (enter "Petropavl, KZ" in the MSN weather page for current readings) and has gathered a few interesting factoids:

• On December 21st, sunrise in Petropavlovsk was at 9:47 am, sunset at 5:03pm (7 hrs, 16 min)... Memphis was 7:05 am and 4:52 pm respectively (9 hrs 47 min)
• First day in KZ with readings below freezing: Sep 28th (Oct 28th in Memphis)
• There has not been a temperature reading above freezing since Dec 7th when the high was 34F. (Dec 27th reached 71F in Memphis)

As they would say in Petropavlovsk, "что за холода!" (it's cold outside!). No wonder they keep the buildings so warm as a defense against the winter cold. 8-)