Filling in the Blanks…

Kim asked me to update the blog today. She said she felt like she had left some details out regarding our hearing. I think she did a good job, but I’ll try and fill in a few of the blanks.

I was told that I would have to make a short speech at the beginning of the hearing. I wasn’t worried until our coordinator told us that the Vice-Mayor of Taraz would be conducting/overseeing the hearing. Okay, time to sweat, that’s what Werkmeisters are good at. Even Jacob was sweating. I kept going over what to say, trying to play down certain areas, and highlight others. As we entered City Hall, we waited in front of some offices. Poor Jacob had had enough. Even though I had bribed with a “Too much money Toy” if he was good, he just couldn’t make it. He hadn’t had a nap, we had been to the orphanage, the Zoom store, to buy a watch for the judge and one for the Director of the orphanage. We had also gone to the notary office. Notary’s are a thriving business here. There is at least one office on every block, and they are all busy. I believe this is another indication of a growing country. People are buying property, opening businesses, establishing partnerships etc. Keep in mind, in the old Soviet days, no one owned anything. I think it’s a great sign of progress.

Our coordinators took us to a notary office that their friend owns. It was crowded, but since we had an appointment we didn’t wait too long. Unfortunately, Jacob was not in the mood to sit still. Fortunately, two army officers came in. As the cruel father that I am, I told him that he had to be good, or we might get in trouble. I recognize I’m a terrible person, but sometimes you have to do what you have to do. Besides, it worked. Jacob sat stone still on the couch. These two army officers were escorting an older gentleman. This gentleman sat down right next to Jacob, almost on Jacob, as he was pretty old, walked with a cane and had pretty thick glasses. Jacob didn’t flinch. I need to start inviting more members of the military over to my house. Anyway, he starts talking to me in Russian. I told him Ya ni-punyamyo, Ya Amerkonski (spelling is way off), but it means I don’t understand, I’m an American. Our coordinator jumped in and told me that the man asked if Jacob was a boy or a girl. I laughed, Jacob was not amused, but maintained his stillness. Poor kid, I think Social Services will be paying me a visit soon. It turns out this guy was a retired Colonel. He said he fought the Germans in World War II, I gathered he was something of a local hero. I think he was glad to speak to an American, as our two countries fought on the same side. I told him my Grandfather (Papa) and Kim’s Grandfather (SC) had also served and fought in World War II. Then this man let’s out the loudest belch, if you’ve seen the movie Elf, this belch was similar in volume and length. Kim and our Coordinator were at the desk signing documents, uncontrollably laughing. A few minutes later he lets out an even louder and longer belch. He didn’t laugh he didn’t pardon himself, he just sat there. I had to turn away or else I would have laughed in his face. Poor Jacob just sat there, didn’t flinch. Then it was time to go, and Jacob had fallen asleep. As I carried him to the car, I wondered had the burps knocked Jacob out? If so, that was pretty darn impressive.

Sorry, back to City Hall. Jacob had had enough, too much stress, too little sleep and it was time for Jacob to melt down. I ended up carrying him, which didn’t help the sweat level. After standing around for about half an hour, which seemed to last 10 hours, we were escorted upstairs and ushered into an outer office. As Kim stated, there were about six people all speaking Russian, we passed around our little photo album, with pictures of our home, family and extended family. We were finally taken into the Vice-Mayor’s office. She had a pretty large desk, and big conference table. The table was interesting, as it had a long cut-out whole with flowers in the hole.

As we sat down, our poor little angel Jacob looks at me and says, I have to go potty. Now comes the sweat. Kim picked him up and sat him on her lap. She wasn’t having any of it, and I think she was prepared to take one for the team, and let Jacob have an accident on her during the meeting. My wife is tough. Well, Jacob held his water, but he too was fascinated by the table and went right to the floor and under the table. Okay, now more sweat. I’m trying to gear up for making my little intro speech, but it never happened. The Vice-Mayor was all business. She shot questions at our coordinator, who translated and re-translated our answers back. I don’t for one minute think it was only our answers, as our coordinators responses were long, and seemed somewhat eloquent (in Russian). After we told the panel where we worked, and how we would handle child-care, and language classes for our daughter, the questions got tough. The Vice-Mayor started asking about the first adoption, and how could this family return this wonderful little girl after a month. This family was from the north, a region that the people here refer to as we would refer to hill-billies. She asked, how would we manage this child as she may have psychological issues from these events. I simply said, “the same way we would with any of our children having issues. We will deal with it as a family, and ensure she has every available treatment that may be needed.” This seemed to be accepted. She then asked, it looks like you wanted a boy? I said, we really didn’t have a preference, as with any pregnancy, we are happy with either, just happy to have a child. Again, good answer. Kim handled the really tough questions, like child-care, and language issues. Even, will our current children be okay with sharing the attention, do they all want another sibling and can we manage all of these children. Kim’s answers were great. Jacob was also the comedic break. We were so apologetic for our child crawling under the table, as Kim said they all laughed, and were delighted to have him here.

As Kim had said, we had to show pictures of our daughter playing and laughing with us. No problem. At the end, the Vice-Mayor made a very nice speech. As Kim said, she wished us well, good health and happiness. Kim broke down and as she said what a privilege it was, and how grateful were we. I was quiet, trying not break down, I think there was dust in my eyes or something, because they were watering…That’s the story I’m going with anyway.

We’re getting ready to go the orphanage, to visit our daughter. Then it’s off to Almaty on the overnight train and a trip to the U.S. Embassy. It will be nice to break the routine, Jacob is very excited. We probably won’t be able to get on line until we return on Friday morning (Thur night California). We’ll give you the run-down when we return, of course because we’re riding on the old Soviet train.