Well we made it to Almaty, BUT...

we're not going to make it home Friday. Some government place didn't work today, so it would be impossible to leave Friday. (We don't know why Bulat didn't tell us this before!!!) So, we tried to change air tickets to Sunday which is the next time KLM flies, but it's all booked! Brad asked if we could change tickets to Tues., but get put on the waiting list for Sunday. The KLM lady said that that would be useless. AAAGGGHHH! To top it off, we had to pay a fee for changing air tickets again...we only had 1 free change. AAAGGHH! So, we bugged Janet to hurry and get us here for nothing! It would have been better to stay in Taraz for a couple more days because the hotel here isn't kid-friendly. The "crib" is medal and held together at one corner with a plastic bag and another corner with string. Also, the mattress part is permanently high, so it doesn't work for a baby who likes to stand up! He's already tried to do a nose dive out of it...luckily Brad has very quick reflexes!

The train ride went fine. He slept the whole time. However, we did not get much sleep. We made it to the hotel, dumped our bags in the room, and had to rush over for Caleb's medical evaluation at the SOS International Clinic. He didn't even cry when the lady pricked his finger and drew his blood. Next, we went with another lady who measured and weighed him. He is 19.8 pounds and 29 inches tall. Finally, the doctor looked at his medical records from the BH. She talked about his diagnosis that we already knew about, and again told us that all orphans are given that diagnosis here. She also mentioned a hip problem that she needed to examine. This was the first we had heard about it, but she said she didn't see anything wrong after examination. We can not see anything at all in his movement that would indicate anything that is wrong so we are not too concerned either. She also said, though, to get it x-rayed when we get home. Then, she said that he has a umbilical hernia, which we had already researched and diagnosed this for ourselves. We knew that his outie belly button wasn't just a plain old outie belly button. She said that it usually would have gone away on its own by now if it was going to, so she said he'll probably need surgery. The research I did on it was that it usually goes away on its own by the age of 4. So, we'll have to ask the Drs. back home. She said he seems healthy and is within the normal range for height and weight. Everyone was very nice and we didn't even have to wait much for him to be seen.

Did I call Caleb an angel yesterday??? Just kidding, he's still being rather good, considering the circumstances! Before we left the Gazovik last night, we ate at the hotel restaurant with Rod and Kym and two new American families. One family, the Smiths, is from Laredo. The Florres family is from Phoenix, Arizona. Caleb wasn't exactly the perfect little boy he was the night before. He was really excited when the Smith children came in, and he began screaming...not sad or scared screaming...happy, going-bonkers screaming. Since everyone was having trouble hearing each other over us, I took him on up to the room. As Brad and I were getting things ready to leave for the 11:30 pm train, he fell asleep in his crib. (You know, the crib that he won't actually nose dive out of? It wouldn't pass for a safe crib in the US, either, but it was much better than the one in our $180 a night hotel here in Almaty.) He woke up when we had to bundle him up to leave, but he did great in the car ride to the train station.

Jeannie and Austin had left yesterday for Almaty to catch their flight early this morning, but it was cancelled! So now they can't leave until Friday.

Rod and Kym will be getting custody of their baby girl on Friday, so finally some of us have good news! They can't wait and I'm sure she can't either. They are now showing the new families "the ropes" of Taraz, so we left the newbies in good hands!

Tomorrow we will go down to the airline office to see if we can find a way to get home earlier. Brad even asked about Business Class on the Sunday flight (which excited me), but the lady said that there is only 1 seat available. Anyway, we'll keep you posted.

Well, I'm exhausted! Since Caleb is asleep, I need to sleep!