Back to Kazakhstan!

After 5 LONG weeks of waiting, we are finally headed back to Kazakhstan to be reunited with our children.  We're scheduled to arrive in Almaty around midnight on Tuesday night.  Nicholas and Emma (yes, she's EMMA now...more on that later) will leave Karaganda on Tuesday night with their doctors, board an overnight train, and arrive in Almaty around 5:30 am Wednesday morning.  We will be there waiting with open arms!  We are so thankful to be taking Nathan with us again and he's very excited to make the trip and see his brother and sister again.  We are not taking our computer this time, but we will try to get to an Internet cafe at least once to give an update and post a couple of pictures.  It's a very quick trip...just 2 days in country, and we're scheduled to arrive back in Houston on Friday night. 

Here's a quick update on things since our last post....

Our last day in Karaganda was a whirlwind.  We went to court in the morning, then to the orphanage for our tea party with the doctors and director.  We had brought a bag full of donations for older children, since they are rarely adopted and therefore, rarely see any donations, or visitors for that matter.  Larisa, our facilitator, drove us to an orphanage for children age 6-16.  We only got to spend about 15 minutes there as it was the children's nap time, but it was 15 minutes we'll never forget.  I pray they will find love, purpose, and most of all, a family.  We made it back to Shapagat just in time for our last visit with Nicholas & Emma. 

We tried to explain to Nicholas (thru our translator Elena) that we had to leave but would come back to get them in a few weeks, but he did not understand at all.  We took them back to their room for the last time, hugged and kissed them goodbye, and took a couple of final pictures.  This picture is the last mental image we have of them....they look really puzzled, wondering why Mama looks so strange (I was crying my eyes out by this point)!  I think this (leaving my children) was one of the hardest things I've ever had to do.

So, about Emma....when we first arrived in Karaganda and met the children, Elena told us that we needed to finalize their names by that afternoon.  What?!  That's right.  We had a matter of hours to choose names for our children, so we chose Nicholas and Nadia, the names that we had talked about for months.  Remember, we didn't even have Internet access then, so we couldn't look up any name meanings, etc. and we were completely exhausted from jet lag.  Anyway, after about a week of calling her "Nadia", it just didn't seem right for her so we began exploring other names.  We finally decided on sweet "Emma", so she's Emma Elizabeth Leila Pylant.  We plan to call them "Nicholas Tamerlan" and "Emma Leila" for a while to help them transition to their new first names.   

We thank you all so much for your support and prayers.  Here are a few specific prayer requests as we head off on Trip 2:

1) Safe, smooth flights and train trip for the kids (we recently found out that Nicholas has severe motion sickness, so special prayers for him)

2) Glitch-free appointments at the clinic and Embassy on Wednesday and Thursday

3) That we would get to sit together on the plane trip home (we're not right now)

4) Good health and rest for all

5) Smooth transitions for all three children

Love,

Melanie