Bonding Day 6!

We are in shock that Bonding Day 6 is completed... Wow! Tomorrow we are 1/2 way there! Amazing! Tomorrow it has been 3 weeks since we left home... 3 weeks! Amazing! Phil and I are both in shock that we've been gone that long... Honestly, our time here is going by VERY quickly. The days are FLYING by... even with missing Bay and Brook so so so very much.. it's going by much quicker than we expected. I have read others blogs of how the time seemed to go on forever for others, but for us... (so far).. we've only had a few instances were we were REALLY bored. :) We are trying to really enjoy this time together and now that we have found the girls and started bonding with them.... things are so much less stressful! Plus, knowing so strongly that it's God's will.. has given us both a peace that is amazing. I've received lots of comments about the DR, etc... and please know that I shared that so that all of you would know what we're dealing with. We are very confident that God is going to complete this very thing... His word says it and we've seen his grace and mercy (through our faith).. :) time and time again!!! There is amazing peace that comes straight from the thrown of Grace when you KNOW you are in his complete and perfect will! :)

We received a call last night late that we wouldn't be going to babyhouse until the afternoon today... so we knew we had the morning to relax. This was such a blessing!!! I am going to be honest and say that I have spent a lot of time online... uploaded pics... writing... etc.. and that the best time to communicate with those of you at home is bedtime for us. We are exactly 12 hours ahead of you now (since you had daylight savings time the other night). I have then been having trouble falling asleep.. (different food, bed, etc...) I am then only asleep a few hours when it's been time to get up again and visit the orphange... thus, another day starts. This morning I didn't set the alarm... and I stayed in bed until 11 am... It was such a great long sleep and MUCH needed. I felt better all day! Phil is still fighting with his back.. and in quite a bit of pain... Please keep praying about that!
After getting up we made a late breakfast/lunch of bacon, eggs, and toast. We straightened up the apartment and packed our toy bag for bonding day 6. We received a call at about 1:30 that they'd be here to pick us up around 2:30. We went down the 5,000 stairs about 2:20 to wait...
At about 3:20... they finally came. They had NO way to let us know that they were moving the time forward.... so we waited in the cold in front of our building for about an hour! BRRRRR!! It was cold! We had a great time waiting for that hour though... There is a cat that lives in front of our building.... and some stray dogs that wander around.. We'd really like to bring them home with us too! As we were waiting.. I asked Phil what the high was supposed to be for today here in Kazakhstan to which he replies, "about 45 the computer said." I reply.. "oh awesome a warm day! " He looked at me and grinned..and I realized what I said.. we've slowly adjusted to life here and a high of 45 degrees is warm!! LOL!! We cracked up!

They finally showed up and we headed to the babyhouse... YIPPEE!!! It was almost 4 when we arrived and we were allowed to stay until 6 pm. When we arrived at the door of the group the caregiver stick her head out of a room and said that they are sitting for snack.. (??? no dinner??) I quikly asked the translator to ask if we could take a picture of them with their friends.. the caregiver said, sure but, they have no food... nothing to take a picture of.... I wanted to ask why my babies had no food and all the other kids did... but, I knew better. I walked up to the door and the girls both looked at me SO sad... I seriously think they didn't get any food at all... but, I knew better than to ask why...so through my pain... I smiled at the caregivers and other kids.. and took the following picture. Symbat asked them all to smile... Look at all those poor babies... :( Breaks my heart right into... Thank you.. thank you.. thank you for helping us bring Faith and Grace home.... THANK YOU FROM THE BOTTOM OF MY HEART!!! Faith and Grace are in the pink shirts with red shorts.. closest to me.

Here are their little cabinets with pull-out shelves underneath. They know EXACTLY what to do and where everything goes. Yes, Faith is looking around that door for her Papa! :)

I asked if we could help them dress.. and they said Sure... so we started helping them. I was helping Grace first. Faith quickly said.. Papa.. and motioned for him to help her!! ;)

We then made our way to the music room. We decided to switch bonding back to the music room since there are NO windows and people don't 'watch' us like hawks in there.. :) I was taking my shoes off.. and coat, etc... when I see that both the girls are quietly sitting in Phil's lap with their back to Symbat and I.... We are both like.. what's going on? ha ha!!! We soon see that Papa brought his MP3 player to see if they would listen... guess what? THEY LOVED IT!!! They were amazed at the music.. and Papa was ALL smiles (as you can see below)... He introduced them to their first praise and worship music today!! What a GREAT Papa!

Can't get them both to smile at the same time... LOL! Here Grace is smiling!

Here Faith is smiling... but, Grace is not! Oh girls!!! :)
While shopping yesterday for tights, panties, and clothing... we found some CHEAP toys. We found these plastic CHEAP cameras. They were .50 each! The girls LOVED these! Here they are taking pics of each other! (I have NO idea...why or how they'd now anything about a camera... hee hee hee!)

We played with the babies and the cameras for over an hour. They had so much fun telling us to "smile.. cheese!"... and yes, they said it all in English! They'd put the camera to their eye and say...."smile.... cheese!" They are learning SO much already!

Grace saw Faith in the above picture and insisted that she take my picture with the baby as well!

Here we are playing with some wooden puzzles that have animals on them. They are both repeating EVERYTHING we say in English.

They were both so GOOD tonight! Honestly, it was the best, calmest time we've had with them yet. They are following one word commands.. like NO, STOP, SIT, COME, GO, LOVE, KISS, HUG, PLAY... that's all I can think of! Incredible for 6 days... we met them one week ago tomorrow.. They are SO stinking smart!! :) Can you tell we are proud? Anyway, we have never done this before... but, since they were so sweet and calmer tonight.. I decided to just dump the bag out in the floor and let them play with whatever they wanted to play with. We have only gotten a couple things out at a time prior to this... cause they would have destroyed the stuff. They were both OVERWHELMED with it all out at one time, but did very well! I just wanted to tell them somehow that they will never NOT have toys again... :) Here they are... playing SO hard! Grace has the ball and Faith has the puzzle.

Oh.. and one more thing.. they both have already learned how to KISS... pucker their lips and kiss us back!!! Faith kissed me yesterday, but I couldn't get Grace to do it.. and today.. they were both full of kisses for both Papa and I!!! AWE!!!! They are precious!!!

ok.. some of you have asked ?'s... I'm going to attempt to answer a few. I think I'll just ramble some thoughts for a while here.. hope you don't mind!

We've been asked several times if they are identical... No, they are NOT identical. They do favor a lot, but we do not have any trouble telling them apart. However on day 2, I got them confused a couple of times.. but, the longer we are around them... it's not possible to confuse them. They are night and day! :) Grace is even physicaly a little larger than Faith.

Clothing sizes: I decided to just say that we need 3T clothing! (CRUM... I just remembered that I forgot to draw their foot on a paper while there! urg!)... I will do that tomorrow and let you know the length of their feet.

I have had LOTS of ?'s about what we need, etc...

I hesitate to list things out.. because I wouldn't EVER want anyone to think we are asking for things... WE ARE NOT! I have just had LOTS ask... please don't think that we expect anymore than what all of you have already done... we are still in AWE of you and our God! We know that we will have everything we need to raise these girls.... :)

I know that I could just email all that have asked privatly, but honestly it's just so much easier to post answers here... I hope you don't mind.

Here are some ideas: (Please know that any of the items can be used... we do not mind at all!)

• Bunk Beds (pine wood color that match the dresser, etc would be our first choice.. but, ANY will be a blessing)... We would like to be able to unstack them into 2 twin beds if possible. (I'm a little concerned about jumping off the top bunk! ;) ) plus, we want them to be able to use these beds for years!
• Mattresses
• Bedding - I looked online last night at every place I could think of for what I think I want.... and I'm about to decide on some from Wal-mart... I will let you know when I decide.
• There are lots of acccessories that match the bedding... once I decide for sure... I will let you know.
• Pull-ups (they are potty trained now.. however, both still have accidents and we know that the transtion and off the schedule of the babyhouse will prove for accidents most likely!)
• Clothes and shoes (however, I do still have Brook and Bay's size 3 clothing.. so we will have some.)
• Panties
• Coats
• Girly hair items... barrettes, bows, etc.
• We could use a few more bath towels in the "girl" bathroom. It's done in pink and brown strips.

That is about all I can think of for now! I know I sound like a broken record... but, thanks so much for your love and support!!! We are so blessed by you! oh... and Faith and Grace are excited to meet all of you! :) (they have NO clue what they are in for... LOL!)