Update: February 17, 2007: The Belly-Laugh
Day 3 in the baby house is complete. The visits each day are at 10:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. During our first visit, we bring diapers and an outfit for them to change him into for the day. Heather packed a whole suitcase full of clothes in preparation for this.

I realized when we left for the airport that my life had already changed forever. We had four bags packed, 50 pounds each, for a total of 200 pounds in addition to our carry-ons. In all of our luggage, approximately 50 pounds was filled with stuff for Heather and me. That meant that we had 150 pounds of luggage for a kid that weighs less than 20 pounds! Man, this thing is not about us anymore...

Anyway, back to the outfit. With the suitcase full of clothes that we brought, we soon found out that most of them are too small to fit this little guy. He is a tank! Though he's only about ten months old, they're asking us to bring bigger clothes because the ones we've provided aren't big enough. Thankfully, we've got a couple of 12-month outfits that look like they're going to work.

So they change him into his outfit and then bring him to us. We basically set up camp in the corner of this playroom and hang out for an hour. We sit him in our laps, crawl around on the floor with him, fly around the room "airplane style," sing him songs, and play with him and his toys. One of his favorite toys is a small plastic book. I'd like to think he's drawn to it because he's an incredibly intelligent 10-month-old attempting to read, but he's actually just teething and likes to chew on it. The book is not written in his language, anyway...

The moment of the day today came when he was lying on my stomach looking up and Heather was tickling him. Up to this point, he had been smiling a lot (the cutest open-mouthed, one-toothed grin you can imagine), but we hadn't heard many sounds from him. But all of the sudden as Heather tickled him, he let out this belly-laugh that made our hearts melt. To hear the sound of this child in a baby house in Kazakhstan laughing uncontrollably and to know that this is the first of many times when we will laugh together as a family. Wow, God is good...

As you pray, pray for this bonding process that we are experiencing each day. It is absolutely amazing to see his personality unfold minute-by-minute. To think that it was only two days ago that we met him! We have learned so much about him and he is learning so much about us. These are delicate days of transition, and we covet your prayers for the physical, emotional, and spiritual attachment that is taking place each day.

We didn't get into our apartment today, so we're on standby until further notice. When we are able to settle in, hopefully we can send pictures and/or video, but our Internet access is pretty limited at this point. We're only on once a day for a few minutes because it's pretty pricy at the hotel.

We love you and miss you!
--David and Heather

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