Leah Update - September

Ok, I know its been a while!!

To make it up to you I've posted some pics from our trip last month to Disneyland Paris. We had a fantastic time and Leah loved every minute of it. We went with my sis Avril, Jeff and their wee boy Charlie! In all honesty the trip was just for the kids, the adults didn't enjoy themselves at all!! wink, wink ;)

Leah is continuing to delight us, she is running everywhere as fast as her legs are carrying her and is starting to copy things we say, as well as her normal gibberish, she even has a Ballywalter accent which is very cute! She is also 'helping' Amanda in the house... by helping I mean trying to climb into the dishwasher when its open, pressing all the buttons on the washing machine and dragging all the clothes out when she gets a chance, that sort of thing!

She is also growing like a weed, clothes that are big for her one week will be too short two weeks later, good job christmas is coming ;)

Promise i'll be quicker with the next update, please stop with the angry emails!!!

Philip, Amanda & Leah




Getting Ready to Go




Had to be done!




Tinkerbell!!



Getting something to eat




"Let me help you with that dummy Charlie"

New Leah Pics - July

Hey all you Leah fans out there!!

We went for a nice family break to Limavady last week, there were 14 of us altogether, 10 adults and 4.9 children (my brothers wife is very pregnant). The babies loved the pool and soft play area, the ladies got to go to a spa for the day and the men got in a few rounds of golf so everyone was a winner!!

We are also more famous than we realised, we were enjoying an ice-cream in Portstewart when a very nice young lady from Scotland came over to our table and asked if we were Leah's parents, she recognised us and Leah from our blog!! Quite amazing but very nice!

This months pictures are from Belfast zoo.

See y'all next month!

Philip, Amanda & Leah

Taking a breather outside the monkey house.

Checking out the penguins with her cousins.

Posing with Mummy

"ha ha ha, good one Josh"

Amanda's mum and dad with all their grandchildren

New Leah Pics - June

Can't believe another month has flown past so quickly! We've now been home for three months and Kazakhstan is a distant dream. Leah continues to delight us and seems to learn something new everyday, she is standing pretty well without support now and can manage 3-4 steps before falling over, give her another month or so and she will be flying!

Few pics from our recent visit to Isle of Man. Next months pics are from our trip to Belfast Zoo, watch this space!!

Philip, Amanda & Leah

Amanda swapping babies with her sis.

"this stuff's weird"

Leah pushing Anna around!

Out for a walk with Caitlin and Anna

Leah loving the matching outfits!

New Leah Pics - May

Hey out there, did you think I'd forgotten about you?!?

Leah is doing wonderfully well, she is very close to walking and is getting funnier, nosier and more adventurous every day!

She is also getting a lot more vocal, as well as 'dada, mama, baba' and her usual repertoire of gibberish she has also added 'hiya' and 'bye bye' in the last few days!

Leah is the happiest baby in the world, whether she is playing with her toys, playing with us or flying round the house at 100mph in her walker she is constantly laughing and smiling. She is truly an answer to prayer!

Hope you like her latest pics, i'll do my best to update the blog every month or so.

Philip, Amanda & Leah

"I love swings"

Taking a walk with mummy and daddy

Posing with mummy

Ballywalter Beach

"I can feed myself you know!?!!"

One year old.

Bad news for all you ‘caterpillar shuffle’ fans out there, Leah has learnt how to crawl properly! She was making her way across the living room floor yesterday when she suddenly decided to give the whole ‘one knee in front of another’ technique a try, her top speed has now doubled!!

She is also getting very good at walking while holding our hands, we took her to ‘Clarks’ at the weekend to buy her first pair of proper shoes, however her wee feet are still too small so she had to make do with a pair of jelly shoes from Adams! She is also pulling herself up unto her feet on the furniture and when she is feeling particularly brave tries to balance without holding on, her current record before her bum hits the floor is 0.5 seconds!

Have to say a BIG welcome home to one of Leah’s wee mates from our baby room Nora, she was reunited with her Mum and Dad, Bill and Dana Spyker last week and now starts the rest of her wonderful new life in Chicago.

As promised, though a little later than expected, please enjoy the following pictures from Leah’s first birthday extravaganza last week!!

Philip, Amanda & Leah

Visiting Great Granny D

11.9 months old!

Hey all you Leah fans out there, you can stop sending me angry emails now, more photos are on the way!!

We never thought we would say this a few weeks ago but life in Kazakhstan is becoming a distant memory, it now feels like we have known Leah for her whole life!

She is improving every day and since our last post she has put on a few pounds, learnt how to say ‘mama’, is starting to get her first tooth and is beginning to walk with our help, her impression of the John Cleese ‘funny walk’ is hilarious!! She gets so excited seeing and doing new things for the first time, she’s a lot of fun to be around and after only 3 months of knowing her we have already forgotten what life was like without her.

Like a lot of orphanage children she is a child of routine which is great, if we get her into her cot at the right times each day she will sleep right through the night as well as 2-3 hours in the middle of the day. We have learnt from experience that she dosen’t appreciate it when mummy and daddy try to change things, even by only 30mins!!

Her first birthday is in 3 days time so watch this space for some birthday pics next week!

Philip, Amanda & Leah



Visiting Granny D's House



"Charlie said I could borrow his dummy, honest"!!

Ist week home

It’s been exactly a week since we got back and its starting to sink in that we are really home!!

Leah has settled into a routine remarkably quickly and has been sleeping in her cot every night, which was something we were worried about. She is sleeping fantastically well and last night slept from 9pm till 7.30am with no interruptions!! She is also eating loads, she tackles bowls full of mince and potatoes that I would struggle with!

Its impossible to express how good it is too be home, we're loving the simple things like peanut butter on toast and sleeping in our own bed at night!

I'll update again in a few days time with more pictures, in the meantime enjoy!!

Philip, Amanda & Leah



Arriving at Belfast City Airport 16 hours after leaving Almaty



Room full of family at the airport



Leah and some of her cousins



Leah and her cousin Jacob bullying Granny D



Playing with my new toys!

Home...

Just a short post to let you all know we made it back safely to Northern Ireland on Saturday night, it was a long day and a half of travelling and the three of us have not quite caught up on our sleep yet.

Leah was remarkable on the plane and cried for a total of 10 mins out of 11 hours flying time! We landed late on Saturday evening and were met at the plane by an airport official who ushered us into a little room where all our family where waiting for us, again for a little girl who only had 3 hours sleep in the previous 36 hours Leah was absolutely fantastic, smiling and laughing at everyone.

We thought when we eventually made it back our overwhelming emotions would have been relief and joy to be home. While this is of course true it still feels strange to be really here with Leah, I don’t think it has quite sunk in yet!! Our family feel the same and mum mentioned last night that she has to tell herself when she wakes up that we are really home!!

Give me a few days and I’ll be back to update you with a ridiculous amount of photos of Leah in her new house with her new family, I promise!

Its good to be home….

Philip, Amanda & Leah

Almaty airport, 55 degrees C warmer than we arrived!

Very tired Leah landing in London

We're going home!!!

It gives me enormous pleasure to announce that at 4pm afternoon I was able to collect Leah’s passport, complete with freshly printed visa!!

*pause for cheers and applause*

It obviously wasn’t straightforward (nothing ever is in Kazakhstan) but with the help of Karen at Stormont back home and the consulate staff here in Almaty we were able to pick up our visa 24hrs after we applied for it. God has been with us every stage of the journey so far and certainly did not let us down at this final hurdle. Thanks to all who have been praying for us!

Also got good news about the Nel’s, they got their visa yesterday and will be flying home today. Luke should be taking his first lungful of South African air about the same time as we land in Belfast.

Leah has come a long way in the last 8 weeks, from the quiet little girl we met who couldn’t sit upright, made no eye contact at all and had no power in her legs to the happy, nosey, noisy girl who today took her first few steps while holding her mummies hands. It’s been a very long, intense, indescribably frustrating journey but ultimately so incredibly worth it!

See you tomorrow Northern Ireland!!!

Philip, Amanda & Leah

p.s. John, as Leah's father I want 25% of the revenue from the lil-leah merchandise!



Leah posing with her new passport



“I’ve told you before, I’m not nosey”!!!



Leah showing off her new trick



View from our apartment

Made it too Almaty

Rollercoaster ride to the end!! Yesterday we got a lot of good news on the ‘visa trail’ Nadia came through big time with Leah’s passport, she managed to get it processed in Ust on Tuesday then flown to the consul registration in Astana then flown back to Almaty all on Wednesday!! We also spoke with someone in the visa section who told us they wanted to help us and would process the visa within one day, woohoo!!

So, we arrived at the visa office bright and early on Thursday morning, full of hope and optimism. It didn’t last long, true to UK form we found out there was a massive amount of extra documents required that we didn’t have, we also discovered that they could only process a ‘visit visa’ in one day which would only allow Leah to visit the UK for 3 months!!?!! A settlement visa on the other hand would take a lot longer to process.

Cue a frantic 2 hours when we got as many documents copied and faxed to us from Nadia in Ust and also back home, I also wrote a few documents on my laptop and printed them out at an internet café round the corner, we also visited the vice-consul and pleaded our case for an early visa. After all this we went back to the visa office and submitted what documents we had, we must ring them tomorrow morning to see if they have been able to give us a visa in time for our flight on Saturday. It goes without saying but PLEASE PRAY!!! God’s timing has been perfect for us all along and we know He won’t let us down now!

On the plus side the last few days have been the first that we have really felt that Leah is our daughter! While we were in Ust it still felt like we were just visiting her but actually leaving Ust with her and flying to Almaty was a wonderful, surreal experience, thankfully Leah was an absolute angel on the plane!! It feels so nice to be back in a modern cosmopolitan city again, our apartment is situated right in middle of a massive pedestrian area teeming with shops, restaurants and cafes, all three of us enjoyed a nice stroll last night.

We are also learning more about her personality every day and we can safely say she is ‘no dozer’ as they say in our part of the world! She is as crafty as can be and is not slow in letting you know exactly what she wants, I feel we may have our hands full! J

Philip, Amanda & Leah


“Who are you calling nosey”!?!?!?


“Seriously, do I look stupid in this teddy bear outfit”?


Leah in her new buggy/cot/playpen


Almaty Baby!!


Our new apartment. Left tower. 15th floor. Features working lift!

Last day in Ust...

Today is our last full day in Ust-Kamenogorsk, almost 8 weeks to the day after arriving! Tomorrow we fly to Almaty, one step closer to home!

Today is also the day we find out if Leah’s passport has arrived, if it has then we will go to the British visa office in Almaty on Thursday morning and attempt to start the visa process for Leah with a photocopy of her passport while the original is in Astana for 2 days.

It’s difficult to properly reflect on our time here yet, it has definitely been the most intense and amazing experience of our lives but I can safely say that we are all looking forward to the Blue skys of Ulster!!!!

Once we get any information on Leah’s passport and visa we will let you know, our flights are booked for the 29th but making these flights will depend on staff at the visa office being prepared to start the application process with a photocopy, please pray!

Philip, Amanda & Leah



Out for a walk.

Leah chewing

Happy New Year Kaz

22nd of March was Kaz new year and Ust-Kamenogorsk celebrated big style, the main square in the town was taken over by Urts (traditional Kazak dwellings, big fancy tents basically), boys wrestling on stage, men ‘singing’ and playing dumbras (big guitars), women in traditional dress and tens of thousands of people. It was also the scene of the ‘first official outing of the Davidson Family’!! Can’t tell you how good it was to get out the apartment with Leah, the weather was fine and she was nice and snug in the buggy we borrowed from our coordinator, it almost felt like we were just away on holiday together.

Leah continues to be great and we have learnt so much more about her and her strong willed personality over the last four days, she has already settled into a routine here and is eating, sleeping and playing really well. She falls asleep around 8pm and sleeps till around 12am when she wakes up for a drink/nappy change, she then sleeps to 4am, gets another drink/nappy change and then sleeps right through to 7.15am.

We are also learning which cry means what and have also picked up a few tricks which are helping to calm her down and get her to sleep. We know that all along God has had a particular plan for us and this prolonged time together with just the three of us may be more valuable than we will ever realise.

We are still waiting for her passport to arrive but are fairly sure it will happen on Tuesday, we will then fly to Almaty on Wednesday and attempt to start her visa application process with a photocopy of her passport while the original is in Astana at t he consul registration section, if this is successful we should be able to fly home on Sat 29th March.

We are also happy to report that Luke is feeling a lot better and should be released from hospital on Monday.

Pray that all the documents will finally be in place to allow us to come home on the 29th.

Philip, Amanda & Leah



Ust Town Square




Inside a 'Urt'




Outside our luxury apartment (5th floor, no lift!!)



Leah's 'funny face', same one mummy used to pull 28 years ago!



Happy Leah