Sunday 23 March 2008

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

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

We are so happy for the 3 of you, that things are are at last improving and you are able to enjoy this special together in Kazakhstan. We pray that you will all be on your way home on the 29th.

We have enjoyed looking at your photos and progress, it is making us very excited to be thinking that we may be also on our journey soon.

Best wishes.

Kaz or bust said...

Philip, Amanda and Leah.... Greetings from the Spyker family!! We wanted to let you know that we made it home safely. We are keeping you in our thoughts and prayers to leave on the 29th. We are also keeping Luke in our thoughts and prayers. It was great to meet you. Dana is already asking...so when are we going to Northern Ireland? Take care, God Bless, and Happy Easter! Tell the Nels hello for us!
Bill

Anonymous said...

Can`t wait to see you both and our grand daughter xoxoxox Nana and Granda Billy

Anonymous said...

hi..glad your all back together again its great to see how happy leah looks..cant wait to see leah in the flesh..see yous soon..

lynsey,paul&travisxx

Anonymous said...

Well Leah just gets more gorgeous. Great that you were able to have a little family outing - the first of many. I think you are right that this time of bonding was probably the best thing that could happen, giving the three of you time to get to know each other better. Leah will have to face lots of different things when she gets to Ballywalter, so it's great that she knows she can reply on her mum and dad to keep her safe. Can't wait to see you all.
Love A Mo xx