Boy, Oh Boy!

Steve, aka Papa, here. We were not sure if this was going to be our day to go to the baby house. We were up early ready to go, not knowing what our schedule would look like. Lunchtime came and went. Nothing. As the afternoon crept by we were convinced we were not going anywhere today. Just as we popped in another “24” DVD we got a call. We were going to the baby house! Happiness and nervousness came flooding over us all at once. This was it.

As we went out to the car we could see snow flurries in the air, it was beautiful. The baby house was a short distance from our apartment but seemed like a very long way away as we spent the time wondering how this would all play out. We arrived at the baby house, which, by the way, was as hot a south Texas summer day. Going into the director’s office I have never felt so intimidated in my life. Inside were the orphanage director, a member of the Kaz Ministry of Education, and our adoption coordinator. Our translator gave us all the official details that became a blur in our heads. My primary focus was to get through the meeting without looking like the lost fool that I felt like. I suspect Terri felt a similar feeling.

The legal pleasantries aside we were shown two infants and two toddlers. They were all so cute. Terri was immediately drawn to one of the two years olds. His name was Yan. I scored a small victory when none of the kids went screaming from the room, which is often the case when meeting men for the first time. Sergei, one of the infants, did give me a furrowed brow—either he was concerned, or possibly pooping in his pants. It is healthy for the kids to be apprehensive of you when you meet them—we are strangers after all. After much thought, we finally choose Sergei and Yan to join our family!

Once we had chosen the boys we went to a play room where we got to interact more privately with them, take pictures of them and have them get more comfortable with us (as comfortable as one can get with strangers who don’t speak your language). We had a few toys that we tried to entertain them with. The picture flash cards and crayons seemed to be popular, and the trucks seemed to have some appeal. I think Terri has a good start as a mom today, running around after the highly mobile Yan. It did not seem very long at all before the boys had to call it a day. We were told we could come back twice tomorrow and to bring diapers—oh no, not diapers! (This is a running joke as everyone makes fun of me as I am a little nervous about changing a diaper.)

The ride home seemed surreal and I don’t think it really sank in until we downloaded the video. It was at this time, we sat back and knew the boys were ours—we were parents.

"Papa, can I see the camera?"

"I think this makes us brothers!"

"Thanks for the toy, Mama!"