2 Karens + 2 Kazakhs = one great day!

Finally, Finally we gathered in Cincinnati. My blog friend Karen has been following our blog since we were in Kaz and has provided tons of encouragement and yahoos! along the way. Well, she and her husband Glenn recently arrived home with her sweet Kazakh Max and of course we returned the favor by following along with required yahoos and "you can make its" also! Nick and I drove to Cinci on Thurs morning and had a fabulous day with Karen and Max (and Glenn, later in the day)! We tried to get first thing first pictures but even then Nick was ready to go and a little excited. Max was mesmerized by Nick! Here is sweet Max before we convinced Nick to take just "a few" pictures! ha!


Max is just the sweetest and cutest boy! He warmed up to Nick on our car ride around town and would just look over and smile at him. so cute. Below Max is wondering if he really wanted to spend quality time in the car with this loud boy! hmmmmm!


Max is telling Nick that he is going to have to keep it down in the car. Nick is saying yes, I know my mom says it hurts her ears and makes it hard to be a safe driver. LOL!


Surprisingly or not so surprisingly, I got very few other pictures while keeping up with Nick but Karen took a few others that we can share later. We went to Jungle Jims ( a huge international food store) to seek out R.ussian/Kazakh food. We did not hit the jack pot as there wasn't even a R.ussian aisle only E. Europe BUT we did go thru the asian aisles and find some noodles to bring home and some Juice in the E. Europe aisle that is very similar to our favorite juice in Kaz....it even tastes very similar (sour cherry and black currant) I took some pics.




We fortunately had long drives between venues and it gave us great talking time without chasing children. We had so many questions and topics to discuss, I dare say, we didn't finish one of them but it was fun trying. I can't wait for our next visit. We were able to look at a few of our videos while Karen's husband Glenn occupied the boys outside! Thanks Glenn!!



I am slowly but surely meeting my blog friends in person and it is such a thrill. The adoptive blogworld is so supportive and fun. We have "met" so many wonderful people and each time we actually meet each one, it is like catching up with an old friend. What a blessing!



Back on the homefront, we had a great first UK game day with the Livesays and Andersons. UK beat Louisville so celebrations all around. Nick, Libby and Peyton had great fun. Libby had a special UK cake that she shared with the boys!

Even after sugar overload, they settled down for 5 minutes or so (ha!) to watch some Thomas the train. How cute are they?!?

We visited Nick's preschool this week and met his new teachers for the year. He is excited to get started and didn't want to just visit, he was ready to stay and play. School starts next week and so does Bible Study Fellowship (BSF) so we will have a busy week. We are studying Moses this year and it will be fun to talk with Nick about how God had a great plan for Moses thru his own "adoption" story although I don't think Pharoh's daughter had to Apostille! ha!

Have a great weekend everyone!