August 1, 2006

The judge said YES...the judge said YES! We are the legal parents of Mason Randall Lanser. Yesterday was court and all went well. Ryan was perfect with his 4 page speech and I only got through two lines of my five line speech. I cried too much. But, the judge said YES. Today starts our 15 day waiting period to get his birth certificate, and we'll get to bring him to our apartment on the 16th. We can't wait. We'll continue to see him everyday until then.

He is wonderful. Everyday we learn a bit more about him and everyday it's harder to leave. We have found out he loves music. He dances when he hears it and we let him play the piano in the music room and he basically head bangs while hitting the notes. He went to far the other day and hit his head on the back of the piano. I laughed so hard I was crying. He just gave me a look like I was crazy but, I hugged and kissed him and he was fine. He loves Ryans moustache and beard thing. He'll pull on it and rub it with his hand.

Life here is okay. We're surviving on noodles, dumplings, yogurt, and sometimes potatoes. Surely different, but okay. When we go out to eat, it has always been good. We went to a house warming party for our translator the other day and had some horse meat. We only ate the meat, but the 4 Kazakh couples ate all kinds of stuff. I only know for sure that some of it was fat, intestines, liver, and some other unexplainable stuff. They love it, we just couldn't do it! It was nice to experience the culture though. For their dinners, they fill the table with salads of all kinds. No lettuce though, there was a carrot salad, a vegetable salad, and a greek salad. All excellent. You eat all that and drink lots of vodka for about two hours. Then, they clear all that and lay out a spread of about 6 desserts which you sit and eat for another hour or so. Then, when a couple gets ready to leave, they prepare a bag with a little bit of each dessert for you to take home. It was great. We really enjoyed ourselves.

Our drive to the baby house has been interesting. They started road construction about a year ago, and plan to be done in 2008. It is very bumpy, and has a ton of huge boulders that our driver weaves in and out of. It's the most interesting drive. But, he is an excellent driver and we enjoy him. We're teaching him a bit of english, and he's teaching us a bit of Russian. Interesting stuff. And, for about 5 minutes of our drive, we go through a town where most of the people sell horse milk on the side of the road and have their cows tied up in their front yards. Different living, but enjoyable for them.

We've found a new internet cafe that has many computers and seems to be more reliable. So, we should be able to post every other day and on Thursday I will have some pictures to load.

We miss home and can't wait to have our family in our house and back to normal.

Take care everyone and we think of you often.

Love,
Ryan, Rachel, and Mason Lanser

Pictures!

July 25, 2006

July 19, 2006

Hello everyone. All is well here in Kazakhstan. Today two new families arrived and David and Jeannie are on their way out. They have quite a journey ahead of them with 4 children. I've said some prayers, but I'm sure all will be fine. Today has been very hot and the drive to visit Mason was quite the experience. Our driver's car broke down yesterday so we used another vehicle. Its a Niva and on the road under construction is extremely bumpy and feels like you're off roading. But, tomorrow we will have our typical car back and everything will be back to normal.

Last night Jen, Brian, Ryan, and myself babysat for Dave and Jeannie while they went to get the birth certificates for the two 5 year old twin girls they adopted. As of today, the girls are officailly theirs. I can't wait to be at that point.

July 25, 2006

Hello Everyone. It's Tuesday July 25th today and we are 6 days away from going to court for the adoption of little Nikita Mason. We are so excited and can't believe the time has come for our court hearing. We don't have many worries about court, just nerves about saying the right things and making sure not to make the judge angry. And, if we do mess up on anything, we have our translator to make sure the right things are said to the judge. Mason is fantastic and is progressing well with us. He giggles and smiles all the time and has no issues when we pick him up. We talked with our coordinator in country today who arranges all of our lodging, court dates, paperwork, etc. and she told us that we will not get custody of Mason after court. This is how it works. We go to court on the 31st. The judge approves the adoption, then there is a 15 day waiting period for the judges decision to become final. After the 15 days, we would get Masons birth certificate and everything is FINAL. Typically in the past, after court families would get custody until the 15 days was up and then start their travel home. What will happen for us is we will travel everyday to the baby house to see him. This is not ideal, but at least they didn't shut down adoptions. We just keep praying for the time to go by quickly and for us to be home with our son.

I have written each post, and Ryan really wants to write. So,after a long time of thinking about it =) I told him it was okay and today I'm going to let him, that's right, LET HIM finish up.
love ya and miss you all.

Well let's see where can i begin? our apartment is out of water AGAIN... we are going on day 2 with out water, it makes it interesting for not only showers but flushing toilets.....fun fun
one thing for sure is we will really appreciate water and electric more often, which is something we all take for granted back in the states. Well im not a person for many words as you all already know. It has been great to read emails from everyone, please keep them coming,

thanks, and take care,
look forward to being back in the states on the 23rd of august with Mason

Ryan and Rachel along with baby Mason

Pictures #3

See...My favorite to play on
Firemen with truck in Koksheteau
Mom and Mason

Pictures #2

Asleep with Daddy
Our Driver Nurseltan his wife and kids and our translator, Makahabbat
View from our apartment window
My favorite thing to play on...Really!!
Jen, Brian, and Evan with Dad and Makahabbat

Pictures

July 17, 2006

Hello Everyone, Rachel here...we're on day number 13 here in Kazakhstan and we just finished our 11th visit with Mason. We heard him laugh today and smile a lot!! It was great. I've been sick for about 5 days now of what I believe to be the flu/strep throat. Luckily we had some antibiotics I could take and today is the first day I've been able to swallow without feeling like I've swallowed a golf ball covered in needles. Ryan may be getting it now, which I feel really bad about but at least we know what to look for and be aware of. You would have thought I would have a reaction to the food change or something but not yet. The food has been okay. We're living off of soup, dumpling things filled with either meat or potato, noodles, and lots of water. This has been the basic foods for us, but we've found a new market that we may get some new foods at. The market we have been going to is one where you have to ask for the things you want and being that we don't speak Russian, pointing to what you want makes for a long shopping session. And, have to say "skolka stoit", which means "how much does it cost" for each thing, adds more time. So, the new market allows us to walk around and pick what we want which is less stress and less time.

For this blog, we've been to the internet cafe three times now and have had no luck with posting to the blog from there. Each time we log in and get ready to post, the computer loses its connection with blogger and we can't post. So, Jen and Brian who are here adopting a son as well, are letting us use their laptop. And thankfully, they've figured out how to help us post our pictures. So, there's another post with only pictures for you to look at. We may only be able to post once a week or so, but we'll do our best to keep up.

We hope everyone enjoyed Fish Day and for anyone who doesn't know what I'm talking about, we hope you enjoyed your Saturday. We were thinking of the fish and chips all day and Ryan is still talking about craving it today. We hear it was quite hot. It's been pretty nice here, somewhere between 70-80 most days. We also miss the taste of Miller Lite. The beer here is good, but nothing compared to an ice cold, longneck bottle of mmmmm Miller Lite. I miss my car and knowing that the water will be on everyday unless the water department notifies me. Here, no notice, just oh, waters off again. Or, power went out again. It's very interesting and makes for a learning experience. We love all the consistencies of the States but the no work, no responsibilities of being here. Just time with our son and each other. Which, I would like to say has gone extremely well. No arguing or major issues. We both may say different things in about 3 more weeks, but for now all is good.

We love visiting Mason everyday and can't wait to go to court and hopefully have the director give us custody right away and be able to bring him back to our apartment. Everyday we see new sides of his personality. He seems to be a quiet, shy guy and he is very intrigued with the toys we brought. His favorites are the big animal book and the plastic rings. He puts the rings on our fingers, his wrist, his and daddy's head. He loves it. At first, when we would go to his room to get him, he would cry but walk to us. Now, no cries and he comes straight to us. We love it. Then, we go to the music room and eat some cereal or fruits and then play. Some days we go outside but not always. He like to ride the rocking horse and have Daddy push him around on the little police three wheeler thing. Everyday it gets more and more fun. He loves to hug and be held and smiles a lot when we give him kisses.

We miss everyone and we'll talk to you later.

Love Ryan, Rachel, and Mason

July 8, 2006

Well everyone...We're here and doing well!! The flight over was great and no problems. Two people, 4 bags, 3 carry-ons...no problem!! Yeah right!! We just can't wait to try all that with a baby!! We stayed in Almaty the first two nights and caught our flight to Koksheteau on the 7th via the "yak". Well...to start off I (Rachel) was quite nervous, then to have the flight delayed for TWO hours, didn't help much. But, we made it okay and got to see Nikita (Mason) yesterday, the 7th. He is beautiful and even though he cried (screamed) most of the visit, he is perfect. He was fine with us for a while, until he looked and realized we were strangers, then he could start crying again. Today, he was much better, I went into the room to take him, and he stared at me, as though he knew who I was, and then when his caregiver put him down to WALK, that's right, I said walk...to me, he started crying and walked straight to me. So, he was crying, but still comfortable enough to come to me. Then, Ryan and I played with him (or tried to play) and all he did was cry, then lay his head on our shoulder (loved it!!!). He would walk back and forth to each of us and then cuddle which was perfect.

Now, regarding time in Kaz...Almaty was hot as can be...at least in the 90's, but Koksheteau has been in the 70's or lower. Our apartment is very nice, but as of 1:00 this afternoon...no water. We're hoping to have water by the time we get home tonight...but, who can say.

Right now, we're at Jen and Brian Cantwell's apartment who are also here to adopt a son. They're about twelve days ahead of us, and right about now, our saving grace. They are going to help us at the store tonight and are helping us become accustomed to the culture and vodka!! =) Tomorrow our meeting with Mason will be at 2:3O, so a little vodka tonight won't hurt!! By the way...sun goes down around 10:30 pm and rises at 4:00 am. I guess we're getting a feel for what people in Alaska feel like!! But, it only took about 24 hours to put our bodies okay with the time change, but everything is good!!

We'll no pictures for now, we're having some technical difficulties (I need Eric!!). We'll hopefully have some tomorrow or the next day.

Love you all and we'll post as soon as possible (with pictures).

Ryan and Rachel (and baby Mason)