Kyrgyzstan Trip #2
The first few minutes of seeing Noah again were so intense. You see I have never had to meet a child and then leave them before. With Kai & Grace, we stayed the whole time for both kids, so once we met them, we were with them everyday from then on. With Noah, we knew what we were missing, compounded by the fact that he was so, so small when we met him, and well, we wanted him home.

The other thing was that the day before we went to Tokmok to pick him up, the coordinator and the translator told me he had been very sick in June. Sick enough that the extra care-taker we hired felt she needed to stay with him day and night. He lost well over a kilo from diarrhea, which is the leading cause of infant mortality in the third world. The babyhouse director, who is a doctor, happened to be in the states at that time, and we know for certain that Gula saved his life. Even the director said so. He was little when we picked him up, but happy and active. I knew he had lost weight because Destiny Sheuffele
(his crib-mate and fellow preemie and Gula charge) seriously outweighed him. Needless to say, when I saw him across the courtyard (Michele, one of the other moms saw him first and was frantically waving me over) I burst into tears and kissed his sweet living self all over. Then I kissed Gula about a thousand times. Tell me, how exactly do you thank someone for saving your child's life?

It was so fun to see all the other families meet up with their little ones. Everybody was looking so good! We met with the babyhouse director, Tatiana, who asked us the surprising question of what we would like her to do if the birthmother comes back to ask about him. Should she tell her where he was. To which I practically shrieked YES!!!!!!!!! And could you possibly staple her to the floor just long enough so we can get a letter and pictures to her and set up some kind of contact?  I couldn't believe it. Adoption in this part of the world has come so far. We have no info on Noah. The babyhouse gave him his first name and the head nurse gave him her last name. I tried to convey, as emphatically as possible, how glad we would be for contact with any member of the birth family, and we would love for letters and photos to be passed back and forth through Tatiana if she was OK with that ( she was.) It probably won't happen, but man was I glad it was even on the table, and Tatiana seemed really happy about my response. I know a lot of adoptive families don't want to think about the birth families or have contact, but the questions are going to arise no matter HOW the parents feel about it. Isn't it better to have some information, some truthful information, rather than letting the kids spin themselves a fantasy? I think so.


My sister, and travel buddy, Annabel with Noah.
Noah & Destiny's last bottle at the babyhouse.
And then a little way into the visit, Gula started to cry. Because Gula, she loves those babies. She held Noah and Destiny and kissed them and talked to them and cried over them. And I completely lost it. And so did Michele, because we both understood that our children soon had to say goodbye to the only mother they have ever known, and she was a loving and kind and selfless mother too. So we stepped aside and gave her a good half hour to 45 minutes alone with the kids while we talked to Tatiana and took pictures of other babies for waiting families. Then we all hugged and cried some more.
See. Red eyes. We cried a lot!
And suddenly it was time to go. So we kissed Tatiana and thanked her and made tentative plans for the Taylor family to return next year or the year after with volunteers for construction work and (more importantly) instruments to put on a show for the kids. Then I turned to Gula and realized I had no idea how to say "I love you" in Russian ( and yet somehow I learned to order take-out, nice priorities) so I said it in English. And that's when I heard the only English I have ever heard from Gula as she hugged me and said "I love you too."
And so we went back to the Golden Dragon, where Noah proceeded to be so sick that we called the consulate for some contact info for English speaking doctors. Everybody was so amazingly helpful and nice and 24 hours later, Noah started improving and growing and showing us his delightful, mellow, sweet personality. The child is a total gem.

Then we went to Almaty where I was joyfully reunited with Aida, our dear friend and translator from both Kai & Grace's adoption. Our family lived with her family for about 3 months, so now we are all one big happy family. She has a brand new baby girl Noah's age, but just a wee bit bigger. Behold the big beautifulness that is Aiyah ( or Aika):
The pictures below were taken under a red awning, so I apologize for the color issues. Anyway, a little comparison shot. The baby on the left (Noah), a premature orphanage baby. The baby on the right (Aika) a full-term, breast-fed, home baby. The kids are the same age. I freaking love this shot. And both babies!
The beautiful, almost 7 year old Saida!
We saw them every day we were in Almaty, but it wasn't enough. I miss her already.
So,  now we are home, and more pictures will follow soon, as well as stories I will remember as I get over the jet-lag. Noah was amazing on the flight home. He is an old soul and nothing much, with the exception of hunger, phases him. Mom and Polly think he is a reincarnated lama. They might just be right.
Noah on day 7 of the trip.
Stay tuned. I'll be back with more in a few days.........