We left Almaty at 9:35 for Petropavlovsk. I will write more later about the flight there, but we made it safely and the flight really wasn't as bad as I expected. We were greeted by our translator and facilitator who told us we would go directly to the babyhouse to meet the children. We arrived at the babyhouse and waited for several minutes outside the Director's office for our 1st meeting. Many caregivers were walking by smiling. They told us that the children were waiting for us. That Rachel was excited to meet her Mama and Papa and that they told Todd this morning that Mama and Papa were coming and that ever since then he kept looking out the doorway of his room. Finally, as we were waiting in the hallway we looked up and there they were. The caregivers brought them out. Rachel was shy for a second. Her caregiver told her this is your Mama. You can touch her. She shyed away for a few seconds. I reached out by finger and she grabbed my hand and let go of her caregivers. Meanwhile, they told Frank her could hold Todd. Todd looked absolutely petrified, but did not cry. Rachel walked me up the stairs by the hand to the play room and Frank and Todd followed. All of the caregivers were smiling and in the video that was taken you can see them smiling and pointing as we all walk upstairs. Our first visit went incredibly well. Lasted about 20 minutes. Here are some pics.
