tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-184374342024-03-23T14:09:35.110-04:00The Curran Adventures in KazakhstanWelcome all to the Curran Blog. In this area we will document our trip to Kazakhstan to find the next two pieces of our family puzzle. We go with your thoughts and wishes. We also go with God and the faith that God has already chosen our kids for us. It is just a matter for us to act and find them. Thanks for listening feel free to participate.Chris and Barbara Curranhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08735165673570351513noreply@blogger.comBlogger59125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18437434.post-27038472819000086292010-12-06T16:25:00.002-05:002010-12-06T16:36:04.844-05:00Family Day December 5, 2010<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikMgA1iTxtbyiPPmNmwUXtDEs1Jfxk6O783EddoZQaxytWEX1gLlJWXJ-ddoTZ9VMoHwMudR2SKzl_WU48_tn6bgVVBMkInu0Jfb5dCh6smY42LG0L8tuj8E2-M2R0QpnGfw75OA/s1600/December+2010+026+front+door+pic.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="294" ox="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikMgA1iTxtbyiPPmNmwUXtDEs1Jfxk6O783EddoZQaxytWEX1gLlJWXJ-ddoTZ9VMoHwMudR2SKzl_WU48_tn6bgVVBMkInu0Jfb5dCh6smY42LG0L8tuj8E2-M2R0QpnGfw75OA/s320/December+2010+026+front+door+pic.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizZTIoVrdkVhu-XSnZxEtiFxMxTdncp-I-mODoDXo_VC3XFOJ-q62h1lyNwNsw7qkRBhu1jVDQUZrvZPDnjtzreVs-JkyIVg2LyoMgg_m-dXM2URMWE82aaqIgmWtTDDKzznsfyQ/s1600/December+2010+034+Grace+and+Michael.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="319" ox="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizZTIoVrdkVhu-XSnZxEtiFxMxTdncp-I-mODoDXo_VC3XFOJ-q62h1lyNwNsw7qkRBhu1jVDQUZrvZPDnjtzreVs-JkyIVg2LyoMgg_m-dXM2URMWE82aaqIgmWtTDDKzznsfyQ/s320/December+2010+034+Grace+and+Michael.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="line-height: 12.9pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: 12.9pt;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia", "serif";">This year we visited Rockefeller Center to see the tree and the ice skaters. Then we had a fun lunch at "Ellen's Stardust Cafe" right at 50th and Broadway. Then we went to see the Broadway production of Mary Poppins" and it was spectacular!!! We came home, ate hot chili by the fire and watched the Christmas movie "Elf".</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;">Grace age 8 years</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia;"> Michael age age 6 years</span></div>Chris and Barbara Curranhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08735165673570351513noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18437434.post-68889411231360216192010-10-15T17:31:00.003-04:002010-10-17T11:50:43.188-04:00December 5, 2009<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiADkMsvJOfur2rqor5OYqXHc_rtTXsj1q_y4yn6d_izgHbwx4dgraK6k2rgNO2DN6xfyaad7IdBtOzBXrPtomlTbOAO4zcFpv0YUVeRycuf27bK0UeWHU88cnlYi1H9H6MMRPzEw/s1600/IMG_9542.JPG"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5528389982979784610" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiADkMsvJOfur2rqor5OYqXHc_rtTXsj1q_y4yn6d_izgHbwx4dgraK6k2rgNO2DN6xfyaad7IdBtOzBXrPtomlTbOAO4zcFpv0YUVeRycuf27bK0UeWHU88cnlYi1H9H6MMRPzEw/s320/IMG_9542.JPG" style="cursor: hand; display: block; height: 240px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 320px;" /></a> This year we traveled to the Bronx to visit the Aboretum along with our friend Donna who also has an adopted son, Ryan who she and her husband brought home from Russia 10 days after our return from Kaz in 2005!<br />
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Grace is 7 in the photo and Michael is 5.<br />
<div></div>Chris and Barbara Curranhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08735165673570351513noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18437434.post-57934226718618400572010-10-15T17:18:00.003-04:002010-10-15T17:26:00.914-04:00December 5. 2008<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfU087CqAOANUE5zymgPFaSebqKUAOgsC_GvXUpoIECxo32EZSwjMwnbDjt8Utnk1XT_aYIPZAanLF_e9UwNIaZB58VBVkD7gAqFsqTPmixxgSSjbaSYIjrl1hzxWtCBS_Sfc9pw/s1600/IMG_7277.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 286px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5528386094481470338" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfU087CqAOANUE5zymgPFaSebqKUAOgsC_GvXUpoIECxo32EZSwjMwnbDjt8Utnk1XT_aYIPZAanLF_e9UwNIaZB58VBVkD7gAqFsqTPmixxgSSjbaSYIjrl1hzxWtCBS_Sfc9pw/s320/IMG_7277.JPG" /></a> Grace Curran is 6 years old and Michael Curran is 4 years...this ended up being our Christmas card for 2008! It's one of our favorites!!!<br /><div></div>Chris and Barbara Curranhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08735165673570351513noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18437434.post-72421503224903149642008-02-14T13:47:00.004-05:002008-02-14T14:01:00.908-05:00Growing strong Dec 5th 2007<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhikEbtMd6U7PiuZ8RXxD2TuVv9-oWqON20r6_5kf-eygJdPjzCxsPN44Z-O19AXCmxxWsaYVVFduvjdm5dXBN5U9kUcZOvvdDZAv_SiokMzVdmUw5rhuTox4bBbEOhgcv2gv2uNg/s1600-h/Family_day+3+2007.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5166911216414293010" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhikEbtMd6U7PiuZ8RXxD2TuVv9-oWqON20r6_5kf-eygJdPjzCxsPN44Z-O19AXCmxxWsaYVVFduvjdm5dXBN5U9kUcZOvvdDZAv_SiokMzVdmUw5rhuTox4bBbEOhgcv2gv2uNg/s200/Family_day+3+2007.JPG" border="0" /></a><br /><div>We are enjoying ourselves during our 3rd picture 'out of the orphanage'. Once again we celebrated by going to New York City. We saw the real Santa at Macys and the real Grinch in a play. At home we had our Kazakhstani Chili and watched the original Miracle on 43rd street. God is good. Next year Grace will do the typing. God Bless….The Currans of KAZ</div>Chris and Barbara Curranhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08735165673570351513noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18437434.post-1165873384128420902006-12-11T16:39:00.000-05:002006-12-11T16:44:44.056-05:00Family Day 2005<a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/x/blogger/5669/1804/1600/839146/Dec%205%202005.jpg"><img style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/x/blogger/5669/1804/200/359946/Dec%205%202005.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />This is a picture of the 1st seconds out of the Orphanage December 5, 2005, 8:30am KZT. I had lost the disk that held this picture for 6 months. I went out on my mind looking for it. Fortunately we had Michael with us. He was rummaging through the diaper bag looking for something to destroy and he found the disk. This is the moment we will celebrate.Chris and Barbara Curranhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08735165673570351513noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18437434.post-1165872818595987392006-12-11T16:30:00.000-05:002006-12-11T16:39:26.130-05:00One year later Family Day 2006<a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/x/blogger/5669/1804/1600/114207/Dec%205%202006.jpg"><img style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/x/blogger/5669/1804/200/869426/Dec%205%202006.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />Folks, I just wanted to give an update. Yesterday we celebrated ‘Family Day’. December 5th is one year from the day we left the orphanage together as a family. I am enclosing a picture of those first few seconds, the facial expressions tell the story. I am also including a picture of 1 year later. It has been a great year. It feels like we have been together forever. We have bonded nicely. The kids really love to hear their life story, when “Mama and Papa got married and then came and picked us up”. Part of the story we tell is the Day we landed in JFK and came home, Dec 9, 2005. I planned on mentioning this day during my Thanksgiving speech. Coming home to a house filled with toys and clothes and Christmas decorations was one of the most moving moments in our lives. We thank you, our macro family, for your generous gifts and thoughts and care. Your actions are part of our family history and tradition. We can not thank you enough.<br />As for the events of our family day? We went into the Big City to see the Tree. We took a horse/buggy ride in central park, where we found out that Grace does not stop talking when she has a Hot Chocolate high. The kids did very well and like true Kazakhstani’s they loved the cold. We were home by dinner where we had a traditional Kazakh meal, ‘Horse’ Chili, eaten in front of an open fire(place). It was a great day of Celebration. By the way the Kazakh flag has been flying out front all month from Nov 11th (our travel day) thru Dec 9th our arrival day.<br />Thanks for your Prayers. We owe St Theresa (The Little flower) for sending us our two Roses from Heaven’s Garden. And the Blessed Mother who helped in getting our “Hail and Blessed” wishes granted before Christmas last year. We will be giving our wishes away this year. No need to be greedy:)<br />God Bless YOU! The Currans<br />PS Barbara and I saw the Borat movie. Don’t waste your time. Being part Kazakh, we may be a little sensitive but… He really creates a totally unjustified bad reputation for Kazakhs. He doesn’t even speak Kazakh or Russian, It sounded like Polish to me. Two thumbs down.Chris and Barbara Curranhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08735165673570351513noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18437434.post-1135177040295240872005-12-21T09:54:00.000-05:002005-12-21T09:57:20.296-05:00Happy at home<a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5669/1804/1600/IMG_0667.jpg"><img style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5669/1804/200/IMG_0667.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br />We love our new home!Chris and Barbara Curranhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08735165673570351513noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18437434.post-1135176534900730262005-12-21T09:43:00.000-05:002005-12-21T09:48:54.923-05:00Merry Christmas To All<a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5669/1804/1600/home%20at%20last.0.jpg"><img style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5669/1804/200/home%20at%20last.0.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><p>Thanks for all of the prayers and gifts. </p><p>God Bless!!!</p>Chris and Barbara Curranhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08735165673570351513noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18437434.post-1134592522066060242005-12-14T15:31:00.000-05:002005-12-14T15:35:22.066-05:00Special ThanksWe'd like to thank our coordinators and homeside organizers. We’d also like to thank all of those who filled our house for our arrival. We walked into a home filled with gifts for the kids; Christmas decorations for the adults. Plus, there were kids clothes to last the winter and beyond, and food for a week, for all. Please thank Grace and Michael’s cousins who had to sacrifice their favorite toys and clothes for children they have not yet met. To have used items that we know worked for your kids was exactly what we were hoping for. . God is Good and you guys prove it.Chris and Barbara Curranhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08735165673570351513noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18437434.post-1134571204519635292005-12-14T09:24:00.000-05:002005-12-14T15:22:02.996-05:00Worst enemy ideasIf you have an enemy that you would like to punish, have them take two children on a 20 hour plane trip. 6 hours on one plane, 4 hours in an airport and 8 1/2 hours on the 2nd plane. No, no, please don't; it is too cruel. I am sorry I even suggested it. I was going to describe our painful trip from Kazakhstan to JFK in NYC but similar to what we hear mothers tell about giving birth, the pain subsides and it becomes a memory. Well the pain is subsiding for us but for the people on the plane, I am sure they will be talking about their experience for a long time. They will tell of screaming children and parents who couldn't prevent their kids from running up and down the isles. They will also tell of a girl who spoke Russian too many of the passengers and laughed infectiously when she wasn't screaming. They will tell of a little boy who screamed less and with less volume and who walked around for hours preventing his parents from getting any sleep. What they don't know is that the parents hadn't slept in days anyway. <br />Using EST <br />Wednesday 8:00pm - new parents wake up with kids <br />Thursday 11:00am – Parents get a power nap; kids get 5 hours sleep <br />Thursday 1:00pm - Left for the airport <br />Thursday 5:00 pm - 1st plane takes off – small naps<br />Friday 12:01 am - land in Frankfurt GMY. no naps <br />Friday 4:00am - 2nd airplane takes off – no naps <br />Friday 12:49pm EST - land in JFK. <br />Friday 12:50pm EST - Passengers ask if they can vote to let the kids become US citizens, luckily for Michael and Grace, it happens automatically. We weren’t able to get a full sleep until Sunday night. A beginning just like all parents, some have the stork come to them, we flew in the stork. We just wanted to get this documented to show the kids in the future. They owe us big time.<br />Final pictures are on the way.Chris and Barbara Curranhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08735165673570351513noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18437434.post-1134410808902217832005-12-12T13:06:00.000-05:002005-12-12T13:11:39.413-05:00There is no place like homeTwo of the newest US citizens arrived at JFK on Friday 12/9/05 at 12:49pm EST. They did not enjoy their trip. I will tell you about the trip in a separate segment. We were greeted by Uncle Michael and Aunt Brigid. Grace was introduced to Brigid and she was not too sure about this stranger. Then Brigid handed her a bouquet of Balloons and suddenly she was the favorite Aunt. And since Michael was the driver he is the front runner as favorite Uncle. We know others want the title too. We say let the competition begin. The Aunt and Uncles can spoil our kids any time. As a matter of fact if you can pay for their college we will grant you the title outright.<br />The ride in the van was exciting for Grace and Michael, they both slept. Chris and Barbara were too wound up to sleep. When we got home we ran in to greet the dogs. They missed us and we missed them. They were a little out of sorts with the commotion the first day but they have settled down. Then we greeted the Barbara’s parents. They were jumping out of their skin to meet their first Grandchildren. Barbara carried in Michael. Michael was happy to see them. It was very emotional. Then Chris brought Grace in. As he took her from the car, the emotion over powered him. It is difficult to put into words. We are sure every parent has felt the same surge of energy when you are carrying your child to begin life in their own home. Your life passes in front of your eyes. Your entire heritage, all of your dreams for the child swell up. This is the moment you waited for, worked for and were groomed for all of your life. To take your child into their home, You feel the power of God. Chris walked with a tear in his eyes. Whispering “Welcome to your home, Grace Tanya”, “Ya tee bya Lu Blu” I Love you. Then Chris looked up to see his big sister Brigid looking at him with a knowing look, asking “how are you doing?” She gave them both a big welcome home hug. As Chris and Grace approached the door the grandparents were looking with wide grins and a sparkle in their eyes. Chris turned Grace’s face to them, their was as gasp, as if they said “this is our granddaughter, she is so beautiful”.<br />On Sunday Chris’ parents came to the home to visit. Grace was out playing in the snow with her father. Chris brought her to the car where the parents had that same wide smile and sparkle in their eyes. Even though there are more then 20 grandchildren it was obvious that these two are as special as each other one. A grandparent’s love has no limits. Their smiles lasted through the whole meeting. Grace and Michael behaved in a way that seemed to suggest “Yes, we are a family” Grace sang and danced with her new Snoopy doll from the grand parents. It was nice to watch her Grandfather’s eyes when her sang her song in Russian and she enjoyed her gift. At one she gave an unsolicited hug to Chris as if to say to the grandparents “don’t worry about us; I love my Mama and Papa.” As the Curran grandparents were putting their coats on to leave, Chris hugged his mother while holding Grace. Grace wanted nothing to do with that, she pushed Grandma away saying something in Russian including Papa, She was obviously saying this is my papa, you get your own. WE ARE HOME. THANK GOD.Chris and Barbara Curranhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08735165673570351513noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18437434.post-1134410662297445662005-12-12T13:03:00.000-05:002005-12-12T13:04:22.323-05:00New writerWe need to apologize for the grammatical errors on the previous two blogs. Grace wanted to participate, so we let her. We thought it would be cute to leave the mistakes in the final write up. Considering that fact that she only speaks Russian we are happy with her typing.Chris and Barbara Curranhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08735165673570351513noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18437434.post-1133942662967762302005-12-07T02:57:00.000-05:002005-12-07T03:04:22.966-05:00Embassy doctorGrace is as smart as she looks. We went to the embassy doctor and Grace asked to interpreter if there will be neddles. She was told no. Grace said she will not be afraid, she will not cry. They both had gppd physicals. Grace is 33 pounds and Michael is 22 pounds. Both are groing by leaps and bounds. Michael does what every his sister does and Mama and Papa too. He is not the quiet slow moving kid we met 3 weeks ago. Grace is is pure test mode. "Let me see what the parents will give me" Let's put it this way Barbara is not planmning to fail the test. We are having a lot of fun. We are learning that Grace will do a lot of the little work around and Michael can now hold the sippy cup on his own. This parenting is getting easy. That first day was not easy.Chris and Barbara Curranhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08735165673570351513noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18437434.post-1133942210303513402005-12-07T02:43:00.000-05:002005-12-07T02:56:51.620-05:00Almaty at lastFolks we made it. It was an emotional trip to Almaty on Monday. We went to pickup Michael and Grace and every one was felling good Grace was happy and the fairwell was lively. Grace had been prepared to Go to a new houes and go on a plain ride. Then to pick up michaelk down the hall. It started out happy but became sad for the careworkers. We are sure they had a few tears in both rooms after we left. Even Graces friends seemed to know something was different. The we as parents were brought back to Earth when 10 minutes into the ride to the airport we were told what Grace said. She said. I want to go back. I don't want to live in a house. The car ride was sad after that. Grace was sold a 'bill of goods' She didn't want it. Michael was OK until the airport and the open spaces in the building. Grace was OK in the airport. Then the plane arived and she ran to the plane. How exciting to see a real plan and actually get on it. She lasted an hour then had trouble because she wanted more juice then we were willing to give. The screams and tears. We are officially parents. I used to laugh a people with screaming kids knowing full well that I would be one someday. Everything was OK until the car ride to the hotel when grace sobbed over and over Dome moi, dome moi, my home, I want my home. More scary open space at the hotel. The elevator ride was not fun either. Today Tuesday all is well and a lot less tears.Chris and Barbara Curranhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08735165673570351513noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18437434.post-1133614436403837162005-12-03T07:38:00.000-05:002005-12-03T07:53:56.996-05:00final Semey notes<a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5669/1804/1600/IMG_0373.jpg"><img style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5669/1804/320/IMG_0373.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Folks the time has come to begin closing down the blog. We wrote this Blog for a number of reasons. We wanted to keep our family and friends informed of our adventures in Kazakhstan. Imagine the communications problems we would have without the internet. We also wanted to keep a day to day log so our children will get an idea of our raw thoughts at the time of their early days and as they joined our family. As it turns out, including the comments from all of you, this blog will show how much they have been loved even before their parents came to get them. And how much God has been protecting them for all of their days. Plus, This will help tell them about the interesting heratige they have.<br />We also wrote as an educational book about the adoption process in general. We wanted to write to people who are in the adoption process or are thinking about joining the ranks of parenthood through adoption. We wanted to show that adoption is hard work and that the rewards are great. (As we all know ”Hard work is never easy”). We know they are reading and we are glad to help. Be prepared for an adventure of your children's life.<br />Since Monday 11/28 our title has changed from adoptive parents to just parents. And the children have changed from ‘children to be adopted’ to the Curran kids. When we first started this process we were told that there is a term that people in the adoption process hear inappropriately all of the time. The kids are often asked “where are your real parents” Or the parents are asked “imagine if you had real children”. And these are adults who ask these questions. Of course they are really talking about “birth” parents and “birth” children. Our kids will know that they are adopted. We will discuss it at different stages of their lives. There probably won't be opportunies for the readers of the blog to mention adoption. We are real parents and they are our real kids. We think the only evidence that people outside the family will know that our kids are adopted, is that they will have straight hair, and their parents have naturally curly hair.<br />We will celebrate our “Family Day” on the day everything became official on Nov. 28th . It could be the 1st day in Semey of the Nov 13th also. We will see when the anniversary comes in 1 year. Many people call that day “Gotcha Day” We think ‘Family Day’ is a more fitting day to celebrate. Our children will know they are from Kazakhstan. We will celebrate that heritage as much as we do our Lithuanian, German/English/Native American and Irish heritage. Of course on all college applications they will be listed as Native Americans(joke). They will be US citizens on the day they land in New York and we hand in our immigration papers. They will be proud to be Americans. They will know that a kid from the Steppes of Southern Siberia can grow to be anything they put their mind to be. Thank you for being here for us and our children. We love all of you. God Bless!<br /><br />PS We have booked our flight to Almaty for Monday morning. We may be out of communications during our travels from Semey to Almaty to home. We will post agina when we can. We will definitely post an epilogue when we get home.Chris and Barbara Curranhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08735165673570351513noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18437434.post-1133613075890739212005-12-03T07:06:00.000-05:002005-12-03T07:31:16.826-05:00It is time to leave SemeyThere are certain signs that it is time for us to go home.<br />The street light on the corner seen in the picture of Semey has been broken since our second day here. Today it was fixed.<br />The resturant in the hotel that we have eaten in at least once per day just started construction. We now have to eat in a different part of resturant. <br />The people in the internet cafe have a reserved seat for us. They are starting to speak English.<br />The caregivers have the kids ready before we get to the orphanage. <br />We started signing papers on Friday. <br />We met with our coordinator on Saturday. Only the second time since we have been here. She gave us the completed documents and we have them to bring to the embassy.<br />We booked a Flight to Almaty - Hooray. We fly on Monday. We still have work to do in Almaty but at least we will be moving. <br />A couple of more prayers that the paperwork is not delayed.<br />It looks like it is time to move on to our next adventure - Traveling with kids. We will carry a new sign - HELP!Chris and Barbara Curranhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08735165673570351513noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18437434.post-1133521561359000292005-12-02T05:47:00.000-05:002005-12-02T06:06:01.583-05:00The paperwork is starting to move.Today, Friday, we signed a bunch of papers. We know the passports are created. We still don't know when we are going to Almaty. The earliest will be on Monday. Once there we can expect a communications blackout until we can find a new cafe. <br />We will let you know on Saturday or Sunday if we booked the flight for Monday.<br />It is so close we can taste it. <br />Well at least still have time to see the couple of museums that we haven't seen, plus the Steppes and ski area in the forest. <br />Signed: Still having fun in Beautiful Semey.Chris and Barbara Curranhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08735165673570351513noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18437434.post-1133437317361001442005-12-01T06:17:00.000-05:002005-12-01T06:41:57.446-05:00What we will miss<a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5669/1804/1600/IMG_0318.jpg"><img style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5669/1804/200/IMG_0318.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5669/1804/1600/IMG_0393.jpg"><img style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5669/1804/200/IMG_0393.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />Our time is winding down here in Semey. We still don’t know when. Here are some things we will miss:<br />Our time together – 3 weeks without Chris or Barbara leaving for work. With the language problem we pretty much have been in-separatable during this whole time, shopping eating and visiting. We have enjoyed this time.<br />We will miss the city life. It has been great being able to walk to a store or a park or even the internet café. We will miss writing our life story to the world. This will be a good kick start to our journaling days.<br />We will miss our buddies at the café. They will miss us.<br />We will miss our movie night. 8:00 every night we set up the theater in our room and enjoy our wine and Pringles and our quiet time together. We will see if maybe we can keep this in the future…Something tells me this is not reality.<br />We will miss going to the orphanage. Picking up Michael with his big smile for a greeting; Picking Grace as she bops/hops down the hall leading to her big greeting for her little brother.<br />We will miss our little family room, although we know the kids are ready to bust out of that room. When the time comes for us to reminisce about the quiet and simple times with the kids, we will fondly remember our time in the family room.<br />We will miss Raushan, our friend and protector. It is nice to know there is someone in town worrying about us. We will miss our great conversations.<br />We will miss our driver Almas. How great is it to have a driver take you around the city every day. Almas was more then that, it was fun hearing about his tests for his law degree and stories about his girlfriend. We will miss his big smile.<br />We will miss our daily tea.<br />We will miss our dinner in the same restarant in the hotel every night. Those people know us well and we enjoy eating in their company.<br />We will miss the few times where were heard people in town speaking English. At the same time we will miss trying to speak Russian or trying to communicate to Russian speaking people. It is always a great achievement to get what you want without using words.<br />We will is our daily snow. So far we are up to a total 3 inches after some snow-globe type snow every day. There is not much at a time but it is slowly accumulating. I predict a white Christmas.<br />We will miss talking to the video camera every day. I hope 21 days of looking out the same window giving a morning commentary is not too monotonous. (My sister Tara you will kill me if when see these videos, bad technique)<br />We will miss trying to be creative for you, our reading public. Trying to figure out what you would be interested in and what you would think is humorous. We have really enjoyed talking to you. I must admit the pictures of the kids really helped.<br />We still have a couple of more segments for your reading pleasure, but we are running out of material. We can see by your comments and emails that you have enjoyed this as much as we have. God Bless.Chris and Barbara Curranhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08735165673570351513noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18437434.post-1133435850751347772005-12-01T05:56:00.000-05:002005-12-01T06:17:30.776-05:00Investors needed.This is a picture of a rightside view of Semey from our hotel window. That 2nd tiny looking smokestack in the upper center of photo, is accross the street from the orphanage. The closest building used to be a bread factory plus other semi used and abandoned apartment buildings. We had Thanksgiving in the tallest building in the picture. 16 stories is as tall as they get here. <a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5669/1804/1600/IMG_0456.jpg"><img style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5669/1804/200/IMG_0456.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />I promised you I would talk about the economics of Semey and Kazakhstan. Have you heard of the pioneers? Kazakhstan became a country in 1993 since then there has been a tremendous amount of people moving. In Semey the Russian military, Russian nationals, Germans and Ukrainians have gone back to their respective countries. This has left a city of about 500,000 people with a current reading up to about 300,000. There is investment opportunity if you are willing to take the risk. What can you get cheap? Food, drink and cigarettes. We eat dinner of two small salads, 2soups, 2 small entrées and 2 beers for 1300 tenge (ten-gay). That is $10. We went to one place for the same price we fed 4 people. You can get 2 beers for $1. A pack of cigarettes cost .35 cents. We would fill our suitcases with cigarettes if we thought we could get past customs. What does the city need? Steel, road repair works, fleece sweatshirts, postcards and cash and much. Semey was a major producer in Soviet times. They had the biggest meat packing plant in the Empire they had bread factories, shoes and clothing factories. All of that is gone. Now all anyone wants to do is import cheap clothes and shoes and sell them in small crowded booths. Everyone sells the same stuff. Every 3rd booth is for kids clothes or toys. Then there are women’s cloths and bags. There are some electronics booths and cell phone booths. The all look the same. What they are missing is manufacturing. In our hotel we see the bread factory that used to employ about 500 people. Now the roof is collapsed. People work a number of jobs, like teach English and then interpret for adopting families. During the transition from the Soviet times there was a time of land grabbing. The people in power took everything. But they didn’t know how to run it. Every time there was a conflict the owners just shut the factories down. Now there are empty buildings every where. The people of the city are very proud of what they have and things are improving. That is why it is time to act. You can get an apartment building for a song. You can get workers to maintain it. You just need renters. If you are willing to lose some rent money early you will make it back in the long run. If you can restart a factory that will hire workers that rent in your buildings things will move faster…It’s a whole economic theory. You need to be in an MBA program to understand it. My brother Michael can explain it if you need helpJ(sorry, inside joke to half of the readers.) Anyway, the city is growing again and they are looking for investors.Chris and Barbara Curranhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08735165673570351513noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18437434.post-1133434552826765412005-12-01T05:43:00.000-05:002005-12-01T05:55:53.723-05:00Day 4 of parenthood - thursdayOn Tuesday we told the kids that they had parents. They weren't impressed. Grace smiled and asked for her juice. Michael asked for his cereal treat. Maybe they didn't understand us. We thought it was good news. We will we tell then again in the future. We are trying to prepare the kids for travel. We have pictures of the house and their rooms so they will recognize it when they see it. We are also starting to walk through the halls with little commands like "walk' and "stop" so they know them when they hear them. Whoever said that our skills we learned while working with the dogs will used for kids, was right. 'Walk' and 'stop' are universal. <br />Still no word on leaving. It seems that with new laws come new paper work. Our interpreter and coordinator or working overtime with new forms and additional copies. We will keep you informed.Chris and Barbara Curranhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08735165673570351513noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18437434.post-1133250992598373912005-11-29T02:37:00.000-05:002005-11-29T02:56:32.610-05:00Thank You for Caring<a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5669/1804/1600/IMG_0428.jpg"><img style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5669/1804/200/IMG_0428.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />Here is Grace with one of her caregivers. She is not in her normal uniform today. We think she was putting on some type of play for the kids. Today the caregivers were scrambling to have their picture with Grace and Michael. The word must have spread that they are heading home soon. We can see how much our children have been loved in this place. Each time we go to the room the caregivers give special hugs to welcome the kids back. We know they have taught them well. Grace speaks clearly and knows how to hold a pen. Grace even teaches Papa every time she breaks out the writing book. These are special people and we will not forget them.Chris and Barbara Curranhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08735165673570351513noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18437434.post-1133249823280121142005-11-29T02:15:00.000-05:002005-11-29T02:37:03.303-05:00Raushan and Her Little Buddy, Michael<a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5669/1804/1600/IMG_0214.jpg"><img style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5669/1804/200/IMG_0214.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />To start with, you all are brining tears to our eyes with all of your comments. We just love reading them. Thank you.<br />This is picture of our translator, Raushan, with our little man. Michael became very special to Raushan when she would visit the orphanage in the past. Michael would cry a lot back then and he would hold his arms up to her as to ask to be picked up, whenever she was in his room . Raushan said to us that she always wondered what kind of family Michael would have. We believe that she is very pleased with his selection. Raushan has been a tremendous help to us not only with her job of translating for us, but also as a wonderful friend. In addition, she is the local historian who provided the historical information you've read on our Blog. Raushan was born here and her family has been in this area for generations. Thank you so very much Raushan, we know you read this!!!Chris and Barbara Curranhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08735165673570351513noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18437434.post-1133189684098862742005-11-28T09:35:00.000-05:002005-11-28T09:54:44.146-05:00What a Great and Glorious Day!!!!Success. We are the proud parents of healthy little girl and little boy. She speaks Russian and is 100cm and about 30;bs. She has all of her fingers and toes. We call her Grace Tayna. He is 80cm and is about 20lbs. He has all of his fingers and toes. We call him Michael Joseph. Both are vey happy. Both parents are very happy and feeling good. We would join in a shot of Vodka if we were with you. Join us, we already had ours. <br />The court proceeding went very smoothly. We knew we were in good shape when all of the women of the court; the Judge, the prosecutor and the child advocate oogled at the required pictures of the family. Most of these picures were the same ones you saw already. Our coordinator was extreamly happy. She gave Barbara a big Russian bear hug. Our translator was eaqually happy. We have enjoyed our time here in Semey, it looks like we will be here a few more days to get the paper work done. We will travel to Almaty soon, we don't have an exact date yet. In Almaty we will present the kids to the US Embassey. Then we will head home. We will know a better time frame later in the week. Thank you for all of your prayers. It looks like they have been answered. Later.Chris and Barbara Curranhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08735165673570351513noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18437434.post-1133076703098330522005-11-27T02:22:00.000-05:002005-11-27T02:31:43.116-05:00Day 15Significant milestones were hit today. Grace said her first English word without prompting. The word was BOOK. Later on she was pointing to the ceiling and said the word UP. Michael, our little man, finally drank from the sippy cup after two weeks of putting the thing infront of him in attempts to get him to use it. When he finished the juice he cried because he wanted more. Go figure!! Today was our last official visitation day before court. Now we will not see our little munchkins until Tuesday. Tomorrow we will sit tight and wait for our coordinator to take us to court. Then our next round of paperwork will begin. We are getting nervous...It will be a relief when it is all over.Chris and Barbara Curranhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08735165673570351513noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18437434.post-1133008140367383382005-11-26T07:07:00.001-05:002005-11-27T01:57:32.226-05:00What we are thankful for!Chris&Barbara: We Thank God for all that we have<br />We are thankful for our parents for teaching what it is to Love. With Love there is happiness and sorrow involved and that it so overwhelming that it guides you to do the right thing. Love helps you live in peace. We are thankful that they taught us the gift of Faith in God. Without it we would have ended our journey a long time ago. We thank them for so much more. We are thankful to the new aunts and uncles and people in our lives who have kids. As we struggle to be contributing member for the "parents club" you have given us so much useful advice, not only with words but by actions. We will work on emulating the good and avoiding the bad. We are thankful to the nieces and nephews who will invite our children into their world. We are thankful that our family and our dogs are enjoying relatively good health. We are thankful that people have jobs that they like. We are thankful that our family is still expanding and that the kids of the clan are healthy. We are thankful that Donna and Tom are on the way to Russia to reunite with their son. We have a lot to be thankful for on this Great and Glorious day!<br /><br />Grace and Michael: We are thankful to our birth parents who love us. We will pray everyday that they have peace in their heart and mind and that they know that they are loved. We are thankful for our caregivers who are extraordinary people. They have taken such good care of us. It will be tough for our parents to match their high standards. We look forward to torturing our parents as they try for perfection. Our caregivers will also be in our prayers everyday. We are thankful for our parents. They don't even speak our language and they are able to communicate with us. They are very nice and they bring us toys and make us laugh. We can't wait to get home to continue to learn and grow into loving people just like our parents. We are thankful to our grandparents. We can feel the love and excitement that they have for us already. We can't wait to meet them and be spoiled by them! Most of all we can't wait to get home and join the cousins. We love to play and share and we love to be around other kids. We thank God for the opportunity to expand our horizons. We Thank God for our Forever Family.<br /><br />Here we light a candle in the 120 year old Russian Orthodox Church in thanksgiving and prayer for Grace and Michael's birthparents. <a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5669/1804/1600/IMG_0247.jpg"><img style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5669/1804/200/IMG_0247.jpg" border="0" /></a>Chris and Barbara Curranhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08735165673570351513noreply@blogger.com0