We arrived Sunday morning 6:00 a.m. into Almaty.  British Air provided top notch service the entire way.  After resting at the Kazhol Hotel for six hours, we took Air Astana to Ust Kamenogorsk, arriving at 6:00 p.m. Sunday night.

We were met by our translator, coordinator and driver at the the airport and traveled to the hotel Beibar where will be for the next week, before switching to the Hotel Irtysh.  Last night we visited the restaurant in the hotel and purchased four Coronas, which we enjoyed in the lobby under a beautiful flowering tree, quite significant in the middle of winter in Siberia.  Flowers & Corona!  Life is good....

Monday morning, January 17

We were under the impression we were going to the Ministry of Education first thing this morning, but to our surprise, our coordinator Dameli had taken care of this and we were on the way to the orphanage instead.  Upon arrival at the orphanage, we were warmly greeted with "hellos" from the children in the hallway, while being escorted to the office of the director of the orphanage.

Following introductions and the exchange of a few pleasantries, we were told that Ludmila knew of us and was expecting us, although she was unaware of when we would arrive. The children are told that they are separated at birth from their parents, that they are searching for them--Ludmila was told that we had found her.  Soon she entered the room...and immediately went to her new mama for a hug, no hesitancy at all. She was very quiet and shy, but also very happy to see both of us. After hugs and tears with her new mom, she embraced her new papa.  The room was filled with the joy of the new union, but which actually felt like a reunion, of the new Wilner family.

After getting aquainted, Ludmila took a firm grip on both our hands and led us down the hallway, up the stairs to her orphanage group room. We spent the next two hours getting to know each other. She began by being quite shy and reserved, but that didn't last for long...

First, she demonstrated an incredible ability to braid hair--beginning with the new doll we gave her and then braided her new mama's hair. We also showed her pictures of her new home, bedroom, sabakas (dogs), loshads (horses), petitsa (bird) etc. She studied the pictures with fascination. Then we began to take photos with the digital camera, and everything else was left behind. We envision as photography career for our young Luda! She probably took 35 photos or more of her new mama, papa, doll, translator, friends, teachers etc.  After the photo session and the passing of two hours, we returned hand in hand with our new daughter to the office of the director.  After exchanging kisses and das vadanya (goodbye), we left the orphanage to return again on Tuesday morning. All in all, an amazing day.

We have photos, but they have to be resized before putting on the website. We don't have internet service at the hotel, so we have to visit the one internet cafe in town to do this (where we are now).  We will resize tomorrow and hopefully have photos to post on Tuesday. However, trust us--she is beautiful. Matches the description provided by the orphanage director exactly. A lovely, sweet child...very petite with captivating blue/green eyes. And a couple of new teeth coming in!  The description provided to us said "soft, sweet and lovely". This is so very true.