Monday - July 12th

We received news on Ryland's passport today, but it wasn't the best news. His paperwork went missing for a while and then was finally found. They are hoping to process his new passport tomorrow and get it to us on Wednesday. We won't know for sure until Wednesday. In the meantime, we are still waiting for CIS to update the system with our new clearance and age preference. Hoping to hear news on this soon as well. So for now, we are just waiting and trying to do everything in Pavlodar that we can before we leave.

The sun is supposed to come back tomorrow and we want to go back to the beach for a couple hours. On Wednesday we're going to go to an indoor pool and we are interested to see how Ry acts in the pool to give us a little glimpse of where he'll be once we get home. He has had a little cough, just in the morning, for the past couple of days. I thought it would go away, but we had our translator take us to the drug store today. The "kids" cough syrup that we got wasn't fruit flavored like back home and smelled like fennel. I was worried about him not taking it well or spitting it out, but he drank it like a champ. Such a little man!!

Yesterday we all went with Dust to get a long over-due haircut. Even though Ry didn't need one, we wanted to use this experience to get him used to a barber shop and since he wants to do everything that Papa does anyway, why not? He got a little trim and got his hair in the front cut shorter so that he could spike it up (you guessed it...like Papa). After that we went to the Irtysh Hotel for some lunch and he was AMAZED by the beautiful, clean, mirrored elevator ride up to the top floor. So different from the dirty, tiny elevator in our building! Once we got home we took a quick trip to the grocery store because it was getting really dark and looked like a big storm was coming in. We didn't make it a quick enough trip. Just as we were finishing up, the storm came and rain/hail was pouring down and the power in the store went out! We were using our cell phones in the aisles to get the last things we needed. I thought Ryland would be scared, but he loved it and giggled the rest of the time! Once the rain let up, we checked out (apparently the only things on generators are the cash registers...not the refrigerators...) and headed home. The streets were FLOODED and Dust carried all the groceries, I carried Ry and we waded our way home. We were completely soaked halfway up our legs and of course Ry thought he was missing out on the fun and wanted down into the puddles too! We got home, stripped down, washed the dirt off our clothes/shoes and got Ry into a warm bath! It was quite the experience!

Yesterday we started teaching him the ABC song and he is doing quite well. Tonight during bath time, he wanted me to help him sing it the whole time. As soon as we would finish, he would say "AGAIN"! He knows the very beginning, so if I would start to sing that part, he would say "I got it" and do it himself!

We're doing great - just waiting to come home! When I think about the situation that others are in, it reminds me to just be so happy that we have him...even though we aren't home yet.

Love,
Cort

He thought it would be hilarious to put on Papa's shorts and go show him!  Most days I think we should have named him Dustin Jr.

Before his first haircut as a "Stone"

After

Chandler- this one's for you...Watch out, it looks like someone is pining for your job!!  He was so happy that I let him vacuum all on his own!