Today was one we’ve been anticipating for some time. Igor picked up Kristina from the orphanage early and stopped to have her passport photos taken. Then he came to our apartment and we joined up to take her shopping for clothes. Opening the door to Igor’s car, we saw the little peanut all decked out in a coat, heavy red sweater, jeans and boots and a grin a mile wide. She knew this was a special day that was all about outfitting her for her new life.

We drove to a very large, indoor market area that was filled with hundreds of small booths. Probably 90% of them sold clothing. We were glad it was enclosed since the day was cold and rainy. Our mission was to buy Kristina underwear, socks, undershirts, pajamas, tops, pants, shoes and a coat. We wasted no time scouting up and down the long aisles to identify the best booths for our mission.

One stop netted the underwear, socks, undershirts and pajamas. A different booth for the shoes. Yet another for the coat. As we stopped at each we would count on Igor to translate for us with the shopkeeper. It seemed to me that they could probably figure out that we were adoptive parents and that Kristina was a local orphan. We drew lots of looks from the other shopkeepers everywhere we went. I asked Igor about this at one point and he confirmed that yes, they did know.

After spending many thousands of tenge, we finally had enough clothing to last Kristina until we get home. We then headed over to a local restaurant named Doner that had a nice indoor play area for kids. We ordered some lunch and Kristina headed immediately off to play. She came back long enough to eat part of a hamburger but you could see she was too excited to pay much attention to her appetite. There were a couple of coin operated rides available, so I went in and fed some coins to a motorized dolphin and airplane for her to try.

We returned to our apartment about 1:30 pm. Kristina didn’t have to leave to go back to the orphanage for another 4 hours, so Igor dropped us off and said he’d be back at 5:30 pm. We walked up the 5 flights of stairs to show her where Mama and Papa have been hanging out the whole time we’ve been here.

Kristina turned into a flurry of motion the moment we entered the apartment. She ran from room to room switching lights on and off, turning on fans and opening every drawer and door she could find. Any thought we had of getting her to take the afternoon nap she normally gets at the orphanage quickly evaporated. We started a Cinderella DVD playing but it barely slowed her down.

After inspecting the bathroom for the 4th time, Kristina came up to us and said “koo-PAHT-sa” (bath). Robin looked at her and inquired if she wanted to take a bath. She nodded eagerly. The next hour or so was spent with Kristina thoroughly enjoying a nice long bath with water up to her chest. I brought in one of the rubber balls I’d bought and she decided to clean it and then insisted that she get the other 6 of them so they could all get properly cleaned.

The rest of the afternoon was spent trying on some of the clothes we’d purchased, playing some games, having a few snacks and basically just getting comfortable with each other in this new setting. A preview of what’s to come. When Igor finally showed up at 5:30 we exchanged hugs and kisses and she headed back off to the orphanage. One more week and the orphanage will be a closed chapter in her life.