We are home

sorry took so long to write, we are tired and busy with adjusting to this new addition to the family. The travel......well was the hardest thing we've ever done. With us being tired, Paul, Ivan, and myself not being able to communicate on the plane and talk to him. It was a long.....long travel. Lots of crying and screaming. But we made it and it's behind us. The homecoming together at the Airport was uneventful, Ivan fell asleep just before we got on the plane from Chicago to Grand Rapids and he wouldn't wake up. so when we came into view of the girls and Grandparents he was asleep. But he did wake up and gave a big smile to his sisters. He loves the girls and is playing well with them, sleep is a big issue for all of us. He needs to get comfortable and secure, and his body needs to adjust to the time change. Pray for that transition. Also for me in the coming week when Paul goes to work because Ivan screams when Paul leaves. We have alot of things to get through but we are very blessed to have this little man in our house, how different to have a boy, playing with a truck!!! But his favorite is the kitchen set. ( maybe he'll be a chef) Thanks for all your prayers, keep praying.
The Van Zalens Paul, Vicki, Mallory, Alaina, Josie, and Ivan.

zoo

October 3, 3:51 pm.
Our days start out with waking up, getting dressed, going down to breakfast. Then we go back up to our room and hang out a little bit ,then go out for a walk. Today is not a very nice day its bit chilly and rains off and on. We did walk to the mall, not much in it.(very disapointed) After that we walked down to what we would call a farmers market, lots of fruit and vegetables and meat, there was a catfish head the size of a bushel basket, couldn’t believe it. On our way back about ¼ of it was left….who eats catfish head?????
Then we went out for lunch, walked back to our hotel, played a little bit and took a nap. Slept about 1hr. Woke him up, took a long time to fall asleep last night. Having a snack, playing..right now is playing on the floor driving his matchbox cars around. Love hearing the car noises. Supper soon the maybe a little walk, bath time, then bed. And we begin again.
We’ve had a good day with the little man, trials here and there but for the most part we are all doing fine. He is getting very silly….sometimes hard to stop. It’s hard to come up with things to do….same things over and over. Ivan is ok with it but it gets old for Paul and I. We forget how busy 4 yr. olds are, and especially a boy, we are tired, he keeps us busy. Just to let you know we have to buy internet for how long we want it but we can only use it once, then we have to buy it again. So that is why we are not keeping in touch as often. So Bye for now
Blessings Paul, Vicki and Ivan.
Sorry I haven’t posted a blog the hotels internet wasn’t working. So I’m going to add another day. The boys slept good, mamma on the other hand has her normal stomach issues with a little added to it. But we had to keep going today, we went to Gorki Park, and Zoo park. It is a very big park and zoo. It was fun watching Ivan’s reaction to the animals, at first he wasn’t quite sure, but then he realizes the animals were in cages and got very interested. The animals were very active and made a lot of noises. It was so cool, their were wolves and coyotes and they all started to howl at the same time, boy was that loud!. We had a good time, it took a good part of the day. Now we are back in our room playing , maybe a little rest time. Please pray the days go by fast they are going slow. Talk again soon I hope.
Oct. 4, 3:04pm

Doctor visit

We all slept good, we had to wake Ivan up to go and eat breakfast. We get complementary breakfasts here at the Hotel. We had to go see the doctor at 9:30 , Ivan wasn’t to sure about the whole thing but he did real well. He is 50% in height and 10% in weight. We found out some things that are good to know and we will take care of them when we get home, nothing to major. Went for a walk, Ivan loves the stroller it is hard to get him out of it, and of course only papa can push him. We went out for lunch, when we got back to the hotel Oleg was there and we needed to fill out some paper work for the embassy. Came back to the room to take a nap….a trying nap time, but he did finally fall asleep. Ivan still tries to say different words, if we say them first, not to many but it’s a start. We are going to go to the zoo, Oleg says it’s a really nice one, can’t wait to see how Ivan reacts to it.
Keep praying, for us and the adjustment we have, we have wonderful times and trying times and I pray “Lord you don’t give us anything we can’t handle” As a great friend told me “Vicki you need to plug into the” Power” and I’ve been doing that, hard to be away from home, Ivan need structure and to know what place is home since we have had 3 different places.
BLESSINGS TO YOU ALL.
Paul, Vicki ,and Ivan
Please keep the girls and my parents in your prayer also.

we are here in Almaty

I am not posting any pictures because we are having some problems with the computer. the hotel staff is very helpful, I just can't seem to get the internet to connectto our computer. this is when I wish I had my friend Doug B here.
Anyway we had a great day, Ivan slept all night and woke up happy. we left at 1:00pm for Almaty and arrived saftly at 3:30. I haven't told you all this but we have the best little boy ever. He was so good on the plane, played with his toys, we thought her was going to take a nap but he chose not to. To many new things to look at. We have a very nice hotel, we are in a very nice room because they are very busy, so we are moving to a new room tomorrow. I'll take pictures of our room it's great!!! Ivan said some english words...More...hot...we think bus. can you believe it we were shocked when I asked him to say "more" and he did.And when Paul asked him he said it again. Ivan is sleeping again and fell right to sleep Paul tried singing to him and he started to laugh so Paul had to stop. We went out to dinner with him for the first time and he did so well, he sat the whole time, ate all his dinner.. the boy eats everything. We had a great day. We will be going to the embassy tomorrow morning at 9:30 to see the doctor and then we hope to go again on monday and fill out the rest of the paperwork and then on our way home. Thanks for all your prayers we have really felt them and have been lifted up!!! Talk to ya again soon.
Vicki Paul and Ivan