Happy Birthday Altynai

Wow I can't believe that our little Kyrgyz girl has turned 21 years old already... Altynai was forced to grow up so fast in so many ways, but to us she will stay our little girl as we all fight to give her child hood back... Here she is in her apartment with her family... Sergey and Anya and Vladick on her right, and our other darling girl and Altynais friend Aiperie along with Acel on her left... If you look at the table you will see a traditional Kyrgyz celebration meal... ploff and salads , and the drink is like an apricot pop. then the rest of the table is covered with the traditional Kyrgyz bread.... The guests bring the dessert...and lots of tea is served....

The party begins when the guests arrive..no set time is determined, and the guests stay until they are given permeation to leave... the hostess pours the tea, each time she only pours 3/4 of a cup ... when the cup is filled , that is indication to the guest that when the cup if finished, it is time for them to go..... ( just a little culture lesson for the day )

Altynai told me that she had decided not to celebrate her birthday this year, I am sure it is because she did not want us spending extra money on her. I told her that we could celebrate together when we get there in the spring... I was talking to Anya and Acel and mentioned it was her birthday and maybe they could get her a card from us, But Anya was one step ahead of us.. she knew that the family had not eaten well the last couple weeks, so she and Acel had this party already planed as well as some extra food for the next couple weeks.



A couple days ago, Srgey and Jengish were busy with another little project for us... We started off the Christmas celebrations by moving a family into a home for the winter... the problem was that the home had no furniture, but it was warm....Then Bekah came up with a great idea... give them the furniture from our apartment.....( did I mention that our apartment is actually Eds apartment... but then again he did say treat it like it was our own)... so that's exactly what we did... Jengish came over with the truck and he and Sergey loaded up the furniture and the carpets and brought them to the house...

Thanks Ed... your the greatest ... hahaha

but don't worry maybe BEKAH will buy you a new one ..