Beshbarmak- Traditional Kyrgyzstan at its best--ORLOFKA

Unfortunately our time with the kids ended all too soon. I hope I have the opportunity to cross paths with them again on my third trip to Kyrgyzstan. After one million hugs and a few thousand photos (100 thousand hugs for each child), we were back out in the night. We wisked off to pick up Vera and Pastor John. (John please correct me if I get any names wrong) We were introduced and off we went to drop them off at their house/church. We were invited for a speedy tour of the church. A very humble place with al the basic necessities; a playground outfront (unfortunately by this time the night had come so outdoor photos were not really possible), a meeting room, kitchen, and a bedroom.

Sergey showed us that the stove in Vera's kitchen does not work and the typical method for cooking is over an electric hot plate. We also met Simone the resident church kitten. How is that for a lucky cat?? Vera is very proud and rightly so of her church and residence. We snapped a few photos expressed our gratitude for allowing us to have a quick tour and zipped off to our final destination. BESHBARMAK (five fingers) with Aygula, her children, Acel, Talant, Melody, Davinna, and Malika her mom and her brother. (ok so I can't remember everyone's names and I have to apologize.) Aygula's oldest son met us at the gate, introduced himself and immediately was talking about (Boy). A little overwhelmed I was trying to figure out who everyone was as we were being introduced to everyone at once. I finally have everyone straight (I think) Aygula welcomed us into her home with open arms. Everyone met us with magnifecent hugs and smiles from ear to ear. Acel and Talant introduced us to their daughters Melody and Davinna ( who I might add are 6 and 4 and are FLUENT in the English language) We were escorted by the children into the living room area and our first glimpse of our traditional Kyrgyz meal. Now I must again insert here I am a country girl, so I was not even sure what to expect. But imagine our suprise when we were met with this!!!

Anya showed us the difference between how a lady is to sit and a man.........

Can I tell you that in Kindergarten we learned to sit with our legs crossed... And have been sitting that way for years.... So sitting in the appropriate ladylike seat was not an easy task!!!

The main meal is served!!!!!

And Anya is first to dig in!!!!!

I have so many photos I can't pick which ones to add.... Maybe in a future post I will just insert a slideshow and my blog readers can sit back and relax and watch as few or as many photos as each would like to see.

Back to my story....... So dinner is served..... Beshbarmak.... a traditional Kyrgyz meal usually served without utensils. Thus it has been called "five fingers" as one is supposed to eat with their fingers. Another tradition we were told is that by the end of the evening the food is supposed to all be consumed. HMMMM I am thinking we better have a very long evening. The So back to Beshbarmak, this dish is a noodle dish, with (lamb?/beef) that is slow cooked all day long. Not sure what all goes in it but believe me when I say it was delicious. The bread "borsok" is a traditional Kyrgyz bread and the national bread of Kyrgyzstan. And again I may add VERY tasty.

Before we ate we all joined hands while Talant prayed over our gathering and our meal. I believe Nicole has this on video and I look forward to seeing it. Talant spoke three times over the course of the evening. In a future post I want to try and relay his Kyrgyz folklore/ tale. He told us we were truly Kyrgyz as we arrived to dinner late, and proceeded to tell the tale of how Kyrgyzstan came to be where it is.... But again that is a later post.

Anya and Sergey then informed us that they were going to give the families Christmas gifts from John!!! And asked that again we video and take photos! Of course!!! Aygula and the kids and Malika's family both received a suprise gift. We captured their Christmas greetings on film and digital images. They send their love, their gratitude, and Aygula's oldest girl (again names here are not my strong point) says she misses John, Julie, and the kids, Imnuga, Imnuga, Imnuga, Imnuga much!

Then Nicole and I both shared our journeys and how we came to be sitting in this room half a world away from our home. How our journeys may have begun with an adoption. How we had our minds set on a wonerful beginning to a family. How our hopes of a flawless adoption have been changed into that of an endless wait to bring our kids home. But we add that without the wait and without the delays in the process that is keeping our kids in their home country, we would not have been led together to be having the meal far from home in a house full of the wonderful people. That this adoption has brought to us a greater group of people and support then we could ever have imagined. Our wait is not an accident. It has been God's intention all along to show us the people, the beauty and the heart that is Kyrgyzstan. That Patience is Trusting in God's Timing!!!

Talant then prayed again over our gathering. This time we did not video ( but dang I wish we would have) Talant announced suddenly after our stories that he now wanted to pray for our kids!!!! This prayer Blessed our journey here, our journey back to Bishkek, and our journey's home.... But most importantly he prayed that God bless our kids while they are waiting. That the wait be short and our hearts be at peace while we wait for the right time.

And let me end this post with some silly photos of our new friends.... Paka dear friends and thank you for a day, a night and a lifetime of memories I will be able to relay to my daughter as she gets older!!!

And of course I could not end the night without visiting with the original reason for this meeting...... Big Mean Dog (BOY)