Few details

So as you can imagine we are completely overwhelmed right now. However, I want to be careful not to complain. We are so grateful that God feels we are ready to move forward with our journey. We may know tomorrow when our travel dates are. I am trying not get my hopes up too high. Justin and I both have to admit that we already feel a connection with this little guy just from the photo and small bit of information that we have. So earlier we were complaining that things have begun to move too quickly and now we are complaining that they can’t move fast enough. Geeze we really are hard to please! I am finding it very difficult to sleep. My mind is racing all of the time. I want to be with Brady and Madison so they do not feel left out in any way. I want to be organized with work so that things will go smoothly while I am gone. We want to learn about Vlad. I want to know how to speak Russian. I want to know what on earth to pack to travel so far away. The list goes on and on.

Justin and I had an hour and ten minute conversation with Pam from Children’s Hope today. She answered many questions about traveling. We had intended to know a bit more Russian before heading over there. It is a tremendously difficult language to learn, but what language isn’t once you get older! We have ordered a talking Russian-English dictionary so hopefully that will arrive at the beginning of next week. It is also a relief to know that for all of our appointments, orphanage visits, etc we will have a driver, CHI representative (speaks limited English), and a translator. They stick with us for the most part and are very well trained. Many families have gone before us and assure us that we are in good hands.

Tonight my parents came over. We got them signed up for instant messaging and Skype. I want them to practice using it before we leave. I am hoping that the internet will be reliable enough that we can call back home with Skype. What an amazing invention. It was fun to watch them learn to IM. They’ll catch on! Now if we can just get Betty Jo and Lisle on board we should have a good chance at staying in touch with Brady and Maddie at least on a limited basis.

There are so many details I would like to share. I know that we have people reading this blog that are considering adoption, and we have family members that want assurance that things will go well. Time is so limited now. I will try to update more when I catch my bearings.

Thank you so much for your support. It is amazing how people just step up and are willing to help others no matter what inconveniences is causes them. A special thanks to Pam for being Brady’s special guest today at the Thanksgiving presentation. He thought that was great!

I will try to do a brief update tomorrow and let you know if we got travel dates or not. Keep the prayers coming! :o)