We are now in Post Delivery...and it feels wonderful!

I know! I know…updates, Updates!

The emails have been received LOUD AND CLEAR! LOL...There just is not much to write about at this stage of the game – SO sorry :)

We have had a successful delivery and now are in ‘post delivery’ We are just waiting to bring our lovely daughter home. A few more ‘checks’ and ‘evaluations’ - a bit of paperwork and she will be ours.

Life has busy for the Patterson household. We returned home last Sunday and hit the ground running! So much to do, so little time.

We said farewell for a short time to our little Princess and left for home before the rain hit last week. The only thing that made it easier was the knowledge that we were coming back to get her very soon.

On the home front, Rose’s room is almost finished. One of my co-workers came over to help me out and we made a severe dent in the work at hand. Walls are painted, papar is up, ceiling fan is in, and the ceiling is painted. When it is all said and done I will post a picture for you all to see.

The boys will be leaving to travel camping with the Copland’s. They are so very excited! I am happy that Rose’s adoption is not cutting into their summer and all of its promised fun. Carrington as adamant that he will out fish everyone there!

John was driven to the airport yesterday by Mike and arrived in Moscow about 3 hours ago. The paln at present is that I will be flying out to meet up with him on the 3rd, and together we will bring Rose home. She has a wonderful Red White and Blue outfit to wear. John was being creative – he made her an appliqué that says ‘Made in Russia’ and attached it to the back of her underwear. Too funny! I also found a pair of camouflaged ballerina shoes so I'm confident that daddy should be pretty happy when he sees those.

John has been armed with fleece and cotton blankets for the orphanage, clothes and necessities for Rose, and a strict list of instructions on what to do when he picks her up from the orphanage…we will see how many of them he accomplishes. It was quite hard to let him go without me…I want to be there so badly.

I am still in search of a car seat, and any other items to round off our daughters needs. (I mean, seriously. Can you ever have ENOUGH dresses??? Um, I think NOT!)

At present we are still awaiting final word on the passport and visa issue. They may have the visa processed on Thursday, and they may not. Although frustrating…it is not the drama that we have experienced in other areas…all will work out fine.

So, I am assuming my husband will be blogging while he is there and we will post them later. I will keep you all updated on our progress at this point…

AND, soon we will be able to share soooo much more! Until then, I need to buzzzz off and get some stuff done!
Queen Bee….

She's OURS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

AS of 11:55 am on Friday June 20th - We have a new daughter!

(Of course a soon as we return to pick her up and sign off all connections with
Russia we will post her full picture and new name. Until then she will continue to be referred to as ‘Rose’ - sorry :)

Court went well and the Judge was very nice. We appointed John as the main question answering person…and I told him he had better NOT forget our anniversary date! She asked John why we chose to adopt in Russia, and he told her he had already started learning the language, so he didn’t want to have to learn another. LOL… He actually did pretty good considering all the questions he had to answer, and only forget Aidan’s birthday, so all in all was not to shabby for a guy!

During the rest of the questioning she made a comment that we shouldn’t stop at one daughter…we should just get 2 or 3 while we are here…and then after they all laughed real hard they told our translator not to translate that for us, but it was too late. She stated why not have a football team? I then held up one finger and she laughed again.

The Judge appeared to get a big kick out of John and his answers. When they asked John if he ‘liked the child’ he said “Are you kidding? We love her!” and the orphanage director started talking wildly with big smiles and hand gestures. Our translator told us she was stating how great we were with Rose and how she runs to us and holds on tight to her Papa. Then she held up her hand and made the motion of ‘wrapped around her finger’and we didn’t need a translator to help with that one! Vlad stated that the whole orphanage is buzzing about us and Rose. We are the ‘perfect family’. I can’t help but concur and I take that as a great compliment.

After the Judge left the court room for about 5 minutes, she came back in and read the verdict. She said a lot of stuff…including her new name and birth date (We kept the original one) But all I heard was ‘Waa waa waa’….like on Snoopy. All I wanted to hear was when she stated we would be her new parents. When she finally said those words John and I both yelled a small Yahoo and hugged each other. Everyone laughed and applauded. It was great!

Later on in the elevator the Social Worker from the orphanage said she was so glad the two children at court today were getting such wonderful parents and how lucky they were to find terrific homes. I told her we were the lucky ones.

We returned to our apartment to change clothes and went to the orphanage to pick up Rose and take her for her passport picture. When we walked into the yard she was in the covered play area. When she saw us we heard a big OH! And she was trying to get out of the gate and it would not move fast enough. She shook it hard until the care giver assisted in opening it and of course she came running into her daddy’s arms. As we rode in the car she sat in my lap and looked out the window happy as could be. After the pictures were completed we returned to the orphanage to play with her for another hour then we had to leave. She hugged me good bye and let me drop her off at her Groupa.

We then met up with Tamara and another family form FRUA for dinner. We were late, but it was fun and Tamara’s daughter Mia is adorable! We had terrific Uzbekistani dish of savory rice with beef and it was very good. We enjoyed the couple there and met a family now living there and they have made a mission of assisting adoptive couples. They gave us their contact info and we can reach them if we ever find ourselves in need. What a blessing!

So, our great day has come to an end. We are both pooped and emotionally spent. We will see Rose one last time tomorrow then we will leave for home Sunday morning – it will be hard to leave her….But we will return in 10 days nad then she will be home for good...signed, sealed , and delivered!

So, guess where I will be spending my 24th wedding anniversary? You got it...Russia! I have been told I have to be here to get my daughter :) And I am thrilled to be able to do so...

Good night!

Queen Bee

The return to our little 'Rose'

How on earth will I ever be able to write the words that will describe the day we had with our return visit with our daughter? I just don’t believe it is possible to give this day any justice at all in writing...

As the afternoon approached, I was excited to see Rose, but a bit apprehensive if she would even remember who we were, and definitely unsure of what to expect when we arrived.

We were picked up today at 3 pm by Vlad and driven to the orphanage. As we drove up to the gait we saw a little girl in a pink shirt and skirt playing with a toy shovel. I didn’t think it was Rose until we walked up closer to the gate. The little girl turned around, saw John, and ran to him with open arms. This little girl threw herself to her daddy and hugged as tight as she could. Tears instantly sprung into my eyes. She remembered us!

And at that moment it happened…I fell totally in love!

Since Rose seemed to be totally Daddy’s girl at the moment, I was more than happy to wait my turn. We walked over to the play area and another little girl smiled at me and took my hand. I signaled to one of the caregivers if that was alright and she shook her head yes with a smile. So, while John was walking with our little girl hanging on tight to his neck, I smiled and took pictures of the other children that were playing– showing them in the camera screen. They all laughed and loved it. They would point and speak excitedly in Russian. There are many very cute little Munchkins here…I hope they all find homes soon.

The care givers soon called the kiddo’s back and John and I walked with Rose. One of several observations today were she does not like to share. Her toys or her daddy! She promptly removed another child’s hand from the side of the slide when she was playing. The other child put it back on again and she was gonna whallop that kid! I quietly said “Niet!” and she put her hand down instantly. (The care giver smiled and nodded her head ‘yes’, so I think I passed Mommy 101 at that moment)

She also remembered that there were things in my black bag so she looked at us and pointed into it…basically asking if she could look inside. She sought out the Cheerios and Pediasure…along with the cup she drank it out of. I poured some inside and she started drinking out of right away, and refused to put it down. She is very smart! She tried to unscrew the cup lid and pour some in herself. Good thing it was empty…

I gave her a doll baby and she immediately started hugging and loving on it. Not wanting to put it down either. I for see a future full of doll babies…

She loved it when daddy put her up on his shoulders for a ride. She repeated after John all the names of characters painted in the side of the play area, and has the sweetest little voice. I just loved listening to her talk. I got it all on video! The only thing she said last trip was “A deit” which was ‘Go Away” when the little girl from the other family who had tried to play with Roses toys.

Rose chases away the pigeons and would go “Uh ooh” when what appeared to be the orphanage mascot dog barked. This little girl is no longer shy and is very open to staying held in our arms. It is abundantly clear to us that God has given us the child we are suppose to love and raise. She would not let us out of her sight! If one of us walked away, she would come after us with arms wide open and hug so tightly we would just giggle. I have read and studied about attachment issues, but at present I have no fear that Rose will be okay in that area.

Vlad stated that the caregivers have been showing her the picture book often so I really believe that has made the difference. It was a surreal moment when one of the caregivers was pointing to John and I and saying ‘Momma/Pappa’ to the other children…*Sigh*

All to soon we had to leave as it was approaching 6 pm and getting chilly. We walked her to her care giver and when she held out her arms Rose went right into them with a smile back at us. She is a very loved and looked after little girl.

Couple of observations: Most of the little girls have haircuts like little boys. I could only pick them out due to them wearing skirts. Today with this group of kiddo’s Rose appeared to be the only child with longer hair. This group of children were dressed in leggings and decent clothes…no big time bundling with layers and hats, etc…I know this is an issue others are aware of and most of the time they do not like any skin to show in a child regardless of how hot the weather is. This was bout 5 pm and it was about 69 degrees.

We go to court tomorrow in the morning. Later in the afternoon we will take Rose for her passport picture. I can’t wait to see her again…

One last hurdle to handle, then we are in the 10 day waiting period. Yeah! Bring on the LABOR!
Here is a great ‘ultrasound’ picture for you to see….

Today we will explore the fun lessons in Russian home security systems :)

I feel incredibly safe in and around our apartment. This is strange because in the words of Marie, it looks like a chalk outline of a body should be there in the front. HOWEVER, our apartment is very nice on the inside, and has a beautiful garden area right across the way.

This is the outside - and first door- you need to go through before entering the apartment building. It is solid steel and ahas a security code panel to the left.

Then, after you take the elevator to the fifth floor (Which has walls 18" thick with brick, and are impossible to climb from the outside) you have key your way through this door (Which uses a skeleton key, and has no inside door lock handle, you must insert the key from the outside to lock it also.

THEN, you let yourself into the next door - which is also steel metal and framed - locking from the inside with previously stated skeleton key.

In a nutshell, we are totally safe :)

'Roses' ever expanding wardrobe...

Or, as John puts it...."Johns ever shrinking wallet :)"

I know I said no blue for my daughter, but we decided to make sure she brings some of her heritage home with her. This dress is 100% silk. Can you say Ooooooh, Ahhhh?

This is the traditional Russian dress we have purchased for Rose.

Hooray! By the grace of God we ARE HERE!

Dear friends, we have touched down once again in Russia! This writing is long, but hey, its my blog right? So here we go…Here’s the scoop on our ‘adoption pregnancy’…and believe me, it has been an adventure.

At this point in my ‘Adoption Pregnancy’ we are experiencing some really hard Braxton Hick’s contractions…and I am more than ready for the actual labor to begin…enough is enough!

Actually, in the adoption world, just what would be the equivalent for an epidural??? Anyone know??? ‘Cause I WANT ONE NOW!!!!

So, where to start? Well, first of all, how do you combat S-T-R-E-S-S? Give it up to G-O-D!

Second of all - the VISA situation. As I wrote earlier they we done and found…But it had become clear that there was no way we were going to be able to drive to San Fran to pick up those things. We had no clean clothes, had not yet packed, was still plain old pooped from YBC Camp, and both of us HAD to work on Monday. (Taking that day off was just not an option. Too much work to catch up on and prepare to be gone for).

A friend had asked earlier in the week if he could help us in any way. He had also was looking for odd jobs to make money, so we asked him if he would drive there for us. We paid this friend $100 (He drives a Honda – plenty plus some left over) for gas plus $100 to drive to San Fran to pick up the VISA’S passports for us….Basically as a courier service for us. We gave him MapQuest directions and V’s number, and told him he needed to go NOW!!!! He said he was leaving at 2 pm…so we figured he would be there by 6 pm and back to Bako by 11 pm. Well, I’m still not sure what happened, but after a couple of ‘tracking’ phone calls he landed on our door step at 4 am. Okay…we needed to leave, AND LEFT for LAX at 5 am, so you can see that this was too close for my comfort. I was so worried he had gotten in a wreck, but John kept calling him to see where his progress was, and he was on his way. Still not too sure why it took him 14 hours for an 8 hour trip, maybe traffic??? Who knows. I just didn’t have time to find out.

Anyway, some how I thirdly managed to work on Monday, do all the laundry, and pack…and by 1:30 am Tuesday morning. We were finally ready to go!

So, now we are on our way to LAX. No issues there. Great early morning LA traffic. Made it in less than two hours with a stop along the way. Parked our car in long term parking because it was waaaay cheaper than driving back and forth twice, and pretty darn convenient to boot.

We got through check in, baggage and passport control, etc, with no issues. We were feeling pretty at ease, sitting down to wait for our flight and then we hear: American Airlines Flight 1960 to Chicago has been delayed 30 minutes due to a traffic backup from bad weather." THUNK! (BTW, in case you didn’t know, that was my heart dropping to the floor :) Uh ohhhh…..We had just looked over our tickets and knew that once we landed in Chicago we only had only a mere 45 minutes to get on the connecting flight to Moscow. So, I went to the counter, explained our situation, and asked what would happen if we missed the connecting flight. Wouldn’t ya know, there were NO OTHER flights leaving for Moscow from Chicago, including on any other airlines, till the next day. So, my boss will appreciate this part…my ‘GOLD’ personality came out.

I asked her, “What are our options?” She stated that since it was weather related, they were not liable…we would have to wait for the next available flight.

So, then I ask ”Is there nothing they can do to assist us making this connection?” She stated “Not that I am aware if.” Hmmmmm…You have GOT TO BE KIDDING! Nothing you can do?

I then ask (I am calm by the way – BIG Customer Service smiles ) “If they know that by AA’s choice we are late connectors, can they not hold the flight for us?" " She says “No.”

So, again…here I go: “Okay, how many other passengers are making this connection?" She tells me 7. “So you are telling me that we can’t ask them to let us and the other 7 people trying to make this connection off first?" I smiled REALLY BIG this time. She smiles back and says “Well, yes, I can ask the Captain to do this. But most of the time passengers do not listen.”

Hmm, we’ll see about that!

Not satisfied this is enough to get us on that flight I continue “Can you call Chicago and ask for a car to pick us up and take us to the other terminal?” She says “Well, yes, I suppose we can do that also.”

By this time I am gritting my teeth. I remind you that these people are getting paid to work at the AA travel desk, and I AM having to create possible solutions enabling John, myself and 7 other passengers a way to get on another connecting flight…this is NOT brain surgery here people! Use the brain God gave you!

So, once again being the "GOLD" personality I am, as they finally start boarding the flight and I return back to the counter to find out how far behind we are going to be in landing at Chicago. Get this! The SAME person that I had just had said previous conversation with 30 minutes earlier states to me – and this is NO LIE – “Well, if I had known you only had ‘X’ amount of minutes to make your flight, I would have assigned you seats closer to the front of the plane so you could get off sooner. I must have had the most incredulous and dumbfounded look on my face. For once in my life I was actually speechless. OMG! HELLO MC FLY! Remember me? I’m the one that just figured out how to help you to get us to the other terminal faster…remember? UHHHHG!!!!! She quickly moved us from the 30’s to the 20’s in cabin seats.

So, we board the plane (BTW, I am TOTALLY spoiled with Lufthstansa…On AA there was no meal, unless you paid $6 for a chicken wrap - John did, I passed, no thanks. For that kind of money I’ll finish my Cheetos, thank you very much - and the service was mediocre to say the least at this point in the game) and the trip was uneventful. As we were landing the Captain made a statement that if people were not in need of getting to connecting flights ASAP, please stay seated so others could get off quickly. I remember thinking thank goodness the gal remembered to say something to the Captain.

Okay, so…the plane stops, we jump up, grab our carry on's, and start moving down the isle…we have exactly 13 minutes to get 3 terminals over and board the other plane. We are moving along and all of a sudden everyone stops. We wait, and wait…2 minutes goes by…1 more, now 4. I am looking at my watch about to freak out…I stand on my tip toes to see what is going on and there is this guy trying to get a big old’ bag out of the top bin. I HAVE HAD ENOUGH! I would never see these folks again so what did I have to lose? I yell as loud as I can: “Sir! Could you PLEASE MOVE! WE HAVE 9 MINUTES TO CATCH OUR NEXT FLIGHT! And thank you Lord the humanity in folks came out! People started saying ‘“Move move!” and the waters parted. They sat down, moved over, and got out of our way. One lady said “Well, they should have told everyone to sit and let you off first!” Yeah, tell me about it!

We ran as fast as we could up the causeway. I don’t even know what happened to the other 7 people, ‘cause I had no time to worry about them – I just RAN. We saw the car that would transport us way off stopped in the distance. We knew we could not wait for it. We continued to run as fast as we could…I had to walk after a short time as my back was not going to allow me to run anymore - period. (I am now so sore I can hardly move!) Frustration! I just said “Go! Go!” and John just kept on running. (I tell ya all the hunting and mountain hiking he does pays off gang!) John made it over three terminals in about 6 minutes. He had them hold the door, wait for me, and they closed it right behind us.

Praise the Lord we made our flight! Don’t ya know I prayed sooo hard the flight over that it would all work out – and it did. Thank you Lord!

That leg of the flight was good. The plane was about half full. John got to move into a bulkhead seat with lots of leg room, and I watched movies on demand the most of the time. BTW, have guys seen Fools Gold? So cute! Loved it!

As always the international flight was sooo much better that the domestic one. There were two other adopting families on the flight, one of which was the family we were with the same day at ‘Roses’ orphanage! She sat with me and I shared pictures of Rose and her daughter I had taken and talked for a long time. It was great to see them again. They also rode into Moscow with us so we chatted quite a bit.

My dear friends and family. It has become more clear than ever that God wants us here…this He has made abundantly clear to us. He worked through the VISA issue, the flight issue…everything to make sure we were here for a court date that HE had chosen and was given to us in record time.

Thank you God! And thank you to all you who have been prayer warriors for us. We really feel it!

So, now that our stress level has dropped a bit, we are settling in. I am emotionally spent. We had dinner, shopped for groceries (no big meals/dinners out for us budget adopters – waaaay to costly here) to eat in our apartment (Andrei’s at Peace Travel. BTW – it is such an awesome apartment! We are right off Arbat Street and the new Starbucks! Okay, so we will be buying a Starbucks each day. I cannot stand Nescafe, YUCK!)

We will see Rose tomorrow…I will show you more ‘ultrasound’ pictures when I can tee hee hee…

My heart is so full right now. I am at wonder at not only how wonderful of a Savior I have, but also all of those around me who have made this adoption possible.

Chris, Bryce, Carrington and Aidan. We love you so much! Thank you for being such sweet and loving children. You will be such AWESOME big brothers!

Steph and Greg, thank you again for taking care of the boys!

Debra…How ‘bout that Grand baby??? Email me!

BJ, Di and my co-workers - Thank you for the bottom of my grateful heart for helping me and allowing me to be here – You all are terrific.

My friends at FRUA. THANK you for your prayers and kind words! I remember you and all the other adopting families in my prayers daily.

Tamara – So awesome too be here with you!!!! Mia is beautiful!

Bobby & Marci, Tom & Myra, Dennis & Marie, and all of those that have gone before us on this tough and more often than not stressful adoption journey…you inspire John and myself. In a word – THANK YOU - for your support.

Will write more tomorrow…

Queen Bee :)

Looks like God has made sure we are going to Russia!

Well...thanks to R standing at the counter of the Russian embassy with POA in hand, we have our VISA'S!

R called me this morning and stated, "This is so strange...the Visa's were preocessed on Wednesday." What??? Hmmmm. Can you say G-O-D???

With a little more investigating we found out that the Russian Consulate processed and stamped them the 10th, and the embassy lost them. Yep, they lost them. It took them all day to find them. R got them in hand, and we received a call for V that they were on their way to V's home and will be picked up by our dear friend K for immediate travel home so we can board our flight tomorrow. Anything could have happened. Some would think"Lord knows where you could be right now?" But it DIDN'T go wrong, and we are right where God wants us to be!

My stomache has been in knots!!!! I can finally breath now. It has been a VERY trying 5 days.

Thank you GOD...and for all of those who prayed for us.

Russia here we come...

BIG Bump!

I am so irritated I could SCREAM!!!!!!!!!!!

We received a call today that due to the Russian Consulate deciding that were going to take 4 days for what would normally be a one day holiday; we at present have no Visas. In case you did not read that …we have NO Visas. The person I paid to take care of this obviously did not bother to check with the consulate for any possible delays in processing. You would think that someone who does this for a living would take the time to check with the consulate just because issues like this can happen. I paid for a 6 day processing, which we should have had plenty of time for. I should have paid for a 2 day processing and been done with it! So, where does that leave me now? Totally furious, without a Visa, and plane tickets that leave LAX at 10:25 on Tuesday morning. Not to mention the person I paid to take care of is not accepting ANY responsibility. “It’s all up to the Consulate” she says. Not “I’m sorry Kym, I should have checked to make sure there was enough time to process,” or “I’m going to do everything I can to get these to you”…Oh no, she stated. ”They are not processing them for me, they are processing them for YOU” they will be sending them to you Express Mail and the best they will do is Monday…” AND, she told my husband that she knew about this all day today…but was waiting to see about ‘something’ or so and so…I can’t even remember what she was trying to do…

Well, as far as I’m concerned, she needs to be waiting on their door step with a POA and
Driving them to me. That’s how angry I am right now. Even if we can get them from her Monday, we still cannot chance it.

John and I have thought this over through and through and we have no choice but to pay to change our tickets. If we wait to see what happens on Monday, and they do not process the Visa’s, we cannot enter the country. Even is they do process them we have to wait for them to be over nighted to us, and they would arrive around the time we are to take off on the plane. If we wait too long, we will pay even more $$$ for a last minute flight.

So, as much as we hate this, John will be calling the travel agency that we booked with and will probably be paying $1000 plus the difference for the flight, just so that we can make the court date ON TIME…meaning we will have to leave on Wednesday.

V had already emailed me yesterday stating that the judge was asking if we could change from the 19th to the 20th – in the end I guess that helps.

God help us. You are great and mighty and can fix this with the wave of your hand.

Friends, please pray for us. I don’t like being this angry.

Woo Hooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Finger print cards came in yesterday...Hallelujah!!!!!They and the apostilled paperwork on on the way to the wonderful Tamara to be hand delivered to Russia on the 19th (Thank you Tamara! And THANK YOU Steph!!!!!!)

Paperwork in - Check!
Flights are booked - check check!We leave on the 17th.
Visa applications are off -Check check and again Check!
Work load is wrapped up and desk is clear. No checks here, just one BIG *sigh*

Now, on to church camp. No packing done yet, trailer still not ready to go...lessons? Well, that has been turned over to Steph - the Ubber awesome teacher...I will be the second place teacher this year!

S is here from the Ukraine. He is awesome and we cannot wait to see him have fun at camp. Carrington has decided his Russian is okay to speak now, and I love to hear it. It sounds so beautiful!

That's all for now....I'm gonna go pack!

We have a court date!!!!!!

Simply, UNBELIEVABLE! In four short weeks from tip to stern we will be going before a judge to gather our daughter!

Here is the play by play of events leading up to this awesome news…God is SO GREAT! Let me tell ya how great He is:

Right before we left to meet ‘Rose’ I sent off our FBI finger print cards to be redone. Well, as you read before, they no longer take checks, so I to resend them again. Sooo, on Friday I called the FBI people and pleaded my case…nope. Do you know they have a division dedicated solely to adoptions? WOW! Word was they would be done sometime late THIS week. UHHHG! The best they could do was have me call back with my FedEx # and put them in the mail overnight when they were finished. I didn’t have the number with me (Helpful hint. Put that number in your wallet…odds are you will need it!) so I called first thing Monday morning to give it to them and they gal stated “Hmmm, well it would look like they were actually moved up a bit. We processed yesterday (Saturday). AND, they went in the mail already. SO, I am now waiting for the snail mail to give me my finger print cards! But they are DONE! Praise the Lord!

In addition to that after we came home I started the process of getting the other documents that are older then 3 months updated. V told us that they would not assign my court date until they were in the hands of the team in Moscow. I had two lovely ladies donate their time to notarize documents…one of which was our medicals. Our insurance only covers one physical per year. After worrying about the $$$ it would cost to redo them, One doctor agreed to update them with a follow up instead. AND, we only had to notarize and apostille ONE Doctor’s license. YEAH! Praise the Lord!

All of these said forms were then notarized, certified and sent overnight to Steph who apostilled them today. We are just waiting to see if they will travel over with Tamara or go somewhere else. YEAH! Praise the Lord!

So, while I was trying to get all of these documents finished, I received an email form V stating we had a firm court date for the 19th of JUNE! OMG! I told V she sure knows how to knock me off my chair. I am sooo not ready – but obviously God thinks we are. So, with the assistance of my hubby we trying to get the pieces together to fly there byt the 18th. SUPER big Praise the Lord!

With all of this happening, I am severely s-t-r-e-s-s-e-d. We have a missionary friend who arrived here at 3 am today staying with us for the month. We are trying to create items needed, plan, and pack and get our butts to church camp – leaving THIS Friday. We will return next Saturday, and turn around to fly to Russia on the 17th.

Through all of this I am still at work trying my best to catch up at work and get everything taken care of before I leave. And, I still don’t know how I’m going to handle my time off.

And of course the costs...Oh Lord, please send that capital! LOL:) We ended up paying $1040 for our Visa's...because the one we prepayed $400 for is needed for the paper portion, but will not get here in time to be used. Only in Russia my friends, only in Russia.....Can you see me shaking my head? :)

But the most bitter sweet part of all…John will be returning to get ‘Rose’ on the 2nd of July. We will not be making our annual trip to Dinky Creek as a family. I may go with them boys for a few days, or maybe see if one of our awesome friends will take them. It is just not fair for them to miss out on their summer fun because of ‘Roses’ adoption. We will have to continue to heavy praying in this area.

So, family and friends, that will put ‘Roses’ arrival home somewhere around the 10th or 11th of July. I have butterflies…BIG butterflies.

Thank you God!