And, I thought I was getting impatient....

This morning I called Kayla to let her know about the big news of the day - the Republican VP choice. She fussed at me for calling her about something so trivial. She was expecting me to be calling with the important stuff - the date to get D and M! I must say I do know the feeling! I'm so ready for THE CALL!!!

Playroom ready to go!

This was playroom weekend. I cleaned out the old home office and started taping it off on Friday night. And, my friend, Kristi, and her son, Justin came and helped paint. Was that a relief because I was starting to feel old!! Today we pulled it all together and filled it with a kitchen, grocery store, table and chairs, and things friends have shared with us. It looks like two young children will be ready to play there soon! Here are some pictures of the painting and the cute result.

What a difference a year makes!

This time last year I was just waking up from a total knee replacement. On that day, who'd have even thought that one year later I'd be waiting anxiously for a date to go and bring my children home from Russia. There's NO WAY I could've kept up with D & M the way things were last year, but now I even ran after D on his bicycle when I was in Russia - and look forward to doing a whole lot of things like that when they get home.

I've had quite a few people ask me about how things with Georgia are impacting things with a date. I'd love for that to be the reason I need to hurry over and get them home, but the agency says thing are proceeding normally and there's no reason to be concerned. They've had people fairly close to the Georgia border have their adoptions go as normal. My region is not close to Georgia.

I've seen the good work that God has already begun in my life through this process and His great provision for D & M to put us together and I remember that I should have faith in the one that is orchestrating this all. I have no reason to expect things to fall apart now. I have HOPE - the confident expectation that D & M will be home soon. I so enjoy seeing the swing set in the back yard and can almost see them playing on it saying higher, Momma...higher (see - I even see them speaking English!). What fun lies ahead!

We have a swing set!

Several of the men in my Sunday School class (and son!) came this morning at 7 and put together a swingset for D & M. They had it done in no time and it looks so ready for children. I'm going to write a letter to the children (get Elena to translate it - Rosetta Stone doesn't quite have me ready to write at a Kindergarten level yet!) and send some pictures of it to the children to add to their books. Some of these things look a little complicated. I'm thinking Nathan may have to come demonstrate it for D and M when they get home! Here are a few pictures of the bumble bee swing set under construction. These guys could've definitely been in the Army - they had it all finished by 8:15!

Georgia - How does it fit in?

It certainly is a bad thing to have going on right now, but I called my adoption agency today to see what impact it is having. They say everything is proceeding normally even in the areas closest to my Georgia. Still no court date, and I'm quite ready.

I heard today that the girl cousins have matching/coordinating hats and outfits that they can't wait to take pictures in with their new cousin, so we simply need M to go ahead and come home! I concur with them.....D and M need to come home now!!!

Got to go for my one year anniversary appointment with the orthopedic surgeon today (ok, a couple of weeks early, but I want to be somewhere else in two weeks!). It was another opportunity to thank God for all that He's done to get us all ready for this point. Pre knee replacement there's absolutely no way I'd be able to be a momma to two preschoolers. Now, it just is not an issue - even ran a bit to D when he wanted Momma to chase him on his villa - see - pee - et. That's bicycle in Russian (English pronunciation). Anyway what a joy for me to hear the doctor say what a great job he did - I concur. I shared a picture with a thank you note of what my knee will be doing for the next 20 years! He was very appreciative - guessing I might well be his first knee replacement patient that has adopted two preschoolers (I am about 25-30 years younger than his average patient at least) but expect he had a lot of grateful patients.

45 Stickers

This morning another of the stickers that D and M came out in the wash on a shirt that didn't even make the trip to Russia. I'm sort of glad that I didn't get them all taken off my clothes when I got home because I always smile and remember them sticking stickers all over me and them. We all enjoyed them - of course, I'd never envisioned that stickers were for clothes - silly me was thinking they'd put them on paper. Anyway, I have 45 leftover that didn't get used. I'm going to start wearing one every day until I get to go see them again - smiley faces and the like until I go back to get them. I pray that I don't get to use anywhere close to all of these stickers before I go. I miss them so much and am ready to get them home - now!

The Chapman Family

http://www.stevencurtischapman.com/

Steven Curtis Chapman is a contemporary Christian singer that has long been a champion for adoption - even starting a foundation that assists with grants that help with adoption expenses. In May of this year, the youngest of his three adopted daughters, Maria, was killed in a horrible tragic accident at their home. Today the family shared their faith on Good Morning America and the video that continues to express their grieving with hope - hope that allows them to know they'll be with Maria again, hope that keeps them supportive of their son who was involved in the accident, hope that lets a grieving dad still sing "Cinderella" about the brief years he had with his daughters. I cried, but I was blessed by the testimony that they are walking through.