More pictures

Today was a "big adoption day". It started with more pictures from our agency! I tell ya, a person cannot have enough pictures when they've waited 7 months (and counting) to get back for trip #2.

After today's new pix, we now have collected 40 pictures of Zac since AFTER trip #1. In other words, this does NOT count anything that we took during trip #1. I think that may be a world record. Can anyone beat that? 40 pictures? Please let me know, I'm curious.

After thinking about it, Katie and I have finally decided to bite the bullet and post one of the pictures. We've been saying over and over again, that Zac is THE CUTEST kid in Russia. It's time to let the rest of you know what he looks like. Here we go:



Isn't he great? We think so.

Here's the other piece of big news for the day. Our agency mentioned that they think we could be traveling as soon as Mid-March! That's in 6 weeks!!! AAAAAAAHHHHHHH! Of course, we are cautiously optimistic, but we can't help being really excited too. There is not one fiber in my being that is nervous or hesitant about going to get him. I JUST WANT TO BRING HIM HOME. Period. The end.

Take a Pillow?

Two things:

1. I'd like to send our prayers to Tricia who is traveling to Russia for her courtdate! Very exciting stuff.

2. I had a thought today. Follow me if you will... I have learned by experience that when I travel, pillows play a very important role during my trips. If I'm at a hotel with lousy pillows, I usually sleep lousy. Conversely, if I have good pillows, I sleep well.

But NOTHING, I repeat, NOTHING beats bringing my own pillow. If I have my own pillow, I may as well be sleeping in my own bed. And as we know, after a long trip to.... say.... Russia, sleeping in your own bed feels really really good.

So what about Zac? When we get home and are able to enjoy our pillows, he will be stuck with some lousy OTHER pillow that smells funny. So here's my thought: I am going to try to purchase his pillow from the baby home when we leave. I am a firm believer that EVERYTHING in life is negotiable, and that seems especially true in Russia. Don't you think that will help him at night? To have the ability to close his eyes and feel and smell like he's still "at home" during long lonely nights? Certainly, this will help a tiny bit during his transition, I'm thinking.

But, I'm going to set my price limit at 1,800 Rubles. I have my limits afterall...

NOTE: 1,800 Rubles is approximately $75. For that kind of money, I can get him a Temperpedic Pillow for cryin out loud!

Snow Ball Fight

We hope everyone is enjoying the cold snowy days of winter.  We certainly are.  The other day we video'ed a good old fashioned snow ball fight.  Even our cat, Warren, joined in!

New habits

Well, what do you think of the new picture at the top? I'm having fun learning the ways of the blog....

Here's my thought of the day:

When Katie and I traveled to Russia, there were times when we would observe how they live and think to ourselves, "Hey, They do it better here than we do." One of those moments was at the grocery store. Most Russians (and Europeans) bring their own bags to the grocery store. No plastic. No paper. Just their own reusable bags each and everytime. This makes so much sense when you think about how many bags you use each and everytime you go the the store. (I'm guessing we use 20-30 bags a month..... at least!)

So starting last month, Katie and I bought some reusable bags and we've been bringing them to the store each time we shop. It's a hard habit to get into, but we're getting there.

I'm going to save the world!!!!! (You can thank me later).

What's next

Some of you may be wondering, "What all do you need to update now that you've been doing nothing for the past 6 months?

Our agency called and gave us that list on Friday. As I've mentioned before, updating paperwork actually gets us excited because that means we're actually getting somewhere!

Here's what we need to do in the next 38 days:

1. Update homestudy (we already did this 2 weeks ago)
2. New employment letters (same employers - not difficult)
3. New letter from bank confirming account (not difficult)
4. New medical reports (Katie is a PA for our family's doctor - This really really easy! We don't even have to make an appointment!)
5. Police Statement (This requires a trip to Lincoln, but we've done it so many times that we know exactly what we're doing)
6. Update from Psychologist (I hope I'm still sane after all this waiting!!!)

So there you go. Let the paperchase resume!

Update

Quick post today:

1. Apparently, animals DO make different noises in Russia. Thanks to everyone who set me straight. Who knew?

2. A few have asked "how fast will we get our courtdate after Zac is released from the databank?" The official answer is "Yea right. Like anything is predictable with Russian adoption".

The unofficial answer is: "maybe a month? "

We're down to 40! 40 days - Isn't there some reference in the Bible about 40 days? A flood? Time in the desert? A courtdate?

Animal noises

One of the things that we've gathered from others is that teaching animal noises will be one of the easiest things to teach Zac first. This only makes sense as this was one of the first tricks that our first two kids learned too.

Additionally, animals make the same sounds no matter where you live, right? It's not like a cow says, "Mooska" in Russia, do they?

Meowsha.
Woofska.
Oinkaiya.