Still preparing!

So many blogs talk about waiting being the hardest part and I must agree. I thought the time would pass quickly but I was wrong. We've had plenty of time to put up Christmas decorations, have a belated 5 year olds birthday party, go to several parties, celebrate the new year, take down Christmas decorations, sort through all kinds of baby clothes through 5T, wash and store them, baby proof the house, shop for new things for Cody (I need to stay out of the stores!)get out all our old baby things, have the carpets cleaned, get a new water heater, play in the snow, organize closets, rearrange furniture and pretty much anything else we think of!

All of this is VERY fun and exciting, especially for me! So many things we've had stored in the basement that I can finally get out again.

We were away from home (including travel to/from)in Karaganda for 33 days. Amazing how I can barely remember ever being gone. We've been home 40 days which seem like forever! D keeps saying "Mom, you said you'd go get Cody after Christmas so go get him!" We talk about Cody all the time and how things will be different around here. Even with all of his excitement I wonder how long it will take before D, the only child of 5 years gets sick of his "baby" brother (who really isn't a baby)getting into all of his things. It is an argument I've been longing to hear for years! :)

When I think back on our trip there were so many things that went right for us. We had great flights and connections. We did not suffer from jet lag hardly at all. We loved our hotel - room, comfortable bed, hot water, staff, food, and entertainment. We had Internet almost every minute - much of the time right in our room. We were able to walk to our daily visits. We had a store very nearby. We had the most wonderful translator who we would also like to adopt. Our coordinator/attorney was able to get our court date in on our first trip even after our delay at the beginning.

We had a very rough start and we will never know why, but everything worked out wonderfully and as God had planned for us. We feel so fortunate to have met Ilya and the day he finally comes home to live with us forever cannot get here fast enough!!

Many of the people I've met in the adoption/blog world have such deep faith and trust in God. I've come a LONG way in this area. I could easily preach it to someone else and truly mean it, but living it with a peaceful feeling is a whole other ballgame.

So as our lives continue and I soon travel 24 hours into the future and then back again, may I keep this peace and trust in God that we will be able to provide whatever Cody needs and give him the life he deserves.

The above pictures are a few of the photo updates we've received over the past 40 days.  We worked so hard to keep him away from that lovely flower arrangement but it seems he has managed to destroy it!



Praying for Haiti.