The Newest Member of the Family

Welcome the newest member of the family! It's a dark blue 2004 Honda Odyssey. Doesn't it look so nice parked in our driveway?! :)

We couldn't splurge for a brand new one, but this fella has all we could ask for and more! Well, Scott really hasn't asked for anything... except maybe for it to just go away. I, for one, am ready to have a campout inside the van! It's just so spacious and cushy! On a chilly night, we could crank up the heated seats and pop in a dvd. Can you say date night?

Oh, and are you ready for the best part? It has a cassette player! That's right! I broke out a bunch of my mix tapes from high school. I've missed good ol' Michael W. Smith... I think maybe he was right, Friends really are Friends Forever!

Pathetic? Maybe... but just let me know if you want to go cruising Friday night.

Just a little name change

As they used to say at Westminster Woods Summer Camp,
"ANNOUNCEMENTS! ANNOUNCEMENTS! ANOW-OW-NCEMENTS!!!"
For my pals who go waaaay back... you get it! ;)

But really, I do have a little something to fill you in on. Just a little name change...no, not a change... just a variation of the original.

Attention everyone: The part of Aly (our youngest), will now be played by Lexi!

Really, we're keeping her Russian name of Aleksandra, but we've decided to go with Lexi as the nickname. The NatALIE and ALY never sounded quite right to us. So, Lexi it is! Besides, I really like making cursive L's!

I do have one more MAJOR, 4 WHEELED, HEATED SEATS, type of announcement, but you'll have to check back for that one!

One Month Down

One month down.
March 3rd marks one month since we've been home from Russia. I guess that went pretty fast.

So what's the timeline? Like most things in the adoption world, there's no concrete timeline. On our end, we've had to update our homestudy (again!). I've sort of lost track, but I think this is our 4th update. At this point, what I'm hearing goes something like this:
Jen (our social worker): Still married?
Us: Yep
Jen: Still have jobs?
Us: Yep
Jen: Still live in the same house?
Us: Yep
Jen: Still ready to move forward with the adoption?
Us: Yep
Jen: Still got your checkbook?

Okay, I know the conversation is MUCH more meaningful. There's probably some secret psychological profiling going on that I'm unaware of. Maybe she's covertly taking DNA samples to send on to secret Russian laboratories. You never know what else they'll need to confirm we'll be good parents.

Um, where was I? Oh, timeline...

When we came home we also had to get some more labs repeated. Hepatitis, HIV, drug tests, even a chest x-ray! Turns out we haven't contracted any diseases by sharing dirty needles and apparently we haven't taken up with any shady drug dealers since the last time we had to be tested. Phew! Oh, and luckily, we both still have lungs.

Back to the timeline...

When do we head back? Mostly we just stay tuned to what's going on with families that traveled before us. It seems like it's taking about 4 months between trips. That's what we're hoping for at this point. That would put us back at the first of June. And look at that... already, one month down.

Here's a few pictures from our trip:

St. Basil's Cathedral in Moscow

Ice sculptures outside our hotel in Krasnoyarsk

Another frozen playground at Justin's orphanage

At the airport in Moscow

Out front of the girls' orphanage