Bubble Monday

I know you all have seen the pictures of the day. What an awesome visit we had. When we entered the orphanage and were taken upstairs to where Leeza was playing her caregiver and buddies said, hey it’s your momma and papa! She got up and ran with her arms out to me and jumped in my arms. It was the cutest moment. Then the caregiver told her to put on her outside shoes and some tights. She ran to her locker and grabbed her stuff with the biggest smile on her face. We then went outside and shared some bubbles with her. She thought it was pretty cool when Jeff blew a huge one and it floated off. She also took my liter of water – it was like gold to her. Her group was playing a few yards away and she yelled to them, “Hey, look, I have my own water!” Kostya was sitting near by doing some work and looked up and started laughing. She was very animated today and talked a lot. Very cute!

We waited to hear about our paper work and apparently we have three days until our court day now. It has been moved to Friday. We are pretty down about that. But we have a few ideas we are kicking around and will let you all know when we know for sure. Things are pretty stoic here right now in some ways due to the political climate. I am sure you all are hearing more than we do.

I have been running the past few days in the a.m. so that has been awesome. Today there were tons of others out too so that was good. Jeff has been able to go the gym. I don’t feel quite comfortable going there yet so I have been improvising here. Not bad – very interesting – but not too bad. We may design our own work out video while traveling in a foreign country in our spare time.

So being a bit down in the dumps and getting a little cagey feeling I visited our American neighbor upstairs. Oh, what a treat that was! Great company, CNN, English books and magazines! And of course something I could kick myself for not bringing – peanut butter and microwave popcorn. What an angel! She even has the beat on the street when in need of sliced wheat bread and cheddar cheese. It seems so trivial, I know. But really, it made this rainy day so much brighter.

I pray that all of you are safe and sound with the hurricane coming. It seems to have been downgraded so that is such a relief. It is very difficult to be here knowing that – and just being away from the boys and our family and friends. It’s tough. Home sickness sure has been seeping in a lot lately! Please keep your encouraging emails coming. We get on each morning and read to start our day and it sure does help our hearts. We love you guys! I think I’ll design a t-shirt that says I left half my heart in North Carolina! Take care everyone. As tough as this is – I think of two little children who a life that has had very little joy and very little love (with hugs and kisses) up until the last few weeks. I hope my sweet boys will think of this when they miss us. As hard as this test is in our lives the blessings will far out weigh all of the heartaches now. God bless you! Kisses and hugs to you. (HAPPY ANNIVERSARY MY DEAR SWEET SISTER AND HER HUSBAND! I miss talking to you all the time!)