Great grandparents- GG and Poppy

There's this great park close to my grandparents that we always try to take the boys.  This year they discovered the tire swing.   Jonah was laughing hysterically.  It's a little hard to capture the moment :)

GG and Poppy and the boys.

Great Grandparents- GG and Gmac

Jonah plays golf with his bat.  I guess you can tell where we live :)

More rock climbing and throwing rocks in the creek.

Uncle Clay attempts to demonstrate how to throw paper airplane.

GG helps out too.

GG and Gmac with the boys.

KC Zoo

We went to the zoo while in KC visiting everyone.  All Jonah wanted to see was kangroos and he got his wish.  It's apparently fun to climb rocks no matter where you are.  

This is Emma, one of Jackson's friends from KC.  Her class was at the zoo on a field trip and we ran into them.

Jonah sings!

Jonah loves to sing these days.  Here he is singing his version of the ABC's. Notice the "T, V, U". You'll have to pause my music off to the right.

Russia pics

I know its a long time coming, but all the Russia pics were on Clay's computer which he proceeded to drop about 2 days after we got home and then it was in the shop for a week.  Anyway, they finally got transferred to my computer.  There are much more pics on Clay's blog, so I didn't see any reason to post a bunch, but these are some of my favorites.  

She loved being held, though they kept telling me to put her down and play with her.  Not sure why they cared.  She also loved for Clay to push her around in this little tricycle thing.   If he stopped, she would start rocking, trying to get it moving herself.  You can see the little scrapbook we left with her.  It had  family pics that they are supposed to show her on a regular basis.  

Please continue to pray for us as we prepare for the 2nd trip.  We have been in the midst of a ton of paperwork that has not been easy to complete.  When we get it turned in then they will set our court date.  All the medicals are only good for 3 months, so pray they don't set it too far off or we will have to repeat everything.  And, obviously, we're really ready to bring her home. I think Jonah asks every day when "little sister" is coming home. Thanks for all the support, we are so blessed to have friends and family!

Big Move!

We moved the boys into the same room last weekend!  They're doing great.  There was a lot of talking and giggling the first couple of nights, but they're pretty settled in now and are loving it.  Jonah still asks every night if he gets to sleep in his "brand new bed" and if "bro bro is sleeping in the bunk".  Like some day we're going to move him back.

From Russia

We've had some trouble with communications from Russia, but we finally have some internet access. Things are going really well though our bodies are completely confused as to what day and time it is.  Clay has posted an update on his blog... see link to the right.  So you can read more there and see some pictures.  Thanks for all your prayers.

New Referral!

So we didn't think we'd get any info on the new little girl, but the people in Russia have been working hard and so we got some pictures today.  She's actually 19 months old right now, so she's exactly a year younger than Jonah. Everything looks good, so just keep praying!

hotels

So while we're in Russia we will spend 2 nights in Krasnoyarsk at the Hotel Krasnoyarsk.  You can see it online at http://www.hotelkrs.ru/indexe.htm.  We will also spent 1 night in Moscow at the Grand Marriott.  There are actually 3 Marriotts in Moscow.  Who knew?  You can look at it online at https://www.marriott.com/hotels/travel/mowgr.  Thanks to some friends here who work for the Marriott, we got a great deal on the room.  I joked to Clay that we were staying at nicer hotels in Russia than we've ever stayed at here in the States.  We will have one free day in Moscow, so we hope to do a little sightseeing provided the weather cooperates.   

Rough Stuff

So our social worker called this morning with bad news.  I guess this never happens, but some judge in Russia made a decision that affected a bunch of kids in orphanages and the little girl referred to us was one of them.  Anyway, now we will not be getting that little girl.  It feels weird to grieve over someone I never really had, but you can get very attached to a picture.  Clay and I have spent the morning crying and trying to explain to Jackson what happened when we don't really even understand it ourselves.  They did say there's a possibility of another little girl that's about 15 months old.  We will know more on this in the next 24 hours.  As of right now, we are still heading to Russia next week and will meet this new little girl.  Please pray for us to make the right decisions for our family!  It's a big adjustment to our minds and spirits to switch from one girl and just move on to the next.  We need to grieve, but we also want to move on with new possibilities. I will post when we know more.

Adoption

I am going to try to post info on our process when I have time.  Yesterday, we started working on travel plans for which we have to have Visas, so we spent the afternoon running around.  We had pictures taken, filled out forms, and overnighted it all to the travel agency who will turn them in for us and then we should have them by the 18th!  Today our plane tickets were finalized.  We are gone 6 days, but somehow only need 3 nights in a hotel.  That tells you how much we're going to be on airplanes. :)

Our Little Girl!

We got the call from our social worker this week. We are leaving on April 22nd for our first trip to Russia which will be about 6 days.  Grandma is coming to stay with the boys!  When we get back and complete our paperwork then they will set our court date for 2-4 months out and that's when we'll take our 2nd trip to bring her home!  

Please pray for our Visas to get processed quickly, safe travels, and for my mom with the boys!  Thanks to everyone who has supported us through this process with prayers and financing!  We love you all and can't wait to introduce Lexi to you in person!

The beach with Granpop and Granginny

We had the most beautiful day at the beach.  So beautiful that none of us adults realized we were getting scorched!  But we knew by that night!  We're also able to build a sandcastle that lasted more than 30 seconds.  The boys finally get the idea of building and not just destroying!

Petting Zoo with Grandma!

Clay's birthday

The boys took turns singing Happy Birthday to Clay!  Notice that we found an Astros cake!!

Fun Pictures!

This is just classic Jonah.  Posing and attempting not to smile.

And here we see Jackson's personality!

Fun on the playground!

Jackson at the egg hunt!

This is me coaching Jackson and his friend, Trevor, on the best way to get the most eggs!  Jackson did really well until he spilled his whole basket and we had to pick them all up :)

Jonah at the egg hunt!

Classic Jonah face :)  He didn't quite get the egg hunt until I opened one of the eggs and showed him the candy and then he was off!!!

We went to a new petting zoo last week with our friends. It was way better than I expected. They had monkeys, kangaroo, horses, cows, goats, chickens, pigs, raccoons, skunks, zebra, camels, and more! We were the only ones there so we basically got a private tour from the farm manager.



The monkey eats a banana! The boys intently watched him do this.















Everyone checks out the horse who was peering at us under his door.









Jeni and Casey checks out a baby goat.










Jonah climbs the fence to see the goats.
















The Dalmation 'doat" as Jonah calls it. He's still asking if we can have one as a pet. This goat is more like a pet. They said he thinks he's a dog and he runs around with all the other dogs.

Vacation Spots

So for the entire football season, Jackson has been obsessed with the Steelers. We have no idea where it came from but he has stayed true to it. Anyway, last night was the pro-bowl in Hawaii and it got Clay and I talking about places that would be fun to visit. As we were discussing all these tropical places, Jackson says, "I know, let's go to Pittsburg!" Needless to say, that is not on our top 10 list!

Classic Jackson Quote!

Tonight, Clay was putting Jackson to bed and Jackson asked how old Clay would be on his birthday. Clay said, "well, I'm 35 now, so how old will I turn?" And Jackson answered correctly, "36", and then proceeded to say, "Wow, you're about to die!"