Okay....so we went a little crazy

Today was met with an early wake up call from New York needing copies of the kids birth certificates for our visas to be processed. Thankfully, a faxed copy was all that was needed and we knew that all had arrived on time. So, we will be looking for those visas to arrive on Wed.

Our itinerary has changed by one day as Russia has a holiday next Mon. (Feb. 25th). We decided to still leave on Fri. and take the extra day in St. Petersburg to recover from the long flight and time change. PTL, He knows we will need that extra time. So, we will be in the orphanages Tues, Wed and Thurs. of next week. We are still firming up our flight schedule but did confirm that our lay over is in Frankfurt, Germany. David will finally get the chance to use that German he took in college! :) HaHa

Our afternoon was filled with the divide and conquer strategy so Dad and J. took off for Academy to gather up some winter closeout deals while E and I headed for the Dollar store and Walgreens to pick up photos, photo albums, toys for the kids and travel sized everything (under 3 oz.s).

Okay, so we went a little crazy with the toy buying. It was so fun though to think about buying for them. I have not allowed myself this pleasure...I have stayed reserved but today what started as a small leak in the dam became a gully washer in a hurry. The picture above testifies to our fun and has added another aspect of realness to this journey. Soon, they will be holding these very items and for 3mos. they will represent this brief time we have with them until we return.

My favorite of these items are the photo books we put together. This was so fun, we laid out all of the pictures we had printed (80, doubles for 2 albums) then all four of us gathered and picked our favorites....it was tough in under 20 pictures to depict to our children who we are and where they are going to be living. Especially, as we are thinking about their tiny hands turning these pages over and over in the coming months until we return. Saying good bye is getting harder each day and we haven't even had the chance to say hello yet. Truly, it is only by the Lord's grace that we are able to press on and walk through this time. It is precious time though, to draw so near to the Lord and receive His peace.