Overwhelmed

I was walking through the baby section of a big box store yesterday for some last minute supplies to take with us next week.

That's when I became completely OVERWHELMED by all the baby gear out there! Once my boys became toddlers, I purged ALL of that Mommy knowledge from my brain!

I know that we will reacclimate to this age again, but it kinda freaked me out!!!

SERIOUSLY!!!

Good News, Great News and some Disappointing News

The Hermitage Museum at Winter Palace
photo found at Vanderbilt University's Global Education Website

The Disappointing News is...
We cannot post any photos of Emma until she is ours!!! That will mean at least the second trip over...possibly the third after the appeals period ends. :(



The Good News is...
We found out today that we may only be waiting 4 to 6 weeks (not months) in between trips!!! This is new for St. Petersburg, but there are no guarantees for us just yet. We will wait and see once we return to the States.



AND...

The Great News is...
We will get to meet our little Emma one week from today!



We met with our agency today to go over our in-country itinerary. We have A LOT to do next Wednesday before we can see Emma. I know I will be a basket case and very emotionally and physically exhausted, but I CANNOT WAIT!!!! :)
We are also looking forward to as much sight-seeing as possible, but I don't know how much time we will have in St. Petersburg. We have a full day in Moscow, and I am very excited about walking through Red Square, seeing the Kremlin and St. Basil's Cathedral as well as souvenir shopping.

One Lovely Blog Award

A big thank you goes to Ondrea at Confessions of an Over-caffeinated Housewife! She nominated me last week for this award, and I have found a moment to post and pass it on to others.

Due to my ADD issues with planning for this trip in SIX days, I will keep it pretty short!

First, I'd like to pass this on to Tara at The Kelly Korner! She is a kindred Carolinagirl, and I always enjoy reading her posts!!!

Second, I'd like to give this award to my good friend, Caroline, at Beyond Friendship Gate. She has a brand new baby girl named Lucy, and she is just beautiful. Please stop by and congratulate her!

And last, I'd like to pass this award on to Sandy Toes at Shell in Your Pocket. I really enjoy all of her posts, and her blog always takes me back to the beach - my absolute Heaven on Earth.

Memorial Day

Let us all pause and remember those who have made the ultimate sacrifice for our great nation; to remember those who have ensured our right to

"Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness"!

~ created and posted by Steev1969 on You Tube, October 23, 2006

A Thought for Thursday

or maybe just a Question:

How can we possibly stand to walk out of Emma's orphanage on June 5th (our last visit) without her???

Wordless Wednesday

Adoption Update

The craziness continues!!! My head is swimming trying to keep track of details and travel arrangements!!!

We booked our flights to Moscow last night! That felt so good being able to type that! We leave on Monday, June 1st and fly to Moscow arriving there Tuesday morning. At that point, we meet our agency representative to hand over a large lump sum of money! :) We then fly or take a train to St. Petersburg the same day. In country travel is all arranged by the agency in Russia - that's freaking me out a little bit! We spend Tuesday night in St. Petersburg - if we can sleep!

JUNE 3RD - WE MEET OUR EMMA FOR THE FIRST TIME!!!!

We also have to go to the Ministry of Education to sign the official papers accepting this child on the 3rd.

We get to visit the orphanage on Thursday and Friday, and then we fly back to Moscow on Friday evening.

We are staying in Moscow Friday and Saturday night, and leave at lunchtime on Sunday. I am very excited to have the time for sight-seeing and shopping for our little one.

If ANYONE has any recommendations for hotels near St Pete's City Centre or in Moscow near the Kremlin, please let me know!!!

We are so excited - I know this post is almost bullet-pointed, but I can't think clearly enough to try to write something eloquent!!!

~ 14 days til we meet our little one!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Craziest Week of Year Not Counting Christmas

Since my last post, we have been crazy busy here. Of course most of you know last week was Teacher Appreciation Week! I am the Room Mom for Jackson's class so I coordinated gifts for the teachers every day last week. This is the main gift for each teacher...

We had our friends from Wilmington come for the weekend on Friday. Saturday was JC's birthday, and we had a baseball game and birthday party for Brendan!

My Birthday Boys

Brendan chose to have his party at the local AMF Bowling Alley. There were about 15 children there, and he felt like a King for the day. He was so excited!!!!

Later that night, three of our best couple friends, JC and I all went to dinner downtown and then out to hear a band. We had a great time - we even finished the night off with a stop at the very first Krispy Kreme! YUM! I think JC had a good birthday, but it was a CRAZY day trying to get to each destination on time.

Of course Sunday was Mother's Day, and it was also my father-in-law's birthday! Happy Birthday Pop! I hope you all had a wonderful day! My boys helped to make my day super special. I even got my very own baseball glove - so now I can also go out for a "catch"!!!

As for our BIG news this week - we have finally been given the OK to apply for our VISAs to make our first trip to Russia . The dates that we were told to put on our application are May 26th - June 25th. YEAH!!!!! I Fed Exed the required documents yesterday so hopefully we'll be getting our visas back next week!!! I pray that this means we'll really be travelling in about a month!

We are off to Las Vegas for three days tomorrow. Hope to catch up with you all soon!

Happy Birthday Brendan

Eight years ago today we were surprised with the birth of our first son, Brendan - who decided to make an appearance four weeks early! Isn’t it amazing how quickly every facet of your life changes when you become a parent? We have not stopped adoring and loving this magnificent little boy ever since!

B eautiful
R adient
E nergetic
N urturing
D ivine
A ltruistic
N everending Love

“You don't raise heroes, you raise sons. And if you treat them like sons, they'll turn out to be heroes, even if it's just in your own eyes.”

~ Walter M. Schirra, Sr.

First Place

Some of you may remember me posting about Brendan and JC running in the Heart and Sole race on 4.20.09. We had to leave immediately after the race because Brendan had to be dressed and at the Little League fields for baseball photos that same morning.

Well...the winning times were posted a few days ago on their website, and Brendan came in FIRST PLACE in the male 14 years and under category!!! We could not believe it. This was his third 5k, and he has never placed before. We didn't think there was any chance that he would place this year. JC picked up his medal on Friday, and we presented it to him as soon as he got home from school! I am so proud of Brendan! He wore that medal around ALL weekend! He is proud of it too! :)

Eleven Years Ago Today

I married my best friend!

It's funny how time seems to fly by. It is so hard for me to imagine that it has been 11 years today! Thanks to our parents and families, we had the absolute perfect wedding weekend!

Our Rehearsal dinner was on Friday night in the Old Well Room at the Carolina Inn, and it was a fantastic party! Saturday during the day I had my bridesmaids' luncheon at Carolina Meadows -thanks to JC's aunts, and at 6:00 pm on 5/2/98, we were married in the University United Methodist Church on Franklin Street.

My absolute favorite memory from that day is walking from the church ceremony to the Old Well to have pictures taken and then walking to the Carolina Inn for our reception in the Grand Ballroom. It was a fabulous night! Sunday morning we were on an extremely early flight headed to Sandals Negril for a perfect honeymoon of sand, sun and relaxation!!!

Hope you enjoy my walk down memory lane!!!

Rehearsal Dinner

Wedding

And Honeymoon

What an amazing 11 years it's been! I'm hoping for many, many more!