Summertime....

Hi friends & family! Just a quick little update to answer the question "Have you heard anything?". Answer = nothing since our last post! With the timeline we were given, we are assuming that our package is in Russia now and being translated. We emailed Gladney asking if we could get an update on "lil man". We look at his pictures every day and wonder how he has changed since we last saw him. We know a lot of changes occur in the first year and we don't want to miss too many of those milestones! We miss him SO MUCH and can't wait to bring him home!

We also want to thank those of you who have offered to share/give your baby items to us for lil man. Thank you Nicole Ryder for the car seat, Gina for the baby carrier/clothes (all the way from Hawaii) and many more who will be passing down clothes! We definitely appreciate it and know that every little bit helps.

We hope you had fun voting for your favorite name for "lil man". As you see, Logan is the name of choice for most. So, you will have to wait until he is on US soil to see if your vote is what we have decided to name our "lil man"!!

We have been enjoying the summer. These past few weekends have been quite busy - we had a business conference in DC, but got a chance to see the new Gaskill family - yes, Cristin delivered her twins EARLY, and they are doing WONDERFUL!!! It was amazing to see those tiny little lives - just precious. We will be going back to NOVA for the next couple of weekends for Carpenter-King wedding events. Definitely looking forward to celebrating them! And just getting little things done around the house now to make it a smooth transition when we are home for good with our new family.

Lastly, you may have noticed a new addition to the blog titled "Bring lil man home". This is a neat "widget" that I came across while looking on MANY other adoption blogs. Most people have posted it on their blog as a way to help offset the costs of international adoptions. So, why are we posting it, you may ask - for the most part, we have MOST of the money that we need for our final trip (I say most, because we did have to use some of what we had been saving for our unexpected trip for referral #2 and we are saving again now). But, the main reason we are posting it is to help with the donations that we will be asked to give to the baby home. We may be asked to bring shoes, diapers, formula, really ANYTHING. All along our adoption journey, so many people have asked how they can help or let them know if there is anything they can do. I can't express the feeling you get when you walk into a baby home and see all of those children looking up and smiling at you. You want to help ALL of them, but know that right now, you are only there for one. So, this is a way YOU can help - by "chipping in" from our blog. We don't have a certain amount that we are trying to raise and it will only be up until August 15. All payments are done through PayPal and if you don't have an account it is easy to sign up for one! So, if you feel inclined, "chip in" as little or as much as you can. We thank you in advance for your donation and know that a day doesn't go by that we don't thank God for the friends and family he has placed in our lives who support us through their prayers, words of encouragement and relationships. We love you all