Room For a Princess....

We have had many people ask us lately about Alyssa's room. So we decided to share some pictures of her room now that it is complete!!! We themed it as a "Princess Room". We cannot wait to bring her home, so that she can play with her toys, and sleep in her princess crib. We are hoping that when we bring her home that she will still be small enough to sleep in her crib. We think that she will, but just in case we also added a twin bed. I am sure Wade and I will be taking turns sleeping in her room to ease her transition of sleeping alone. Right now she sleeps in a crib in a room with many other cribs of children. So we know that this will definitely be a change for her. As of today we still have no news from the agency about our Petition to Court document. We are waiting patiently for this document. It is the next big step toward our court date and second trip. We know that the LORD has HIS perfect timing, so we are just waiting and praying that the call will come soon. This Friday will be 10 weeks since we saw our daughter!!!!
Time is starting to speed up and slow down at the same time. It is hard to believe that it has been that long since our first trip, but then again, I find myself looking at the clock periodically throughout my day, and I wonder what she is doing at any given time. We long so much for her to be home with us. We cannot wait to bring our "little princess" home to join our "Forever Family"!!!!

Alyssa's First Swingset!!!!

We thought that we would let you all in on the big project that we started and completed this past weekend. It is Alyssa's first swing set!!!! Wade and I had found this company on the Internet called Kids Creations that sell redwood swing sets, and we fell in love with this one. For one thing it does not take up too much room in our backyard, and there was good reviews by other customer's about their purchase with Kids Creations. It is a company out of Kansas that makes redwood swing sets that are built to last!!! And they are made so solid, that adults can play on them too!!! Their website is: www.kidscreations.com . The swing set was shipped in by a Roadway semi truck to our house last Monday. We had to wait until we got a couple of good dry days to put it together. The set was pretty easy to put together with directions that were fairly easy to follow. What took the most time was to get the swing set level. Our backyard is slightly sloped, so we had to dig and dig to get it level. With the wonderful clay dirt here, it seemed to take forever!!! When we got it completed, one of our neighbors daughters came over to "test it" for us!!! She had a fun time, so I guess all of that digging by Wade paid off!! What a great dad Wade will be... He is loving these projects for his little girl!!!! Who knows what might be next?? Maybe a mini garage for her soon to be purchased battery powered Ford Mustang Convertible!!!!

Coming Home Cookbook...

As many of you probably know, I had written a cookbook to sell to raise funds for our adoption. The sale of these cookbooks has been going strong, all with the help of our family and friends. However, we still have about 70 books that we would love to sell to reach our goal of 400!!!! The cookbook has cherished recipes from our family and friends, and I continue to get compliments on it. We also included the story of our adoption journey. If you would like to purchase a book for $10.00 plus shipping of $5.00 please let me know!!! We accept paypal, check or money order.
Thanks!!!! Julie

Prayers & Blessings...

We had an amazing time on Saturday at the baby shower that the girls at our church threw for us!!! We just wanted to say thank you to Veronica, Jennifer and Janice, and for everyone else that helped to make it an amazing event!!! Everything was so beautiful all decorated in pink, and the cake was adorable!!! We had many of our church friends and family there with us to celebrate!!!! We had snacks and punch, and of course we had received alot of gifts for Alyssa!!! The shower started with a beautiful prayer given by Veronica, and then we began snacking and socializing. Instead of playing games, we had a great time just sharing the story of our adoption journey so far. We told of how we came to choose AWAA for our agency, and how when we went to one of the seminars given by AWAA that we knew that the Lord had His plan for our family to adopt. We told of the endless paperwork, paperwork that even continues on today. We told of the day that we finally had gotten the call from Kristen that said, "We found her!!!". We shared the story about our first trip, and through my many tears, told everyone what a blessing that this has been!!!
I know that a fews tears were shed by our guests, but we know that they were happy tears, hearing the story of how a family formed by love and formed by the Lord just makes you happy in your heart!!!
We want to thank all of our church family for their many, many prayers and many blessings that they have given to us on this journey. To our Lord and Savior, we Thank You most of all for showing us your endless love, and for being with us by our side everyday of our lives!!!
Here are a few pics from the amazing shower!!!! Julie

Waiting and Wondering...

Today I am once again thinking about our daughter far far away in the country of Russia. I wonder if she remembers us from the first trip?? We were told that we could leave her with some personal items if we wished. We left her with a photo album full of photos of us and our family. It has pictures of our dogs Toby(White Lab/Shepherd Mix) and Wendy(Black Lab Mix), and also a pictures of our house, her room, and my Saturn Vue. We also left her a Build a Bear Bunny that we had named Tasha. We wonder how much she has grown and if she is happy. Some days are more difficult than others just longing to have her home with us. When it all gets a little overwhelming we just pray and the Lord always puts peace in our hearts. Our Lord has his perfect timing, and we just have to trust in Him everyday. We are so blessed to have all of the prayers and well wishes from all of you.
Some news from the Tennessee homefront. We have completed a couple more documents that are needed for our court day. I have sent them off to be apostilled this week. We are also waiting for a call from a delivery truck that will be delivering a redwood swing and playset. We should be getting it by this weekend. We will have to put it together, but it will be a welcome thing to pass the time. I will post some pictures of the build and the finished product when we get it done!!!
Well we are just counting the days until we hear more news. This Friday will be 7 weeks since we last saw Alyssa, and we are counting down every minute. Please help us pray for a speedy court date and speedy second trip!!!
Here are a few pictures. Enjoy. Julie

More Baby Shower Photos!!!

Alyssa's Baby Shower!!

We had such a great weekend this holiday weekend!!! My sister's threw us an amazing baby shower on Saturday July 5th at 6:00pm, at one of the party rooms at the West End Volunteer Fire Dept. They had done such an amazing job on the whole thing. They had it themed in Red, White, & Blue for not only the colors of the United States, but also the colors of the Russian Flag. They had invited many of our close family and friends, but unfortunately not a whole lot of them seemed to make it. I think the holiday may have played a part in that. We still had an amazing time sharing in the great food and friendship. Sharing pictures and stories about Russia with them was truly one of the best parts. My sisters had pictures of Alyssa all over, and they had made me a button to wear that had Alyssa's and my picture on it. Wade's mom Pat and his Aunt Twyla had came in from West Virginia, and it was truly a blessing to share the shower with them. My sister Cheri had made the cake, and it was beautiful!!! It had our daughter's picture on the top, which brought tears to my eyes!!! They had red, white, and blue balloons and favors on the tables. It was truly an American celebration themed shower. We received many, many wonderful gifts!!! Clothes that were 18 months - 24 months in size. A diaper Genie which is what I really wanted to keep the stinky diapers at bay!!! We got baby wipes, sippy cups, baby utensils, stuffed animals, a toothfairy pillow, and many, many other gifts. We also got a homemade blanket from Twyla, it is simply beautiful!!!! We would love to thank everyone who came and shared in this blessed event!!! Alyssa is truly loved already!!! Just wait until you all get to meet her!!!!
P.S. Thanks so much to my sisters Cheri & Lori, and my mom Donna for throwing us this amazing baby shower!!!! I am so blessed to have you in my life!!!! Alyssa will be so lucky to have your love and hugs!!! Julie