Hello all! So, life is good...no, life is REALLY good. I just don't even know some days how we got to be so blessed and just so lucky. First, everything is moving along very well with the pregnancy. We have had our last bloodwork, and everything still looks great, so we can start to breathe again about that. We are still waiting for the first ultrasound, which is next Wednesday afternoon...so less than a week now! I'm so excited to get that over with becase then i can hopefully stop sticking myself with needles daily. I am okay with doing it, but it is definitely not the highlight of my day and I will be more than happy to move past that!
Second, everything is starting to move along with the adoption. We have been in touch with the agency after they got all of our paperwork and we are officially starting the very overwhelming task of home study and the dossier....we now have access to this planner online and it walks through step by step everything that we will need and have to do. There is a note on the front page that says, "don't read this all at one time because it can be overwhelming"...perhaps I should listen!! I was on there going through every tab on this page and by the time I got done my head was spinning!! So, for now, I'm patiently (well, kind of patiently) waiting to be contacted by the case worker so that we can decide which region of Russia we want to work with. Each region has their own special list of paperwork they want, so you have to know that before you start gathering. We got a book (a 500 page book) from the agency that we have to read and take a test on...Jeremy asked if it came as a "book on tape"...that would be much easier! So, for now I'm reading that to try to be doing something while waiting....if you know me, you know I hate waiting....but, as a good friend has told me more than once "wait is a verb" So I'm trying to remember that!
Speaking of friends, I am really seeing these days how much our friends really bless our lives. When I told my friends we were planning to do this, I got nothing but positive responses and I can't tell them how much that has meant to us. I really do feel like it takes a village, and I really hope that I can take some of the amazing traits of my friends and become a better person by adding them into my lives. When you have friends that will get up at 5am on a Saturday morning and come out in the rain to help you sell stuff to raise money to bring your child home and not get anything out of it themselves, THAT is true friendship. I have had friends in my life, and just a handful that I would consider really true friends. As I look back, I realize that as I have become an adult, friendship is so much deeper and so much needed. There is something about being able to be completely real and screwed up, and vulnerable with your real friends that makes life so much better. I have friends now that know the good, the bad, and the ugly about my life, and amazingly they still want to hang out with me. I'm amazed to find that I'm not the only one with struggles in balancing mommy-life with work-life, and I'm not the only one who sometimes just wants to get away from my kids (for just a bit at least), and I'm not the only one whose house isn't constantly clean! I really used to think that I was missing something...that all of these women that I see really had all of this together and that something was wrong with me. Now I see that many women put on a really good show, but underneath they are just like me. All I can say is thank goodness for friends who don't feel the need to put on that show!
Friends, you know who you are. You are some of the most incredible women I have ever had the pleasure of knowing. I know I have said it before, but I really don't think I could make it (or it at least wouldn't be nearly as much fun) without you. I can have fun, act crazy, and be totally honest with you, and for that I say thank you. You are amazing mothers, wives, and friends, and I count myself very lucky to have you in my life!!
Wow....guess it's time to dry up the mush fest! Must be the hormones...anyway...ultrasound next week....and I will keep everyone up to date on where we are! Don't forget to go to www.adoptionbug.com/asherussia to get your great tshirt!! Also, i think we may have to do the garage sale again in April or May, so let me know if you have anything to donate!
