UPDATE on dates of trip

Well, as my friend Kate always says, 'everyday is something different with us!!" Our travel dates have changed! We will now be leaving on Saturday the 16th, but our arrival home will be the same. We just found out today that we have to have a 'in country physical' in Moscow before we fly to Kemerovo and go to court.

Happy Happy Joy Joy!! (I'm being sarcastic!)

So now, we have to do another physical (our 4th one) get chest x-rays, and blood work so we can bring it to our physical (our 5th one) in Moscow. At this point, that is all we know. Coby and I really ask for you all to put MONDAY, AUGUST 18th on your calender and pray for us while we are having our physical. Please pray for no problems to occur and a 'clean bill of health!'

We are hoping to book our flights tonight and as soon as we know info..we will let you all know!

Who has travel dates? We have travel dates!!!!!

We got the call today that we have travel dates!!!!!! We will leave on Monday, August 18th and if the 10 days are waived, we will return Wednesday, August 27th!!!! So Lord willing we will not have to stay the 10 days after court and we will be home before Labor Day weekend!!! I hope you all will be able to be at the airport to welcome Baby Neil home and so he can see how much he is loved!!! As soon as we have times and such, we will let you all know!



YES!!!!!! Thank you Lord!!!

1 MORE MONTH!!

We will be standing in court 1 month from today!! August 21st!!!! Coby and I are keeping sooo busy that I think we were not even thinking about this until today! Neil also turns 16 months today!! Wow!!

Cookie Counting has gone to the Dogs....

We figured the dogs are about to get their worlds turned upside down so we thought we'd let Pebbles and Trot participate in the "Cookie Countdown" Pebbles is sniffing the cookies, while Trot stands by....

Now you see the cookie.....

Now you don't!!!

Hmmmm...what do we do while we are waiting?

Well, Coby and I had a vacation planed for the second week in September, but because of our court date being the end of August...we have decided to change the date.

With a lot of help from our friends Jonny and Jenny and a travel agent, we were able to change the date, a little of the location, and the amount of time we will be gone so we can go in 9 DAYS!!!!

We are going on a Caribbean Cruise!! We leave a week from Saturday and will be gone for 6 days!!! AND to top it off, Coby WON this cruise earlier in the year, so it is FREE!!!! We will fly to Florida and leave from there and have two port stops and then return home on the 31st! How awesome is that??!!

We are sooooooooooo excited about this, we have never been on a cruise and we can't think of anything better to kill time with then to 'cruise' through the days....yes, pun intended!

P.S...I am sooo sorry that I made it seam like I cut my hair. I have not cut it yet, honestly because my hair dresser is in California and I don't plan on going there for a while, so I have no one here in Nashville who I know can cut my hair. I know you are thinking, "what have you done for the past 4 1/2 years while in TN?" Well....I just get my hair cut when I go home and visit my family. So.....if anyone has a hair dresser who does cute short hair cuts and highlights....send me the info! I would love to cut my hair before Russia!!

Creative Cookie Counting to Court...

My friend Holly..thank you so much..gave me this cute idea that she does with her 4 year old daughter, Kenna. When they are going somewhere exciting, they lay out Teddy Grahams for all the days until they leave for their special trip! Kenna gets to eat a 'Teddy' every day until the day arrives! Coby and I will be fighting over who eats the animal crackers each day....I might just have to make 2 cookie counters!

Well...here are 41 animal crackers (they were cheaper and there were more that came in a bag..yummy!) I won't bore you with 41 pictures of this...but possibly a picture a week!

We don't have any more updates yet, but we are still so excited!

MARK IT ON YOUR CALENDARS!!!!

Well it's been a couple of weeks since I've started growing my goatee. In case you haven't been following along, Brandy and I decided that she wasn't going to cut her hair and I wasn't going to shave until we had some news.....



Guess What?!!!.........

After getting an email this morning from our agency saying they hadn't heard anything from our region, we received a call from our rep about 4pm tonight with the news we have all been waiting for....WE HAVE A COURT DATE!!!!!!

It's August 21st. We don't have any travel details yet. They think we'll know everything in the next two weeks.

So until then, we'll just count down on the calendar (44 days, but who's counting) until that day we stand before the judge and then go to the orphanage to pick up Baby Neil and bring him home forever.

Thank you to everyone for all your prayers and support. We are truly blessed to have all y'all (Southern term) in our lives.

We'll keep you posted when we learn more.

Love,

Brandy and Coby

4th of July Weekend!!

Coby and I together planted this garden! We spent two days digging up the grass that was there and then planting all these beautiful trees and plants. We thought we would wait until fall to plant some flowers. It was VERY VERY exhausting and a little frustrating at times but we LOVE it and we are pleased with the way it came out!


The garden was planted right outside Baby Neil's nursery. So every morning when we get him up...we will be able to look outside and see our garden!

When will this end?

I don't know...but the Lord knows.

Why do we continue to suffer? "Trust me!"

Why is it taking so long? "My time is not yours"

Wouldn't it be so much better for Neil to be here with us? "I am protecting him, and always will"

Why can't our questions be answered? "Glory will be given to Me only!"

We are tired, we are wanting to quit. "My strength alone is what will get you through."

I want this pain to end. "I will be with you and will never leave you....I am here with you during your pain."

These are my questions to the Lord followed by what He whisperers into my hart. Coby and I started our adoption journey over 2 1/2 years ago and we still don't know when we will bring home our baby. So many unanswered questions....

But if our questions were answered would that bring us peace? Momentary peace....yes! Eternal peace.....no. John 14:27 says that God's peace is not as the world gives peace, but as He gives it to us and we are not to fear knowing His peace is SO much more. It is eternal!

I sit here tonight and think on this. My relationship with Christ and my salvation in Him is my only peace. It is the only peace that settles me, holds me together and will bring joy back to my soul.

Waiting forces you to live in the moment. Does it not? If you have been promised what you are waiting for then LIVE until that promise is fulfilled!

If only my desire to have Neil home was the same for the return of Christ for His church! Would I share the love of Christ more often? Would I love more...as Jesus loved? Would I speak my hart of passion for Christ in ALL that I say and do, not counting the cost? I do know one thing for sure, and that is my salvation in Christ and knowing He will return one day for His chosen. My prayer is that my desire to have Neil home, will not over take the passion in waiting for the Lord!

My prayer is that all of you reading this will know the Lord as your personal Savior and when He returns you too will be apart of His eternal home! Our ETERNAL PEACE!!