Today one year ago.....

We arrived in Moscow.

$30 for 2 Starbucks!!! Oh the memories!!!

Today one year ago...

We got on a plane and left for Russia to pick up and bring home our son!

How we felt about becoming parents of a 17mo old!!

Today...we woke up our son and brought him in bed with us. We told him that one year ago Mommy and Daddy went to Russia to bring him home to our family and that we loved him very very much!

Neil was laying in bed and then sat up, turned around and looked at Coby and said, "Thank you Daddy."

Thank you God!

Blanket..

This made me smile today!!

This picture is of Neil's 3 blankets. "Yellow", "Green" and "Blue" (that's what he calls them)

These blankets are about $4 and they are yucky and have holes in them. But the greatest thing about these are that they smell like Neil and for a mother...it's the sweetest smell in the world!

Anyway....since we have brought him home these are the blankets he loves. Not the fluffy, soft, hand made or expensive ones...but these.

Until today!!

He was upset and crying due to just being disciplined by mommy...yup he's not perfect! He walks in the office and had this blanket:

This is the first thing that I made Neil.

I have made him many things since then...but I made this and brought it to Russia with us hoping he would love it. It sits upstairs on one of his chairs and he really has not shown any interest in it until today. He has not let it go. He has been walking around all day holding it and sucking his fingers and rubbing it on his face and loving it!! It made me so excited.

I know...it's silly, but it made me smile to see him enjoy something so much that I made especially for him with lots of love!

Thought Aunt Dana, Uncle Michael, Oma and Opa might like this picture. He still sleeps with and loves his turtle!!!

Kate....he loves his pillow!!

A face lift!!

I felt the need to give our blog a little face lift! Hope you all like it! I also gave my photography blog one too...check it out!!! www.brandylynnphotography.blogspot.com

California Vacation

We are still here in Cali....and so I thought I might blog a little about what we are doing.

We arrived last Wednesday and thought we would be staying until yesterday, but Safta and Neil are having so much fun and the weather has been amazing....so we are still here. We head home tomorrow night.

Well, my mom left for China this week for a 2 week mission trip. She is working at a church heading up a VBS. I asked her to just grab us a child while she is there so we don't have to go through everything we did with Neil. Just kidding! Not really...OK we are! I miss her so much and wish I could be with her...maybe next time!

Coby celebrated his first fathers day in Grass Valley golfing, boating, BBQing and having a relaxing day! We drove up there to visit our friends who have a home there and had so much fun! Neil even went swimming in the lake and loved to jump off the dock. This child has no fear of the water!

I celebrated my birthday on Tuesday with my mother in law. We had a relaxing day of shopping and then Thai food for dinner. It was relaxing and a lot of fun!

We have been hanging by the pool, shopping, heading into San Francisco, the zoo, a train park, the A's baseball game, hooking up with old friends and eating non stop. It's been great.

But it has been amazing to watch Neil and his Safta. (That's Hebrew for Grandma.) They are having so much fun and she just lights up with him. It's been a nice break for Coby and I.

Well, that's about it for now. Hope your summer is starting off great and you find rest, relaxation and time with the Lord throughout the coming weeks!

Andrey turns 3...

Just wanted to put a little post up about our Andrey. Today he turns 3. We have still not received any info about him, but I continue to ask as much as I can.

Just wanting to say Happy Birthday Andrey..we all love you!

I don't even know what to say.....

This morning as I was up getting ready for my first day at VBS, I hear Neil's door open up, Pebbles (our boxer dog) walk in his room and then his door slam!

I sit for a min and think...OK...last week he somehow got in the crib without us noticing and today he got out??? I heard no noise, nothing!

So I get up walk down the hallway and go to open the door and Neil has his hand on the inside door handle and he is pushing the door closed and I am trying to open the door.

I call his name and he pulls open the door and there is my sweet "too smart for his age" son and my dog standing there.

So I think...do I get upset, do I laugh, do I ask him to show me his circus routine that he can do to get out of his crib without hurting himself...what do I say??

So the dog walks out and I ask him how he got out of his crib and he turns and points to a mound of stuffed animals and blankets that are piled high right next to his crib. He somehow got the stuffed animals that are in his crib and his 3 blankets to stack on top of each other and I can only assume climbed out and probably fell on them.....hence the lack of tears in his eyes or the very loud thump we would have heard.

So after I get a hold of my thoughts that start to race ahead 15 years to the fact that he will know how to escape the house and sneak out or be my dare devil child...I lay him down to change his diaper and tell him that if he wants out of the crib he needs to yell for Mama or Dada before getting out. So then he yells "DADDY" as loud as he can for the next min or so.

Neil....your already out of the crib...hush up!

So...job for today, lower the crib mattress and hide video camera in room so we can get his acrobatics on tape, send it into America's Funniest Video's and win lots of money so we can afford all those Dr. visits due to his lack of fear!