The Fall is Flying By!

It's been a few weeks since I posted something, so I thought it was about time for a new one.

There is no news from Russia, but happily this is only something I check on a couple of times a week, instead of every day. Still no agencies have been reaccredited. If we were still planning to travel ASAP, I can't imagine how stressed I would be right now. Rob's idea of delaying our first trip until the spring was definitely the right thing to do. I have been more productive at work, more enthusiastic about the conferences I'll be attending (rather than worried that I might have to cancel at the last minute to leave for Russia), and a much less stressed-out person.

This month I am presenting in two conferences: one in Madison (my grad school hometown) and one in Charleston, SC (Rob might come with me for that one). They should both be productive and also great fun - I am planning to connect with friends at both conferences for meals, etc. As if that weren't enough travel for one month, we also decided to go ahead and plan something crazy and exciting for this time before the baby arrives: for Thanksgiving, both Rob's and my parents are joining us in Florida for a 4-day cruise!!! I can hardly wait! Most of you know how thrifty (OK, cheap) we are, so this is a real adventure for us. (Of course, we got the tickets for less than half price...but you already knew that....). Our two sets of parents haven't seen each other since our wedding over 6 years ago, so we are excited to all hang out together.

Last weekend, we made a bit of progress on the baby's room - we installed new closet doors. the old ones were completely mirrored. Not only might that scare our poor kid, but I wasn't a big fan either! So we got some nice plain white doors with a very basic design. It looks great!

I'll close up with a reminder to please pray for our little one in Siberia. Earlier this month we were in Canada with Rob's family and got to see some of his cousins who have a 20-month old (Jake) and newborn (Mitchell). It was really wonderful to see them, and especially to meet little Mitchell! But it was a little bittersweet knowing that we can't take care of our own child right now the way these parents (and grandparents, and aunts, and uncles, and cousins) can take care of him. Our child is most likely between the ages of these two cuties, and there are two more kids on that side of the family who are slightly older, so he/she will have lots of cousins to play with.....just can't wait until he/she can actually come home and DO that! Until then, we're praying that our baby is experiencing attentive care from the orphanage staff, enough food to eat, and at least a few hugs along the way. We'd sure like to send some!