I've been having mixed feelings about this old year 2006/new year 2007 thing.

In one way, we had lots of good stuff happen in 2006 and in another way I'm ready to see 2007 get itself on in here and get this party started.

Let's recount
GOOD STUFF -

• It was just February 9 of baby new year 2006 when we received the news that we had been matched with V.
• We met our sweet baby girl on March 6 and had a great trip to Russia with D as she returned to the city of her birth and met her baby sister-to-be.
• D started school and got all grown up - learning to read, loosing teeth, etc.
• We returned to visit V in October and she was doing great.
• We had a good(although somewhat bittersweet) Christmas (since V should have been here with us.)
• D had her eye surgery and is doing great and now her little eye will be straighter.
• I have a loving husband and loving daughter right here, right now.
• We have a cozy little home in Mayberry, USA

BAD STUFF

• My Aunt J passed away, she was my "other mother."
• V is still not home.

So come on 2007, we're ready and waiting.

Here's praying that the year ahead will bring thousands of children out of orphanages and into loving homes and that V will be among the first!

Who knew Good Housekeeping Institute would have information useful for parents adopting from Russia!

Just a few months ago, I told Debbie how happy I am that we purchased a Printer/Copier/Scanner/Fax early in this adoption process. It has been a lifesaver to have all these "services" right here in our own home while compiling our dossier and updating the never ending paperwork. Having color copies from home is wonderful! We paid about $98 for our HP Printer/Copier/Scanner/Fax at Sam's Club. But in the newest issue of the Good Housekeeping magazine, the GH Institute tested out all the makes and models and have hailed that the Lexmark X5470 (about $100) is "a cinch to use and the printer churned out higher-quality photos than some professional labs."

Secondly, the Good Housekeeping Institute tested which boots will really keep you warm and dry. The top winner of this test came out to be L. L. Bean's Insulated Comfort Boots ($39.50) which "aced [their] water-resistance and themal tests."

Now you know!

Lisa asked us all to post a picture of our nurseries. I posted this picture of V's nursery long, long ago. It still looks the same (if you don't count all the Christmas stuff we've piled in there).

We went to D's regularly scheduled Pediatric Opthomologist appointment yesterday morning at 7:30 a.m. I have been noticing that her weak eye has been going up and out lately. She has strabismus which caused her eye to turn inward. We've seen this up and out movement before and it has indicated in the past that her glasses were becoming too strong and we needed to step down in her prescription - a good thing. However, yesterday the doctor explained that her muscle should be able to overcome that change without moving up and out. We have been seeing him since she was 13 months old and he felt that the time had come to do the muscle surgery.

We began discussing dates (around the 3rd week in January) and then he said he had a slot for today at 1:30! The more I thought about it, I said let's go ahead with it because that will give me less time to worry and fret and less time for D to pick up on me worrying and fretting, causing her to worry and fret. So - off we went to schedule the surgery. Next off to Target to get some new jammies to wear (we'd only brought 2 sets with us to Dallas and they were now dirty) and some jello. The anesthesiologist called me on my cell phone and we discussed D's health history. This is the first time I've really had to encounter the lack of knowledge we have of her first year of life. However, the anesthesiologist said that by now we would probably have seen any health issues present themselves and D has always been extremely healthy. She had to eat her jello before 10:30, 3 hours before the surgery. But the anesth. wanted her to eat a little clearish something since she is so small and it would be hours and hours before she would eat anything again.

We just told D we were going to have an adventure. That her doctor needed to tighten up the muscle in her eye which is kind of like a rubber band. She would drink some sleepy juice and she wouldn't even know what was going on. At the hospital she had fun putting on the special gown and she said they were treating her like a princess with all the pillows, warm blankets, coloring books, little stuffed fish, etc.

Mommy did pretty well too, the hardest part was after the doctor came out to tell us she was OK and then we had to wait for them to come get us to see her in recovery - about 30 loooonnnnnng minutes.

So, we're home now and she's in the living room floor with Daddy playing My Little Pony memory card game. She's only had a tiny bit of pain and is being so brave about taking her eye drops and the super stinky antibiotic.

So, that is what's been happening in our neck of the woods . . .

I guess I've been pretty "down" lately. Just haven't had any heart to blog. We've been super busy with the Christmas season. There have been a couple days here and there where I didn't even turn on the computer at all!

But I need to check in - right?

I'm excited about the news that Accreditation re- application papers have finally been given the go-ahead to be turned in. I'll be even more excited, though, when I get confirmation that our agency's papers have been submitted - and accepted. Most of our agency staff is on Christmas break, and I am sure those who are there have been bombarded with questions. **I heard from our casemanager at about 3. And I feel much better now. This was all a case of big news happening quickly and coinciding with the Christmas season - the timing was just the pits and I was (am?) a wreck of emotional instability. **

So, I'm still on the edge of being excited.

I've got another super busy day ahead of me and mounds of gifts yet to wrap, so I'm going to step away from blogland yet again.

Hoping to post a much chippier post later!

Ok, here are the assignments I made. Debbie will reveal her 1/2 of the assignments on her blog.

I hope I got all these links right!! Hope you all had fun with the blog pals!

• Carla, your secret blog pal was Debbie.
• Jenny, your secret blog pal was Amy.
• Jessica, your secret blog pal was Laura Flanagan.
• Amy, your secret blog pal was Carla.
• Christina, your secret blog pal was Betsy.
• Lauren, your secret blog pal was Jenny.
• Laura, your secret blog pal was Katie.
• Katie, your secret blog pal was Christina.
• Mandy, your secret blog pal was Michelle.
• Betsy, your secret blog pal was Ginger.
• Debbie, your secret blog pal was Kay.
• Ginger, your secret blog pal was Jessica.
• Kay, your secret blog pal was Lauren.
• Michelle, your secret blog pal was Mandy.

I found out today that Melissa has been my blog pal. I kind of had an inkling that she was (by the postmarks).

She was great and so encouraging. She sent me this puzzle for V. D and I put it together on the kitchen floor. D said, though, that it was "pretty easy." To which I explained, "yes it's easy for you because you're 6 but it will be a while before V can put it together - you'll have to teach her."

The Woodworths adopted Julia using the same agency we are using. She is a precious girl and this is a really great blog. Read this latest blog post - it is so sweet!

It has been a good couple of days in Russian adoption land!

Go and read Lisa's good news! She will finally get to go and meet Abbey Anne!

And Jennefer FINALLY got the court date for Pineapple Princess and they leave Saturday!

***Edited***

Denise got her court date too!!!! Can you believe this good news Tuesday??!!

No, no good news for us today - I did talk to our casemanager (he called, I didn't call him LOL) but all he had for me was the need for a change in one of our documents. But I'm so excited for all these other families - really I am!!

I received your package on Monday with the scrapbooking things and I really love it and appreciate it!!

I just thought beyond a shadow of a doubt that I had already written my thank you post and I was just scrolling through old posts and it's not there.

I really need to scrapbook and use them!

Thanks again sweet blog pal!!

Just thought I'd share a little somethin' somethin' about me.

I just really remember and become attached to the movies that I watched on the airplanes going on our adoption trips (4 so far - 8 if you count both ways) .

I'm wondering if I'm alone in this? Ok, so I didn't see one bit of a movie on the coming home trip with D! But everytime I see Bridgette Jones's Diary I have a soft spot in my heart because that is what I watched on our way to D's court date. On this past trip to see V I watched The Devil Wears Prada.

Am I the only one who does this????

Go check out the sweet announcement on Lauren's blog!!!!

I know this song was probably written for a husband on military duty. But every time I hear it I just think of V.

A photograph, a blanket
Some mistletoe, confetti snow,
An angel to put on a tree.
Santa Claus in crayon, To make you smile today;
While you're so far away.

So I'm sending you a little Christmas,
Wrapped up with love.
A little peace, a little light, To remind you of
How I'm waiting for you, praying for you
I wanted you to see.
So I'm sending you a little Christmas,
Till you come home to me.

Some gingerbread, a candy cane
A stocking I made with your name.
I filled it with your favorite things.
A way to say I love you, Like kisses through the air
Hoping you'll feel me there.

Home - into these arms of mine.
Home where you belong.

Home, till you come home, To me.

This is the tree in the family room.



















This is O'Christmas Tree (what D named him) he is in D's room
and has my Barbie ornament collection on him.
























This is an up-close of O'Christmas Tree that I just thought looked cool.

In keeping with Debbie's urging us to have a little more Ho, Ho, Ho and a little less Oh, Oh, Oh - I'm joining in the spirit and sharing a bit of the Christmas decorations at our house...





Here is our piano displayed with all D's pictures with Santa since she was one year old. We don't have the one from this year yet. It also has some of our Russian Matryoshki (?) and a little Snegurochka figurine.










Next is a picture of our mantle. We have it decorated with different Nativity sets.












This is a nativity set we got in Moscow when we were there in October. The Mary, Joseph and Jesus pieces store inside the Angel piece during the rest of the year.

In the last post, Jessy asked if we feel like V will complete our family or will we try for another. Most likely V will be the caboose on the end of this train.

However, Hubby has said a few times lately that he'd like us to adopt a baby girl from China! Acckk! I told him if he is serious we'd better start THAT paperwork right now! He turned 40 last week and I entered my perpetual 39 years in August! I can already feel the difference in my stamina from when we adopted D when I was 34 years old. It is soooooo true that once you pass 35 you just change!

Also, it is quite a strange feeling being 10 years older than most of the other moms of D's kindergarten peers and I'll be more like 15 years older than the moms when V gets to Kindergarten. If we adopted again I would be closer to 20 years older!!!!!

It is nearly impossible that we would have a baby naturally. Over the nearly 12 years that we have been married I have been pregnant 4 times with no medical assistance (that's an average of every 3 years that I get pregnant) but the longest I've been able to carry the baby is 11 weeks. Our infertility is unexplained. We went through about 4 years of infertility treatment off and on and never did I get pregnant on the treatments, it was always out of the blue. Let me just say that these 9 months of waiting for V's courtdate and being extra super careful is starting to get really, really old! Because you just know that when I absolutely do not want to get pregnant, that's when it would happen. But it would be the pittiest of the pits to have a miscarriage as an American in a Russian hospital!

So in short, Jessy, V will, with 99% surety, be the last little Y in this branch of the family tree.

I have been having strange dreams the last couple of nights. Of course I try to decipher them when I wake up and can pretty much tell where they "came from."

Before I share my dreams with you, let me just say that I have had a hard last couple of weeks with no end in sight. I am trying so hard just to focus on the blessing I have in D and my wonderful hubby. But it feels like V is just never going to come home.

In two days it will be 9 MONTHS that we have been waiting for our court date to bring her home. So many people ask "what is taking so long!" It is hard to explain if you aren't familiar with the way the Russian goverment works to pass laws and guidelines and if you aren't familiar with the process of agencies needing to be accredited. But in a nutshell, until our agency receives their re-accreditation we are just plain stuck. There are no other American agencies working in our region, so we couldn't switch over even if we wanted to. Our agency has all their paperwork in ready and all but one form is translated and ready to turn in. But the governmental agency that approves accreditation is not yet receiving the applications. On top of the accreditation thing, our paperwork may need revisions once it is presented for our court date. There is no telling what the judge may require to be changed or tweaked once our paperwork is finally even presented!

Ok, now my weird dreams.

In the first dream (during Saturday night's sleep) it started out with Hubby, D and me in a restaurant. I went to go to the bathroom by myself (which would never happen in real life because I always take D with me!) and when I passed by the kitchen area the workers started having a food fight in anger. With the hot food out of the oven and off the stove! I ducked and ran out the door to my van. When I pulled out of the parking lot I turned right. It was dusk, still light enough to see pretty well. I saw a huge monument kind of like a spire and thought, "oh that is what they had just started building when we were in Moscow and now it's nearly finished." I knew that I could drive around the whole block and come back to the front door to pick up Hubby and D. I guess I was driving around the perimeter of the Ukraina hotel. When I turned the next corner of the square it was super dark and I was no longer in my van but on a bicycle. It was pitch black, I couldn't see anything at all. But I pretty much knew where I was so I figured I could just pedal, pedal, pedal and find my way. There was a little headlight on the bike, but it would only stay on for a couple of seconds at a time and then it quit working altogether. It was scary. I just started praying that God would keep me safe and get me back to D and hubby. It was so dark. Finally I turned the last corner and saw a bit of light ahead and pedaled as hard as I could. When I got to the door of the restaurant, hubby and D were waiting for me like I was crazy. Then we got in the van (I guess the bike turned back into the van) and left.

The next dream that I had last night, we were home with V finally but she was a boy! I had put her up on the changing table to change her diaper and she was a boy and then I started frantically tearing through her closet because I didn't have anything that could be for a boy, just lots and lots of girly clothes.

I can only think the first dream was kind of symbolic and hubby and D and I had been in the van for about 6 hours on Saturday going to Dallas for our agency's Christmas party and back home.

The second dream I'm sure is because I worked in the 2 &3 year old nursery yesterday at church and had to change a little boy's messy diaper which I was all thumbs at! I haven't changed a little boy in about 9 1/2 years since my youngest nephew is now 12!

till later y'all . . .