Gotcha'!!

 Getting ready to leave!

 Back at the hotel.  He hasn't missed a beat, it has been absolutely great!  Thanks be to God, He has definitely answered our prayers!

 Such a sweet moment, when he just laid his little head on me.  All 3 of mine are cuddlers :)

 Of course had to give him a shower (no bath tub, but thankfully the shower head comes off), now he is smelling all good and fresh!

And now he is taking a nap, think I might take one too :)  I'll post more details later but had to get you some pics up!

We made it...

We arrived today with only one hiccup.  Casey's bag didn't make it, it is still in New York but should make it here tomorrow and be delivered to the hotel.  Thankfully we put some of her clothes in my bag.  Our hotel is very nice, but we haven't ventured out yet.  We have slept about 3 hours in the past 31 hrs. so I am hoping to go to sleep soon. 

We are getting picked up at 9:40 in the morning (12:40 p.m. central time), then we go to the passport agency and then off to pick up Heath!  The first thing I did when we got to the hotel was get his outfit out and pack his little bag for tomorrow.  Those of you who have done this know the swirl of emotions I am feeling...

I could cry at the drop of a hat.
I am soooo excited.
And hoping he has a smooth transition.
My stomach has butterflies fluttering.
It's just too many emotions to name!

That is my constant prayer right now, since he hasn't seen me very many times, that he not be anxious about this transition.  We spent so much time with Hudson before we picked him up that he never missed a beat, never cried a tear out of fear.  When the time was near for us to pick Hudson up, he was so used to us that he would cry when we would leave him every afternoon at the baby home. 

We are hoping to get out and about tomorrow as well, I don't want to stay all cooped up in a hotel room all week! 

I will try my best to have you all pictures posted by the time you wake up!

We're still here...

Yes, we are still here.  Yes, I have lots of pictures to post and news to share.  Yes, I just now unpacked the stuff I need to upload pictures.  No, I just don't have it all together right now!

Why didn't someone shake me and tell me that moving our family and downsizing by 1/2 would not be the smartest thing I ever did, less than 2 weeks from leaving the country to bring home our next child!  I have decided I am not superwoman and should not act like it!  For some reason I thought this wouldn't be too bad but then Jason said, "You need to get rid of about half of your clothes!"  And then I realized I'd have to get rid of a bunch of stuff or else we were going to live in nothing but clutter.  So while unpacking each box, we are going through and getting rid of a bunch of stuff.  So maybe that's why this move seems harder than the last, it hasn't been unpacking and everything having a space, it's been going through every. single. little. thing.

Hopefully I will get Heath and myself packed by tomorrow.  Of course, Casey, is already packed.  But this is typical of us!

Yesterday Hudson told me that he pretty much already missed me and I wasn't even gone.  He couldn't wait until Heath was home and when he sees us in the airport, he's going to run as fast as a jet and give us all 4 big hugs a piece.  I'm pretty emotional at this point, so I'm pretty sure I let some tears roll.

Hollynn on the other hand picked up a wooden spoon a few days ago, looked at me, shook it a little and said "You hear me?"  several times!  Then just busted out laughing, it was hilarious.  I'm pretty sure she has only seen me do that a couple of times! HA!

Okay, lots to do, and when I get to Russia I'll do lots of updates since I don't sleep much while I'm there and I have pics from Hudson's baptism and Beth Moore :)  

My specific prayer that I started praying yesterday is "Lord, this is the absolute busiest season of my life, so while I feel covered up with things to do, please cover me with peace."  I don't want to feel overwhelmed with this move, packing, etc.  Please pray for us, all of us, especially the transition Heath will be making in several days!   

Hudson Luke Carney...

Yes, that name was just written down in heaven, because he just asked Jesus to be his Savior.  I am a very proud mama right now.  Although he did just tell me I'm now his brother in Christ!  Ha! So maybe I'm a very proud brotha! 

He has been talk about this for some time now and here lately he has brought it up almost daily, and totally on his own.  We wanted to be sure he understood everything so we have tried to talk with him every time he brings it up do be sure he did.  Tonight when they were reading his Bible story, it was about Jesus being the Living Water and he told Jason he wanted to be saved.  So again, we talked to him, and tonight my sweet boy prayed for Jesus to forgive him for his sins, professed that He died on the cross and conquered death, and thanked Him for saving his soul.  And he just squeezed my neck when I told him that angels were singing in heaven and his name was being written down.  He threw his arm in the air and in total excitement said, "I get to go to heaven!"  Yes, buddy, you do, and a prayer I have prayed since before I ever saw his sweet little face, was answered tonight!  Can't wait to see the things God has planned him, cause you know they are great :)

Last visit until Forever...

So these are all from our last day of this past trip.  Looking at these, I wonder how can 17 more days seem soon yet so stinkin' far away?  I'm trying to balance moving, homeschooling, working, chasing my 21 month old, and nesting.  And really, all I want to do is jump 3 1/2 weeks from now when we are all together.  Don't worry, I'll stop whining when he gets here :) 

I am LOVING homeschooling Hudson!  I know it's only been a week, hopefully I will still feel this way in 39 weeks :)  I think this summer has been so crazy busy that just hanging out with him like this is great.  Hollynn LOVES to draw, or shall we say "dall").  So in the mornings when we do some of his work she is also enjoying herself.  We are doing some work in the mornings and some at nap time. 

I am going to do an entire post to this, but I have to tell you I not only met Beth Moore this past weekend, but I think we are best friends ;)  Don't worry, I'll tell you all about it b/c I'm pretty sure other than marrying Jason, and the first day I held my kids, this day goes right under these! 

Birthday Boy

Saturday we celebrated Hudson's 5th birthday by going to the back to school bash, then off to Monkey Joe's, and then finished up with some pizza and swimming with two of his best buddies Ethan and Lucas.  They had a BLAST!  And Hollynn did not miss a beat in keeping up with them!

I'll have to post pictures from Sunday.  Hudson chose Japanese food for his birthday lunch and since our life is constant motion we didn't have a family birthday party but did get together for lunch at Fuji's.  Casey made him a really cool dinosaur cake.

I can't believe he is 5 today.  I am up way too early to go to the barn and get work done so I can be here for breakfast to stick 5 candles in his waffles!  FIVE!  Where is time going?  I am so thankful for Hudson Luke.  He is so kind, funny, smart, and I love that he still cuddles with me :)  What an honor that he calls me Mom!

Plane Ticket & Baby Pic.

 This arrived in the mail yesterday :)  I'm counting down the days...29 left til we take off!

This was the baby picture of Heath shown to us when we accepted his referral at the ministry.  The only picture we have of him before we held him in April.  I only have the picture in my head of what Hudson looked like as a baby.  Long, skinny, and a head full of hair.  He was laying on his stomach asleep.  I had no clue then, that you could go online and get that picture.  There is a website where they have every child available for adoption in Russia and once they are adopted they come off that site.  So if you are in the process of adopting from Russia, please e-mail me and I'll send you this info.  What I would give to have known this 4 years ago!  Thanks Heather for sending this to me!  

Off to clean the parsonage today to get it ready to move in, but not before I look at this sweet face!

My last big push to sell our remaining shirts, I have in Blue 1 youth small, 1 youth large, and 2 adult mediums.  In orange I have 1 youth small, 3 youth mediums, 3 adult Large, and 1 adult XL.  $15 per shirt to help us fund Heath's adoption.  Message me if interested.  We will have our drawing for prizes in 2 weeks for those of you who bought 4 or more shirts or donated $50 or more.  THANKS SO MUCH!!

Pics from Tuesday

 I think you can actually hear him giggling just by looking at him!  Trust me, it is music to my ears :)

Sorry I am just now posting.  We had a wild trip home!  Made it to Washington Dulles only to have our flight get delayed until they finally cancelled it and told us they couldn't get us home until the next afternoon.  But we could take a taxi to Reagen and fly out the next morning.  We met two other people desperate to get to Nashville, shared a taxi with them, figured instead of a hotel we would just sleep in the airport since a hotel would have put us over budget.  Got to Reagan around 9:30, went to get our tickets for the next day and she said, "We have a 10:00 leaving for Nashville, want me to get you on it?"  YES!  So we hustled through security then they started calling our names to board immediately.  All 4 of us sprinted through the airport like wild people, but we made it.  Got home after 1 a.m. but got to see my babies.  I picked Hollynn up while she was sleeping at Casey's and she opened her eyes and said, "Hi Mama" then fell back to sleep.  Hudson struggled more this trip than last.  He had one night where he cried cause he just missed his mama.  Tore. Me. Up.  He curled up with me on the couch last night and fell asleep.  Hollynn has kissed me ten million times.  It's rough when you have to leave 2 to get to 1 and vice versa.  But only 34 more days and we fly out.
This coming week I am going to give the parsonage a scrub down and start moving things in.  I want to move things slowly and put them in their place instead of moving everything all at once and being overwhelmed with boxes.  We had 2 showings yesterday and have 1 today so maybe something will come out of it.
I'll try to post several times this week since I have a ton of pics of our trip!

Giving Thanks (2nd post today, scroll down for pics)

Give thanks to the Lord, call on his name;

make known among the nations what he has done.

Sing to him, sing praise to him;

tell of all his wonderful acts.  -Psalm 105:1-2

Thank you, two words that hold more emotion than I could ever express! Thank You Lord!  I just want to shout it to the Lord!  Three times He has made me a mother and He is filling my man's quiver!

Court was a breeze compared to our first time through when they drilled us because we were so young.  The judge did not seem like a happy person but then did crack a smile when she saw the pictures of us with Heath.

We went today for him to get his passport picture taken.  Hung out this afternoon.  I hated saying bye but I believe God can do what we prayed over Heath.  To keep him safe and to have a very easy transition.  I pray he remembers us since he has really come out of his shell in only 3 days.  I keep saying it, another Mama's boy, woohoo!  Does anything melt your heart like two tiny arms reaching up for you!  And then he lays his cheek up against mine, I love it!

Since today is a double posting day, I'll keep it short.

I have been overwhelmed by your prayers, support, and encouraging words on here, via e-mail, facebook and fb messages.  What a blessing to my heart!  Thank you so much :)

This is a link to a video Jason made of our first trip, it is so good, watch it all the way to the end!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BfhUtnNP1TA      I'm not sure why it is not where you can click on it so just copy and paste it, you know I'm not very computer savvy!