Before...and after...

Yes...I know. I've been the negligent blog keeper. We were so amped and excited to finally get it up and running, and now...well, there's just no excuse. There haven't been updates with our agency, either. Quiet...way too quiet. Just a little background about American agencies overseeing adoptions in Russia. Last spring...all agencies lost accreditation to adopt from Russia, and had to go through a reaccreditation process. They turned in volumes of paper work to the Russian government, along with many other "duties"...I am sure! The beginning of July, Russia announced the first batch of agencies that had been reaccreditated. A few more went through a few weeks later, and then more just a few weeks ago. Our agency has not been reaccreditated, yet. Adoptions are still continuing with our agency...just on a very slow and cautious speed. It does make us nervous, frustrated, scared, and on. We just have to keep our fingers crossed that all will happen when it is supposed to, and let the rest just be. Not an easy task to do when we've already been going through all this for so long. Oh, how I wish things could be so different.

We're staying busy, though. Never a dull moment with the Gray Team! Wonderful friends have taken time to take me to register at Babies R Us ( really hard to do when we're not sure of the weight or gender...whew!!...but so much fun no matter). I even had an afternoon with a good friend who helped make Mr. Froggy II come to life. For those of you who don't know... a little background. As you read in Charles' blog, we're going with a froggy theme for the nursery. I've had a a great love for "Froggies" forever (not the real ones, of course). When I was about two years old, my Mom and I made what would become my Mr. Froggy. Inseparable would be a good word to describe us. Life was not right without my Mr. Froggy. Well...this continued into my adulthood. Don't laugh.. I know I"m not the only one! When Charles and I returned to our house after our honeymoon..my Mr. Froggy had disappeared. I'd already spent a whole week away from him, and now this! My mom, who had stayed at the house to critter sit, had taken him and used him a cushion for one of our new bed pillows. She left a note saying that now that I had found my Prince Charming, there was no need for the frog man! It's not been easy, I must confess. Once we decided to go with the frogs for the nursery, Charles was on ebay looking at some things. He called me into the room and said, "Isn't this the same pattern used for your Mr. Froggy?" What???It couldn't be! He had found the exact replica of my most cherished possession. "Order it!!!!!", I screamed!! Tears started running down my face remembering being a child, and knowing that our child will have a chance to make more memories with their Mr. Froggy. In Nov., I sat down with my friend and we made Mr. Froggy II come true. He's waiting for our child, too. I placed mine and jr's frogs next to each other in the crib, and began praying that in another 34 years, Mr. Froggy II will look as loved and beautiful as mine is today. Thank you to my friend who helped me with this special act of love.

The Latest

It's Friday night, and I am finally able to sit down for a moment. Charles has gone to help out with a function at church, so it's just me and the critters about to curl up and call it a day. I called our case manager with our adoption agency this week, and was able to get a bit of an update. It wasn't the uplifting conversation I hoped for, but she is so wonderful about being open and supportive. Sometimes things "are what they are", and there's no way around it. This is very true with the adoption process. Basically, we've logged in about 5 months of waiting. There are still accreditation issues the Russian government is sorting through, and until then things are moving very slow. The ages of the children are also creeping up a bit. Our fingers are crossed that our baby is under one and half...it saddens me to know we would of missed even that much of our child's life, I couldn't bare if they were any older for that fact. There's no way to tell a time frame as to when we may receive our referral, so we've even stopped guesstimating things could be in motion by"late spring", and have resigned ourselves to keeping time lines out of discussions. It was about this time last year that we made this leap of faith, and began getting information about international adoption. A year has passed, and we're facing another holiday season without our child. I've always been a big believer that the holidays are for children. Their laughter. The anticipation. The excitement. When experienced through their eyes, it brings about the most amazing purpose to the holidays. Charles and I turn to each other to prepare for another time that can become so empty. We are each other's rock. We continue to hold onto the faith we have in God's timing, and trust that all will be as it should. Our miracle, our blessing, our angel, will be with us when it is meant to be. I don't dare rush God's timing with something so perfect.