friends, packing, sweet deals, and a sweet hubby

Last Saturday Christine and Craig--friends from Berne--came up for supper and contra dancing...except, Rob and I were SO tired after cleaning the basement all day, we didn't feel like dancing! (stick-in-the-muds!) C & C happily complied and instead we played Ticket to Ride and watched the Waltons. It was a GREAT evening! They stayed overnight and in the mornin we had the BEST blueberry butter braid I've ever had. (It should have been wonderful; I paid $12 for it as a school fundraiser!)

Cute. Craig and Christine just got married last summer and seem to be doing really well. Craig tried to master our little wooden toy that I brought back from Bolivia back in '94. (This has always been a fun conversation starter, and I'm glad I found it in my stuff recently!) He didn't do too badly. :-)

 

On Friday dear Kim and Amanda came over to help me pack! They divvied out vitamins, tea bags, cotton balls, cheerios and all kinds of other stuff into zip loc bags. They also put all the DVDs we've collected from friends into sleeves for the trip. (So far I think we've collected about 35 movies to take a long and watch! This will especially help me get through the lonely five weeks after Rob leaves.) 

It was a hoot and I really appreciated their help! 

Friday night I headed down to Fort Wayne to meet Rhonda and some friends (we had a totally fun supper at Flat Top Grill; hopefully she sends me some photos so I can post them.) On the way had a great conversation with another adoptive mom; she adopted from Ust about six years ago, and it was great to hear her story. Having contact with so many other adoptive families here lately has been a real blessing --they've shared so many helpful tips--I just feel like it's a total answer to prayer to be connected with them! 

I'm also anxious to meet the family of four that will be going to Ust to adopt at the same time as us. They will be getting three siblings - wow, so neat!  

We also made the decision on Friday to postpone travel one week as there was really no way our visas were going to come through by Friday due to all the weather delays D.C. has experienced. Initially it was a little disappointing, but on the other hand, it's much less stressful. We're tentatively planning on leaving Friday the 26th...we'll probably book the tickets on Monday or Tuesday. We just hope THIS will allow enough time for the visas to be processed! We're actually still waiting for our official Confirmation number from the Kaz gov't--should come on Monday. 

Tomorrow night our church is holding a shower for us--I'm so excited! The help with gifts and baby things will be nice, but what I'm really excited about is just the chance to tell our friends and church family more about the trip, the process, some of the things we're expecting...we are SO BLESSED to have one of the best church families in the WORLD! Since we don't have any of our own family near us, their support really means the world to us.

On Thursday Rob and I stood dumbly in Target, trying to pick a carseat and other things. We're such greenhorns! but it was fun. Favorite thing registered for: definitely the jogging stroller with the pivot wheel in the front--SO COOL! I can't wait to go walking with my little guy!

Last night we went out for Valentine's day with Charles and Tracy to the Taj restaurant in Mish. Absolutely the BEST Indian meal I've ever had--oh my word. We so enjoyed hanging out with them; I guess our tradition of Sunday night movies is about over since we're about to have a toddler. We just love them, we'll have to find other ways to spend time together; i'll definitely miss sunday night movie night! 

On Saturday we did a little shopping with Rhonda and got a nice warm coat for Rob and a whole bunch of great little clearance outfits for SO cheap--ooh soooo cute! I also picked up a cute little snow bunting at Once Upon a Child for half-price; hard to know what to get b/c we don't really know how cold it will be in K-stan in April when I take him out of the baby home, but...it's been in the -30s this week, so, we want to be prepared! ;-p (it's all a big guessing game. but at least it's a fun one.)

  

  

and last not least...Valentines Day with my Sweetie. Flowers from Rob, and Debrands Chocolate from me. (I think I got the better end of the deal since, of course, Rob shared his delectable chocolate with me, his delectable sweetie.) ;-p 

it's been a wonderful weekend. think we'll bunk down for the rest of the evening with a foreign flick and maybe some olympics. i say figure-skating is OBVIOUSLY everyone's fave. rob disagrees.(whatever!!)  what do you think?? ;-)