Babysitters worked out! Thank you so much Kimberly, Emily and Gina for your generosity!!! 

Now we are madly trying to get packed and get all the loose ends finished up before we leave.  I am so scared, excited, nervous, thrilled, anxious, and elated!  I keep randomly crying.  Some tears of joy that I am going to get to see our adorable girls, some tears over having to leave them.  Some tears over leaving my other 8 children behind for a week and even more over having to leave them for 2 weeks the next trip.  I do not leave my children well.  In fact, the last time Kevin and I both left the kids for more then one night was 4 years ago to bring home Tate.

I just keep telling myself over and over again, IT WILL BE WORTH IT.  This will be just a short moment in time and it is worth the eternity we will be a family.

We have used our entire luggage allowance to bring big bins of donations for the orphanages.  Kevin and I are just packing carry-on bags for ourselves and so far, things are fitting really well.  I guess we have become good at this.  Next trip will be harder since we will be bringing more donations, gifts and all the stuff to bring the girls around the world.

I think I am nesting big time because suddenly my house looks like a disaster.  EVERYTHING needs to be cleaned.  It is also looking far too small for 12 humans, 1 dog, and 1 cat.  I am getting the moving itch and it scaring my hubby to death ;).  He keeps saying, "Stop looking at the MLS's!  We are going to Russia in a week!"  Poor thing ;).  Not that we have the money for a down payment or closing costs right now, but still sooooooooooo fun to look!  There is a 9 bedroom home in the country on 3 acres that calls to me in my dreams.  :)

Kevin is applying for a promotion that would be WONDERFUL for our family. He would also be perfect for the job (in my humble opinion).  We are praying that the Lord's will is done and whatever is best for our family will come to pass.  Although I must admit that I am biased towards the pay increase ;). 

We have less then a week before our LOOOOOOOONG flight and two meetings that will change our lives forever.  This now seems real.  Before it kind of felt like something we just talked about, not really real.  Now, it is real.  Wow!  Wow.

Our travel dates got moved to a week later :(.  Now I have to figure out who will babysit my kiddos since our babysitter is not available :(.  Welcome to the unpredictability of international adoption!!

We have a new toy at our house!  Look at what my sister-in-law handed down to us.  AWESOME!  I can't wait to see our three littles in our new runabout stroller.  Walks around the neighborhood here we come!  This thing drives like a dream.  Thank you Mindy!

We got our referrals!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We are going to be traveling in 10 days!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have sooooooooooo much to get done!!  I am so excited!! 

I cannot wait to love on our girls!  I am already dreading leaving them though.  I have never had to leave my kiddos behind in the orphanage.  Please pray for me and them that we will have the strength to endure the separation.  Their country requires 2-3 trips, we are hoping for 2!

We are not traveling in May as planned.  So sad!  The official who needs to send us our referral and travel dates is taking a month vacation.  :(

I got confirmation yesterday that we did get sumitted on the 25th!  Another step forward!

I have been feeling God A LOT in my life lately.  I have been feeling Him help me out on lots of little things that just make my day run better. Little coincidences that make all the difference in the world in my crazy hectic life.  I see Him smoothing out the path in front of me so I can accomplish all the million things I need to get done as a mom of many.  I have been hitting green lights when late, discovering huge clearances when I go to the store to buy needed things, remembering little things that I need to do when I am out that saves me trips, and a hundred other small graces.  When people ask how I can handle 8 kids or how I am going to be able to do 2 more, the answer is it is truly through God's help.  I am honestly as busy with 8 as I was with 2.  The difference is that I recieve a lot more help from the Lord now because He knows that I need it!

If the Lord calls you to do something, He does not abandon you when you say yes.  He is there every step of the way.  He helps by making us better, stronger, and more capable or by smoothing out the path in front of us.  He makes the impossible, possible.