Our final trip!

We are gearing up for our third and final trip to Russia.  It's been the adventure of a lifetime.   Although traveling to Russia three times in a matter of six weeks has been exhausting,  I know I will always look back with the fondest of memories.  Russia will forever hold a piece of my heart.


This song will always make me think back to Christmas last year.  Partially because it came on the radio when we were first thinking and praying about adoption.  Partially because I remember trying to choose the right moment to tell our parents that we were starting the adoption process.  It was Christmas Eve and we were at Adam's parents house.  We were going back and forth, trying to decide when we were going to tell them, how we were going to tell them, etc.  We were heading downstairs from tucking the boys into bed and this song came on the radio downstairs.  Adam and I took one look at each other and we knew.  It was the right time.  It was that late, quiet Christmas Eve when we told his parents, his brother, and our sister in-law.  They were overjoyed at the news... there were tears... his parents shared their story about how close they were to adopting a little girl... it was truly a memorable night.  Fast forward one year and we are bringing our little girl home.  We will open the door to the same house on the same night when we first told them our good news.   Never in my wildest imagination would I have thought that when we were sitting on their couch on Christmas Eve of last year... that we would be bringing our baby girl home the following Christmas Eve.  God's timing is amazing.


One more cool story.  Remember when Jacob told us that he had a dream he had a baby sister... before we even told him we were in the process of adopting?  Well, the other day we were eating dinner and he casually said, "Mommy, in my dream baby sister was wrapped up like a Christmas present."  I was thinking, well that makes sense because she is coming home on Christmas Eve.  So I asked him, "You just had that dream last night?"  He immediately shook his head no and said, "The first dream I had about baby sister.  The one God gave me.  She was wrapped up like a Christmas present."  I think my heart stopped.  Hold on.  So you had a dream that baby sister was wrapped up like a Christmas present before we even knew her name?  Before we ever saw her picture?  Before we even knew for sure we were going to adopt?  We didn't know, Jacob didn't know, but God did.  God knew before we signed the paperwork....  God knew the night we prayed for a little girl...  God knew before we gave birth to our first little boy... God knew on our wedding day when our pastor told us he thought we were going to do something amazing together... that we would be bringing home our baby girl on Christmas Eve.  Amazing.

We are leaving for Russia on Saturday and are pretty sure that Ella's "Gotcha Day" will be the same day as Jacob's birthday!  (It's also kind of fun that our Christmas paper chains have been a countdown to Ella's homecoming :)