Tyumen !

We are officially registered! Our Region is Tyumen.
Here are some fun and interesting Tyumen facts:

~~Tyumen is the oldest city in Siberia
~~80% of Russia’s oil comes from Tyumen
~~Tyumen is known as “The Energy Center of Russia”
~~TSOGU – Tyumen State Oil and Gas University is one of only 4 Petroleum Universities in Russia
~~Miss Russia 2007, Ksenia Sukhinova, hails from Tyumen
~~It’s a 2 ½ hour flight from Moscow

and the MOST unbelievable fact is that Tyumen is Houston’s sister city - It must be fate!
http://www.sistercitiesofhouston.org/cities/tyumen/tyumen_ed.htm

We were told that there are 2 other families registered in Tyumen right now - one waiting for a girl and one waiting for a boy - none other than us waiting for 2 children.

So I'm very encouraged, especially now that almost all of my blogger friends have gotten referrals (hang in there Joy, you and I are not far behind!).

Saturday

I totally forgot to blog about Saturday morning!

So, I’m sleeping soundly on Saturday morning around 8 o’clock and I start hearing a lot of racket down stairs. Jim comes up into the bedroom and says in a very stern, deep, serious voice, “I need you to get up NOW”. I’m like, geez, ok – but I knew something was up because he never talks like that.
I follow him downstairs into the kitchen where it’s a total wreck. There are million things out on the counter, a ladder and a step stool in the middle of the kitchen, flashlights out, and the cabinets above the stove are open.
He tells me to see if I can figure out what’s making this noise – We both think it’s a bird but it could be a bat or a rat… He opens the silver tubing that goes to the vent hood and I see some claws come out. Yep, it’s definitely a bird... or a rat or a bat. I don’t want any of the three in my house. I run upstairs and get a net. Steffi senses something is wrong and starts to wimper and gets in our way. Jim puts the net next to the vent tubing and we see that it’s a bird. Whew. Well the bird gets away and zoomss throughout the house with three maniacal dogs terrorizing it – upstairs, downstairs and upstairs again whilst we’re screaming NO NO NO!! The petrified bird finally flies to the window on the landing and gets behind the blinds. Jim opens the window slowly and I push the screen out setting the panic-stricken sparrow free. I know that’s one happy bird to get out of our wild house! What an intense morning.

Fun Weekend

Jim, Fritz, Mia and me walked in the Houston Humane Society Dog Walk this weekend and it was so fun to see all of the cute doggies out there and for such a great cause.
Here are some pics from our fun Sunday.

It was a beautiful day, 73 degrees - yay Spring is here! Of course the dogs only made it about 1/4 of a mile (AND they were carried!). The park adventure was enough for them.

We can't wait to get our kiddos involved in things like this and teach them about responsible pet ownership.

Friday night, we went to watch the Rockets win their 21st game in a row with our friends Maggie and Bob!! Goooooo Rockets- that was a BLAST!

On the adoption front, peek over to Rachel and Troy's site and give 'em a cyber hug, they just met the new little man in their lives! Congratulations guys!

Susan and Randy could use a prayer or two - they're having some document issues and they really want to bring their little boy home soon. Coby and Brandy just met the new little guy in their lives too - Congrats to you too.

I hope the bug catches on and we travel soon too. We're soooo ready!

Check this out!

These are 7 HUGE bins of gently-used clothes donated to us by my wonderful friend Teri that her son has outgrown. It’s amazing – our kids will be set for a long time! She also has given us a Graco Duo double stroller and a light-weight stroller, a high-chair and a car seat as well. TERI, YOU ARE AN AWESOME FRIEND! Seriously, she is such a generous, kind-hearted and REAL person I know and love.
She just brought her 3rd baby home from the hospital and little Morgan is GORGEOUS!
She was born 3 weeks early and had to stay in the NICU for 2 weeks – she was having a little trouble with her lungs but the Doc says everything is fine now. Thank God she's ok.


In adoption news: Nothing to say. We're waiting patiently as always, using up our time by reorganizing the house so the kids will have some room to sleep and play. Our bedroom is now our bedroom, our office and our bird's room. Thank goodness it's big!

We're Now in Russian!

Our dossier has finally been translated. Whew! 2 1/2 months to translate... why? Who knows? I didn't ask, I'm just glad that it's finally done.
Now we wait. Huh you say? wait... again?? Yes. Our coordinator says the average wait time to meet two children under four is approximately 3-5 months after translation. BUT, it could be sooner or later than that! Once again, the roller coaster is creeping up that taaaaaaaallllllll mountain of a hill waiting to get to the top...click click click...waiting to reach the top... waiting, waiting.

Not there yet.

It's ok, summer time in this part of the country is absolutely lovely. It will be nice to take a trip somewhere cool! (see how optimistic I can be!).

Happy Valentine's Day

I received a very nice gift from hubby of my beloved Chanel Coco Mademoiselle perfume - YUMMY! Thank you sweetie!!

In adoption news:

Happy Mardi Gras!

Today really makes me miss my home town - Mardi Gras is like one huge block party and you will always run into someone you know. It's so much fun!

I rode in a parade when I was about 12 and totally loved it. Here's a pic of Argus:

Doesn't this look like fun??

In other non-adoption related news: I finally finished my toy box crates.

They came out pretty cute I think.