Happy Birthday, Alina!

Today is Alina's first birthday, and we are more than 5000 miles away from her. To say the least, it is not a really fun day for us because we wish that we could be with her. We had a wonderful visit last week with her, spending about 6 hours over two different days getting to know her. Since we knew we wouldn't be with her today, we sang happy birthday to her during a quiet moment with just the three of us last week.

It's amazing to think how our lives have already changed for the better, and that we now have someone else that we put ahead of ourselves. Last night we watched the clips of video we took of her, and just marveled at how amazing she is. It's hard to believe that we have connected so deeply with her so quickly. While we came home after just a week, a piece of our heart stayed in Alatyr with our little baby girl. We are simply wrecked and will not feel complete again until we get to see that beautiful face in person again.

We are keeping ourselves busy with the paperwork we need to complete in order to get the court date set in Russia. We want to get it done as soon as possible so that our second visit comes sooner rather than later. At the end of that visit, assuming all goes as planned, then we will be able to bring her home. We also have LOTS of stuff to get in order, like her room, etc., so that will hopefully help to pass the long wait until we see her. Please keep her in your thoughts and prayers, as we know that God is watching out for her while we cannot.