One more thing on the to do list

Alice has been sleeping in bed with us since we got her out of the orphanage last week.  (Small side note...tomorrow we will have had Alice for a week!)  It's been working just fine.  We've all been sleeping ok.  I wake up a lot to check on her.  We have no other place for her to sleep since she's still so little and rolls around...a lot.  But, last night Erin had a "light bulb."  He took everything out of his suitcase and...

Yep, that's my baby sleeping in a suitcase!  We put down a fluffy blanket then one of our blankets.  She slept for a few hours then woke herself up with a dirty diaper.  After a change, bath (it was one of those dirty diapers), and a bottle, out she went.  She slept great and has been in a delightful mood all morning.  I slept great, too.  That was nice.

Alice's new hat

Today we have her medical exam.  Not sure what that means or what to expect really.  I may to an update to this post when we get back to the apartment.  *Update*We made it through medicals.  It seems that America and 3 other countries require a medical exam before giving out visas.  When our driver picked us up he had another family in the car.  A dad named David and his newly adopted daughter, Madeline.  This girl's smile could light up a city!  She's beautiful.  Click here to go to his blog.  Then we went to another apartment and picked up another dad with his newly adopted daughter, Olivia.  Click here to go to his blog.  Good thing we didn't car seats.  Because in this Land Rover were 3 parents and 3 girls in the back seat!  The medicals were simple.  She gave Alice a quick and general exam and then told us to wait 20  minutes.  Then 20 minutes later she came out and told us to wait 20 minutes.  About an hour later we were done.  They work on a different time than we do.  We came back to the apartment and ate lunch.  Miss Alice took a nap in her fancy new bed.  One more thing checked off the list.  One more to go.  Tomorrow we go to the embassy for her visa...then we're outta here!

Almost able to sit up

Running the hurdles

Yesterday was my daughter, Charlotte's 9th birthday.  We were able to talk with the kids via a web chat.  It did my mama heart good to see their faces and hear their voices.  We were able to sing happy birthday to  Charlotte.   Our family gave her a sweet little birthday party.  I'm so thankful they are there to stand in for us.  Charlotte is such a neat kid.  She's a deep thinker and a little mama.  I know she's going to be such a great helper with Alice.  When she turned 7, she told me she thought she was old enough to start changing diapers.  I agreed.  Now, at 9, I wonder what else she can do?  Run errands for me?  Read to Henry and Alice while I do phonics with Thomas, give Alice one of her bottles, change diapers, and cuddle with me.  Rest up, Charlotte, mama's got a long list of to-do's for ya.

I miss the children so much it's difficult to talk about without getting teary.  I keep going over and over in my head what we have left to do hoping that will make the time go faster.  I don't think it is.  I know that the time will soon arrive that we're all together.  

What a sweet day that will be!