Joel's blog

Joel has a tumblr blog that I thought I'd share with you: http://strangedetergent.tumblr.com/

Saying goodbye

What a bittersweet week this has been!  Joel dropped the boys and me off at the Jacksonville airport early Monday morning and I think the goodbye was harder for him than the boys.  He had to go home to an empty house and they had California with a fun-packed itinerary to look forward to.  But we would rather us be the sad ones!

Joel and the boys' goodbye

Monday when we arrived to Los Angeles, my dad aka "Pop" picked us up. We pigged out at an oriental buffet for lunch, then enjoyed some California sunshine, cool breezes, and the Pacific Ocean.  Oh, how I miss the Pacific!  Later on we met up with the Franciscos and their 4 kids (hi Emma and Ethan if you're reading this!) - remember Andrew is our inspiration for adopting Darya!

The boys and Grandpa Chucky (Marianne's dad)

Then on Tuesday we went to Disneyland! We got the hook-up from a high school friend who works there as we all got in for free (can't beat that!).  It was a wonderful day as we also met up with other friends there....my step sister Michelle and her son Willan and Missy (a friend since junior high!) and her adorable cupcake Lily.  Let's just say we had an awesome time!!  We also got to see two out of three of my brothers this trip!

The Ficks, the Franciscos, and my nephew Joey on the far right at Disneyland

Me and my princes in front of the castle

Wednesday was the heart-breaker day.  Joel's parents picked us up from Anaheim, took us to In-N-Out for lunch (cheeseburger animal style!), then the dreaded drop-off.  Saying goodbye was so hard. The boys cried a bit, but I think they were just so excited to be going with Grandpa and Grandma (Sam couldn't stop thinking about the Angel's baseball game that they're going to!).  I was better after a while. But I know this is for a season and we will all be okay!  We Skyped with the boys last night to test it out and I think it will help a lot!

Lunch with grandpa and grandma

Saying goodbye!

Well, lots to do today. Gotta finish packing and cleaning! Tomorrow we are Eastern Europe bound!!  To Darya or bust!

And the winner of the portrait fundraiser is.....

Lisa and Peter Cho!!!   Thank you so much to everyone who contributed to our fundraiser!  We raised above and beyond our goal and are so humbled and grateful for everyone's generosity. We are so blessed to have so many wonderful people in our lives and more than just the financial support, we are so thankful for all of you who support us with your love, kind words, and prayers.  Darya is one very special little girl!

We leave in two days!  I have officially decided to keep my blog public, so feel free to follow along our journey as it's about to get more exciting! :-)

Headed out west

Tomorrow morning the boys and I are leaving.  Such a bittersweet time!  They are going to have so much fun...Disneyland, camping, Angels baseball game, swimming at Grandpa and Grandma's house....and we are going to finally see Darya!!   Please pray for me as I say goodbye to my sidekicks on Wednesday!  Joel's last moments with them will be as he drops us off at the airport in the morning so he can use some prayer as well.

I probably won't post until later in the week right before we leave on Saturday.  It's so soon!!

Oh, and I'm thinking about not going private on here.  In all honesty, it will probably just take too much time to send invites to everyone and I'm just too lazy busy to do that. :-)  I'll just find out what specifics I should be careful about posting.

4 days and 7 days

I have 4 days left with my precious boys.  In 2 days we fly to California.  2 days after that I say goodbye to them for over a month.  I won't even see them for the whole month of September, missing Sam's 9th birthday.  *sigh* But that also means I'm so close to meeting our baby girl!  I couldn't hold it in any longer, but told them that we're going to Disneyland on Tuesday.  What a fun last "hoorah" with them :-)  Of course they are super excited!

In 7 days from today Joel and I will be in the air, bound for Eastern Europe.  My mind is racing a mile a minute with a million little things swirling around in it.  I know that all the details that I worry about are all known and cared for by God. There are no surprises to Him and I know He'll care for us all!

Tomorrow is my last Sunday with my church family for a while and I will greatly miss them.  It will be an oasis when I get home and can't wait to introduce Darya to her church family here (and other friends in the area)!  So many people already love and pray for her and I know can't wait to love on her and welcome her home.  I am so thankful for that!   Hopefully in a few months, we'll get to take her to California to meet our family and friends there who will do the same!

Oh, and another thing, I'm debating whether or not I should go private on this blog while I'm there. I think I'd be able to more freely share our experience there if I do.  I can invite 100 people, so I doubt I would exclude anyone who wants to follow along!  Any thoughts or opinions?

Mad Lib

Okay, I got some excellent and hilarious responses and it's hard to choose my favorite - you all had me rolling! :-)   So, there were 6 replies and I asked my 5 year old to "randomly" pick a number between 1 and 6.  He chose 6, so here are TUC's words plugged into the paragraph I wrote yesterday, (and of course you can plug in the words from the replies in the post below for some more laughs):

On August 4,2010 Joel and Marianne boarded on a camel's back headed to Kiev, Ukraine to finally meet their baby girl Darya.  It was such long journey and took 1 hour to get there!  When they finally got to her orphanage, they were graciously greeted by the head orphanage bouncer.  The moment finally came to meet Darya.  When the workers brought her in, she was absolutely foolish! She stole their hearts with her big gold eyes and bittersweet smile.  It was a twitterpated moment for all.