Finally, some decisions!

We are thrilled to let you know WHO, exactly, we'll be bringing home at the end of the summer. Meet Elizabeth Katherine and Adelle Grace. They are unrelated...right now. Pretty soon they'll be sisters to each other and to big sister, Rina, who is absolutely beside herself with excitement. They will be coming home at the end of the summer sometime...we have no firm date as yet.

Elizabeth will have the distinction of being the only redhead on either side of the family. A whole new color palette to explore! She seemed very much the toddler, insisting on putting things in her mouth and refusing to give interesting items, such as sharp pens, up.

Adelle, at 9 months old, is smaller than our experience--Rina was 12 months old when she came home. But Scott was absolutely lost when that baby first looked him in the eyes, then fell asleep in his arms. It was a sucker punch, and he fell for it.

Many people have asked us where Kirov is, and where it is in relation to where Rina is from. Check out this map...Kirov is roughly in the center, Moscow is to the southwest, and Ekaterinburg, where Rina is from, is to the southeast.

Anastasia and Alexandra, the sisters we went over to see initially, have been removed from the orphanage, presumably by someone in their birth family. We do pray for their safekeeping and for great love to be lavished on them. We were convinced as we travelled to Kirov a couple of weeks ago that they would be joining our family by God's grace. We wrestled mightily while in Russia with the realization that maybe this was not to be. We have come to rest in the belief that God will bless our family, whatever it looks like. We thought initially it would include a girl from DRC; then, the sisters from Kirov. Now, we'll have Elizabeth and Adelle (nicknames to be supplied in the future) instead. It's a wild ride, and exciting!