Good morning! Praise Lord, our visa's arrived yesterday, we packed last night and we are ready to go! Well, almost. Our flight leaves at 1pm from DFW to Chicago on American and then American from Chicago direct to Moscow. Honestly, we are looking forward to the flight. It will give Jason and I a chance to catch up and talk as well as catch some zzzzz's. (hopefully.)

I am overwhelmed this morning not with tasks or things to accomplish but with the feeling of support and joy. God has been so good to us and is so faithful! He has also provided a "host of angels" here on earth that have showed us such amazing love and support as well as showering us in prayer. We feel your support and love daily! Wednesday night my family and old time friends (including some new friends that feel like old friends)threw Lex a shower at my mother-in-laws house. It was such a sweet time! Thank you all for being so generous with your time and gifts!! It was amazing. Lex has some very cool outfits now. Dude will be stylin!! Actually, dude will probably be saying "where's my tights and sandals"? (I just had to throw that in there. Poor Lex.)

After my overwhelming night Wednesday night, seeing friends that drove an hour to show their support, I was so excited to start our travels to get our son! But God didn't stop there. At Thursday morning Girlfriends at Keystone Church I was once again blown away by Gods touch through human relationship. Susan Thomas is leading the time in Ephesians and before we dove into the word she had the whole room, probably 50 woman, stand up and pray over me and for our journey. SO COOL!! Thank you Keystone woman for loving me, supporting me and praying over me and my family. I can not say enough about Keystone and how much it has meant to Jason and me and how God has shown himself to be so real and evident there. If you don't have a church home I highly recommend it!

Friday I was reading a devotional that struck me as awe inspiring. It talked about Luke 1:18-25 when Zachariah saw a vision in the temple and was speechless. Literally he couldn't talk. I understand that alone on so many different levels. But what the author wrote was something worthy to share. He said "sometimes we tire of waiting for God to give us a vision for what we ought to be, do, or think. Receiving a vision is difficult because it takes time and energy to hammer out what needs to happen in us. (love that!) God chisels away our objections as He did Zachariah's. A vision comes by faith, a vision overcomes restrictions and a vision stretches us." Derl Keefer

All of what Derl writes so profoundly I have found to be true through our adoption experience. When you add the math it doesn't make sense. When you see the plan you think, "it could never work". It has been painful on many different levels but Gods joy has surpassed all our pain. I pray that I never "see" my life again. I understand we all need direction in our life but I pray that my plans and my ideas won't ever get so big that Gods vision for my life is not pursued. I have learned so much through so many of you the past couple of months and you have been an amazing example of pursuing Gods vision for your life and denying your own .

Right now I am having a vision of me running late to the plane if I don't stop so I better go... Love you all, and the next I write, I'll be in Russia!!

jonas brothers

today I went to see a jonas brother movie and it totally rocked. although me and my friends got in trouble by the manager because we were yelling the songs , screaming when ever they showed up on the screan , and we would dance to all the songs. So that probabely wasn't the best thing to do but we kept on doing it. My brother doesn't like the Jonas brothers but I think Lex totally will. Thats it. bye!!!

- gabi

Okay, I am new to blogging and am not sure how this all works but I do believe it will be a great tool for our journey we embark on in 5 days. WOW!!! I can not believe we leave on Saturday. I keep telling Jason, "wow!, You know this is the last time we will go to church with just our two kids... or you know this is our last Sunday meal as a family of 4 ".

Saturday will be here before we know it and I am trying to grasp every aspect of exactly what is going on right now. The kids are being fabulous and are even getting excited now that the time is near. We have a fabulous month ahead of us and ask for tons of prayer to keep our minds, hearts and spirits focused on God guiding us through our journey. (and not the small stuff we tend to sweat about)

We had our pastor and his family pray over us today and his father (who is also a pastor) reminded me that there are many people covering us in prayer during this journey. What a wonderful blessing!! God has been so good to us and I believe; and know from past experiences, that He will be faithful.

Tomorrow is a new and exciting day... I have been called back to recheck my mammogram :0 and Jason and I get chest x rays together in the afternoon. JOY! At least we will know we are completely healthy at the end of this adventure.

We love you all!
Jason and Stephenie