Belated Happy Fourth and Here’s to Late (Very Late) Spring Cleaning!!

I am sorry I am so late saying Happy Fourth and I hope every one had a good time. As for us, I had told Troy I needed an activity where I could squeal and laugh and be silly so we went to the beach. Great idea!! Troy, my sister Cat, her hubby Joe and myself all took off for Virginia Beach for the day!! We had a blast. The water was so cold. Joe and I barreled in and Troy soon followed and then Joe had to get Cat and drag her in. Once we were in we stayed in for 2 and ½ hours because we knew once we got out we weren’t getting back in!! Enjoy the silly pictures at the bottom of the post!!

In other news, and more exciting news: Accreditations from Russia started coming in!! There were 8 agencies in the first batch (ours was not included). This is a great sign and we hope to hear that our agency is next!! It could be any day now!! We hope to see many more referrals and many long awaited court dates in the coming months.

Also, Congratulations to Melissa and Nathan who received their court date of July 20th in Vlad. They will soon be the proud parents of Little I.

And finally...I have to admit that after reading Becky and Keith’s blog and at her mention of cleaning out closets, I decided I hated our closet and made Troy help me take every piece of clothing, every pair of shoes, purses, etc. out of the closet. After scrutinizing every item before putting it back in to the closet we managed to set out a pile of clothes for a garage sale over 4 feet high AND I threw away three pairs of shoes. I was so brave. Then, last night I bought $45.00 worth of cleaning supplies and off we went. We scrubbed the bathroom, we vacuumed, we swept, mopped, you name it. Our house has never looked better, so when I was out of things to do...

We made a list!! A list of items to get done “Before We Go To Russia” and a list of things to do “In Between Trips To Russia”. I love lists. It gives me a goal. We used a huge piece of 12 x 12 scrapbooking paper and wrote each item in real big writing. (This way we can’t ignore it and we feel like we have accomplished more when we cross it off.) We even added things that we most likely can’t get done, but will motivate us anyhow.

They look something like this:

Note: Moved to sidebar to keep up with it. Bold items have not been done. Unbold or regular font items have been completed - Let's see how many items we add and how many we get done!


Cat and Joe ------------------------------- Troy and I


Cat and I --------------------------------Looking for a wave


Troy ------------------------------------- Wild Blue Yonder