GREAT news

So two great things happened yesterday.

First, my nephew William "Liam" Samford deLaureal was born, weighing a whopping 6 pounds 12 ounces - Jeanne's biggest baby.  I don't think that the estimated due date was correct (they said that she was only 36 weeks).  He had to spend a little time in the NICU (aka "prison" as dad calls it) but will be graduating to the regular nursery in about an hour and all is well.

Second, we heard from Russia and we are about to get our referral!!!  I had to get some documents updated that had expired.  I sent them to my agency yesterday and our incredible friend, Terri, who is in charge of Russian adoptions is going to drive to Montgomery (about a 2.5 hour drive) tomorrow to get the documents apostilled sp she can get them to Russia faster and we can get our referral!  I still cannot believe that she is doing this for us.  Knowing that our baby has been selected and is just waiting is an amazing feeling.  And we have been told that our frist trip might be very quick - like leaving in the next week or two!!  So excited.  Please pray that all goes well and that there are not any more stumbling blocks.  I want to be jumping for joy (and I am, of course) but there is still that voice in the back of my mind telling myself to be cautious and not get my hopes up.  I have learned that getting your hopes up is one of the worst things you can do in this adoption process because it is so out of your control!!

Oh, and I also wanted to let everyone know that once we get our referral, I can't put any information about our child (including pictures) on the internet until the adoption is final.  I can show you in person until you are blue in the face, but putting anything on the internet is not allowed for the protection of the child.  I hate that for those of you who read this who are out of town but those are the rules!  Even though this blog is password protected, I am not going to do anything to jeopardize the adoption!!