Weekend in St. Louis

      Just spent the weekend in St. Louis.  Had a nice couple of nights with the wife,  good food, and some quality time with family we see very rarely.    However great all that was, it was not what the weekend was about.  We traveled to St. Louis to get our first taste of what it will be like to host a little girl from the Ukraine.   The purpose of the trip was to learn what is acceptable and unacceptable while hosting our little girl.   Personally, I felt pretty comfortable with what was and was not allowed, but was more interested in hearing the testimony of the people that have done this in the past.  Jenelle and Paula gave great descriptions of their experience with the program. Paula was so smitten with her host child she is in the process of adoption.  Jenelle gave such a heart felt testimony I was even holding back tears myself seeing her so emotionally invested in these kids.  It was nice to see such a young person invest so much of herself into something else other than herself.   I would like to thank them both for investing their time to help the families that are new to this.
    I will not speak for Liz, but this weekend has made things exponentially more real for me. I have been unusually positive for me about this whole process, but the drive home has me really searching for answers I am not sure I can get until Masha arrives.  I have no doubts or second thoughts what we are doing is the right thing.  This process just feels like driving down a mountain road in the middle of the night with no head lights for me.  At this point I am going to have let some one greater take the wheel and help me get to where I should be.

Christopher