Nine Months Home!

Today the ticker hit the nine-month mark. It's hard to believe we've been home for that long. What a great nine months it has been! Slav & Sergei are doing remarkable well. We couldn't be more pleased with them. The Lord has been truly good to us all!

It's been a great week. Clarion's parents spent a few days with us and we had lots of time to visit and spend time together. We had a family afternoon at Incredible Pizza on Monday. The boys were excited to hang out with Grandma & Grandpa and several of their cousins. It was a day for pizza, games and good times.

We'll keep the post short today. Enjoy the pics! The Lord's blessings to you all.

Love,

Joel, Clarion, Slav & Sergei

Our Friend, Irina

What a great surprise! Last week we read on the Clute's blog that Irina, the adoption coordinator for CHI in Vladivostok, was in the US for some business and vacation. We had hoped that we could have an opportunity to see her while she was here, and we were pleased to have that opportunity come along yesterday. We got together with Irina and a couple of her friends at the Pitman's house. It was so wonderful to visit with this dear lady who does so much to bring families together. We will always be grateful to her and Lana for all that they did for our family in Vladivostok. We were so happy for her to see how well our children and the Pitman children are doing. These children are so remarkable in how they adapt and grow with language and attachment in such a short amount of time. It's fun to see Irina's reaction to those changes as well. We were disappointed that Lana couldn't be with her on this trip, but we hope to see her again someday when we take the boys back to Russia to see where they came from. Enjoy the rest of your trip, Irina, and thank you for bringing our family together!

Love,

Joel, Clarion, Slav & Sergei