FedEx, Blurb, Celebrating and Menu's

Just a quick update before I eat dinner, run a few errands and finally collapse later tonight.

We received a FedEx package today from our agency to hand deliver to the Moscow office on Monday. I’m not sure if the 2 envelopes inside are dossiers, court documents or something else but if they’re yours, they made it to our house safely! Back in January, Beth & Nick stuffed our dossier into their carry-on and we were so grateful. Especially after the DHL snafu with Susan & Randy’s dossier a few weeks earlier. I’m glad we’ve been given the opportunity to help our fellow CSS families by delivering whatever is in the envelopes!

Speaking of Susan & Randy, they are going through yet another very difficult time with paperwork, bureaucratic red tape, and total nonsense in general. They really, really need prayers and support, and I ask each person reading this to lift them and their son Artem (who NEEDS to come home) up in prayer over the coming days.

For my fellow adoptive families who want to create a special photo album of their trips to Russia (or the country their child is in), check out Blurb. A co-worker recently used Blurb to create an album of their ski trip and I just have to say it is beautiful!! It seems like if you have a lot of photos and want to share hard copies with a lot of people, Blurb may be more economical than having your photos printed at a camera place (and definitely cheaper than printing yourself). This is a great way to share your journey/memories with friends, family members and of course, your child as he/she grows up! We will be creating albums for our family members.

Also for my fellow adoptive families, check out Celebrating Adoption if you haven't already. This is a national group of photographers who donate their time to helping adoptive families celebrate their adoption through portraits. You’ll have to check the photographers in your area (there’s a list on the site) but my understanding is that many waive their sitting fee (or whatever it’s called) and give discounts on the pictures you select. The photographers in my area are all very impressive and we will definitely be making an appointment with one of them once Baby C is home.

I actually picked up our translated Who Loves Baby photo albums and thank you cards yesterday. "L" surprised me by also translating a typical Russian menu for me, with food items written in Russian on the left and English on the right. I LOVE this! If anyone would like a copy please email me or leave a comment & I'll forward it to you. I think this is going to be great to have if we happen to find ourselves at a restaurant that doesn't have English menus.

That’s it for now. There’s lots more to share and post but I’ll have to do that later.