So I've had my new toy for a week now and I'm really enjoying it. It has been so much easier to browse the blogs and boards. Now I just have to find that balance between surfing and stitching everyone talks about and I'll be all set:) I have gotten a little stitching done in between chasing Josh and surfing the net...




I know, it still doesn't look like much but I can kind of see the leaf emerging especially since I've not stitched all the confetti in the leaf's outline yet. And again, not the best picture since it's from the digital camera but it's soooo much easier and faster to pop the SD card into the laptop and upload than it is to start the dinosaur desktop, wait for it to load windows and finish all the other assorted tasks it insists on performing at start up, scan, then wait for it to upload. I'm hoping to get some more time in when Josh takes his nap today. We'll see.

We've been thinking about Russia a lot lately. We were there this time last year, getting ready for the court session that would make Josh ours. If I have the timeline right, I think this was the day we landed in his region after a detour to another airport because of heavy fog. I don't think I've ever felt as tired and full of energy at the same time as I did the day we finally arrived back in his birth city to begin the process of bringing him home. I'm sure we were running on pure adrenaline fumes by the time we finally got to the hotel and were able to sleep. We've been working on a photo album of our trip pictures to begin showing Josh and telling him the story of how he came to be ours especially since we're very seriously considering starting the adoption process again at the end of the summer. He's seen some of the pictures on our camera and some loose ones we have lying around but not the whole book so it'll be fun to look at. I look back at our pictures and think very fondly of our time in Russia even though it was stressful and didn't always go as planned at times. I really can't wait to get back there. It was a different culture and lifestyle but we lived there nearly a month and it will always be a part of us now.

For now, off to enjoy a stormy day at home and hopefully get some stitching done this afternoon.