Part of my heart is in Russia

My eyes have been opened to the reality of the world beyond my comfortable house and neighborhood. It is easy to forget about the least and the lost. But we are commanded to care for the orphans in the world. I have some very good friends who have helped me to learn this first hand and who are doing big things to make a difference in the lives of orphans. Not only have they adopted children, domestically and internationally, but they are doing things to care for orphans in other ways, too. You can see some of the things they are doing here.




Long story short, I fell in love with this little girl. I wanted to bring her home. But without going into all the personal details, it is not something that I can do. I want nothing more than to find a forever family for her. Does this sweet little face grab your heart like it does mine?

Her name is Olga. She turned 2 in August. She lives in Russia. If anyone is interested in more information on this precious child, contact me.

Baby Milestone!

My sweet baby rolled over :) I missed it, of course, that is par for the course with rolling over. I heard her 'talking' like she so happily does in the morning. (I love that this child has rarely ever woken me up with a cry...just grunting when she was so new and now with a sweet soliloquy) I went in to get her, expecting to see her smiling face looking up at me. Instead, I was greeted by the back of her head. I'm not sure if she did it this morning or sometime in the night. She was not unhappy or frustrated - she was her usually talkative and smiley self. I did since a hint of pride in her smile, though....I think! Time to put a new sticker on her calendar!

I'm still here!

So I know it has been a while since I've posted. 9 days after my last post, our sweet little baby girl was born! MollieAnn Leslie Hudson was born on February 26th, weighing in at 7 pounds even. She is now 5 weeks old and weighs about 8.5 pounds. Most of us think she looks most like Jonah. I can only hope she has his disposition, too! He is so sweet and easy going and that is what I think all 4th children should be like! Needless to say, we've been busy getting used to being a family of 6. We've been blessed by family and friends helping out with meals which has made the transition easier!



More to come....whenever I have time! Now it is time for me to try to get some much needed sleep.

Happy 5th Birthday, Jonah!!!

Jonah - you brighten our days and we love you! We are blessed to be your parents and look forward to years more of your smiles.

Quick Update

We don't have a lot going on. Of course I've taken some photos, but all the little drives on my computer where my camera card can fit and the usb connection - have all died. I do not know what happened, but I haven't gotten my technical guy to fix it yet, so I cannot upload any new photos. Bummer. I thought I'd give a quick update on things around here. Joe went to Belgium for a week for work. He was really sick the entire time he was there, so he was miserable and really glad to get back home. He was better in time for Christmas. Christmas was busy with all our family gatherings and the usual Christmas parties and church services. The kids really enjoyed it and it was fun watching them. New Years was fairly uneventful. Tyler had his first sleepover that night and they stayed up until midnight. Glad it was at the other kid's house since I went to bed around 10pm! It was nice to have a break from our routine and not have to get up early for school, but it is also nice getting back into that routine. Now that we have entered 2010, our thoughts have turned to the upcoming arrival of our baby! I had a Dr's appointment today. They are starting to keep a close eye on me since I am 33 weeks and Berkeley came at 35 weeks. The Dr. said to me today that the baby is really low....much lower than they would expect for 33 weeks, but I haven't progressed to the point that she thinks I'll deliver before 35 weeks. I stopped her right there and asked if she thought I'd make it much past the 35 week mark and she wouldn't commit! YIKES! I am hoping to make it to at least 37 weeks - that would be ideal! For now, that is about all going on. We will of course alert everyone of any exciting news via email, Facebook and our blog! Hope everyone is doing great <3