Learning Ukrainian Words

Amanda and I completed a quick trip to Destin for a coaching/relaxation clinic. The coaches were learning more about football and the girls were getting pampered at the spa. There is something wrong with that picture! We really enjoyed the last get-away before we leave for our second favorite country, Ukraine. I am getting very excited about the journey and the possibilities. One of the fun parts of our trip was the travel down to Destin. We stopped at Steak and Shake for our usual half chocolate, half vanilla extra large milk shake. (I wonder if there are Steak and Shake's in Ukraine?)
While traveling, we put in a CD to learn Ukrainian words and phrases. Since I am a very patient person, I really enjoyed this learning process. It appealed to Amanda's teaching and learning nature. My point was that if she knew the words and we were going to be there together....... you get it. Destin is over three hours away. I learn a few words and then I drift. Amanda learns volume one of our collection. She then attempts to quiz me on the words that we have been listening to for the last 10 million miles. I learned that Tato is father and Toilete is toilet. I figured that would be a couple of great words for me to know. The rest of my answers consisted of Si... my entire Spanish language database. Truly, it was pretty cool to learn a few words.
One of my coaches could not come on the trip. John and Maryann had a new beautiful baby to care for. Ayden Alexander is quite a blessing and fun to hold. We now have many children in our coaching family. "Coachey Coach" has many friends. I know my friends realize how lucky they are to have wonderful young children.
We now have 10 days left before we leave. I can feel my anticipation rising with every day. My players have been working very hard and I am proud of them. I will miss my guys. We are busy with our jobs trying to hand off some responsibilities. Thank God that Amanda and I have great people to work with. Please keep Bro. Ron in your prayers. He is our Pastor and we love him. God is good! Until...............

Just A Little Bit Longer

We have just about gotten everything packed. We have one more weekend and that is when we will finish everything up and pack our clothes. After today, we have 12 DAYS until we fly to Ukraine! We have been so focused on when we are leaving that we forget that in approximately 18 days, we could be meeting our children. That is a pretty overwhelming thought!

I change emotions from one second to the next. One minute, I am excited and can't wait to leave. The next minute, I begin to freak out and think of all the things that I still need to get done. I guess you can equate it to getting married. You are so busy planning the wedding that you forget to realize that at the end of the day, good or bad, you will be married to the person you love. Regardless of what I do or do not get done over the course of the next 12 days, we will be leaving to meet our children. That is the important thing. Everything else will be fine. (If I sounds like I am trying to convince myself, I am!)

We are trying to enjoy our last few weekends at home. We had Mexican food today for the last in probably two months. We are counting on this trip being the best diet we have ever been on. We are going to come back from Ukraine skinny and happy!!

We will keep you posted as time gets a little closer. . . 12 days and counting!

What A Great Surprise!!

The wonderful SP faculty gave Jerry and I a surprise shower this morning. It is one of the few times in my life that I ever been truly surprised! I am very blessed to work with such a wonderful group of people. You will never know how much I admire you and appreciate everything you have done to support us as we travel down this crazy road.

We are surprisingly calm, and it seems as if there is a peace around us right now. We are certainly aware that they chaos is there, but we are just not really bothered by it. It has to be God protecting us from all of the chaos, or we are just really used to it!

Thank you again to all of the family at SP for supporting us! We love you very much!

Amanda

The Countdown Continues

We are now down to 25 days! All of my girlfriends came to town this weekend and we had such a wonderful time. It was funny to hear how our lives have changed over the past 12 years. We get together twice a year and it is funny to hear all of the updates on everyone's lives. Most of them have children and some of them are still loving the single life. Alecia and Hillary-We missed you!They came to Birmingham this time because Jerry and I are getting ready to leave. They are very precious to me and I am appreciate them leaving their families to come share this time with me. I wish everyone could have a group of friends like them. The older I get, the more I realize how rare our friendship is. "My life would be the poorer without them." I am very blessed.

Jerry and I had our last meeting this weekend and got to meet one of the men that will be helping us while in Ukraine. There was a sense of finalization after that meeting. We have just a few things left to get done. Please continue to pray for our referral on March 11th. It is really here!! 25 days and counting. . .

Amanda

So many things to do . . .

So- We are finally thinking abouit packing. Right now, that is a very overwhelming thought. Jerry and I went to Wal-Mart yesterday to buy everything we will need for two months. We pretty much got everything done in one trip. We only have a few straggling items left! We had to think about everything from washing our clothes in the sink, to possible medicines we may need, to what the children might possibly like for snack. (It is a little hard to decide when you don't know who your children are!)

We have a couple more weekends before thing start actually going into the bags. I think I will begin to feel like things are real at that point. Please start praying that we get the perfect referral on March 11th. That is the big day. We hope that the children are healthy and that we will all have an easy adjustment. We do know that it will work out as it should, but it never hurts to ask for a little help from the guy upstairs!!

Thank you to everyone who has offered to help us! We wished we knew more so that we could share this with everyone. I guess that day will come sooner than we think!


Amanda