You've Got A Friend

You've Got A Friend" by James Taylor

Press above link to hear the song...

Two peas in a pod...

A brother is a friend given by Nature. - Jean Baptiste Legouve

Sweet is the voice of a sister in the season of sorrow. - Benjamin Disraeli

I sought my soul, but my soul I could not see. I sought my God, but my God eluded me. I sought my brother and I found all three. - Unknown

Siblings are the people we practice on, the people who teach us about fairness and cooperation and kindness and caring, quite often the hard way. - Pamela Dugdale

"Brother and sister, together as friends, ready to face whatever life sends. Joy and laughter or tears and strife, holding hands tightly as we dance through life."

Brothers and sisters are as close as hands and feet.  ~Vietnamese Proverb

The highlight of my childhood was making my brother laugh so hard that food came out his nose.  ~Garrison Keillor

The thought of siblings weighs heavy on my heart these days for may reasons...

My munchkins, my brothers and the Mr's.

A friend shared with me these words in regard to her own children; 

your sister is the first friend you ever had.

I had never thought of it that way, but you know what? It is so true!

I adore watching these two play. I love listening to them giggle in the other room.

I am so thankful they have each other. Things may not always be perfect between them, but I pray they love each other enough to put themselves aside.  

My mother taught us this. I have two younger brothers. Being the oldest and only girl had its challenges.  Two brothers 18 months apart had their own. The one constant in all of this was my mother. She taught us what family is about. It isn't always easy, but we work through it where the love is deeper than it was before. The key word is WE.  We are a family. We are a team she would say. We worked through things as a family, as a team. I think it is this perspective that has carried us through some rough patches.  Because we worked through things as a team when we were younger, as adults, when we have issues with each other, we can handle them alone. And we know we have too, for the good of the team. And if we can't, we know our Mom will be there to help us work through it...and when I say help I mean make. So we fight, we argue, we kiss and make up!

My brothers are the world to me. I can't imagine them not in my life. I adore them! They may be men, but they will always be three to me.

I pray this for my children.

I pray I am the Mom who can teach this value to my children.

I pray this home is never divided.

Cat Spilled the Beans

The cat is out of the bag! We have kept our upcoming relocation under wraps for months. Surprisingly, I am very impressed with myself! It is quite difficult to keep something like THAT in your head and not rolling out the mouth. Truth be told, I did spill the beans to some. Hey! I can't help it if THAT flew out and bypassed the rolling...

We told the Munchkins Saturday night at dinner. The Mr. was the one to drop the bomb. It went exactly as I had predicted. Munchkin Two immediately says "yay! Do I get to take my toys? I will need a BIG (emphasis on BIG) box!" yes...I know...Munchkin One looked at me and his eyes welled up with tears. He said how much he liked it here, how he loves his school. Then he crumbled. The huge crocodile tears streamed down his face when he realized he was leaving his Oma and Papa. Oh his poor heart was broken! By this time his dinner was cold and did it really matter? I had him climb in my lap where I just held him as he cried. Once he calmed down, I spoke to him about his new school, the new friends he already has waiting and the biggie. I told him how I would love for him to go back to where he was born, where he is from and learn about it. I told him he has had a chance to live in America. Now we have a chance for him to live where he was born. I told him I want him to be proud of being from America and Russia. It is part of who you are! How many children who are adopted from other countries get to go back and live there? This would be where Munchkin Two piped up because we mentioned we may go to Poland over the summer on our way to Russia. She was so excited and said "I get to go back to learn about Poland!" which sounds more like poewand.

Munchkin One spent a good deal of time looking at his globe on Sunday. He analyzed the countries. Asked how far the plane ride is. We played "find the country". He rolled it, rotated it and processed it. Monday morning as he sat on the edge of the bed getting dressed for school he said out of the blue he was ready!

Our flights have been booked for our Look/See.  Flights to Moscow are not what they once were.  Airlines have cut back and the choices are slim.  I secretly wonder if flights have been reduced for the mere reason that Russia isn't working well with America on International Adoptions.  Who flies to Russia unless you are from there? Adopting families do and sadly, those numbers have been reduced.

I will be getting up at o'dark which is before o'dark thirty (and kinda like o'shit!)...So, you know this is early! The flight arrives at LaGuardia in the morning, we have to change airports to JFK where our flight leaves late afternoon.  Sound like fun? Do we dare swing into the city for a bite of lunch? I am thinking we should also swing by the furrier where I have located my new fur coat. Somehow, I don't think the Mr. will go for this.  

Prior to our Look/See I have been busy researching away.  It can be quite daunting and at times overwhelming.  As I go through this, I would recommend to take it slow.  I have made some very friendly contacts in Moscow through blogs I found.  The Expat Women site was a great place to look for these.  The thought of moving to Moscow was once a scary thought. The more I communicate with the women I have met online, the more excited I get.   I even have a tentative "date" set up with one of the ladies! Well, perhaps I am jumping the gun with the word "date" but we have both agreed we will meet while I am there. I will also be speaking with another lady next week, who will be in Florida, for their  holiday.  Her daughter is adopted from Russia and we will be speaking of what it is like to return to Moscow to live post-Adoption.

I have narrowed down the areas of where I think we want to live. I have emailed my first choice school for the munchkins and am awaiting a reply.  Mr.'s company will schedule for us housing and school tours.  One must be invited to Russia to enter the country. The company is handling our invitation which we should receive on Monday. At that time, we will send the invite with our passports to the Russian Embassy to receive our visa's. 

Things are shaping up well!  All we have to do is pack...I was told it is still snowing in Moscow.  Sigh...The weather averages for this time of year say the temperature highs are about 50 degrees F.  So, I am guessing this most likely will not be the case!  In which case, we may be swinging by the furrier ;-)