Jonah loves him some Jonah!

We have a vain little boy! Our room has big mirrors on the front of the closet doors. This is where you can find Jonah spending the bulk of his time. He likes to stare at himself. He likes to watch himself dance, or talk, or get dressed/undressed! Everything he does, he prefers it be done in front of a mirror. Today he even brought Leah his bear jacket, and once she put it on him, he went back to the mirror and checked himself out! He knows how cute he is and he wants to be a witness! haha.

Today has been a rather easy day. We had nothing to do other than to await the arrival of our translator to our room at 4:15pm. He brought us Jonah's passport and paperwork showing that Jonah has been registered with the Russian consulate in Houston. I'm not sure why this is required, but it is something that has to be done. We have to notify them if we move so that they can be certain that they have the correct address on file. Until Alex came all we had to do was play and hang around the hotel. I was kind of dreading it because I figured it would be boring, but I was definately wrong. Jonah was so much fun today. He woke up in a great mood and continued like that until this very moment. He thew a little fit tongiht at dinner, so Leah just left with him to go back to the room. We had all kinds of fun today. We played peek a boo, sang songs, read books, and took naps. The day actually went by rather fast. Jonah has finally gotten settled into a sleep schedule. He is out at 8:30 and sleeps until 6:30, then naps at 10 and 3. It's simple and all it requires is a bottle of warm milk and he is out. That's what they gave him at the orphanage so we decided to continue like that until we get back to the states. Moscow isn't the place to try to institute new and strange rules.

It occured to me today that I will never be the same. When I get back to Texas life will be drastically different than it was last week when I left. Leah and I had been holding off on kids in order to live life like a young married couple with two incomes. We had always been able to go and come as we please. Nothing holding us down, nothing holding us back. I talked about this often with a good friend from work and he would always say the same thing to me. He'd say "your kids will always be the best thing to ever happens to you". This week has taught me that he is right. Jonah is the best thing that has ever happened to me. Since I first held him in October right up until the fit he just threw in the restaurant, he has been the best decision I ever made. Life will never be the same, and I wouldn't have it any other way.

Tomorrow we will be flying home. We will be landing in Houston around 2:15 on Saturday, then it will be on to the house to begin our life there. It is quite probable that this might be the last blog we write here. This blog began as a way for friends and family to follow us while we were going through the adoption process. Thankfully, the process is over and the family process has begun. There is really nothing else to write about. I'm sure we will chronicle everyday happenings like everyone else does....facebook! ha. This blog will remain active for as long as they will allow. My hope is that someone somewhere will stumble across it and begin to consider adoption for themselves. Much like Leah and I did when we accidentally stumbled across the Clayton's blog on my moms computer. God orchestrated that and I am praying that he will do the same through our story. Maybe someday we will bring Jonah to this address and let him read the story of his adoption. Who knows! Each of you are very important to Leah and I. I know that all of you want the opportunity to meet Jonah in person and we would love for you to have that chance. We have to ask, at least for the first week or so, for you guys to please allow us time to get settled in and Jonah time to adjust to his new surroundings. We are not sure how this is going to go, but it will be easier on him and us if we do not have a constant flow of visitors at the door. I hope that doesn't sound rude, but we have to do what is best for him and this will be the easiest way. We will begin filtering family over this weekend and next week. After that, if he is up to it, we will begin visits from everyone else. Some of you we will call as soon as he is ready to see people, and the others, we would appreciate it if you would please call before stopping by. We have to be extremely careful with him because this will be a delicate thing for him. We love you all and are so appreciative of your support and this is one last thing you can do for us to make this transition easier on him and us. We expect many many months of visits. We both have very large familes, we have two church homes that are bursting at the seams to love on Jonah and many many friends. This process has taught us how loved we are as a family. The outpouring of support is more than we could've asked for. Thank you so much for understanding.

Well like I said, this is probably it for this blog. From the announcement in April of last year until this moment where bags are being packed to head home tomorrow, this is our story. This is Jonah's story. We love you all so much. The pursuit if over, now the journey can begin.

As always, if any of you have any questions or just want to know more about international adoption, or Russian adoption specifically. Please email me. I'd love to meet with you. Cory.Elder52@gmail.com