Greetings from Siberia!  We are well here, it is warming up today to -2, so hopefully we will be able to get out a bit more.  Yesterday, we went down to the ice park (yes, it is a park made of ice sculptures) and Peet slid down the large ice slide.  We have video to prove it.

We wanted to let you all know the exciting news that yesterday, we signed papers declaring our intent to adopt a 3 and 1/2 year old little girl!  We are prohibited from sharing details about her at this point (like photographs and a name), but it has been an amazing experience thus far, and we clearly see God’s hand in it.  She is older than the age of a child we originally intended to adopt, but God kept placing her before us.  We are anxious to get her home and begin to help her fully develop into who God has created her to be.  There will inevitably be some challenges present that were not there when we adopted Mae as a baby, but we trust that God will give us all we need.  She is an adorable, remarkable child, especially considering what she has already been through in her short life.  She is a little, tiny thing, so some southern cooking is in order to fatten her up!

We will have a few more visits with her before we leave on Friday.  She is still young, but we feel she understands a little of what is going on as she called us “Mama” and “Papa” from the first visit.  So, the prayer request now is that she will understand that we are coming back to bring her home with us!  We will be leaving a photo book and stuffed animal with her, and the caregivers will talk to her about the photos and her mommy and daddy while we are away.  We know God has been with her so far, so we know He will be with her until we can be joined as a family.

We thank you all so much for your loving prayers and support.  We can really feel the prayers – we have felt such a peace on this trip.  We cannot wait to see all of you on Sunday.  We will probably send out another update before we leave.

With lots of love,
Jenny and Peet