And so it begins...

We are now 6 days away from hopping on an airplane and headed to go get Sebastian!  It feels a little surreal that the day is so close after 6 months of preparation to get on the waiting list, 30 months of waiting for a referral, and then the past 7 months of paper chasing.  Forty three months is a long time to be waiting to become a family of four, but suddenly I wonder if we are really ready for all of this!

The bags are almost completely packed, and are awaiting just the last minute items.  The "Sebeddy" (Sebastian's bedroom) is ready for its new occupant.  We have the baby toys ready to go, the high chair out, and a big sister who keeps telling Jeremy and I, "not to be upset when Sebastian loves me more than he loves you."   Baby clothes are washed and ready to be worn.  The baby monitor is in place and ready to be turned on. We even got the summer veggies planted this weekend and the fridge and freezer organized for the first time since we got the new fridge (or maybe before then... The new fridge purchase was an emergency one because the old one had given up the ghost and I don't remember being particularly deliberate about what went where as we threw our rapidly warming items into their new cool home.).  In short, we're a meal plan and a few catch-up scrapbook pages away from getting everything on my list done.

So we're at the ready to go stage, where theoretically we can go but need to wait a few days more.  Last time around, these were the days I wandered around Kohl's and Target, picking up a few random odds and ends we needed around the house while thinking to myself, "In two weeks when we are back in the US, I won't be going to the stores by myself anymore!"  This time around, I keep looking at Elli and thinking how she won't be an only child for much longer, hoping that being a big sister is everything she hoped it would be...or at least isn't a crushing wave of disappointment the first time Sebastian starts to drive her crazy.

And we pray and we wait...for just a few more days.