Living with Noah.

Josh, Leslie and Noah at July Jubilee.

I can finally say that we are settled down. We are so happy to have Noah in our lives and already can't imagine how it was without him. He fills our days with something new everyday. He is such a busy busy boy. I know everyone says that their kids change their lives and that you will never be the same after having kids but you can't begin to wrap your brain around that idea until you have experienced it for yourself.

I never realized how much fun I could have and how much joy that a little boy can bring into your life. Noah is HILARIOUS, for those of you who have not met him yet, let me just tell you some of his antics. As you can all understand little boys do not like to hear that it is night-night time. He usually goes to sleep with not too much of a fuss, but sometime just the sound of those words start the crying. Every morning when I go in his room to get him out of his bed he is already sitting up waiting on me to walk in so he can say "good morning". Well he obviously knows those words have something to do with getting out of bed. Now, every night when he gets out of the bath tub he starts telling us good morning or even if he hears someone say sleepy or bed he starts saying it. It's so funny because he knew that got him out of bed in the morning time and had come to the conclusion that it would work at anytime of day.

Noah being interviewed on 94.1 wzbq.

Noah's Spider man Birthday party:

He's 3 now and loving every minute of it. We had his 3 year old party here at our house. We had planned for it to be a swimming party but we had gotten rain from morning until dark that day from one of the hurricanes in the Gulf. We had about 25 people attend so we were pretty packed in our house. Nevertheless we still had plenty of fun. Noah got so many nice gifts including a power wheel jeep from his Nana and Papaw. Thanks to everyone who attended the party and or helped me during the party.

Noah being silly

My, My How he has grown:

We measured his height and weighed him as soon as we got home and couldn't wait to see how quickly he would grow in his new environment.He was at 32 inches in April and he is now 34 1/2 inches tall , he weighed 24 lbs in April and now he weighs 27 1/2 lbs, way to go Noah. Not only is hie growing physically but mentally as well. His is also doing much better with the attachment issues that he displayed earlier. It was hard to believe the Dr's when that said all of those things would be changing that fast but they are and I can't wait to see how he is after his first "Gotcha Day" anniversary March, 23 09.

Our son in the child that we both had always dreamed of. He has amazed us , surprised us, scared us and completed us . I never knew how much my life would change but I can defiantly say it has changed for the better and I will never look back. I can't wait to see what else Noah has got up his sleeves but I know it's going to be good

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Mother's Day

Today is Saturday, the eve of Mother's Day. I'm so excited about my first Mother's Day with Noah. He has changed my world into something I never knew could exist. I know what love feels like , I come from an very loving family all 63 members plus my parents. I also know what love is for my husband and that is indeed a special loving bond that a husband and a wife share. Noah has taught me true love, that to me means a love that can never be given up on a love that can't be forgotten and a honest unconditional love from my heart, he could never do or say anything to change the love that a Mother has for her son. I have waited for so long to have Noah in our lives and now that he is here I can't believe it, it feels like a dream. That's exactly what it is . I thank the good Lord everyday because he sure knew what he was doing when he sent us to Noah.

This is just a few of my thoughts please comment about your first Mother's Day experience.

Love Josh, Leslie and Noah

Home sweet home in Alabama.

Having to get used to the weather here at home is very hard for all of us but really hard on Noah. He has been on antibiotics for a week now and still has a runny nose , watery eyes and sneezing. I know it's got to be difficult onhis tiny body. In Vlad it was 30f and snowing, nothing of couse was blooming or pretty so he had no problems being outside. Of course I don't think he has ever really got to go out and play for any length of time. We hope the claritin that he's on will help him out some.

We can't wait until this weekend, my family is coming to see Noah from out of town. Noah is going to have a ball with all of them. I hope he isn't overwhelmed.

We went to Sears a week ago and had our first family photo taken. They all turned out so good, I will post one as soon as I can get one scanned in. Noah was very patient and took a lot of good pics, og course I had to purchace almost every pose, costed a small fortune.

I hope everyone is doing well and thanks for reading our blog.

we're back!!

Noah's first real haircut. Playing on the slide at church

Noah in his car seat

Hey , we are home, finally. Everything is going great. Noah is adjusting well. He is eating us out of house and home but we are making it ok.

Noah is stuck to his paw paw like glue, I'm so happy he is getting along with mawmaw and pawpaw so good. I took Noah to pawpaw's construction site so he could show him off to a few people, I don't know who had more fun, Noah or his pawpaw.He saw dumptrucks, doziers and lots of dirt that he wanted to play in.

Mawmaw gets to see him alot too, she gives him lots of love and snacks.He loves to play at their house.

Noah seems to love his new house and his nw dog, Peanut. I'm not so sure of what peanut thinks of him yet. So far they have gotten along well.

Today was his first Dr's visit with the International Adoption Clinic in B'ham. They thought he was doing pretty good except for his ears. He has a double ear infection, I suspected that already because he had been running a temp and pulling on his ears. The pollin is just about to take him over, he loves to be outside but we have to limit it right now. He loves to cut grass with his daddy, on the riding lawnmower.

I just wanted to update everyone . when I have more time I will blog again, thanks for being so patient with us.

Joah, Leslie and Noah

pics of Noah

15 hours untill flight home.

Hello, We are sooo excited to see everyone and to get home! The thought of the flight is pretty worrysom considering what the first 10 hour fkight with Noah was like. Please keep us in your prayers while we are traveling.
Today we went to the embassy and all went great. We have all of the documents that we need to come home with Noah and no one can ever take him away. He is legally a Housley now. He will be a u.s. citizen as soon as the plane touches down in Atlanta. We have a 4 hour layover in Atl but we have papers to submit for Noah after we all go through customs , so it will go by fast.
I will see you and talk with you all very soon. Thank you for following our trip to Russia.
I will blog once we get home to let everyone know that we made it ok, but then it may be a few days, please be patient.
Love all, Josh, Leslie and Noah James Housley
14:30 mins till flight home(haha)

Red Square was awesome!!!!

The Krimlem was awesome, breath taking. The colors are all georgous and bright.
We were able to go inside the cathedrals but of course had to pay extra for another ticket and extra for taking pics inside.It was so worth it .We also went in one church/mosolium and there were 50-60 tombs of 1500's Emperors and royalty.
We went to the carnival today down the road a bit, we walked and Noah strolled but it was so much fun. You will be able to see those pics when we get home. We also road a train in the park, beautiful day.
We will be going to the u s embassy on Monday, the last stop for us befor we come home on Tuesday, it is yo interview and get Noah's visa for America. Wish us luck, this is the office that the "ever so important cis form was for".
Here are some snaek peak pics of Red Square.Enjoy!
Love you all, Josh, Leslie and Noah James

Housley Family i Mooscow

Please click the box marked x and you can see our photos on another link.

What would you take with you if there were a fire in your hotel/house?

I bet you are wodering about that bizare title hun. Well the reason is for is to tell you a story about Josh and Noah from today.
It all started about 7:00pm tonight, I was down stairs blogging and Josh and Noah were upstairs on the 20 floor in our room.Out of nowhere here comes Josh flying into the computer room where I was calmly blogging with a backpack on, the baby bag around one arm and Noah on the other arm. He was breathing heavy and looked in a terrible panic. I said what is wrond with you and laughing a little. He said did you not hear the fire alarm saying calmly exit the hotel? I said yes I heard it but it was false, they said it was false right after the "leave the building part". He said well nobody on the 20th floor heard that message, we all had to run down 20 flights of stairs because the elevators had stoppes working. I could not believe that happened to Josh, I felt so bad for him and Noah but there was nothing I could do by then.He soon went back to the elevators and they still were not working so him and Noah ended up staying here with me untill they were repaired. What a mess hun? I asked him what was in the bags over his shoulders and he said tickets to get home, money , passports, paperwork and Noah's diapers. I'm just glad he remembered to get Noah. ha ha Everything is back to normal now though so don't worry is was just a false alarm.

New Pics.

Please try to read my shirt.

We are half way back home!!

We made it fine to Moscow. We were all awake from 7:30am in Vlad to 3:00am the next day in Moscow, and yes that is true numbers not time differences.Noah took a short nap on the plane so that did help a little bit. The flight was fine but the trip was rough with Noah. He didn't like the plane of course because of only having a 2 foot by 2 foot area to move around. (Heck it was hard on me too.)We were able to get the bulkhead seats and that did allow us to acyuslly set our lugs in front of us instead of under our own seats. I shouldn't complain though because i am very thankful that we made it safely. The flight lasted 9 hours and 40 mins.

We ate at a real Russian rest today, we actually ordered chicken and rice, noodle soup for noah and fries. It was nice, we took lots of photos. We found a mall also today, we had to buy Noah another pair of pants-long story.We a;sp bought him some diffrebt toys to play with.

In the morning we will go on the tour of Red Square, and souvanere shopping. I hope we get some great pics to share with you. Our spirits seem to be raised mow that we are here, we ralized how close to coming home we are. Monday we have an appt at the U,S, Embassy at 2:00 to interview for Noah's visa. We finished all of the other paperwork when we arrived in Moscoe yesterday so we do not have very many things left to do before we come home.

We went to the official Dr. appt the last day that we were in Vlad, everything went great.We also got his passport the day before we left, he hamed it up for that picture too.
We are going to blog while we are hereso you will be kept up to date on all.
Noah said hello to everyone at home and I know he can't wait to see you all.
We live you Josh, Leslie and Noah James

less than 22 hours till Moscow.

Today will be my last blog from Vlad-yeah!! That could only mean one thing, were moving closer to home(by 8 hours). We will blog asap in Moscow to let you all know that we are ok. Our flight may get dalayed but we will let you know are you can call my parents because we will phone them from the runway as we land. I'm sure they have been updating everyone they can also, but I bet they secretly are glad to do it, shuu.jk We have a few more pics for you today, I finally had on makeup so I actually look alive, there's a first time for everything. It would have been crazy to get dressed up here everyday just to walk around the hotel. I will be putting links on my blog to read the blogs of families that we have met here from the U.S. I would encourage you to look them over , it is amazing how much we all have in common.

Next time you read we will be blogging from Moscow, Love you all

Josh, Leslie and Noah Housley.

P.S. Did any of you notice that I cut Noah's hair. I saved the hair for his babybook.

We would be happy for anyone who wishes to come meet us as we come in the airport. I know it will be 8:00pm Tuesday night so I totally understand the issues that go along with that.

2 days and counting till Moscoa.

Hey yall. We are soooo excited that we are a couple of days away from Moscow. We are so ready to get in a diffrent environment. See new faces and buildings.We are going to visit Red Square once we get settled in at Moscow. We will either rent a car/driver for the afternoon or we will ask the Children's Hope office in Moscow if they have time to show us around. We've seen some great pics that somw of our friends here took at Red Square.

We are so ready to see everyone and be on American ground, taste american food and actually breathe clean air.This is known to be the most poluted city in Russia so that's just wonderful.(they wonder why the babies have bronchitis and cold all the time).

I will blog once more from Vlad tommorrow and then will we leave on Thursday(your Wednesday night).

Our flight will leave at 1:00pm our time and will be about 9-10 hours long, but will be gaining 7 hours because of traveling west. The time will be 9:00 pm when we land in Moscow and that will be your 1:00pm on Thursday so I guess I'm saying that we will leave at 1:00pm on thusrday and arrive at 1:00pm on thursday, ha ha . Pretty crazy hun! Please keep us in your prayers and we will be keeping all of you in ours. Love, Joah, Leslie and Noah

info: Josh is going to town today with our rep to finish Noah's passport and we will all be going to town tommorrow to get the court decree and taking Noah on the Dr. appt that is manditory befor we leave the region. Noah is taking a nap right now so that's why I actually got to type more than I have been. Hope you enjoy the photos .

I will also be blogging from Moscow while we are there for 5 days so you will not be left out any.

5 days and counting till Moscow.

Hello all, we are doing much better today and hope you all are doing great. We moved to our small room today, it's a lot harded but we will be just fine. There's not much to say about today. We walked naped and ate alot. That is about all there is to to here.

We are about to go eat a steak dinner. We have been told that we needed to do that before we leave. We have not eaten any kind of meat except for 1 time in Moscow we ate chicken nuggets at Mc Donalds, so we are in need of beef.

I will not blog tomorrow because of saving money so i'll have a new post for you in 2 days.

We love you and will be looking foward to seeing you all soon.

sleepy day

We are all a little tired today.We had alot of trouble going to sleep last night (Noah did anyway).He was still awake at 11:40pm, that's 2hours and 40 min past bedtime. This morning he woke up around 7:30 and fell back asleep on the couch with me untill 12:00. So needless to say there was no nap this afternoon so he is running on fumes blogging with me.

Here are a few snapshots, hope you enjoy.

Sorry for the side ways pic couldn't get it turned for you.

Love Josh, Leslie and Noah

playdough is a life saver.

One of friends down the hall from us gave noah a few easter eggs filled with playdough. He has loved it. We had not been back to the store at that time, so that was great. He also was given crayons and a coloring book from another friend of ours. He loves the color brown, that's the only one he wants to use. He has calmed down alot since our "gottcha day"last friday.He knows who we are and that he is staying with us forever.
Just when he thinks we are settled in we are having to change rooms on saturday dur to the suite that we are in is already reserved along with the rest of the suites. We will be in the same hotel here in vlad until Thursday when we go back to Moscow.
I know there are no pics this time but I am in a hurry today. More pics tommorrow.
We love you and love reading your comments, its so great to here from you all everyday.
Josh, Leslie and Noah

Boy oh Boy, is Noah a Boy.

Outside the Vlad Inn
Crazy hair after bath time.

Noah loves bathtime.
Roll Tide
The Bunch that walks at 4:00 daily.
Snow is still on the beach Daddy and Noah

Hello all, Today was a pretty good day. It was rainy this morning but it cleared up later on in the day.We went for yet another stroll down to the beach.Oh and about thet beach, it's nothing like the beaches in the states unless you count that they both have water.The sand is brown abd black and itt is full of cig butts and whatever else people decide to leave around.It smells kinda bad so we don't stay long because Noah wants to play with shells and sand, but I'm sure it's full of only God knows what. All and all we had a nice day.

Noah is 2 year old boy and does not let you forget how rambunctious he can be. It's great being his mama but it is tiring here for all of us. We will soon be home and things will change as far as letting him run free and play with multiple toys in his room.

I am blogging some pics for you all, let me know what you think.

Love, Josh, Leslie and Noah.

PS. Noah is sitting in my lap helping me type so please overlook the mistakes, Thanks

Noah says hello or( daske bodonyia)-Dos-skei-bo-don-ya

Good Bye or (pacca-pacca

We are sending you all huge hugs and kisses.

Srolls to the beach.

We have been taking strolls down to the beach(5 minute walk ) and we have been walking to the store everyday with a group of about 4 other families.There is another childrens hope family here now on their first trip so we have a lot in common with them. They are actually here to meet their daughter,Nina -which was our 2nd referrall while we were on our first trip.There were some things going on with her when we were he last time and things did not work out for her to join our family. We have now understood why we met her and were not able to adopt her, it was so that family could.We were the first family from the states to meet Nina so we were able to offer a lot of info for them and they have already accepted her and will be comming back soon to adopt her.How amazing how God work, we didn't understand them but we now see the whole picture of how God has brought 2 families together from across the worl to meet in Vlad.

We did remember to bring a stroller with us from home, so he has liked going on walks everyday. He is one of 2 boys here and there are 3 girls. He is such the ladies man. He flirts with all little girls with those develish eyes.
We do have a stove in our hotel room so we have been able to cook a little. We are eating lots of mac and cheese, fet alfrado and rice. Noah is eating baby rice bananas, oatmeal, grits and yogurt.

I wish we could find some crayons for Noah but have not yet, we are going back to store tommorrow, so we will look them.
i'm glad you all are having pretty nice weather at home , allexcept for the thunderstorm lastnight.We are about to go eat supper and get baths , so we will chat later.
We love you, Josh, Leslie and Noah.

Cranky Day for All.

We are all so bored. We can't go anywhere and we are all getting cabin fever. Noah has been cranky today because there is nothing for him to do in the room. He tries to get to things he knows that he shouldn't touch. I know he is not a bad child he is feeling just like we are-ready to go to Moscow and then on Home.
He slept good again last night as did we all, he did have trouble going to sleep . I rock him when he has trouble getting to sleep because I think that's a good bonding time for the 2 of us. He is still eating almost everything that we give him. Today he tried a pickle and didn't like it very much. I guess there is finally something that he will not eat, wow.
I have been trying to upload aa video but it's become a huge challange so I'll keep working on that for you. We will talk to everyone later, I hope you all are doing good and thanks for reading our story. How is the weather at home? It's still pretty cold here, feels ok for mw but very cold for Noah. Josh and Noah are bonding very well, that's his playing buddy.They play hide and seek, cars and stacking cups together. By the way he loves the stacking cups, Thank you Melissa B. for that great tip.
shout ou time: Hello mamma, daddy, shane, amy, keelie, lindsie, heather, brad, sara, emma, grandma joan, granny, tot, kathy, kissy, collin, logan melissa, nikki, patrick, michelle r, brent, seth, calab, melissa b, illia, and thanks for all of your comments.
We love you all.

can u say roll tide?

We finally decided it was time to wear his bama jersey. It's a little to big but it's worth it to see him in it. He can't say roll tide yet but he is trying.

We had another great night and morning. We found out 1 food that he does not like, cheese popcorn, go figure the cheese king (Josh) does not like cheese or it could just be the popcorn, not sure yet.

I will try to send mor pics of all of us tommorrow, running out of time again, sorry.

Busy, Busy, Busy.

Today is Sunday, we walked outside and played in the small playground. He loves to swing and slide down a huge slide.We have had lots of fun today but we were glad for naptime to come. He only took a 2 hour nap today but thats still great.

While he was asleep I went back to the baby store. They let me exchange some of the clothes that I bought for him because of size issues. We had better luck with that today.

I also made a trip to the market and stocked up on a few of our favorite things.Things are so expensive here that it makes it very hard to get all that you need. Diapers, wipes -all very high here.

Here are a few more pics of Noah. This is how he sleeps most of the time and walking around the Vlad Inn.

info: He seems to be wearing a size 12-18 month old clothes for those of you who wanted to know about that. He also loves the bath still!!, because he likes to be naked.Hope you all enjoy the pics.We will talk with you all later because I can only blog for about 15 - 2

0 mins at a time because of cost.