Welcome to our World Child Friends!

I have shared our blog address with the World Child yahoo group and I want to say hello to everyone who may be checking us out for the first time. The group consists exclusively of families working with our agency on Vietnam adoptions. I've been a member for a few months now and it's an amazing support system. There are many BTDT (been there, done that) families who can give advice on everything from how to finish your paperwork to the best formula to take to Vietnam! And it's a group of caring people. Several women have organized and/or participated in donation drives for the orphanages in Vietnam. How inspiring! I absolutely love looking at the blogs of those who are waiting and those who are in Vietnam now and those who have come back. It's just a lot of fun to see the process play out before your eyes. So, welcome and thank you for sharing this journey with us!

We've had a lovely weekend. The weather has been divine. Here's a photo of the finished crib. We just love it!!!



















I've had fun changing some of my decor over to fall. I wanted to do it this weekend because next weekend, we're having a Chinese family over for dinner. They had us over to their home a few weeks ago and we had a most lovely time. We got to know them when I went to China in 2004. The husband traveled with our group. He has a wonderful wife and their son is a very nice young man who will head off to college next year. They are very active in working with the exchange students from China. They often host them in their home for a meal and Bible study. They are so happy for us as we pursue two adoptions. We are blessed to have so many wonderful people (including all of you!) in our lives.

Ummm...we missed our LID anniversary...

It was last Sunday. It's kind of wild to think we've passed the five month mark already. The time has gone by quickly. Even though we missed marking the anniversary, it doesn't mean we're any less eager for Lily to get here. It's just going to be quite a while and we need to put our energy into getting Zeke here first. Trust me, I can't wait to get our baby girl!!

I want to give a shout out to Greg and Laura because their dossier is now moving into the review room. That's where the Chinese officials review their paperwork and make sure everything is in order. I'm confident they won't have any problems. It's always a relief for families to discover their dossier has passed out of the review room. That means they're just waiting for their referral. I pray that your little Anna will be here next year!!

Some rumors to report...

I got a rumor from a very good source today that the wait for a baby boy referral from Vietnam is about two months now for our agency. That means we can expect to get our baby's photo, name and other info in December. Not as soon as I had hoped but good grief, it's such an improvement over China that there's no way I can be sad about that! Once our case worker is back in town, we ought to get a better idea of what to expect. But even the information from our case worker is subject to change...welcome to the roller coaster that is international adoption!

My Guess

Thanks to everyone who participated in the poll! It was really fun and exciting to see everyone's guess as to when we'd get our referral. I didn't want to disclose my guess until the poll had closed. So, I think we'll get our referral the week of Thanksgiving. I have absolutely no rhyme or reason for this guess...It's just a gut feeling. I have long prayed that we would get it in time for Brad's birthday, October 27. That would be so exciting! We'll see what happens!

Happy Wednesday!

Nothing new to report. Our dossier arrived Monday at our agency. Our case worker is in Vietnam right now. She returns to work in the States next week so we should get an update on our expected DTV (Dossier To Vietnam) date from her.

We have the crib up (I need to take a photo!) and it is so cute. The other night, our kitty Little Buddy was camped out underneath the crib. We don't have a mattress yet so it's all slats and bars. He looked like he was in prison!

Hope you're having a great week!

Got Pretzel?

Oktoberfest is just around the corner...Please party responsibly!


















(Photo credit: AP Photo/Diether Endlicher)

Crib and other fun baby stuff

We were very fortunate that the crib we just had delivered this week is NOT included in the re-call. You might have heard about the major crib recall yesterday. So, you can see Brad in the midst of his crib-building adventure. While he worked on that, I cleaned. I also wanted to show you some of Zeke's loot. The tan overalls might be his Giving and Receiving outfit. We're supposed to bring something cute for him to wear. Of course, we'll have a better idea of what size and all that once we get his photo...which should be in a month or two!! The reality is setting in and it's so exciting! As you can see, we have lots of Daddy stuff for baby but you may not see that one of the onesies says "Mommy's nuts about me!" Too cute!

The Dossier Has Left the Building!

YES! When we sent our dossier to the consulate to be authenticated, we enclosed a pre-paid FedEx envelope. I wrote down the tracking number. Each night, I've been checking to see if FedEx had picked up the envelope, knowing that that would tell me the dossier is on its way to our agency. Well, I checked tonight and LO AND BEHOLD the envelope had left the consulate. Whoo-hoo! So, the dossier is on its way to our agency and will arrive Monday. From the agency, it's off to Vietnam. I just pray that all our documents look good and there aren't any problems. What a great way to start the weekend!

Immunity...Back up for grabs!

In all the seasons that Survivor has been on the air, host Jeff Probst still says the same, unoriginal thing when the teams compete for immunity. Oh well. The cool thing about Survivor this season is that they're in CHINA! I didn't find last night's show particularly exciting except for seeing the shots of the countryside. It's so beautiful! The opening sequence for the show was quite cool too. I'm sure I'll grow to enjoy the people who are competing but the first few episodes are usually annoying as they weed out the people who really shouldn't have been there in the first place. Yes, I secretly want to be on Survivor. I'm sure I wouldn't make it past the first "eat this bug" challenge but I still love the idea of the show.

I'm glad it's Friday. The week went by quickly but I'm ready for the weekend. Our crib and changer arrived yesterday. They're in boxes and we'll have to assemble them. That will be our fun project for tomorrow. Once we get it up, we'll take some photos and post them.

No movement yet on the dossier. It's still in San Francisco at the consulate getting authenticated. It's been there a week as of today. It will probably move on to our agency the early part of next week. Then it's on to Vietnam! So many steps in this process...but everyone I've talked to says we won't even remember the wait once we get little Zeke in our arms...

Have a great weekend!

For the Napoleon Dynamite fan in each of us...

Babies Everywhere!

(First! Don't forget to vote in the new poll!)

I've added a link to Mandy and Kevin's blog. They're two of the sweetest people you could ever meet and they go to our church. Mandy's on the verge of giving birth to Emma (yay!)...maybe even today! I'm sure they'll post photos so you'll enjoy visiting their corner of the web. My bestest friend in the world, Katie is also getting close to having her little darling! I've got a link to her blog and I'm sure you'll notice she has impeccable taste in nursery decor. Our dear friends Misty and Joel just heard the heartbeat of their little one. They'll find out the gender soon!! You can read more about their rapidly expanding family on their blog. Greg and Laura continue to anticipate the arrival of their beloved Anna who will come to them from China. They are our fellow travelers on the international adoption journey and we're so thankful for them! They have a DARLING video on their blog that will absolutely make you smile!

(Hey Laura and James! Do you guys have a blog?!?! I'd love to add you to my links!)

A poll

I thought it would be fun to take a poll of our blog readers to see when you think we might get our referral (the photo, name and other info on our baby!!). The poll closes in a week so you have time to vote. I'd love for you to comment too on how you made your pick...a gut feeling, a random guess, reading the tea leaves...

Miss (Half) Marathon!!

I came, I ran, I conquered!! I've got the medal to prove it! And it was only thanks to a lot of prayers! My knee held up just fine, though it started hurting a little around mile 9. I told myself, "Don't think about it" and proceeded to think about something else. The pain went away. The hardest part was mile 10. I had to dig deep to pull out the last 3.1 miles. I ran for the entire race. Toward the end, there were some people who had run and walked and still managed to stay a little ahead of me, even though I ran the whole time. So, I gave one big burst of energy and sprinted ahead of them and finished ahead of them! I finished in 2 hours and 23 minutes. That's a hair under 11 minutes/mile. I'm proud of that pace, given the length of the race. I run a good bit faster when I do shorter races. I had estimated it would take me 2h30m-3h to finish. My dear friend from work, Tina went with me. She was my encourager and photographer! She took these great photos. We got up at 4:30AM so we could get a good parking space. So, I'm exhausted and I'm going to nap now...

Missy and Tina

Brad sends his support by including this photo on the digital camera I took with me.

Play By Play

I feel like I'm doing play by play at a ball game. The dossier made it safely to the consulate, so says the FedEx website. I will be watching to see when the packet leaves there and heads to our agency's office in California.

Tonight is opening night for Gypsy. I'll be on the third row, cheering Brad on! I can't wait to see the show and I've had several people tell me he has a very funny bit that I'll really enjoy.

I'm heading out tomorrow for the half marathon, which I'll run on Sunday. I'll give it my best shot!

Being Authentic

Our documents got on the last FedEx flight out of town tonight. They're headed to San Francisco to be authenticated by the Vietnam Consulate. After that, the consulate will ship them off to our agency. World Child will give them one more look and then translation begins. We'll be able to "see" when our documents get to World Child because I have the FedEx number for the package. Once the documents arrive at World Child, you count two weeks forward and that is your DTV or Dossier to Vietnam...same as the LID or Log In Date for China. So, if it takes a week or so at the consulate then another day or so to get to World Child, I'm guessing our DTV will be sometime the second week of October. Just a guess. So what does all that mean?!?! It means we can expect to get Zeke's photo and medical info within 30 to 60 days of our DTV. HOW EXCITING!! He's within reach!!

I've got a golden ticket!!!

THE I-171H ARRIVED!!! It's like our golden ticket that lets us get our dossier shipped off to Vietnam!!! We will have to do a few notary things tomorrow morning but then our paperwork is off to the Vietnamese Consulate for authentication. Then, on to our agency for one final look and after that, Good Morning, Vietnam!! PRAISE THE LORD!! When I pulled up to the house tonight, the neighborhood cat, Max was sitting in the driveway. He rolled around and I rubbed his belly. He walked with me out to the mailbox. He was there to share in the good news!! We both were literally dancing around in the street and cheering! This quick turnaround is an answer to many prayers...YES!

Hot and Cold

It's finally getting cool here...but it was perhaps ambitious of me to go running at 5:30PM before I had to cover an event. I got quite hot and yucky. Oh well. I need to get in some good running this week so that I'll be ready to go the distance Sunday morning. For those who might have forgotten *smile*, I'm running a half marathon this weekend. Brad will not get to come with me. After I show myself that I can run a half marathon, I think I'm going to concentrate on shorter runs...5Ks and 10Ks. These long distance runs are a little boring, to be honest. I may change my mind after doing this as part of a group (there are supposedly 4000+ people running the half marathon!). Anyway, I thought it might be fun to focus more on shorter races and improve my speed. We'll see. I'm trying to get in this good running while I can. I know it will be hard once Zeke arrives.

Hope you're having a great day...Tomorrow's Thursday...whoo-hoo!

Le Petit Prince (The Little Prince)

It's one of my favorite children's books. I read it in French in high school. I love it and it has so much to teach children and adults. I had thought about doing Zeke's room with a Little Prince theme but I was having a hard time tracking down Le Petit Prince items...anyway, a thought from this book to get me through the days of waiting:

What makes the desert beautiful is that somewhere it hides a well.

Cribz...

Here's a sneak peek at the crib/changer combo we've got coming our way for Zeke!!

Sweet Day

We had a wonderful anniversary last week. Brad wrote me a love letter, one of the best gifts I've ever gotten! I got him some "daddy" stuff: a couple of "daddy and me" books to share with Zeke and a t-shirt that says "Ba" which is daddy in Vietnamese.

Our weekend was good. We had a delicious and romantic dinner Friday night. That was fun! Brad had to work Saturday and Sunday so that was a bummer. I went to church last night to be a small group leader for the youth. It was a lot of fun. Brad will be doing this too but he had to be at work last night. Anyway, I worked with 7th and 8th grade girls. They were attentive and engaged in our discussion. I really had a great time!

We continue to wait on the federal paperwork. It will be 3 weeks tomorrow since the request arrived at the USCIS office. I kind of wish the bar had not been set so high in March (we got it in 13 days!) because now it's harder to wait. If you're wondering what this "federal paperwork" is all about...We are merely asking them to switch countries for us. Back in March, the US government approved us to adopt from China and sent notice of our approval to us and Guangzhou. Now, we're asking them to let us adopt from Vietnam. They'll send approval notices to Hanoi and to us. We can't send our paperwork to Vietnam until we get our copy of the approval. We would not expect to have any problems since we've already been approved once and we know we meet the qualifications to adopt from Vietnam. So, the wait continues...

Have a great week!