WE GOT TRAVEL DATES!!!

Finally we have our travel dates!!!! WOO! it is a lot later then i wanted but I'm trying really hard to just be happy!  We were told to be in VN no later then July 8th. I quickly emailed travel agent guru Todd and told him our dates and that we wanted to have at least two full days in Vietnam before the 8th. 3 would be better. I'm so worried about missed flights and jet lag. Our plan is to fly directly to Da Nang and check into the Sandy Beach Resort.  And even though we'll only be 1.5 hours away, and no matter how tempting it is, we cannot visit the kids  : (   i am hoping though some of the volunteers might come to Da Nang so we can buy them a drink and they can share with us some stories. this way too we can find out what else the kids there might want and get some shopping done. I hear fruit and candy are big hits with the kids!

Things to be grateful for

I got this email today from a woman, Yen, working at the orphanage.

Your kids are very lovely now, they are very friendly to everyone. When they went there, they were scared of any strangers, so they hid in the their room all time. Now everybody is their friends. I think they will cry a lots when you pick them up next month.  Your kids were Cotu, one of minority ethnics in Quangnam province but they just speak Vietnamese. David speaks Vietnamese fluently, Emma knows some. It will be great if David can follow a course of Vietnamese. Sweet!

You know it's so easy for me to complain about the delays. about the long wait.. about having to wait for others to catch up. And then i have to stop and think how INCREDIBLY LUCKY i am to have found all these amazing people who have met our kids. Who have shown them kindness. Who have been friends to them. Who were kind enough to take time and send us photos and videos which we desperately covet. All these little things makes the wait to be with our children that much more bearable. SO A HUGE THANK YOU TO EVERYONE, THOSE WHO I KNOW AND THOSE WHO I'LL NEVER GET TO MEET, for being a part of our children's lives.

Like Father, Like Son

Tell me this little goofball isn't every bit Jeff's son! Virtually every photo we have of Jeff has him with his head cocked to one side and his tongue sticking out. and the last photos we got of David.... there's that tongue sticking out too! When i showed these photos to Jeff the first thing he did is crack a huge smile and said "You Know I'm really gonna like this kid! He's exactly like me! That's by Boy!!!" yes Jeff I'm sure he is. Well I'm convinced that Emma and I look exactly alike too.

Vietnam History 101

I LOVE HISTORY!


From the images that you sent over to me, your son's
name Chieu has a circumflex (caret) above the e and
your daughter's name has a circumflex and a grave
above the e. So your son's name means strive/endeavour
and your daughter's name means lofty/stately/elevated
(another meaning is a bridge). They have the same last
name, which is Cai with an acute above the a.

A Horse and A Monkey

Found out that our kids were born in the year of the Horse (baby boy D) and Monkey (baby girl E) and funny enough the room is covered in monkey's. and guess who's husband is also a monkey! mama is a Tiger grrrr watch out kids! So now we have to find some cute horses and monkeys while in VN to commemorate the year of their birth.

Happy Mother's Day

Well Happy Mother's day and Happy birthday to ... me!!!

I did get two really cute photos of our baby girl fast asleep on Yen's lap. she's knocked out cold it seems. these were taken today (which always confuses me since it was really yesterday) and the cutest part is the translator is holding our little munchkin pie's hand while she sleeps. it is just so darn cute. I can't imagine how much she's grown though. it is really hard to judge for sure since i'm sure this woman only stands maybe at 5' so of course our kid looks huge. but after buying several truck loads of 12 mos old clothes, i'm not so sure she'll fit into them anymore. I'm kinda sorry she's grown so much, since i would have loved to have been there for this growth spurt. but at the same time i'm so thrilled they BOTH had a huge growth spurt. just goes to show what some good food and loving will do for a child. I can only imagine how much they'll grow once they're home and Momma is saying EAT, EAT, have some food, you're so thin, you gotta EAT!

ahh this is the bestest gift ever

we got the cutest and bestest video ever today! i had written to several volunteers hoping they'd take pity on me and send me a photo or note about our kids. They all have and i'm so happy and grateful to them. Today a lovely young lady, sent us a short video of our kids on a see saw. it was short but in it you can see these huge smiles. Big bro was protectively sitting behind baby sister. It was so cute to see her griping the hand rails so tightly at the same time squealing with laughter. That's right, this is the FIRST time we got to hear her voice. it was such an adorable giggle. our little girl's giggle.. i love the sound of her voice. our big boy was grinning ear to ear the whole time and it was so wonderful to see. so thanks, you made our week!

Pictures. Lots and Lots of Pictures.

I was extremely lucky to get a few more photos of our kids. We found a volunteer there and she had a few photos that she emailed us. She also told us our kids are starting to play more with the bigger and older kids and that there were at least another 12 tribal kids that came into the orphanage and our girl went right to them and started chatting up a storm. so we're so happy to hear they have made friends and found kids they can talk to and relate with.

One Jungled Themed Room Comin Right Up!

Well Yippie Yi Yay Yi Yay... the room is (mostly) done. We have it just about all finished now. I found a series of four jungle prints, but they only had two in the store.. so i just need to find the last two, and hang those up... Print out some photos of the kids, hang those up. Order Little Man's bedding) and then WE'RE DONE!!! i figured i should leave a tiny bit of space up on the walls for goodies i hope to buy while in VN. so for now, here's the room (in most of it's glory)

Now, suddenly EVERYTHING is happening at once

11:00 am  Jeff and i went to the bank and had all our updated/amended docs notarized. then off to Fedex to send the docs to the SOS. they have virtually next day service so we should get our state certified docs back on Tuesday. Once those come back, off to the the agency they go, and then to the consulate for authentication. So we are really and truly down to the final wire.


Our agency told us they have a group going out May 10, and another May 20. They said we should expect to go out in the June group, but not to EXCLUDE THE POSSIBILITY OF BEING IN THE MAY 20TH GROUP!!!! I told Jeff we're on high alert. now that we can finally finish the kids room, we need to start getting our packing lists together. Our shots... oh my,  way too much to even think of. and on top of all this craziness i'm stressing over whether to try and enroll our little dude in Kindergarten this August. With him only being home a couple of months.. and being so teeny tiny scrawny little, i have my reservations... gut says wait a year... we'll see...

Ahhhh and then we had one more really great surprise today. I got two new videos and two new pictures of our kids. They cut their hair off, which was sad, but we knew it would eventually happen. they look so lost and confused in the videos... They're surrounded by lots of toys and candies.. and quite frankly we all know this is not a daily occurrence in orphanage life. I can't wait to get them home and give them all kinds of goodies, (good loving being one) and let them know this is for real... not just for the camera... but for real. they will get to keep their toys and their candies even after the camera stops rolling. I wish so bad we could go there right now. but hopefully in another 6 weeks or less ??

Hawaiian Shirts and Girlie Girl Dresses

We found out on Tuesday, 4/3 that we got the referral. We are approved to adopt the teenies! The agency tells us that since we're paper ready and the kids are paper ready, we can hope to travel this summer. June, maybe even May... but more likely June!!! Holy Cow!!! here i was, days earlier, all poopy faced because our referral (for an infant) wouldn't have been until July or August with travel in October .. maybe. And now we have a referral and we're looking at travel in June. I'm loving life and i'm loving our new agency. But at the same time I'm in panic mode. We're not ready! Jeff hasn't had a single shot. We haven't even begun work on the room. We have nothing at all ready... So it's time to kick into high gear. Out goes the furniture in the bedroom. Off we go carpet shopping. New paint, new ceiling, new curtains... a fortune later... and we're making progress on the room.

Easter Sunday, we decide to hit the stores and stock up on clothes for the kids. Hmmm who knew all the stores would be closed on Easter? Luckily we find ONE store that is open. I send Jeff off to the boys section and I hit the girls section. I'm picking every adorable dress i find, mindless of the fact that our little girl will probably be happier in shorts and t's... nope! if i can get her in a cute dress, and the girlier the better, then i'm going for it! I hear an excited shout from Jeff, I look up and there he is proudly waving a tiny pea pod size Hawaiian Shirt.  It was so much fun watching us compete to come up with the cutest outfits for our kids. And the shoes, okay i must admit i love shoes!!! so even though i have no idea what size they wear, that doesn't seem to stop me from picking up a pair or two.

this isn't the actual shirt, i don't know why i didn't take a picture of that one. but this is one of the many of little man's growing collection of Hawaiian shirts.