We Have Approval!!

I woke up this morning to an email from Hanoi Adoptions stating that we now have approval to travel. The only problem was we had approval to pick up the wrong child! Our agency feels certain that this was just a typo and that things will be cleared up tonight. I'll feel so much better when we have the corrected version of our approval! We don't know when we will be traveling, but our agency said that the latest will be the last weekend in August. Of course, we are hoping to get to go a lot sooner!! We're coming for you, Molly!! :-)

Two Months

We have now been waiting for our I600 approval for two months. It's felt like a lot longer than two months! I've been working on getting our paperwork together for our travel--it makes me feel like I'm doing something. We got fingerprinted again on Tuesday. So now all we need is for Immigration to tell us we can go!

Weekend Happenings

A lot of exciting things have been happening around here! First of all, our friends Nicole and Michael welcomed their new little boy, Cooper Michael, into the world last Friday. We got to go and see him on Saturday. He has so much hair--it's even spiky! Too cute!

















This weekend we got to spend time with some of our favorite couples--the Donahues and the Edmistens. I was especially excited to meet Maia for the first time! Maia and Molly were in the same orphanage in Vietnam. I asked her if she remembered Molly--I think she does! I'm so excited about Molly having such a great connection. Jeff and Dana gave us a lot of good tips about our Vietnam trip. We're SO ready to go!!

































Sunday, we had Life Group. We just started a study in the book of James which I'm really excited about. We also had the opportunity to prepare a meal for Operation: Reach Out--the mission where my mom works. Brian and Matt did a SUPER job de-boning (is that a word??) about twenty pounds of chicken. :-)


















Adoption Happenings

It's been almost two months since we received our I600 receipt. Tomorrow morning we are going to get our SECOND set of fingerprints. I'm glad we'll have this done as I don't want anything holding up our travel.

My friend Heather who is currently in Vietnam was able to go back to Molly's orphanage and get some more pictures. These pictures are just so special and we treasure every one of them. It's so fun to see how much she's changing and developing her own little personality. I was also shocked to see how many teeth she has!! She looks like such a big girl! Let's wait until you get home to grow up anymore--okay, Molly?

Priceless

Our friends Charley and Heather went to pick up their precious daughter Samantha today and they got to see Molly too! We sent Heather a book that we put together with pictures of Brian, me, and all of Molly's grandparents! It's so unreal to think that Molly is holding this book that we were just holding days ago. Heather said that she was "on the go--scooting all over the place and even trying to escape"--how amazing to get a glimpse of her little personality! Thank you so much for this priceless gift, Charley and Heather! :-)

Hilton Head

Thanks to some of our good friends, Brian and I were able to spend the weekend at Hilton Head Island. It was a nice little get away--hopefully our last trip before we go to Vietnam! I think Brian's favorite part of the weekend was spotting the Piggly-Wiggly where we of course had to buy t-shirts. I owed Brian a Piggly-Wiggly shirt after convincing him to retire his old one from college that had gotten a little to small. Now we just need one for Molly! :-)

I can't believe my summer break is already over, but tomorrow begins the new school year. We have an A+ workshop this week which will be a nice transition back into the swing of things. Kindergarten testing starts the next week which is right around the corner.

Of course, we're praying we'll be in Vietnam soon! Some friends from our adoption agency, Charlie and Heather, are currently in Vietnam picking up their little girl, Samantha. Samantha is in the same orphanage is Molly, so we're hoping Charlie and Heather will be able to check on her for us tomorrow!! I can't wait to get an update! :-)

We have our fingerprint appointment made for July 29th. We decided that we would go ahead and get fingerprinted again, but we're hoping we won't need them because we'll get our approval soon! We have now been waiting 7 weeks for Immigration approval--maybe this will be the week we hear! :-)

New Pictures--Updated!

Added 7/14

We got another new picture of Molly today from a family who is currently in Vietnam. I love the pictures of her on her tummy as it really shows her development. Thanks, Steve and Lynn! :-)

Brian and I just got home and when I got online I was surprised to see that we had new pictures of Molly! It must be as hot there as it is here as she looks pretty sweaty, but she's still beautiful! She changes a little in every picture that we get--we are SO eager to get her home so that we don't miss any more! Although the wait is hard sometimes, we know time is in God's hands. :-)

We have our Visas!!

Now all we need is our approval from immigration! :-)

If our approval doesn't come very soon, we're going to have to get fingerprinted again. I don't really understand why as our fingerprints haven't changed, but nonetheless, they expire September 12th. NEVER would I have thought that we would still be waiting when we filled our I600A on April 11, 2007. It's a tough call to have to make because on one hand, I hate to spend the money if we end up traveling before they expire (which we're planning on) not to mention both of us taking the day off of work when we're trying to save vacation days for our trip and maternity leave but I would REALLY hate to have any kind of hold up because of fingerprinting. You know...this whole thing will be resolved if our approval comes tonight! :-)

Of course it's all in God's hands and in HIS timing. There have been plenty of times throughout my life that God has asked me to wait and my life and my walk with Christ are better for it. I guess this is just one of those times.

"Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for Him."
--Psalm 37:7

Congratulations Mr. and Mrs. Brown!

This weekend our good friends James and Anna got married!! We had a great time celebrating with them in Jekyll Island, Georgia. It was a beautiful wedding and I took a few (ha!) pictures. :-)

Celebrating 4th of July at the beach

Wedding Rehearsal

Decorating for wedding

Rehearsal Dinner

Getting Ready

Wedding Day Fun

"Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate."
--Mark 10:9