One More Thing Before We Go...

I did want to mention one more thing before we go. Most of you know, but some may not, that Caleigh's little feet were not formed quite right while she was in the womb. They turn inward, one more than the other. So, on photos posted during our visits to the orphanage and our GNR Ceremony, you may notice splints or bandages on her legs/feet. Our pediatrician has told us that we can take them off once she is in our care. I just didn't want anyone to worry....of course, we have known about everything from the beginning. I would like to brag on our agency for a minute because I am so thankful for all of the medical photographs they were able to get, even X-Rays all the way from CanTho! They have been faithful with updates and a doctor has been visiting & treating Caleigh every two weeks in CanTho. She will be going to Scottish Rite Children's Hospital in Dallas upon our return for an evaluation & a treatment plan....she's our girl! We can't wait to see her!!!

Oh My Goodness!!!

WE LEAVE TOMORROW!

They're Here!

10:30 am: The missing piece of the puzzle came this morning... Our Passports/Visas arrived! Yeah!! We're good to go! What a relief!

2:30 pm: Homestudy update for Texas Requirements done! I think we've actually got everything together now!! God is In Control!!! Thank goodness!

5:30 pm: Our International Cell Phone has arrived! Yeah! I can talk to my boys any time! Peace of Mind! :)

Oh, Did I mention...she's totally worth it all!!!

Thanks Julie!

Thanks Julie for the sweet silver baby bracelet that you brought over for Caleigh! I know you'll read the blog & I've already packed up the digital camera or I would take a picture of it. It's adorable...her very first piece of jewelry! I hope the Birthday Party goes great on Saturday!!! We'll have to get him a belated gift...you'll have to fill me in on what he wants! :) Thanks for being such a great friend & you know I'll be praying for you guys while we're in Vietnam!! Love Ya! Oh, and I put the bouncy seat together & it's perfect!

Tickets are Here!

Our Airline Tickets arrived today! So exciting! The Embassy said our Visas were sent to us yesterday....our mail runs very early, so I'm hoping they're in our mail box tomorrow morning.

Our homestudy update is tomorrow at 12:30, so I'm trying to keep our house clean & together while running around like a chicken with my head cut off!

I'm just about done with the packing. Fun to watch Tricia's blog since she's in CanTho with our little girl! Hard to believe we will meet her in just 8 days! I can hardly wait!

It's Coming Together....

Things are starting to come together. Airline tickets are on their way to arrive on Thursday. We ordered an international cell phone & it will arrive Thursday as well. God willing, our passports/visas will be here Thursday or Friday morning. We have our "travel call" with our agency tomorrow afternoon. We have money (that's kinda important!) I've packed all of my things & Caleigh's things. We bought our converters & adapters this evening for our electronics. We've made boarding arrangements for the dogs & the boys will be situated as well (lists in tow!) So, am I forgetting anything major??? Oh, and while we were at the Mall buying converters, I hit a 70% off sale at Gymboree!!! Whoo Hoo!!!

Whirlwind of a Day!

Oh my! This day has been a blur! Got our G & R Date this morning around 10:00. It's next Thursday!! June 26th!! Yeah! So excited. Then, got to work on our plane tickets & by 5:00 today I can say....bought & paid for (ouch!) and they're on their way to our house. We leave on Saturday...yes, in 5 days. Can you say STRESS!!! Now, we just need those darn Passports with our Visa stamped in them. They should be here no later than Friday. Oh, I hope they're here on Thursday so I don't have to worry! More later!

Where Caleigh Lives

A couple who traveled for their little boy last year sent me this photo. This is the CanTho Red Cross Home for the Aged & Orphans. This is where Caleigh is! It's the same home where our boys were, but it looks much different. All of the trees have been trimmed way back (It looked like it was in the middle of the jungle when we went 6 years ago) and it's been painted a pretty yellow. (It was a washed out gray). It really looks like they have done a lot of work on it over the years. I'm excited to go back. There are three families that I know who will be there next week! Tricia, Mai & Betsy...all traveling for their little boys! I can't wait to hear their stories & hopefully a bit about our little girl too! They've promised to love on her as much as they can! Thanks girls!!!

Visas, Lily, Dresses & A Baby Doll

Well, most important first....we got our Visa Applications sent to the U.S. Embassy of Vietnam in Washington DC this morning. They should receive them first thing Monday & I will begin stalking the Mail-Lady promptly on Thursday morning.

The pictures are:

The first Lily of the season in the front flower bed. It was open the morning we got approval to travel for Caleigh.

Then, the dresses...oh, I'm a sucker for pretty dresses. She's so tiny, I just hope she'll fit into a few of them! Most are size 6-12 months or a size 1. I've packed the 3-6 m ones for the trip.

A Baby Doll...Just had to make a run to Babies 'R Us. The boys each picked out a gift for me to give Caleigh when we go to Vietnam. We also picked out a 1st baby doll. It's so soft & machine washable. The boys think she'll like the purple! It's pretty small & I think it will fit her size well.

Also.....Got an Email from our agency & it looks like we will not hear about confirmation of the date for our Giving & Receiving Ceremony until the first of next week. I'll post when we hear!

Caleigh....HERE WE COME!!!

We got our I600 Pre-Approval from the U.S. Embassy last night. So, we'll be on our way to Vietnam very soon! I will post when we have a G & R Date. Until then....thanks for all of your support & kind words & prayers over the past year and a half. It has been a long journey, but it has been so worth it. A baby girl that I have dreamed about for over 10 years is coming home! AMEN!

It's June 12th Somewhere...

Yes...in Vietnam! It's June 12th. HAPPY 8 Month Birthday Caleigh!
The boys & I saw the cutest little baby girl at the pool today. Her mommy said she is 9 months old. The boys informed her that "we are getting a baby soon!" It was so cute...They just love little babies; I can't wait until baby sister comes home! Hang in there Caleigh! Miss Tricia is coming next week to see you & I hope we'll be there before you turn 9 months old.

New Picture #2

Here's the other new picture of Caleigh that we got yesterday morning! She has such beautiful big eyes & her skin looks super soft! Those Cheeks! That Hair! Oh, I can't wait!!! Still with the open mouth look. Looks like she's thinking "huh? you want me to what? smile? I don't think so!"....don't see any teeth yet....the dot on her forehead is just from the lense. So, no worries....

I'm off today to meet up with three friends from High-School that I haven't seen in 20 years! Yes, this fall is our 20 year HS Reunion! We're having lunch at a local eatery. Recently found out that we live within 10 miles of each other. Should be fun! I'll try to post a pic or two later.

New Pictures of Our Girl

We got new pictures of Caleigh today! She is 7 1/2 months old here. Lovin' the overalls! Well, not really... I must go tickle her!!! Poor thing looks stunned! I also have to admit that I'm concerned. I have never received a picture of her smiling. Am I just being paranoid? I wonder why she doesn't smile. I hope & pray that she is doing ok, that she is allowed out of the crib to crawl & play with the other children. I hope that she is not too developmentally delayed. Oh, I could go on and on. I really need to go to VN! Maybe I can talk Tricia into trying to get a smile out of her!

Gotta.....

In The Power of.....

Mixed With Some .....

And Some....

The kids were at my Mom & Dad's this weekend. The quiet of the house took me back to our 6 years of marriage pre-kiddos. It is so quiet when the boys are gone; an eery quiet....I like it for a couple of hours, then I'm ready for them to come back. They spent the night Sat. & we woke up this morning at 8:00! 8:00 People! That's like 2 hours later than normal! But, the house was quiet, and we got ready for church in 1 hour! 1 hour I tell you!!! That's a miracle in itself. So the DH & I went and had breakfast out and talked for about another hour and we were still early for church!

Happy Birthday to Me

Happy Birthday to Me. Today I'm 38! Geez...that's getting very close to 40! Yikes! Oh, to be young again! No worries! Happy Day!

We got an update on Caleigh today. She now weighs 13.4 pounds & has had pneumonia. The note said that she has recovered. Wish I had a picture....maybe I should wish for that as well when I blow out the candles on the cake; Of course, you all know what my Big Wish will be :)

The Last Day of 1st Grade

Today is the last day of 1st Grade! It has really been a good year. I'm off to celebrate Summer Birthdays with cupcakes in tow to the school. I'll be taking the kids out early after parties & weather permitting (looks like rain), we're headed to the pool with friends to celebrate! SUMMER IS OFFICIALLY HERE! Thank Goodness. We are all ready for summer break! I've been so emotional this week. The mixture of the kids finishing up school and they'll be big 2nd graders next year along with the wait for travel approval for our daughter has gotten me all out of whack! I hope that next week I can settle.....Here's to a great summer.

Follow Our "Blogging Buddies" To Vietnam!

Three of my Dillon Forum Blogging Buddies have received a Giving & Receiving Date of June 19th!!! You can follow Shelley, Paula & Tricia on their trips to meet their children by using the list at the right of my blog. They're the ones with the big GOING TO VIETNAM!!!! beside their names. You can't miss it. Hoping we aren't far behind!

Step 11 Is Finished!

We just received an update that we have completed Step 11 on the VN side of the process. All that is left is to set the Giving & Receiving Ceremony Date which will happen after our pre-approval from the U.S.Consulate. Once we receive our I600 Pre-Approval, we are good to go!
Waiting on Pins & Needles and without much sleep....I hope the Golden E-Mail from HCMAdoptions Unit comes soon.

Getting Caleigh's things together:

Caleigh's Cross

One of my friends gave me this beautiful cross a couple of weeks ago for Caleigh's room. It's so sweet with the touch of pink & pink ribbon. I took a photo of it on top of her life book after I came home with it....I have since hung it on the wall right next to her closet. After church today I was just thinking that I am so glad God never gets tired of hearing from me, because I sure have been talking a lot lately!!!

Miss Bella

Miss Bella thinks she's a cat. She loves to lay on the top of our couch in the TV Room. She's so sweet....she was my gift at Christmas from my hubby. A girl in the house finally! Now I'm praying that little girl Caleigh home! Praying without ceasing for our I600 approval. They're coming in now for some other Dillon Families & it is really so exciting! I Just have to be patient and wait our turn :) It's so hard, but I know it will be in God's perfect timing.

Have a good weekend everyone. I'm off to First Monday Weekend Trade Days in Canton with several of my good friends in the morning. It's our girls day out & I really need one!

Right Now....

Right now the lady who holds our Pre-approval for Caleigh's Visa & ultimately our travel plans in her hands, should be about to wake up in Vietnam and get ready for work. Maybe she'll be in the mood to hand out a few approvals today. Someone please move ours to the top of the stack! And yes, if you're wondering, I'm always keeping track of what time it is in Vietnam. It's just become natural to me these days... I know, wierd!

Bryce Lost a Front Tooth!

Bryce is very excited! On Sunday at the Pool, with the help of a friend, he finally got his front tooth out! It had been loose for a couple of weeks and he was determined to have it out before back to school this Tuesday. He's very excited. Blake's front teeth have been out since last summer & Bryce was waiting impatiently for his turn!! The tooth fairy came and all is well.

Adoption News: Sorry, nothing to report. Our homestudy update visit was supposed to be tomorrow, but it got canceled due to a new policy: Homestudy updates must be completed within 30 days of travel. (It used to be 6 months prior). As soon as we receive our I600 Pre-Approval, we are to call our social worker for her to come over & do a quick update.

I did have my doctor's appointment today & the doctor gave James & me prescriptions for Typhoid & Malaria prevention. I will pick them up at the pharmacy in the next day or two. He is also going to do an updated physician's letter for the both of us as well. So, check, check & check some more things off the list to do! :)

Now, if I could just see a picture of my little girl & hear a steps update & get an I600 Pre-Approval e-mail, I would be one very happy camper! I don't think that's asking for too much :)

This Little Girl

This little girl is all I can think about! This is an older photo, but I just needed to be able to post a picture of her today. Hope you have a Happy Memorial Day Weekend. We have people due at our house any minute for golf, swimming & jump house partying, cooking out, etc. all day & all I can think of is this little girl....we all have our priorities right?!?!

Well, I haven't seen a new picture of my girl in 7 weeks. This has surely gotten me a little bummed. I guess I was spoiled when we adopted our boys; we got pictures in the mail about every 2-3 weeks. The thing is, they were in CanTho too, so I know it's possible to get photos more frequently if asked. I did ask last week & was told "soon". "Soon" can mean today or a couple of weeks. I was hoping my favorite picture of the day would be a new one of Caleigh. Not so....as of this morning anyway. If one magically appears in my in-box, I'll post it later.

For all of you who live for time lines:

We've been LID in VN for over a year now.
As of today, We've officially had our referral for 4 months.
As of today, USCIS/INS has had our I600 application for 30 days. I think the woman at CIS who holds our future travel date in her hands returns on May 27th. I hope to see some approvals shortly after.....who knows.....

So, without further ado, the picture of the day: This is one of my favorite photos of Bryce. Taken the summer we adopted the boys....almost 2 years old. He's my little engineer...always stacking things, taking non-toy items & making things to entertain himself. I just love this little guy.
Here's one of my favorite photos of Blake when he was little: "Mowing" Our kitchen floor in Alabama.

My Favorite Thing In Caleigh's Room

My photo of the day is my favorite new thing in Caleigh's room! Given to me by my friend & neighbor, this soft ride-on lamb is super cute! I can just see her holding on to the handles with her little feet on the 'steps'. The little bell rings when rocked....oh, it's definately my favorite!

On the adoption front, I am mailing our completed parenting education requirements to Dillon in the morning. We completed our CPR class over the weekend & got our cards in today. So, we can save a life or two now!!! :)

Oh, & just for fun, here's what our lady Bella looks like after catching a mole in our backyard. She's such a tomboy!

My Favorites of the Day!

I have 2 favorite pictures from this morning....one is my fabulous flower pot that I found on Clearance for $9.99, Originally $59.99, that I love! The other is the first watermelon of the season that we cut up last night! It's my favorite because watermelon is Bryce's absolute favorite food of all time...he lives for the frist watermelon of summer! Summer's here! It was a whopping 95 degrees yesterday already!

My Sleeping Doberman Duke & The Bloom

I have two favorite photos for today! I just couldn't choose one. Here's my big sleepy doberman, Duke, on the couch. He's a good boy! Also, I love the Hyacinth that is finally blooming this year on the side of our house. I planted it two years ago....this year it has 6 blooms already!

Until I have something Earth Shattering....

....I think I'll post my favorite photo of the day each day this week. I love this time of year & maybe practicing my photo skills will pay off some day when we travel to bring home Caleigh!

My photo of the day today is: The nest of baby red birds I'm watching in our back yard....

(You can click on each photo on my blog if you would like to enlarge them. This one you will need to enlarge for sure :)

A Question for You!

I know there are many of you who read, but choose not to leave a comment...normally, I don't care, but I would like your input on this one! :) I have to make a decision quick about letting our boys be in the same class together next year for 2nd grade or not. The past two years they have been in seperate classrooms, but right across the hall in K & next~door in 1st. One has struggled a bit with being apart from his brother, but, all in all they do fine. I mainly did it so they would branch out, make their own friends, become more social, yada yada yada.....Well, it hasn't changed anything. They're still joined at the hip & each others' best friend, which is fine...and thus my dilemna. 2nd Grade is going to be harder...more homework, spelling tests, math tests, more reading/writing etc. I'm truly thinking about letting them be in the same classroom. The school is letting me decide...yikes! If it doesn't work, we can split them after school starts....I'm just wondering if with all of the changes coming up with the addition of baby sister....it may be easier on me. Seriously, I know it sounds selfish. But, I can spend more time with 2 on the same things that splitting my time between homeworks, etc. What do you think???? Anyone a teacher? Had twins in your classroom before??? I need to let the Asst. Principal know this week...no pressure.

Good Times....

We had some Lobsters flown in from Maine the other day....yum! The kids weren't too sure about it at first, but in the end, I have Lobster Lovers! Trying to focus on the good times while we wait for word of travel...got the kids taken care of for our trip. James' family and my family are going to split the time with them & we have a plan of action! So, at lest I've gotten that lined out. Also talked to the place that will be taking care of our dogs...It's called Bed, Bath & Bonz. How cute is that?!!! Our Dobie, Duke, has stayed there before, but Bella our Boxer baby hasn't, so we're going to do a trial run over one weekend for her & make sure she's ok! All the 'children' have to be taken care of so I can focus on Caleigh!!! Can't wait! Gotta Wait! UGH!
Well, here's some cute lobster pics....