Travel Visa

Somehow I forgot to mention that we got our travel visas back. This is surprising because it's such a big deal to me!! It was incredibly hard for me to mail off our passports to the Vietnamese Embassy. I prayed over that envelope for several minutes- and now our passports are now safely back in our hands with a sticker inside that says something (probably important) in vietnamese. If you remember back to dossier submission time (June-July 07) it was my missing passport that threatened to hold up our dossier process. And the sooner the dossier is in VN, the sooner we travel (in theory). A sweet lady at the passport helpline stepped in and I got it in time. All that to say- it was SO difficult to send that thing off to a foreign embassy and I am so grateful it's back in my posession! Now watch me lose it!

We're going to Vietnam!!

We finally muddled through the mess that is USCIS in Hanoi (with A LOT of help from our congressmam!!) and got our I600 approval letter Wednesday morning (the 12th). I'd been waking up every morning at 5:30am since we received Vietnam's travel approval- November 29th. The embassy in Hanoi closes at 5:30am our time, so I knew that if I didn't have an email from them I wouldn't hear anything til the next morning. It was an aweful way to start every day- and I was so very tired!! But all that is behind us because--WE ARE GOING TO VIETNAM!! We have our Giving and Receiving in January 8th and are traveling the Saturday before. We will get our formal itenerary later, but it is so nice to finally have a date to circle on the calendar! We have some friends who have become very dear to us that are still waiting on that elusive approval, so please send some prayers their way- it would be nice to join up with them in Hanoi. I will leave you with the strangest pictures of the girls- over Thanksgiving we went to a cabin my Grandaddy has. A wild grouse has decided he really likes the family and comes when called and plays with the kids . It's so very strange- but perfect for my kids who love all animals!! So, I leave you with pictures of two of the sweetest, funniest, strangest, amazing kids I have known- they are my joy.

It's been awhile because, frankly, I've been waiting to write about our travel call. The whole mess with the US embassy and the new policy just upsets me, so I figured I'd keep my mouth shut until I had something nice to say. Well, today we got updates!! We weren't expecting them for a few more weeks, so that was a really nice surprise! We came home from Emily's school play and I checked the email for news from the embassy (it opens around 8 pm our time) and Holt had sent the update. And get this-----Isaac had his lip repair surgery! I was a little uupset- I had wanted the surgeon here to do it and to be there with him as he went through this, but I didn't get a vote. That's another fact that's hard to swallow. His paperwork now says 'matched with Miller family' but we still don't have any real input into his life. And he looks so different!! I honestly wouldn't have recognized him! I've stared at his sweet face for 5 1/2 months now. It's sad for me to see a different face in the pictures. I've read on 'Wide Smiles' that a lot of parents feel this way after a repair. So at least I know I'm not the only one.

But I am choosing to focus on all the good things this means. It means he will not look so different to the world and won't have such a hard time his first few months here out in public. Because of this my 4 year old will not have to tell off anyone-- she's been practicing what to say if someone makes fun of her brother and, honestly, I think she was looking forward to it! And I got to see how much the girls already think of him as theirs- E was sad because she wanted to be there to take him into and out of surgery so he didn't feel alone. He will now have one less surgery to go through- and I'm so glad he can now learn to talk properly (of course, I still won't know what he's saying!). His update a few weeks before the surgery said he only had 2 sounds- 'e' and 'u'. He now has several words--one is Ma!!-- and can eat adult food. That's huge!

The pictures are also precious because they show him playing with all the things we sent him and wearing the clothes we sent. How thoughtful of the foster family to think of that! The girls loved seeing the dinosaur bib and flag bib they picked. And it also says he loves all wheeled things. We had picked several cars to send- a Jeep like Daddys and some tractors (because A. LOVES tractors!) and it's nice to see he likes them. Also, the report says he's not as scared of strangers and doesn't cry at new people. I'm sure we'll push the limits on that- but it's nice to know he feels secure enough not to be terrified.

So, much to be greatful for. Now if we could just go get him already!!

Oh, isn't he just so cute!?