Wow One Year

Its been a long time since my last post, but it has been very busy. Howie is more and more active every day. He is talking so much anymore. Everyday he says something new and I love it. It is so nice being able to communicate with him so much. He can actually tell me what he wants anymore. Its hard for me to believe that it has been a year since we saw his beautiful face. It has been one long year, but the best of our lives. It feels like he has been with us for much longer, but at times I look at him and can't believe that he is ours. We are looking forward to the holidays. We think that it is going to be so much fun. Last week we went to Iowa to celebrate my nephew's first birthday. We had a good time. Our little man is becoming such a traveler. We go to Colorado next month for Christmas. We will be home for Christmas, so I am excited to decorate the house.

Halloween was fun too. He was a little scared Trick or Treating, but he had a lot of fun handing out candy to the kids. He loved his costume and didn't try to take it off.

The doctor says that we are progressing great. We are still on the small side, but I imagine that we always will be. She is very happy with his communication skills. We are still getting shots, which is NOT fun. He knows what is coming now, so it seems to make it worse.

We are praying that Vietnam does not close again. We have many friends that are in the middle of an adoption and we would like to go back to Vietnam eventually too.

Here are a few pictures of our little man.

Updates

Updates

Well it has been a while since I have updated our blog. I am sure that those of you that have or have had one year olds know that sometimes it is hard to sit down for long periods of time with out interuptions. Howie is doing great. I have had so many people tell me how much he is coming out of his shell and how great he looks. I hardly go a day with out some one telling me how cute he is. We have had a lot happen in the last month or so. We have finalized our adoption here. I already knew that he was ours forever, but it felt like a load off knowing that his name has been changed and he is officially an Eoff. He has been walking and talking non-stop. He loves to climb and just be active. His favorite word is Tractor. Grandpa loves it since he also loves tractors. We went to our first birthday party for our friend Ben. We had a lot of fun. At first it was overwhelming, but once he knew it was ok he was off and looking for toys and playing. We are being watched by the doctor because of our weight gain. We haven't been gaining as much as she would like, so we are on pediasure right now so that we can gain and maintain our weight. I think that he has finally reached the 20 pound mark, but we should know for sure in a week. He is still wearing 12 month and some 9 month clothing. Our shorts are 6 months and they fit perfect. I can tell that when it comes time to wear pants we are going to have to search for the right brand to work for us. There are so many times when Scott and I comment on how much he wants to be a big boy. Even though he wants to be a big boy he still loves to cuddle with mom. I can't believe that he has been ours for 4 months already. It feels like he has been in our life for so much longer. Some days I just look at him and am amazed that God blessed us with such a wonderful little boy. I have also posted some pictures so you can see how he is growing.

Trip to Colorado

Update

We got back this week from our first trip tp Colorado to meet some more of the family. Howie got to meet his Great Grandma, Aunt Melissa, Uncle Dan and his cousin Jase. We had a lot of fun. He did really well traveling and he did well to get back on his schedule when we got home. He is starting to walk more and enjoying it. It is still not fast enough for him, but he is trying which is what counts. We have another tooth coming in so we are pretty cranky right now. When this tooth comes in we will have 4 top and 4 bottom. We are still working on the talking, but it is coming. He is using his signs a lot and is stringing more than one together, like more please. We are really proud of him. We go to the doctor in a week or so and I am excited to hear what she has to say. I will try to post more often.

Some Pictures

Home!!!

Home!!!

Sorry that it has taken me so long to update the blog, but I have been busy, tired and just trying to get my barrings as a new mom. Lets see where to start, time change. We have been very lucky Howie has adjusted to the time change great. He goes to bed at 7pm and wakes up between 6:30 and 7am. He knew the first night that it was night time and went right to sleep. He has still been waking up every 2-3 hours for a bottle, but he goes right back to sleep after he eats. We are still working on the baby food, but he is doing much better. Some days he chows down others he is just not interested. We have found his current favorite food, mashed potatoes. He loves them. He has explored the whole house and is on the move most of the time now. He talks all the time (in jibber) and smiling all the time. We are all very happy with his adjustment. He is cutting a new tooth so this weekend has been kind of tough, but all in all his is still a happy little guy. I will try to keep this updated, but those of you who have children know how hard it is to find time to clean, cook, do laundry and do computer work. I will post some pictures though.

Delayed Due to Weather

We will be in at 1:15pm via Frontier due to the fact that our flight to and from Dallas was canceled. We were lucky and are able to still be in today, just a little later. See you all soon.

Comming Home

Stacy, Howie and I are set to start comming home Wednesday night if the visa for Howie comes through as we expect it too. We will be checking out of the hotel in Hanoi at 2:30PM and we head to pickup the visa and then to the airport. We are looking to be back in Arkansas Thursday May 10th. We will be arriving on American Airlines 3533 at 8:40AM. We were really hoping to get back sooner but with the holidays here in Vietnam we are only getting to make 1 day earlier. We are so excited to see our family and friends and be home in our own beds.

See you all home soon!

Picture Update 5/8/07

Howie copies daddy

Pictures Update Saturday May 6th

Playing "Get yea" with Howie

Our little man

Daddy Eoff's first blog post!

Hello all! This is daddy Eoff’s first time to type in the blog. I have to admit this experience has been so meaningful to me and has really opened my eyes to this wonderful culture. As I’ve been here I’ve really hardly seen any heavy set people here, but they sure do notice me (ha ha). When we were picking up our son in Can Tho we had went shopping with the other couples and in the market a little girl came up to me and patted my stomach. She said “baby”! Everyone just laughed and I said no its budda and she said no it’s a baby. This would not be my last experience of this culture having fun with my belly. As the ladies stayed on the bus as we crossed the river to go back to HCMC, the guys had to walk through stockades again to ride the regular way. As we were walking through the gate the gate guard grabbed my arm and rubbed my belly and laughed.

This experience has been so fun. I now really want to experience more around the world. The food has been really tough to find things I like, but I think I’ve lost a few pounds in the process. There is allot of restaurants that serve western style food, but based on how they think it is. They cook all the meat very lightly and I think my steak was still moving yesterday at dinner. Stacy and I have found this 1 meal we both love and it’s at this restaurant called Limongrass (Awesome). Since we try put Howie to bed at 6:00PM every night it’s up to me to go and get us some food and bring it back to the room. Limongrass is just a block away and we gotten this spicy grilled chicken they make twice now.

Everyone here for the most part drive mopads (50cc), you’re not required to have a driver’s license at that size of engine. When I go out to do an arrant for Stacy to pickup something for Howie I got this 1 guy who just waits for me every time. Its so funny me riding on his mopad just down the block or 2, but I don’t have the heart to keep telling him no anymore, he try’s so hard and he is a very nice guy. It’s a site to see though cause it looks the mopad is shooting off in the air with me on the back (ha ha).

Howie is everything I expected and more. His smile just melts me every morning when we get up. He is really starting to warm up to Stacy and I. He is very shy at heart, but when he shows you the few teeth he does have it will melt you too.

O yea… I have to tell you this story too. Now here at the Kimdo Hotel you can get a massage for $10.00 and that’s for an hour. I’ve only had few ever in my life, but I decided to have one here at the hotel. Well, that was an experience. I had completely forgotten were I was when I put my head through the head loop on the bench, cause 2 minutes in I was screaming like a little girl so the whole hotel could hear me. The little girl half my size was standing on my back and I still swear she broke something, but I’ll have to let my doctor check me out when I get back.

Alright 1 more story, but I debated if I would tell you guys this one cause this was so embarrassing, but it’s really funny too. This city is weird like this but each block you go on the stores seem to be selling the same stuff, so you might see 5 shoe stores in a row and the next block might have 5 video stores. Well to the story, I was on the video block and on this block they sell newly released movies that are in the theaters back home and I went to the middle store in the block (why I don’t know, but I did) so as I get there, this little girl brings me a chair to sit on so I can go through the stacks of movies she hands me. Each store/vendor will offer you a chair to set in as you look at their stuff. When I’m sitting on this chair for like 5 minutes and all of a sudden CRASH the damn chair snaps in to 50 thousand pieces and I was laid out in front of the shop and as I look around all the other video vendors come out to see what happen and I was SOOoooo embarrassed. I played it off and pointed as the little girl who gave me the chair and told them she punched me (ha ha). Most of the people are small stature and so if you can picture this little girl laughing so hard at me I felt like absolute crap.

There are actually so many other stories I could tell, but to save a little dignity I will wait to post again at a later date.

Picture Update 5/2/2007

Saturday 28th in Vietnam

Well it is another day in Vietnam. We are now on our 4 days of rest. It has been a good day so far. Howie and I got up this morning about 5:30am and had a bottle. It was than time to play. Well Daddy still wanted to sleep, so we went down to the lobby and walked around for a bit until about 7am. Daddy was ready to get up. We than called both the parents and they were all excited to hear from us. We got dressed and headed to breakfast at the Kim Do. Howie was a little fidgety so it was a quick breakfast. About 9am he was tired and cranky, but didn’t want to lie down so we decided to go for a walk and do a little shopping. We went back to the mall to see the rest of the vendors. We found some more really great things. While shopping Howie fell asleep. He slept for almost 2 hours, his usual time limit, I think he might have slept longer, but he woke up really hungry. We got him a bottle and changed him and he is good to go. He is currently playing with Daddy while I type this up. I was able to sleep for about an hour and take a shower while he was napping. I think that we are going to go and get some lunch and walk some more. We need to get more formula and diapers. By that time we are hoping that he will be ready for another nap and dinner than to bed. This is probably going to be our schedule for the next day or two. We are really enjoying seeing all the things that Vietnam has to offer and exploring HCMC. We are also enjoying just hanging out in the room and playing. We are still teething; everything is going into our mouth. He really likes the teether that I have for him. He wasn’t so interested in the baby food today mainly the bottles, which is ok, that gives me more one on one time with him. I love the cuddly time with him. Scott is enjoying playing with him. He has taken to being a dad like a duck to water. He has been so great about getting up and making the bottle in the middle of the night, which helps me so much. We have been really lucky with the sleeping; I hope that it keeps up that way. I am sure that we will have some problems along the way, but I think that Scott and I can handle it. This whole experience has brought us so much closer together. We are enjoying this time together. Well I best be going so we can get some lunch. I will post again tonight or tomorrow.

Road Trip "Can Tho" pickup Howie and Pic's from hotel room there

Pictures 4-28-07

Video of Howie Flying

Press link ->: VIDEO

Update 4-27-07

Well we left home over a week ago and we will be in Vietnam for at least another week and a half. It feels like we have been away from home for a month. This morning we went to a huge market. We barely covered any of it and I was so hot. I started not to feel well and Howie was so tired that we left early and came back to the hotel. Howie promptly went to sleep and has been a sleep for about 2 hours. Last night he slept good again. He went to sleep about 7 and woke up for his bottle about 3 and went right back to sleep until 5:15am this morning. He is a quiet baby, he doesn’t jabber much, but when he does it is the cutest thing. Each day we are learning more new things about our son…can you believe it we have a son. We just sit there are star at him and can’t believe that he is really ours. I have heard that many people feel like they are baby sitting, I think ours is a feeling of disbelief. Through the process there were a lot of painful times and the waiting seemed endless, but you are never for sure if it is worth it when you are going through it, but let me tell you….it is sooooooo worth it. Just one little smile makes your heart melt and one little giggle makes you smile. The funniest thing happened yesterday Howie was playing and I went to the bathroom Scott was watching him. I walk out and Scott says what is he doing. I promptly say well just standing and playing…..and then I smell it. I started laughing so hard. Scott and I were both laughing so hard because something so smelly came out of this sweet little boy. We both have been waiting for our first poopie diaper since we have gotten him. I made Scott look at it to see if he could handle changing one, but he told me no way really fast and about throw up. We were both laughing so hard. Howie looked at us like we are nuts. The joy of parenthood. Who would have thought that we would think that a poopie diaper or gas is funny. Ok so I am sure you all don’t want to hear about poopie diapers.

Scott goes today to get Howie’s passport and hopefully we should know what is going to happen next week. We are looking forward to some time to explore too. Well I will post more later and I am sure that Scott has more pictures to post.

Another great day with Howie

Howie's Passport Day

Howie's Officially ours!!!!

Let me start by saying that yesterday was one of the greatest days of my life. It was also one of the most exhausting and longest days. We met in the lobby of the hotel at 7:15am. We headed to the center after that. Once we got there we were taken upstairs to the boys. I was ready for a little more crying and the unsureness that was to follow, but he was handed right to me and didn't cry. That felt wonderful. We were there for about 15 minutes and the nannies took the boys from us and changed them into there traditional vietnamese clothing. They gave us the clothing for the boys it was a wonderful surprise. After this the nannies started saying good bye to the boys and there was a lot of tears from parents and nannies. It just goes to show how much the boys were loved and how well they were taken care of. We then got back on the bus and headed to the local justice department. All the boys were wide eyed and just taking in there surroundings. They had never even been downstairs of the center and here they are on a bus. We signed some papers at the local justice department and he was officially ours. My hands were shaking while I was signing everything. I was so scared that they were going to tell us that they were missing something or that we had to wait. The local justice department isn't anything like I expected. I thought that there would just be a few people there, but there were a lot of officials and alot of people waiting to do something else there. We headed back to the hotel for about 15 minutes while we were waiting for the paperwork to be processed. We all fed the boys while we were there and Howie ate his really well. At 9:45am we headed out to HCMC. It was a looooong ride. We had to wait a while for the ferry and we also had to wait for construction and a few other places the traffic was stop and go. We stopped about 1:00pm for lunch and headed right back out after that. We finally got to the hotel at 4:00pm. We were all so tired and ready to be in our rooms. Howie did great on the ride back. He took 2 naps each for a little over an hour. I was pleased given all the bumps in the road. The men headed to the grocery store last night and we all just stayed in our room. Howie slept great last night and is currently taking his morning nap. He is eating very well and he is smiling and enjoying playing. We had our passports and passport pictures today for Howie and now we get to rest until Friday. Friday we pick up the passports and I am not sure what else we will be doing, but after that we will be resting for the next 4 days. (Vietnamese Holidays fall tomorrow, Monday and Tuesday). I will post some more tomorrow.

Howie is officially ours!

Day 2 with Howie

Well it was another great day in Vietnam. This morning we went to a market pretty close to the hotel. It was a lot of fun. We bought Howie two authentic Vietnamese outfits. We are very excited to see him in it. We met at 1:00pm to put together our gifts and donations for the caregivers. We ended making sacks of gifts for specific people like the Director of Red Cross and the director of the center. Then we went to the Red Cross center and talked with the oficials there. We were able to express our gratitude to them and they got the reasurance that we are going to take care of the boys. It was a little intimidating at first, but by the end we had them laughing a joking with us. It was nice to be able to give them our gifts directly. We think that they appreciated the thought. We drove over to the center after this. We got to speak to the director and she was a very nice lady. She actually thanked us for taking the boys. By far it is us thanking her, no thanks are needed on her end. The best part of the day was seeing Howie again. We ended up spending about an hour and half with him again. He cried when we saw him again, but it was only for a few minutes. I ended up picking him up and being able to comfort him which was good. I am starting to learn what he likes to soothe himself. He likes to hold on to a wash clothe and also he likes a bottle. We started noticing small things like he would put his feet up to my mouth because he liked me playing with them and he would start to give me his washcloth and I would hand it back to him. He was able to give me his comfort item. He really started to relax. We thougt that we were doing great when we got a half smile. Then we played some more and we got a full smile and a few giggles. We are very excited to be able to sit with him a lone and have him concentrate on us with not distractions. We also got to feed him a bottle. He did really well and finished it right off, but it was only about 4-6oz. It was a great day. To see him smile was the greatest gift that he could have given us.

The plan for tomorrow...we leave for the center about 7:15am. We will be there for about a half an hour for us to get them settled with us again and to get formula and diapers. We will then take the boys to the local justice department and sign a few papers and it is official. The way we understand it the caregivers are not coming with us to the local justice department, but things can always change. Well that is about it for tonight, I will write again tomorrow. We need to get some sleep who knows when we will be able to sleep a full night again for a while.

Day 2 with Howie

Meeting Howie Pictures

Meeting Howie

The drive down to Can Tho took us about 5 hours, but it went pretty fast because of all the scenery there was to look at. It was pretty much city driving all the way down. We had to get on a ferry to get over to Can Tho and I have never experience anything like that before. We were put into a holding room with the scooters and then herded out. You had to really watch out not to get ran over by the scooters. Can Tho is a beautiful city set right on the river. Our hotel room looks out on the river and we watched a beautiful sunrise over the river this morning. The room is pretty nice too. On to the best part...Howie. The center is really beautiful set right on the river. It was sooooo clean and the staff was great. They are
really knowledgable and really helped the transition for the boys to get to know us. We walked upstairs to a room and we were the last couple in. Howie was already crying. He was pretty scared. He cried off and on for about 15 minutes and by 20-25 minutes he was on our laps for the rest of the time. He was so interested on what was going on around him. He would look
around and than turn and look at us. We didn't get a smile out of him, we were close, but I think in a couple days he will be smiling all the time for us. We had to write in a book for the center about the experience for them to keep. I wish that we would have had more time to prepare because there was so much that I wanted to say and had a hard time putting it into to
words. When it was time to go we had to put him back into his crib (his bedroom is air conditioned!!!!) and he started to cry. This made us feel pretty good because he would rather be with us than in his crib. All in all it went pretty well. We are excited to go see him again today and tomorrow morning he will be ours forever. The internet is pretty sporatic here, so we
will try and post again tonight, but it may not be until tomorrow in HCMC.

WE"RE HERE

Well we left Little Rock AR at 2:00pm Thursday and arrived in Vietnam at 10:20am, most of that time was spent in the air except about 7 hours, in other words we are all happy not to be on an airplane. It was really cool flying into Hong Kong because the airport is on a man made island. You fly in right over the water and you get really close to it. It was really cool seeing this part of China. Arriving in Vietnam was very different. I think that there was very few Americans going through immagration. For the families that are traveling soon, this is a piece of cake. I worried a little, but the officer didn't even ask me a questions. Same with customs. The Dillon employees are great here. They are so nice. We are leaving tomorrow at 7am and meet Howie at 3pm. We are exhausted but very excited.

Ok on the Vietnam....what you see here can not be put into words. Scott and I have never traveled out of the country before, but this is so different even when I already kind of knew what to expect. There are some really beautiful buildings here. The scooters and traffic are REALLY scary. We were in a bus and I think we almost hit a half dozen people, but it is normal. The hotel room is pretty big. Hard wood floors and a big bed (that is really close to the ground). I am going to try to post some pictures tonight. We are all excited to see more tonight and tomorrow. We are going to go and look around tonight and get dinner. I am pretty sure we all want to go to bed early since we are tired and need to get up early in the morning. I will post more later.

Vietnam Here We Come

Well this will be my last post until we are in Vietnam. I can't believe that it is actually happening. I still don't think it will really hit me until we are on the airplane or until we are actually in Vietnam. We are so excited. I am VERY nervous. I was all packed yesterday I just need to put a few things that we need today in the bag and we are ready to head off to the airport. It is going to be a long day and I am sure that I will be tired, so hopefully that will help me sleep on the flight from LA to Hong Kong. My hope is that I will be able to sleep a lot of that flight. Please pray that we all get there safe, on time and all our luggage arrives. Talk to you soon from Vietnam!!!

Travel Schedule

Here is the schedule for our trip:

Leave Little Rock @ 4:25pm Thursday April 19
Arrive in HCMC @ 10:20am Saturday April 21
We will stay in the Kim Do that night and leave early the next morning to meet our son. We will be spending the 22nd and 23rd in Can Tho getting to know our son. We are also excited about the extra time to explore Can Tho, Howie's place of birth. We will have our G&R on the 24th at 9:00am. We will be heading back to HCMC after the ceremony. There are three holidays that fall while we are there, so they are still trying to get us back in a reasonable amount of time. The holidays fall on the 26th, 30th and May 1st. It looks like we will have about 4 days of rest in the middle of the trip due to the holidays which is ok it will give us a chance to explore HCMC. We are hoping to have our interview with the US Consulate in Hanoi on the 7th, but it just depends on how busy they are. With the holidays it might push us back, we will have to wait and see.

We just can't believe that it is finally happening. We leave in 2 days!! The scary thing is that I still have to pack. I have been trying to wait to pack because I don't want to have nothing to do because than the nervousness will get to me. I already have butterflies what will I be like tomorrow and Thursday? Scott is going to work today and tomorrow and a little from home on Thursday. I will try to post every day and post lots on pictures.


WE ARE COMING TO GET YOU HOWIE!! WE WILL SEE YOU IN 5 DAYS!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY HOWIE!!

Today Howie turns 1 year old. I wish that we could be there to hold him in my arms. I wish that I could have that picture with the cake all over his face. We are going to have a little party here anyways. We are so close to getting him. We missed it by a little over two weeks. Happy Birthday Howie. Mommy and Daddy love you so much!!!

Howie

New Picture

We got a new picture and an updated weight for Howie. If you notice he is wearing the same outfit again. I can't wait to see him in something different. He still weights 16 pounds and he is 29.1 inches long. It looks like he is crawling now which is good. We are just so excited to see him in less than 3 weeks!!!

WE HAVE OUR G&R!!!

At about 9:30am this morning we got the most wonderful email from Katie stating that we have our Giving & Receiving Cermony Date. The magic date is April 24, 2007. We need to be in Vietnam on Saturday the 21st so we will be leaving some time around that date. I don't know the exact dates yet, they are currently being worked on. The time has finally come. Hopefully we will leave in a little over 2 weeks. No more paperwork that has to be completed or moved we are on the homestretch and I will be holding my beautiful baby boy soon. Scott and I are feeling so many emotions right now and my mind won't stop thinking of the hundreds of things that I need to get done before we leave. When I know more of an exact plan I will post again. Thank you to all of your prayers for our paperwork. Please continue to pray for safe travel for us when the time comes.

Mail and Updates

After going to the post office twice I finally have our visas in hand. The dates are right which was a relief. It seems like we are so close now. YIPEEE, we are going to Vietnam soon.

ALSO...Kathryn and Dusty's paperwork left Hanoi today one day behind ours, which means that they are caught up with us. This wonderful news. Lets hope that this is the first of good news.

I know that two of the families have gotten home safe, we will continue to pray for the rest to get home ok. I am glad that they have had a wonderful journey in Vietnam and I can't wait to see more pictures.

Dreams and Updates

So for the past week I have been having dreams about Howie. Of course they aren't the first and I know that they won't be the last. These dreams seem so real though. One I was at the orphange and I was taken up to meet him for the first time. Another dream I was in the airport with him waiting to catch the flight home. I would set him down and he would scream at the top of his lungs until I picked him up again. This could really happen. I think that is why I feel so tired when I get up. I always feel like I want to go back to sleep when I wake up and had a dream about Howie. This feeling is a new feeling for me. Usually I have to tell myself not to dream so I can get a good night sleep, but when I have dreams about Howie I don't want to wake up. I know I am very strange...blame my mom she dreams like this too.

Ok now on to the update...I probably should have started with this, oh well. We got an email today stating that our paperwork is going to leave for the local justice department tomorrow or wednesday. I am really hoping tomorrow. I was told that it will be about two weeks there and than two weeks with the peoples committee and than our G&R. So I asked are we still hoping for April. Jynger stated that we could still travel in April, but to prepare emotionally for May too. So in my mind I keep thinking well if I have the date of the G&R in April even if the actual G&R is in May I will be fine. We are getting so close to the end, but two weeks seems so long. Please keep praying that the paperwork will move quickly. Now as you know Kathryn and Dusty's paperwork is trying to catch up with us. Please continue to pray that they will be able to travel with us.

VISAS!!!!

We got word from Katie today to go ahead and get our Visas. Our entry date is April 1, so lets keep praying that it will be in April. We are so excited. It is like we are really getting close and this is really going to happen. I really hope that we get word soon that our paperwork has moved again. Here I am sitting at home on my half day thinking...I really need to clean the house, do the laundry and pay a few bills and I decided to check my email and there it is. I have all of it ready to go tomorrow, I only need Scott to sign it. I feel like dancing. I keep thinking if I am this excited over the visas how am I going to be when we get the actual date. I think the whole town of Conway is going to hear me scream or I will cry like a baby. I can hardly contain myself. Mommys coming soon Howie. The Can Tho families are so excited!!!

OOPS......

Well last week was a week of many emotions. As you know from the previous post we found out that our paperwork was delayed. Well late last week we found out that it was actually one of the other couples, Kathryn and Dusty's paperwork that was delayed. I would never wish the feeling of being delayed on any one, so it was confusing to say the least. One minute I was praying for their paperwork to catch up with ours the next I was praying for accurate and quick processing of ours. Talk about conflicting prayers. The good news that we found out today is that their paperwork is on its way to Hanoi to catch up with ours. WOOHOOO!! This makes them about a week behind which makes it very possible to catch up. I am so happy for them. I know how they felt and I am sure this is such a relief for them. So keep on praying that we all get to travel soon. It is only weeks away instead of months, which is wonderful. Lets pray for an update soon. We are also hoping for a picture and weight info soon too.
On another note, the four families in Vietnam now are doing great and everything seems to be going smoothly for them which is wonderful. I have been following them and it makes me so excited and anxious to go. It is starting to feel like this is really going to happen. Lets keep hoping and praying that it will.

Delayed

Well we found out Monday that our paperwork has been delayed. We are hoping that we are only behind a week or two from the other Can Tho families and that we will be able to catch up. Our paperwork is currently at the police station. We just don't know how long it will take them to approve everything. Lets hope and pray that they will do what they need to do with speed and accuracy. Scott and I really want to travel with the other families.

Can Tho families- What a great bunch of people. I have never met these people, but they can lift your spirits and you know that they are here for you even if you don't live by each other. These people have wonderful hearts and are very caring people. I am lucky to call them my friends and I know that they will be wonderful parents to their special little boys. We am lucky to have them in our lives. Thanks doesn't seem enough, but thanks for being there for us guys!!!

Good Things and Bad Things

Well today was a day for tears. I cried because our paperwork is still in the same place. Because of Tet not much has happened for us. We were told that it should move next week, but no guarantee. In the scheme of things what is one more week, but in my heart it just breaks thinking of waiting another week. The other Can Tho families were right there with us which helped make things a little better. We are also blessed to have our great friends Tricia and Rob, that understand and listen. I don't know where I would be with out all the support from every one.

The great thing is we got a new picture of Howie. I love it!! He is sitting up on his own and looks so bright and alert. Yes we are still bald, and we love it. We were told that his favorite toy right now is a ball and he is grasping things very well. In the back ground there are walkers and they take turns in them, which is great. We were also told that the Can Tho boys are together all the time. I am sure that they have a special bond and will be great friends.

Lets pray that we will have an update next week on our paperwork. We need the news. Congrats to everyone that got updated pictures and updates on paperwork.

Shopping, Organizing and More Shopping

Last weekend my mom helped me wash all Howie's clothes and then we went through everything to figure out what we still need. We thought we were being smart, but it seemed like every time we thought we had a list completed we had to make a new one. It was exhausting. After several trips to target and a few stops a long the way, I feel like I have everything we need to take with me for now. I am sure that when I get home there will be more to buy. We set clothes, toys, medicine and bottles aside to take with us. I am feeling fairly ready to bring Howie home. I am sure that when we get our G&R I will think of several other things that we need to take with us.

Now I am starting to think about what I am going to wear. I have been searching high and low for capris. I am going to look a few more places this weekend. I hope that I have better luck. I know that I have time, but I hate feeling rushed. I need a few more t-shirts and things too. Just thinking about why I need these things is making me so excited to go. I hope that we hear something soon. We are going crazy not hearing anything. I know that it may be a couple more weeks, but I also know that it could be anytime. Every time I check my email I hold my breath hoping that there is something there about Howie or his paperwork. I know it will be soon, but of course it is not soon enough.

Valentines Day

It was a great Day. This was our last Valentines day as a couple. I made dinner for Scott and he sent me a beautiful bouquet of roses. It was very simple day, but a wonderful Valentines day.


Scott's mom, Shirley came into town this weekend for the wedding of Scott's Cousin, William. Congrats to William and Natalie, I hope that you have a beautiful wedding and a wonderful blessed life together. Shirley is excited to see Howie's room and all the gifts from the shower.

My mom, Robbie, is also coming in the weekend. She is going to help me finish setting up his room and making a list of what else we need to buy before Howie gets home. I am excited, it should be a fun weekend. We are also baby proofing the house. I figured that this should give us time to get used to how to open doors and cabinets with the childproof stuff on.

We also heard from Katie at Dillon that we should get pictures and an update when Jynger gets back from Vietnam, which is an about two weeks. I am excited to get the update, but I would also love to hear about our paperwork too. All of us Can Tho couples are getting very anxious to hear something. We all are praying that we will hear something soon. Tet starts tomorrow, so we also know that it will be a little bit before we will hear anything. We are all trying to be patient, but it is very hard. Any prayers said for our group would be greatly appreciated.

Four people got their G&R this week, they have been waiting for a while, so we are all excited for them. We are also looking forward to watching their blogs while they are picking up their beautiful children. Congrats to those families and we will be praying for a safe journey.

Waiting, Waiting and more Waiting...

There has been two referrals, a few LID's and some updates for the month of February so far. This is more than any one has expected. We are still hoping that we might hear something. We are very happy for everyone that has gotten good news and hope that more is to comes for those of us waiting to hear something. It seems like this is the largest hurtle to get over, but I say that through out this whole waiting process. I just keep thinking about Howie getting bigger and not being able to see any of it. Like every one I have my good days and bad. I keep praying that we will hear something. I guess it comes when I least expect it, which how it always seems to work. I am guessing that we won't hear anything for at least two weeks. I keep telling myself that God has a plan and I need to trust in that. I have to give it over to Him and he will take care of Howie and us. I will continue to pray for the other families in the adoption process and I will pray for my Howie.

baby Shower

Well we had our baby shower and we were very thankful. We had a great turn out and it was a lot of fun. Everything that people gave us will be a great help. Erin was an excellent host. Emily (my friend Melissa's little girl) was extremely helpful unwrapping the presents. Thanks again to all those who came and those who got us a gift. We are truly blessed to have such great family and friends.

New Picture

Here is our newest picture. We are so excited to have this picture. He will be 10 months on the 8th. Wish we could hold him now, but we will be there to pick him up soon.