With my daughter on my lap

Our first night with our daughter was amazing. She was being so stubborn, she wouldn't get in the bed. I finally had to scoop her up and rock her. During the night she would reach over and touch me in her sleep. In the middle of the night she got up and sat on the floor completely asleep. I again scooped her up, and she didn't even fight. She fell asleep on my chest. I rolled her off, so we could both be more comfortable. BUT she rolled back towards me.

This morning she laid in bed for a very long time. You could tell that she was deciding how she was going to react to her new reality. She decided not to cry.

She has still been ignoring Jay. She has been clinging to me. We are both trying to help her feel comfortable by giving her what she needs. For Jay that means backing off even though he's dying to cuddle her. For me it means sitting and asking for Jay to go get things because little miss won't let me up.

We may decide to venture out later, but I'm nervous about that. We are afraid she may think that she's going back.

Continue to pray for attachment. That she would know it's okay. And pray for Jay. He wants to love on her so badly!!!

Screaming Ball of Tulle!

Well the G&R Ceremony has finally came and went, Sadie is ours! As par for the course there were lots of tears and screaming and ending with Monica finally grabbing Sadie from the Nannies arms, they had no intentions of leaving. We went up to the hotel room with our little "screaming ball of tulle" in arm. She did not want to eat her lunch, so Monica rocked and rocked until she finally cried her self to sleep in Monica's arms. We knew the transition was going to be hard, but what a beautiful little cry!

God is good!

Our G&R is set for Friday October 31st at 10:00am.

That's all I can say. Words fail.... Our daughter will be OURS in 7 hours!!!!!!!!

Praise God from whom all blessings flow.

The rain lifted but it pours on.

Today was not good. Sadie was at the supermarket getting passport photos done when we arrived for our visit. We walked around for about 30 minutes in the hot sun. When she returned, she did not want to be with us. She had treats from the market, and she was more interested in those. She did take the treats we had brought but then ran away.

Then she went over to the nannies, and completely ignored us. She kept checking to see that we were there, but she was not interested in playing. Hung was gone doing G&R prep. The nannies seemed indifferent to us. It was not a good day.

Hung said we should skip the afternoon visit today. We are at the hotel, but we want to be with her.

Pray that the G&R is tomorrow. Pray that Sadie will adjust well.

We are ready to have her full time. Pray our G&R will be tomorrow!!!!!

FYI

We cannot log into e-mail, so please leave comments on the blog. We can communicate that way.

Day 2: Lost without translation

Okay, so apparently a two year old can hold a grudge. Sadie let us know that she was NOT happy with us leaving her yesterday. She wouldn't let us hold her, and at times flat out turned her back to us. Then when Jay put his shoes on to leave our morning visit, she began to cry. I tried to rock her, and she let me. But she wouldn't stop crying. It made the nannies step in, and I felt totally useless.

We both skipped lunch because we were a mess. Rejection hurts!

Fast forward to our afternoon visit... Little miss was sleeping when we arrived, so we watied on the porch. When she woke up the nannies pulled out the toys we had sent her. We played dolls, she combed mommy's hair, and her and daddy played a counting game with batteries (who needs toys). By the end of our visit she was back in love with us.

The truest moment of this was when other kids came in her room. She sat on my lap, and then pulled us away from them, jealousy! It's a good sign. She let me feed her a little, but she wasn't feeling very well. She only ate her soup and some meat. I think her throat is sore.

When we started to put our shoes on, she started to get upset again. The nanny picked her up and talked to her. She allowed me to cuddle her for a few minutes then she was upset. The nanny spoke to her again, and she followed us to the taxi, waving and blowing kisses.

It has been a rollercoster of a day. But at the end of it a phone call with a beacon of light. Please pray that beacon signs true!

BTW spell check is not working, and I'm tired. Forgive the mistakes.

And Now The Moment You Have All Been Waiting For...

Today was the Big Day, we finally met our beautiful little girl. Words just can not explain how amazing it was, so just take a look for yourselves and see.

We're heeeerrrrreeee

We arrived in Tam Ky around 6:00ish pm on Monday October 27th. (VN time) We are staying in a so far nice hotel, Le Dung Hotel (go ahead laugh). They met us outside, brought our bags in, and had wet towels and tea waiting. It is also very nice and very inexpensive. We just got here, so give it a while for the full review.

I am not going to write much this evening. I am very tired and need to sleep. I just wanted you all to know that we made it here safely. Thank You for your prayers.

We see our little girl tomorrow, and we have been advised to take presents. Apparently she loves pretty clothes, jewelry, etc. Imagine that!

Pay no attention to the time on this blog

Let me start with a warning...
I am tired so tired...can't sleep sitting up...want a bed... HEILP!!!! (yes that's what I wrote) (Ya, apparently I can't spell at nearly 2am) We are in San Fran waiting for the longest leg of our flight. My eyes really want to shut but they won't.
I have been pryaing for this flight...safety, comfort, safety, and get us there quickly!

So far we have arrived at both stops ahead of schedule, now if we could leave ahead of schedule everything would be great.

San Francisco 10/25 10:46 Local time 1:46am home time, written in notebook due to lack of internet.

Okay, so we're in Hong Kong. WE have internet. We survived 14hours in uncomfort. This flight arrived early as well. And so far our terminals have been the farthest away possible. In spite of all this, we are one step closer to our daughter.

Continue your prayers for our trip. Other families are saying to expect to wait, but I know the one who has the control. Ask Him for speed on our G&R. Remember Thursday or Friday of this week.

Nerves of ... Not Steel...Maybe Plastic

I am so nervous. I keep thinking of all that I could forget, or all that could happen. I am trying to focus on the day I see her face and nothing else. BUT there's all these little details that get in the way, like socks and undies. It seems so silly in light of all we've been through, but these are the things keeping me up at night.

I just read blogs of some families who have their children home now. It helps to see the videos of their little ones playing in their own back yards. Lord, help me to remember that in the end our little girl is coming HOME!!!!

I am praying that God gives me the strength I need to make it through. I know He will. Through out this whole process, without His strength I would have given up!

Please pray for our G&R to be scheduled Halloween or earlier. I know God hears you, my friends.

I feel like I'm so prepared, that I'm afraid of being unprepared.

Figure that one out. I am sitting here looking at packed suitcases and wondering what to do. I packed last week. We have our tickets, passports, and visas. We have all shots and medications for our trip. Hung is looking into hotels for us (Tam Ky doesn't have hotels that do online reservations).

I have typed up the boy's schedule and important numbers for his grandparents. I have contacted his school. We get a paper notarized tonight for his medical care while we are away.

So with all this done, what am I doing? Sitting here feeling like I should be doing something. I feel nervous about being prepared so early. Is that weird?

The nature of this blog

We will use this blog to chart our journey to VN. We will also use it to update family and friends during our trip.

Travel Itinerary

Today, we have tickets for our trip. We will try to give as many updates and as much info as possible without giving TOO much.

We plan on leaving our home on Saturday October 25.
We fly out of our state capital to Chicago.
We then fly to San Francisco.
Next we hit Hong Kong.
At last we enter VN in Hanoi.
Then our last flight is to Danang, dangerously close to our daughter.
If there are no delays, we head to Tam Ky to find a hotel and talk to Hung.

Then the next day........We meet our daughter for the first time!