Their Journey Continues in HCMC

Sometimes you don't think about what time it is on the other side of the world. I spent most of the day on Wednesday trying to figure out what time it was for the Blackwells as they traveled across the globe. They left from Charlotte on EST to San Fran and gained 3 hrs in the air, only to lose an entire day when they travelled across the International Date line. I spent all of Thursday wanted the Blackwells to wake up, just to report on the sites of Ho Chi Minh City, their hotel, the weather... Finally friends, we have a report.

They arrived in HCMC and took an $8 taxi ride to their beautiful hotel ($40 a night). I sure wish American prices were more like that, we could possibly afford a vacation. They struggled to figure out their AC, but managed to get it up and running. The hotel they are staying at is right next to a shopping center (more like a market) that has plenty of last minute items that they will want such as sodas and water. They leave for Can Tho Saturday morning. They will have had two days of rest and recovery before a 6hr taxi ride through the south end of Vietnam. Thanks for keeping them in your thoughts and prayers. We will keep you all updated on their trip as it unfolds!

Almost there...

Well the Blackwell family has arrived in Hong Kong! They should be arriving in HCMC shortly and hopefully can get some much needed rest. I will keep you posted on their journey as we all continue to pray. Apparently both of their flights were completely full and a bit uncomfortable, but they made it! WOOHOOOO!!! More excitement to come from the Far East!

And off they go!!!

It is truly happening. The Blackwell family boards a plane tomorrow bound for Vietnam via San Fran and Hong Kong. The plan is to arrive in Ho Chi Minh City on Thursday, travel to Can Tho on Saturday (about an hour from the baby home) and then finally to the Hau Giang baby home on Sunday to meet their son. We are hopeful that they will have their Giving and Receiving Ceremony sometime between Monday Nov 3rd and Wednesday Nov 5th. They will then drive back to HCMC, where they will have a few appointments and medical exams before flying north to Hanoi to receive Zane's visa to come home. We are hopeful that they can be home on Thursday November 13th. Please keep them in your prayers, as we know that the government officials have been more than difficult with the time frames. We have been blessed to know this family, and pray for this family throughout their adoption. We met up with the Blackwells this weekend for a farewell and to give them a care package for our Dillen. Please celebrate with us and lift them up in prayer as they journey to their son!

On a side note, we still do not have an update on our travels. The director of our agency was supposed to email us last week to give us an update on when our paperwork would be going to Hanoi and the cost of that, we did not hear from her. We asked for a receipt for our adoption expenses thus far nearly two months ago, and we still have not received that either. We do not know when this madness will end for us. As the economy seems to slip, we are more and more concerned about the debt that we are acquiring in this process. Please be in prayer for us during this time. We were unable to receive any grant money and both of our second jobs put us in more of a financial need than before. It seems like we can never catch up and it is very unlikely that we can get ahead of where we need to be to afford this adoption. We do not take your prayers for granted.

Another Family to Travel

As unfortunate as it may seem, we resigned ourselves to believing that we would not have any more updates, at least until the next two families travel.... and it's here! We just received word that the Blackwell family could travel sometime next week to pick up our beautiful son-in-law to be. Most of you will not be able to follow their blog because it's private, but we will continue to post their praises and prayer requests as they travel. Let's think of them as they scurry around getting ready for this amazing trip and prepare to leave a precious child behind for a few weeks. We'll continue to pray for their travel arrangements to go smoothly along with their in country experience. For some of you that don't know, this family has become dear friends of ours. Our heart breaks that we are not on the plane with them, however we rejoice knowing that they will hold our little girl, and finally be reunited with their son. This is good news! This also puts us one step closer to Dillen Marie!

A vacation would be nice right about now....

Hi Friends! Well again it's Monday, and as we begin another hopeful week, I can report that our agency has received our Name Affidavit, just in case the officials in Vietnam ask for it. Our friends the Blackwells will be able to take it with them to Vietnam when they go to pick up their little boy. This Monday is special because we have a new friend in the neighborhood, little Anya should have arrived home last night to SC. We are so excited to welcome her home. If you don't mind, continue to pray that our report will be taken to Hanoi and the Blackwell family will get their Invitation to travel. We are hoping for a productive week, but this is the email response you will get from our agency if you happen to be waiting to bring your child home from Vietnam... Thanks for emailing. I am on vacation until November 24 with limited access to my email. I will respond to your email as quickly as I can.

Updated Measurements

Still no news. The only update so far this week is Dillen's measurements. Dillen now weighs 17lbs and is 26 inches long. Today she is 10 months old. We are ready to bring you home sweet girl.

Another week begins

Thank God for Monday!
I know, I know all of you reading this just rolled your eyes. You see, in our house, we eagerly welcome Mondays because we are able to get more news about our adoption. We keep ourselves busy on the weekends... just to get to Monday.

This weekend was beautiful. Saturday morning I had some friends over for a babyshower for a dear friend. It was a bit of a crazy start, as I almost burned my house down making Monkey Bread. I spent the rest of the afternoon planting pansies and relaxing as Chris went off to work. Sunday it was off to church to hear the last sermon in the series One Month to Live. We have been blessed with a wonderful church home where we continue to grow our relationship with the Lord and each other. Then off to Fall for Greenville. Those of you reading that are not locals, this is a festival downtown where many of the Greenville restaurants set up tents out on the street and sell some of their famous foods in smaller portions for a fraction of the cost. This allows you to taste food from lots of restaurants so you know who you want to go back to.

What can you pray for this week, you ask? Pray that our Police investigation FINALLY goes to Hanoi. It's been complete now for two weeks, but it hasn't been submitted to the official so it can go to Hanoi. Also pray that the Blackwell family and the Lopez family get issued Invitations to travel to bring home their sons. Thanks for the positive vibes! Lets pray for a good, productive week.

What's in a Name?

Well so many of you have commented on Dillen's name... I've heard it all, from "I love it!" to "Are you sure you want to spell it like that?" and "I thought that only boys were named Dillen." Well Chris and I tend to over think things. Many of our friends in the international adoption community have kept part of their birth name. For Dillen her birth name is Le Ngoc Hoa, pretty huh? They actually call her Hoa (whaaaa) like the sound a baby makes when it cries. So we decided to talk to some Vietnamese and find out what is in a name... Hoa means precious stone and Ngoc means flower. They say it is a very beautiful name in Vietnamese. We decided to take that meaning and find her new name... after a few good laughs about Diamond Daisy and Ruby Rose, we decided giving her a stripper name wasn't the best idea. We found Dillen, a Welsh name meaning precious thing, that was it. Now Marie? This is where we jinx ourselves a bit. Marie means "A sea of bitterness". There is a lot of bitterness in these waters surrounding this adoption. However, we chose Marie (a form of Mary) because we loved it. We have a Mary in our life that we love dearly (this is a shout out to Raymond) and come on, you've got to admit if the Lord didn't like it, he wouldn't have made it his mom's name!

So, I write this Name blog now because we have a new request... a name affidavit. We have to send Vietnam a list of every name we have ever used ever in our lives... oh, the best part? It has to be notarized, certified by the Secretary of the State, Authenticated by the Vietnamese Embassy in DC and translated... For a mere cost of $72 before priority shipping. Lovely. As always, keep us in your thoughts as we continue in this boring stage of excuses, ridiculous paperwork and nothingness! Best wishes, oh and as always another picture of our girl to get us through the weekend. Don't mind the man in the photo he is the taxi driver of our friends that were there. Yes, Dillen is a lover of the simple man.

You still coming back?

I figured with no news it would be difficult to get you back, reading this blog. This is a shout out blog for all of those who have been diligently praying for us. Thanks! We didn't hear any news about our case today... just that our agency got a vague email stating that our investigation was finished....duh, we've heard that... that is not news. One of our dear families heard that they will need additional paperwork done that could take nearly a month, so if you think about it today. Say a special prayer for our friends Teresa and Daniel. They are our sister and brother in Christ. We could not be this well composed without them in our lives. They have been with us every step of the way in our journey, through loss, hard times, extra waiting and creative ideas. Think about them as they hurry to get this extra bit of work done. Thanks for checking in with us. We have special friends in this process as well, our neighbors. They are currently in Vietnam adopting Anya... you can follow their blog too if you'd like. We look forward to raising our girls together, they are just a few weeks a part!

Here comes another weekend...

Another weekend, which means nothing new for a couple of days. The good news? We checked a few things off of the list this week... The Bands had their Giving and Receiving Ceremony. The Blackwells had their Decision of Adoption signed and hopefully just a few weeks away from bringing home their beautiful boy Zane, and we have a finished Police investigation. 3 of 4 isn't too bad! Now we've got to get that Lopez family on a plane, maybe even the Blackwells with them and we will be one step closer to our girl! So as promised, to get you through the weekend...

Still holding...

Ok friends, I don't have any new pictures yet. We did hear that the province is hoping to get through these adoptions more quickly now... don't believe everything that you hear. We'll wait to see how serious they are, but word on the net is that the next two families could have their G&R together, meaning that puts only one more G&R before we go to Vietnam! Keeping our fingers crossed.... So do you think Dillen is as stressed as we have been? You be the judge...