I Confess....

I've been shopping again! (You are all so surprised, right???) I just couldn't pass up this new line from Baby Gap. So tropical & fun!

Day 400 & Another New Look!!!

Once again, a blog make-over!!! A big THANK YOU to my very talented friend Jenna for giving our little space on the web a fresh new look! Now we are ready for our referral! I have bought everything on my list for travel, everything (and way more) that a baby could ever need, we have all the plans together for our kids when we leave for Vietnam, and we even have a great new blog look to announce Miss Samantha!

Today marks 400 days since we began our adoption. Is that possible? Actually, I guess the question is, can I possibly survive another hundred or so days before I finally hold Samantha in our arms? YES, I will survive, but patiently??? Hmmmm, probably not (OK definitely not!) Hopefully it won't be long before we see her sweet face. We know that day will be bittersweet, but we also know that Linh is in heaven with Jesus and we know that Samantha is the child God intends to come home with us. We can't wait to see who that little person is!

Sweet Angel Linh

I have been working on this post for days now. There just doesn't seem to be adequate words to honor the life of our precious angel, Linh. As the days pass by, the pain doesn't fade. She was so much more than a picture to us. She was, and is, our daughter. We love her and she will always be a part of our family.

It has been four weeks since she made her journey into Jesus' arms, and although we are devistated by the loss, we have peace knowing she is in heaven and that we have the promise of seeing her someday.

Things are moving along again. Many families have received referrals in the past few weeks, and after speaking with our agency, we know a referral is in the near future for us too. It is such a combination of so many emotions when I think about accepting a new referral. No baby will ever replace Linh. When we received her pictures, we instantly knew she was our baby. Now I get lost in thought, wondering if we will feel the same way when we see pictures of our referral. I'm sure we will, but it's hard to imagine that when we loved Linh so very much and our hearts ache to have held her in our arms. We know that God had a plan for her short life and we know that God has a plan for us and for the baby He has chosen to make the journey from an orphanage on the other side of the world, into our hearts, our arms, and our home. Please pray for our journey as we continue on.

No More Counting

Today is exactly 6 months since we were DTV. As most of you know, our road took a sad and unexpected turn two weeks ago when we got the news that the baby we were matched with passed away. We are still moving foward in hopes that the child God has for us will be in our arms eventually, but there are not any timeframes to count up or down to anymore as we really don't know when the news will come. Our agency is guessing it will take 2-4 months to be re-matched with another baby. Being we are open to special needs and toddlers, it could be sooner, but with the uncertainty of international adoption, it could just as easily be later. We truly have no idea, but what we do know is that we are trusting the Lord and continue to follow the path He has layed before us. We are on a journey to our daughter and we know she is out there waiting for us.

On a happy note, a few families from our agency have received referrals (a big congrats to Jenna & Ed on the referral of their precious daughter Ella as well as Derek & Tiffany on the referral of their adorable little son Mason!) Also, several families have just received I600 approvals and will be traveling to bring their children home from Vietnam very shortly. Congrats to all of you and safe travels! It is wonderful to finally hear lots of good news!

Following the Path

Where do we go from here? This is a question that we have had to give some serious thought. We have decided to continue down the path that God has layed before us and follow His lead as well as our hearts. We still believe that our daughter is in Vietnam and we must not give up. We are back on the "waiting for referral" list and have also let our agency know that we are very open to special needs children as well as toddlers. Please pray for Vietnam adoptions in general as things are not going smoothly. Many babies have passed away and many more are still sick. Visa's for the babies are not being issued in a timely manner and some are looking like they will not be issued at all. It is a very sad situation and we ask for your prayers.