Nothing New

Once again, I have nothing new and exciting to post about. I know I keep promising pictures of Samantha's room, and I will post them VERY SOON! I'm still finishing up a few details. Our homestudy is Saturday, May 5th, so that is my final deadline. I want to have it finished by then for sure.

It's been years since I got to shop for cutesie little girlie clothes, so I am here to confess that I have been shopping like crazy for this little princess for over a year now! Shopping for my kids is my weakness! Here are pics of two adorable dresses that I couldn't resist!

Me? A Shoe Obsession?

Charley accused ME of having a shoe obsession, it's NOT true!!! (Yes, all of these shoes are for a baby who isn't even here yet!!!)

Another Busy Weekend!

Well, once again we were busy-busy-busy all weekend! Samantha's room is ALMOST finished! I know, I keep promising pictures. SOON! I decided to start a family blog, so check it out at www.fieldbunch.blogspot.com there isn't much on it yet, but Kalee's room is finished and I posted a picture on the family blog. We had some new friends over for dinner Sunday night. They too are adopting from Vietnam and they also go to our church. We had a great time getting to know them and talking about ADOPTION for hours! They are just getting ready to turn in their application this week they too are adopting an infant girl. Samantha will have a little friend!

Instructions??? Charley???

I thought "real" mean didn't need instructions!!! Well, the crib finally got put together and between Charley and our friend Rich they got the rest of her furniture brought upstairs and set up. I will work on the finishing touches (curtains & decor) this weekend and have the final pictures of her room posted on Sunday. It's really looking cute & girly! I will also try to get the girls rooms finished up and pictures posted too! As far as the adoption process, our home study is in 3 weeks, and we are waiting on our passports to come back so we can have them ready for our dossier.

HAPPY EASTER! / Sam's Room!

Hope everyone had a great
Easter! We spent the weekend in Oklahoma and both mine and Charley's family spent Easter together at my mom & dad's house. It was great to see everyone. Saturday, my parents had a surprise party for my 30th B'Day! That was a lot of fun! We got home this evening (Easter Sunday) and got motivated to work on Sam's room. Here are some "sneak-peak" pics of her room (Charley putting up the chair-rail). We will paint it white tomorrow and hope to have her room finished next weekend. So exciting!

Wait...wait ...wait...

Waiting & paperwork are a big part of the adoption process. Although the paperwork can be overwhelming, waiting is really hard. I wish I had some major updates of our progress, but nothing yet, just ticking away days of the waiting period. (By the way, there are two big waiting periods: one while you're waiting on documents to complete your dossier, and one after you get your referral, which is the picture and info on your child, as you wait for your travel date.) Unfortunately, we are still in the middle of the first waiting period. I think the second waiting period will be easier though as I'll have her sweet picture to look at whenever I want. It will seem so much more real then. Oh, and as far as the bedrooms go, we are moving along well! I will probably end up posting pictures of them soon. We are still finishing the details of Kalee & Kristen's rooms. Charley painted Samantha's room last night, but we still have to put up the chair-rail and get her furniture set up in there. It's going to be so "little girly!"

A Little Behind!

Sorry, I don't have much of an update at the moment. We planned to have Kalee's room finished over the weekend. We're running a little behind but it's just about done. We are waiting to get the drapes back from being altered. I will post pictures as soon as I get the drapes back and hung. Charley painted Kristen's room last night, but we still have a little more decorating and "moving in" to do before it's finished!
As for the adoption, we are expecting the BIG BOOK titled, "How to Prepare Your Dossier for Vietnam" to arrive Fedex either today or tomorrow. Then we will once again be swamped with more paperwork. I have to say, although it's a ton of paperwork and money, so far it beats morning sickness and labor pain by miles!!!

Homestudy Scheduled!

Well, our homestudy is scheduled for Saturday, May 5th. I was a little bummed at first that it was so far away, but it will take us at least that long to prepare the rest of our documents for our dossier, so everything will work out ok there. OH....and Kalee's room is almost finished. I will post pics soon!

Busy Weekend!

Well, so far we have had a busy weekend! Charley & I had the day off yesterday. We took all four kids to the doctor for well child check-ups (it is mandatory for the adoption that we all have them done) and then we went to the Southlake Post Office and waited in line forever to get our passport applications submitted. Today we went funiture shopping for Kalee & Samantha and we found just what we were looking for! Kalee's furniture will be here on Wednesday. She is changing bedrooms and moving down the hall to what used to be the upstairs computer room. She decided now that's she's a teenager she should have the room farthest from the other "children!" Charley is busy painting her new room (as I type) LIME GREEN!!! Once we get Kalee moved, Kristen will move into Kalee's old room. Bradley & Cody are staying right where they are, but we will be painting their room. Samantha will get Kristen's old room. I can't wait to get it all done. I will post pictures of each room as it's completed.

What's in a name?

Well, I don't really have a whole lot to update about today, so I decided to post about a few things that I have thought about today! For one, last night we traded in my mini van for a GMC Yukon XL. It is roomy, pretty & perfect for our growing family! I love it! I just can't wait until I can look back at her in her car seat as I'm driving down the road! The other thing I thought about today was trying to find somewhere that does framed name meanings to hang on the wall in her room. All of our other four children were named simply becasue we liked the name. Well, not only do we both love the name Samantha Grace, the meaning is beautiful. Samantha means "LISTENER OF GOD." What more could we hope for our little girl than to be a listener of God? And the name Grace has many meanings; Ellegance, Mercy and The freely given, unmerited favor and love of God. A perfect name for a special little girl. And all that said, we will call her SAM!

The OFFICIAL Contract!

Yet another step!!! Last night we signed our names at least a dozen times on the official contract with our agency, Adoptions International Inc. Today Charley took it to the post office and now it's on its way to Jody Hall, our adoption director. The next step is our homestudy. We should have a date for that by next week.

Application sent, received & APPROVED!!!

Our application was mailed to our agency on March 5th, received on March 6th and officially approved on March 8th!!! With every little step, we become a little closer to holding our Samantha Grace, and we give God all the glory and thanks for each little step we make in this amazing journey.

The First Official Papers Get Mailed!!!

Today is a special day for us as we sent our first official papers to the CIS (Citizenship & Immigration Services) office. We filed our I-600A form which will give us our I-171H Letter of Approval (LOA). This allows us to re-enter the United States with our adopted daughter. It should take 2-4 months to recieve our I-171H form from the CIS. Pray that it comes as quickly as possible as this is one of the many documents needed to prepare our dossier. Once our dossier is complete, it will then be translated and sent to Vietnam. We should then shortly receive our referral (a picture & info about Samantha)!

OUR JOURNEY BEGINS!!!

This blog site was created for the family & friends of the Field Bunch to follow along on our journey to bring home Samantha Grace. It is with great joy that we begin this amazing time in our lives. The seed of adopting a little girl was placed in my heart as a very young child and has now grown to a greater understanding that this is God's plan for our family. Please keep us in your prayers as we work through each step of the process, starting with the heaps of paperwork through our trip to Vietnam to bring home the child that God has chosen for us. We have chosen to use Adoptions International Inc for this amazing adventure in our lives. They are a smaller local agency here in Dallas and Jody, the director of the agency is so kind and helpful. We know God has brought us to this agency.