Leaving Friday!!

I have kept my other blog up but have failed to inform those of you who may only check this one...

We are leaving on Friday to go to my parents house (8 hours away). On Saturday we will leave Evan with my parents and fly out of Denver. We will arrive in Vietnam on Monday morning (their time) and get to meet Ethan that day! The travel time itself is about 25 hours.

I can hardly wait to meet and hold my little Ethan Loc!! I will be updating this sight with pictures of the orphanage and other pictures of Ethan. but if you want all the details of the trip you'll have to check out my other blog, Beautiful Moments.

Pictures!

I have a friend who is in Vietnam at the moment. Today she sent us some pictures of Ethan! She said she has more she'll send when she gets home. This is what she had to say about him:

"...We went to the orphanage and I got to see him. He is so adorable!!! ...Tam Binh 1 is very nice and the caregivers clearly love the kids. He is being well taken care of until you and your husband can get here. He seemed so very sweet and looks really great...."

Thank you Gayla!

How cute. He's a thum sucker!

I love this picture. Next to him is a little girl named Jenna (well, that will be her name soon). Her family is also waiting to travel. They have been waiting longer then us and probably will be waiting for a while due to problems with the paper work. Please keep them in your prayers.

Here we come Ethan!!

We got the call!!!!!! We are going to go to Vietnam in 2 weeks!! The CIS is making exceptions for families who travel before October 16th and our G&R (Giving and Receiving Ceremony--when Ethan becomes our officially in the eyes of Vietnam) is the 13th so we can still make it! We will be allowed to file our I-600 and get permission to bring Ethan back while in country. I'm really excited and have a TON to do. I can hardly type much less think so I'll post more later. For now we have to go to town and send our visa application! YEA! Thank you God!!

More Paper Work!

(For those who read both my blogs, this is the same post that I just posted on Beautiful Moments so you don't need to bother reading it unless you have way to much time on your hands!)

Well...we are getting very close to travel! I got a call today from the Vietnam Coordinator. The CIS (Citizenship and Immigration Services) has recently changed their policy in how they process they I-600 form (this is a petition to classify an orphan, in this case Ethan, as our immediate relative). For those who are already lost...it's ok. All that really means is that there is one form that must be filled out and approved BEFORE we go to Vietnam instead of WHILE we are there. The only concern is that we are very close to travel and we can't go until we get approved. The CIS has the right to investigate Ethan's case, if they wish, to determine that everything is legal and he is truly an orphan and this can take up to 60 days. But I'm hoping for a quick approval.

SO, with all that said, we will be working as fast as we can to get this in order. Nicky, the VN coordinator, thinks we'll be in the next group to get travel dates. If all goes well, and we get CIS approval quickly, we could be in Vietnam around the middle of November! Nothing is official but we are moving along!

Sick and Tired but Ready!!

I talk about it more on my other blog, Beautiful Moments, but I'm down with pneumonia. Our agency's update last week said they hoped to have more families traveling soon. Last time they said that several families got the "call" the next week. Well, our time is VERY close so I'm hoping for a call this week. Ha, wouldn't that be my luck, sick with pneumonia and trying to get ready! But on the other hand, I'm ready!!

Checking out the family!

We finally got pictures of Ethan with the monkey and album! Although I was hoping for some smiles, it is still so good to see him looking at the things we bought and made for him. It's cute to see him looking at Evan in several of these pictures. The little guy has know idea how much his life will change soon. Since we've yet to see any kind of smile I've wondered what Ethan is like and if he's a serious type. I can't wait to meet him! The update from our agency said they were hoping for more travel dates soon so maybe we'll get a call next week...I'm sorry, I'm really rambling. I'm still sick and the fever does this to me!

New Pictures

We got new pictures of Ethan a few days ago but I'm so sick I haven't had a chance to post them. He received the monkey and photo album we sent him but they aren't in the pictures. CHI said they'd try to get pictures of him with the gifts as soon as they can. I think it's amazing to think that he now has seen pictures of his family for the first time!

Here are a couple more pictures I thought were cute. Once again Ethan was hiding in the background of Caroline's pictures. They are a little on the dark side.