TAKE A LOOK AT WHAT I'VE BEEN UP TO.....

I just thought I'd humor everyone by showing you a few of my latest spending adventures. I will soon have us too broke to travel if I don't stop.
(Kimberly...I don't have the yard full but the house sure is getting cramped)!!!
I have been on a shopping frenzy and you aren't even seeing a quarter of it here. Since I have decided not to have a shower I thought we should start buying the things we are in need of. I have my eye on an awesome bedding set that I am working on finding at a great price. I'll find it....I hve perseverance (obviously).
So here is some of the goodies we've bought:

Naturally every nursery NEEDS a rocking chair. This one looks comfy for late night feedings and I should be able to doze off in it. Rocking makes me tired so I hope it works for Derek too!!!

Of course we need a place to contain all of that finger food since that's what he'll be ready to eat by the time he gets home. I thought the colors on this highchair were great. They match our kitchen perfectly! And it has the jungle animal theme on it!!! HMMMM!!!

When you can't have the real thing you substitute to make the space look occupied! This is a bear that we adopted for Derek at the Boyd's Bear Country while we were in Gettysburg. Jessica and I adopted twins. I named him "Thanh Dat" (Derek's VN name) and he lays on Derek's changing table. It sure isn't the same but sometimes when I look at it it reminds me that this is still real and we will get Derek home soon!

One might say that a woman loves her shoes. Well who says a little guy can't too. I do love children's shoes. Unfortunately alot of the ones in this drawer aren't going to fit and will be out of season. I'd say that it is safe to assume that we won't be wearing sandals in the fall!!!! If you think this is alot check out the next picture...

This isn't even a third of his clothing. We have 2 totes filled and his dresser drawers are packed. He certainly will be the best dressed kid in Dornsife!!! I have once again been able to become a "Gymboree-aholic". I just love their clothes and I wore them on my girls and now I am finding the cutest stuff for Derek too. At one time I thought boy clothes weren't cute...boy was I wrong.

So as you can see I need to stop spending now and start saving for the trip. I have worked on trying to finalize packing but I need to see what the weather will be there in October. A little cooler I am sure and hopefully the rainy season will be over til then. I know flight prices come way down so that is a help!!!

Well hopefully we will have some more news and hopefully new pictures in the next few weeks. Keep watching here!!!

My next post will be my 100th post so I'll try to make it a good one!!!!

Today is again for me another day to reflect. I think back to the beginning...I remember attending the adoption seminar in Camp Hill, PA. Norm and I were so excited to go. We hadn't told anyone so it was a secret trip that night. We were one of the last families to leave. We just couldn't hear enough. At the time we were in the mode of China and that is the choice we made when we walked out the door that night. We looked at each others excitement and knew it was time and this would be the right choice for us to make together. We called the very next day and asked for a packet to be sent as we were ready to commit to adoption. WOW!! What an excitement that filled our hearts. After many phone calls and a preliminary application we found we would not be accepted by the China program due to my health issues. We were upset and felt the bricks in our wall being laid. The agency suggested the "NEW" Vietnam program and it sounded very hopeful and we approached it very optimistically. The process moved along rather quickly as we were very excited to get our required paperwork done as fast as we could and get on that list. Much to our excitement we made it to #5 on the waiting list. Things moved along just not quickly enough for us and in March we received word that there was a boy approximately 3 month old available. Would we be interested....I called my mom first because she is my focus factor and she talked me through it. She made me realize that God wanted this little boy for us. I hung up in glee and called Norm right away. I told him to come home as quickly as he could. He only works next door and it seemed like an hour until he showed up. I told him about our opportunity and we cried together as we made our final decision and called our CM. She answered and we told her "Yes, we want the baby boy". I remember how excited she was and we heard a quiver in her voice. So the paperwork got finished and sent off to Vietnam and what we had no expectation of...the hardest wait of all. It has been 4 months, 3 weeks , and 4 days since that referral and we are still waiting to travel. It is 4 months and 1 day today since our dossier was logged in. This is the gruelling part since we were supposed to be able to travel 3-4 months after log in. It looks like another 9-10 weeks before we go. We have been on the ups and downs of this roller coaster way too long. We have hit almost every brick in that wall that started way back at the beginning and now we just want the wall to crumble and let us through. Derek is growing so much and we have been truly blessed to have gotten updates and new pictures of him periodically but it just isn't like having him home. We'll continue to persevere in this process with our heads held high, our hearts filled with joy, and most of all our arms open wide to accept him into.
We have met some wonderful people along this journey so far and I have been blessed to have found a wonderful friend all the way across the country from me. Our distance from each other hasn't stopped us from growing closer, sharing joy & pain, and anticipating our travel to bring home our babies together. Michelle has been a true blessing to me. She picks me up when I am down and she makes me smile everyday. Her name among many of you on the forum and in blogs that I follow each day have become a part of our family. When I speak your names people know who you are.
I want to thank each one of you who has been praying, encouraging, reading, or even thinking about us as we travel through this wonderful adoption experience. You are all a special part of our lives.
Teresa

Just wanted to throw in a few pictures of us in Gettysburg!!! We really had a great time! We are now planning a 2 day trip to the beach with the girls hopefully Aug 6 & 7. The next 2 weeks are hectic. The girls are leaving Sunday to go with their bio dad camping for the week and will return on Friday to come see me before heading out Sunday to attend a week of e=overnight bible camp. Jessica is a camper and Alyssa is a counselor. They will return on Saturday and spend that day and Sunday with their dad while Norm & I head to the Poconos for the Nascar race (which I would like to thank Tony for hooking us up with those tickets...free of charge) which I can't wait to go to. We will pick them up Sunday night when we return and then hopefully be heading out early Monday morning on the bus to Atlantic City for a 2 day getaway at the beach. Thanks to Donald Trump we will be able to stay at the Taj Mahal free of charge Monday night and eat at their delicious buffet also free of charge. We will ride the casino bus down and get our money back for those tickets and we will only have to pay for our tickets back home. All in all it will be one inexpensive getaway!!!! That's my favorite kind. Then the girls have a little down time until Alyssa starts field hockey and band camp for 2 weeks and then school starts. Remind me again...WHERE DID THE SUMMER VACATION GO???? I'm sure Shara & Jenna out there in blogger land can relate on this one.
Anyways...here are those pictures:

ALYSSA eating and goofing around as usual. Always have to be the smarty pants!!!

JESSICA eager to start our adventures

NORM doing his favorite thing...eating GOOD'S potato chips

Teresa...I hate my picture taken so I took my own and YUCK!!!

Scene off the top of Little Roundtop

YARD SALE.....
Yesterday and today I am spending my days having yet another yard sale to pass off the multitudes of clothing we bought for Derek. We had drawers and closet space packed with the cutest summer outfits for him. It was definately hard to part with some of them. Don't worry though we already had a stockpile of fall clothes for him in totes so we have dug those out and filled the empty spaces. I refuse to remove the tags and was them though as that was obviously a bad omen doing that with the summer ones. This way I am covered also in case somethings don't fit, I have the receipts to return them. When I don't have baby items for sale everyone is looking for them and now that I have them....nobody is coming for them. The prices are dirt cheap and they ae new clothes...what is wrong with people??? I guess I'll box them up and try again next spring.
So let this be a lesson....as hard as it is not to buy for your unseen little ones, try to hold yourself back. I got burned several times on this one so far. Who's to say the fall clothes won't be the same story....

As for the adoption...
Still the same news, October hopefully for travel. We just want Derek home for Christmas. Honestly Michelle and I joked about that statement back about 2 months ago when we were sure we would travel and be back in June or July and now we have to seriously hope that it will happen. Geez...who would've thought there would be so many delays and date changes??!! Since we anticipate an October travel I need to cover September and October for the salon and guess what...I have a wedding scheduled for Sept. 22nd and one for Oct. 27th. So there are now yet another 2 weddings to cancel doing in the salon. It's starting to give the salon a bad name and I am afraid people who don't quite understand the adoption world process will start to say negative things about the shop or myself. I can't afford to lose any more clients. On the up side to October...at least it may be a little cooler there and the airfare delinately goes down in price. So these are a few of the benefits to it.
We'll keep letting you in on the latest and hopefully greatest of the process as it progresses...slowly but surely!!!!

Today IS H***...
We received an update from our agency's Vietnam Director and were told that we would not be traveling to Derek until October at the earliest...it could even go beyond that. I have reached my breaking point!!!!! I am so disgusted and exhausted with this that I can't even think straight anymore. This isn't the news I expected to get right after a peaceful, restful vacation. The wait has been gruelling but this news has been the worst yet. Just a few short weeks ago we were told August and we began preparing for that and now it is extended another 2 months beyond that. Ridiculous!!! I am trying to sort out where the fault should be placed for this situation. I am trying to get some straight up answers.
Today will be yet another day of emptying drawers and closets to return summer clothes and replace them with fall clothing as it seems that it will be in the cold weather seasons when we finally get him home. I am so tired of waiting now. I knew International Adoption was difficult and that there would be ups and downs but this is totally crazy. According to Vietnam Adoption Law, dossiers have to be processed and a G&R date has to be done within 120 days of submission of the dossier to Vietnam. We are already beyond that so I don't know what happens now. Plus the fact that it's going to be more like 7 or 8 months from referral to travel rather than the stated 3-4 months. Geez this is nuts.
Keep praying...it's all we have left.

MUCH NEEDED VACATION....

We have just returned from a much needed vacation away from the computer and the turmoil of the adoption. We had a great time in Gettysburg. We packed up Friday around noon and hit the road. The girls were in the back of the van chattering with excitement the whole way there. We stopped by a vistors center when we arrived and were informed that it was "Bike Week" and that we may have a lot of trouble finding a hotel vacancy. I thought...why not, nothing else is going right for us so that may as well be a problem too. Well there was a very dear and helpful lady working there that day and she made a few phone calls and got us hooked up with a great room right in the center of it all. We walked to every museum and attraction that we wanted to see. It was awesome!!!
Friday afternoon we hit a few museums and took a Ghost Tour at night. The tour was awesome...we actually got a few good pictures and Alyssa got spooked out alot. She seemed to have the attraction of the spirits. I was actually quite jealous. We went to an old orphanage and spent time in the basement where the children were kept. We got some pictures there of some spirits and Alyssa got to hear the rustling of dresses across the floor above us. She also saw the bottom part of a child sitting on a bench. It as really cool. We went back to the hotel exhausted.
Day 2 came. Saturday...we got up early and went to breakfast at the hotel then headed out to a few more museums and then caught the bus for a 2 hour battlefield tour. That was so cool. It was neat to see Alyssa correlating the actual locations to her history class lessons from this past school year. She would light up and remark about things she learned about that spot. It was fun. Norm was so absorbed in it all as this was his first time there. What a fun vacation. The afternoon we spent at more museums, went out for supper, took the girls to Boyd's Bear Country, and back to thehotel so they could go swimming. There was a bike parade but we went sightseeing instead. I needed the quiet time. At Boyd's Jessica and I adopted bears from the nursery. I did it for Derek and I named the bear "Thanh Dat" which is Derek's Vietnamese name. Jess named hers Aaron. Norm & I also made a stuffed monkey and dressed it in traditional Vietnamese attire for Derek while the girls each made ones for themselves too. We had to put beads inside them so we added lots of Bravery beads to Derek's since he will have to be brave to leave his country and travel to his new home here.
Sunday we were ready to head home so we packed up the van...just a few more things than we went with...and headed for home. It was early yet when we got back so we took the girls to Knoebels for some fun there. They had a ball. They went from one end of the park to the other and we drug behind them. When Norm and I crawled out of bed this morning...OUCH...Sore Legs!!!!!
So today i get to do all the laundry and put away all the stuff we drug along and drug back home. My work is never done.

NEW MEASUREMENTS.....

This just in...today we eceived NEW MEASUREMENTS on DEREK!!!! This is exciting. It is always great to get a new update of any kind. Kinda boosts the day a little. Still no travel news but at least we have a brief report on Derek.
Weight 19.8 pounds
Height 27.9 inches
Head Circ. 18.3 inches
Foot Length 4.4 inches
Wrist Circ. 4.1 inches

He appears to be tall and his foot size shows that he is probably going to keep shooting up. Been there and done that with Alyssa. His wrist is very tiny so I believe he is skinny. I think his weight is taken up by his height!!! Well another basketball player in the family!! He'll learn well from the girls.

We will continue to keep you updated.

ADDING INJURY TO INSULT.....

After finding out that we probably won't be traveling anytime soon (possibly August more likely September) I woke up to a crying day! I hate those days. I am overly emotional today about the following points:
1. We may not travel until late August or early September which will cause us to be trapped in Vietnam over the National Holiday on September 2nd. Now remember they DO NOT celebrate for 1 day...the celebrate for 2 weeks. So there will be no interviews or adoption related action in those weeks therefore posing a possible travel delay for us.
2. The girls will be back in school and I will lose my opportunity to stay in touch with them via webcam everyday. They will be staying with their dad and he doesn't have a computer.
3. I have to cancel yet another wedding in the salon. That makes 1 in July (which I could've kept scheduled had I known we weren't going to travel yet) and 1 in September due to the fact that we MIGHT travel then. Big money loss!!!!
4. I just want to have my baby boy in my arms.
5. I fear our paperwork is going to expire and we will have to have some of it redone before we can travel. Again MORE MONEY!!!

Then to top off the crying of my day....There was a robin building a nest on the archway above my salon entrance and Norm has took her nest away 4 times. Well this morning I noticed she had rebuilt a very small nest and she was just sitting in it. Norm decided to come check on me and WALAH!! he took the nest down and 2 beautiful blue eggs plummeted to the ground. So once again the tears flowed even heavier. Now the robin continues coming back looking for her eggs.

It is funny how the other day a client of mine who is a dear friend is a pastor in a local church and she is truly a shoulder for me to lean on through this. She tried to use the nest as a similarity to our adoption. She said God may be using this persistance as a sign for us. He is showing us that we need to continue building the nest for Derek and that we should be perservering constantly to have things prepared for his arrival. Everytime the nest is removed is like everytime our travel date gets delayed. Now I am fearful of what sign He is sending us by the destruction of the eggs. We have not gotten final approval yet and hopefully this isn't a bad omen of us not being able to carry out Derek's adoption. Okay well maybe I should stop thinking and typing because I am making myself cry again.

Please continue to pray for our travel and for Derek's health and safety.