Hi All!

Well, it is Saturday morning here and we figured it was time to head down to the internet cafe and post some new pics for everyone!

We just had her medical yesterday and she weighs 13 lbs and is 24.4 inches long!! She has finally grown some!

How GORGEOUS is she???

Well, here we are in Vietnam and we have become a family of three (four if you count Marlon). She is a little "watcher" just like her dad as all she does is watch people and things. She was a little shy at first (with talking) but she warmed up really quickly! She didn't cry at the orphanage or on the way back to the hotel at all.

She looks just like her pics and is such a gorgeous little thing! All of the other babies are adorable, too. And they are all happy just like her.

She is definately in love with her daddy and falls asleep on his chest at night! He is also very smitten with her and the only other time I have seen him this happy (permanent smile) was on our wedding day!

We've been walking around the city and seeing a lot of stuff, but no purchases yet! Check with us later as we are going shopping today!

We found out today that our Giving and Receiving Ceremony (the actual adoption) will take place on Thursday morning!! That means we get to see our little girl the day after we get there (we get there at 10:35 pm). Just wanted to share the good news!

Pitt & Jolie Visit Vietnamese Orphanage

Check out this news story:

Pitt, Jolie spend Thanksgiving in Vietnam


Check out the pic

WE GOT IT!!!

I just wanted to let everyone know that we got our travel visas (which is just a large sticker in our passports) and our plane tickets yesterday!!!! Everything is moving along! Wish us luck on our journey to our little angel!

Time Zones and Flight Times

OK, after looking at some time zone maps and some really odd math (I really don't like math that has to do with hours, minutes, or any other type of time) I think I have an idea of how long our flights are going to be. Springfield is GMT/UTS -6, Seoul is GMT/UTS +9 & Hanoi is GMT/UTS +7. This means that if it is 12pm on Saturday here, then it is 3pm on Sunday in Seoul and 1pm on Sunday in Hanoi. Since all times on our schedule are in local time, Seth and I were confused as to how long we would actually be in flight.

So here it is (I think). . .

St. Louis to Chicago: 1 hour
Chicago layover: 3 hours
Chicago to Seoul: 14 hours
Seoul layover: 3 hours
Seoul to Hanoi: 5 hours

Total travel time: 26 hours
Total time in flight: 20 hours

Return trip:

Hanoi to Seoul: 5 hours
Seoul layover: 6 hours 10 min
Seoul to Chicago: 14 hours
Chicago layover: 2 hours 35 min
Chicago to St. Louis: 1 hour

Total travel time: 28 hours 45 min
Total flight time: 20 hours
All that WITH a BABY!!!

We had our travel meeting last night and we were told what paperwork we needed to take and that we will be able to meet Jane (an adoptive mother whose baby is in the same orphanage as Sienna) at the airport in Seoul! I'm sure we will have a lot to talk about during our 3 hour layover. We were also told about different excursions that we can go on during the weekend in and around Hanoi that seemed pretty interesting. We were also told that maybe it wasn't the best idea to take Sienna with us when we go out in Hanoi (not sure why) but that we can if we really want. We found that kind of odd b/c I know that I am not going to want to let her go!!! We were also told that we are hoping to have our trip to Bac Giang to pick her up on Thursday of that week so we should have one night to rest and then be able to go pick her up! Let's all hope that this is how it happens!!!

FLIGHT SCHEDULE:

Departing St. Louis on Tuesday 11/28 @7:30am

Arriving Chicago @ 8:35am

Departing Chicago @11:40am

Arriving Seoul on Wednesday 11/29 @4:35pm

Departing Seoul @7:25pm

Arriving in Hanoi @10:25pm

Tentative Departure Itinerary:

Departing Hanoi on Friday 12/15 @11:55pm

Arriving Seoul on Saturday 12/16 @ 5:50am

Departing Seoul @12 noon

Arriving Chicago @9:35am

Departing Chicago @12:10pm

Arriving St. Louis @1:20pm

We just got an e-mail from our program coordinator and it said that we have a confirmed travel date for Nov 28!!! And we do get to leave from St. Louis so that really helps! We'll have a travel meeting over the phone soon so we know we have every piece of paperwork that we will need to take with us!

New Stats:

Well, Sienna has gained some weight, but not exactly any height. She is currently 5.6 kg which is 12.3 lbs and is still 55 cm (21.65 in). I had to take back her two Chirstmas outfits and exchange them for a smaller size!! She is just so tiny. Which just means she has longer to wear her extensive wardrobe!!

Travel Packet!!

We got our travel packet today with our visa applications and other things we need to get out so we can get plane tickets! It unfortunately also came with our invoice (yuck). But I got an e-mail this evening from our program director. It says that we need to send everything in ASAP so it can be processed!! I hope this means that we'll be going on the first set of trips!! Let's all hope!

Travel Update:
We got a travel update from our agency! We e-mailed our names and the airport we would like to travel to NY from this morning. We were also given some bad news: our hotel is raising it's fees and it is going to cost us quite a bit more than expected. I'm not quite sure what we are going to do now, but somehow we are going to get through this (I hope).

Travel Update:
After speaking with our social worker/program coordinatorI have learned that we are expecting to travel right after Thanksgiving (on the 25th)!!! There will be another group leaving on December 2. All in all there should be about 10 families over there before the end of the year! I just can't wait until we are able to travel! We have been ready for so long!

We got our I-171 today!!! That means that everything on the US end is done for the adoption and we just have to wait for our paperwork to go through Vietnam!

Our paperwork has moved to step 10!!!!! We are so happy since we were on step 9 for something like 2 months!! Only one more step until we are approved and will be able to travel at the end of November.

PS: Step 10 means our paperwork has been sent to the Department of Justice in Vietnam!

Look at our wonderful girl! Same age as the last 3 posts. She just loves that box!

Here she is (from about the same time). I'm glad to see that she has some more hair (I was getting worried). She looks just like a doll.

Here she is at almost 25 weeks. She is holding a box that says "Small Face Medicine." Let's hope they are treating her poor eyes.

We still have yet to hear anything new from Vietnam. We are waiting to get new pics anyday! The pics were taken last Tuesday so we should get them soon (I hope). I also want some new stats because the last stats we got were at 14 weeks and now she is almost 26 weeks and I am anxious to see where her stats lie on our growth chart. I'll definately keep everyone updated. To see a gorgeous little girl who is with her parents in Vietnam at the moment, check out http://ourlittlemissmagic.blogspot.com/ I am still learning this blog thing and cannot figure out how to post links.

Our beautiful baby girl:

at 4 months











at 14 weeks





























at 6 weeks















at 5 weeks

We are starting a blog to follow our adoption journey. We want people to be able to stay updated when we go to bring out little girl home!