Looking Back at 2007

I can't believe that 2007 is already over!! What a year that it has been for us. Coming off of a very difficult 2006, all in all 2007 was pretty good. Like a roller coaster that makes you a little queasy, yet you find yourself wanting to continue the ride. Here's a little recap:

The beginning of the year was pretty much status quo. Nothing terribly exciting, except finalizing our decision to adopt. In March, we took a giant leap of faith, submitting our application for adoption to our agency. We were one step closer to finding our child in Vietnam. The end of March saw the beginning of our home study;and it also saw the arrival of Baby Thorn, my best friend's baby boy.

In April, we continued our paperchase, completing our interviews with our social worker and collecting a mountain of paperwork. We celebrated our fourth wedding anniversary and my brother's wedding to an awesome girl. She has been a great addition to the family.

May meant a trip to the USCIS office in Fairfax to have our fingerprints taken. May was also the beginning of what I like to call the "Great Fingerprint Debacle," which would continue well into the summer, holding up the completion of our home study and causing me to suspect Larry had a secret life (Just Kidding).

Summer rolled in with June, which meant I entered my thirties. I celebrated by going to an amusement park, riding all the scary coasters and realizing that I actually felt thirty when I stepped off the final coaster. I thought I would throw up my toenails. Our niece Hannah graduated from high school and the fingerprint saga continued. We lost our beloved cat Loba, but gained our new kitten Josie.

July was probably one of the best months of the year. A Harry Potter movie and a Harry Potter book...how much excitement does a girl need??? Harry and his gang were completely overshadowed, when my sister announced her pregnancy.

August saw my annual trek to see Kenny Chesney, a perfect set of fingerprints for Larry and we finally got our approved homestudy!

In September we sent off for our I71H...and waited to hear anything from USCIS.

Along with Halloween, October brought a letter from USCIS requesting clarification on a few things...including questions about a daughter that I don't have.

November was a hard month for our family, as Larry's father passed. I'm still sad our child won't get the chance to meet him.

And then came December with the arrival of our I71H and the holidays.

That is the abridged version of the journey we are on…and what a journey it has become. We’ve learned much about Vietnam, adoption, parenting and patience. There have been moments of anxiety and excitement, joy and despair, peacefulness and uncertainty; there have been tears of joy, laughter and heartache. And certainly there is much more to follow. Here's to a great 2008.

Christmas Rewind

So, my friend Leanne informed me that I'd been neglecting the blog for the last month. I didn't mean to leave anyone hanging, particularly those new readers who found us from our Christmas Letter!!!!

Numerous things have kept me from posting. Obviously the holidays kept me hopping...I can't wait to have a weekend with nothing planned. It may happen sometime in the next decade. Don't get me wrong, though. We had a great holiday season. A little bit sad at times, wishing that our bundle was already here and missing Larry's father. But the majority of our season was spent with family and friends, discussing memories and adding new ones. We are so blessed to have incredible friends and family. My grandmother, aunts, uncles and cousins even threw us a surprise baby shower Christmas morning.

Not much news on the adoption front. While the beginning of the month saw our I71H, we've hit one more snafu with our criminal background checks. Hopefully we will have updated ones (along with updated employment and medical records) in our hands soon. I really want to get our dossier overseas.

Be on the look out for a recap of our year, hopefully coming tomorrow, as well as the dreaded New Year's Resolutions!!!

And now some holiday photos!!!

Belly Battle Christmas 2007! Our new niece will be here soon! We can't wait to babysit!

Aunt Jilian made this photo album just for Baby Bowen! It is soooo cute!

Thorn was very excited for his first Christmas! And he's also quite a good shopper!

Baby Bowen's Pop was quite taken with his new coffee mug, which had the Vietnamese word for grandfather on it.

Some of the gifts from our surprise shower. They will look great in the nursery!

A corsage made by my grandmother. We don't know for sure we will get a boy, but we're pretty sure.

Larry and Josie tuckered out from a long holiday season.

I've got a golden ticket....

For some reason all day, I knew that I needed to get home to check the mail...and in typical fashion, I was called into work, while Larry got the check the mail. And guess what he found??????

OUR GOLDEN TICKET!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We finally received our I71H and were deemed suitable to provide proper care to a child!!!! It hasn't sunk in just yet, but we both called as many people as we could. I can't put it into words. Perhaps things are starting to look up....