Funny Dream

I had the funniest dream last night about Olive. I NEVER get to see her face when she is in my dreams and this time, I saw her, up close and clear and she was beautiful. In my dream, I was on a blanket playing with Olive on my parents front lawn with my Mom and Tim. I was telling my Mom how I could not get her to respond to me at all, to her name, to music, nothing. It was very strange. So, we decided to take her back to the orphanage (dreams are so strange) to see how she would react to being around other babies her age. Once we walked in, Tim was holding her and I said "hi Olive" and she looked right at me and smiled. Finally, we thought, a reaction. Phew! Then we put her in a swing and we played with the other babies and all of the sudden she started singing, clear as day, Diamonds are a Girls Best Friend by Marilyn Monroe.
I have the strangest dreams, I know, but for the first time I got to see her face and it was amazing.

On another note, paperwork still not at DIA, I will post once I know it has been handed over.

Dossier going to Vietnam

Our dossier is on it's was to Vietnam this week.
10 days to translate and then we get our place in line and settle in for the 3-6 month wait. I shouldn't even say 3-6, I should just say 6 month wait because it seems to be more on the 6 month side for some of the other families that are in process. If it happens sooner we will be pleasantly surprised. For now, I just pray that she is being taken care of and wonder all the time if she has even been born yet.

Bottoms Up!

I finished up a lot of already started projects this weekend and got the bottoms done to match the dress I embroidered on a couple postings ago.
Check em out!

Stationary

I was looking at Stationary and found this really cute baby annoucement. It is pretty expensive but I love it and the colors are of the Vietnamese Flag! It is hard to see on the computer, I couldn't blow it up, but there is a little pagoda beyond the tree. I just love it!

Tim Dreams of Olive

I think it is so sweet that Tim often has dreams and Olive is in them. He had one over the weekend and her face wasn't clear but he was sitting on the bed with her and he was asking her what she wanted to wear and they were looking at all of her clothes.
So cute! I love it!

i171-h is out of here!

Everything that we had to have our hands on, is out of our hands at this time.
Now it is all in God's hands and we know he will watch over everything and bring us our baby when the time is right.

The next steps are:
1. Agency will send paperwork to CA Secretary of State to authenticate (3-4 weeks), paperwork goes back to Agency.
2. Agency will send paperwork to Vietnamese Consulate to authenticate (5-10 days), paperwork goes back to Agency.
3. Agency will send all authenticated paperwork to Vietnam, there it will get translated (10 days), and then we wait for the referral (3-6 months).
4. 6-8 weeks after we get the call (the referral) we travel to pick up Oliveia and bring her home (with Mama Lemke if you are still game Mom).

Tim and I have estimated the longest wait possible, just so we are pleasantly surprised if things happen before then. We think the paperwork should be in Vietnam by November 1 and we will get the call by April at the latest and travel 6-8 weeks after we get the call. Originally, we were thinking we would get the call by January, but referral times have increased from 1-3 months to 3-6 and now for new families that are applying, it is 6-8 weeks. Good thing we started this when we did. Until we get the call, we pray daily for our baby girl, her birth mother and her caretakers.

Altered Dress for Olive

I got this cute dress and matching diaper cover at the used kids clothing store in my neighborhood for about $3 and decided to add a little embroidery to it. I thought a cupcake was perfect.

I have not yet decided, but I may embroider "Olive" on the bum of the diaper cover.

It's HERE!

Our I-171h arrived today! We are going out to our local Vietnamese restaurant to celebrate!

Is this a sign or what?

Anchors Away!

I got this dress the other day at a used baby clothing store (it still has the original tags on it!) and had to have it for when Olive meets her Grandpa Somera, who was in the Navy for a long time. It is so cute and puffy and made of a really nice material plus, it came with a headband (navy with a white bow) and a navy diaper cover for $5.50 - what a bargain!
PS - I am secretly hoping that by getting something patriotic will make our i-171h arrive faster!