Finally! I'm sharing Olivia's beautiful smile with the world for the first time! My dear friend and traveling partner, Mandy, allowed me to use her computer to put it on the blog. (She insisted that I write nice things about her - wink wink) This was actually the first time we even saw Olivia smile. We were standing outside the Park Hyatt anxiously looking for Brangelina when I for whatever reason decided to throw Olivia up in the air. Just like her big brother Jake, she LOVED it! She and Mike now do this almost constantly! They have such a good time together. Getting smiles out of her is getting easier and easier. She and Mike also like to play hide and seek and throw me on the bed and tickle me. Also without prompting, she opens Oreos and eats the white stuff first and she loves Dr. Pepper. I know Daddy Don will be pleased. I'm sure we'll convert her to Diet Mt. Dew when we get home. Don't worry everyone - we don't keep our kids hopped up on caffeine. It's just an occasional treat.

We had our meeting with CIS this morning and we were approved! We are taking Olivia for her mandatory health exam in the morning. We got her passport today! We are supposed to hear tomorrow about our interview date for Hanoi. This will determine when we can come home. They are only open Mon, Tue and Wed, so we would VERY MUCH like for our interview to be Monday so we can be home by the end of next week. Please please please pray for us to have our interview Monday and for everything to work out so that we can come home to our sugarbear!!!

All of the other families are doing well. We are all just anxious to get home. I do have one other prayer request. There is another family here using another agency that are having a LOT of unusual and very difficult problems. I won't go into detail but please pray for this family. God will of course know who you're talking about!

We love you guys and can't wait to come home!!! Enjoy Olivia's smile. I can't wait to have a picture of her and Jake smiling TOGETHER!

Comments on Olivia's life as a Munn

Olivia is doing much better! I know that all of your prayers have made a big difference. She went to bed last night without fussing and also this afternoon for her nap!!! This is a MAJOR improvement! She also very happily took a bath without fussing. We went to eat last night with Mandy and Arnaud and another family from Dillon who are here now and we had such a great time. Mike would tickle Olivia and she would laugh and laugh! It was so funny. She smiles a lot more now even when it's not coaxed out of her! She's quite a character. I think she'll fit in just fine with us! She and Jake together are going to be a riot. I can't wait to see it!

We called to talk to Jake this morning but he was already asleep for the night. I hate it when we miss him, but we can call him this evening when it's his morning. It's already 1:27 p.m. on Saturday here and all of you back home are fast asleep. It's 12:37 a.m. there. Mike looked for Saturday morning cartoons this morning for Olivia but couldn't find any on the tv. We did see Bob the Builder speaking Vietnamese last week! That was quite a treat. Jake would have loved it. Daddy Don said that he's doing just great. They have been hunting together and Daddy Don and JuJu have become quite attached to our sugarbear. It's not hard to do! I'm really thankful that he's going to have had this time with them. Most children won't ever have the opportunity to form such a strong bond with their grandparents. I wish my Mom were still here. She would absolutely adore Jake and Olivia, too. Just in case my Dad happens to read this by some technological miracle, we love you, too!

I was fitted yesterday for a traditional Vietnamese outfit that's called something that I can't spell. It's pronounced ow-yie. The yie would rhyme with dye. Ow is like when someone smacks you and you say ow! Anyway, they are just gorgeous. Olivia and I will have matching ones. She also has a little pink on and I put her in it yesterday and put her hair up in pigtails and she looked so so so precious! I can't wait to see all of your faces when you meet her. She is absolutely darling.

As much as I love her, it's a chore to carry that child around all day! She refuses to let Mike carry her and it's not always appropriate for her to walk holding our hands, especially on the streets. It's kind of wild here. Scooters are zooming everywhere! I can't really explain what I mean by that. They are EVERYWHERE. They even ride on the sidewalks! Crossing the street is absolute insanity! Also, the Vietnamese people on the sidewalks sometimes try to pick her up or touch her and that's not ok with us. It's very important for attachement that we be the only ones who hold her for quite some time. I suspect this will be difficult for a couple of sets of grandparents I know! Regardless, she doesn't want to get more than an inch away from me anyway. She follows me all around the hotel room. It's really cute.

Let's see - things Olivia likes to do. She loves to color and she loves to pour food like Cheerios from one thing into another and stir it around and eat it with a spoon. We bought her a Barbie purse that has a cell phone, keys with clicker, compact and sunglasses in it. Whenever we go somewhere she finds her purse, puts on her sunglasses and prepares to leave. This is completely unprompted and untaught. Isn't that bizarre? She just knows that little girls get their purses and their sunglasses. She looks so cute in them too because her nose is SO tiny that her sunglasses can't even sit on them. Her head is fairly wide though so they stay up.

She apparently smashed one of her index fingers recently at the orphanage and last night the entire nail came loose from the nail bed. I have never seen such a thing. Mike trimmed it off this morning so it wouldn't catch on anything, so she has no nail on her right index finger.

She seems to be very healthy except for a cough and cold that we are treating. She is SO smart. She can do just about anything and she mimics everything we do. It's wild. I can't believe how smart she is. She's been going to what they call Kindergarten. It's what we call pre-school and it's obvious. She's very bright and has a gorgeous smile. I can't wait until she's really comfortable with us and smiles and gives kisses all the time.

This has gotten long! I so wish I could send pictures. You'll just have to wait and see her for yourself! (Jake, you're going to love being a big brother to Olivia! She's a very sweet little girl. You two are going to have lots of fun together. We can't wait until we get back so we can take you home and we can finally all be together! We love and miss you sugarbear!)

Thanks for all the prayers! Keep them up. We also love hearing from home so please feel free to leave posts or email us. We can't wait to see you all!

Our laptop has officially quit working so I most likely won't be able to send out anymore pictures. I'm very sad about this because we finally saw Olivia's smile today! She's absolutely gorgeous when she smiles!!!! You are all just going to love her! We heard this morning that Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt were in Saigon if you can imagine! So Mike looked in the paper and there was a picture of them saying they were staying in the Park Hyatt. We asked our waiter where it was and found out it's just around the corner!!! So of course being the lunatics that we (Mandy and I) are, we all trotted down to the Park Hyatt in hopes of seeing Brangelina. No such luck. We finally gave up after about an hour and a half. Mandy and Arnaud spoke to the manager who happens to be French and he said that it would be impossible for us to see them because they would be going out a back entrance or something. It was crazy but we had fun anyway. While waiting at the hotel for her, I threw Olivia up in the air and she had a HUGE smile on her face! We were so excited! She has such a beautiful smile! She has really good looking teeth too which is of course good news. Now she loves for me to throw her up in the air or twirl her around. She'll just smile and smile. She's definitely coming around. I can't wait to see the real Olivia emerge. She also pointed to a picture of an elephant today and said a Vietnamese word. This is all good progress. We are pleased. We're having some problems with her not wanting to lay down for naps or bed and she doesn't like going into our staying in the hotel room. We're working on it though. I know it will get better. This is tough. I'm not going to pretend like it's not. Mike and I are having a really hard time trying to do the best we can. She won't go to Mike anymore which is of course really hard for him because he just loves her to death. It's also hard for me because she's not crazy about me either, but she tolerates me pretty well. You have to understand that this is all normal though. We didn't expect her to just miraculously know we were her Mommy and Daddy who love her and will never leave her. It sure would have been nice though!

If I can ask for you prayers, please pray for God to comfort Olivia and allow us to comfort her. Pray for her to let her guard down and let us in. Pray for us to know the right things to do and say. Pray of course for our paperwork that we'll be able to get home ASAP and pray for Mr. Jake back at home and everyone taking care of him. Thank you guys so much for your prayers! We can't wait to get home so you can all see Olivia's gorgeous smile in person! Give Jake kisses and hugs for us if you see him!

P.S. Steph, I miss you! It's been a whole week since we talked on the phone! I was going to call you, but realized it was the middle of the night there. I'll try to call you soon though. Sometimes I just need to talk to my Stephanephanie :< )

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!!!!!!!!

It's Thursday at 3:47 p.m. so I'll be the first to wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving! I'm definitely missing the mashed potatoes and sweet potatoes, and most of all the green bean casserole! We made it to HCMC (Saigon) yesterday afternoon about 5 p.m. 7 or 8 hours in a van with Olivia and Anna was an experience. Olivia actually did incredibly well. She slept through a good bit of it and checked out the scenery a bit. Poor Anna had a bit of motion sickness though. She's such a happy baby though. She smiles and laughs all the time. Olivia is spending a lot of time checking out her surroundings from the comfort of her Mommy's hip. She did great yesterday with no crying. She HATES the bed though. She doesn't want to lay on it under any circumstances! This is obviously a problem. Actually, it's not just the bed, it's the hotel room in general. Mike thinks it's because she's spent her life in a place without windows or doors so she feels very confined. I think he's probably right. He finally had to walk up and down the hall with her today until she fell asleep. She was SCREAMING in the hotel room. I'm sure they heard her all the way down in the lobby and we're on the 7th floor. I am heart broken for her. I can't even begin to try and imagine what must be going through her head. As far as she was concerned she was perfectly content and happy living in the orphanage where she had spent almost all of her life. Then here we come speaking a strange language that she doesn't understand and we take her from the only life she's ever known on a van for 8 hours and into a bustling city with people everywhere going every direction. Then we seclude ourselves into a small room without open windows and doors and expect her to be fine with it. We don't know what else to do though. We can't very well sleep on the sidewalk. This is very very frustrating. I know it will get better with time, but right now it's just plain tough.

I'm also getting very homesick for Jake. I had been doing really well up until now, but we've hit the 1 week mark and it's definitely starting to set it. I just need to smell his hair and kiss his sweet cheeks. I need yucky boo boo kisses and for him to hold something behind his back and say in his most adorable voice, "Mommy, I have a surprise for you!" Usually it's gum or a diet Mt. Dew. He's such a sweet boy. Oh my goodness. I miss him so so much. I actually ache for him. My arms are aching for him. I don't know if that makes any sense at all.

Anyway, I want to write about a few interesting things here. Number one, Ho Chi Minh - the deceased and most loved president of Vietnam whom they renamed Saigon after - looks just like The Colonel from KFC. (If you are Vietnamese and reading this by chance, please forgive me for saying that - but it's true.) There are statues and pictures everywhere of him and on all of the money. There is also an actual KFC around the corner, but we haven't checked it out yet. We'll be here probably until at least Monday or Tuesday and then we'll fly to Hanoi once we know what day our Visa interview is. Please pray for it to be next week so that we can be home by the end of next week or the first of the next week!!!! That would be such a huge blessing to us. We love Vietnam but we're SO ready to come home.

Secondly, the potties. Most of the places we go they have western potties which are like the ones we use in the US. They also have squatty potties everywhere. These are potty "holes" that you obviously squat over. We were expecting that. So far I haven't had to use one, but I'm a country girl, so it really wouldn't be that big of a deal. I've been squatting in the woods my entire life. I know I know, too much information. The weird thing is that when we were at the orphanage Olivia's Nanny took her to the potty and I followed. She pulled her pants down (they don't wear panties by the way - I of course think this is fabulous and perfectly normal) and had her squat on the bathroom floor. NOT over the potty, just on the floor. She said ssshhhh sssshhhhsssshhhh and Olivia teetee'd on the floor. Ok. Interesting. So then when we went to the G & R ceremony yesterday at a government building, she took her to the potty there and did the same thing. Just right on the bathroom floor and didn't clean it up either time! I was puzzled and of course a bit, um, grossed out. Especially since I thought back to all of the wet bathroom floors I had traipsed across recently. So I asked Thomas about it, who is our Vietnam facilitator and attorney here who works for Dillon and he said that's just how they do it here. What? Oh dear me. I'm very happy to say that Olivia has only used the toilet since we've had her. We had to introduce it to her, but she took to it quickly. She's also like her Mommy and doesn't like to use unclean ones! She refused to potty on the way to HCMC from Ninh Thuan yesterday. That's 8 hours! My girl has a good bladder! She went at the hotel when we got here. She'll also go to the bathroom or tug at her pants when she needs to go. We're very happy that she's potty trained! We put her in diapers at night, but she hasn't wet them yet. She's doing just great. If only we could get this hotel room/bed situation figured out we'd be perfect.

She started waving bye bye and blowing kisses last night and this morning Mike got the coveted FIRST KISS!!! It was so precious. He was beaming of course! I have gotten several since then as well, but he got the first one. Lucky Daddy! She's just a sweet, beautiful girl and we are very proud to be her parents. We can't wait to see her with Jake. He'll love her to death. I can just imagine all the yucky boo boo kisses now! For those of you who haven't been fortunate enough to receive one, those are VERY wet open mouthed kisses from Jake on the cheek. Although these days, he tends to give puppy kisses more often which are obviously little licks on the cheek. Yucky, but sweet! I miss them very much.

I have a million more stories, but they'll have to wait for us to come home. I also am not sure I'll be able to post anymore pictures because the laptop we have isn't working properly right now so I'm having to use the hotel's computer downstairs. You can all see the MILLION pictures I've taken when we get back. If you see my Jakey Poo, give him a big hug and kiss from his Mommy, Daddy and baby sister. He talked to her on the phone yesterday, but she hasn't started talking for us yet. She's still holding herself in a bit. She's opening up little by little but it will take time. HAPPY THANKSGIVING everyone!!! Enjoy some casserole for me and some turkey for Mike.

Please pray for us and our traveling partners that we'll receive our passports and I-600 interviews tomorrow and we'll get our visa interviews next week!!! We're ready to get back to the good old USA and make Olivia an official American girl!

As I type (one handed) Olivia is fast asleep in my lap! This has been such an awesome day! She is ours FOREVER!!!!!!!!!! She is doing really well. Checking everything out. Very cautious yet will sit in our laps and snuggle a bit. She's tiny!!!!!!!!!!! I brought all 2T and 24 month clothes and the only outfit that fits her is a dress that ties in the back. Oh dear me. We're going to have to do LOTS of shopping in HCMC tomorrow. Mike is off applying for her passport. She cried for 5 minutes when he left. I think that's a good sign. Regardless, he'll be sad she cried but tickled that she cried for him. She is absolutely precious! (Jake, you will love her to death! I can't wait for you to meet her!!)

I would like to say a huge thank you to Daddy Don and JuJu for taking such good care of our sugarbear while we're gone. They are the best grandparents in the world. Jake is doing really well. He misses us and asks about us a lot, but he's doing well so far. Please remember to pray for him.

I'll may not post any more pictures until we get to HCMC tomorrow night. Olivia is a cutie and loves to chat on her Barbie cell phone. Leaving the orphange today was very bittersweet. It has been her home for 2 1/2 years. The people there have been - and will continue to be - her family. It is a beautiful place and full of more love than you could ever imagine. I wouldn't trade this trip for anything in the world. It has been a blessing to us to see her country and her people. We will definitely make many more trips here when our children are a bit older.

I'll try to write more later! Sleeping beauty needs her rest!

Day 2 with Olivia!!

We just returned to the hotel from day two at the orphanage. Olivia is just precious. She fell asleep in Mike's arms today and it was so sweet. They also let us feed her lunch which consisted of rice, beef, shrimp and soup. It also had some vegetables in it. We were very impressed with the food they feed them. I also found out that Olivia still drinks from a bottle, which is great. That will give us lots of cuddle time! She sat in my lap and Mike tried to feed her but she would turn her head and bury her face in my chest. I took the spoon and she ate a few bites. I figured since she fell asleep in Mike's arms for the first time we were even since I got to feed her first! She's just the tiniest thing in the world. I can't convey to you how tiny she is. Her little arms and legs are just tiny tiny. She has such soft skin and she smells so sweet. Her hair is soft and she has the absolutely smallest nose I've ever seen in my life! I don't think Jake's nose was this small when he was a newborn!

Tomorrow is our g&r and she'll be our daughter forever. Of course we already think of Olivia as our daughter, but tomorrow it will be official! I just can't believe it. It's surreal. Happy happy happy!!!!!!!!!!! I'm also happy that she'll be able to hear Jake on the phone tomorrow! He'll be very pleased. We talked to him last night and told him we had been to see Olivia. He was disappointed that we hadn't already gotten her. Only one more day Jakey Poo!

The orphanage is so nice and we have loved getting to spend so much time there. I think we've been very lucky to have been here early enough to visit the orphanage and our children three times. I held most of the babies today and one of them is brand new. She still even has a black belly button. She can't be more than a couple of weeks old. All of the nannies are just absolutely amazing. I know that Olivia has been incredibly well cared for. How much they love the children is obvious.

I think we'll go have lunch now and go for a swim at the beach on the South China Sea. This is without a doubt the most beautiful place we've ever been. It's amazing. Hope all is going well at home. Give Jake love for us!! I'll try to post some pictures later tonight.

Here is our first moment with Olivia! She had wet hair from just getting a bath! She was even more beautiful than we could have ever imagined!

The first of MANY moments she'll spend sitting in her Mommy's lap!

Snuggling with Daddy!

Our pretty girl spending some precious time in her Daddy's lap!

Meeting little Miss Olivia

This has been an unbelievable day! After 3 1/2 long years we have finally come face to face with our beautiful Olivia! She is absolutely angelic. I know no other way to describe her. She's just breathtaking! She's also incredibly tiny and delicate, which I honestly wasn't expecting. She looks bigger in pictures! She's a tiny little thing and as light as a feather. Just as sweet as can be!

I'll start at the beginning. We arranged for a wake up call at the hotel in Saigon this morning. We were supposed to be downstairs ready to leave at 6 a.m. we woke up at 12 till 6. Apparently the guy at the front desk didn't understand some part of what I wanted. Anyway, we made it down quickly and boarded a van for Ninh Thuan. It was Mike, Mandy, Arnaud and I along with our driver and Phuong. I think that's how you spell it. Her name is pronounced like fun except the u sounds like oo instead of uh. Anyway, we rode for 7 hours to get to Ninh Thuan. I thought it was a lovely drive. Vietnam is absolutely gorgeous. Lots of mountains and beautiful greenery everywhere! We stopped at a little market and bought some fresh mandarin organges. That was a great treat. You can eat fruit here if it's peelable, otherwise you have to pass on it. Anything that has been rinsed in the water could be dangerous to eat. Mike and I sat on the last row of the van and Mandy and Arnaud sat in the middle. We really could only see out the side windows which was apparently a good thing because Mandy was very nervous about the driving she could see out the front window! The vans and scooters just drive all over the road and there's constant honking. It's absolutely wild. You can't imagine it unless you've been here. It's a gorgeous drive though and you get to see so much of the countryside. We were so excited to see the shore! It's completely different than the beaches in the states of course. It borders the South China Sea and it's beautiful. I'll try to get some photos tomorrow.

We arrived at our hotel around 1 p.m. and ate lunch. We left for the orphanage at 2:30 packed with Cheerios, raisins, and stacking cups for Olivia to play with. The orphanage is about 15 minutes from our hotel. We drove up and there were kids here and there outside playing. They are in the process of building another section and also building a play ground for the kids, so there is a bit of construction going on. We all get out and head upstairs where they keep the kids under two. Mandy and Arnaud's little girl is still up there even though she turned 2 in October. Her name is Anna. They bring Anna out and we're waiting waiting waiting. We ask about Olivia and one of the nanny's sends another little girl to look for her. After a few minutes they tell us that they're giving her a bath and she'll be up in a bit. Oh dear me! So we enjoyed watching M & A with Anna. She's a precious little thing! SO tiny!

We played with the other babies up there and fed them some Cheerios while we waited for the arrival of Miss Olivia. Fashionably late of course! A girl after my own heart! Then we saw her walking up the steps. I knew her immediately of course. It was like something out of a dream. She was gorgeous. I don't know if I can think of words to describe it. It was as if the heaven's opened up and Jesus placed this precious gift before us. That's of course essentially what happened! I wish I could tell you exactly what all happened but it's mostly a blur! We sat down on the ground and she sat in Mike's lap first I think - no maybe mine. I don't remember! Regardless, it all went really well. She was leary of course, but she didn't cry and she sat with us and let us feed her Cheerios and raisins. She liked the little stacking cups and we ended up leaving two of them with her. The others disappeared. She looked at us a lot and allowed us to put her hair back behind her ears and cuddle her and give her kisses on the cheek. I think these are good signs! She wasn't overly affectionate though, which oddly enough is also a good sign. Her nanny was fabulous. She was so sweet with her. Everyone there was very nice and the children were all loved and well taken care of. They all loved the nannies as well. The orphanage was very clean. We were incredibly impressed by everything and everyone we saw.

We stayed for about three hours and played with our girls and the other children. It was amazing!!! I'm so so so so thankful that we were able to arrive early enough to see Olivia on two different days before she's ours for good. I can't wait to see her in the morning! We're going back to the orphange to visit at 8 a.m. Oh! One thing that happened after we had been there a couple of hours - Mike and I were sitting on a ledge outside on the sidewalk on the bottom floor and Olivia went into her room with her nanny and after a minute or two came back out by herself and sat down right next to me. It was so neat! I know that understands that we're different than the other foreign people she has seen at the orphanage. I don't know if she gets that she's leaving in two days, but it was obvious that she knew we were there for her. She's just so precious. I can't wait for you all to meet her!!! We took lots and lots of pictures and my laptop battery is dead, so I have to run upstairs and get my cords before I can download them. We don't have internet in our rooms here. I'll try to get a few posted tonight. Thanks for all of the prayers everyone! We still miss Jake terribly but we're loving Vietnam (except for the tremendous heat - imagine Arkansas in August) and we LOVE Olivia!!! 1 1/2 more days and she'll be ours forever!!! God is so so so good!!!!!!!!!!! Lots of love to you all - especially our Sugarbear!!!!!!!!

Hello from Vietnam!!!

I just wrote a very long post all about our trip so far and somehow lost it!!! I don't have the energy to type it all again. We are exhausted!!! It's 11 p.m. Saturday our time I think. I'm so confused. I'm just too sleepy to think. Anyway, we're in Vietnam and it's beautiful and amazing. We're leaving at 6 in the morning headed to Ninh Thuan. We'll finally meet Olivia tomorrow afternoon! I can't believe it!!!!!! We talked to Jake on the phone tonight and that definitely lifted our tired spirits. We miss him so so so so so much. We're thrilled to finally be here though and meeting our girl. Vietnam is lovely and the people are so kind. I can't wait to tell you all about the trip tomorrow. We'll see a good bit of the coast line as we drive 7 hours up to Olivia's orphanage. We can't wait!

We miss you all and can't wait to get home to everyone especially our sugarbear, JAKE! If you see him give him a kiss from us. Hopefully I'll have pictures of Miss Olivia to post tomorrow night! Goodnight from Vietnam!

Today has been an extremely tough day. I knew that leaving Jake was going to be hard, but I had no idea how hard. I've been crying for about a week now in anticipation of this day, and crying every five minutes all day long today all while trying to keep Jake from seeing my sadness. I've completely devoted the last two days to Jake and tried to make them as fun as possible. We have the Christmas tree up and decorated and he even has one of his own in his room. He's very proud. He's the sweetest boy God ever put on this planet other than Jesus Christ. Jake runs a very close second.

Right now I'm feeling every emotion possible. I'm incredibly sad about leaving Jake, yet thrilled to finally be travelling to bring Olivia home. I'm anxious and worried, happy and heartbroken, tired and exhilarated. How can all of this happen at once? My poor body.

Jake is staying with my in-laws. They are fantastic grandparents and Jake loves them to death. He smothered us with kisses and hugs before we left him there tonight. He's very anxious to have Olivia home. He doesn't understand how long we'll be gone, but I think after we packed essentially every article of clothing he owns, he was beginning to get the picture. Luckily, they'll be out at the house everyday feeding the dogs and fish, along with hunting of course, so he'll be able to play with all of his stuff and get different movies to watch, etc. I'm the one that's losing their mind. Mike is pretty upset too, but he's much better at hiding it. It was tough watching him kiss and hug Jake goodnight for the last time in a while tonight though. His eyes welled up with tears, but he held them back. He's a bigger man than me.

Ok. I've gotta finish packing. Yes, we're leaving in 4 1/2 hours and I'm not done packing. This is normal behavior for me! Please pray for us while we're gone and if you see my sugarbear, give him a big kiss for me! The next time you hear from me, we'll be in VIETNAM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

THE MUNN FAMILY (75% complete!)

I thought I would post one more picture of us as a family of three. Our niece Emma took this picture of us at the SAU rodeo in October. There is definitely room for one more in our family photo but I will always treasure this last one of us as just three. Now that we're in our final days here at home before we leave for Vietnam, we're trying to focus all of our time and attention on Jake. It's wonderful to think about Olivia finally coming home, but it's also sad to leave the life with just Jake that we've lived for nearly four years. He's an amazing kid and he'll absolutely adore Olivia. I have no doubt that the first person he hugs at the airport will be her and not us. He's SO excited about being a big brother. He's the sweetest boy in the world. I know I sound like a broken record, but Mike and I are so incredibly blessed. I can't thank God enough for all that he has given us - especially for our marriage and children.

Olivia's Room!

This is a very cute plaque I bought for Olivia at Canton. So adorable!

Some mirrors for my beautiful girl to look at herself in!

A bed fit for a princess! I wish you could see the pillows. One of them says, "If the shoe fits, buy it in every color" If Olivia is anything like me, she'll try to do just that. The canopy also has iridescent butterflies here and there. I wish the pictures were better quality so you could see all of the little details. Darn dial up. You'll just have to come by to see her room (and more importantly - HER!) in person when we get back fromVietnam!

A desk for her to write poetry at :<) The sign above her desk reads, "Jesus Loves Me." I hope she holds that knowledge within her forever. Nothing else in the world can give her more comfort.

A wide view of her room. Please notice her most elegant chandelier! The pictures don't do it justice! Everyone thought I was nutty when I decided to put a crystal chandelier up, but it looks spectacular! Everyone has been eating their words. The large white word in the inset shelves reads, "Dream." In my opinion if we don't have our dreams, we have nothing. My prayer for Olivia is that she'll always follow her dreams and keep Jesus in the driver's seat.

We're leaving for Vietnam in THREE days!!!!

Please continue to pray for all of us. When Mike asked for prayers for us this morning at church, he asked specifically that they pray that I don't lose my mind being without Jake. Those particular prayers would be especially appreciated! Please also pray for our trip there and back and please pray for Olivia. Pray for God to give her an understanding of what is happening to her. Pray for God to give her comfort and peace. Pray for us to bond as a family and for her to feel safe and secure with us. She has been through so much in her life already. Please also pray for Jake to understand why we're gone and that we're coming back soon. He knows we're leaving and why, but a 3 year old has no real concept of time. He'll just know that we've been gone a LONG time. Pray also for JuJu and Daddy Don! They'll be running around in circles chasing after him. We appreciate the comments, emails, phone calls, cards, and certainly the donations from all of our friends and family, but we ask for your prayers above all else. The prayers of the faithful move mountains. Jesus said so and Jesus doesn't lie! A HUGE thanks to all of you who are praying for us out there! God bless you and your families!

Building our nest!

I'm nesting! I've never cleaned so much in my life. It's absolutely bizarre! I have an insatiable need for everything to be clean and in order! I've even rearranged the furniture in 4 different rooms. Very peculiar stuff. I've been telling Jake that we're going to put the Christmas tree up and I may finally get it up today. I realize it's a bit early, but we don't expect to be back home before the 1st or 2nd week of December, so I wanted to go ahead and get all of my decorating done. That way I can just focus on my two Munn munchkins! It's going to be wild trying to get Jake's birthday party all together and finish buying Christmas presents with two toddlers. I can't wait though!

Today is the first day of deer season with a rifle in Arkansas. That's a BIG BIG day at our house! Our deer camp is actually in our backyard, so there are people, trucks, 4 wheelers and campers all over the place. There are also a few sleeping bags throughout my house. We have three of our friends from Illinois staying with us. The first week of deer season is always so much fun. Jake is finally old enough to truly enjoy it to, which makes it even more fun for us. Mike has already taken in several deer today. He does such amazing work. I'm so incredibly proud of him! Daddy Don is going to take in mounts for us while we're gone to Vietnam. We are blessed to have such wonderful family.

We're leaving in 4 1/2 days!!!!! I can't believe it! That's scary when I actually count down the days. That's not long! I've got lots more nesting to do between now and then!

Happy Deer Season!

God is so good!!!

We had such an amazing weekend! God has been so incredibly good to us. We had our final garage sale Friday and Saturday. I prayed for $500 and God gave us $516! On Sunday, our wonderful home church, First Baptist Church of McNeil, held a fundraiser for us and raised exactly $2000!!!!!!!!!!!! That's TWO THOUSAND DOLLARS!!!! We were blown away by God's blessings and by the outpouring of love from our friends and family! If you ever want to truly learn to rely on God - ADOPT A CHILD! You have no choice but to leave it all in God's hands!

On a more concerned note, we found out today that because of the upcoming APEC Summit we may experience some delays. President Bush is traveling to Hanoi the 14th and 15th of this month and because of that, the US Embassy in Hanoi will be reducing their non-emergency services from Nov 6th - 20th. As a result, they will either not be taking Visa applications during that time or at least not very many, which means they will probably be backed up by the time we apply for Olivia's visa to return to the states at the end of November. The embassy is only open 3 days a week, so we were already concerned about it taking extra time to get her visa which is why we're expecting to be in Vietnam for 3+ weeks. It is amazing to see how much progress has already been made with Vietnam relations and we are thrilled that President Bush is working so very hard to improve things. We're also a little bit selfish and worried about being in Vietnam for longer than anticipated. Jake's 4th birthday is December 14th and I want more than anything to be home by then. Please pray for relations with Vietnam and also for a quick visa interview for Olivia! We want to bring her home ASAP! We're so so ready to finally be a family of 4 all together under one roof!

We've got tickets!!!

I'm very happy to say that we received our airline tickets by FedEx today! The fellow taking care of our travel arrangements has been so wonderful! For those of you adopting, we're using Todd Galileo and I HIGHLY recommend him! I'm also happy to say that the tickets weren't as horrific as we thought they might be. We spent $4200 for me, Mike and Olivia. That's not chump change by any stretch of the imagination, but it could have been worse. We're so grateful that God saw fit to lower gas prices just in time for us to fly half way around the world! We're flying out of Shreveport, LA early in the morning on the 16th. We'll meet up with Mandy and Arnaud in Dallas and then we'll be together for the remainder of the trip. We'll all fly to LAX and have a 4 1/2 hour layover. My brother (who lives in San Diego) is hopeful that he'll be able to drive up and at least meet us for lunch. Then we're on to Taipei, Taiwan where we'll spend the night. That will be the longest leg of the trip. 14 hours in a plane at one time!!! Ugh! Luckily, we're flying Eva air which has deluxe accommodations which as I understand it are equivalent to business class. More room, more reclining. Sounds nice. Then we'll fly out on the 18th (we lose half a day on the flight out there) and arrive in Vietnam around noon on the 18th. Total 22 hours in the air. Oh my goodness. I'm so excited though!!!!! I can't believe we're finally going. It's completely surreal.

We're having another of our famous garage sales this weekend. We didn't have nearly as much stuff though so we're not expecting to break any records. God has truly blessed our garage sales. Friends and family have donated lots of stuff over the last year to help out. We made $1100 on the first one, then $900, then $1600 on the last one! We made over $300 today and will be open all day tomorrow. We even had some friends call this evening with a desk, chair, framed prints and some linens that we went a picked up. We have such an awesome support system! Our wonderful church, First Baptist Church of McNeil, is also having a luncheon fundraiser for us this Sunday. I'm so overwhelmed by how wonderful everyone has been to us. I know I say this often, but I really can't say it enough - WE ARE SO BLESSED! I hope that whatever is going on in your lives today that you can thank God for it and tell others how blessed you are. Have a great weekend everyone!