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!

WE GOT IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We finally got the call!!! At 3:05 p.m. today our most wonderful angelic social worker, Kimberly, called to tell us we finally have our precious giving and receiving date!!! To say that we're elated would be a HUGE understatement!!! We are literally jumping up and down here! I was able to be the one to call our co-traveler Mandy and tell her that in 3 weeks time, we will have our daughters in our arms!!! That was one of the best phone calls I've ever gotten to make in my life!!! This is an AWESOME DAY!!!! On November 21st, Olivia will finally be OUR DAUGHTER!!!!!! Our g & r ceremony will be on the 21st and we have to be in Ho Chi Minh City on Nov 18th. Please pray for us as we scramble to make plans to leave, purchase tickets, pack, and the hardest of all, prepare to leave Jake here while we're gone. THANK YOU GOD FOR OUR G & R!!! Our God truly is an AWESOME GOD!!!! Thanks to all of you who have been praying for us! I'll let you know more details as I know them.

PRAISE GOD! PRAISE GOD! PRAISE GOD!

Our future Baptist preacher! I hope this picture is more clear on your computers than it looks on mine! Jake is so handsome! I've been praying since Jake was a baby that God would call him to preach. This was long before Mike surrendered. I assure you that I never mentioned to Jake that I wanted him to be a preacher, but since he could talk, that's all he's ever said he wants to be. He wants to be a preacher like his Daddy. So, when we bought him his first suit a couple of weeks ago, he was ELATED!!!!! He was completely speechless when we first showed it to him. It was so precious. I have it on video. He LOVES his suit, and he's absolutely the most handsome boy in the world! I will continue to pray that God uses him in a mighty way. In the meantime, I'll just enjoy looking at him in his "preacher suit!"

I can't believe it! It actually let me post a picture of Jake with the "great pumpkin!" I had to make it a very low quality to get it to go with my ridiculously sloooooow dial up, but here it is! This makes me feel much better! We're very excited about Halloween tomorrow! Jake is going to wear what is actually a Lightening McQueen pit crew outfit, but he's going as a race car driver and he'll wear his LMc helmet and drive around in his LMc car. He's going to be so cute! Now that I've figured out that I can send pictures again, I'll be sure to post one of him! As for the adoption, we still haven't gotten our g&r date, but I feel good about it possibly coming tomorrow. Halloween seems like a perfect day to finally get some good news!

I am a "real mom" times 2

I meant to post about this earlier, but with all of the insanity of waiting for the g&r, I completely forgot about it. There was some confusion about Jake's insurance at his doctor's office, so Mike and I went over to the billing office one day last week to take them his insurance card. The woman who waited on us seemed like a nice enough girl. She looked like she was in her late 20's. Then she asked me a strange question. "Are you his real mom?" I was completely puzzled by her question and I garbled out a yes. I looked up at Mike and he was just as puzzled as I was. I laughed about it being an odd question and asked why she asked. She told me a story about another woman who had come in some time before with her adopted daughter. Essentially, she said that she couldn't help the woman because she didn't have her adoption papers with her and she wasn't the girl's "real mom." WHAT????? This is when I start getting irritated. Somehow this all seemed like a logical thing to her. I explained that we are adopting a little girl and that I would be her real mom. Her response in an 'are you stupid?' voice, "Uh, not really." She actually said that to me! She said to me that I wasn't Olivia's REAL MOM!!!! I replied, "Uh, YES - I AM." In my 'I'm fixing to knock the heck out of you' voice. Mike gave me a look that said, 'Let it go, Casey. Please just let it go.' Honestly, I was speechless. For anyone who knows me personally, that doesn't happy very often. I didn't know what to say to this ignorant woman. I'm not calling her ignorant in a mean way. I'm calling her ignorant in a factual way. If she doesn't understand that I am actually Olivia's "real mom" then she's ignorant about what it takes to be a "real mom." Don't even get me started on her need to learn proper adoption verbage. I realize that I've been running a crisis pregnany center for the last two years, so I use adoption lingo constantly, but I think the average person would at the very least believe that an adoptive mom is a real mom. Good grief. I'm still agravated about it a week later.

I'll also take this opportunity to say that I am in no way trying to say that Olivia's birth mom wasn't also her "real mom." It definitely takes a real mom to make the courageous decision to place their child for adoption. That is a parenting decision. Olivia's birth mom was incredibly brave. I owe her so much. To repay her I can give her my prayers and I can teach Olivia about the love it took for her birth mom to choose adoption. Talking about Olivia's adoption and her birth mom will be a regular occurence throughout her life. For the rest of our lives we will hold Olivia's birthparents up in prayer. I pray for their salvation most of all. I pray that one day Mike and I will be given the chance to say thank you to them in heaven.

I am blessed to be a real mom to two beautiful children both given to me by God in different ways. Different, yet perfect ways. Thank you God for the gift of motherhood.

Guess who's still waiting...

Still no news today. I feel like there is an extremely heavy blanket covering me and I just can't get it off. The only other time in my life that I have felt this helpless was when my Mom died. It's the only other time in my life where I felt like I had absolutely no control over anything. I have complete and total faith in God's plan. He can see a much broader view of the world than I can. He knows things I couldn't possibly know. There is a reason we don't have our g&r yet. These are all things I'm certain of, and I'd much rather have God in control than me, but somehow it isn't making me feel much better right now. I think that's the Mama in me. We want to know what's going on at all times! We want specific dates, times and places. I like specifics. Why why why did I pray for patience?!?!

Still waiting. No news today, but of course the day isn't over. Thanks to all of you who have left comments. I just love getting those. Thanks also to everyone for their prayers. I feel them! I wish so much that my internet connection was faster so I could upload pictures. It would make me feel better if I could send Jake's smiling face out for everyone else to see. I wouldn't make it without him. As anxious and frustrated as we are, I know the waiting must be much more difficult for those who don't already have children at home. On the other hand, it will be harder for us while we travel than them because we have to leave Jake at home. I guess no matter how you look at it, this is a difficult journey. The great news is that according to my Father in heaven, the most difficult journeys are the ones with the most reward. In our case we will be rewarded with a precious daughter and baby sister. We wouldn't trade a minute of this journey for anything!

The waiting game isn't a fun game!

I feel like a teenager except that instead of sitting by the phone waiting for a call from a goofy boy, I'm sitting here at the computer waiting for an email telling me we can FINALLY travel to bring our daughter home. My how things have changed! This waiting is much more difficult but also MUCH more worthwhile! We completely expected to hear from Dillon today. I have been on pins and needles for the last two days. Poor Mike. He's about ready to strangle me. When they have the date, Dillon will send us an email telling us the date for our Giving and Receiving Ceremony. We should have around two weeks before the date to plan our trip. So, if we get our g&r date tomorrow and it's set for say, November 8th, then we would leave the states around the 5th.

I'll tell you sort of what our trip itinerary will look like. We will fly into Ho Chi Minh City (also known as Saigon) and depending on what time we arrive, either go to the orphanage the next day or the next. We'll ride a van to her province and we'll meet Olivia that day and then the g&r ceremony will most likely be the following day. Her caregiver will bring her to the g&r and once we go through the ceremony and sign papers, she'll be ours! Then we'll apply for her passport and wait a couple of days for it. Once we have her passport, we'll fly to Hanoi and apply for her visa to come to the states. Depending on how quickly we can get our interview there, we'll wait a few days or a week or better. Some families have been gone over 3 weeks, some just over 2. We're definitely praying for 2, but preparing for 3 just in case. That's a very rough overview of our trip.

Please pray pray pray for us to receive our g&r date ASAP!!! We are desperate to bring our daughter home and get back to Jake as soon as possible, too. We are so ready to be a complete family!!! On a very good note one of my very best friends, Stephanie, told me a few nights ago that they had been working on having a fundraiser for us! Our church is having a hamburger lunch fundraiser on November 5th to raise money to help us pay for our trip! It was a complete and WONDERFUL surprise! We have been so incredibly blessed by our church, our friends and our family. We're also having another garage sale this weekend. Even when we had no idea how we were going to come up with whatever amount of money we were going to need for the adoption, it's always been there. God has always been faithful to provide.

Thanks to all of you out there who are praying for us. You have no idea what it means to our family! Please pray for quick travel, pray for Jake as he stays home with JuJu and Daddy Don, please pray for Olivia and pray for us that we don't go nuts before we're all home together at last!

P.S. While you're praying, please pray also for the awesome family that will be traveling with us. They are also leaving behind their son with grandparents to bring their daughter home from the same orphanage Olivia is in. We've spoken to them quite a bit on the phone and they are great people. We are so thrilled to share this with them!

But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him, and his righteousness unto our children's children. Psalm 103:17

(Sometimes I just need to be reminded that God's mercy is everylasting. Right now is one of those times.)

I thought I would post a cute picture of my little pumpkin, Jake, next to an actual pumpkin that is about 4 times his size, but my slooooowww dial-up is preventing me from uploading it. Dial-up is pretty much the only thing I don't like about living in the sticks. I would be perfectly content to live in a one room cabin in the mountains with my beautiful family as long as I could have a superfast internet connection and a Wally World not too far away. I suppose I should try to be more like Paul and be content with my situation. At least I'm not imprisoned in Rome, right?!

We haven't heard anything new on the adoption front. We still expect to hear about our G&R date next week and hopfully leave for Vietnam within the next 3 weeks or so. That's what we're praying for! We found out yesterday that because of the upcoming holidays, airfare to Vietnam is going to skyrocket. The tickets that we thought were going to cost about $1000 per person are now looking like they will be closer to $3000 per person. We're not sure how we're going to swing the extra expense, but we know that God will provide. On top of that yesterday, we took the Explorer in to be checked out. It started making a weird noise Thursday night. It turns out that we're going to have to replace the ENTIRE ENGINE. At this point, we're just laughing. If we didn't, we'd cry. Yesterday was a wild day. Jake and I were in the deer stand yesterday afternoon when the biggest buck I've ever had a shot at walked out. Jake was being so good and quiet. I got him out of my lap and standing up, got my gun up with the crosshairs right on the buck's shoulders and - - - - - - click. (For those of you who don't hunt - the clicking sound is NOT good.) My muzzleloader wouldn't fire. HOLY COW! Tried the second time ------- click. The deer didn't stick around for a third try. It was for the best though because Mike ended up going through nearly 20 caps before he finally got it to fire last night after we got home. I was LIVID. I don't know the last time I was so mad. If Jake hadn't been with me I probably would have just thrown the gun at the deer. I was so angry. Sweet Jake - he was just happy and content to have been there to see the deer at all. He teaches me lessons every single day.

Speaking of Jake and his sweetness, he is very excited about staying with JuJu while we're gone to bring Olivia home. Mostly because there is a huge box sitting in Olivia's room right now with 25+ wrapped gifts in it just for him! He'll be able to go to the box and pick out a present everyday that we're gone and if he's having a rough day, perhaps he can have two. He's such an amazing boy. We are so incredibly lucky. I told Mike last night that if God had let me make a list of everything I wanted in a child, I couldn't have even come close to describing how awesome Jake is. God had a bigger vision than I did! Jake is everything we could have ever hoped for in a child and so much more. He is a kiss straight from our Father. I'll hush now. I could go on and on about my baby boy. He's going to be a race car driver for Halloween. He'll be driving around in his Lightening McQueen car. He's VERY excited. I wish Olivia were here to be Tinkerbell. I'll just have to dress her up after we get home and take them around for Thanksgiving! Perhaps someone would give them a turkey leg. Hmmm.

I had hoped very much to have pictures of Olivia's room up for everyone to see, but like Jake's pumpkin pictures, it's not possible right now. I suppose you all will just have to come see it in person!

Here is a new picture of our beautiful Olivia. We are so blessed that another adoptive mom, Susie, took several pictures of Olivia while she was in Ninh Thuan a couple of weeks ago. Susie has adopted two precious girls from Vietnam. Her youngest daughter was adopted from the same orphanage that Olivia is in.

We get lots of questions about when Olivia is coming home and for people who have just learned of our adoption, they often ask how long she's been in the orphanage. Only rarely do people ask me what life is like for her now or what her life has been like for the last 27 1/2 months. I'm not even sure how comfortable I am sharing with family and friends the details of Olivia's young life - much less the strangers of the world who read our blog. I do feel compelled to tell everyone a few things though.

Mike and I have never been out of this country. We are so incredibly naive. We don't know what it means to suffer. Although neither of us grew up wealthy, we've never been without food or a home. We've never been without the love of parents. We've never been afraid and had absolutely no one permanent in our lives that we could trust. I can't fathom what it's like to be a young child and not have a Mommy to run to. I was blessed to have the most wonderful Mama in the entire world. I have also been blessed to have an amazing mother-in-law, Granny and step-mother who I love very much. I have never known a moment of my life where someone didn't think I was the world to them. Whether it was my Mama and Daddy, my husband or my son - I think that every second of my life I have been someone's focus, someone's priority. I am blessed. I am a child of God. There are no words that can describe that kind of love except to know that He gave His son's life for me. There isn't a person in this world I would give my son's life for. Not one.

Olivia has not had a Mommy or Daddy with her for the vast majority of her young life. I have no doubt in my mind though that there is a woman in Vietnam who has ached for her every single day since she last held Olivia in her arms. Her birthmother gave her the name Thi Diem My. That's part of her heritage. Actually it's bigger than that. It's a part of HER. It's a part of Olivia and a part of her birthmom. That's why we've chosen to keep the name Thi - the name she was given by the woman who gave her life. She had choices. Even the poorest of the poor have choices. She chose life and I am in tears right now thanking God for giving her the courage to choose life. I have no doubt that Olivia's birthmom thinks of her each and every day. Perhaps her birthfather does, too. I am thankful beyond words that our Father in Heaven has watched over her every second of her life since the moment of conception. She has always and will always have a Father who loves her unconditionally, who loves her while she's awake and while she's asleep. He loves her even when she doesn't think anyone else does. I have news for Miss Olivia Frances Thi Munn. She has a Mommy, Daddy and big brother right here in the great state of Arkansas who think she hung the moon and stars in the sky! We have dreamed of her for so long that we don't even remember the beginning of our love for her. I have dreamed of her since I was a little girl myself. I have loved her since I wasn't much older than she is now. My baby girl. She is God's gift to us. We are so blessed. I want to make sure that you know that if you know nothing else about Olivia's life - we are blessed to be a part of it. She isn't the lucky one. We are.

WE ARE BLESSED.

ADOPTION UPDATE!!!

We received an email today from our wonderful program director, Jynger, that Olivia's dossier has been sent to Hanoi!!! It will now be reviewed along with our dossier and then be sent back to her province to be reviewed. For most of the families who have already traveled, they received travel clearance about 3 weeks after they received their dossier update!!! This means that we could be hearing about our G & R (giving and receiving) date in just THREE WEEKS!!!

I've been praying (and had everyone I know praying!!!) for us to leave by the end of October and I absolutely believe that we will. I have complete FAITH in an awesome GOD!!! Mike and I are so incredibly excited!!!

I'll keep everyone updated as soon as we are! We also have some new pictures of Olivia and of course 10,000 pictures of Jake I'd like to share with everyone. Because of our s--l--o--w dial up, it takes to long to download them. Hopefully we'll have satelite internet in the next couple of weeks and you'll be swimming in photos of our two beautiful children!!!

Please keep praying for Olivia and all of the children and caretakers in her orphanage in Ninh Thuan. We also have some fellow Dillon friends with children in an orphanage in Vinh Long, so please pray for them as well. We're all incredibly anxious to bring our children home. Let us also never forget to pray for the children left behind. We will no doubt be haunted by them for the rest of our lives once we visit the orphanage. They are already in my thoughts and prayers.

Olivia & Kennedy

Here is a picture of Olivia with her friend, Kennedy. Olivia is the one in yellow just in case you weren't sure (and shame on you if you couldn't tell!!!) Kennedy is in several pictures we've received of Olivia and she's also in Olivia's video. I had noticed her several times but was very pleased to find out recently that she is being adopted by another family from our adoption agency! Our program director has visited Olivia's orphange several times and said that they seem to be good friends. It does this Mom's heart well to know that my little girl has a best friend. Kennedy's mom, Elaine sent me this picture of our girls last week. They live in Tulsa, so we won't be planning play dates too often, but I do hope that we can get together a few times a year. One of the reasons we chose Dillon International as our adoption agency is because they have such great post-adoptive programs including family get togethers and cultural camps. Since quite a few children are being adopted from Olivia's orphanage by Dillon families, she'll be able to continue relationships with many of the friends she's lived with since she was just a baby. That means a lot to me. She's lost so much in her young life and I'm glad to know that she'll have a link to her past and her culture through other adopted friends from her same province.

Speaking of our program director who has visited Olivia's orphanage, I spoke to her last week about Olivia and mentioned that she was able to hold her the last couple of times she was there. She said that Olivia is very social and sweet. I was tickled! She looks so shy in pictures but of course, she's no doubt confused about the cameras and English speaking people. She better get ready, because if there is one thing I'm famous for it's taking pictures!

I feel pretty bad that I hardly ever post, but I'm sad to say that there is rarely any news to tell! I've spent the last two weeks working on Olivia's room and it has been so much fun! It's so much more fun to decorate for a girl than a boy. It's also much more fun to buy girl clothes. Boys just don't have much to choose from! Olivia's room is absolutely darling! It's about 99% done and I'll hopefully post pictures in the next couple of days. For any of you who can though, you should stop by and see it in person! I'm just a little bit proud. I'm completely and totally nesting! It's nice to have something to keep my mind off the waiting though.

Jake is pretty good at keeping us busy of course. He's absolutely hysterical. For those of you who don't have the fortune of spending oodles of time with him, I just can't put into words what a treasure he is. At least two or three times a day Mike just looks at me and says, "I love him. He's just amazing." I couldn't agree more. We are continually amazed at what a great kid we have. I can't tell you how often I thank God for Jake. He keeps me sane and he keeps me laughing. We took him to the Columbia County Fair Friday night and met up with our friends Todd, Stephanie, Sydney and Laney Scruggs. Sydney is Jake's "girlfriend." They are absolutely adorable together. They hold hands and sit together during church. It's the sweetest thing. Sydney's a good girl and she comes from a good family. You never know! I'll try to get a few pictures posted in the next couple of days and include one of them. They had the biggest time riding rides. Jake was really big enough this year to truly enjoy the rides. He was so excited. We also bought 5 candied apples (the thing I look forward to ALL YEAR LONG!) and we finished eating the last one today. Ah... another year before I can have another one. Next year we'll have to buy extra since Libba will be here to enjoy them as well! It's funny how whatever name your children call their siblings ends up being what you call them. I wonder how long Libba will last. My niece Carolina is still Lina because that's what her brother Chase called her as a child and she'll be 11 in a couple of months.

I would also like to add a great big CONGRATULATIONS to my friend Mary! Her family brought home their daughter last week, adopted from China. Welcome home Miss Vivian!

More Pictures!!

There are several families with our adoption agency that have LID's of August 29th and we've gotten together and started a Yahoo group so that we can rant and rave together. One of them is a family from Dallas. We have lots in common with them. They have a daughter, Anna, who is two and in the same orphanage as Olivia. They also have a biological son who will be 4 soon. Jake will be 4 in December. How weird is that?! The Mom, Mandy, seems really great and we look forward to meeting them in the very near future. We will no doubt be traveling throughout Vietnam with them and our daughters. She sent me a link to a video slide yesterday of a family who is currently in Vietnam. That family adopted their son from Ninh Thuan, where Olivia is, and posted a few pictures of the children at the orphanage. Olivia is in 4 of them! We are incredibly excited to get ANY pictures or information about Olivia, so we are thrilled! If you'd like to check them out go to http://2332357120.slide.com/p/1/craigwkids. Just click on the link and it should take you there. Enjoy! We certainly are!

Yay!!! We finally got our video of Libba!

Ok. Maybe this picture wasn't taken today, but this is a good representation of how excited Jake was to see a video of his baby sister - whom he calls Libba! This picture was actually taken at Yellowstone when we were on our trip a few weeks ago. We were all jumping up and down today though when we got our video. We had been expecting it since last week and I was about to lose my mind - which of course wouldn't be a big loss. The video was only about one minute long, but it was still so amazing to see her. She is absolutely gorgeous. She really is. I know that I'm biased, but honestly, she's BEAUTIFUL! I could just eat her up. I love her smooth skin and brown eyes and those pouty lips just kill me! All three of us can't wait to get our hands on her. I want to kiss those cheeks! Jake will no doubt give her huge bear hugs as soon as he sees her. She's going to be very lucky to have such a great big brother. God has truly blessed us with sweet beautiful children! Now if we could just get our whole family under one roof things would be perfect!

When I was pregnant with Jake, I eventually got to a point where I was couldn't sleep at night. I've heard this is preparation for those long nights when the baby doesn't exactly "sleep like a baby." Well, apparently I've come to the same stage in my "paper pregnancy!" I am having lots of trouble sleeping and then I'm exhausted all day long. My mind is absolutely racing! I can't believe that after all this time we're actually this close to having Olivia home. I can't seem to focus on anything anymore. I just think about Jake and Olivia. I can almost see him holding her hand walking into church, him helping her up steps, him feeding her (I can only imagine what all he'll try to feed her!) They are going to be so precious together. He's so looking forward to her coming home. I'm still sick at my stomach thinking about leaving him home while we travel to Vietnam, but I still believe it's the best decision for both he and Olivia. Wow! I'm actually getting sleepy now. Perhaps blogging is a good sedative for me. I may have to post more often!

Like cold water to a weary soul is good news from a distand land.

Proverbs 25:25

Our prayers were answered! After nearly having a nervous breakdown and almost driving my husband insane as well, we received a call this afternoon that we have our log in date!!!!!!!!!!! Our LID is August 29th. To say that we're excited would be a HUGE understatement. I was at the center when Kimberly called me and I'm so thankful we didn't have a client at the time. I was jumping up and down and squealing like a 5 year old who just got a puppy for her birthday! This has been an unbelievably awesome day!

Let me try to explain what this means in case I didn't last night. I was so upset I honestly don't remember if I did or not. Now that we have our LID, the next thing we'll be waiting for is our G&R date, or giving and receiving date. That will be the date of the official ceremony where we are given custody of our daughter by the Vietnamese government. We expect to get our G&R date between 8 and 12 weeks from our LID. That means we could have our G&R as early as October 24th! Of course it could even come earlier, but it most certainly could come later, too. The last group from Dillon who got their G&R's waiting 12 weeks. Please pray with us that we are able to bring Olivia home ASAP!!! We would be thrilled to be with her for Halloween! I better take a bag of sugarless candy with me to Vietnam just in case :<)

Speaking of sugarless candy, can you still bring gum on a plane with you? I'm still puzzled about what is and isn't ok. I'm very concerned about not being able to take my treasured strawberry lipgloss with me on board! My checked baggage is simply too far away! How will I live through a 17 hour flight without any lip gloss?!? I suppose if Mike can live 2+ weeks without a pocket knife surely I can manage a day without lipgloss!

By the way, we're 99% sure that we've decided to let Jake stay with JuJu and Daddy Don while we go to bring Olivia home. I've been trying my best to remind myself that I need to think about what's best for Jake and not for me. Jake would no doubt we happier here playing and being spoiled by his grandparents than flying around the world and riding on bumpy buses in a 3rd world country. It will be so incredibly difficult, but we know God will take care of our family on both sides of the world until we can all be FINALLY together!

I can't tell you how much we covet your prayers. I don't think we've ever needed them as much in our lives - for Olivia, us and Jake. Please please please pray for Olivia's health and well being, for speedy paperwork and travel, for Jake to be happy and healthy and for us not to loose our minds without him! Mike and I could also use a few prayers for patience too please! Oh and while you're sending up prayers, feel free to pray for God to provide financing to get us half way across the world! He has been so faithful to provide for us! We are so so so blessed!

Frustration

I'm on the verge of pulling my hair out. I realize that this has been an incredibly long journey and we're almost to the end and God has perfect timing, etc. but we're SO CLOSE to finally having Olivia home that the waiting has gotten much much harder. Our agency told us last week that our dossier would be hand delivered to the government agency that does adoptions in Hanoi on Monday morning which was Sunday afternoon our time. They said we should expect a log in date (LID) either this week or next. I've been BEYOND excited about this, because it's the last thing we'll wait for before we get our travel approval (TA.) I've been patiently (well - maybe not so patiently) waiting for our LID for several weeks now. Knowing that our dossier was being delivered Monday was VERY exciting!

I still haven't heard about our LID, but I wasn't getting too terribly worried yet. That was until I logged onto the Dillon forum tonight. Three other families received an email Tuesday night with LID's of August 29th. We didn't receive an email. Did someone just hit me with a bat? Gosh - it sure feels like it. Oh my gosh. I just want to scream!!!!! I want our LID. Not just sort of, not just kinda - but I want it desperately. I can't put into words what the waiting is getting to be like. For most of the families going through Dillon they've received TA about 8 weeks after they received their LID. That's why it's so important. Our LID will put everything in motion for us to be able to go to Vietnam. I actually take back what I said before. I don't want it desperately - I NEED it. If anyone out there has spare time on their hands, please pray pray pray for us to get our LID and TA and most importantly our DAUGHTER!!!!!

Perhaps I've vented enough for tonight. I'll try to share some happiness! Yes there is some! I've started decorating Olivia room at long last! Her bed is made and adorable. She has a lovely new rug to spend afternoons on having tea parties with her dolls. I bought material today to make her curtains. There are lots of darling pillows and a cute white book shelf with flowers on it. A wicker chair I painted white that will have a lovely pillow on it matching the curtains after I make all of it in the next day or two, but MOST IMPORTANTLY!!!! her chandelier!!! I decided many months ago that a princess like Olivia deserved a crystal chandelier in her room. Everyone thinks I'm nutty of course, but once you see it, you'll change your minds! It's gorgeous! I scoured the internet and looked on Ebay for weeks before I finally came across an amazing deal. If you know me at all, you know that I don't buy anything if it's not a great deal! I finally came across one that was perfect except for one small detail. It had gold detail. Yuck and poo. I bid on it anyway because it was an amazing deal and I got it. I paid $50 for a Swarvoski chandelier. Perhaps this doesn't mean much to most of you, but I assure you it's a fantastic deal! It's been sitting in our bedroom for 4 or 5 months, but I got it out yesterday, took it apart and painted all of the non-crystal parts white. We put it back together and Mike put it up in her room this evening. It's absolutely positively GORGEOUS!!! I'm so thrilled with it. It's perfect. Once her room is all done, I'll post some pictures. Mike assures me that she'll hate all of this fancy stuff and want her room done in camouflage, but I'm betting she'll be happy to have a fancy room and save the camo to wear hunting. She can always hang her first buck in her room to hold her purses!

NEW PICTURES!!!

We were so excited this morning when our social worker, Kimberly, called us to say she was emailing us lots of new pictures of Olivia! We received 9 in all and will be receiving a VIDEO of her next week!!!!!!!!!!!!! We are so incredibly excited about getting a video of our sweet girl! The director of the Vietnam program, Jynger, has been in Vietnam for the last two weeks with the first two families from our agency to pick their children up. They have had some INS problems and are having to stay over another week. Please be in prayer for them and their families as one family and Jynger have left their small children at home in the states and are missing them terribly. Whether or not to take Jake with us to Vietnam has been such a huge struggle. We still haven't decided for sure yet. I just can't imagine being away from him for two weeks much less three. I also worry a great deal about taking Jake to a 3rd world country and not having enough attention to go around for him and our new daughter, who definitely deserves our undivided attention for at least the first couple of weeks. Attachment is a very serious issue especially considering Olivia is already over 2 years old. It's incredibly important that she bond with us early. It will be difficult to give her 100% attention with Jake there also. Oh all the decisions are frustrating!

Anyway, here are some of the new pictures of Olivia. We hope you enjoy them. They have definitely brightened up our day!

Olivia Frances Thi Munn

We were thrilled to receive a new picture of Olivia this week! We now have three pictures of her and not one of her smiling! I can't wait to see her beautiful smile in person. Hopefully it will only be another 2 or 3 months before we finally hold our angelic girl in our arms. I've been busy this week buying her lots of clothes! I had been compiling a wardrobe for her over the last two years and now that we actually have her age, a lot of the clothes I had purchased or inherited were too small. I've been scouring the 75% off sale rack at Stage since we got our referral! I just wish I knew what size shoe she wears!

HOME SWEET HOME

If you check this blog with any regularity, you've probably noticed we've been MIA for several weeks! As soon as Jake's pneumonia was finally getting better, Mike started having pain in his lower back on the right side. This is a very bad sign. This pain can only mean one thing - another kidney stone. He managed on his own for a couple of days before we ended up in the ER. Our doctor wanted to admit him, but he was insistent on toughing it out at home. If it weren't for my wonderful sister, Cerra, and her briefcase full of meds (she has a terrible bone disease called a vascular necrosis) Mike couldn't have made it.

By a great miracle from God, Mike's kidney stone finally passed ending our family's bad health streak. Well, except for the fact that he also had bronchitis. He healed from that pretty quickly though. We were even able to go to our friend Vincent's wedding in Montana as we had planned. Mike, Jake and I drove 5,200 miles in 10 days and covered 11 states. We had a great trip! We spent 3 of those days in San Diego with Uncle Joby (aka my brother, Joe.) We saw lots of sights on our trip, but Jake especially loved the beach and the San Diego Zoo! He loved the pandas most. We had a caricature done of Jake at the zoo and his picture has a panda in it. The artist also drew one of Olivia from her photo. It's one of her at the beach. They're so cute! I'll try to remember to take a picture of them to post.

We're all very happy to be home, especially Jake. The last couple of days we were on the road, he had started to refer to the backseat as his "room." We definitely knew it was time to go home then! He was such an angel though. Even with all of the time we spent driving, he never complained once. We are such lucky parents. Now, if we could only get our daughter home, we could finally be a complete family!