Our trip to Nashville

This weekend we made our final trip to Nashville to have ANOTHER document (I-171H to be exact) state certified. We were told that other couples were having to have theirs certified and that it wasn't clear if we needed to or not, so being the overly prepared, overly anxious, don't want anything to stand in our way of meeting Ema Li soon, kind of couple, we went to Nashville one last time. Kirk and I love Nashville and always jump at the idea of staying the weekend there. We went shopping on Sunday to get Ema some winter clothes. The poor child has got a closet full of summer clothes but no winter clothes. While it may feel like summer all year long in Vietnam, it is already freezing here in Tennessee. Kirk is so excited about Ema and our upcoming trip. He is so excited that all day we shopped and shopped and shopped and he never batted an eye while swiping that debit card. He was so cute, such a proud daddy! He would hold up a little dress and say "this is cute I think Ema needs this." It didn't work for me while in Ann Taylor when I would say.. isn't this cute, I think Emily needs this. I can already tell that she is going to be a daddy's girl. Kate,if you are reading this go ahead and start on a boy for us so I will have someone :)
I posted some pictures of Ema's clothes. (that is Kirk in the background, passed out from shock)

Nervous Jitters!

Well if you are reading my "family blog" you will know that I think I got food poisoning from a restaurant that I ate at on Friday night. I have been really sick and I am STILL recovering. Well, today I was trying to figure out what is wrong with my stomach because I have always thought that food poisoning reared it's ugly head then left. I began thinking, what could be wrong? Nerves! That could be some of the problem. I am about to be traveling to VIETNAM! Oh my gosh.... VIETNAM. Kirk and I are about to leave our life here for a little while and travel 23 hours on a plane to a place where VERY FEW people speak our language to finally meet Ema. I have known for a long time that this was going to happen eventually but I guess I had gotten into the habit of when someone asked "Have you gotten the baby yet?" saying "No, we are still waiting." Now I am saying actually Yes we should be leaving any day! OH MY GOSH! We will be leaving any day to finally meet Ema! The most scary part is she is 17 months old. We are skipping the part where they eat, sleep, cry, and poop. We are going straight to the active having to be entertained part. Kinda scary! Exciting scary! I am sure that all new mom's get the feeling of, what am I doing, can I do this, can I be a mom? I know that God be with us every step of the way and I know that my mother better be by a computer so that I can communicate with her for advise! Well, our next step is packing our bags, can you believe it, we are FINALLY packing our bags!

And just like that....

And just like that we were approved to travel to the far away land of Vietnam.
I know to you guys it seems like we are never going to get this baby. But I am here to tell you that this morning (or last night in Vietnam time) God showed us how he is working. We got our approval to travel. What does that mean you ask? That means that the US Embassy in Vietnam has approved us to travel to their country. Your next question is ...when do you go? We did not get a travel date. This comes next. The email that we got was forwarded to Henry. (He lives in Vietnam and is responsible for making things happen for us) We are so encouraged to see that things are at least moving and we hope that you are too. We want to thank each and every one of you for all of your prayers and kind words. You will never know how much it means to us! Keep checking the blog for a travel date!

Kirk and Emily

Trials in our life...

Well all of you who know me well, patience has never been one of my best qualities. I usually get something on my mind and I run with it. Kirk and I are patiently awaiting our email to let us know when we can come and get Ema. Well I am patiently awaiting Kirk on the other had is NOT. When we found out that Ema was defantly ours, Kirk and I picked a date to see who could get the closest.I chose October 15th and Kirk chose October 31st. Tuesday night (October 15th in Vietnam) I had to go see a patient and had to leave my husband at home alone without supervision with the computer. He decides that it may speed things a long if he EMAILS Vietnam. Well, it was late when I got home and he obviously forgot to tell me that he had done this. Wednesday morning (October 15th in USA), I get up and start my daily routine. I checked my email to see if my prediction was right and there it was an email from HCM adoption. I know my eyes were the size of dinner plates. I just sat there on the couch, shaking in disbelief because my prediction had come true. I clicked on the email and it was a response to Kirks email. I literally could have choked him. I was SO disappointed. Oh well, it will happen in God's time. I know there is a reason for this long wait. It just is not our turn yet and God has the most perfect time planned just for us.