The Fishers

2012-01-07T08:39:00.001-08:00

Happy New Year 2012!

Catching Up

2011-04-03T12:01:00.000-07:00

I know it has been several months since I last posted. Things have been very busy and I am finding it harder to find time to blog. I will try to catch up on everything that has been going on since my last post.

We had a quiet holiday season this year. Andy had back surgery a few days before Christmas so we just took it easy so he could recuperate and didn't travel or have any company for Christmas. He is all healed and pretty much back to normal. It was a tough year health wise for Andy, having foot surgery back in March and back surgery in December. We're hoping for a better year in 2011. He is currently in Germany for 3 weeks for work. I am hoping the time goes by quick, the kids really miss him and I really miss him. It's tough with one of me and 3 of them.

Brendan celebrated his 11th birthday in January and is doing great in school this year bringing home great grades. Last weekend he crossed over from cub scouts to boy scouts. They had a very nice ceremony at the weekend campout.

Dylan is doing well back in the public school and still gets tutoring with Larissa at home twice a week. We got some bad news in January regarding his vision. It has gotten worse over the past year and we are starting to see that in his everyday activities. All we can do right now is keep up with his learning braille at school (which will benefit him in the long run) and take it a year at a time. He is still reading his textbooks and is a very good reader, but it continues to get harder for him to read smaller print.

Maddie is also doing well in school. She is very smart and school has been very good for her socially too. She has made a couple of friends and has fun at school each day.

As for me, I returned to school in January. Since all of the kids are now in school I knew it was time for me to go back to work after an 11 year hiatus. I really didn't want to use my current degree in financial economics and I knew I would have a tough time finding a job. I have always been interested in medicine and wanted to get into something in the medical field so I decided to enter the nursing program at Trident Technical College. Since I already have a bachelors degree I only had to re-take my anatomy classes before starting the nursing program (since it has been VERY long since I last took them). I am currently re-taking anatomy I and will re-take my second anatomy class this summer and in the fall I will start the actual program. Some very busy times ahead for me!

We had a little vacation a couple of weeks ago up in Myrtle Beach. 3 of my sisters and my Dad and all 5 of us rented a house right on the beach for a few days. The weather wasn't perfect, a bit chilly, but it was fun seeing and spending time with family. Maddie and Maggie had a great time playing together.

That's about it for now. I will try to keep blogging every couple months to keep everyone caught up. Enjoy the recent pictures!

October

2010-11-22T10:35:00.001-08:00

September and October went by so fast and I am behind on my blogging duties. That's what happens when you have 3 kids! October started with Dylan's 9th Birthday, we had a small party with friends and family and Dylan wanted and Angry Birds theme. Angry Birds is an app/game on the ipod/ipad that he absolutely loves! So I had to get creative with cupcakes, birds and pigs. At least he could tell what they were, that was what mattered most. Last month I also took the kids up to Columbia to EdVenture an awesome children's museum that we have never been to. The kids had a blast, there was so much to do and see, we will definitely be going back. Brendan had a den camp out with scouts a few weeks ago where he caught his first ever fish (he actually caught 2), he was SO excited about it. Our month ended with Dylan going back to public school. We loved our home school program and I would definitely recommend it to anyone but sadly our 3 years of PDD waiver funding for Dylan's home program came to an end and there was no way we could continue. He also needed to get back into a classroom with other kids for socialization. But so far things have gone really well. He has a great teacher, a great classroom, and great resource teachers, all at a great school. We're keeping our fingers crossed that all goes well this time around. And finally Halloween, this year we had a little black cat (Maddie), a tiger/cat (Dylan) and Brendan chose to not really go trick or treating but just dress incognito so nobody could tell it was him. As always they all had a fun time and got lots and lots of candy. Stay tuned for November and December.

Off to School!

2010-09-02T10:29:00.000-07:00

The past 2 weeks have been very busy with everyone starting school.........yes everyone! Brendan started 5th grade on the 18th, so far so good, he really likes his 2 teachers. Dylan also started on the 18th. He is now in 2nd grade and this year we are doing a virtual school called Connections Academy, it is homeschooling with a teacher on the computer giving live lessons, assignments, tests, etc. and on our end there are learning coaches, myself and 3 of Dylan's current teachers/therapists. So far it is going really well. Dylan has to get used to more school work this year, but when he does he'll be fine. Last but not least, little Miss Maddie started school on the 23rd. She is a "peer buddy" in the preschool program at Laurel Hill Primary and goes for 3 hours each morning 5 days a week. She did really well her first week, she only cried the first day, since then, she's been fine. I really thought the separation would be much worse, but I am happily surprised. She is doing great and meeting lots of new friends. Her teacher is the same teacher that Dylan had when he went through the preschool program for 2 years. I am enjoying my 3 hours each morning being "Maddie free" and getting odd jobs done. The separation is good (healthy) for both of us:)

Other than school, cub scouts is now in full swing again and this year Andy & I are more involved. Right now we are doing the annual popcorn sale, so if anyone wants popcorn................

Next Thursday will be our 2 year "Gotcha Day" anniversary. It's hard to believe that it's been 2 years, how time flies. We are looking forward to celebrating another year with our baby girl!

Happy Birthday Maddie!

2010-07-30T11:42:00.000-07:00

Maddie turned 3 yesterday, how time flies! She had a fun Birthday. She and the boys played in the little pool in the backyard, she opened her presents, we grilled some chicken, and then had a GIANT cupcake cake! She got a bike, a play kitchen and a playmobil dollhouse from us and I think her favorite so far is the kitchen, she's been playing with her dishes, cooking food & talking on the phone:) Today she went for her well visit and the Dr. says she's doing great! She's right where she should be developmentally. She did pretty well with her shots although there was plenty of drama! She starts school next month! She is going to Laurel Hill Primary and will be in the early preschool program. Coincidentally she is going to have the same teacher that Dylan had when he went through the preschool program at Laurel Hill. We are very excited for her, she is going to have SO much fun (once we get past the separation part).

Summer 2010

2010-06-24T09:18:00.000-07:00

We've had a busy summer so far. The day Brendan finished school we headed up to Michigan for 10 days. Andy had a Bosch training class in Farmington Hills where most of our family is so we got to do a lot of visiting while we were there. It was the first time all of my sisters and I have been together in about 5 years. The kids also got to see all of their aunts, uncles, cousins and second cousins, many of them hadn't met Maddie yet, it was a lot of fun! On the way up to Michigan we stopped for 2 nights in Charlotte, NC. The boys are big NASCAR fans and the Charlotte area is home to many racing shops so we spent a day touring some shops and museums and the boys were SO excited! We spent 2 nights in a brand new hotel in a great location and it had a fun pool! When we returned home after our trip Brendan & Dylan had a week of Scout camp where they had lots of fun! This week is vacation Bible school and then we get to rest and enjoy the summer a bit. Next weekend Andy's brother and family are coming for 4th of July weekend, all of the kids will have a great time playing together. We're really looking forward to their visit. Maddie starts swimming lessons on August 2. She will be in the 3's class. She loves the pool but I'm not sure how she'll do with a (stranger) swimming instructor carrying her around the pool. Andy went back to work in May and was in his walking cast until a couple weeks ago. Now he's walking without crutches or casts, he's very happy to be free of them all. His ankle is still a bit sore and gets swollen if he's on his feet a lot, but he's continuing to get better. Here are some pictures of our summer so far.

March & April

2010-04-15T08:24:00.000-07:00

We have had a great spring so far. The weather has finally started warming up and we've been enjoying a lot of outside time. Andy has been off work since the middle of March due to his foot surgery and will probably be returning back to work sometime in May. He's recovering well, but is getting frustrated with having to use crutches all of the time. We've enjoyed having him home with us. Maddie is especially enjoying seeing Daddy more. Brendan is doing great in school and brought home all A's and B's again. He is also still enjoying scouts. Dylan is also doing great in school and loves learning. He is also enjoying scouts as well as his horseback riding therapy each week. Maddie continues to entertain us each day. She is talking so much! We finally took the front off of her crib and converted it to a toddler bed. She is doing really well not trying to escape. We are slowly working on potty training and she is slowly getting it. We're looking forward to our pool opening up so we can do a lot of swimming this summer. The boys start swimming lessons this weekend.

2010 So Far

2010-02-20T15:43:00.000-08:00

I haven't posted since the Christmas post, so I will update you on our year so far. In January we celebrated both Andy's birthday & Brendan's 10th birthday. For Brendan's birthday weekend we had a fun weekend getaway to Myrtle Beach. We stayed in a hotel and the kids had a blast! We also visited with Papa & Donna and Papa helped the boys start their pinewood derby cars for cub scouts. Brendan really enjoyed his special birthday weekend. February has been pretty exciting so far. We had SNOW, yes snow here in South Carolina. The last time it snowed here was 10 years ago, the night Brendan was born. We got about 2 inches here in Mt. Pleasant and further inland and up in Myrtle Beach, some areas got up to 6". We were all out the night it snowed at 8:00 p.m. having a snowball fight and playing in the snow. The kids had so much fun. The next morning we were out again building a snowman. It melted very quickly but it was very pretty and very fun while it lasted. The best kind of snow, the kind that goes away quickly:) This weekend we had the big Pinewood Derby race for the boys Cub Scout Pack. It was a lot of fun and the boys had a great time making and racing their cars.

Chuc Mung Nam Moi! & Happy Valentines Day!

2010-02-14T06:51:00.000-08:00

Christmas 2009

2010-01-06T09:34:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year to everyone! We had a wonderful Christmas this year. Santa was very good to the kids. The boy's got a very special present this year, guinea pigs. One for each of them. They were VERY surprised. Dylan has been asking for a guinea pig for a couple of years now, so you can only imagine how thrilled he was! The day after Christmas Andy's brother and family came for a few days and the kids all had a great time playing together. We wrapped up the holidays by celebrating Andy's birthday on the 2nd.

December so far

2009-12-17T11:11:00.000-08:00

Wow, where has the time gone? I can't believe it's been as long as October since I last updated. The Holiday season has definitely been busy for us. But we are enjoying this Christmas much better than last year. As you may recall, last year we moved into our new house the weekend before Christmas and didn't really have time to decorate, bake, sent Christmas cards, etc. So this year we are really enjoying doing those things. Maddie is also having a lot more fun this Christmas season. Last year she was still a bit "shell shocked" since we only came home in September, and the move shortly after didn't help matters any. She is really enjoying all of the Rudolph and Santa specials, she is LOVING helping me bake cookies. She often walks around the house (along with her brothers) wearing either her Santa hat or reindeer antlers, has quickly caught on to "ho,ho,ho", and is obsessed with snowmen which she pronounces "heyman". It's unfortunate that she won't be seeing a real one where we live. I have posted some pictures from this month so far. Stay tuned for Christmas Day pictures.

Halloween 2009

2009-11-01T07:06:00.000-08:00

The kids had a fun Halloween yesterday. Dylan was a road closed sign, Maddie was a little fairy and Brendan was a race car.

Pumpkin Patch

2009-10-28T06:28:00.000-07:00

Brendan had Friday and Monday off of school, so on Monday we took the kids to the pumpkin patch. We went on the hayride, fed the goats, Brendan & Dylan went down the BIG slide and got to sit on the BIG tractors. They also posed for some fun pictures.

Time Flies

2009-10-18T06:44:00.001-07:00

When I signed on to update our blog I hadn't realized how long it had been since I last posted. The past month has been pretty busy for us. Last month we celebrated all of our "adoption anniversaries", this month (so far) we've had Andy's mom visiting from Michigan, Dylan's 8th birthday, the boys first cub scout camp-out and we still have Halloween to come.

Maddie is doing great! She is talking like crazy. Her 2 word sentences are quickly developing into 3 word sentences. She LOVES Sesame Street and is starting to say her ABC's and learn her letters. She definitely knows the letter M for Maddie. She can also count to five. We are slowly "introducing" the potty to her and she has gone successfully a few times already. She loves to color and draw, push her dolls around in the stroller, she loves her books and loves to put on shoes and hats (all things girl). But.... as I am typing this post, she is sat next to me at the kitchen table playing with some of Dylan's matchbox cars:) She definitely has plenty of "drama queen" moments, but for the most part she is a very happy and loving little girl.

Dylan turned 8 a couple weeks ago:( My babies are growing up too quick. Grandma was here visiting, Papa and Donna drove up from Myrtle Beach for the day and all of Dylan's girls (therapists/teachers) were here along with some other special friends to celebrate his special day with him. It was a gorgeous sunny day so we had his party in the backyard. He had a great day! Dylan also started therapeutic horseback riding in August and is doing very well, he really loves the horses.

Both Brendan & Dylan joined scouts this year. Brendan is a Weebolo and Dylan is a Tiger Cub. It has been great for both of them so far. Last weekend Andy went with them on their first weekend camp-out at a campground just up the road. They all had a blast!

That's about all for the month of October so far. Stay tuned for Halloween pictures!

1 year ago (yesterday)

2009-09-10T09:36:00.000-07:00

One year ago (yesterday) I held Maddie for the first time. In some ways I can remember it like it was yesterday, but in other ways it seems like she has always been a part of our lives. It has been such an amazing year getting to know her and watching her grow, we are so blessed to have her. Last night we celebrated with a homemade asian dinner and cupcakes. After dinner we all sat down to watch our adoption day video of the day I went to the orphanage to get Maddie. We had to wonder what was going through her mind as she watched it, she was very interested. When it came to the part where they put her in my arms and she cried (boy did she cry), Maddie laughed and said "Mommy, Mimi (her nickname for herself), waaaaaa" (imitating crying). At least she can laugh about it all now, a year ago she wasn't to happy to see me. But words can't express how I felt when I saw her.

Happy Birthday Maddie (yesterday)

2009-07-30T11:16:00.000-07:00

Yesterday Maddie turned 2! I can remember last year at this time how sad I was not to have her for her 1st Birthday and we still had a little party & cake in honor of her Birthday (the picture above with the boys holding the pink balloons). This year was SO special to be able to celebrate her special day with her and actually have her brothers on either side of her instead of them just holding her picture. We started with a small party on Saturday when Uncle Pat, Aunt Jessica and cousins Justin, Charlie and Joshua were visiting from Florida. Unfortunately Maddie wasn't feeling well all weekend. She was running a fever due to a returning ear infection. But she still had a good time with her cousins. Feeling much better, yesterday on her Birthday we had asian dinner, cupcakes and more presents.

Summer

2009-07-19T09:35:00.001-07:00

A fun Father's Day at the pool

2009-06-22T08:55:00.001-07:00

We all went to the pool yesterday for Father's Day. It was a VERY hot day and it felt good to cool off in the pool, the kids had a blast! Maddie just LOVES the pool. We usually go a couple times a week and we also went Friday after Andy got home from work. Afterwards I washed and dried all of our towels and bathing suits and they were folded on the couch. Yesterday Maddie wanted to go to the pool so bad that she got everyones bathing suits off the couch and started walking around handing them out to everyone saying "poo" (pool). Our little activities coordinator:)

School's Out!

2009-06-12T08:37:00.000-07:00

Brendan's last day of school was last Friday so he's done for the summer. In the fall he will start 4th grade, wow! I took my traditional last day of school photo of him to compare to the first day of school photo. On Tuesday they had a surprise luau party for his class and Andy, Maddie & I all went. It was a lot of fun. Maddie had fun partying with all of the third graders. Dylan will continue his homeschooling through the summer, with me doing a couple hours with him in the morning and his other teachers taking over from 10-4 each weekday. We will most likely continue with homeschooling him for next school year too. He is doing SO well and he proves to us each and every day what a smart boy he is:)

We don't have much planned for the summer. Andy will be off for vacation again the week of July 4th and we'll probably just stay around here. I'm sure we will be making lots of trips to the beach and to our pool to to stay cool this summer.

A Day At The Zoo

2009-06-02T07:51:00.000-07:00

Last Friday we did a family trip to Columbia's Riverbanks Zoo. Andy was off on vacation for the week and Dylan has been doing a zoo unit w/school, so we decided to do a "field trip" and made a trip up to Columbia. It was not very busy because school wasn't out yet, which was nice, but it was a very hot day. The kids (and us) all had a great time seeing all the animals. Dylan's favorite animal was the elephant, Brendan liked the lemurs, and I think Maddie was just amazed at seeing ALL of the animals, she did great. We all (even Maddie) got to feed Chrissy the giraffe, which was a neat experience. We put some lettuce in our hands and held it out flat and she came up ever so gently and took it with her lips and tongue, the prickly hair from her lip tickled. After several hours we were all hot and the kids were getting tired so we hopped back in the car and headed home. It was a great day!

Brendan & Dylan's NASCAR Adventure

2009-05-25T12:32:00.000-07:00

On May 9th Brendan & Dylan attended their first NASCAR race at Darlington Raceway here in South Carolina. Andy actually won 4 free tickets and we got to take the boys. They were VERY excited. We had great seats right in front of pit road and the boys had ear plugs and headphones to help with the noise of the cars. We were kind of worried about how Dylan would do with the crowds and the noise, but he did great! He was very exited that there were a lot of cautions (crashes), he really likes those a lot. It was a night race and he did eventually fall asleep just over half way through the race. Going in, we didn't think they would make it through the entire race, so just over half way through was fine with us, since the race went on until about midnight. It was a fun experience for all of us and we hope we can go to another race next year. Maddie got to spend the day and night with Papa & Nana while we were at the race she and had a great time with them.

A Week With Maggie

2009-05-25T11:30:00.000-07:00

My sister Kathleen and Maggie came to visit for a week on May 12. The girls had such a great time together. When Kathleen & Maggie came at Christmas it was very hectic. We had just moved into our new house, Maddie was quite shy since she had only been home with us for 3 months and everyone was sick:( This time it was just wonderful! They really interacted and played well with each other. During the week we went to the pool, went to the beach, played outside, and played bubbles (their favorite). They also both love to dance, hold hands and give hugs and kisses to each other. Since both their birthdays are in July, we decided to have a little birthday celebration for them while we were all together. Papa and Auntie Colleen from Michigan also came to visit and were there for the party. We chose a tinkerbell/fairy theme and bought the girls matching dresses to wear. It was a wonderful week with them and we look forward to the next time we see them.

Maddie went to the Dr. for her well visit on Friday and she is doing really well. She now weighs 24 lbs. and is 32 inches tall. She is continuing to steadily build her vocabulary with her newest words being ball, happy, bow, bubble & apple. She loves playing outside and we took her to the pool for the first time a couple weeks ago and she just loved it! She is also really into her flashcards and books lately. She goes through the entire stack of 25+ cards and has us label each one. She also has her favorite 6-8 books that we read every night before bed. I am SO glad she is finally more interested in her books.

Easter 2009

2009-04-15T10:24:00.001-07:00

When I looked at the date of my last post I was surprised that I hadn't posted in a while, how time flies. We have had a good spring so far. The kids have been enjoying playing outside a lot. Maddie has been helping me plant flowers, her favorites are digging in the dirt and watering the flowers. The weekend before Easter we went to and adoption celebration hosted by the homestudy agency that backed our homestudy. It was at a beautiful park and they had the Easter Bunny there (who Maddie wanted absolutely nothing to do with) and they did a small egg hunt for the kids, it was a lot of fun and it was great to meet other families who had also adopted. For Easter we went up to my Dad's for the day. It was a warm sunny day, so the kids had fun playing outside with their bubbles that the Easter Bunny brought for them. Maddie also tried the sprinkler for the first time last weekend. We set up our big sprinkler beach ball on the front lawn and they all ran through it. Surprisingly Maddie really didn't mind getting wet with very cold water. She finally got to wear one of her many bathing suits. Once it gets a bit warmer we will introduce her to the pool, I'm sure she'll love it. Enjoy the spring pictures!

6 months

2009-03-23T14:13:00.000-07:00

Six months ago today Maddie and I arrived home from Vietnam. What a wonderful six months it has been so far, getting to know her and watching her grow and develop into such an amazing little girl. We had to write a letter and send some pictures to our adoption agency as our first post adoption report to let them know how Maddie is doing. I had a hard time choosing the pictures because we have so many good ones of her. We managed to get a great family shot (above) on Friday night when we went out to dinner. It was a beautiful night and we were able to sit outside and enjoy the sunshine. Her newest words are "bye-bye" and counting "one, two, three, go", it's so cute the way she says it.

Maddie's first trip to the beach

2009-03-09T09:21:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we had a beautiful 80 degree sunny day so we decided to go to the beach. It was Maddie's first time at the beach and she loved it! At first she was a bit unsure of all of the sand but in no time she was helping her brothers dig holes in the sand. We all had a great time and everyone got very sandy! The water will be warming up in the next couple of months, so soon we can introduce Maddie to the ocean and playing in the waves:)

2009-03-01T17:40:00.000-08:00

Just a few pictures of Maddie from February. Sorry for the blurry ones, my camera has been having issues lately. Maddie is enjoying playing dress up lately. She enjoys putting on hats, her own and everyone elses. She also likes to "help" fold laundry by putting on clothes. Lately her favorite seems to be her brother's underwear. Maddie also got her first hair trim last weekend. I just had a little taken off her bangs, because they were hanging in her eyes. She got to sit in a pink car and did very well. She really likes playing with her brothers and loves her animals. Last weekend when Brendan and Dylan were playing with their race track, she plopped down right in the middle and kept grabbing the cars as they went by. Her newest word is "apple", which she said while sharing an apple with Mommy at lunch on Saturday.

Happy Valentine's Day

2009-02-13T04:58:00.001-08:00

Make a Smilebox greeting

January so far

2009-01-29T08:12:00.000-08:00

We've managed to settle down a bit after the holidays and our big move. The boys went back to school, Andy went back to work and Maddie and I began (and are still) unpacking and getting our new house all set up. We love our new house, it has a lot more room for our new family of 5 (plus the dog and the cat). We decided to use one of the bedrooms upstairs as a therapy room for Dylan so he can have therapy a few days a week in his own therapy room now, he is very excited about this. We made our sun room into a nice cozy 2nd family room (wii room). The boys got a wii for Christmas and it was the perfect place to put it. We have fun on the weekends playing wii sports and racing games together as a family. We also love having a fenced in yard where the kids can play outside and Savannah can run free. Maddie continues to amaze us. The move really didn't affect her at all. We were worried that it might disrupt her current routine and good sleeping habits she had developed, but it didn't affect either. We had our 3 month post adoption visit with our social worker a couple weeks ago and it went very well. Maddie is currently cutting 2 more teeth (ouch) and is continuing to learn more words. Her latest words are baby and meme (for Maddie) and she continues to LOVE music and dancing, she really knows how to move to the music! She also discovered the sit and spin and loves to spin! We didn't do much to celebrate Tet (The Vietnamese New Year) this year, we just ordered Vietnamese crunchy noodles from Mama Fu's for dinner. Maybe next year when we are more organized, we will do a bit of a bigger celebration. Brendan celebrated his 9th birthday last weekend. We had a BBQ with some friends on Saturday for his celebration. That has been our January so far. Enjoy the pictures.

Tet Nguyen Dan 2009 ~ Year of the Water Buffalo

2009-01-26T08:28:00.000-08:00

Christmas 2008

2009-01-06T09:31:00.000-08:00

2009-01-06T09:23:00.000-08:00

Sorry it took me so long to post our Christmas pictures. It has been one busy holiday season for us. Between Christmas, having a constant flow of company staying with us, sickness and moving (that’s right we were crazy enough to move to our new house the weekend before Christmas) we haven’t had much time to do much. Let me start with Maggie & Maddie. My sister Kathleen and her daughter Maggie came in the Monday before Christmas and it was so exciting for the girls to meet for the first time. They were born only 13 days apart in 2 different provinces in Vietnam (about 5 hours away from each other), Maggie went home with her Mommy to Denver at the end of May and Maddie came home to us to South Carolina at the end of September. It was amazing that they met for the first time as cousins! They had a lot of fun playing together and we all had a lot of fun watching them!
During the week we also had visits from Grandma (Andy’s mom) from Michigan, my sister Eileen and her husband John, also from Michigan and Andy’s brother and his family from Florida. With them we also got to meet for the first time their newest addition Joshua, who was born on the same day I picked up Maddie from the orphanage in Vietnam.
Just after Christmas we all went through having a really bad cold that seemed to last forever, but I think we’re all just about on the mend now.
Yes, and all of the above happened just after moving into our new house the weekend before Christmas (were we crazy or what). We tried to move most of our stuff in and get decorated for Christmas to make our house livable and ready for company then we temporarily put our move on hold so we could enjoy Christmas, then continued with moving in a few days later. We are still unpacking and probably will be for a while, but that’s the fun of movingJ I haven’t had a chance yet to take a picture of our new house, but when I do I will post it. I also have to get working on a “New Year” blog header for the blog.
Enjoy the pictures from Christmas 2008!

Christmas Card Pictures

2008-12-15T11:45:00.000-08:00

This weekend we attempted to get some pictures for our annual Christmas Card. We used to think it was hard to take pictures of just Brendan & Dylan together. Try adding a squirmy little 16 month old to the mix. I think I must have taken about 30 pictures and the 2 you see above of the 3 of them together is the best it gets! The other 2 pictures of Maddie in the blue dress were taken on Friday before we went to a Christmas party. We took her with us and she was very good. She is now walking everywhere, all of the time and is starting to talk much more. Her new words are "up" and "uh, oh".

One Year Ago (yesterday)

2008-12-12T08:31:00.000-08:00

I was disappointed that I couldn't post this yesterday but our internet was down until this morning. One year ago (yesterday) December 11, 2007 @ around 6:00 p.m. we got our "call" from our agency with our referral. Little did we know at the time all that we would have to go through in the following 9 months before we got to hold our sweet Maddison. But I think we can agree that it was all well worth it!

Maddie's First Thanksgiving

2008-12-01T06:24:00.001-08:00

We celebrated Thanksgiving with Dad & Donna in Myrtle Beach this year. The kids had a really fun day. Maddie LOVED her first Thanksgiving dinner, I think the mashed potatoes were her favorite. The rest of the weekend we just took it easy and got some of our Christmas decorations out. We had to wonder what Maddie thought of all of the Christmas lights, Santa hats & reindeer antlers, not to mention a big tree in the middle of our living room.

Look Who's Walking

2008-11-24T08:22:00.000-08:00

A couple weeks ago Maddie decided she would finally try this walking thing she has been seeing everyone else around the house do. She has been standing up on her own since Vietnam, but didn't realize she could move her feet. She started with just taking a couple steps then falling on her bottom. Last week she started taking 5 to 6 steps between Mommy & Daddy and she thought that was pretty cool. This past weekend she was up to 10+ steps and she now does it whenever she wants. She's still taking her own sweet time, but I'm sure she'll be chasing her big brothers and the dog and cat around in no time. She has also been trying her hand at talking. Her favorite word is "hi", she says it to us several times during the day and when we go into stores she tells everyone "hi" as she flashes her flirty little smile. She also says "mama", "dada" and is currently working on her own variations for Bubba (Brendan) & Dylan.

We are going up to Papa's house in Myrtle Beach for Thanksgiving on Thursday and are looking forward to spending a nice relaxing day there. We are very excited that Maddie will get to meet more of her family at Christmas. Auntie Eileen & Uncle John from Michigan are coming in on Christmas day, Grandma Fisher from Michigan is coming in the week of Christmas, as well as Auntie Kathleen & cousin Maggie (we are especially excited about this meeting) and Uncle Pat, Auntie Jessica and cousins Justin, Charlie and Joshua are coming just after Christmas. It is going to be a busy Holiday time for us, but we are very excited for everyone to finally meet Maddie.

Some more quick pictures

2008-11-11T13:32:00.000-08:00

Halloween 2008

2008-11-02T09:15:00.000-08:00

We had a fun Halloween this year. Maddie & I kept very busy during the day visiting both boys at their schools for Halloween parties. Maddie had a fun time seeing both of her big brothers and all of the kids. As you can see both Brendan & Dylan wanted to be ghosts this year which made it very easy for me. We decided not to dress Maddie up in a costume this year, but she was all decked out in orange and black and she thought her "ghostie" brothers were really funny. Trick-or-treating was really fun and the boys got lots and lots of candy!

The Past 3 Weeks

2008-10-27T06:05:00.000-07:00

Maddie continues to adjust more and more every day. This past week we had a HUGE breakthrough, Maddie has slept in her crib ALL night EVERY night now since last Monday. Naps during the day are also going much better. We have been struggling with this since we came home and last Monday we went for a "well visit" at the pediatrician for her first round of shots and her Dr. said to start being more firm about the sleeping issue, so we didn't waist any time and it was much easier than we thought it would be. Maddie loves her brothers and loves to play with them. I really look forward to weekends and weekday afternoons when the boys get home from school because when Andy and the boys are around, Maddie is much less clingy and more interested in what everyone else is doing. During the day when it's just us 2, she is pretty much stuck to my side like glue. It's a busy Halloween week for us this week with events at both of the boys schools and trick-or-treating on Friday. Look for Halloween dress up pictures next week.

The past 2 weeks

2008-10-06T08:52:00.001-07:00

We have been home now for almost 2 weeks and Maddie is doing great. She is adjusting better every day. She has started to take naps in her crib and has even started out a few nights there as well. She is slowly warming up to Daddy and just loves playing with her big brothers. She is even now used to the cat and dog and now laughs when Savannah (our dog) licks her. Last weekend she got to meet her Papa & Nana for the first time. This past weekend we had a few friends and family over to celebrate big brother Dylan's 7th birthday, and yesterday a group of my friends (The Millennium Mom's) had a shower for us to welcome Maddie home. On Wednesday we take her to the MUSC International Adoption Clinic for a check-up.

We're Home!

2008-09-25T10:43:00.000-07:00

We made it home on Tuesday morning (eastern time). The trip went very well and Maddie was very good the whole trip. She slept a lot due to not feeling well. She woke up Monday morning with a fever and it continued the whole trip home. When we got off the plane in Charleston, it was so nice to see Andy and the boys and my friend Trish waiting for us. Maddie is adjusting well to her new home. She really likes her big brothers and is slowly warming up to Daddy. She had her first visit with her pediatrician yesterday and has a nasty case of bronchitis. But she is now on antibiotics and is finally feeling a little better today. The pictures I posted are Maddie on the airplane (looking at the menu deciding what she wants for dinner), the new Fisher Family, Maddie with her brothers, and Maddie at home playing with her toys.

PLAN Party!

2008-09-20T21:02:00.000-07:00

Last night we had a big get together in our hotel dining area of all of the families that are here from our adoption agency (PLAN). We all got carry-outs from different restaurants and shared a great meal together. I think there are about 10 families staying in our hotel from our agency and most of them were there. I posted a couple of pictures from our get together. Having been here over 2 weeks now you really get to know everyone coming and going. When our group first got here we were the "newbies" and there were other families that were able to show us around and get us acclimated. The second week here the tables were turned as we were suddenly the ones showing new familes around. This morning my 2 Phu Tho friends Martha & Joy and their babies went home, it was very sad to say goodbye, we have really gotten to know each other over the past 7 months and we spent a lot of time together here in Vietnam. Tomorrow is our last day here, we leave for the airport around 4pm.

We're Coming Home!

2008-09-19T20:12:00.000-07:00

Friday morning we had our Embassy appointment and by 4:30 Friday afternoon we had Maddie's visa. I contacted my travel agent and we will be able to catch an earlier flight home Monday night, so we will be home Tuesday. We are so happy to be coming home. Last night we had our celebratory dinner at Bobby Chinn's restaurant and it was very good. It was a very nice restaurant with a beautiful atmosphere (see picture). They sprinkle fresh rose petals on the tables. This morning Maddie and I did some shopping and now she is having her morning nap. After lunch we will probably head out for some more shopping. I will try to get some more pictures taken over the next couple days to post on the blog before we leave.

Water Puppet Show

2008-09-18T05:22:00.000-07:00

We haven't really done any "big" sightseeing since our last post. We have been enjoying strolling the busy streets of Hanoi and shopping a bit. Yesterday (Wednesday) we picked up the baby's passports and went to the SOS clinic for their visa exams. Maddie didn't like the appointment very much, she SCREAMED the whole time the Dr. was checking her. She weighed in at just under 20lbs. which was surprising since she has been eating very well since I picked her up from the orphanage. But she got a clean bill of health. Today we were very happy to learn that our Embassy appointments were moved up from Monday to tomorrow morning at 10a.m. which means we could have Maddie's visa by tomorrow afternoon, then we are free to go home, yeah!

This evening we went to the water puppet show which was very cute. The girls all did very well and made it through the whole thing. They were quite interested in the music and lights. I posted a picture from the show above. It was an hour long show with lots of Vietnamese music and puppets in the water that told Vietnamese stories. It was all in Vietnamese so it was hard to tell what the stories were about, but it was very entertaining. Also, as promised are some smiley pictures of Maddie. I am having such a fun time with her. She is very goofy when we play and giggles and smiles a lot. She really likes music too. When she hears music she sways back and forth and claps her hands. I am just amazed as I learn all of the things she can do. I also posted a picture of our appetizer from "happy hour" last night, they are vietnamese fried vegetable spring rolls. We thought it was so pretty how it was presented.

The Weekend - Tet Trong Trang

2008-09-14T19:42:00.000-07:00

We kind of took it easy on Saturday & Sunday. On Saturday we walked down by St. Joseph's Cathedral (see photo above) it is just huge. We didn't get to go inside, but maybe we will another day. Yesterday (Sunday) we really didn't do much, we went down to the grocery store in the morning and had a short walk around then spent most of the day back at the hotel. Sunday was the Harvest Moon Festival (Tet Trong Trang). This Festival is one of the two most important holidays in the Chinese Calendar (the other being the Chinese Lunar New Year), and is a legal holiday in several countries. Farmers celebrate the end of the summer harvesting season on this date. Traditionally, on this day, family members and friends will gather to admire the bright mid-autumn harvest moon. Accompanying the celebration, there are additional cultural or regional customs, such as eating moon cakes outside under the moon, carrying brightly lit lanterns, lighting lanterns on towers, floating sky lanterns, burning incense in reverence to deities, planting Mid-Autumn trees, collecting dandelion leaves and distributing them evenly among family members & Fire Dragon dances. We were able to witness some of these things over the weekend. On Friday afternoon when all of the school kids got out of school you could see them carrying their lanters home from school and all of the shops were selling mooncakes in fancy red boxes. Last night on our way home from dinner everyone was out in the streets and several families had urns of incense burning. We also saw a group of little boys with a dragon costume going in and out of shops. I bought a mooncake and tried it and didn't like it, not quite what I expected. Maddie is continuing to do well and I am seeing more and more of her personality every day. We had a great playtime yesterday afternoon and she is definitely very active, she is crawling and pulling up on things and at one point she stood on her own for a few seconds. Her favorite toys are the empty water bottles (as you can see from some of the pictures). She had another bath this morning and it went much better, she really liked it. Enjoy the pictures! She really does smile, it' just hard to catch them on camera, i'll keep trying.

Hoan Kiem Lake & Ngoc Son Temple

2008-09-12T20:08:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we ventured out for some local culture and sightseeing. We walked around Hoan Kiem Lake which is not far from our hotel. It is a beautiful lake where a lot of the locals sit and relax. In the middle of the lake is Tortoise Tower (see picture above). Also right on the lake is Ngoc Son Temple. The famous "red bridge" leads to the temple and it was so pretty. I finally got some pictures of me & Maddie together. She loves being out and about seeing all of the sights. After we finished our excursion, we ended up at Highlands coffee again for a nice cool drink then back to our hotel for naps. We tried a new restaurant for dinner (don't remember the name) but I tried some Pho (soup) very popular here in Vietnam, and it was very tasty. Today is Saturday & so far we are taking it easy this morning. We may venture out a little later this afternoon. Maddie is doing great. Every day her little personality comes out more, and every day I see more and more smiles. She is a great sleeper and a great eater!

The Smile

2008-09-10T23:37:00.000-07:00

I finally got a couple of pictures of Maddie smiling. She is starting to smile more and more, it's just difficult to get a picture while she's doing it. Martha took these last night at dinner. She definitely looks much happier here.

Here She Is!

2008-09-10T05:51:00.001-07:00

I finally have Madison! Yesterday was an amazing day. We began our day very early @ 7am and headed out for our VERY long (4.5 hours) VERY bumpy ride to the Phu Tho province of Vietnam. It was an extremely rural area but such beautiful scenery. Unfortunately I couldn't get much video because of the bumpy ride, but I did manage to get a little, and some quick snap shots as well. We arrived at the orphanage around 11:30 and were taken to the building where the babies were. I saw Maddie almost right away and she looked right at me. I had someone take my video camera when we walked in and was able to get our first meeting all on video tape. She wasn't very happy to come to me at first, she cried a lot. The nannies in her orphanage were wonderful, they were all so loving and each came up and held her and gave her big hugs and kisses. I was able to get all of this on video as well, it is very touching how they love all of the babies so much and care for them so well. They helped transition Maddie to me and eventually she didn't cry. We had to wait about an hour for the orphanage director to show up so we could meet with him and then we were on our way to Viet Tri for our G&R ceremony. Maddie slept most of the way there, bumpy roads and all. Our day ended very late and we did not get back to our hotel until around 8:30p.m. we all skipped dinner so we could focus on the babies. I gave Maddie her first bath (which she did not like) and a bottle and she fell fast asleep around 9:00 and slept all the way through until 6:00 a.m. Right now she has quite a shy personality and is very sensitive at times. She doesn't like for me to put her down and when I do she cries. But once she falls asleep, she is fine on her own in the bed. I didn't see any smiles from her yesterday, but today and especially tonight at dinner her silly little smile started coming out. She wrinkles up her nose, squints her eyes and does a cheesy little smile. I haven't been able to capture it on camera yet, but I will keep trying. We applied for her passport today and will get it sometime next week. Once we have that, we get her visa and shortly after that we can come home. Meanwhile we will continue to enjoy the sights of Hanoi, it is such an amazing city and country.

More Pictures

2008-09-08T00:26:00.001-07:00

Above are some more pictures from our journey out this morning. I'm sorry I haven't yet figured out how to label each individual picture. Each time we venture out we get better at navigating our way around the streets (and mopeds). We did a bit of shopping then found a Highlands Coffee (like Starbucks in the US) that overlooked the lake and we sat and relaxed for a while before doing a bit more shopping then returning to the hotel. I wanted to do a quick post now because it will be a busy afternoon and evening preparing to go the orphanages tomorrow. I have to get the diaper bag all packed and clothes gifts all ready. It's going to be an early morning for us. We leave the hotel @ 7a.m. for our 4-5 hour ride to the orphanage. It is going to be a very long day. We were told we probably wouldn't be back to the hotel until 6-7p.m. We are all getting very excited about finally getting our babies. So hopefully my next post will be pictures of Me & Maddie!

Out & About In Hanoi

2008-09-07T07:04:00.000-07:00

My second day in Hanoi it rained all day so we didn't venture out and about until dinner. We tried a local Vietnamese restaurant and it was pretty good. Other than that I spent most of the day unpacking and getting my nanny gifts put together to take to the orphanage. This morning it rained again but stopped after breakfast so we ventured out to explore some of Hanoi. Another couple who already have their baby and have been here for a while offered to take a group of us "newbies" out to show us around. It can be quite overwhelming trying to explore the streets of a foreign country when all streets look the same. We learned that some of the streets here are named after the "goods" that are sold on that street, there is toy street, baby street, silk street etc. The most interesting thing about the streets of Hanoi are the mopeds. This is the main source of transportation for people here. Crossing the street is a real challenge. You need to find an opening and just walk out into it and the mopeds just swirve around you. Walking along the sidewalk also poses a problem because that is where everyone parks their mopeds. We also found a big grocery store where they have just about everything we will need for our stay here. We all picked up some diapers and wipes to stock up for the babies. We ended our day at a terrific authentic italian restaurant that was recommended to us, yum!

Greetings From Vietnam

2008-09-05T04:19:00.000-07:00

I made it! 4 planes and 28 hours later, I arrived here in Hanoi just before 10am Vietnam time Friday. My trip went very well. I was able to sleep 7 hours on the long flight from LA to Hong Kong. The weather here is just like Charleston, warm & humid, so no climate adjustment needed. My hotel is very nice and the wait staff are wonderful and very helpful. I had a shower and a short nap this afternoon and just finished a small dinner from a restaurant down the street called the Kiti. It looks like I will have to wait a day longer to get Maddie. I received an email from our agency contact just after arriving and they said that we will go to the orphanage on Tuesday to get the babies. The rest of the Phu Tho families are getting here tomorrow and Sunday, so I will have some friends to hang out with soon. I am looking forward to talking to Andy & the boys this evening via Skype, we're all hooked up on both ends, so let's hope it works. Above are just a few pictures of the beginning of my journey.

Single Digits, Plane Tickets & My First Shower

2008-08-27T05:09:00.000-07:00

We are down to single digits now, I leave one week from today. I am slowly getting everything packed and ready, I can't tell you how many times I've packed and unpacked my suitcase.

My plane tickets came about a week and a half ago and it was exciting to see Madison's name on the return tickets. My visa should be coming today, so I'll be all set to go.

Last Friday some of my friends got together and threw me a surprise baby shower, it was so nice. Thank you Kristin, Melissa, Carolina, Megan, Cait, Mariah & Brittany! Above are some pictures of some of the gifts I received. One gift not in the picture is a new jogging stroller, yeah! It was delivered yesterday. I will take a picture of it and post it after Andy assembles it for me. I will also post some more pictures of my shower as I get them.

Travel Plans

2008-08-13T07:52:00.000-07:00

My travel plans are coming along. Yesterday I officially booked my plane tickets and my hotel. I will be leaving on Wednesday, September 3 (3 weeks from today) and will arrive in Hanoi, Vietnam on Friday morning (Vietnam time). I will be staying in a hotel in the Old Quarter part of Hanoi where many other families from our agency will also be staying. Over the past few weeks, several other families also received travel approval so there will be quite a large group of us over there at once. We are scheduled to go to the orphanage on Monday the 8th, that is when I will get Maddie!!

20 days, and counting!!

I-600 Approval!

2008-07-31T09:18:00.000-07:00

We were beginning to think this day would never come, but it has! Late last night we FINALLY got our I-600 approval! This means I can travel to Vietnam to bring Madison home! We are still awaiting a travel date which we should hopefully receive in a few days.

When I blew out the candle on Madison's birthday cake 2 days ago, my wish came true!

Stay tuned for more details.

Happy Birthday Madison!

2008-07-29T09:36:00.000-07:00

Today Madison turns 1. It is very sad for me to post this and not have her here with us yet. To think that she has spent the entire first year of her life in an orphanage. We are thinking of her today and praying that they do the investigation on her case very soon so we can travel to bring her home. The boys and I are going to make a cake for her today and sing Happy Birthday to her and we will take a few pictures so someday when she asks about her first birthday we will have some pictures to show her.

New Pictures of Madison

2008-07-17T09:58:00.000-07:00

We got some updated pictures of Madison on Tuesday. She looks great and is so pretty! They are definitely feeding her well. We also got some of her recent measurements, she weighs 19.8 lbs and is 27.6 inches long. She has 4 teeth on top, 2 on the bottom and can sit and crawl by herself, and stand and walk with help. It seems she is doing very well. We are still waiting for them to do the investigations and keeping our fingers crossed that it will be SOON!

Maggie Maher

2008-07-14T07:18:00.000-07:00

I finally got some recent pictures of Maggie from Kathleen. She is doing very well. She is a tiny little girl, only weighing in at 13 lbs. and will be "1" already this Wednesday, July 16; "Happy Birthday Maggie!".

11 Months Old

2008-06-30T09:12:00.001-07:00

Madison turned 11 months old yesterday. Here is her nursery, the finished product!

A Brief Update

2008-06-01T12:47:00.000-07:00

Just thought I would post a brief update since we haven't posted in a while. I guess we can safely say (for now) that no news has been good news. The latest news out of Vietnam is, yes the US and Vietnam have agreed to do the investigations on the cases in our province (Phu Tho), but right now it is a matter of “who needs to talk to who” to arrange the time when US can get to the province to complete the investigations. They are telling us to remain positive but it is very difficult to do as time continues to pass by. Madison turned 10 months old on the 29th of May and my (current) wish is to have her home by her first birthday. We do know that things are still very unstable surrounding adoptions between the US and Vietnam and at this point anything can happen. Our agency still tells us that they do have a backup plan for us involving new referrals of new babies if these ones fall through, but as we said in our last post, time is running out and if this backup plan has to happen and we do not have a referral by September 1, we will have to decide on another country.

On a more positive note, Kathleen traveled to Vietnam between May 8-May 24 and she is now home with Maggie. I posted a few pictures below from her trip and I am waiting for her to send me some more so I can post them, but she has been a bit busy lately:) But she says all is well with Maggie. She is very tiny, only 12 lbs for a 10 month old, but she has 9 teeth and eats anything Kathleen feeds her. She is currently working on crawling and is adjusting very well to her new home & her Mommy! I can't wait to see her!

Kathleen's Trip to Vietnam

2008-05-23T11:12:00.001-07:00

Vietnam to end adoption program with US

2008-04-28T05:52:00.000-07:00

With all of the political problems going on in Vietnam there has been a lot of speculation on whether or not the US and Vietnam would continue their adoption relationship when it comes time to renew their bilateral agreement on September 1, 2008. Well on Friday we got our answer. Below is a statement issued by the Vietnamese Government.

On April 25, the Government of Vietnam announced that it will allow adoption to be completed in cases where prospective adoptive parents have been matched with a child and received an official referral prior to September 1, 2008. It further stated that in accordance with Vietnamese law, the DIA will suspend the acceptance of new dossiers on July 1, 2008. On September 1, 2008 any dossier that has not received a referral will be closed and returned to the Adoption Service Provider. In view of the processing time required in Vietnam from placement to the Giving and Receiving Ceremony, an adoption process begun now cannot be completed before the current Agreement expires.

What does this mean for our case? If all goes well and the US and Vietnam cooperate to get our case investigated, we can travel soon to bring Madison home. If not, our agency will have to make the decision to put us back on the list for another referral and we will have to hope that we receive that new referral before September 1. We really hope and pray that it doesn't come down to this, but at this point it is totally out of our hands. So please continue to pray that it all works out in our favor. I don't know how much more we can handle of this roller coaster ride.

Finally, an updated picture of Madison

2008-04-27T07:57:00.000-07:00

We finally received an updated picture of Madison on Friday. She has really grown since her last picture and looks very healthy. She will be 9 months old on the April 29. With her in this photo is one of the nannies that care for her in the orphanage. We really hope that the good news we heard on Tuesday is true about Phu Tho allowing the investigations to continue. We will be in touch with our agency next week to see how things are coming along. Meanwhile, Kathleen is set to leave for Vietnam on May 8. We are so excited for her.

A Political Impasse

2008-04-06T13:06:00.000-07:00

I’m sure most of you don’t follow news about international adoptions like we do, but if you do, you might have seen some things in the past few months about some problems surrounding Vietnam adoptions. I will try to explain all of this as simply as possible. Back in October-November of last year, the USCIS (Customs and Immigration) discovered some fradulent/suspicious activities surrounding Vietnam adoptions, i.e. evidence of baby trafficking, etc. This lead to the US changing the process in which they handled international adoptions. I actually posted about this back in November. This change in the process lead to a delay for everyone going through the process, because of longer waiting times (60+ days) to process their 1-600 forms, a form needed to be able to issue the babies visas to bring them back to the US. This is one of the final stages in the adoption process, once completed you are allowed to travel to Vietnam and get your baby.

When we got our referral, there was good news and bad news, the good news obviously was that they had a referral for us, the bad news was that she was from one of the provinces that was involved in suspicious activities, but we were told that her case was far enough along that they did not foresee any problems, so we accepted the referral. This was on December 11. On February 28, we received a letter stating that our case had been delayed due to Vietnamese officials refusing to cooperate with the US to complete investigations into our case, basically refusing to let them into the province of Phu Tho (where our baby is). (Apparently the Vietnamese are angry with the US for making public the information about the suspicious adoption practices). We learned from our adoption agency that we were 1 of 4 families from our agency that was affected by this delay, because all of our babies resided in the Phu Tho province.
In the past couple of weeks we gradually learned more about what is going on. The bottom line is Vietnam WILL let the US in to investigate our cases as long as they abide by their countries laws and have a Vietnamese official present when the US investigates the cases, makes sense right? Not to the US, they are being very stubborn and assisting they do it on their own terms, when and how they want. So because of this we are still at an impasse. Just a couple days ago we received very upsetting news from our agency saying that if this situation isn’t resolved very, very quickly they will have no choice but to put our names back at the top of the waiting list for new babies. Of course this is extremely heartbreaking for us as we have been looking at our baby’s picture now since December 11, and calling her our daughter. Until now, we haven’t posted anything about any of this on our blog or told many people, because we thought it was something that was just another delay and would eventually work itself out, but it appears now that it is much more serious than that. I am sure in the next couple of weeks there will be decisions made about our cases, and we will definitely keep you updated. Until then, please help us pray for a miracle that these two countries can come to an agreement, some agreement, any agreement that will result in us being able to go to Vietnam to bring these babies home. It seems so unfair to put these innocent little babies at the center of a huge political battle, when the main reason for all of this is to find these babies loving homes and families. This whole situation has helped me learn more about politics than any other book I ever read in high school or college.

I will end with a quote that I think is very appropriate:
……“some poems don’t rhyme and some stories don't have a clear beginning, middle, and end. Life is about not knowing, having to change, taking the moment and making the best of it, without knowing what's going to happen next. Delicious ambiguity."
-gilda radner-

Another Wonderful Quote

2008-03-27T07:51:00.000-07:00

"If ever there is tomorrow when we're not together.. there is something you must always remember. You are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think. But the most important thing is, even if we're apart.. i'll always be with you."

~Christopher Robin

Pictures of the Nursery

2008-02-28T08:55:00.000-08:00

More Nursery Pictures

2008-02-28T08:48:00.000-08:00

Pictures of the Nursery

2008-02-28T08:35:00.000-08:00

We finally finished the nursery. Last week my special project was to paint Maddie's room. It took just a couple of days then I tried my hand at some stenciling/tracing to add a few accents (butterflies & flowers). This past weekend Andy re-assembled the crib and we moved everything back into the room and hung some pictures and her name over her crib. After that the only thing left to do was make some curtains, so earlier this week I got out my sewing machine and what you see is the finished product of Maddies room! We still have just a few accent items to add and some coordinating bedding to get for the double bed we are keeping in there and it will be complete.

Kathleen now has her own adoption blog (thanks to me!) I have added a direct link to it off to the left. She was lucky enough to get some very recent pictures of Maggie last week. They are working on getting some recent ones of Madison for us.

Motherbridge of Love

2008-02-15T06:15:00.000-08:00

Click on the link below to view this beautiful story.

http://www.barefoot-books.com/us/site/pages/motherbridge.php

Happy Tet! (Lunar New Year)

2008-02-07T09:45:00.000-08:00

Today is the first day of the Lunar New Year. 2008 is the year of the rat. I had fun doing a bit of research on Chinese Astrology and found out that last year 2007, the year Madison & Maggie were born was the year of the golden fire pig. Here is some information I found out about it. Those born in the pig year are said to be easy-going, loyal and lucky. What's more, this is supposedly the year of the Golden Pig, which comes around only once every 60 years, and which Chinese astrologers say is twice blessed, giving an even better chance of wealth, happiness and longevity. Now that we know Maddie & Maggie are under the sign of the pig, I thought I would see what the rest of us were.........Andy and I were born under the sign of the Monkey, Brednan was born under the sign of the Dragon, and Dylan was born under the sign of the Snake.

More Pretty Nursery Items

2008-01-10T06:51:00.000-08:00

My extremely talented friend Lisa made these absolutely beautiful hand painted hanging canvas letters for Maddie's nursery. They match our nursery theme perfectly. Thank you so much Lisa!!!!

Maddie's New Cousin

2008-01-10T06:03:00.000-08:00

Introducing Maggie Eileen Maher. My sister Kathleen got her referral yesterday from Vietnam. Maggie was born on July 16, 2007. She is 13 days older than Maddie. We are so excited for Kathleen. She is a Mommy for the first time! Congratulations Kathleen!!!

Madison May Fisher

2008-01-05T14:02:00.000-08:00

We are so excited to introduce Madison May Fisher. Born Nguyen Thi Ngoc May on July 29, 2007. We will be traveling to bring her home in 2-4 months. She has such a beautiful smile!

The Finished Products!

2007-11-01T07:42:00.000-07:00

Here are the finished products of the two pieces we did for Madison's room. We painted them white, added new knobs to the dresser and I made a cushion for the toy box/bench seat to match the rest of the room.

A Delay In Our Adoption Process

2007-10-25T06:40:00.000-07:00

We were notified by our adoption agency on Tuesday that there has been a new procedure/policy put into effect that will probably delay our adoption process. The I- 600 form, which is the Petition to Classify an Orphan as an Immediate Relative, is normally filed in country (Vietnam) once we are there. The USCIS (United States Citizenship and Immigration Services) now says that beginning 10/29 we have to file it here (in the US) and wait for approval before we can travel (which can take some time). So once we receive our referral we will have to file the I-600 with all of our baby's documents and once we receive approval, our agency can start to work on travel arrangements. This doesn’t seem like it will delay us getting our referral, but it will delay the time between when we get our referral and when we travel. They are saying that now it could take up to 4 months to travel after we receive our referral.

We were hoping for more referrals this month from our agency (including ours) but it seems to have been a slow month. Some families that received referrals in late August and mid September just received their travel plans and this new policy will not affect them since they already had imminent travel plans. We were hoping if we got our referral this month that we would be one of the last groups to travel before Christmas and be home by Christmas, but now it is looking like we will probably travel sometime after the New Year. The latest they are letting people travel is the first week in December. This brings on more delays though with the New Year in January followed by Tet the Vietnamese New Year in the beginning of February.

We have learned throughout this whole process that all we can do is wait and pray. Once we have done our part, it is totally out of our hands and into the hands of God, our agency, the orphanages and the Vietnamese Embassy. New policies will always be coming into effect and changes will continue to be made that may or may not affect people’s adoption processes for the good and the bad.

What we do know is that at the end of this journey, some day in the near future, we will finally have our little girl and bring her home and that is the most important part!

Another Quote

2007-10-18T05:33:00.000-07:00

"There is no telling how many miles you will have to run

while chasing a dream."
~Author Unknown~

For The Nursery

2007-10-01T10:21:00.000-07:00

This is a piece we are in the process of painting for the nursery, it is an old dresser we are re-painting white.

For The Nursery

2007-10-01T10:19:00.000-07:00

This one is my garage sale bargain. I got this toy box/bench for $2.00 at a garage sale because the hinge was broken. It was brown, but with a fresh coat of white paint and a new hinge it will be just like new!

A Nice Quote About Adoption

2007-09-18T05:37:00.000-07:00

Not flesh of my flesh nor bone of my bone,

But still miraculously my own.

Never forget for a single minute,

you didn't grow under my heart,

but in it.

~ Fleur Conkling Heyliger ~

I bought this necklace for myself.

It comes from the quote above. It was handmade.

Operation Baby Lift

2007-09-10T09:07:00.001-07:00

To the left you will see a video clip entitled "Operation Baby Lift". This is a new documentary that is going to come out in 2008 about Vietnamese orphans that were brought to America at the end of the Vietnam War. The reason it is interesting to us is that there is a woman who works with our adoption agency that will be helping us when we go to Vietnam that actually took part in Operation Baby Lift. Her name is Cherie Clark and she is interviewed in the film and has also written a book about the events called "After Sorrow Comes Joy". I haven't read the book yet but it is definitely on my "to do" list before we go.

We're DTV!

2007-08-22T09:28:00.000-07:00

What does DTV mean? It stands for dossier to Vietnam, it means that everything has been completed and our dossier is in Vietnam awaiting a referral, yeah! We are considered DTV as of July 17. On our agencies blog group database we are currently one of 52 families waiting for a referral. Where are we amongst the 52? Probably right around the middle of the group (according to date), but they really can't go by order of DTV date because some families request boys, others girls, others either or, and many different ages of babies are requested so it's really hard to tell in what order they issue the referrals. In the past couple of months they have issued 12 referrals the first week in July and another 10 or 12 the first week in August, and there is word that more are on the way so referrals are definitely coming pretty fast. We still think ours could come sometime in October or November.

And The Wait Begins.............

2007-07-08T11:55:00.001-07:00

It's hard to believe that it has been almost 2 months since our last post. We got all of our dossier completed and everything mailed out on June 27 (see picture left). Half of our dossier went to the Vietnam Consulate in San Francisco to be authenticated and the other half to our adoption agency in Oregon. Once both halves come together the entire dossier will be sent to Vietnam where it will be translated. Once that is done all we have to do is wait for our referral. They are still saying a 2 to 4 month wait for referrals. If they are correct we can expect a referral anytime between September and November. A group of 10 people from our agency just received their referrals on July 2 and they were told that they would be traveling by the end of July/beginning of August. Once our dossier gets logged in in Vietnam we will have a better idea of how many other people are ahead of us waiting.

Meanwhile, we finally found a crib thanks to Dad and Donna and their extremely generous neighbor! Not only did she give us a beautiful white crib, but she also gave us 3 large bags of VERY nice clothes (Kathleen and I will have to fight over them!). I also received my crib bumper and skirt I was having made, it's so beautiful! (See crib picture left) . We also found a little toy chest/seat and a dresser that we are going to paint white to match the crib. So our nursery is slowly coming together.

That's all for now, we will continue to keep you updated as new things happen!

We Have Our I-171H!

2007-05-15T16:26:00.000-07:00

On Saturday we finally received our I-171H in the mail. This is the "biggie" that basically says we have been approved and can officially adopt and orphan, YEAH! Once we send it out for certification and authentication, which only takes a couple of days, we can submit our dossier to our agency, but..............before we do that we need to wait for Kathleen. She is a few weeks behind us because she had a small delay with her homestudy, but we think all is resolved now and we hope it won't take her too long to receive her I-171H.

We have also learned since our last post that things aren't moving as quick as we had thought with our agency and Vietnam. They are now saying it will take 2-4 months for a referral after our dossier is submitted and another 2-4 months to travel after receiving our referral, so that puts us sometime between September and December again.

In the meantime it gives us more time to prepare. We still have a nursery to put together. So far we have chosen a theme (see picture left), found a crib and a couple of pictures for the walls, and obtained lots of girl clothes from many different sources. Andy and the boys bought me a sewing machine for Mother's Day so I have been having fun making all kinds of "little things".

I have also posted 3 pictures along with this post. One is a picture of some babies in one of the orphanages that our agency deals with over in Vietnam. It is really sad to see how they just line them up on the floor. They don't have cribs in a lot of the orphanages over there like they do in other countries. The other picture is the theme for Maddie's nursery, it is called fashion frogs. The third picture is our "ultrasound" I actually got it off of another family's blog. I have also added another website under favorite links called pictures of Vietnam. It is a website that has hundreds of pictures of Vietnam for anyone interested in seeing more of the country.

We will post again once we reach another major turning point in our process (hopefully soon!)

Happy Easter!

2007-04-08T06:44:00.000-07:00

Just a quick update on our current progress. Our homestudy is officially complete. We received our final copies from Teresa this past week. We also finished collecting all of our documents for our dossier and on Friday we sent them up to Columbia to have them certified at the state level. Once we receive them back we are just waiting on one more form, our I171H which may take about another month to receive.

Things are moving pretty quick between our agency and Vietnam. A co-worker of Kathleen's is also adopting through the same agency and received her referral this past week........only 2 weeks after submitting her paperwork! They told her she can expect to travel anytime in the next 3 to 8 weeks. We were shocked when we heard this, a bit quicker than we had planned. We were planning on traveling sometime between October and December, but if all keeps going smoothly, we may be traveling sometime this summer.

Homestudies and Fingerprints and Paperchases....Oh My!

2007-03-19T15:11:00.001-07:00

It has been a busy couple of weeks since we last posted, but a lot has been accomplished in those couple of weeks. This past Thursday we had our homestudy with our social worker Teresa and it went very well. She talked with the boys for a little bit about being big brothers and having a little sister and they did really well. When asked, Brendan forgot what country his baby sister would be coming from and then when we reminded him that it was Vietnam he said "oh yeah, it's near China and England." He was a just a little bit off in his geography with England. But overall the homestudy went well and this weekend we received our rough draft copy from Teresa to review and make any necessary changes and once we send it back she will send us the final copy for our approval.

We also got notice that our I-600A was approved and we went to get fingerprinted on Friday. That was an interesting experience. They don't do it the old fashioned way anymore by rubbing your fingers in black ink. They have gone high tech buy using what looks like a copy machine that scans your fingers and the prints appear on a computer screen. While I was having mine done I could hear Andy asking the lady doing his prints a tone of questions about how the whole computer process worked and what all of the numbers meant (engineers!).

Now on to the paperchase. After reading this paragraph you will know why they call this part of the adoption the paperchase. All along we have been collecting, filling out and making copies of required forms that we need for the adoption. Today we dropped off about a dozen of those forms to have notarized. Most of them are required for our dossier. All of this papers travel to many different places. Once they are all notarized, some of them have to go on to be certified at the state level, then they need to be authenticated by the Embassy or Consulate of Vietnam. Once the papers are all authenticated, they are sent to Hanoi where they are translated. This part apparently takes a couple weeks, but once it is complete we will be ready for our referral!(that means a child is chosen for us).

I also received my passport in the mail this week and Andy doesn't have to have his renewed until next year, so we're ready to travel!

The main things left for us to do is keep up with all of our paperwork for the dossier. There will be a constant stream of papers coming in that will have to go through the above process. Our goal is to have our entire dossier completed and submitted by sometime next month. Kathleen seems to be at about the same place in her process as well so it's still looking good for us to go over together.

I have added a website under favorite links called World Fact Book - Vietnam. It has a lot of good information about the country for anyone who is interested.

We'll post again soon!

Moving Right Along.....

2007-03-05T16:28:00.000-08:00

In the past couple of weeks Andy and I have both had our physicals from our doctors that we need for both our homestudy and our adoption agency. Today I mailed out the remainder of our paperwork to our social worker for our homestudy. The next step will be our social worker coming to our home for our homestudy visit. About a week and a half ago we also mailed out our I-600A form to begin processing. After we get that processed we will need to go downtown to be fingerprinted.

Where is Vietnam?

2007-02-20T16:07:00.001-08:00

Vietnam is in South-eastern Asia, bordering the Gulf of Thailand, Gulf of Tonkin, and South China Sea, alongside China, Laos, and Cambodia. We will be traveling to Hanoi (in north Vietnam) for the adoption. Andy has actually traveled not too far from Vietnam to Thailand twice now, so the 27+ hour trip will be a piece of cake for him (ha-ha). I will try to find a good website on Vietnam and post it under links for those of you who are interested in more information on the area.

What have we done so far?

2007-02-10T11:21:00.000-08:00

We have chosen an adoption agency called PLAN Loving Adoptions out of Oregon, they came highly recommended and we have been very happy with them so far. We sent in our initial application to the adoption agency which was accepted. We then chose an agency locally to do our home study which is the next major step in the adoption process. We were very lucky to find a lady here in Charleston who has been doing home studies for over 20 years and has adopted 2 children herself. We are currently in the process of gathering all of our information for the home study. We are working on our autobiographies, financial statements, health reports and personal references and have sent away for our Department of Social Service, South Carolina Law Enforcement Division and Sexual Offender Clearances (yes, they check it all!). Once those are all completed we will have our first home visit with our social worker.
In the meantime, we are getting our I-600A form ready to mail out. This is the biggy! It is the key document to becoming officially "qualified to adopt" in the eyes of the U.S. government. Along with the form we will have to submit several documents as well as be fingerprinted. This form can take up to 90 days to process, so this is often a common culprit of delaying and adoption process. All of this is part of the paper chase to get our dossier ready to go over to Vietnam. Once they receive our dossier they can choose a child for us.

Room For One More

2007-02-10T10:56:00.000-08:00

Welcome to our blog!

2007-02-10T10:40:00.000-08:00

As many of you may already know, we are in the process of adoption a little girl from Vietnam. We are very excited to be adding a new addition to our family and we would like to share the journey to our daughter with you.

We are also very excited because our daughter will not be the only new addition to our family. My sister Kathleen will also be sharing in this wonderful journey as she adopts her own little girl from Vietnam. We are going through the same agency, and we hope to stay on the same schedule so we can all go over together.

Many things have been happening since we have started our adoption process so we have a bit of catching up to do. From now on we will try to keep a more up to date time line of events that will eventually lead to our trip to Vietnam.