Tiny Tim Moment

Ok, so I have this wonderful friend, Jennifer, who I love very much. She is about one of the sweetest people I know. Sometimes, when she gets "sappy" and says all this sweet stuff, I say to her....."AHhh, thanks Tiny Tim...God Bless Us Everyone." Well......get ready, this is going to be one of those moments. (Get a snack...this will be a long one!)

As we have been on this journey, it has become fully apparent to me that we are blessed by God! I was totally overwhelmed this afternoon while I was driving to my 3rd bank (that's a story for later). I just started thinking about all the people that have supported us along the way. There are not enough thank you notes in the world to thank everyone. This journey has brought us into contact with some of most Godly women I have ever known (cyber known anyway). These friends I have met through the internet are so faithful and encouraging. It has really been a blessing to me. They are always there supporting each other when we are angry, frustrated, excited, happy, you name it. You can see by their wonderful comments. I have come to love these ladies. Thank you my wonderful adoption friends, you have been so wonderful.

Mark and I are blessed with a loving church family. They have been there for us, supported us along our journey, rejoiced with us, prayed with us, and loved on us. They are all so excited to meet Dylan, and will be wonderful to him. He will be so blessed to be taught and loved on by some of the finest Christian people I know. I love you guys and thank God for you every day!

My wonderful friends at work have been a HUGE support. I work with some amazing ladies. Julie, Jess, Jen, you have been there every step of the very long journey and I love you all. You have been such a great support and have felt every emotion with me. I have a dear, sweet friend who has notrizied our MANY docs. Even on the weekend...she has been great! Even today, a friend (my supervisor) was there to help me out when I needed new crisp bills. Her husband who works for a bank was so sweet and got me waht I needed. The teachers in the district have been amazing. They are all excited and happy for us. They have followed along this journey and been a great support to us. They gave me an amazing shower, that touched my heart with how generous they all were. I work for a wonderful group of people, and I thank God for all of you. Mark works for a great wonderful new company that really seems to genuinely care for him. They have been very supportive and we are grateful for that.

Most importantly, Mark and I have an amazing family. Dylan is so lucky to have his wonderful grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, 2nd cousins, you name it. They have been supportive, and loving like they always are. I can't wait for Dylan to meet his extended family. While it might overwhelm him and take him a few years to learn everyone's names (Mark and I both have big families) he will come to know and love them all I am sure.

This process has allowed me to reconnect with some old and dear friends. I cherish these friendships and love all the encouragement they give. Years cannot break these wonderful friendships.

God works on wonderful and mysterious ways. He truly has blessed us! As I type these words, I think of Psalm 100. "Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth. Worship the Lord with gladness; come before him with joyful songs. Know that the Lord is God. It is he who made us and we are his, we are his people, the sheep of his pasture. Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise, give thanks to him and praise his name. For the Lord is Good and his love endures forever, his faithfullness continues through all generations."

Now, having said all that, I have had many people ask, what will you be doing for 3 weeks. We received our schedule last night. Here is kind of a break down.

• Leave Thursday at 4:45...arrive in Ho Chi Minh City at 10:20 am Saturday. We lose 12 hours.
• On Sunday, we will travel to Dylan's province and meet the boys. We will spend some time at the orphanage.
• On Monday, we will return to the orphanage and spend some more time getting to know the boys. (the rest of the day Sun-Mon, we will be on our own, shopping, etc.)
• Tuesday is the G&R at 9:00 am. We will sign some papers, and Dylan is ours! We will head back to HCMC after the ceremony.
• Wednesday we will file some paperwork, and get passports started.
• Thurs is a holiday for them
• Friday we will do more paper work and get passport photos.
• Sat - Tues we are on our own. Tourist stuff, getting to know Dylan, stuff like that. (They have 2 more holidays on April 30 and May 1)
• Wed-Fri we should have an ICS interview some time in HCMC, pick up passports, and have medical check for Dylan
• Sat - Fly to Hanoi. Have free time Sat-Sun
• If all goes well, we might be lucky enough to have our exit interview with the embassy on Monday, May 7. But it could be any time Mon-Wed.
• If we get our interview early, we will leave right after that....there is a slight possibility that we could leave on late Tuesday. But we have to play that by ear.

So there you have it....a break down of how it will all play out. We are very excited and nervous. We can't wait to get there. We were told we will have 2 days with the boys because they keep them pretty isolated, so they thought 2 days might help with getting them used to us. Hopefully all will go well. This is the last post until Vietnam! We promise to try and post everyday that we can. Seriously, thank you everyone, we love you all and your comments will mean the world to us when we are gone. Less than 2 days!!!! Dylan, baby, here we come!