Daddy is back in the US

Jason called, he landed in Atlanta. He sounded down & out! I know he misses Halle-Grace and today when she was napping she was looking for him around the pillows! It was really cute!!! We just want to be together as a family! He is THE BEST DAD!!! If I haven't mentioned that...HE IS! She adores him!

In the morning (for Halle-Grace and I) we will get to talk & see Jason over the webcam. Tonight Hannah & Hunter called us using their webcam and it was so neat! Hannah was SOOOO excited and Hunter was too (except Hannah was in the camera majority of the time). Halle-Grace put on a show for them and it was so wonderful to hear them all laughing!!! Gosh, I miss my family!!! Thank God Nanny is here! Halle-Grace LOVES her...but what child does not love nanny! I have yet to meet one!

I know Granny is getting excited to see Jason and all that he has to show her! Thank you again for watching our Gabby girl! I can't wait to see her and EVERYONE! The homecoming BASH is in the works! Also, working on Halle-Grace's Halloween costume ideas and her 1st birthday party theme!!! CELEBRATIONS ARE COMING!!! God is Good!

Good Night from Vietnam...where the princess Halle-Grace sleeps!

Please say a special prayer for Tim & Mer tonight and tomorrow. They travel to TQ to adopt Lulu Belle and we are SO excited to see her again! She is a DOLL. They are going to be GREAT parents...they too have been blessed with a TQ angel!

Thank you all for the support and prayers!

Shannon

Missing Daddy! Discovering NEW things daily!

Last night was incredibly hard to say goodbye to Jason!!! Today would be impossible without nanny and my HEN friend! Hen and hubby will meet their angel at TQ tomorrow!!! We are so excited for her arrival and I bet Halle-Grace will remember her playmate from the orphanage! I have been praying today for Jason's safe arrival home and for Gabby's bladder (as she is going to go NUTS when she sees her daddy) and for the two families traveling to TQ tomorrow to adopt their precious little ones!

So...to help prepare "HEN" for her baby, we took a trip to the Metro. Metro is like our Sam's Club. You have to have a membership card and we were suppose to meet a Vietnamese lady there who had invited me to be her guest...well, we couldn't find her! Don't ask me how, but we managed to get a day pass! It was GREAT! We stocked up on diapers, formula and other things to include two "walkers". Halle-Grace loves her walker and is MOVING all around the apartment!!! I can't wait to see both of the girls going at once!

Just before nap time...we had fun with Lulu's mom dressing up in bows and playing in the tent! Too much fun again for one day!!!

Halle-Grace is sleeping now and we are REALLY excited to talk to daddy tonight with the webcam.

I am homesick! Our response should arrive tomorrow! OH, I pray good news is coming soon! We want to come home and truly begin our lives together as a family!

Halle-Grace is our tiny miracle and we thank God for her!!!

Missing Daddy in Vietnam!

Shannon & Halle-Grace (Nanny too)

Happy Mid-Autumn Festival from Vietnam!

Tomorrow is a special day in Vietnam and we are here to experience this occasion that we can tell Halle-Grace about for many years to come.

Here's some information on the festival...it is one of the big annual celebrations that falls on the 15th fay of the 8th month in the lunar calendar, which this year falls on Sept. 14th! Mooncake is the traditional food eaten to celebrate the festival (the staff here at the Somerset left us some mooncake). The mooncake symbolizes how the whole family gets together when the moon is at its fullest. Basically this is a good reason for couples and families to a spend a night together especially if they live far apart (well, looks like you all need to get a ticket to Vietnam or PRAY us home one)!!!

I plan on taking Halle-Grace to the festival and get some photos and possibly one of her "adoption day" gifts. I think its great that she is in her birth country during the celebration.

Today we took Halle-Grace to the pool and she LOVED it!!! She is going to love her pool at home and we are so excited to share EVERYTHING with her. Jason has left for the US and he is going to be busy shopping (he wants her to have it ALL)! He always told me that having elaborate birthday parties was silly and a waste of money that could be used on college...well for some reason, he know says she is having THE BASH for her 1st birthday party! Talk about a daddy in love with his girl! It was sad to watch him say goodbye to her. She was asleep but it was hard and I had to leave the room! Of course I cried but I am SO hopeful that we will all be united again soon!

God sent us on this mission to bring this little miracle home and give her an opportunity to be whatever she wants to be! He also wants to adopt her into His family! We promise to teach her and I can't wait to get her involved in everything there is to be involved in at our church...dance, gymnastics, Hannah told us she wants to teach her to dance and cheer! Hannah loves to talk to Halle-Grace on the phone! Jason says they are TWO OF A KIND!

Pray for Jason to have a safe trip home and for Halle-Grace & I to be able to come back home with Nanny in two weeks!!! That would be AWESOME!!!








Mommy rides me in the basket!

I am ready to go home!!!

Hopeful.....JOYFUL days ahead!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MAMAW PARKER...#83!!! We love you and can't wait for you to meet Halle-Grace!





Jason is leaving to go home...we can't JUST YET! But, we will be soon!

Our response is currently in the Philippines...will be in Ho Chi Minh City MONDAY, Sept. 15th!
We are ready to be in NC TOGETHER as a family! Jason is going home to PLAN A HUGE PARTY for Halle-Grace's homecoming and begin planning her 1st Birthday party *he is IN LOVE*

Nanny & I will stay in Hanoi and PRAY for an approval SOON!!!

Shannon, Nanny & Halle-Grace in Vietnam!

Change of plans---GREAT! RESPONSE MAILED TO USCIC in HO CHI MINH CITY---PRAISE THE LORD!!!!!

Jason just changed his travel plans and will be staying an extra day! He has Halle-Grace fever BAD! He will now leave at 11:00pm Saturday (Hanoi time) vs. tonight at 6pm (Hanoi time). He is REALLY excited to spend one more day with Halle-Grace. He is in LOVE! I cannot stress what a wonderful dad her is! He does it all!!! Last night...two stinky diapers.

Last night when we returned home from downtown we received an email from our attorney's office saying she had reviewed our response (married with parts of her response) she approved and it was mailed!!!! We are VERY thankful and praise God that the process is moving along! Now is the time...if you have not said a prayer or 10,000 please do so!

We want to come home and allow Halle-Grace to officially start her "new" life at home!

Hannah, I am sorry you fell at school. I am just thankful you didn't have to go back to Carolina Ortho. Nanny found you some surprises last night and you will love them!

The streets in Hanoi are set up by "items" such as....a bag/luggage row, a jewelry row, a silk street, even a plumbing street! SO much shopping to do and AWESOME prices!!! We purchased Halle-Grace 6 of her Adoption Day/G&R Day gifts for less than $30.00 and that includes a painting, dolls and other items that I have to keep a secret (one day Halle-Grace will be able to read this as I am printing this for her "Story book".

More from rainy Hanoi later!!!

We miss and love you all!

The Devines in Vietnam

Too much fun for a day!!!

We have been on the go and BUSY! Having so much fun with Halle-Grace.

Today, we picked up her Vietnamese passport, played with nanny, went to the water puppet show and now we don't want to go to sleep!!!

Aunt Suzie just called and talked to us and heard Miss Halle-Grace entertaining everyone! Hannah, we want you to know that Halle-Grace LOVED her "gabby" dog and purse! Aunt Suzie, she loved the books and Granny...the sleepers were just about perfect...a little big but everything is big on the tiny miracle! Granny and Kay Kay we can't wait for you to meet Halle-Grace! We miss you all!!!

We finally have a family photo together. Nanny took it for us at the water puppet show. We will have one made without mommy in a hat...later.

When we returned to the Somerset tonight the staff had surprised us with beautiful flowers and decorated Halle-Grace's high chair for the Mid-Autumn Festival that is kicking off!!! Hanoi is VERY busy!

And finally, Jason bought Halle-Grace's wedding gift tonight and I cried!!! I think the lady in the store thought I was upset that I was not getting the price I wanted on some other gifts...LOL...nanny was too busy looking at handbags *imagine that*

A full day...tomorrow, we are not looking forward to as Jason leaves for the US, however, we must move closer and closer to the day Halle-Grace and I will arrive on US soil!!! PLEASE PRAY THAT IS SOON, VERY SOON!

We love you all! Granny...thank you SO much for taking care of our Gabby girl!! We miss her!

The Devines in Vietnam

Still awake, waiting on Nanny

We had a super fun day in Hanoi. Here are some pics...

*Hoan Kiem Lake
*Sea of motor bikes
*The ladies at Highland Coffee playing with Halle-Grace

AND we have water puppet show tickets for tomorrow night. We will all be taking nanny to the show! I know Halle-Grace will love it...I am really looking forward to it myself!

It's Halle-Grace's last night before the "nanny invasion". This child will NEVER be the same...just ask Hannah & Hunter!!!

More tomorrow

The Devines in Vietnam

Shopping for Halle-Grace so she'll always remember her birth country!

One of my friends, Sherri, who adopted precious Kaitlyn from Vietnam in early 2007 gave us the coolest idea...while she was in Vietnam she boughts gifts for Kaitlyn that she gives to her on her birthday each year as a reminder of where she was born! I loved this idea so tonight we went downtown and did some shopping. Some of the items Halle-Grace will not get until she is much older (like a tea set...I want one for myself)! Other items include a jewelry box and so on! I may give her the gifts on her adoption day (Sept. 1st) each year as her birthday is in November. Just not sure...we have time to figure that one out. Jason is sleeping with the princess so his blogging will come later. Tomorrow night, we pick up nanny at the airport! We are excited to see her and I am sure she is somewhere on THAT LONG FLIGHT to Vietnam from Atlanta!

OH, we didn't make it to KFC...we ate at an excellent Italian Restaurant and it was SO YUMMY!!! Oh, I miss the food back home!

I have attached a photo of mom & Halle-Grace and one of her in her Vietnamese hat! She's funny! Daddy is getting sad!!! Pray for Jason. Boarding that plane on Friday is working on him. If Gabby were not at home waiting, we may have HUGE problems. We just pray that we will all be united again SOON at home in NC!

Good Night from Vietnam!

Reality of Friday is closing in on us....No Mer, I am not talking about your arrival....LOL!!!

Today has been very emotional! The fact that Jason will be going home Friday is quite overwhelming! Halle-Grace changes so much as the days pass and I don't want him to miss a thing!! He is the PERFECT daddy!!! He has done everything that I have with her and more! He changes dirty diapers, prepares bottles, reads to her, takes her for stroller and Baby BJourn rides and lets her pull on his ears and nose (I don't allow that)! Thanks to our family and friends for your constant support and love... and more than anything the prayers!

Friday is also a date of celebration! One year ago, September 12, 2007 Jason donated a kidney to Scott Thornburg. One year later, Scott and Jason are both doing FANTASTIC! God is GOOD!

We are finally finished with our 24 page response (that does not include any exhibits..that will make it close to 100 pages). We are hoping to submit SOON! We are waiting on our adoption agency to send us copies of the affidavits then it is GOING TO USCIS. PLEASE BE IN PRAYER about this document that holds the key to Halle-Grace becoming an American citizen and allowing us to re-enter the United States of America! It seems weird to even type those words, but I am afraid it is VERY real!

Tomorrow night Nanny arrives in Hanoi (Dana, I have NO idea how she will function without a Wal-Mart and by the way, the Hyland Teething Tablets are GOLD)! Our child will never be the same once "nanny" gets a hold of her. You think she is rotten now, OH MY!

Another exciting happening is the arrival of my roomie and Halle-Grace's friend from the orphanage...Mer & Lulu! Mer and her husband, Tim will have their G&R Ceremony of Lulu next Monday. Tim can only stay a week, so Mer and I, along with the girls will be here in Hanoi at the Somerset Hoa Binh until the US Government issues Halle-Grace & Lulu their American visas. Remember there are 40+ of us in this LIVING nightmare.

Jason promises to blog tonight...we are SO excited to go to KFC!! I know you are laughing but Pho is OUT! I am so ready for some fast food, junk food, SUNDROP...
We are ALL ready to be home as a family and can't wait to see how Halle-Grace reacts to Gabby! Gabby LOVES children so I know she will be great, however, WILD WOMAN (Halle-Grace) may scare poor Gabby! LOL

We love you all and thank you for the continued prayers!!!

The Devines in Vietnam

Here's more CUTENESS!!!!

Bathing Beauty...in training and waiting for her CUSTOM JAMYE SHAW SUIT!!! Unlike most women, Halle-Grace loves the scales! Maybe it's because she will be 10 months old on the 19th of Oct. and weighs a WHOPPING 13 pounds! She is a PEANUT!

She is already trying to get into her mom & dad's profession (drug sales) I told her to just get by on that swimsuit figure...LOL! She is adorable. Going to bed! Halle-Grace and Jason are already there...response must be completed tomorrow if we want it submitted by Monday!!!

WE LOVE YOU ALL...Granny, tell GABBY TOO...we do miss her!!!