Just as things were starting to calm down..........

Well, we are still waiting on our phones and more importantly VISA's. We have done our part and now we wait. We just need to pack now. Last night Rick surprised me with a really nice "last date before adoption" dinner in Fayetteville. It was so nice to just visit on the 45 minute drive and have some one on one time together. We got seated and ordered a salad and just as it was being brought to the table our phone rang. Our babysitter called and said Luke was on top of the stairs and had fallen. He cried for several minutes but seemed to calm down but not using his arm. We told her to call us back in a few minutes to see if there was any change. We inhaled our meal and got the phone call that it starting to swell. From experience, we knew it was probably broken. Our babysitters mom met us at the hospital so that our babysitter could stay with the girls. Sure enough....Luke broke his arm. Our romantic evening was spent in the hospital! Oh the lives of mommy's and daddy's! Life is always busy at the Nelson house and will soon be even busier with number 4! I guess Jake will get to meet his new big brother with a colorful cast. Have a great day. Natalie

Jake's First Shower at Church

One Week Til Travel

Well, it was certainly a very busy day. I worked hard to get the passports sent to the Vietnam Embassy with the hopes to have them back by Friday. My dear friend Patty drove all the way from Muskogee to bring me my mom's passport and paperwork so I could get it out with Rick's today. I started laying out clothes and going down the check list of things to bring and getting our paperwork ready to travel. I also booked plane tickets, got our international phone on the way and Rick worked hard trying to get his partners schedules rearranged. It has been incredibly stressful but we have been blessed with so many wonderful friends who have been very helpful with all of the arrangements. We have been so impressed with our agency too. They are on top of things at all times, very organized, always available to answer emails and phone calls (which I have provided them with so many) and they are so caring. They have truly made our experience wonderful. I can't imagine going through any of this without the help of Nicky and Sara. They and the rest of CHI have been amazing! I will attach a few photos of Jake's shower. We haven't received any new pictures lately so I will try to post some other pictures until we get in Vietnam and get some more. Have a wonderful evening. Natalie

An Amazing Day!

Okay...where do I start? We got up this morning and found our letter from US CIS Immigration stating our I-600 had been processed and we were ready to travel. We were so excited and I spent the day running everywhere trying to finish up Christmas shopping and things for the trip. We were told our G&R would be on the 17th but leaving around the 13th so I had about a week and a half to wrap things up. Well, tonight I got an email from Nicky and she said....do ya think you can leave earlier???? We said sure! Mom and Rick will now be flying out on Monday the 10th! Now I am really panicked. Rick is going to have to get someone to cover him next week and we have some major packing and paperwork to do. I am sending out mom's and Rick's passport's tomorrow and PRAY they get here by Friday...yes, in four days! Stress!!!! Anyways, as if you can't tell by my update....I am in 5th gear and not slowing down any time soon. We are hoping by traveling sooner so that we can be home with Jake by Christmas. We didn't want to get stuck in Vietnam over the holidays because the US offices shut down and we would be waiting until they got back unable to do any paperwork. It is our hope and prayer that we can get back before Christmas. Please keep us in your prayers as we prepare for this huge journey. This is truly the journey of a lifetime. Natalie

We Got Our G&R Tonight!!!

My heart is literally racing as I write this note. Rick is on call tonight and I just got home from a recipe exchange party and checked my email. Nicky emailed us tonight and said our G&R has been set for December 17th. Unfortunately, we are still waiting to hear from the US Immigration office in HCMC. It has been 10 days since they wrote us a letter stating they received our son's paperwork and it could take several weeks for it to be processed. CHI is hoping it will average to be a 3 week period. If all this comes in within the next two weeks we should be buying our tickets to Vietnam. We were praying this would happen before our group plans their vacation for the next year and I think it just may work out! The kids are going to be sad that Rick and my mom will be gone over Christmas but if things go faster while over there because of the new way of processing paperwork...they just may be home for Christmas or shortly after!!! Wow...what a true gift from God. I can't imagine a better way to celebrate Christmas. I am now panicked thinking of all the things I need to do. I still have Christmas shopping (and for one more now!) and packing for the trip to do in just a couple of weeks. Rick is going in tomorrow to get all of his shots and mom got hers last week. I will let everyone know as soon as I get the dates confirmed. I pray it all works out. I know that God has His own perfect timing. We have trusted in Him on this entire journey and even though at times we felt like things weren't going as smoothly as we had hoped and things were taking longer than we like, as time has gone by we realized it was all meant to be in the timing and order He planned for us. Have a blessed weekend. I can tell you we will be floating! Love, Natalie

New Pictures Today!

We just got these pictures of Jake today! We were so excited and had just been saying that it seemed like a long time since had gotten any from the agency. He is really growing! We can't wait to hold him in our arms! Natalie

New News!!!!

Yea! Today we received an email from Nicky telling us that our I-600 application was submitted with CIS office is HCMC today! We have been waiting on this email! They will be processing our application and will notify us directly when it is approved. She told us to expect it to take 3 weeks but it is all up in the air since this is a new process. This is something that use to be taken care of when you are "in country" but now we are doing this paperwork before we travel which should cut down the time we have to stay there. We are waiting on our G&R (Giving and Receiving Ceremony) dates but once we get both of these things we should be ready to travel. I am being optimistic but I have a feeling we could travel in approximately 6 weeks...give or take a week. However, as things have gone so far, we know all too well that any thing can change at any time. We are really excited about all of this and it has finally hit me that I have got to start getting things together for the short notice that we get to travel. There is a list they give us and I have gotten plenty of help from others who have traveled already. Well, I just wanted to let everyone know that we have finally gotten new news and it is good news! Natalie