Our Beautiful Girl Is Seven Today

Olivia turned seven today. Hard to believe. We had a very busy but wonderful weekend celebrating. Saturday we had a school friends party with 12 little girls they made beaded bracelets,had their nails done and face painting. It was great for Olivia to have all her school friends and family here,apparently Barbie is the theme of the day because we now have more of them then we can count but she is loving all her gifts and was up at 6;30am today to start playing with them YEAH!!!
Right after that our family arrived for the family party.It was great to have all the kids together and fortunately the weather held up so they could be outside for a little while.Clothes for fall was the theme of this party(Mommy was excited).I am so amazed how into clothes Olivia is, I know I didn't care this much when I was seven.
Olivia's adoption day holds more memories for me than her birthday,I do however on this day think about Olivia's birthmother. I hope she knows what a beautiful gift she gave us. Olivia is the bright light in our life. She makes us smile and laugh every single day and ,especially at birthdays I am so grateful for the gift of her. I know her birthmother thinks of her today and I wish she could know that I think of her too.
Our I171 extension with homestudy has been filed and we are paperchasingm we have hired a dossier preparation service this time around to make the process easier for me. I am grateful for her and we move full steam ahead.I'll keep you all posted.

Well It's Official

September first came and went without much fanfare, I don't know what I expected I guess maybe a small part of me hoped there would be some final hour reprieve. That was not to be. Our Vietnam adoption journey ended officially along with countless other families dreams. I am saddened and I guess feeling a loss for the promise of a child from Vietnam we will not have. Throughout this journey I have always pictured in my mind a child who looked just like Olivia. What also saddens me is to think of the children in Vietnam who might not have homes. People often comment to me how lucky Olivia is that we adopted her I always reply that what we received from her is tenfold what we have given to her, Yet I do think about the life she may have had in Vietnam and it saddens me because she is so bright and so full of life and promise and she may not have had that had she stayed in Vietnam.I hope for the children that are there who are legally and legitimately looking for families there can be a quick resolution although I am doubtful.We now look forward to better days ahead and hopefully a process that moves along without many speedbumps.
Olivia is off the second grade today and was nervous anxious and excited all in one. She had a hard time falling asleep last night,was up in the middle of the night(very unusual) and wide awake raring to go at 6am. We all know how quickly that wears off.Her 7th birthday party plans are in full swing and she is counting the days. We hope that everyone's first days of school go off without a hitch and we keep everyone posted as our adoption journey continues.