Birthday Girl!

Patiently waiting for her guests to arrive

Making a wish!

"Can't I open these as well, mommy?"

Our sweet little daughter turned one today! We celebrated the event with a small dinner party with family and will have her "big" party on Sunday. I was impressed that Mya knew exactly what to do with all of the gift bags. She knew there were treasures inside them and she wasted no time ripping them out of there. That's my girl!

Mya wasn't quite so sure what to think about the cake. She liked the frosting (who doesn't) but proceeded to throw all of her cake, piece by little piece, onto her brother's plate!

It was a special day for all of us, as we were reminded how lucky we are that Mya was born into this world and into our family!

Little Miss Mischief!

Guess what Mya discovered today? You guessed it- toliet paper!! I knew something was up when Mya suddenly got very quiet. She had a great time unrolling it! I'm sure she would have gone through the entire roll if I would have let her. I always seem to spoil her fun!!

Wow! 11 months old already?

It is hard to believe how fast our little darling is growing up. Mya is eleven months old today! We feel so fortunate to be able to celebrate each of these little milestones with her. She's a real blessing!!

Photo shoot!

My friend Julie came over the other day to take some pictures of the kids. It was Mya's first "official" photo shoot. I now know why people say not to work with babies and animals. Mya was not any easy subject to shoot! That just goes to show you what a good photographer Julie is because she somehow managed to get some really great pictures regardless! Here are a few of my favorites.

Our happy little 10 month old!

Our sweet baby girl turned 10 months old today! Mya is really learning a lot of new things and now that she is completely healthy, her personality has really begun to emerge. She is such a mimic and even copies us when we yell at our naughty puppy, Bentley. It is so funny!! She has a wonderful sense of humor, but can also be extremely serious. There really doesn't seem to be an in-between with that child! We love all of Mya's little quirks and absolutely adore her. We just simply can't imagine life without her!!

Feeling Better!

With a lot of medicine, and even more TLC, Mya has finally started to feel better! The smiles and giggles have returned and we are so very thankful. She might even get to go to her brother's school for show and tell tomorrow!!

Poor Little Baby!

After our doctor's visit yesterday, we now have a better understanding of why our happy little baby has been so miserable for the past few days. Mya doesn't just have a cold as we had thought, she has a ear infection, sinus infection, and RSV. We have started her on antibiotics and breathing treatments and hope that she will recover quickly. It breaks our hearts to see her so sick!

Home Sweet Home!

The boys meet their little sister!


We are so happy to finally be home! The long flight home was tough on all of us, escpecially Mya. She ended up coming down with a horrible cold and has been really sick all weekend. Poor baby! We are off to the doctor's office tomorrow in hopes of "making her all better".

Done!

While we have really enjoyed our time here in Vietnam, we are excited to be returning home in the morning. We miss our family and can't wait for them to meet their new sister/grandbaby/ niece/cousin. See you soon!

Almost done!

We had a very busy day yesterday! Mya is now the proud owner of her very own passport and she got to vsit her friends at the SOS clinic again. Mya's visa medical exam went very well and she especially enjoyed playing peekaboo with the nurse. Our visa interview is scheduled for tomorrow at 2:00, and then we should be finished with the adoption process. We have changed our airline tickets and will be coming home this Friday. Yipee!!

Getting to know Mya

MYA TRIVIA

1. She weighs almost 16 lbs and is 27 inches long- just a little peanut!


2. She has two teeth on the bottom (one is adorably crooked) and one tooth on the top. She is also getting another tooth on the top and it seems to bother her quite a bit. She chews on everything, just like a puppy!


3. She has the softest hair I've ever felt!


4. She loves people! Everywhere we go she makes new friends.


5. She can dance, crawl, and is quite a busy little girl.


6. She smiles and giggles all the time, just not when I'm trying to take her picture. She has a real "thing" about cameras.


7. She can have the most serious face and silliest face all at the same time!


8. She likes food- a lot! (she takes after her mama)


9. She can say "ba" (bottle) and "may" (mama).


10. She is a beautiful child both inside and out and we feel so fortunate that she is our daughter!

A trip to remember!

Even though we had to endure a 3 1/2 hour bus ride, unbelievable heat and humidity, and a baby who woke up hourly during the night, we had an utterly fantastic time at Ha Long Bay. It is so breathtakingly beautiful that no words can even begin to describe it. Our pictures definetly don't do it justice! We feel so fortunate to have been able to see such an amazing sight! It is a far cry from the expanse of wheat fields of Eastern Oregon. Mya was a champ through most of our trip, but did have a very difficult time sleeping on the boat. We are all happily exhausted and anxious to get a good nights sleep!

Our day

We spent the morning shopping and seeing the sights. We ate lunch at a great little place and I had myself a good old American cheeseburger and fries (almost). We spent the rest of the day back in the hotel room playing and just taking it easy. We are off tomorrow for an overnight stay at the beautiful Ha Long Bay. I'll be sure to post pictures as soon as we get back!

Venturing Out!

We had a great day today seeing some of the many wonderful sights of the city. Mya really enjoyed walking around and being a part of the hustle and bustle that is Hanoi. We all risked death several times today as we learned how to cross the streets in this town. Trust me, it is not as easy as it sounds! We found Hoan Kiem lake and the surrounding grounds to be absolutely beautiful. There are many neat resturaunts and shops nearby and we had a great (but sweaty) time exploring it all. We were able to find Vietnam Quilts and we bought a cute little quilt for Mya's room. She was a real trooper on our adventure, so much so that we are doing it all again tomorrow!!

Lucky!

Wow! What an eventful and amazing beginning to our trip of a lifetime. Our 24 hour delay in Taipai was extremely comical, yet stressful. Nobody, including the airlines knew what the heck was going on. We barely made our flight, and our airlines was even in charge of getting us there on time! I think we even lost a passenger in a wheelchair on the way-no lie!
We finally arrived in Hanoi and at our hotel at 12:15 and found out that we could still make it to the orphanage to get Mya at 1:00. The bad news was that our room wasn't ready yet, and we couldn't change the clothes that we had been wearing for three days, or get the gifts ready for the nannies. We were finally allowed into our room, with 15 minutes until we left for the orphanage. Boy, did we scramble!! We did pretty well and ended up only forgetting to grab the gifts for the orphanage directors. We were quite frazzled when we arrived at Dong Anh (which might explain the poor photography on my part) but by God we made it!! Our sweet baby girl was waiting for us when we arrived and all of the stress and worry simply faded away. She is a dream come true! We love the way she squeezes us tightly, rubs her cheek against ours, and kisses us smack dab on the lips!! My heart absolutely melted today when we took Mya to the SOS clinic to get checked out. When the Vietnamese nurse took Mya to weigh and measure her, she began to cry huge crocodile tears. As soon as she was returned to me she instantly stopped and gave me a big hug. We just feel so grateful and blessed to have finally been united with our beautiful daughter. I have been trying to post the video of getting Mya, but am having some trouble doing so. I'll keep trying!

Guess Who We Have?

We are so in love! Mya is sweet, cuddly, and easy going. She is aboslutely perfect!! I can't wait for all my family and friends to meet her!!! I promise I will post more once I am actually awake!

So close, but yet so far!

After an 8 1/2 hour layover, and a 13 hour flight, we finally arrived in Taipai! Too bad our connecting flight to Hanoi was delayed as well. We should be there tomorrow morning at 10:50 (Vietnam time). We are not sure if we can still go to the orphanage then or not. I sure hope so because we just can't wait to get our hands on our little baby girl!!

Typhoon, what typhoon?

We a little setback on our journey. Our flight to Taipai has been delayed until tomorrow due to a typhoon. Once there, we are not even sure of when we can get a flight to Hanoi. We might not make it to the orphange on Monday after all. Stay tuned- we'll keep you posted and soon as we know anything!

Holy Cow!!

We can't believe this day has finally come. We are flying out tonight and will have our sweet baby girl in our arms on Monday. It is like a dream come true!! Cade wishes he were going as well, and suggested that we put him in Daddy's duffel bag. We will really miss the boys, but we know that they are in very good hands while we are gone. Thank you Grandma Carol, Grandma Karen and Aunt Cathy!! Watch out Vietnam- here we come!!!

We've Got Tickets!

Yipee! We got our airline tickets today!! We will leave on September 12th and will arrive back home "around" September 30th. We are giddy with exitement and have been busy making all kinds of arrangements. Only 8 more days to go!!!!!!

Life is Good!

"Hang Loose, Dude!!"

Mya seems to know that we are coming for her soon because she definitely looks "chilled" in these pictures. I'm especially loving the top one with her belly hanging out!! She already looks like one of the Bryans! Thank you Hanes family for the adorable pictures.

Mya is coming home!

We are beyond excited to announce that little miss Mya will be in our arms and not just in our hearts in a matter of a few weeks. We received her approval from immigration early this morning and hope to be in Vietnam by the 13th of September. Stay tuned for future travel plans and thank you so much to all of our family, friends, and adoption buddies for providing such support and encouragement throughout this whole process!

New pictures of Mya

Wow! Our little girl is really growing up. It's amazing to me how much the babies change in only a month. We are very grateful to the Hines family for the recent pictures of Mya. She looks wonderful (and quite serious). We are on business day 16 of our wait for an approval from Immigration. It is so hard to predict when we might receive her approval, some cases clear quickly while others seem to drag on for an eternity. Any day now would be just fine with us!!

8 Months Old!

Our sweet little Mya is already 8 months old today! We are praying for a speedy approval so that we may spend Mya's 9 month birthday together!!

Our Journey to Mya

Since I seem to have all this time on my hands, I decided to start working on a slide show of Mya's adoption. I'm pretty new at all this and don't think I will win any awards for this production, but it was fun nonetheless!

Finally Filed!

Maybe wishes really do come true! At 1:26 in the morning, I awoke to find myself thinking about Mya. I debated about whether or not I should stumble out of bed to check my email , just in case. I am so glad I did because we finally received our email from Immigration stating that they had received our file. Now the "official waiting" process can begin! Let's hope and pray that they don't take the full (or more) 60 business days to issue an approval, but I guess "it will take as long as it's going to take!"

Out of the mouths of babes!

Because it was my birthday today, I thought I would take full advantage of my wishing rights. When I had finished, Cade asked me what I had wished for. I didn't want to tell him in case of making my wish null and void, so I asked him to guess what I had wished for. Without skipping a beat, he said "getting Mya" (to which I would neither confirm nor deny). He then proceeded to tell me "Mom, that's not going to happen. It will take as long as it is going to take". How could this little six year old boy be so full of wisdom, more importantly, how can we be related?
It has been 12 weeks and 6 days since Mya's referral and we still don't know if our paperwork has even been filed with Immigration yet. It has been an unbearable wait with much more to come, but Cade is right. It is going to take as long as it's going to take, and there really is nothing that I can do about it but have faith that everything happens for a reason.

Another Gift!

"You wanna piece of me?"

We received more new pictures of Mya today. Her personality is really starting to show through. Can't wait to see it for ourselves!!

New pictures of Mya

We love the pictures we got from our friend Heather today, especially the one of our little darlin giggling her head off! She always seems so serious, but Heather said that she is so "funny" and quite the "little pistol". She will definitely fit right into the Bryan family! It's warms our hearts to see that she is holding the blankie that we had made for her, and playing with the toy that Cade picked out for her. We just love her so much and pray that everything will all work out!!