WE HAVE A G & R DATE !!!

Well, we have what we've been waiting for, a Giving and Receiving Date as assigned by the Vietnamese governement!

Our G & R date is July 23. We are going to attempt to arrive in Ho Chi Minh City no later than July 21 so we have at least one full day to prepare the apartment for the two weeks in HCMC. Grocieries, diapers, formula, etc. Food, coffee, coffee, coffee, etc.

If we arrive Saturday evening we can work on getting things ready on Sunday and then will be picking the girls up very early Monday morning at the orphanage and going immediately from the orphanage to the Giving and Receiving ceremony. We will have four official appointments on Mondaythe 23rd and then will be waiting around for our documents to process (appx 2 weeks) before we head to Hanoi for the last leg of the trip.

We are really happy to have the date but are still sad that the girls are going to be almost 8 months old. Hopefully we'll feel better about that when we actually see them and hold them and make sure for ourselves that they are ok.

The funny thing is that Al, who has been cool as a cucumber through all of this, had the news hit him like a ton of bricks last night. When we picked up the message from the agency and had to call back he just collapsed into a chair and wouldn't get up. I was like "honey, come on, we've got to call the agency" and he just stared at me and said "I am frozen with fear." My husband... the human popsicle.

Actually, that had been my exact reaction the day we received our referral. He just had a delay of 4 months.

Well, next we are going to start gathering our things together, processing for our visa's, make flight arrangements, etc. We'll continue to update you with news and other random musings.

Love Tina