Tonight the girls had the opportunity to be in the Sea to Ski Jr. parade. They were all super excited and Maya kept calling it "The Show". We were all in the back of the truck and Maya is taking it all in and then looks at me and says "I''m tired, I am going to sleep." I got her to stay awake for 1/2 of the parade and then she went to sleep in my arms. When she woke, she wanted to know where "The Show" was. Mackenzie and Sydney enjoyed being in the parade although Sydney said she would much rather watch the parade than be in it.
Next weekend is our first camping trip out in our trailer. Up to now we have only tented it in all our almost 16 years of marriage. We are all so excited to get away for a long weekend as well as taking out the trailer. Now if we could get some sunshine to go with our weekend that would be icing on the cake!!!
Today us girls were able to take my mom out for her birthday. We went to Giuseppes and then walked a bit on the waterfront. We had a nice time spending time with my mom and celebrating who she is and what she means to us.
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The Lord has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy. Psalm 126:3
Picture taken May 2009 - 2 years old!
Can't wait to hold her in my arms
August 2008
Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart. Jeremiah 1:5
The Munson's
The Lord has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy. Psalm 126:3
Bonding with Daddy
The first glimpse of her forever family!!!
The sisters!!!
Our girls!!!!
Sunset on the Pearl River cruise
Mackenzie playing at Maya's check up in China
Maya
Holding the White Tiger at the Zoo
Papa and Sydney feeding the giraffe
Maya
Picture taken May 2009 - 2 years old!
Maya - 16 months old
Can't wait to hold her in my arms
Our family waiting to bring home Maya and Ava
August 2008
Adoption Timeline
- July 13, 2009 - Pick up Maya!!!
- July 12, 2009 - Fly to Guangzhou
- July 9, 2009 - Arrive in Beijing
- July 8, 2009 - Leave for China
- July 6, 2009 - Travel Meeting at adoption agency
- June 26,2009 - Buy airline tickets. We leave July 8th!!!
- June 2009 - Travel Approval
- May 22, 2009 - Re-fingerprinting appt. in Tukwila. Our first prints expired May 20, 2009
- May 22, 2009 - Sign the Letter of Confirmation
- May 21, 2009 - Letter of Confimation from the CCAA has finally arrived
- May 5, 2009 - Receive updated pictures of Maya and answers to our 10 questions from ladybugsandlove.com
- April 18th, 2009 - Maya's 2nd Birthday
- March 12, 2009 - PreApproval letter received
- February 26th, 2009 - We have received our referral!! The news came at 10:20 p.m.
- February 9,2009 - LID (Log in Date) in China
- January 27,2009 - Dossier to China (DTC)
- January 26,2009 - Chinese New Year, Year of the Ox
- January 2009 - The wait begins for baby Maya from China.
- Dec. 2008 - On the 9th our homestudy is handed to our adoption agency
- Dec. 2008 - We are working very diligently to be done with all our paperwork by the end of Dec.
- Nov. 2008 - After lots of prayer and talk, Rich and I decide to move forward with a concurrent adoption in the China program.
- Nov. 2008 - For the 3rd time we are approached by our adoption agency to consider another country . We can stay with Vietnam and do another adoption alongside Vietnam, or switch all together.
- Nov. 2008 - Talks in Vietnam are postponed
- October 27th, 2008: Negotiations to officially begin to work out an interim agreement between the US and Vietnam.
- September 1, 2008: Agreement between the US and Vietnam expires and adoptions are halted
- August 13, 2008: Get an email from Faith International saying that an interim will not be met by the deadline. In the next few weeks we should be getting some more information. It is possible that our paperwork will all be sent back to our agency.
- April 28th, 2008: Hear from our agency that if there isn't an interim agreement met by September 1st, 2008 then we will be put on hold until an agreement between the US and Vietnam is made.
- April 10, 2008: Dossier is sent to Vietnam, all paperwork is on its way after being translated!!! Yahoo, we can't wait for a referral, although this could be several months.
- March 3, 2008: Get approval from the Department of Homeland Security to adopt a baby.
- February 20, 2008: Drive to Yakima to get fingerprinted and file the I-600A
- February 8, 2008: Home Study completed
- January 12, 2008: Home study started.
- January 2008: Chose our agency after researching several - Faith International Adoptions in Tacoma, Washington
Map of Vietnam
Vietnam Facts
- Official Name: Socialist Republic of Vietnam
- Government type: Communist state
- Capital: Hanoi
- Location: Southeast Asia - bordered by Laos, Cambodia, and China
- Population: Over 83 million
- Economy: The average working person in Vietnam earns around $10 per week.
- Climate: mainly tropical
- Terrain: low, flat delta in south and north; central highlands; hilly, mountainous in far north and northwest
- Geography: Vietnam has over 2,000 miles of coastline. At its narrowest point, Vietnam is only 31 miles wide.
- Natural hazards: occasional typhoons (May to January) with extensive flooding, especially in the Mekong River delta
- Religion: Buddhist 54.14%, non-Religious 21.80%, Christian 8.16%, Traditional ethnic 8.10%, Cao Dai/Hoa Hoa 5.60%, Chinese 1.10%, Muslim 0.70%, and Baha’i 0.40%. Constitutional guarantees of religious freedom are meaningless, as government policy is to control all religious movements, including Buddhism.
- Religious persecution: Believers are harassed, beaten and imprisoned for preaching illegally or illegally organizing evangelistic activities. Persecution is especially harsh for unregistered and ethnic minority churches. Seeing the role of Christianity in the demise of communism elsewhere, the regime has attempted to either control or wipe out believers. Government efforts have intensified as churches respond to persecution with growth and outreach. Believers see church registration as compromise, and failing to register churches is seen as illegal in the eyes of the government, forcing the church underground. (As quoted from Voice of the Martyrs)
- *Of all the countries in the world, Vietnam was recently ranked #3 where Christians are most persecuted for their faith.
- *Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon) was named after Ho Chi Minh, meaning 'bringer of light', which was one of the fifty or so aliases used by Nguyen Tat Thanh (1890-1969), communist guerrilla fighter and first president of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam.
- *The Vietnam War began in 1958 and lasted until 1975.
- *The country continues to experience protests from the Montagnard ethnic minority population of the Central Highlands over loss of land to Vietnamese settlers and religious persecution.
Map of China
China Facts
Official Name: People's Republic of China
China is the 4th largest country.
Government type: Communist State
Capital: Beijing
Population: Over 1.3 billion (8% of population is below the poverty line which is approx. earning $90 per year. An additional 35.5 million rural population is officially above the "low income line" and lives on approximately $125 per year).
Economy: China's economy is huge and expanding rapidly. However, there are still inequalities in income of the Chinese people.
Climate: The climate differs from region to region. In the North it can get extremely cold and in the Southern regions it can get extremely hot.
Natural hazards: Typhoons, tsunamis, drought
Religion: Buddhist, Christian (3-4%), Muslim (1-2%)
China is the 4th largest country.
Government type: Communist State
Capital: Beijing
Population: Over 1.3 billion (8% of population is below the poverty line which is approx. earning $90 per year. An additional 35.5 million rural population is officially above the "low income line" and lives on approximately $125 per year).
Economy: China's economy is huge and expanding rapidly. However, there are still inequalities in income of the Chinese people.
Climate: The climate differs from region to region. In the North it can get extremely cold and in the Southern regions it can get extremely hot.
Natural hazards: Typhoons, tsunamis, drought
Religion: Buddhist, Christian (3-4%), Muslim (1-2%)
Our adoption agency and Homestudy Agency
Adoption Resources
Followers
Encouragement
When things go wrong as they sometimes will,
When the road you're trudging seems all up hill,
When the funds are low and the debts are high
And you want to smile, but you have to sigh,
When care is pressing you down a bit,
Rest if you must, but don't you quit.
Life is queer with its twists and turns,
As every one of us sometimes learns,
And many a failure turns about
When he might have won had he stuck it out;
Don't give up though the pace seems slow--
You may succeed with another blow,
Success is failure turned inside out--
The silver tint of the clouds of doubt,
And you never can tell how close you are,
It may be near when it seems so far;
So stick to the fight when you're hardest hit--
It's when things seem worst that you must not quit."~ Unknown
When the road you're trudging seems all up hill,
When the funds are low and the debts are high
And you want to smile, but you have to sigh,
When care is pressing you down a bit,
Rest if you must, but don't you quit.
Life is queer with its twists and turns,
As every one of us sometimes learns,
And many a failure turns about
When he might have won had he stuck it out;
Don't give up though the pace seems slow--
You may succeed with another blow,
Success is failure turned inside out--
The silver tint of the clouds of doubt,
And you never can tell how close you are,
It may be near when it seems so far;
So stick to the fight when you're hardest hit--
It's when things seem worst that you must not quit."~ Unknown
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