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By Annie, November 28, 2008 9:49 pm

My sister and one of my cousin’s threw me a shower in Houston. Some highlights were…homemade spring rolls, getting a glow worm which was a total blast from the past, getting a Bitty Baby with almond eyes from American girl, and we got the carseat which was a big relief. (As an added bonus, Scott didn’t like driving my Xterra to and from Houston, so he took me to get a Toyota 4Runner today. Now we have a little nicer ride for our future family trips. Yeah.)

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By Annie, November 20, 2008 7:57 pm

So we are back on the papertrail again…we were fortunate this week to be informed that our fingerprints are expiring which are a part of our paperwork that is currently in Vietnam. Wednesday we started the process of contacting the correct people to get the forms we need to be re-fingerprinted. We have mixed feelings about the discovery. On the one hand we are glad to know, so we can it take care of before it becomes a roadblock in our process. On the other hand, we are getting weary of always having something to deal with. It has been a long road and right now it feels like the end will never come, but really it will.

Coincidentally, I just finished a book for the Tapestry, the Adoption and Foster Care Ministry at our church, women’s bookclub. We read the book Carried Safely Home by Kristin Swick Wong. As I finished the book this Monday, one passage spoke to me and our current ups and downs….

“All who choose to enter adoption choose to open themselves to pain. We can choose to embrace the grief inherent in the journey, letting it mold us to be more like Jesus. We need not deny pain. We need not oversimplify complex questions. We need not fear when something in God’s word or world is difficult to understand and embrace. These heart struggles can push us to new ground in our relationship with God. May we be given grace to accept such struggles when they come, and not shrink back from where the Lord wants to bring us. Though it may be hard to sing in the thick of distress, at the end we will certainly look back and declare ‘Great is Thy Faithfulness.’”

We definitely feel like we are in the thick of it, but we are anticipating our time of rejoicing.

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By Annie, November 19, 2008 6:54 pm

My sister-in-law, Ashley, and one of my friends, Jennifer, threw Scott and I a coed baby shower at Homestead Winery in Grapevine, TX. It was a lot of fun. The hostesses asked everyone to bring their favorite childhood book, so we got lots of great books. We played a game of Vietnam trivia, and I topped off the event by spilling wine all over the already opened presents (Watch the glass at the edge of the table in the pictures). So now, some books have red wine stain on them. Oh well, we will always remember how they got that way!

Trivia:

What countries border Vietnam?

What body of water is south of Vietnam?

What is the population of Vietnam?

What is the capital of Vietnam?

What is the largest city in Vietnam?

Name a Vietnamese food dish.

Describe the Vietnamese flag.

What is the name of the Vietnamese currency?

How long is the flight to Vietnam?

What is Baby McClellan’s full time (first, middle, and last)?

And now for the pictures…

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By Annie, November 11, 2008 6:53 pm

Elise is five months old today. We are still waiting for her visa approval.

We are up to 70 shirts on our t-shirt sales…getting closer.

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By Annie, November 8, 2008 11:12 am

Scott came up with the idea of making a t-shirt, and then he drew some sample designs. We decided together on which design and font we wanted, and then I suggested the colors. Then we launched our fundraising efforts. We started with cash and check sales from which we got 11 orders. About two weeks ago we started our online sales, and we have received 39 orders making a total of 50 shirts. We are half way to our goal and couldn’t be more pleased with the support we are receiving from friends and family. We have even received two generous donations to help us with our fundraising efforts. It has been pretty exciting to see people support our journey. We are currently 37 days into our 60 day wait for Elise’s visa approval. We still don’t know when we will get our approval, but we do know that everyone is rooting for us. Thank you so much!

Also, on October 3, Scott’s company threw a baby shower for us. Below are the pictures of the festivities; thanks Stacy for being the photographer.