Good news ~ Bad news

Lets start with the good news shall we...
New picture of precious lil'perryman.

We are very excited that we will most likely be having a Vietnamese Christmas this year!
Which leads us to the baaaadd news.
HCMC lost our DNA.
So now Dillon is contacting the US Lab and they will resend it to HCMC, then we again wait for pre-approval to travel.
Leaving on the 4th and having our G & R on the 10th was just not meant to be.

"I wait for the Lord,
my soul waits,
and in His word,
I put my hope.
My soul waits for the Lord
more than watchmen
wait for the morning,
more than watchmen
wait for the morning."
Psalm 130:5-6 (said twice for emphasis)

Thank you for following our journey.
With Love,
Adam, Natasha, Avi Joy and Nehemiah

we hear ya trumpet.

NEHEMIAH NEWS
Remember this from the last post?
Well here is Avi Joy's trumpet and we heard it blaring today...
Nothing is too hard for God.

We were expecting an update today, hoping that the lab was finally done with our DNA. But instead we got an email from Mary Anne at Dillon saying the DNA Lab was having trouble with its fax machine, so the fax about our case must not have come through.
Not only had our DNA been complete, it had already been sent to HCMC and arrived!
It has been there since Nov 14th, but no one knew : )

Such a sweet surprise.
Our direct prayers now are for everyone currently waiting for pre-approval to travel to Can Tho to receive the same G & R date of Dec 10th. We will see how everything unfolds.

"Put your hope in God." Psalm 42
(I like the action word here- put, it just doesn't happen on its own, we have to put it.)

Adam, Natasha, Avi Joy and Nehemiah

Triple wedding?

Are Avi Joy, Sarah and Andrew all getting married? Esp Sarah, look at those folded hands! HA!

We have finally updated all our pictures!

August, Two Family Weddings, September & Sum Hop Day, October 2008

Sum Hop Day, September 7, 2008- home two years
(Vietnamese for "to come together, unite" sounds like Sue-mm Hop)

September 7, 2006, Ninh Thuan, Vietnam

Lots of emotions today... (and you know women- probably a million more that are not listed : )
Amazed: at Julie's perseverance, she has waited one year to travel, G & R is on Dec 4th!
Delighted: that God can exceed our wildest dreams, Jessica received I-600 pre-approval to travel.
Ready: for DNA to be complete.
Thankful: for friends who attended my pityparty today and picked me up.
Nesting: we are going to finish packing soon.
Convicted: by the scripture on my daughters bible school trumpet, its in all caps:
"NOTHING IS TOO HARD FOR GOD" Story of Joshua & Jericho from Joshua 6, go read it!

I love that Avi Joy is so ready for her brother, she loves hangin out in his crib.

NEHEMIAH NEWS
Waiting for DNA to finish, we are on day 8 (usually takes 5-10 days)
Then sent to HCMC, (about 3-5 days)
Then wait for pre-approval to travel (? days)
Then told our G & R date, leave!

"The seventh time around, when the priests sounded the trumpet blast, Joshua commanded the people, 'Shout! For the Lord has given you the city! The city and all that is in it are to be devoted to the Lord.'" Joshua 6:16-17

The Perryman's

the gentlemanbug theory

There is a Chinese saying that when an adoptive couple starts noticing ladybugs they are about to travel. Well, I am not usually one to fall for this stuff, but seriously this has been a weird ladybug (or gentlemanbug) week!

1. Given a birthday card with a ladybug on the cover
2. At the Dr.'s office yesterday, the lady going in before me said to her nurse, "Hello, little ladybug"
3. Avi Joy was 'reading' as magazine and then brought it over to me because she found a ladybug in one of the pictures. (mine you I had not talked with her about this ladybug theory)
4. I went in Walgreens to find a .99 cent toy for Avi Joy as we are packing her small gifts to open each day we are in VN... what was on the stuff animal shelf?? Yep.
5. Went trick-or-treating at the Dillon office, in one room they had games, she completed the game and they gave her a sticker, it was a ladybug sticker. (also I must say, this was a pack of 20+ different animals, but she got that one.)

Ok, I will not bore you with all the others but lets just say this is the tip of the iceberg! I am now hoping this gentlemanbug theory is right so we will be traveling to Nehemiah soon!

NEHEMIAH NEWS

As of 10-31-08, he is now 16.5 lbs and 26.5 inches long.

DNA arrived in the US today! It will take them 5-10 days to complete, then 3-5 days back to HCMC. Then we wait for pre-approval and 'the call' to travel.

I turned 30th in October, bye bye 20's I am not going to miss ya.
My hot mama turned 50 in October, pictured with her hubby Chet.
College roommates kiddos, we are going from 4 to 7 very soon! Baby explosion.

"But You remain the same, and Your years will never end. The children of Your servants will live in Your presence; their descendants will be established before You." Psalm 102:27-28

With Love- Adam, Natasha, Avi Joy and Nehemiah

Jazzercise and DNA

Happy Halloween to all (if you choose to participate that is...)
Here are our little Trick or Treat'ers doing some Halloween Jazzercise. We enjoyed an afternoon with the Homan family at their churches Truck'or'Treat celebration. Sarah was a black kitty, Andrew a lion and Avi Joy an artist. We played lots of fun games, collected candy and took an awesome hay ride.

We are silly-happy this morning and thrilled to announce our DNA is complete.

Dillon just received an email from our staff in Vietnam and they said everything went fine with the DNA testing. They will let us know when the lab receives the samples from the consulate, which can take approximately 3-5 business days to reach the lab here in the states.

Thank you to all who prayed for our birthmother. I know that God gave her strength through this emotional day. We felt great peace as well and are excited to be moving one step closer to traveling for Nehemiah.

"Those who cling to worthless idols forfeit the grace that could be theirs. But I, with a song of thanksgiving, will sacrifice to You. What I have vowed I will make good. Salvation comes from the Lord." Jonah 2:8-9

The Perryman's

Celebrating Nehemiah!
We were blessed by family, friends and church family with showers for Nehemiah. More than the "stuff" posted below, we know our relationships are a gift from God and we are so grateful for each of you celebrating Nehemiah's arrival.

We dressed in our Vietnamese Ao Doi's for Nehemiah's shower.

Favorite shirts. Special Delivery, New in Town, NSP and the tie, just too cute.

Very special gift from Nene, big sister tee-shirt.

A new supersoft brown polka-dot changing pad cover.

Nehemiah's dresser from Natasha's mom, NanNa.

Awesome blankets. One handmade by Adam's mom.

Vietnamese plates from NanNa and Rhonda.

Craft at the shower. Everyone painted pictures from Vietnam on wooden spoons.

A "thing of beauty" by Evie. She made this just as a shower decoration, but it was too perfect not to be in his room.

We are ready for you precious son. Love, The Perrymans

"He who loves a pure heart and whose speech is gracious will have the king for his friend." Proverbs 22:11

Ready and blessed in the waiting

Ready for a brother...
Today, Avi Joy took a pen and wrote scribbles in her palms, then put out her hands and said she was spiderman. I asked Adam and my mom if they taught this to her, they didn't. I am guessing she is feeling the brother vibe from Vietnam!

Nehemiah is doing well. He is now 15lbs and 24 inches.
We have been packing and getting the house organized, I feel so much more prepared this time around.
We are hoping to hear something about travel sometime between Nov 20-Dec 15.
(Nov 20th is about the time HCMC will receive the completed DNA and Dec 15th is the 60th day of waiting after receipt. Hopefully we will not go much further past that... we shall see.)

In other adoption news, we will be grandfathered in with our I-600 process with China. Basically what this means is it will save $820 by not having to refile our fingerprints for another adoption. Whoo-hoo!

Here are some beautiful pictures from my cousin Sarah's wedding. It was a barefoot wedding at sunset in Panama City Beach, FL, Avi Joy was the flower girl. We will post new pictures from Aug, Sept and 2 weddings soon.




The Perryman's

"Many, O Lord my God, are the wonders You have done. The things You planned for us no one can recount to You; were I to speak and tell of them, they would be too many to declare." Psalm 40:5