For this child I prayed

Adoption Day Celebration

2008-11-03T09:51:00.002-05:00

This week we celebrate 1year since we adopted Bryce in Viet Nam. November 5th, 2007 was the official date. We are just so thankful to have him in our family, he is THE MAN and we love him very much. Yesterday we had a little party for him, we'll post some pics and video soon.

Jon

Little man is one!

2008-07-23T12:37:00.001-04:00

Hi folks. It's been a while since we've updated our blog. Since our last entry we've moved and found out that we are having a baby. That's right everyone...three kids under three and a half! We were so shocked but now we are excited about the fact that our little boys will only be 14 months apart. Bryce turned one yesterday and is as charming as ever. He is 17.5 pounds and 28 1/2 inches long so he's a little guy but boy is he fast! Our son is a climber. He climbs onto tables, chairs, into the dishwasher and dryer. He is a busy little guy who has only two settings....HIGH SPEED and SLEEPING. He is so full of laughs and smiles. I've honestly never seen a happier little boy. He brings everyone so much joy and it is truly an honor to be called his parents! I promise we'll update again soon. Lots of love!

Family of Four

2008-07-23T12:30:00.001-04:00

Well, it is hard to believe that we've already been home three weeks! Kaitlyn loves her new baby brother! She is such a little mommy. Bryce is thriving in his new home. He is showered with so much love and attention. At his last doctors appointment he weighed a whopping 12.5 pounds! He is trying to sit up now and rolls over when he is so inclined. He doesn't get too much practice as he is usually being held. We are so happy to finally be a family of four. It will surely be a Christmas that we will always remember! We've posted a video of Kaitlyn singing her ABCs on this site and plan to post a few more videos whenever we get a chance so stay tuned! Love to you all.

2007-12-05T22:21:00.000-05:00

sweet home carolina

2007-11-24T20:55:00.001-05:00

It sure is great to be home. The sights, sounds, and smells are all just so refreshing with my newfound perspectives! Kaitlyn and Bryce are getting along great as you can see from some of the pictures. Although our journey has concluded, we intend on keeping this site up to date with pictures, posts, and soon to come...videos of our new family addition! Thanks to all for the prayers and support, YOU GUYS ROCK!

JT

3 o'clock in the morning...

2007-11-21T03:04:00.000-05:00

and we are home!!!! Daddy picked us up at the airport then Mike and Jenny were here to welcome us. The house was decorated with balloons and signs not to mention it was clean. The house seems so big compared to that hotel room! Bryce took his first bath at home and went down very easily in his crib. Of course, I had to unpack, do laundry, download the video camera, and pay bills before I could possibly think about sleeping. But I'm almost finished now and getting ready to pass out. I'm sure that as soon as I fall asleep little man is going to want to eat but wow it's great to be home with him! Kaitlyn spent the night at Nana's so we will see her first thing in the morning (well about four hours from now). We thought seeing her for the first time around midnight would be tough for her though we are so eager for us all to be home together! I hope this entry makes sense b/c I've been without sleep for a few days now. Lots of love to you all.

1.8 MILLION PEOPLE

2007-11-20T09:06:00.000-05:00

...are how many people they are expecting to go through LAX within the next two days. These are the busiest two travel days for this airport for the year. So we are going to grab a quick breakfast, a shower and off we go back to the airport. We are SO looking forward to coming home tonight. Love to you all.

We're coming home!

2007-11-18T23:04:00.001-05:00

We’ll all I guess this will be our last post from Vietnam. This is an extremely emotional day for us. How wonderful that we will be home to celebrate Thanksgiving with our loved ones! We have so much to be thankful for this year. We’ve been blessed with so much more than we deserve. Jon and I definitely have a new perspective on how truly wonderful we have it. This country is truly impoverished and these people will probably never experience all of the luxurious that we all take for granted. It’s going to be hard to say goodbye to Bryce’s homeland. I have honestly fallen in love with this country and the wonderful people here. Once again, we have been deeply moved by all of your support and encouragement. We have had total peace about being away from Kaitlyn because we know that she is surrounded by the most amazing people who love her dearly. Honestly, we wavered about coming up to the very last minute. Our agency told us about all of the delays and denials and all of the families stuck in Vietnam with no word on a return date. They encouraged us not to come but offered their full support if we did decide to sign the risk waver and travel anyway. Two of the five families in our original travel group backed out at the last minute and the three families that did come had serious doubts about whether this was the right thing to do. WE ARE SO GLAD WE CAME! Things went smoother than we ever imagined and we our son will be at home with us for the holidays! We’ll be staying the night in LA tonight so we’ll try to post again from there. We are giving thanks with grateful hearts for all the Lord has done for us!

Farwell Old Quarter!

2007-11-18T05:02:00.000-05:00

Tallia and I took our last journey down to the Old Quarter today for our very last shopping spree in Vietnam. This time we ventured out without the men folk or babies. Our mission: MORE LUGGAGE! "Sure, honey. We'll be back in an hour," is what we both said to our significant others as we charged out of the hotel. Three hours later we did return with luggage but also with more goodies to fill the luggage (a chess set for Bryce when we turns 18, chopsticks for Bryce and Kaitlyn, a gift for my mother-in-law,etc). It kind of defeated the purpose but oh well. We had such a wonderful time. I’m really going to miss her, Mark and baby Lola as they live all of the way in California. We got all cheesy and melodramatic about how much we’ll miss each other so (get this) we bought each other matching necklaces. Yes all, two and a half weeks in Vietnam can cause grown women to regress to high schoolish behavior. We had a nice lunch, just the two of us, and talked about how we can meet back here in three years…us for a girl, them for a boy. We’ll just have to see! I don’t know what we would have done without them. We have such a unique bond. We were the last group to be grandfathered in under the old regulations. It was such an interesting time filled with uncertainity of the outcome yet filled with joy as we shared the first couple of weeks with our precious little ones together. It has been so wonderful to have another couple that we really clicked with to share in this experience.

Ha Long Bay

2007-11-18T04:36:00.000-05:00

Hey all! I hope you enjoyed seeing our pictures from Ha Long Bay. We really enjoyed taking them. Yesterday morning we met down in the lobby at 8 and headed out to the bay. It was a long bumpy 3.5 hour van ride but well worth it once we arrived. As you can see from the pictures, there aren’t any docks. It’s just a giant game of bumper boats out in the bay. We got out of the van and were herded onto a boat and guided to the back. Then we stepped/jumped from that boat to the next and then to the next. None of us were really sure what was going on. We just knew to hold on tightly to the babies and keep walking until someone motioned for us to stop. The boat that we finally stepped onto was lovely. There were eight booths inside for us to sit and lounge in the shade but we spent most of our time up top on the deck. The scenery was breathtaking and we could see the clouds and blue sky for the first time in weeks! In Hanoi, pollution is so bad that there is a constant haze over the city. You literally can not see the sky. In fact, I hardly need my sunglasses in the city as it is never very bright. SO needless to say we all thoroughly enjoyed the fresh air. Bryce’s cute hat from Grandma T did fly overboard though while we were on the deck. So our baby went around for the rest of the day without a hat. That is TABOO in Vietnam. Babies should always wear a hat while in Vietnam. If not, a Vietnamese woman is likely to yell at you or take him from your arms.

About an hour into the journey we docked (by docked I mean ran into a couple of other boats and then concrete stairs) at the caves. We went up a ton of stairs on the side of a mountain and entered into the first cave. It was nice and cool in there and the rock formations were pretty interesting. We then went back down the mountain side and then back up again to enter another cave. This one was where many Vietnamese soldiers hid/camped out during wars of long ago. There were neat ancient Vietnamese writings carved into the rocks.

We then jumped (literally jumped) back on the boat and had another hour or two of fun and relaxation until our tour came to an end. The ride back seemed to take 10 hours as the babies were getting fussy, the traffic was heavy, everyone was hungry and needed to use the restroom and the roads seemed to had gotten bumpier since the morning. Well worth the travel though. I’m so glad we got to experience this with our precious son!

Rock and Roll!

2007-11-16T00:36:00.001-05:00

Chao all! Thao called this morning with very exciting news. We’ve been APPROVED! Our second embassy appointment is at 2:45 today and Bryce’s visa should be ready to pick up Monday. Which means, if we can get an earlier flight home, we will be back stateside by Thanksgiving! We are so thrilled but still in shock. There are around 5 or 10 families at our hotel who have been here longer than us with no news of approval or second embassy appointment yet. Our group just sailed right through and somehow bypassed all of those waiting families. God has guided our journey and paved the way for us to have safe and happy travel…not to mention the most precious son that anyone could ever ask for. All of our prayers have been answered and once again are in awe of God’s goodness and provision!

Interesting Tidbits about Bryce's Home Province

2007-11-15T00:38:00.001-05:00

TUYEN QUANG

Area: 5 801 sq. Km.Population: 692 500.Administrative divisions:- Districts: Na Hang, Chiem Hoa, Ham Yen, Yen Son, Son Duong.- Rural districts: Tuyen Quang town.Ethnic groups: Viet (Kinh),Tay, H'Mong, Dao, Nung, Cao Lan, Hoa, San Diu.

Overview
Economic potentialities: land, forestry, mineral resources Tuyen Quang is located in Viet Bac, in the northern part of the country. It is characterized by majestic elevated mountains with peaks exceeding 2,000 m above sea level. More than half of the province?s population consists of the Kinh ethnic group; there are also Tay, Dao, and Nung ethnic groups. The tropical climate influenced by north Asian climate is divided in two seasons; dry cold winter and hot rainy summer. The province has an annual average temperature of 22.4?C and an average rainfall varying between 1,500 and 1,800 mm. Famous sites include Tan Trao Communal House and Hong Thai Communal House (accommodation for delegates from different parts of the country who came to attend National Congress meetings).

Transport
Tuyen Quang is 165km north-west of Hanoi, and is accessible by bus or by car.

Tan Trao Historic Site
Location: Tan Trao is a small valley lying between mountains and jungles in Son Duong District, 40 km from Tuyen Quang Town and 200km from Hanoi. Characteristics: Tan Trao is a historical area - a resistance base before the August 1945 Revolution.

The main places of interest include Tan Trao Communal House, Hong Thai Communal House and a small jungle hut where President Ho Chi Minh lived from June to August 1945. Tan Trao was a temporary capital of the independent section of Vietnam, where the Vietnamese Communist Party held several meetings, especially during August 1945. On the 13th, attendees voted in favor of a general revolution during a National Conference meeting of the Communist Party. On the 16th, the National Assembly Conference was held.

Ten major policies were voted by the Vietminh, the League for the Independence of Vietnam, and a temporary government chaired by President Ho Chi Minh was established. The Vietminh army was also founded on that day. Also on the 16th, the Provisional Government led by President Ho Chi Minh had a meeting in the Tan Trao Communal House. The participants of this conference stayed at the Hong Thai Communal House. One hundred meters north of the communal house is the Tan Trao Banyan tree. Between June and August 1945, before he returned to Hanoi, President Ho Chi Minh resided in this area in a cottage erected by the liberation soldiers.

Mo Waterfall
Location: Thac Mo (Dream Waterfall) is located amid the Na Hang Natural Reserve (Na Hang District), 100km of Tuyen Quang Town. Characteristics: Thac Mo is a wonderful ecological tourist attraction of Tuyen Quang Province, which is welcoming those who like adventures.

The road to Thac Mo is convenient. One can hear the noise of water pouring far from above. The closer visitors draw to the waterfall, the cooler they feel. It seems as if visitors were in a fairy land when they stand in front of the waterfall. Its water pours into the lake lying at the foot of the mountain. Visitors can take a small boat to reach the waterfall. When boating, they can relax and admire the picturesque setting around it.
The waterfall with the silver hues is composed of 3 layers. To reach the second layer, visitors have to climb up 100m by a rope ladder. At the foot of the second layer, there is a small and pure lake. Here, visitors will see the imposing landscape with the caves, which have beautiful stalactites and stalagmites. The water flows slowly through the green moss-covered rocks, which look like a velvet rug. Keeping they climbing, visitors will reach the third layer. Water pours very strongly. The coolness of water seems to drive back the exhaustion of visitors, and to bring about a new feeling for them when they stand at the top to have a panoramic view of Na Hang Town, which is surrounded by 99 mountains. They can walk into the primitive forest to discover wonderful things. The sounds of the waterfall, birds and gibbons, and silver light going through the thick layers will make visitors feel as if they were in the prehistoric time.

bryce is the man...

2007-11-13T22:23:00.000-05:00

This little guy is just awesome. It's amazing how much like Kaitlyn he is! He's tiny, squirmy, energetic, and full of smiles, he's hilarious! What a blessing he is, we are so thankful. Thanks again for everyones prayers, support, and comments; we love reading them. JT

Ha An Phuc’s Passport

2007-11-13T02:41:00.000-05:00

We picked up Phuc’s passport (issued in Bryce’s Vietnamese name) this morning and then received his Visa medical clearance from the SOS clinic today (which has become our home away from home away from home). One of the other babies in our group had an enlarged spleen but will still be able to travel. Also, Bryce received a BCG shot at the orphanage. We were told that this is the out of date vaccine for TB which isn’t effective and will cause him to test positive for TB for the rest of his life. I’m really uncertain of the details so if you have any info or advice for this please post! His left ear is still infected and his right one is now red…yuck! However, he is 11.25 pounds now. That is almost two pounds since his referral in October! He is such a wonderful baby. We are thrilled that we received medical clearance and now we are just waiting to hear about when our second embassy appointment will be.

I was so proud of my hubby today when he flagged down a cab and told the driver in VIETNAMESE where we were going! We are picking up a little (VERY LITTLE) Vietnamese and are having fun using it! Love you all and looking forward to being back stateside with you!

Are you enjoying your holiday?

2007-11-13T02:40:00.000-05:00

Was a question that a British lady asked us in the elevator yesterday. To which, Jon replied, “uuhhhh…yeah”. We’ve been surprised to see British and French people vacationing at our hotel. I’m not quite sure what there is to do but sit by the pool but to each man his own. Our hotel is very Americanized. Most employees speak some English though the language barrier is apparent when you try to ask for anything other than the norm. If your conversation sways from “more towels please, good morning or Sprite please” then you are in trouble! We had an amazing afternoon of shopping yesterday and got some really neat goodies for Bryce. We purchased this amazing set of chopsticks and carrying case with the ancient Vietnamese symbol for happiness on it for $9.00 along with a few other special mementoes of his homeland.

XIN CAM ON!

2007-11-12T02:23:00.000-05:00

Xin cam on! Is thank you in Vietnamese. Thanks again for all of the love and support you all have shown. We love reading your comments each day! What an amazing experience this has been and we feel honored to get to share our story with each of you. Rock on junior renegades!

A fungus among us!

2007-11-12T02:00:00.000-05:00

Other than a fungus growing on his tongue, Bryce checked out well at the clinic today. His cough and breathing have not gotten any worse and his ear appears to be a little bit better. We had a nice breakfast with the other couples this morning and are planning to venture out for some shopping and dinner with one of the other couples in just a little while. Bryce is so happy and outgoing. He loves people! We are eager to get him home to meet his wonderful big sister!

SOS CLINIC

2007-11-11T00:27:00.000-05:00

Well our little man had to take a trip to the SOS clinic again today. His ear was draining a green smelly slimy substance and has coughing had gotten worse. The doctor gave us drops for his infected ear and nose drops to help clear his head congestion. His upper respiratory infection has turned into bronchitis so they started him on Augmentin since the Zithormax didn’t seem to help. Bryce also had to have a breathing treatment which was heart breaking as he was screaming and crying for some of it. We take him back tomorrow so they can make sure it hasn’t spread to his lungs. We are eager to get him home and take him to one of our doctors so we can really get him checked out!

Dong-less in Hanoi

2007-11-08T23:32:00.000-05:00

Jon, Bryce and I set out this morning with a pocket full of Dong to do some shopping in the Old Quarter. Shopping here is much different than back home. It’s mostly street vendors and 12 x 12 shops with no doors. It’s kind of like a flea market on steroids with everyone selling their handmade goods. There were some really neat items but an hour into shopping we ran out of dong. When we did the calculations we only spent less than $30.00 but racked up on some neat goodies. We bought Bryce and Kaitlyn handmade authentic Vietnamese outfits and a beautiful little handmade dress for one of Kailtyn’s dolls. We also purchased a couple of hand stitched T-shirts for them as they grow, a pair of shoes for each of them and the straw hats that we see everywhere. Our goal is to get Bryce 18 little inexpensive items so that he can receive one item each year at his “adoption day” celebration until he is 18.

We only had 10,000 dong left but were still being heavily solicited. This one lady with a baby on her hip desperately wanted us to buy postcards from her. I told her we were out of money and had to go back to the hotel. She said “go to hotel and get money remember me remember me I stay here”. We told her that we would come back another day and look for her ( I really liked the post cards and she had a baby)! Jon and I planned to walk around for a little while but the lady flagged us a cab and sent us on our way. We thought we had enough money for a cab but about a minute into the cabride realized that 10,000 dong is less than a dollar (OOPS!) So when we got back to the hotel our fabulous door man explained to the cab driver that I had to run up and get money and would be right back. SO Bryce and I ran up to the room grabbed some American money, had it exchanged at the front desk and then finally rescued Jon from the back seat of a Vietnamese cab.

Al Fresco's

2007-11-08T07:42:00.000-05:00

We ventured to downtown tonight for dinner. We went to this restaurant that our friends, who adopted from here in March, told us about. This Australian guy owns three different restaurants here including a pizza place (that delivers to our hotel) and the one we went to tonight. Jon and I got an appetizer of onion rings, a small pizza and a 1/3 rack of ribs for 225,000 vnd (Vietnamese Dong), which translates into about $15! It was all fantastic but the ribs were the best I’ve ever had. For a few minutes we forgot we were in Nam and felt like we were at Texas Roadhouse that is until the bill came and we remembered that we couldn’t eat this good for 15 bucks in the US!

Embassy Appointment #1

2007-11-08T07:41:00.000-05:00

Well we just returned from the Embassy and all went well. There was another family there who were just checking in as they’ve been here 5 weeks with no return home date yet. The Embassy interview was fine, they just asked us some questions about the orphanage, our referral and our agency. They said we should hear something back by November 18th. Jon tried to take a picture of the embassy for you all but got yelled at in Vietnamese when he went to snap a picture! J I was up most of the night with an “upset stomach” but feel much better now. One of the other couples in our group have the same thing so they went to the clinic this morning and she had to be put on an IV. The other couples’ baby has viral bronchitis and a standing temp of 102. So we are looking pretty good compared to both of them. Miss you all and are looking forward to some chicken minis from CFA when we return.

Wednesday night

2007-11-07T06:32:00.001-05:00

I went outside with the video camera at around 5pm so get some footage of the insane traffic. Then I came back up to the room. Just when I thought we were almost over the 'jet lag', I find Angela and Bryce passed out on the bed, sound asleep! Right now it's 6:30, and they are still OUT. I wonder if they want dinner tonight?

Anyway, things are going great, Bryce is doing awesome. We are anxious but optimistic that the steps to come towards going home will go smoothly! Thanks for all the support, it means a lot to us!

JT out.

Wednesday part 2

2007-11-06T21:54:00.000-05:00

Hi all. Bryce is down for nap in his crib! It’s so hard not to hold him but I know it’s best for him to get used to the crib. Yesterday, Jon went to apply for Bryce’s passport and tomorrow is our first embassy appointment. They will ask us some questions and then send our paperwork down to Ho Chi Minh City to be approved. Next week Bryce will have his medical evaluation to receive clearance for travel. If a child has communicable diseases they will not grant permission for travel. Then we wait until for our approval from Ho Chi Minh and the embassy will call to schedule our second appointment. If all goes well, they will grant Bryce’s visa that we can pick up the next day or so and then be free to travel home with our precious baby. Kaitlyn is doing well. She is enjoying spending so much time with Nana, Papa, Ikie and Jenny. She is also getting to play with her second cousins, friends and extended family. Of course she misses mommy and daddy but understands that we will be home with baby Bryce before too long! Thanks for all of the comments. We look forward to them everyday!

Wednesday

2007-11-06T18:43:00.000-05:00

I am so tired of people here telling me what I’m doing wrong with my baby, especially when they are speaking in Vietnamese! The Vietnamese culture is incredible. The crime rate here is almost nonexistent and the people here are so kind. HOWEVER, they have no concept of personal space, take the baby from your arms without asking, and like to tell you what you are doing wrong. I have acclimated nicely to the first two but am having trouble accepting so much criticism about my mothering abilities. I’ve been told a couple of times that I look too young to have a baby which I think makes me a little more susceptible to people offering their advice. Last night at dinner with the two other families I was the only one who had the privilege of being targeted for advice. I had two people tell me that he was cold (although he was the only one at the table wearing a coat and hat) and one woman told me that he was too small and that I needed to feed him more. I had another lady in the elevator tell me that he was probably afraid of me. The nannies covered his outfit up for the G & R on Monday b/c they said he was too cold although it was 80 plus degrees and I brought long pants and a hat (for all of you that were wondering the yellow jacket and pink pants in the pictures were not something I brought for him). The list could go on….

It’s been above 70 here the whole time we’ve been here and the humidity makes it feel like ten degrees warmer than that. People here think this is cold. When you watch the hundreds of motor bikes zoom by on the street you see that most people are wearing winter coats. They remark at how chilly it is when to us it feels like summer. I brought mostly summer clothes (and of course hats) as it is hot here but the local people will not let me leave the hotel with out him bundled up, regardless of how much he is sweating. So we just smile (or in my case bite my lip and nod) and say thank you.

Other than the unsolicited advice, the Vietnamese people are wonderful. They are so helpful and are extremely hard workers. They work so hard to ensure you are happy. A young man brought a fruit tray up to our room the other night and spent three or four minutes arranging our plates and silverware on the table to ensure that they were perfect. The whole time he was saying, “I want bring you fruit. Hope this is good. Thank you. Thank you for coming.” They are so cute and sweet and so different from Americans!

November 6

2007-11-06T04:09:00.000-05:00

Well, I would have written sooner but I’ve been holding my precious little son 23 of the last 25 hours! What an amazing experience this is! He is absolutely adorable and is so good natured. The experience at the orphanage was very overwhelming yesterday and there are SO many babies there who need homes. I so desperately wanted to take a few more with me. However, we have been blessed with the most precious little boy. I’m in awe of how God prepared our son for us. He was born on the other side of the globe a few months ago and now HE has finally allowed us to be with him! I’m so humbled to think that I have the honor of raising this precious boy who was born to another woman in a country that I knew very little about. I am so excited about sharing my son’s heritage with him in the upcoming years and telling him about this extraordinary woman who loved him so much that she sacrificed her own happiness so that he could have a better life. How blessed we are indeed!. We are staying in hotel where many employees speak some English. They even have cabs waiting for us in the parking lots at all times. All you do is tell the door man where you want to go and he translates that into Vietnamese for the cab driver and off you go! I can’t even tell you what a relief that is! We took Bryce to the international medical clinic today which was and adventure. From what I could understand (which wasn’t vey much)Bryce has a rash, an upper respiratory infection and a small laceration in his ear. He is only 9 pounds! However, none are serious and we have antibiotics to hopefully clear them all up. They want to see him again in 2 days. The Giving and Receiving Ceremony (the actual adoption preceding)was amazing. I’ll share more about that another day. Tonight is Authentic Italian Cuisine Night at the hotel so we are meeting the other families for dinner in just a few minutes. We are really looking forward to a good dinner! Love to you all.

Monday morning

2007-11-04T17:54:00.000-05:00

Hey all. It's 5:50am Monday and we are getting ready to ride out to the orphanage and pick up Bryce! We are so excited. Yes, this morning I was the 'dumb american'. I had my time wrong, thought it was 6am when it was really 5am. Our breakfast was supposed to be ready at 6 so that we could leave at 6:15, so when 6:10 on MY clock came, I called the front desk...and lets just say confusion ensued! Anyway, it's all good now, we are on time, and ready to go meet Bryce! We have a full day ahead of us, we'll fill you in tonight when we get back.

We made it!

2007-11-04T02:10:00.001-05:00

We have arrived at our hotel in Hanoi!, and thankful we made it here with no troubles. Tired out, we will post some pics and tell you guys more about our trip after we get a little rest! love ya!

Almost there!

2007-11-03T20:04:00.000-04:00

Hi, all. We are in Hong Kong wating to board for our last flight! All has gone smoothly and we'll be posting more once we get some sleep!!!!

Almost time!

2007-10-31T20:24:00.001-04:00

So here we are two nights before we get on an airplane to meet our son and boy are we overwhelmed with emotions. My heart is aching for my daughter. How tough it will be for her to be away from mommy and daddy for three weeks (or more)! We have never been away from her for more than 24 hours before. At the same time we are so excited to meet our son. I desperately want to hold him in my arms and promise him that he will be surrounded by people who love him for the rest of his life. I want to tell him how much I already love him and how wonderful his new home and family is. I ache to tell him that it is going to be alright and I will do everything in my power to meet his every need from here on out. Boy do we have a great God! He has blessed us so abundantly and we have seen Jesus through so many of you! We are so humbled to be surrounded by such amazing people. Your love, prayers and support have not only changed our lives forever but also the life of our precious son whom God is giving to us through the miracle of adoption! What a powerful testimony he will have. How wonderful is it that one day we can share with our son that not only does Jesus, mommy and daddy love you but so many loved you so much that they donated their money, time, prayers and support to bring you home forever. Our hearts have been so deeply touched that we will never be able to forget God’s goodness and grace through out this entire process. He has taught us how to depend solely on him for strength and comfort. He has taught us about patience and has given us a peace that passes all understanding. To God be the glory!
We love you all and look forward to seeing you again soon!

Pictures coming soon...

2007-10-21T14:59:00.001-04:00

As soon as we get settled in Hanoi, the photos and updates will begin flowing on this site, so stay tuned!

We are Excited!

2007-10-21T14:28:00.001-04:00

We began the process of international adoption back in November of 2006, and now here we are, getting ready to travel to Vietnam. Our adoptive son's name will be Bryce Haan Townsley. He was born on July 22nd, 2007, in the province of Tuyen Quang, Viet Nam, about 100miles northwest of Hanoi. We are extremely excited about finally meeting our son and bringing him home. We are gearing up for our world travel adventure, and will be using this site to give updates AND photos of our experiences and of course, Baby Bryce!