Christmas Letter & Haven's Birth Announcement

Hi all,

I know it's been forever since I posted. I do hope to update the blog at least once a month. I have my excuses...namely 7 holidays in less than 1 month and deer hunting season which means one MIA husband any free moment we are home (He did get 2 deer. Way to go Mike!). Poor Haven has had 2 Thanksgivings and 5 Christmases with the last just taking place this last weekend. Most required travel, 1 required hosting a group of 12 overnight. Besides having a new baby in the family...it's been busy. These same excuses are the main reason I didn't even try and get our Christmas letter out on time this year...Valentine's Day has been looking like a pretty good goal since we send over 200 letters.

So I'm going to post a copy here sans the personal info and maybe some of the graphics won't go through. If you read it here and don't want to receive a paper copy either drop me an email or post a comment. I guess Blogger isn't allowing me to upload any pics today, so I'll have to try that part again some other time. Sorry, and thanks!

Love to all,
Shae


Greetings to all,
Obviously this letter did not make it to you by Christmas. I knew I shouldn’t even try and make that happen and thought a Valentine’s Day letter was sounding pretty good.
We’ve had a really great year. Our biggest news is that we are no longer a family of 4, but are now 5. Haven AviellaJoy Dalke was born June 11, 2008 in Vinh, Vietnam. Mike and Shae left Omaha on October 16 to begin their 5 flights to Vietnam, received custody of Haven when they arrived in her province on October 19, and forever adopted her into our family on October 20th. We arrived back home on November 2nd just in time for Eric’s 3rd birthday on November 3rd. Ethan and Eric stayed with Mike’s middle brother, his wonderful wife, and their 3 kiddos while we were gone and had a fantastic time. We’re so grateful to them.
The adoption process took about 1 ½ years and tons of paperwork, fingerprints, doctor’s physicals, couriers, deadlines, close calls, prayers, tears, and most of Shae’s time. However, the end result is nothing short of miraculous. Now that we’re home we still have about 6 months more “work” to do. We have 3 Social Worker visits in the home. Then once the social worker files her report with the State, we can hire an attorney to file with the courts for an Acknowledgment of Foreign Adoption so that we can get Haven a Nebraska birth certificate which will make life much easier even though she’s already a citizen. At that same time we will legally change her name. Currently, she’s actually Hanh Phuc Thi Phan which means happiness and blessing from above which we wholeheartedly agree. To keep up with us and Haven check out our blog at www.faithjourneytovietnam.blogspot.com
Haven is 6 ½ months and is a happy, lovable, easy going (except when it comes to food) wondrous little thing, or not so little, if you’ve seen her pictures. Ha! That’s been the family joke that here we thought that our little Asian princess would be a petite little thing. Nope! She’s a big, healthy baby…big even on our charts and weighed 3.8 Kilos at birth or about 8 pounds, 5 ounces. Proportionately she’s bigger than both of our boys for which we’re very grateful that she received such excellent care at her orphanage. She’s right on target developmentally and rolling everywhere she wants to go.
Ethan is 5 ½ and is a sweet, talkative, expressive, and intelligent little boy. He’s really into money which has translated into quite the knack for Math. He’s telling time and can add 3-4 coins easily in his head, count by 25’s and understands concepts like infinity (he’s tried to count that high) and basic economics, etc. I can’t say that we should get the credit as no one has really worked with him that much…so who knows? He loves his preschool, Transformers, Diego, wrestling with Daddy, playing games, reading books, playing with dinosaurs, and “hunting” just like Daddy. He’ll be going to full-time Kindergarten in the Fall of 2009.
Eric just turned 3 and is into just about anything Ethan is. He may be almost 2 ½ years younger than his brother, but he manages to keep up pretty well. He’s our tough guy, but still likes his blanket and Mom’s lap. He’s the one that’s always climbing, jumping, wrestling, or whatever involves movement and keeps us on our toes preventing the major accidents. He’s also quite the talented dancer and has great rhythm in that area considering he’s descended from us. Ha! Occasionally, he’ll remember that things more his age are still fun like Thomas the Train or Elmo and go off and start a new round of play by himself.
We’ve celebrated some firsts this year…especially relating to teeth it seems. Ethan lost his first tooth on the day before Thanksgiving. Haven got her first tooth 3 days before Christmas. Eric chipped his first tooth during his 2nd year and in following with his kamikaze personality got his first stitches (5 in the ear that he tore) a week before we left for Vietnam.
As for Mike and Shae we just celebrated 2 years in our new house, over a year in Mike’s new position with his company as a Manager of Systems Admin., and will celebrate 10 years of marriage in January. We’re also grateful to celebrate the birth of our Savior, Jesus and pray that we, our children, and our friends and family will grow in our relationship with Him.
Merry Christmas (a little late),
Mike, Shae, Ethan, Eric, and Haven