reunion group

Yesterday I got to meet some great people who were, are, or will be adopting a child from Vietnam. Our agency (along with some parents) arranged for a reunion group and it was terrific. I really appreciate the hard work that was put into arranging it. C and I were able to go, and let me tell you he had a blast! He met a great little girl who was his age and they played and played. And amazingly, not a whine once! I had a great time talking to people in various stages of adopting their children and getting to know people I had previously only know via computer.
Oh, and what cute kids all around!

5 months

Today Vy is 5 months old and we got word that our paperwork is now on step four which puts the timeline about where we expected--September or October (most likely). Now, if the powers that be in Vietnam feel like working really fast, that would be terrific. I'd love to have her home in August!

More pictures of the world's cutest baby girl!!!

These are pictures that were taken this week, so this is what our sweet baby girl looks like right now! We think that she is absolutely adorable and can say that because we had nothing to do with it! Again, I just have to thank the family that took these for us. It means so much to us to see that she is doing well and appears healthy. We are so happy and ready to go get her!!!!

happy,smiley, and beautiful

One of the families in Vietnam saw Vy today. They emailed that her "smile will melt your heart" and that she is a very happy girl. They also said that her referral picture just doesn't do her justice. They will have pictures of her for us soon!!!!! I am so glad to know that she is happy and is engaging the people around her. It is tough to "know" her and not to know her at the same time, so the updates are truly life lines. Thanks Amy!

So what now?

Sorry I haven't posted for a while. Here is what happens now--

1st Our acceptance papers are forwarded to the Department of International Adoption in Hanoi (they were mailed yesterday from Dillon)
2nd The DIA will send a letter to the local justice dept. in Ninh Thuan. This lets the province know we want to adopt Vy.
3rd Vy's paperwork -- her dossier, is compiled by the orphanage and sent to the DIA in Hanoi
4th The DIA looks at our dossier and her dossier and then they are sent to the child's local justice in her province.
5th They the local justice reviews the dossiers and sends them to The People's Committee.
6th They review both dossiers and then set the Giving and Receiving Date which is when we will know we can go get her. The Giving and Receiving Date is the official adoption ceremony.
We should have two weeks notice before we travel. Steps 1-6 should take between 3-6 months roughly.
More waiting... how fun.

oops forgot

Here are my answers to the latest game--sorry, I was a bit preoccupied with our good news.
1.Vicar of Dibley--great, hilarious British comedy. I knew that one would throw you off.
2.ER
3. Grey's Anatomy
4. CSI
5. The Amazing Race (I want to be on this show!!!)
6.House
7.Scrubs
8.Friends
9.News Radio
10. The Wonder Years

referral!!!!

We would like to introduce you to our daughter, Vy (for now, maybe later too... we don't know yet) She was born on Jan 22nd, 2007 and is in the Ninh Thuan province of Vietnam. We are excited beyond words. What a blessing!!!

Here's hoping that more come in soon for the other waiting families.

I don't want to play...I want to pout...

but I will anyway. I was tagged with a new game--thanks to Jessica. Here's the scoop-- I went to imdb.com, looked up ten of my favorite television shows (past or present), and listed three of the ‘plot keywords’ they used to describe the show. Then you all try to guess which shows they are. Some are probably easy, whereas others...good luck. I don't watch a whole lot of TV so this was much harder than figuring out what is weird about me :)
Oh, and on the adoption front we are being told "hopefully around a week" for the medical info to be in. I'm not holding my breath :(

1. church, small town, woman priest
2. ensemble cast, hospital, interracial relationship
3.medical, character in name of title, seattle washington
4. forensic, coroner, science
5.race, elimination, around the world
6. diagnosis, dark humor, pill
7.sitcom, janitor,hospital
8.singer, new york, roommate
9.office, radio, reporter
10.reflection, suburbs, generation gap

I tag Jamie since she got me last time

what a great family

I just wanted to make a quick post to brag about my family. They have been so very supportive with this adoption and I can't thank them enough. My Aunt P and Uncle B have been so terrific especially. Yesterday, I got the cutest doll in the mail from them. It is an Asian Corolle Calin doll for those of you who have begun scouting out dolls that will look like our children. I had been looking around for a baby for our baby and didn't find anything I liked, but this is absolutely perfect and so thoughtful of my aunt. My grandmother made a beautiful blanket and a cute quilt and my mom has begun clothes shopping even though we don't know what size she will be yet! It is great to be surrounded by people who are as excited as we are.

Tag I'm it

Jamie at The Adventures of the Sweet family has tagged me. I am now to list ten odd things about myself. Here goes--
1. I have big feet for my size. I wear a 9 and I am only 5 ft 1 1/2
2. I hate crickets. They freak me out. I think it's because they are unpredictable and jump around willy nilly and may land on me. I don't mind any other bugs--just crickets. Spiders--no big deal.
3. My dad is a priest, my husband is a priest, and my little boy wants to be one too (or a fighter pilot depending on the day) Now, that's not as weird as it may seem as we are Episcopalian and priests can marry, but still--
4. I can wiggle my nose up and down like a bunny, probably because it is very turned up on the end.
5. I have a tattoo of Winnie the Pooh that I got after I passed a mental evaluation. Ok, about the evaluation--Kirk and I had to have one before he could go to seminary... it's a rule, it wasn't just to check us out personally :)
6. My house is 111 years old.
7. Our TV is 20 years old and still works well!
8. My favorite place in the world is church camp--I've been there since the third grade almost every year.
9. I had a quarter size amount of skin removed from my ear and then three days later had the skin stitched back together. I had pre-melanoma in August and they removed a lot!!! I now have to wear sunscreen daily--I mean daily! All those summers spent in the sun (see #8)
10. I love the smell of diesel fumes. When I was three, we went to England and whenever I get a whiff of diesel it takes me back to London, Victoria Station where the double decker buses were.
That's me--Hope I'm not too weird for y'all. I now tag Leigh from Babbling Booth. Have fun Leigh!

another one bites the dust...

and another one's gone and another one's gone another one bites the dust... another week with no news, BUT it is Monday and a whole new week ahead. Please pray for my patience and if you feel so inclined, a referral.
We had a great Easter. Kirk did a great job with the service and it was packed. We went to our friends' house and had a great Easter lunch and a great time with old friends. C wanted a Sip and Slurp Baby Alive from the Easter Bunny so that he could learn how to take care of his sister. He took it everywhere we would let him. It was so sweet. He rocked her, sang to her, fed her, and even changed her diapers (she wets). He was a little afraid that others might make fun of him if he talked about it at school, but he said he was going to anyway! My brave boy who isn't afraid to be himself--I'm so proud!

what's taking so long???

So, some of you may be asking, "what's taking them so long?" Ok, maybe you aren't, but I SURE AM!!! We have been told that there are baby girl referrals in the works, but that they are waiting on the medical reports. Apparently they have the test records, but no overall medicals. Now, I ask you, does that make any sense at all??? Also, if the medicals come back with questionable information, they have to contact the agency staff in Vietnam who contact the orphanage, and then the agency staff contact our staff with the clarification-- all of which can add 3-4 days. So, pray for a clear, consise, healthy medical report--SOON.

mei tai

Well, I broke down and bought a baby carrier. When C. was a baby we tried a sling, but it didn't seem to hold him well and he didn't like it. Then we tried a Snuggly carrier and there were too many straps and snaps. So this time a bought a Mei Tai (which sounds like may tie). It seems very simple and sturdy and it was much less expensive than some of the other choices. Hope we get a referral soon so that we can put a baby in the darn thing.

added to the family, but not what you think

Well,
We have a new family member, but not our precious baby. We now have a new dog named Biffer. He is a Goldendoodle (half standard poodle and half golden retriever) and is sweet and adorable. He and Rosie, our English Mastiff, are not sure of each other yet, but from what we have read, it should take a couple of weeks or so to see if they will get along. The family we got him from said that if it doesn't work out that they want him back, but I don't think that will be necessary.
I emailed our agency the other day and they have referrals coming up; they are waiting for medical info. Here's hoping it's soon!

is that her?

Like I said in my previous post, I have been pretty obsessive about reading blogs. There are four families from our agency in Vietnam now and I love hearing about them meeting their children. Although I have been reading blogs since we began this process a year and two months ago, they are now holding my interest in a logistical way-- ie, this is where our daughter might be, we could stay at this hotel, on and on. To confess a little, I look at some of the pictures and wonder if the baby in the background is ours.

we're #1

Well, long time no post, mainly because we didn't have any news. We are now #1 on the waiting list for a baby girl, so hopefully we will see our daughter soon. Kirk is starting to get a little bored with all this waiting (not getting a child, just waiting), while I am getting a little bit obsessive about it :) I find myself checking other people's blogs daily, checking the forum WAY too much; but with sooo many people saying "any news" I guess I just have to find my news with other people.

oh poop

Well the agency has changed the waiting times for a referral from Vietnam for a baby girl to 6-9 months instead of 1-3 months. I am disappointed to say the least. This whole thing is a lot longer than I expected. Why can't this happen sooner as opposed to later!

sad week

Well, we had to put our long time pal and kitty--Pooh to sleep on Monday. He was having urinary tract problems that were not getting better with repeated use of medicines of all kinds. He was in pain and old, but it still hurts to not have him around.
Not too much news on the baby front. We got a copy of our translated documents back today. It felt very official to have these papers in Vietnamese.

officially waiting

Ok, it is official we are on the waiting list for our referral-- We have been told 1-3 months so hopefully it will be soon.

first post

This is our first post, so bear with us. We started this blog to keep our friends and family up to date on the process of adopting a baby girl from Vietnam. We are waiting for the referral ( or picture and information) with great anticipation. Hopefully we should have a referral in the next few months. Waiting is hard!