Three Months Old!

    

Today our little girl is 3 months old!  We have sent a little care package to her courtesy of our "adoption buddy" Megan who is leaving in a week to pick up her daughter Mya at our orphanage.  Thanks so much Megan!!  

     We overnighted our I600 paperwork to PLAN yesterday (our anniversary!), so we are one step closer in the process.  Once the I600 is filed at USCIS then we have to wait for approval, which can take anywhere from 11 days to 60+ working days.  We are praying for a speedy process!!

   

AT LONG LAST!!!!!!!

                                                      

  

I woke up today to the amazing news that has been my dream and  hope for two years!! Our referral FINALLY came for our little girl!!!!  Her name is Hoang Thi Phuong and she was born on June 5th! She is living at the Social Sponsoring Center No 1 (Dong Anh) and I can't wait until she is home with us!!! I have been staring at her sweet little face all day:)  I can't believe we finally received our referral with only 4 business days left until Sept 1 when the US Vietnam adoption program closes.  It has been such an emotional roller coaster but it was certainly worth the wait!!

  I am sad for the families that didn't receive a referral in time and I hope that they will find happiness in whatever new path they choose.

Refingerprinting

  Life isn't experienced in full unless you have been fingerprinted not once but twice!  Our fingerprints expire tomorrow, so after 2 months of endless e-mails, snail mail, and 3 weeks of attempted phone calls (on Wed only between 1:00 - 4:00 pm when the line is constantly busy),we had the privilege of driving to Newark, NJ to stand in a line of 100 people and be treated as if we had a collective IQ of 10.  Well, I'm relieved to report that Loren and I have the same fingerprints that we had fifteen months ago!

   We are still waiting for our much anticipated referral, but we know for sure if we receive one it will be before Sept. 1. So the good news is that we are down to the last few weeks of waiting.  The bad news is that we are waiting during the final days that referrals can be made so hopefully we will make the cut off date.

   I would post a cute picture of our dog, our two cats, or our bunny looking bored with all the endless waiting, but our daughter is in charge of my blog graphics and she is in camp doing more exciting things than helping her computer challenged mom.

   We have been DTV since July 6, 2007 so I think we have waited LONG ENOUGH. Hopefully my next post will have some exciting news :)

   

Endlessly Waiting, Endlessly Hoping

 In one month my dossier will have been in a file somewhere in Vietnam for a whole year. I started the adoption process in 2006 when Vietnam first reopened US adoptions and now I am still waiting for a referral when Vietnam and US are once again closing the doors on adoption.  I have always felt in my heart that I was meant to make this journey, but the sand is slipping through the hour glass of time as the September 1 deadline for referrals is approaching.  I am trying to stay hopeful, but at this point I don't even know if we have been "matched" with a baby yet.

  On a positive note, my adoption buddies Heather and Julie received referrals, and Jenna & Ed are in Vietnam now with their little baby Ella.  I am so happy for them :)

  

    "Keep a green bough in your heart, and the singing bird will come"-   Chinese proverb

                                                          

Remembering Lisa Rose

Today is my beautiful Lisa Rose's birthday.  She was born the day after Easter 20 years ago. She was tragically killed on December 15, 2005 as a passenger in a car coming home from a high school practice.  She was only 17 years old and had just received her long awaited college acceptance letter the week before.  

      She had always been an extraordinary and talented child, but she had just bloomed into an amazing young woman.  I will never accept that it was "her time" because she was so happy and so looking forward to her future.  Life was just beginning for her.

        I miss her terribly and not a moment goes by that I am not thinking of her.  Lisa Rose will always be with me,  my family, and her friends in memories and spirit forever.

Wacky World of Vietnam Adoption

February 2008 -

The last several months in the Vietnam adoption world have been very discouraging, to say the least. When we first joined my agency in August, referrals and travel to Vietnam were happening at a very efficient and predictable rate. In October, the US govt. decided to process I600s stateside. THis abrupt change in policy slowed down the entire process with families waiting endlessly for I600 approvals. On Dec. 13 I found out that our dossier had been sent to Phu Tho. Our paperwork was redirected to Hanoi when our agency found out that the province was closed to US adoptions. Then in February 2008 came the worst news of all. Babies in orphanages in Northern Vietnam had become seriously ill with a strain of the Rhino virus. The youngest and most vulnerable babies developed pneumonia. Sadly, several babies have died including my friend Heather's baby. It was so heartbreaking for her to lose precious baby Linh. She will always be loved and remembered by Heather and her family. 

March 8 2008 - 

After several months of few referrals, visas denied, and no I600 approvals, our agency finally received a lot of good news this past week! Seven referrals were issued and several families will be traveling to Vietnam to bring home their babies!!!!!! It is wonderful to finally hear such great news!

And I'll close this post with a couple of pictures of my daughter dressed up for Wacky Friday at her school. It reminds me of the WaCkY ROLlEr CoAsTeR RiDE of this adoption journey.

Thank you so much Jenna for setting up the beautiful header for my blog. I am blog challenged so I am very grateful. It is now 2008 and we are still waiting for a referral! So I thought I'd post some pictures to capture some of the highlights that occurred this past year while we were waiting for our referral of our little girl!

March 3- 11 Our Wonderful Trip to Italy

Our family dressed for DH's company awards dinner

in the Lobby of our hotel before dinner

Visit to a vineyard outside of Rome

School Musical for Oliver March 29- 30

Orphans! and members of Fagins Gang

Michael's Graduation from Penn State University May 20

Penn State Visit February for Michaels birthday!

Graduation weekend

Graduation dinner

Laura's Summer camp July 22- August 5th

Camp is so much fun! =]

Laura flying on the trapeze

Cousin Lisa and Josh's Wedding on Lake Mankata, Minnesota August 24

Lisa and Josh exchanging wedding vows

Our Anniversary in Paris October 3rd -8th

Definately the most beautiful and romantic city ever

Fall of 2007

Laura and her friends as football players for Halloween

Our little Molly as a Geisha girl on Halloween 

Morris County Soccer Championship We WON!!!

Lauras First Formal Dance 12/5

Before the dance with her friends, at her friends house