Decisions and Changes???

In light of the recent events concerning Vietnam adoptions, we've had to think long and hard about the decisions in front of us. Do we stay the course with Vietnam; switch to a different International Program; or decide to move onto a domestic adoption?

The decision has been made, but isn't quite final just yet. I'll post more about it over the weekend.

Something uplifting

Since my last post was a bit depressing, I want to post new pictures of my fabulous niece. I' m so incredibly thankful that she is here and she is healthy. We went to visit this weekend and she was so alert. However I think she believes I'm a paparazzi because I was constantly taking her picture.

"Why does my aunt keep flashing that light in my face?"

"Who okay'd all this pink?"

"What's up Uncle Larry? Nice to meet you!"

Someone's a bit longwinded today

When we started down the road of adoption, we knew that there would be numerous ups and numerous downs. We had already been down the bumpy road of infertility treatments, reaching the conclusion that we needed to be parents more than we needed to be pregnant. However, we went into this process with high hopes that we would be able to complete an adoption from Vietnam. At the same time, we also knew that there were no guarantees. In recent months, the atmosphere regarding Vietnam adoptions has grown murky. While there are numerous safeguards in place and more to follow, the future of these adoptions past September 1, 2008 is still unclear. From what I have read ---and you know I love to read-- there is great hope, yet no certainty that adoptions from Vietnam will be able to continue past that deadline.

So, where does this leave us in our quest? For right now, that's the question Larry and I find ourselves faced with. From the beginning of this process, I have felt very strongly in my heart that there is a child for us in Vietnam. But that's not to say that all of our children are in Vietnam.(If Larry reads this, I'm sure he is wondering just how many children we're planning on having.) We are waiting at this time to hear from our adoption agency concerning our choices. From where we sit we have a few options: 1)Continue on the journey to Vietnam and run the risk of the entire program shutting down (which I really don't think will happen). 2) Continue on the journey of International Adoption, staying with our agency. I'm not sure what programs we can participate in, due to qualifications and prerequisites. 3) Switch programs entirely and look at the possibility of a domestic adoption, most likely considering the adoption of a biracial or African-American infant.

The last few weeks have been such a roller-coaster for us. We had finally sent our dossier to the Vietnamese consulate when we were hit with this news. At this point, the road we take has yet to be decided. My heart tells me that there is a child for us in Vietnam, but that perhaps now is simply not the right time. Since we started, we have had numerous roadblocks and now we have hit the ultimate road block, or so it seems. We are hopeful that we will hear something from our agency in the next few days.

Closer still..

Nothing too special going on...however our dossier has arrived in California. I've been feeling pretty down lately about this process, with yesterday being one of the hardest yet. But tonight, I tracked the package and saw it was in California.

I just hope that our paperwork is processed before the beginning of Tet! Tet, for those of you not adopting from Vietnam, is the Vietnamese New Year. You can find more information about Tet here. Larry and I are attempting to plan an evening of Vietnamese foods to celebrate. I'm keeping Domino's on standby, since our last attempt at pho failed miserably.

Annie is so excited our dossier reached California, she's trying to applaud. Apparently she really wants to meet her cousin R.

San Francisco...here we come

Our dossier is on the way to the consulate as I write this. And all I can say is that it is about time! When we started on this journey, I thought that we would have gotten over this hurdle long ago. However, I'm a firm believer in everything happens for a reason and try not to dwell on the "what ifs."

I did get to spend all day yesterday with my sister, her husband and gorgeous new niece. Annagrace, or AJ, as I like to call her, spent a good part of the day sleeping on me. I must say that a holding a newborn baby is good for the soul. And of course, there are pictures.

A perfect profile

Everyone needs a bib like this!

One seal down, one more to go

Our dossier is now complete with the Great Seal of Virginia. Next stop...the Consulate's office.

Too cute not to share

I couldn't resist posting a few more pictures of the newest family member. I'm so in love!

Close up

Listening to Auntie Megan

Tiny foot

I'm tired...enough with the pictures.

Our dossier is on the way back from the Secretary of the Commonwealth's office. The next stop is the Consulate's office.

She's Here...

Welcome to the world, Annagrace! My sister and her husband welcomed their first child today and she is beautiful. Here she is and she is perfect!!!!

Annagrace

"Annie"

7lbs, 8oz

19 inches long

Weekend Wrap-up

Larry and I had a great weekend. It was a rare weekend when we had nothing pressing to do and could enjoy time together. We also got to enjoy time with Leanne and baby Thorn, who came into town for a visit. Leanne and I reverted back to our high school selves, eating Ben and Jerry's and watching movies. I learned two critical things from this: 1. Ben and Jerry's Peach Cobbler ice cream is their best flavor ever and 2. The movie Superbad may have looked great in the previews, but it also lives up to its name. It may be on my list of worst movies ever. Juno, on the other hand, was one of the best movies I'm seen in a while.

Today, Larry and I shopped a bit, buying several things for baby R. Larry was like a kid in a candy store buying baby clothes. I'm glad he's getting excited.

Our dossier made it to Richmond, and hopefully it will be on the way to the Vietnamese Consulate this week.

Other big news for the week ahead will be the arrival of our new niece. She'll be here soon!!!! (Hopefully on Tuesday.)

Thorn likes to drool. I think that it might be his favorite past time.

He's quite the charmer too.

Larry and three of the four-legged furbabies.
The dog was sleeping on the sofa and couldn't fit on the chair.

Are we picking up the pace???

It looks like our dossier is complete and should be on its way to the Secretary of the Commonwealth for round one of certifications/authentications by tomorrow afternoon. We are hoping to have it on the way to the Vietnamese Consulate soon.

In other news, I've gotten hooked on Heroes. I started watching Season One a few nights ago. I can't wait to get the next dvds in the mail.

In sad news, the family dog Kelly, who resided with my dad, passed away this evening. She was almost seventeen and a wonderful golden retriever. She will be missed so much.

Another Great Book

I just finished reading "Beyond the Blue," by Leslie Gould. This is a must-read for anyone adopting from Vietnam. It is incredibly well written and you can visualize the country of Vietnam unfolding in front of you.

Not much on the adoption front, but what else is new? I'm hopeful that we will be able to send our dossier to the VA Sec. of State next week for authenticating. We'll see how that goes.

A must read!

I know that this is typically reserved for adoption stuff, but I just finished the best book. It was "The Almost Moon" by Alice Sebold. It was fabulous. She is an amazing writer. Her words are just incredible. She also wrote "The Lovely Bones" which is also a great read.

"The Almost Moon" is about a daughter's struggles with her relationship with her mother and the stigma of mental illness. But there are several twists and turns.

So far, I'm doing pretty good with the reading challenge.

Resolutions

It is rare that I make New Year's Resolutions, but I figured since I was heading into a new chapter of my life, then I would try a few resolutions. However, I tried not to make any where I would be setting myself up for failure. Here goes nothing:

Resolution #1: Eat less sugar and go to the gym a few times a week. I realize this may be difficult, but I did the no sugar thing two years ago with great success. So far so good today...but it is painfully obvious that a skinny, sugar-free latte from Starbucks is not a good as the fully-loaded stuff. So I'm switching to tea.

Resolution #2: Really start an earnest effort to work on my counseling license. I've got almost all of the requirements, but the paperwork makes me shudder. However, if I can complete an adoption paper chase, than I should be able to do this.

Resolution #3: Read a book a week. I thrive on books and will read anything thing that I can get my hands on. I figure I won't have as much time to read once the little one gets here, so I'm trying to get my reading in now. I'm taking suggestions for things to read. Maybe I will post what I've read as a sidebar....

Resolution #4: To start playing my guitar again. It's been a long time since I've played.

Resolution #5: (This may be the hardest): Stop calling our child "Owen" and start calling him/her by the name we have chosen. We call the baby Owen all the time and I am afraid that it is sticking...actually I'm pretty sure that it has stuck and I am trying to unstick it. I'm not ready to divulge that name into blogland and probably won't until we have a referral (so if you know the name, please refrain from posting). For now, on the blog I'm going to refer to him/her as "R."

And what's Larry's resolution...to start cooking more Vietnamese food. He started tonight with Beef Pho...it's was a good start, but very strong. We've got to find an Asian grocery!

Happy New Year!!!!