The Latest

Last Tuesday I sent an email to the person we've been working with at our adoption agency to see if there was any new information about Vietnam. Two days went by with no reply so I called them Thursday morning. They told me this person had been gone for 2 weeks. They asked if we got the email that was sent out and I said no, no email or phone call. It's been well over a month since the last conference call..that we know of..I kinda wonder if there were others and they just never told us. That sounds a little paranoid but what would you think? In the end they said they would leave a message and have someone contact me. Here is the message I got lastnight a little after 8:30.

"There is no news from Vietnam. The agreement expired
on September 1 and it appears it will be a long time before another
agreement is reached. The other options there have disappeared
so we have to wait it out.

I will let you know of any other options that come up."

So, the great wait continues.

Checking In

Haven't heard anything new...the deadlines have come and gone. Things still aren't looking very good.

We have a few options that we're thinking about.
I'll post here when we are closer to a decision.

Buckle Up...

For the International Adoption Roller Coaster!!!!

We were on an upswing for quite a while...now we're screaming towards the ground....again.
Today's conference call wasn't very encouraging.

There could be an interim agreement..of course that's subject to change. My feeling right now is that there won't be any agreement.
Our agency hopes to know more in the next 2 months. Hopefully it won't be 2 months after that and 2 more months after that.

We're back to having 3 options again.

1. Opt out of the program and be done...

2. Transfer to another program...can't really do this for many reasons.

3. Hang in there and see what happens...I'm still willing to wait at least 2 more months. If things don't work out then I'll be just as upset as I would be now.

Janice and I will have to talk about it this week and decide what we want to do. We'll probably make an appointment to talk with someone at our agency before we make the final decision.

If I find out anything more I'll let everybody know.

Books Books Books....and More Books

Found a bunch of books that might be pretty cool!...Click on the titles for more information.

When You Were Born in Vietnam: A Memory Book for Children Adopted from Vietnam

A Look at Vietnam

Children of Vietnam

Twenty Things Adopted Kids Wish Their Adoptive Parents Knew

To Swim in Our Own Pond: Ta Ve Ta Tam Ao Ta : A Book of Vietnamese Proverbs

How Tiger Got His Stripes: A Folktale from Vietnam

Cross Cultural Adoption: How To Answer Questions from Family, Friends & Community

Tet: Vietnamese New Year

Children of the Dragon: Selected Tales from Vietnam

There are lots more but I don't want to bore everybody to death.

Today's Conference Call

Had another conference call today.

Things are going better than we thought!! WOOOOHHOOOOOOO!!!!
They talked a little about the article that I posted below and both sides seem to be working on a new agreement.
It's still not a done deal but it's getting closer and sounds like we can start being a little more excited again...we've been pretty desperate for this kind of excitement.

I think Janice is at the movies right now so I haven't been able to tell her the news yet.
You know how when you want to tell somebody something but you can't find them, you want to pull your hair out??
I don't have any hair to pull out so I'm really going nuts right now!!! I've called her twice in the last 15 minutes.
Of all the times to go to the movies on your day off!! What was she thinking??!!! HAHAHAHAHA!!!!

ThanhNienNews.com Article

Lawmakers back bid to join Hague adoption convention

International adoption responsibilities would be fielded by a single government agency if Vietnam joins the convention.

A majority of National Assembly’s Standing Committee members supported a bid to sign the Hague Convention on Intercountry Adoption Friday, scheduling a vote on the measure by the year’s end.

The International Adopted Children Bureau, under the Minister of Justice, would be solely responsible for approving international adoption applications if Vietnam becomes a signatory on the convention, said Deputy Minister Hoang The Lien on the sidelines of the committee session.

Currently, each provincial government ratifies its own international adoption applications.

Financial aid to orphanages would also be handled by the central government agency if Vietnam joins the convention, said Lien.....To read more click here.


ADOPTION FIGURES
Of 378 orphanages nationwide,
85 centers have been licensed to process international adoption applications.
Around 2,000 Vietnamese children are adopted into international families each year.

Reported by Tuyet Nhung

Good News!!!!

Nothing is written in stone (or whatever they use now) yet but things are looking better!!!!
That's about all I can say for now...except maybe WOOOOOOOHHHOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!

A Few Dolls

We got a little nuts tonight...but our little girl needs some dolls!!

I-171H

We got our I-171H yesterday!!!
So maybe this page isn't quite right (look for I-600A)....or maybe we just got lucky.

So now we have a few more things to get signed and notarized then everything has to be authenticated. After that our dossier gets sent to the Vietnamese Embassy.

I guess we're "cautiously optimistic" about everything right now. It's good we got approval and can move along with putting our dossier together but we still don't know what's going to happen in the end.

Stuff

I've got my passport appt. next Monday...woohoo!

Looks like there is no way we will get our dossier submitted by the July 1st deadline.
We're still waiting on CIS to approve our I600A, they are processing December 2007 now and ours is from March 2008.

So, it looks like we have time to get the remaining documents together. But there aren't too many left at this point.

I'm getting a little tired of the roller coaster ride of waiting and not knowing what's going to happen...I'm not ready to give up just yet but I/we can't wait forever. September is 3 months away and we've been holding our breath and wishing our days away just to get through each month since the middle of March.

I know we aren't the only ones waiting and wondering, I'm just whining a little bit....I guess it's my turn.
Hopefully I won't do it too much but if I do I'll try to keep it short.