What a difference a day makes

Things are moving right along again. We have applied to the new agency, they are reviewing our home study, they sent us their preadoption education information, and they have reassured us that this adoption is something we can do. Just to clarify, last week several families had to leave their children in Vietnam and come home to the US to fight for visas for their kids. This represents a very, very small portion of adoptions. The state department reports that about 600 children were adopted from Vietnam in the first half of 2007, only 5 or 6 families were given these denials. So while it is a very bad thing, it is not a very common thing.

We have also started to recieve many of our important documents like state sealed birth certificate and updated passports. Once we get our notarized home study, we can send it in to the INS office and get our fingerprint appointment.

In a bit of non adoption news, the temperature here is below 70 for the high!!! For all of you northerners, you don't know how much this means to us! Fall is here! We went to a farm/pumpkin patch today with the boys and we had on jackets and pants, and socks with our shoes! WooHoo.

Breaking up is hard to do

So, we have to change adoption agencies. Really not a big deal, we have paid them very little money and have little invested (except a few emotions), but it is still hard. We found out this week that a few families had big problems in Vietnam with the US Embassy and were not able to bring their precious babies back to the US. It is really heartbreaking for these families. I know there are two sides to every story, but it appears the agency was doing some things inappropriately. So as not to have the same thing happen to us, we are going with a different agency. Now what line do I use to get rid of the old agency, "It's not you it's me", "We are just going in different directions", "I have found someone new"? I think I will do it by email. That way I don't have to have them try and talk me out of it. Wish me luck!!

Fall!!

The following post has nothing to do with adoption. If that is what you came looking for, you can stop reading now.....All the rest of you get to look at pictures of my cute boys enjoying one of our favorite times of the year. It is finally cooling off here in Texas, so it is 88 degrees outside instead of 98 and trust me, you can tell the difference. We have been to Dewberry Farm to pick out our pumpkins, and had a great day playing on the farm. The best picture we could get of the boys was without smiles, but they just weren't interested in looking at me, they wanted to go play. They are also both very excited about Halloween, they are going to be Captain Hook and Peter Pan (next year we will have a Tinkerbell!!!) We hope you are all enjoying the fall as well! Prepare yourselves for cute pictures!!

Who Knew?

Things are moving right along in our adoption world. Our homestudy has been completed, it is now being typed up as we speak. We should get a rough draft sometime in the next couple of weeks. It then gets checked over by our agency to make sure it includes all the pertinent info and then it will be officially signed and notarized. Very exciting!!

I am now in the process of collecting documents for our dossier (dos-see-a, say it with me, it will make you feel very official). These documents all have to have about a hundred different stamps put on them to tell everyone that they are official and not fake. Ok, maybe not a hundred, more like 3, but really, 3 different groups have to attest to the fact that they are real? Most have to be either notarized or certified, then they go to Austin for the "Great Seal" of Texas to be put on them, and then to San Francisco for authentication by the Vietnamese consulate. Then they go to Vietnam. They will be some well traveled documents. All of these things can be done by mail or in person, so I am thinking, who is up for a road trip to Austin for a little "Great Seal" party?

In case anyone is looking to relocate states and you really want to move someplace adoption friendly, might I suggest Illinois. Chris was born there so we have had to request some documents and get the Illinois "Great Seal" put on them. Every set of instructions has a "is this request for an adoption?" link on it that streamlines and reduces the price of each item that needs the seal. Great right?! Well, if you want an unfriendly state, might I suggest California. Oh, so you need some documents, how about 30 days from now, oh, they are for adoption, we don't really care. It will still be that long. How can we not help you. And Texas, well, it really falls somewhere in between. So there you go, something else to think about the next time you want to move.

Oh, by the way, our Immigration paperwork was acutally accepted when we sent it with the "check" (money order) and we recieved an "official document" that it was being processed in the form of a 2 inch cash register reciept that actually has the words "official document" printed on the bottom. All of this paperwork and they can't print a computer generated form letter. It actually made us laugh when it came in the mail. Now we wait for them to send us our fingerprint appoitment. Is anyone else confused by all of this yet?

We are not discouraged, as a fellow prospective adoptive parent told me...."I am not waiting on paperwork, an agency, or the government, I am waiting on God, the creator of me and the creator of my daughter." It puts it all in perspective.