Christmas is over...

Christmas was a tough one this year. I was trying not to remember the time when we thought we would have Oliveia home by now. I am trying really hard to keep my head up, but Christmas brought me down. I didn't really get into it very much this year, I guess I was banking on having a baby in the house by now and starting some new family traditions. Together, Tim and I are still pretty mellow about the increased referral time, but, when I am alone is when I think about it way too much. Now, my new mission is, get in shape and get ready to keep up with Olive, and pray for a referral by my birthday in July! What a nice gift that would be, ahhhhh. I know 2008 is going to be a good year, I can feel it in my soul. We are so ready for our little one to be in our home. Financially, we are strapped down, tight budget, etc. but we will need to get used to that part of parenting anyway especially in San Francisco. We are always on the lookout for a larger place to live, but don't really want to do anything that will effect our paperwork that is already in process in Vietnam. Our agency said that we could move and we would have to take with us to Vietnam an amendment to our dossier, but we don't want to get all the way over there and have any problems. There is already enough going on over there, we don't want to throw anything off, you know?

Anyway, not really an update, just some thoughts I was having today I needed to get off my chest.

On a side note...check out how cute this dress is from Gymboree, from the "Holland Days" collection.

Grandma is hard at work

My Mom just sent me a photo of the quilt that she is making for Oliveia.

I love it so much! I know Olive is going to love it to.

My Mom is so sweet, she was telling me when she makes a quilt she imagines the baby that is going to have it, thinks about the family, etc. Sniff sniff....

New Referral Time

10-12 months...
That is our new wait time for our referral. Minus the time since we got our number, so one month, OK, so 9-11 months.
We found out last week. Nothing we can do except enjoy the time we have together before Olive is here! Some days are harder than others to be patient, but most of the time we are pretty content with the new timeline. We really have no control over any of this. We are happy that our paperwork is registered in Vietnam with the DIA and we started this process when we did. The future of adoption from Vietnam is unclear at the moment so we are just sitting tight and praying that we get the call soon and will be able to go and get our little one soon.
Stay tuned...

No News

No updates to post, just wanted to let you all know.

I guess no news is good news! Positive thinking and prayer are the only things that keep us level headed about all of the changes with Vietnam adoption lately.

We are getting ready for what is hopefully our last Christmas without a little one at home. I can't wait to have a child in the house and start some fun family traditions. Tim and I have some already, but we have more up our sleeves for when Olive is in the house.

I will update when I hear something to update about.

For those of you who know me, I love cupcakes! Gymboree has a Cupcake Cutie collection right now and it is to die for! I am waiting for some of it to go on sale so I can get a couple things and save them for Miss Olive.

Oh! How cute are the panda shoes?

We got our number!

We just got an email from our agency and they gave us our number in line. We are 21, so there are 20 families ahead of us - probably about a 6 -8 month wait if not longer. With all the bad news at the beginning of this week, it was nice to get a call with some good news. Our agency has voluntarily pulled out of the two provinces mentioned in the Embassy statement, they are not under investigation nor have they ever had a problem or questioned the status of an orphan in the orphanges they work in, but they hold a licence in those areas and think it best for families on both sides to put things on hold for now until the Embassy gives the green light to continue. This should help to keep everyone safe and free from a NOID (notice of intent to deny). Good thing is, the head of the agency is in Vietnam right now and is meeting with many officials to discuss the corrupt practices in those 2 provinces. Our agency is urging other agencies that have licences in those areas to temporarily pull out as well in order to stay ethical and set an example for those who are not. Their thought is, they would rather have PAPs (perspective adoptive parents) have a longer referral time than be involved in a region known for unethical practices. If agencies continue to conduct adoptions in these regions, they are putting all of us at risk and are doing a complete disservice to all PAPs. I have gotten many emails from our agency over the last 2 days and Tim and I both feel confident that they are taking all necessary precautions to keep everything legal, ethical and RIGHT. Our agency is NOT one that is under investigation and has not had any problems, but are trying to protect all parties involved and the safest thing for all of us is for them to halt things for now in the two regions and continue to work in their other provinces. It is hard to put a timeline on a referral as most of you know, you can't really estimate at what rate parents are going to make the heartbreaking decision to give their child up for adoption, so we just keep praying and when God is ready for us to be matched it will happen. Our main concern at this time is all of the wrong-doing over there and we are relieved to get clear and consistent communication from our agency about their ethics and practices and feel that we made the right decision with our agency. If you are reading this and are involed with an agency that puts you on the "fast track" to your child, THINK TWICE and do the research.
God Bless.

More SCARY news...

Click here for the official notice from the US Embassy that goes along with my last post. We got word late today after my last post that our agency is going to temporarily halt adoptions from these two provinces, they work in two others as well. Our agency is NOT one of those that have been mentioned in some reports as being "investigated" THANK GOD. For this we are thankful, but still very apprehensive. We have faith that God will take care of us, when things are right for everyone involved.
What is going on is WRONG and unethical and we are praying that all of this gets figured out and all children up for adoption are legitimate. I cannot believe in today's world that this would happen. I have been to Vietnam a number of times to do humanitarian work and have seen the worst of the worst poor conditions, but for those people to be preyed on for their babies is HORRIBLE. I am sick over this. Honestly, I would rather wait 5 years for us to get our referral if it meant knowing that it will all done appropriately, ethically and legally.
We pray for the families that are currently stuck in Vietnam waiting to come home with their babies, but on the flip side, we pray that the people with babies from these provinces are told the TRUTH about their babies and hope that none of them are victims of this mess.
Please pray that these Vietnamese Provencial adoption leaders changes their practices and start ahearing to the laws set forth in the Hague. It will protect all perspective adoptive parents. We know we my not have the entire story about how our baby became an orphan, but I can tell you we want to be SURE that she was not the victim of this INSANITY.
For more reading on this:
http://vietnamlucy.blogspot.com/
http://goodhappenings.com/
http://www.adoptionintegrity.com/

Road Block

Just got this email yesterday...we are sad but know when God has the right baby for us, we will be brought together no matter what.

"Dear Vietnam Adoptive Families,

The US Embassy officially posted a statement of concern over Vietnam Adoptions today and specifically identified Phu Tho and Thai Nguyen Provinces by name. Though we were surprised and disappointed that they would post such a statement with no specific details about the concerns that they have in these provinces, we do take the statement seriously and will carefully investigate the Embassy's concerns and respond accordingly. We will be meeting directly with the Embassy in Hanoi this week to obtain further information. Current referrals remain secure and will be processed under the new I-600 filing procedures.We hope to have further updates before the end of the week."

Funny Dream

I had the funniest dream last night about Olive. I NEVER get to see her face when she is in my dreams and this time, I saw her, up close and clear and she was beautiful. In my dream, I was on a blanket playing with Olive on my parents front lawn with my Mom and Tim. I was telling my Mom how I could not get her to respond to me at all, to her name, to music, nothing. It was very strange. So, we decided to take her back to the orphanage (dreams are so strange) to see how she would react to being around other babies her age. Once we walked in, Tim was holding her and I said "hi Olive" and she looked right at me and smiled. Finally, we thought, a reaction. Phew! Then we put her in a swing and we played with the other babies and all of the sudden she started singing, clear as day, Diamonds are a Girls Best Friend by Marilyn Monroe.
I have the strangest dreams, I know, but for the first time I got to see her face and it was amazing.

On another note, paperwork still not at DIA, I will post once I know it has been handed over.

Dossier going to Vietnam

Our dossier is on it's was to Vietnam this week.
10 days to translate and then we get our place in line and settle in for the 3-6 month wait. I shouldn't even say 3-6, I should just say 6 month wait because it seems to be more on the 6 month side for some of the other families that are in process. If it happens sooner we will be pleasantly surprised. For now, I just pray that she is being taken care of and wonder all the time if she has even been born yet.

Bottoms Up!

I finished up a lot of already started projects this weekend and got the bottoms done to match the dress I embroidered on a couple postings ago.
Check em out!

Stationary

I was looking at Stationary and found this really cute baby annoucement. It is pretty expensive but I love it and the colors are of the Vietnamese Flag! It is hard to see on the computer, I couldn't blow it up, but there is a little pagoda beyond the tree. I just love it!

Tim Dreams of Olive

I think it is so sweet that Tim often has dreams and Olive is in them. He had one over the weekend and her face wasn't clear but he was sitting on the bed with her and he was asking her what she wanted to wear and they were looking at all of her clothes.
So cute! I love it!

i171-h is out of here!

Everything that we had to have our hands on, is out of our hands at this time.
Now it is all in God's hands and we know he will watch over everything and bring us our baby when the time is right.

The next steps are:
1. Agency will send paperwork to CA Secretary of State to authenticate (3-4 weeks), paperwork goes back to Agency.
2. Agency will send paperwork to Vietnamese Consulate to authenticate (5-10 days), paperwork goes back to Agency.
3. Agency will send all authenticated paperwork to Vietnam, there it will get translated (10 days), and then we wait for the referral (3-6 months).
4. 6-8 weeks after we get the call (the referral) we travel to pick up Oliveia and bring her home (with Mama Lemke if you are still game Mom).

Tim and I have estimated the longest wait possible, just so we are pleasantly surprised if things happen before then. We think the paperwork should be in Vietnam by November 1 and we will get the call by April at the latest and travel 6-8 weeks after we get the call. Originally, we were thinking we would get the call by January, but referral times have increased from 1-3 months to 3-6 and now for new families that are applying, it is 6-8 weeks. Good thing we started this when we did. Until we get the call, we pray daily for our baby girl, her birth mother and her caretakers.

Altered Dress for Olive

I got this cute dress and matching diaper cover at the used kids clothing store in my neighborhood for about $3 and decided to add a little embroidery to it. I thought a cupcake was perfect.

I have not yet decided, but I may embroider "Olive" on the bum of the diaper cover.

It's HERE!

Our I-171h arrived today! We are going out to our local Vietnamese restaurant to celebrate!

Is this a sign or what?

Anchors Away!

I got this dress the other day at a used baby clothing store (it still has the original tags on it!) and had to have it for when Olive meets her Grandpa Somera, who was in the Navy for a long time. It is so cute and puffy and made of a really nice material plus, it came with a headband (navy with a white bow) and a navy diaper cover for $5.50 - what a bargain!
PS - I am secretly hoping that by getting something patriotic will make our i-171h arrive faster!

We've Been Printed!

We went to immigration offices today and got our fingerprints taken.
Come on I-171h! One more letter to arrive and our paperwork is out to get processed at Secretary of State and then the Vietnamese Consulate and then it goes overseas. A social worker from our agency called my Mom today to ask a couple questions so things are moving along now. I wonder how long until our approval letter will take to arrive? I hope it comes next week! I heard it can take between "one and several weeks", I am hoping for one! A girl has gotta have a dream right? In the mean time, it is save, save, save here.

Vietnamese Cooking Class

This afternoon, Tim and I took a hands on Vietnamese Cooking class in Sonoma. It was really fun! We wanted to learn how to make some traditional dishes so when Oliveia is old enough to eat solids we can make her some foods from her homeland. I have taken a couple classes in Vietnam but nothing as extensive as this, it was awesome and we had a lot of fun.
For more information and photos from the class check my food blog @ http://www.magpieskitchen.blogspot.com/

Here are a few photos...

It's HERE!

We got it and get printed next week!

Phew!

Well, I did it, I got antsy and called the home study agency and they called USCIS for us to find out where our fingerprinting appointment letter is. I couldn't believe the answer, strange but true, USCIS said that they mailed it to us 3 weeks ago and we were scheduled to come in July 3-7! Fortunately, they are sending out another one. I can't imagine what happend to the original one. The mail situation in San Francisco is not good. I have magazines ripped out of their plastic bags all the time and have had things missing before. How come the credit card bill never seems to go missing? We have literally been scouring the mail every day since June 12 to no avail to find out it was sent 3 weeks ago is a little unsettling. Tim brought up the fact that we could have our i-171h approval letter by now if we would have got it, but I can't go there. It should be at our house tomorrow or Saturday and we will get the prints next week and then wait for approval. YIPPIE! I hope that comes quickly and then everything will be set for Secretary of State and the Vietnamese Consulate!
So close but yet so far.
Oliveia, where ever you are, whether you are on this earth or still in your mommies tummy, we love you and can't wait for you to come home! You are in our prayers every day!

Storage

I decided this morning that if I have to pass the stroller in the box in the hallway to my apartment any longer I am going to have a nervous breakdown. I know it may sound silly to some folks, but every time I pass it I imagine going on a walk with my baby and how much I love her already and I don't even know her. It is too painful. I am going to have Tim put that and the Pack n'Play in the storage unit this weekend until we get further along in the process. Waiting on USCIS is no fun at all.

Fingerprinting Appointment

Still haven't heard anything from USCIS.
It has been 5 weeks.
One more and I am going to ask the home study agency to check in on it, if possible.

Things we do while we wait...

1. Start making Christmas gifts (saves money and takes up some time)
2. Scrapbook/Lifebook - we have started this and it is so fun!
3. Organize photos that we have taken over the past year
4. Minimize our "stuff" - we both purged our closets and have more to go!
5. Pray - for her birth mother, for the nannies at the Orphanage and for her health
6. Get in shape, get strong - babies look light but after a while...
7. Practice Yoga often - keeps me in the moment and mellow.
8. Tim plays a LOT of tennis - stress releif and great for his bod.

Baby's First Doughnut?

Just got this at lunch today!

It is a knit doughnut with a rattle inside. So cute and I love the pink frosting with the white sprinkles on top.

Time line

WOW! I was just entering my time line and can't believe how busy we have been with all of this. There may be some dates changing and I may add some things, it is a lot to remember and last night I literally got out all the paperwork and tried to attach a date to each thing.
Currently, we have a little bit of a break and are just waiting for the fingerprinting appointment from USCIS (which can take 4-6 weeks). After we get that done then 4-6 weeks we should get the i-171h approval letter. Once we have the approval letter our adoption agency can send all of the paperwork to CA Secretary of State to be authenticated and then it goes to the Vietnamese Consulate to be stamped and authenticated as well. After that entire process our paperwork will be on a plane and on it's way to Vietnam to be translated, reviewed and then matched with a baby girl that will become the newest member of our family!

Referral Time

Had a call with my social worker on Tuesday and found out that the referral time went from 1-3 months to 3-6 months. So we have a bit of a longer wait than we thought. For a while there, they were telling us we may have our baby girl by the end of the year, but now, it looks like she may be home in 2008. The way I look at it, is when God has the right baby for us, he will bring us together. These things cant be rushed.
Anyway, trying to update the time line on my blog, it is still under construction.

Operation Olive is up and running

Just thought I would try and chronicle the adoption adventure for anyone out there who is interested. If this blog helps anyone or motivates anyone to adopt, then my work is done. The world of International Adoption can be daunting for some people, but we have made our way though the paperwork unscathed and are now just waiting for our fingerprinting appointment and then the coveted CIS 171-h approval letter.