After much thought, I've decided to move my adoption blog over to our family blog: GREEN GRASS GROWS. The merge comes after I decided to start a THIRD Blog(password protected--please email me if you are interested in following this blog). I knew I needed to condense and merge the family stuff into one blog. As far as where we are in our adoption process, we are waiting for our dossier to come out of translation...then we just WAIT. SO, this is the perfect time to move. We hope you all continue to visit us--please bookmark our site and we hope to see you there as we continue our journey to Sweet Baby!
FYI:
I know I posted about this before, but wanted to share how I will document this blog. I plan to use BLURB to turn this blog into a hard bound book. Cool, huh?
Our holiday season, like many, has been so busy! We have spent the last few weeks entertaining and visiting family and friends. Our Christmas was wonderful and we are praying that by next year, our sweet baby girl will be joining us! I will continue to keep those in prayer who are waiting and "oh, so close" to bringing their little ones home. Prayers also for a 2008 full of resolve, promise and unity for the Vietnam adoption program. Happy New Year and God's Blessings to you all! Here are a few pictures of my family over the last few weeks. The Santa in the video is my Dad and the new baby is our niece, Cate!
After four months of piles and piles of paperwork, social workers, fire marshall, doctors, police stations and government buildings--our dossier is officially DTV "Dossier To Vietnam"! Having those precious documents sent to the country where our daughter will be born makes it seem so much more of a reality. We have prayed for this child for months and long for the day that we are able to see her sweet, sweet face!
Today's the day, two years ago, that this little darling was placed into our arms. She brings so much joy to all who know her. Luci has flourished into an amazing little girl and we can't wait to see what the future holds for the beautiful child. We thank God every day that she is part of our life.
Happy 2nd Gotcha Day Anniversary Luci! We Love You!
You're three today! I can hardly believe how fast the year has gone. It's November 29th. This day is so important in both of our lives. Not only is it my birthday, God decided to place you on this earth on this day, too! On 11/29/2005, I boarded a plane and flew to the other side of the world to meet the daughter I longed for. God gave me the best gift I could ever ask for the day you were placed in my arms. You bring great joy to our family. Daddy and I will never be able to tell you enough how much we love you and how proud we are to have you for our daughter. I love you baby girl!
We've been so busy the last week or so. Our three boys are in the heart of basketball season, so we've been running non-stop to try-outs and practices. We love it and can't wait for games to begin.
In adoption news, we feel like we're making progress. Our agency sent our documents back to us to have them county and state certified. Normally the agency does this step for us, but because our state (Maryland) requires county authentication in addition to state, we asked to do this ourselves. Our agency is located in Oregon and we didn't want to risk our dossier being lost in transit by going back and forth from county, state and agency. Anyway, we were able to authenticate all our documents on Wednesday (11/21) and had them sent via overnight mail back to our agency. Our documents should be sent off tomorrow to the Vietnamese Consulate in San Francisco for authentication. After that, our dossier finally gets sent to Vietnam where it will be translated and logged into the DIA (Department of International Adoption). From there, we get our official "number" and the wait begins!
The past few weeks have been a roller coaster of emotions within Vietnam adoption community. I follow several adoption blogs and chat rooms--frustration, anxiety, and panic fill people's posts. I'm not here to defend my adoption or add to the issues at hand. I respect those who have chosen to speak out about their feelings on the current problems with this program. I have decided to keep my opinion on this topic private. I will not defend my agency or criticize others about the agencies they have chosen. I will say that I pray that we all find peace within our own journeys and keep our hearts pure and open.
I've been trying to roll with the punches and be as optimistic as I can. From the start of this process, I have felt such assurance from deep within that our sweet baby will be home. Day after day, my assured confidence slowly started to chip away with each new piece of unsettling news. The fact is, we don't know how this will all unfold. It's up to our government and a country that is culturally different than the US. We all feel so vulnerable and willing to grasp at the littlest piece of good news that comes our way--dissecting it and making it much bigger to give us that peace that everything will be all right.
I'm not proud to say that over the last week or so, I've been feeling like our baby from Vietnam will not come home. Instead of digging for that assurance trapped somewhere within, I chose to come up with a "Plan B". My Plan B consisted of spending hours on the internet looking for waiting children from different agencies, different countries. I know there are so many children out there "waiting" to come home. My own daughter, who we adopted from China in 2005, was on such a list. My panic button was telling me to jump ship and head towards higher ground....adopt a waiting child. As I combed through the lists, looking at the beautiful faces of children in need--I suddenly realized that although I have a heart for all orphans...MY CHILD is in Vietnam. For the first time in weeks, I feel confident that God will continue to see us through this journey, as He has done from the very start. My husband and I never thought we'd be going through this process again. We have three amazing sons and a beautiful daughter. Our house is busting at the seams! God laid this fifth child on our hearts and we know she is meant to be here. So...
I'm back to Plan A! I'm taking chances. Putting full faith in God that He will bring home the child He designed for our family. The stakes are high, but we're pushing all our faith to the middle of the table...taking our chances that everything will be just fine.
I love the song in the video clip below. My daughter's latest music interest is Celine Dion...she just loves her! I thought it was fitting that the song is about taking chances, jumping off the edge--not knowing if there is solid ground below...perfect.
Did anyone see Kellie Pickler (from American Idol fame) on the CMAs last night? Poor girl, it broke my heart! She performed a song written for her mother that left her when she was two. Watching her pain as she sang made me think about my daughter and sweet-baby-girl-to-be. Although they will have the love of their mother, I hope and pray that not knowing their biological mothers doesn't create a devastating hole in their hearts. I will do my best to be the best mother I can be...which includes finding the right words to help fill that void.
I am so very blessed. I'm married to the best husband & father a girl could ask for. Together we have four beautiful children: 3 gorgeous home-grown sons and our beautiful daughter adopted from Chenzhou, China (Hunan Province) in 2005. We are currently in the process of adopting our second daughter from Ethiopia and hope to have her home in 2009. Follow our journey!
