Another to travel

We received word last week that another family will be traveling to Vietnam to bring home their son. Our hearts are with them as they take the journey we've all been waiting for. They have promised to take some pictures of our girl. We will keep you all posted. Please pray for the Henson family as they travel.

still silence

A few weeks will go by here and there and we will get an email from our agency... "still no news" or like the latest... "we've seen little activity". Chris and I have both been recently fingerprinted and we continue to wait. Wait for something... waiting to finally bring home our girl, or wait to be told that we've lost another child. At this point, we are ready for some answers. Here is the latest from our agency...
On August 19, 2009 the US Embassy (Hanoi) met with the DIA in Hanoi. The DIA is sending a letter to the Department of Justice of VN requesting they contact the DOJ in the province in order to encourage them to resolve all of the Worldwide cases. On the surface this all sounds like there is the possibility that the DOJ might be able to persuade the province to complete these cases. However, we need to remember that the DOJ in the province still has the final word. I always feel obligated to be the realist in all adoption cases, but I also want each of us to look at this as a positive step in the process to bring your babies home.The DIA will notify Thuoc when they have news from the DOJ. All of this will be done on Vietnam time, not ours, so we could be waiting a while for this process to be completed.

and so we continue to wait...

the tiniest update

Sorry, no news and no pictures. We did get the tiniest little update this morning though. Dillen is weighing in at 22 lbs. She is a good little walker and even talking. The care takers are keeping her hair long. Wish we could see her sweet little face. Thanks for your continued thoughts and prayers.

The latest news...

The most significant problem we are still having is related to the power concentrated in the province. We our dealing with a government that has a communist perception on how government works, and that certainly does not provide equality for everyone's voice to be heard. The province officials do not care about our children in the orphanage nor do they care about our situation.
DIA is powerless over the actions of the province and can not force the province leaders to process any of the remaining adoptions. The province is like a small country, they rule themselves. Our agency has given us little hope that anyone can help our situation. Thuoc expressed how concerned he is about all of the adoptions, and asked that we pray for DOJ to cooperate. The Red Cross is legally bound to Worldwide by Vietnamese law. Fortunately, the director of the Red Cross is our advocate with the officials in the province. The director speaks often with the officials in the province, she has tried to set up meetings with the officials in the past and continues to try to get meeting set up with them regarding the remaining adoptions.
The DIA has tried to get these cases to move but the officials remain resolute in their efforts to prolong these remaining adoptions. Inquiries from the US Embassy have not been productive either. As painful as it is, we have to accept that the officials in the province are in charge, even big organizations such as the DIA and the US Embassy have been unable to break these officials.
Our fingerprints are about to expire for the second time. We will have to refile our paperwork and make a trip to the immigration office (a few hours away) to be fingerprinted for the third time. The cost just to do this will be nearly eight hundred dollars. At this point, we don't even know if they will ever let Dillen come home.

Nothing still

We still have no news concerning our adoption. We received and email from our agency this morning that said that the only information she received from Vietnam was that the "Red Cross is fighting for our babies". So as you can imagine, we are frustrated. We do not know what this means or if DIA has sent a representative to the province. We have no new answers or news concerning our girl. It has been 8 months now since we've seen a picture and five months since we were given her "supposed weight". This is beyond ridiculous now. We have no information from our government either, it's almost like no one cares, no one can help. But don't you people understand????? This is our ONLY child! This is our DAUGHTER! This is our life! Can anyone help???? Is anyone REALLY fighting? Doesn't feel like it.

Still nothing

I thought we were seeing the end. No news from Vietnam. No news that anyone from DIA traveled to the province to speak with the leaders. No news from our government. We'll give them more time, of course... time is all we have... patience however, running thin.

We'll post as soon as we hear something. The only news we got this week is that the director of our agency was going out of town for a family birthday party. At least someone can celebrate.

Steppin' In

Last week we took another step in our adoption. We contacted Sen. DeMint's office. We were warned that bringing any outside attention to our case could potentially anger the officials in the Province and they would not complete our adoption. What can you do? In the end, I want to be able to tell our daughter that we did everything we could to bring her home.

I received an email earlier today from our agency. Apparently DIA is upset with the Province Leaders. Their intentions are to send a representative from DIA to the province to help finish these last five adoptions. We don't know their time frame, but we are encouraged. This is a positive step.

Thank you for your continued prayer and support.