More Good News!

Well, I am here to report that we have our Police investigation finished! We are waiting for our report to be written and submitted to Hanoi for the "final check" before we get our Decision of Adoption signed. However... the Blackwell family got their DOA signed. One more thing off the list! Apparently the Bands went back to the baby home for one last goodbye and a few more pictures... So more to come! Thanks for all the prayers, keep them coming!

One step closer...

We woke up with good news from the Band family. They finally had their Giving and Receiving Ceremony! Whew, one more down, two to go before Dillen can come home. This is exhausting! Still no news from our agency today. The Bands are now on their way to HCMC for some appointments and then off to Hanoi for the final step before heading home! This probably means the end of new pictures, unless they haven't downloaded them all. Don't worry, I didn't post all of them, so as we suffer through some uneventful weeks I'll post a cute picture so you'll come back. Until I have more bliss to blog...

Another weekend over...

Thank goodness! It is the end of the dreaded weekend. Those of you in the adoption process know what I mean. Nothing gets done on weekends. There is no news, no updates, nothing unless a natural disaster strikes, there is nothing to hear on the weekend. So, here we are sitting on the edge of another week. If you are following the family that is in our province now, you know they haven't had their G&R yet (http://www.angieband-jaydensjourney.blogspot.com/). They are hoping for Monday or Tuesday at the latest. The best news that we could get this week consists of four key elements...

1. The obvious, the Bands have there G&R and bring home Jayden

2. Fernando Lopez will travel to bring home their son Dat.

3. The Blackwell family will have there Decision of Adoption signed and last but not least

4. Our paperwork is ready to go to Hanoi for a "final check".



So keep those positive vibes coming and check back throughout the week. Your prayers are much needed. I certainly will post when we have some news... any news!

Really? Nothing new?

This is why I decided early on that i wouldn't be a blogger... I got tired of telling everyone that we still haven't heard anything... I guess though, writing it once is better than telling everyone individually that asks. We did receive more pictures, I will post them so you have something to get you through the weekend. Welcome to our lives.



Yesterday we received an email from our agency stating that there was a problem with our case. There are no specifics, not even one detail except that our facilitator in Vietnam says that the Officials "will not refuse" our adoption. Really? There was still the possibility of that? Because we don't have every approval known to the world. I am tired. I have been emotionally and physically sick for weeks now. I truely believe that the vietnamese officials that we are dealing with, are in it for the money. The longer our children sit in the orphanage, the more money is sent. There is a family connection between the staff at the orphanage and the province officials. If they really wanted to get these children home, I truley believe that they could. So between a shady province, non assertive adoption agency (that was being nice) and a facilitator that has no sense of urgency we will watch our Dillen grow up, not knowing how we long to hold her. Keep us in your prayers...

All is quiet

Those of you that keep checking to hear news, I hate to disappoint. All is quiet. The Band family did not have their Giving and Receiving Ceremony today (Tuesday) but like always, are hoping for tomorrow. Things have been quiet this week. We haven't heard any news about our case. The reality is, we haven't heard any truthful news about our adoption since the US issued our preapproval for our child's visa in early July. Chris and I were taking a walk just the other night and it hit me; we've been praying for our daughter to come home for over a year and a half. When we started this journey we were told that from start to finish it would be 7-10 months, well 20 months later... here we are. So, we were walking around the neighborhood with our long sleeves on and I remembered walking last year, thinking... this is the last time we will walk all bundled up without our girl. Boy was I wrong. We continue to pray, hope for a miracle, and trust in His time. Will you do that with us?

Another weekend of waiting...

For those of you who prayed with us for the family adopting their son this week in Vietnam. They did not have their Giving and Receiving Ceremony... not that it is a real surprise. So, continue your prayers for more updates and a ceremony for them at the beginning of the week next week. Until then, enjoy a few pictures of Dillen the Bands were able to take for us! New pictures are always so wonderful!

What are you waiting for?!?!

Everyone asks... if you have all these approvals and your daughter is in an orphanage, why are you still in South Carolina? I know, it is so frustrating and it doesn't make much sense to us, but we have to wait for a few more things. The province that Dillen is in is Hau Giang. Each province has leaders, and each province leader creates their own set of rules, or so it seems. Our leaders are re investigating each adoption in our province. This investigation has already been completed twice already but they just want a "final check". Once this is completed and our papers are taken to the capital, Hanoi, then we must wait for our Decision of Adoption to be signed and issued an invitation. We can not travel to the province without being invited. Crazy, huh? Well August 25th we were told our investigation was completed and our paperwork needed to go to Hanoi, only to be told last week that it was not completed. So frustrating, and disappointing! Because of the communication barriers, along with a 12 hour time difference, we have had difficulty understanding exactly where in this process our adoption lies. Right now we are praying and following another couples adoption in our same province. This will hopefully be a good indicator as to what is to come. Please pray for Angie and Norman Band as they are in Vietnam now completing the adoption of their son Jayden. You can follow their blog at http://angieband-jaydensjourney.blogspot.com/.

9 months old today

We started this process January '07 with the hopes of being finished by now. I don't think anyone anticipated the process to be this long, nor did anyone foresee the complications that it would entail, but the road known as international adoption is full of turns and roadblocks. Almost always, the outcome is the same, so you take the risk and wait... you don't know when, but some day a beautiful baby comes into your life. Chris and I first learned of our little girl on April 10, 2008. Almost 4 months old, Le Ngoc Hau was going to be our daughter. It took us a while but decided we would call her Dillen, meaning precious thing. We received DIA approval (the approval from Vietnam to adopt her) the end of June '08 and I600 approval (this is approval from the US to bring Dillen into the country as our daughter) July 2nd. So we have been waiting since July to bring Dillen home. We created this blog to share our adoption journey with you, our friends and family and to encourage those of you who are taking a similar journey. I hope you enjoy our posts, pictures and videos as we prepare for our adventure to Vietnam.