Hello and just in case I don't post again before Christmas...MERRY CHRISTMAS!
We have a little bit of news concerning the MOA for Vietnam and also our adoption to Korea. I'll start with Vietnam first...Today we received an email from our coordinator that said; "this week there was a small congressional delegation in Vietnam that met with the IAD to express their support of a new MOA. We believe there is a meeting scheduled for some time next week; however please keep in mind that as is often the case, such a meeting is subject to being rescheduled" (I just cut and pasted the sum of her email). This is good news because 1.) that means that they have not put resuming adoptions on the back burner and 2.) many speculated the meeting wouldn't occur for quite some time and they didn't know when. Though, this is symbolic of good things, we know that it's the very beginning of getting adoptions moving again between the U.S. and Vietnam. We will be praying and ask for prayers surrounding this upcoming meeting. There are so many children in these orphanages that need to be in the arms of loving families.
Moving on to Korea...Well as we have grown accustom to slowdowns, this didn't come as a huge surprise to us. You may remember that we were recently excited that our paperwork should have been on it's way to Korea (about 3-4 weeks ago). Which "theoretically" would mean we would be 1 month into our wait for our referral/match. As of this past Monday, it was still sitting on a social workers desk. I have to smile as I type this because as I told Brandon (when he was less than pleased with this news, as was I)...Though we are not happy that our final paperwork is not over in Korea, there is a VERY good reason it isn't. At the risk of sounding repetitive....God handpicked this child(ren) out for us long before we were even thinking of having children. He isn't surprised by the fact that our paperwork is not in Korea because the timing isn't right. The funny side to this is that a large part of the reason it's still here is because someone admitted to us that they forgot it was sitting on their desk and needed corrections, period. It truly was an honest mistake and was difficult for this individual to share with me. So now we will just have to wait until the corrections are completed and our paperwork can be mailed. Although it may come across that I'm calm and collected about this, both Brandon and I have had our moments but we know that God is in control. So we continue to trust and have faith that the Lord will meet our needs and the needs of the children we will one day know and love. Our hope is that this final review of our home study by our agency will have our paperwork on it's merry little way to Korea FAST. Please pray for our paperwork to be mailed before Christmas and for Brandon and I to continue to have a peace about it. I'm definitely not the most patient person; so I realize that staying calm on this issue has been a gift from above :) As a matter of fact, while you are praying you might want to pray that I won't decide to hand carry our paperwork to Korea myself!! ;-)
James 1:17- Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.
James 2:14- What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to him, "Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed," but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.
I hope that everyone has a WONDERFUL Christmas with friends and family!!! We love you so much!! xoxoxoxox
Sending oodles of hugs and kisses your direction!!!
Robin & Brandon
Saturday, December 13, 2008
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Happy Thanksgiving!!!
Hello all, I wanted to get an update out before we left for our Thanksgiving vacation this weekend. We're looking forward to escaping the cold weather and spending time with family down south! Our homestudy has been updated for Korea and is in the hands of our agency right now. After speaking with them late last week, I anticipate that it will be on it's way to Korea this week!! :) Brandon and I are very excited and even more thrilled by the ease of the Korea process in comparison to Vietnam and Russia! It's been virtually seemless, which we are so thankful for. Now the waiting game begins again. The average wait time for a baby is approx 3-6 months before a referral and then an additional 3-4 months until we either travel or have him, her or them escorted home :) As soon as we hear any info, we'll be sure to let you know.
On a very exciting note...We have met some wonderful people through International Adoption and FTIA. One of the families we have grown close to brought home their 8 year old son, Sawyer from China on Friday. It was absolutely AMAZING and indescribable the emotion you feel watching this family grow. There were several other families there who have also adopted from China with their kiddos to welcome Sawyer, Becki and Mike home to Indy. I forgot to bring my camera but did take some pictures with my phone to share with you (above in the slideshow). I hope you enjoy! :)
Brandon and I wish you all a VERY HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!! We are so blessed and thankful for each of you in our lives! We love you all very much! xoxo
On a very exciting note...We have met some wonderful people through International Adoption and FTIA. One of the families we have grown close to brought home their 8 year old son, Sawyer from China on Friday. It was absolutely AMAZING and indescribable the emotion you feel watching this family grow. There were several other families there who have also adopted from China with their kiddos to welcome Sawyer, Becki and Mike home to Indy. I forgot to bring my camera but did take some pictures with my phone to share with you (above in the slideshow). I hope you enjoy! :)
Brandon and I wish you all a VERY HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!! We are so blessed and thankful for each of you in our lives! We love you all very much! xoxo
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
New News!
Hello all, as the weather and seasons change...So does our adoption journey :) One thing we can say for certain is that it hasn't been boring. As you may remember from our last post; we were reevaluating our decision to continue in the Russia Program. After a pretty busy 2 weeks; we decided that it's in the best interest of our family to withdraw from the Russia Program. There were so many variables that lead us down this path but we've given it a great deal of time, deliberation and prayer and we feel very strong that this was the best decision for our family. This had been a lingering thought for us since about the end of August but we didn't share it with everyone until we were sure the door was closed. So of course that leaves you all wondering...Vietnam is closed (hopefully temporarily); what will we do in the interim??? The answer is; Korea :) Back when Brandon was playing with the Marlins his contract was purchased by the Han Wha Eagles (Korean league). When his contract was purchased; he moved to Korea for the season. That is where his life changed dramatically, in many ways. He has many fond memories of his time there and is very naturally drawn to Korea. Of course, due to his love for Korea and the people there...I am drawn there as well. When we originally felt lead to adopt; Korea was "ironically" our first choice but we didn't qualify based on our length of marriage...NOW we qualify!!! :)))) We've seen this unfolding before our eyes over the last couple of months...Doors closing, doors opening and so here we are. We held off on sharing this with everyone because we wanted to be as sure as we could be that this was the path we were going to head down. We have submitted our application and it's been accepted...We have also submitted our Russian home study to be updated for the Korea program. So it's a matter of a couple of weeks before it is updated and on it's way to Korea for translation. It will sit there until we are referred a baby boy or girl. We have opened ourselves up to either gender, siblings (which are rare) and also TWINS! :) "I" will be PRAYING for twins!! My mother-in-law thinks I'm crazy to pray for twins since she knows oh to well what it is like raising them ;-) So as for timing of the Korean program...WE WERE TOLD (I REPEAT, TOLD) that it's approx 3-6 months until we receive our referral...BUT we know from our experience that the world of adoption can shift gears quickly. We continue to ask for prayers. We are both very excited and feeling rejuvenated again by the direction we are heading! We've felt the good Lords hand in this in more ways than I could share on this blog. I will share one very short story with you...One night during this time of decisions Brandon and I were praying and reading scripture trying determine what direction to take...After both of us feeling discouraged I randomly received a scripture verse that evening from one of my best friends that read:
"After he had dismissed the crowds, he went up on the mountain by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone, but the boat by this time was a long way from the land, beaten by the waves, for the wind was against them. And in the fourth watch of the night he came to them, walking on the sea. But when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified, and said, "It is a ghost!" and they cried out in fear. But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, "Take heart; it is I. Do not be afraid." - Matthew 14:24-27
It was MORE COMFORTING than ANYTHING in the world to know that the Lord is hearing our prayers and speaking to us! We're so thankful that He hears and responds in his timing. It's absolutely amazing!! :) We are also so, very thankful for all of the thoughtful and loving emails, phone calls and prayers!! :))
So, hopefully our lil peanuts will be home soon or you all may continue to see me dressing up our critters for Halloween & Christmas; you'll continue to see video's of Tex on the treadmill and my poor husband may finally determine that we should just open an Animal Rescue out of our home! ;-) (hehe)
Sending hugs and love your way!!!
Robin & Brandon
xoxo
"After he had dismissed the crowds, he went up on the mountain by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone, but the boat by this time was a long way from the land, beaten by the waves, for the wind was against them. And in the fourth watch of the night he came to them, walking on the sea. But when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified, and said, "It is a ghost!" and they cried out in fear. But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, "Take heart; it is I. Do not be afraid." - Matthew 14:24-27
It was MORE COMFORTING than ANYTHING in the world to know that the Lord is hearing our prayers and speaking to us! We're so thankful that He hears and responds in his timing. It's absolutely amazing!! :) We are also so, very thankful for all of the thoughtful and loving emails, phone calls and prayers!! :))
So, hopefully our lil peanuts will be home soon or you all may continue to see me dressing up our critters for Halloween & Christmas; you'll continue to see video's of Tex on the treadmill and my poor husband may finally determine that we should just open an Animal Rescue out of our home! ;-) (hehe)
Sending hugs and love your way!!!
Robin & Brandon
xoxo
Monday, October 6, 2008
The journey continues
Hello everyone,
My hope is that all is well with all of you :) We are doing ok. We've been a little more discouraged recently. The only thing we really KNOW about this process is that we were meant to adopt a child that the Lord has handpicked for us. Where, when, who, how, etc...We just don't know. Please pray for strength and peace as we continue on this journey. We are SO-SO thankful for everyone's support and prayers!!
During this time we are reminded of...
James 4:13-17
Now listen, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money." Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, "If it is the Lord's will, we will live and do this or that."
RUSSIA UPDATE:
Our time frame was increased this past week, again. We have been told it will likely be another 6 months before a potential referral. There has also recently been some turbulence in this program that have caused Brandon and I to reevaluate what is best for our family. We'll continue to keep you posted :)))
VIETNAM UPDATE:
It's been a while now since I've updated on Vietnam so I thought it was time to pass on what we know. Our dossier is still in Vietnam. The program continues to remain closed as government officials continue to sort things out. There currently is no indication of if and when this program might reopen again. We are still hopeful and truly have not given up the faith in Vietnam :)
On a much lighter note...I've been watching too much of "The Dog Whisperer"- hehe. I strongly recommend turning down your volume before playing the video; I sound a little silly but that's what keeps Tex walking and not retreating from his workout ;-) He's the sweetest & smartest dog and keeps us smiling :)))
My hope is that all is well with all of you :) We are doing ok. We've been a little more discouraged recently. The only thing we really KNOW about this process is that we were meant to adopt a child that the Lord has handpicked for us. Where, when, who, how, etc...We just don't know. Please pray for strength and peace as we continue on this journey. We are SO-SO thankful for everyone's support and prayers!!
During this time we are reminded of...
James 4:13-17
Now listen, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money." Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, "If it is the Lord's will, we will live and do this or that."
RUSSIA UPDATE:
Our time frame was increased this past week, again. We have been told it will likely be another 6 months before a potential referral. There has also recently been some turbulence in this program that have caused Brandon and I to reevaluate what is best for our family. We'll continue to keep you posted :)))
VIETNAM UPDATE:
It's been a while now since I've updated on Vietnam so I thought it was time to pass on what we know. Our dossier is still in Vietnam. The program continues to remain closed as government officials continue to sort things out. There currently is no indication of if and when this program might reopen again. We are still hopeful and truly have not given up the faith in Vietnam :)
On a much lighter note...I've been watching too much of "The Dog Whisperer"- hehe. I strongly recommend turning down your volume before playing the video; I sound a little silly but that's what keeps Tex walking and not retreating from his workout ;-) He's the sweetest & smartest dog and keeps us smiling :)))
Saturday, September 13, 2008
3 MONTHS AND COUNTING...
Hello all,
Hope everyone is well! We are having a relaxing weekend at home (unusual these days :) We've been house shopping over the last couple of months and have found one we really like. We'll see what happens over the next couple of weeks. We both realize that with new little peanuts coming into our world we will need to start to make room. Not to mention our CRITTERS (the dogs, horse, bird, raccoons, squirrels and more recently a stray kitty I found ;-) I'm happy to say (for my allergies sake) that we did not keep the kitty. I took her to our Vet, got her fixed up and they are going to find her a home. I think Brandon would have literally FALLEN OVER if I came home with another animal that I had found. He called while I happened to be on my way to the Vet and asked where I was. Of course, I would rather have told him anything other than; "I've found a very sick kitty that needs Medical attention." The funny thing is...I expected to get a HUGE SIGH on the other end and instead he said, "Oh, what's wrong with it and what are you going to do"? Of course, I told him what I was up to and that was pretty much that. I was so pleased to know the kitty was going to be ok after treatment and that THEY WOULD FIND HER A HOME. I'm VERY allergic to cats not to mention our labs, who are hunters would have thought I brought them home a toy :) All worked out very well!!
This weeks update will be pretty brief...Over the last 2-3 weeks the Russia program has picked back up and 4 referrals (1 this week and 3 the couple weeks prior) have been made to families (2 boys and 2 girls). We are encouraged by the activity and praying that we'll get to meet Hadley SOON! Late this week I contacted our coordinator to get a pulse on where we are in the process b/c I was feeling more impatient than ever for some reason. Her response was overall positive and she told me that we were now 7/8 on the list. Our daughter has not been identified in Russia at this time but she said that they are working on it :) We were encouraged and will keep you posted on what the upcoming weeks hold. In the meantime, please keep praying for Hadley and orphaned children everywhere around the world.
Our hugs and love to all,
Robin & Brandon
Hope everyone is well! We are having a relaxing weekend at home (unusual these days :) We've been house shopping over the last couple of months and have found one we really like. We'll see what happens over the next couple of weeks. We both realize that with new little peanuts coming into our world we will need to start to make room. Not to mention our CRITTERS (the dogs, horse, bird, raccoons, squirrels and more recently a stray kitty I found ;-) I'm happy to say (for my allergies sake) that we did not keep the kitty. I took her to our Vet, got her fixed up and they are going to find her a home. I think Brandon would have literally FALLEN OVER if I came home with another animal that I had found. He called while I happened to be on my way to the Vet and asked where I was. Of course, I would rather have told him anything other than; "I've found a very sick kitty that needs Medical attention." The funny thing is...I expected to get a HUGE SIGH on the other end and instead he said, "Oh, what's wrong with it and what are you going to do"? Of course, I told him what I was up to and that was pretty much that. I was so pleased to know the kitty was going to be ok after treatment and that THEY WOULD FIND HER A HOME. I'm VERY allergic to cats not to mention our labs, who are hunters would have thought I brought them home a toy :) All worked out very well!!
This weeks update will be pretty brief...Over the last 2-3 weeks the Russia program has picked back up and 4 referrals (1 this week and 3 the couple weeks prior) have been made to families (2 boys and 2 girls). We are encouraged by the activity and praying that we'll get to meet Hadley SOON! Late this week I contacted our coordinator to get a pulse on where we are in the process b/c I was feeling more impatient than ever for some reason. Her response was overall positive and she told me that we were now 7/8 on the list. Our daughter has not been identified in Russia at this time but she said that they are working on it :) We were encouraged and will keep you posted on what the upcoming weeks hold. In the meantime, please keep praying for Hadley and orphaned children everywhere around the world.
Our hugs and love to all,
Robin & Brandon
Monday, September 1, 2008
Can you believe it's SEPTEMBER 1st!!?
Hello family and friends,
So can you all believe it's September 1st already??? I'm not sure we've had enough summer up here, yet! For some reason this summer has seemed rather short and I could stand about 12 more months of it...Anyone else??? ;-) For our family and friends who do not live in the Midwest and live SOUTH of us...You will be seeing LOTS & LOTS of us in the coming months (hehe :) I hope you all have had a WONDERFUL Labor Day weekend! It's really been a nice long weekend that has flown by fast! :) Brandon, Peyton and I went to IL to visit Brandon's family. Being human, I was a little nervous about this trip because 2 of our friends and Brandon's twin sister all had babies within the last month. Though we are SOOOO, VERY excited for everyone, I was worried I might get a little weepy or somewhat emotional seeing all these new lil ones with the long wait for ours. IRONICALLY (haha- I don't believe in "irony" by the way)...I was truly beaming with joy to meet these brand new little angels!!! God is so good and He filled both of our hearts with happiness and joy and allowed Brandon and I to put the focus where it needed to be. Our new little nephew is gorgeous as is our (2 1/2 yr old) niece, who is GROWING and is fearless as you'll see in the video I'm including....What a little fish she is! :) Our dear friends Dole and Justin had an absolutely BEAUTIFUL new baby girl, named Savannah May Beasley!!! I told them she was going to have to go to University of Georgia OR AUBURN (of course the better option ;-) with a name like that!! :) What a little angelic, princess she is!! It was such nice weekend, visiting with family and friends!! We're home now and I'm going to spend the rest of my day getting ready for work tomorrow and riding Boomer, while B cuts the grass :)
The source of our hope: PROVERBS 3:3-8
Let love and faithfulness never leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart. Then you will win favor and a good name in the sight of God and man. Trust in the Lord with all of your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight. Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord and shun evil. This will bring health to your body and nourishment to your bones.
VIETNAM:
This will (likely) be my last post on Vietnam for a while. Vietnam's official shutdown was this past Friday and we do not know when it will reopen. There is hope for Vietnam to open for Fall or prior to year end but the last time something of this nature happened; Vietnam was shutdown for almost 3 years. So, my last post is asking you all to PLEASE continue to pray for the children of Vietnam who SO desperately need our prayers and of course, the decision makers and the affected families! When you think of them, please pray :) This really is nothing less than a tragedy for these children.
RUSSIA:
Many of you have asked me about the Russia/Georgia conflict and if it might affect our adoption...To be honest, we have no idea if and how it will affect us. We are very aware that it could have a negative impact on adoptions but we CLING to our faith and remain hopeful until we hear news that would indicate a change. We CERTAINLY have our days when it is MUCH tougher than others but I can just feel the prayers and our faith remains strong. On a VERY exciting note...There were 2 referrals made this week to families in the Russia program!!! One of those families submitted their dossier on June 19th, four days before we submitted ours! It's very exciting for those families and also for us because it's great to see things moving again!!! Russian adoptions operate a little differently than most other countries. In most countries if you are #10 on the list, then once number 9 receives the referral of their child, you are next in line. That's not the case in Russia. The Russian MOE (Ministry of Education) hands out referrals as they deem appropriate. SO, though we are getting VERY close in line, we can't let that get us too terribly excited...But it does give us hope!!! :)
Last, I have attached two "you tube" videos about a little girl named Sofia that was adopted from Haiti by an Indiana couple (in the far right column). I have been reading alot about Haiti in the last few weeks and these people have TRULY moved me!!! The little girl in this video defied ALL ODDS (50% of Haitian children will die before age 5) and her story WILL WARM YOUR HEART!!! I hope you all will take a look. It's broken down into two segments and I've attached both for you to see the entire story.
Everyone have a WONDERFUL week!!!!
Sending love and hugs your way...
Robin & Brandon
xoxoxoxoxoxo
Brandon, Angelina and Brandi
So can you all believe it's September 1st already??? I'm not sure we've had enough summer up here, yet! For some reason this summer has seemed rather short and I could stand about 12 more months of it...Anyone else??? ;-) For our family and friends who do not live in the Midwest and live SOUTH of us...You will be seeing LOTS & LOTS of us in the coming months (hehe :) I hope you all have had a WONDERFUL Labor Day weekend! It's really been a nice long weekend that has flown by fast! :) Brandon, Peyton and I went to IL to visit Brandon's family. Being human, I was a little nervous about this trip because 2 of our friends and Brandon's twin sister all had babies within the last month. Though we are SOOOO, VERY excited for everyone, I was worried I might get a little weepy or somewhat emotional seeing all these new lil ones with the long wait for ours. IRONICALLY (haha- I don't believe in "irony" by the way)...I was truly beaming with joy to meet these brand new little angels!!! God is so good and He filled both of our hearts with happiness and joy and allowed Brandon and I to put the focus where it needed to be. Our new little nephew is gorgeous as is our (2 1/2 yr old) niece, who is GROWING and is fearless as you'll see in the video I'm including....What a little fish she is! :) Our dear friends Dole and Justin had an absolutely BEAUTIFUL new baby girl, named Savannah May Beasley!!! I told them she was going to have to go to University of Georgia OR AUBURN (of course the better option ;-) with a name like that!! :) What a little angelic, princess she is!! It was such nice weekend, visiting with family and friends!! We're home now and I'm going to spend the rest of my day getting ready for work tomorrow and riding Boomer, while B cuts the grass :)
The source of our hope: PROVERBS 3:3-8
Let love and faithfulness never leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart. Then you will win favor and a good name in the sight of God and man. Trust in the Lord with all of your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight. Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord and shun evil. This will bring health to your body and nourishment to your bones.
VIETNAM:
This will (likely) be my last post on Vietnam for a while. Vietnam's official shutdown was this past Friday and we do not know when it will reopen. There is hope for Vietnam to open for Fall or prior to year end but the last time something of this nature happened; Vietnam was shutdown for almost 3 years. So, my last post is asking you all to PLEASE continue to pray for the children of Vietnam who SO desperately need our prayers and of course, the decision makers and the affected families! When you think of them, please pray :) This really is nothing less than a tragedy for these children.
RUSSIA:
Many of you have asked me about the Russia/Georgia conflict and if it might affect our adoption...To be honest, we have no idea if and how it will affect us. We are very aware that it could have a negative impact on adoptions but we CLING to our faith and remain hopeful until we hear news that would indicate a change. We CERTAINLY have our days when it is MUCH tougher than others but I can just feel the prayers and our faith remains strong. On a VERY exciting note...There were 2 referrals made this week to families in the Russia program!!! One of those families submitted their dossier on June 19th, four days before we submitted ours! It's very exciting for those families and also for us because it's great to see things moving again!!! Russian adoptions operate a little differently than most other countries. In most countries if you are #10 on the list, then once number 9 receives the referral of their child, you are next in line. That's not the case in Russia. The Russian MOE (Ministry of Education) hands out referrals as they deem appropriate. SO, though we are getting VERY close in line, we can't let that get us too terribly excited...But it does give us hope!!! :)
Last, I have attached two "you tube" videos about a little girl named Sofia that was adopted from Haiti by an Indiana couple (in the far right column). I have been reading alot about Haiti in the last few weeks and these people have TRULY moved me!!! The little girl in this video defied ALL ODDS (50% of Haitian children will die before age 5) and her story WILL WARM YOUR HEART!!! I hope you all will take a look. It's broken down into two segments and I've attached both for you to see the entire story.
Everyone have a WONDERFUL week!!!!
Sending love and hugs your way...
Robin & Brandon
xoxoxoxoxoxo
Brandon, Angelina and Brandi
Saturday, August 16, 2008
News surrounding Vietnam and the MOU
Hello friends and family,
I hope you all are having a great weekend thus far. I thought I’d do our weekly update while flying home to Indianapolis from Orlando. I just finished up my National Meeting today. Brandon came to town with me and while I was in meetings, Brandon stayed with my mom and dad and enjoyed some R&R, golfing and lots of time enjoying the summer Olympic games. So on to our updates…
RUSSIA UPDATE:
There hasn’t been much movement that I’m aware of in our Russia program in the way of referrals lately. We are about number 11 on the list for a baby girl (from what I can tell). Where I was optimistic that we would receive a referral in 2-5 months originally; I now believe it may be up to another 4 months. Of course in the grand scheme of our elephant gestational period, this is a drop in the bucket. Maybe God is just telling us, “not yet”. So we continue to wait (now 2 days short of 2 months- and as Brandon would say…”who’s counting? ;-)” The very visible new concern that is in our minds is of course the hostility between Georgia and Russia. We haven’t been told that this will influence our adoption to Russia but we know to well that all things can affect International adoption; this being a very real issue at present.
VIETNAM:
So Vietnam on the other hand is much like the Indianapolis 500 these days! WOW! Every time I turn around there is another referral for another family. There have been 30+ referrals this year since Jan 08 and two more this week for baby girls (which means we move down to #34 on the list). It’s SO amazing and such a blessing to see the program pick up and children being placed in loving homes at a much faster pace!! On a very sad note, we have to acknowledge that one of the orphanages that FTIA works in within the Province of Bac Lieu has had some very tough events as of recently. 10 children had been hospitalized with fever and pneumonia. One baby girl that was referred to one of the FTIA families passed away a week ago. It is absolutely HEART WRENCHING to think about what that family must have experienced! Please keep them and all of these families in process in your prayers. The sooner these babies can come home, the better off they will be. It has been reported by our agency that some of the babies who were hospitalized are getting better which is a HUGE praise!!!
As everyone who has been following along on our blog knows…There has been much discussion between both the U.S. government and the Vietnamese government over the last several months surround a new MOU being signed. Though much progress has been made and continues to actively be made…We were informed yesterday that referrals from Vietnam will cease right now. The MOU will not be resigned by Sept 2nd but there is hope that a new agreement will be reached this fall. We will continue to hope and pray that a new agreement can and will be signed as quickly as possible so that adoptions may continue!! Please pray for all of the officials involved in this process, for the children of Vietnam and all waiting families. It will be a rough time for many as this program comes to a halt for now.
Everyone have an absolutely wonderful week!!!!
PS- I was attempting to be creative and did a, critter slide show (just WAIT till we have kids if you think this is bad ;-) The baby robin we raised is on their! If the slide show is not running or stops mid way through just click the small "X" in the upper right corner and it will start again.
Also, you can tell I was getting frisky with the blog this week (hehe :) I added music that reminds us of our little ones out there somewhere on the other side of the world, in Gods care.
Hugs and love,
Robin and Brandon
I hope you all are having a great weekend thus far. I thought I’d do our weekly update while flying home to Indianapolis from Orlando. I just finished up my National Meeting today. Brandon came to town with me and while I was in meetings, Brandon stayed with my mom and dad and enjoyed some R&R, golfing and lots of time enjoying the summer Olympic games. So on to our updates…
RUSSIA UPDATE:
There hasn’t been much movement that I’m aware of in our Russia program in the way of referrals lately. We are about number 11 on the list for a baby girl (from what I can tell). Where I was optimistic that we would receive a referral in 2-5 months originally; I now believe it may be up to another 4 months. Of course in the grand scheme of our elephant gestational period, this is a drop in the bucket. Maybe God is just telling us, “not yet”. So we continue to wait (now 2 days short of 2 months- and as Brandon would say…”who’s counting? ;-)” The very visible new concern that is in our minds is of course the hostility between Georgia and Russia. We haven’t been told that this will influence our adoption to Russia but we know to well that all things can affect International adoption; this being a very real issue at present.
VIETNAM:
So Vietnam on the other hand is much like the Indianapolis 500 these days! WOW! Every time I turn around there is another referral for another family. There have been 30+ referrals this year since Jan 08 and two more this week for baby girls (which means we move down to #34 on the list). It’s SO amazing and such a blessing to see the program pick up and children being placed in loving homes at a much faster pace!! On a very sad note, we have to acknowledge that one of the orphanages that FTIA works in within the Province of Bac Lieu has had some very tough events as of recently. 10 children had been hospitalized with fever and pneumonia. One baby girl that was referred to one of the FTIA families passed away a week ago. It is absolutely HEART WRENCHING to think about what that family must have experienced! Please keep them and all of these families in process in your prayers. The sooner these babies can come home, the better off they will be. It has been reported by our agency that some of the babies who were hospitalized are getting better which is a HUGE praise!!!
As everyone who has been following along on our blog knows…There has been much discussion between both the U.S. government and the Vietnamese government over the last several months surround a new MOU being signed. Though much progress has been made and continues to actively be made…We were informed yesterday that referrals from Vietnam will cease right now. The MOU will not be resigned by Sept 2nd but there is hope that a new agreement will be reached this fall. We will continue to hope and pray that a new agreement can and will be signed as quickly as possible so that adoptions may continue!! Please pray for all of the officials involved in this process, for the children of Vietnam and all waiting families. It will be a rough time for many as this program comes to a halt for now.
Everyone have an absolutely wonderful week!!!!
PS- I was attempting to be creative and did a, critter slide show (just WAIT till we have kids if you think this is bad ;-) The baby robin we raised is on their! If the slide show is not running or stops mid way through just click the small "X" in the upper right corner and it will start again.
Also, you can tell I was getting frisky with the blog this week (hehe :) I added music that reminds us of our little ones out there somewhere on the other side of the world, in Gods care.
Hugs and love,
Robin and Brandon
Saturday, August 2, 2008
Just shy of 6 weeks and counting...
FINALLY, the beach pictures from our 4th of July week at the beach :) Better late than never....
Dad showing little Chris the art of eating crab
Dad showing little Chris the art of eating crab
Brian and Kristen take swim
Jilly-Bean making breakfast for the troops
UM, Male bonding???????
Will, Brandon and Brian
Jilly-Bean making breakfast for the troops
UM, Male bonding???????
Will, Brandon and Brian
Aren't we cute!! (Mom and Dad)
Jilly-Bean and Will-ster
Can you believe it took all of us to reel this one in??? (win-wink ;-)
A night out for seafood with the men
Can you believe it took all of us to reel this one in??? (win-wink ;-)
A night out for seafood with the men
(Dad, Will, Brian and Brandon)
My CUTE, tan hubby lounging after a day at the beach
Brandon, Dad and Jilly enjoying a day at the pool
Brandon, Dad and Jilly enjoying a day at the pool
Hello everyone! I hope you all are continuing to enjoy your summer. We have been trying to enjoy every little bit of time we have together as we realize that soon there will be 3 of us and then not too long after, 4! Brandon's work continues to keep him busy as does mine. We are getting ready to take a trip back to Orlando again this coming Thursday night. I have my National Sales Meeting on the 11th and we are both flying in a few days early for a visit. We're looking forward to another visit with family!!!
On the adoption front...We continue to wait for "the call" and everyday that passes we feel like we are one day closer to Miss Hadley. The other night before we went to bed I said to Brandon; "Can you believe we've been waiting 39 days!??" He chuckled and said, "And 31 minutes" :) But who's counting??? ;-) Nightly we watch the adoption specials on Discovery Health called "Adoption Stories" (If you haven't seen them they are truly heart WARMING even if you are not an adoptive parent!). We tape them during the day and watch them as a break in the evening before we go to bed. I think there has been maybe one that I have not cried during. Even "B" get's a little glassy eyed while watching them. More and more everyday the conviction we have been given to adopt children grows and grow
RUSSIA UPDATE:
Not much new to share on the Russia front. We are approx #9-13 (ish) for our referral of Hadley. We know it could be any day but we also realize based on how things have slowed down in Russia that it could be up to 5 more months. We will definitely keep you all posted!!
VIETNAM UPDATE:
Vietnam continues to be ON FIRE with many-many referrals. Last week there were 6 referrals (3 boys and 3 girls). This week there were 3 more referrals (3 boys). I'm not sure if you all remember but we were in the 70's on the Vietnam list back in Dec/January 08 and we found out the other day that we are now #36 waiting for a girl!!!! The time is flying! The only potential issue is if the new MOU is not signed on or right around Sept 1st. There seems to be many positive things going on around the MOU but nothing truly solidified yet. We ask for your continued prayers for the children of Vietnam and for the MOU to be resigned in time for adoptions to continue between the U.S. and Vietnam. If the MOU is not signed it "appears" that may be where our process in Vietnam will be put on an indefinate hold (along with many other families).
Vietnam continues to be ON FIRE with many-many referrals. Last week there were 6 referrals (3 boys and 3 girls). This week there were 3 more referrals (3 boys). I'm not sure if you all remember but we were in the 70's on the Vietnam list back in Dec/January 08 and we found out the other day that we are now #36 waiting for a girl!!!! The time is flying! The only potential issue is if the new MOU is not signed on or right around Sept 1st. There seems to be many positive things going on around the MOU but nothing truly solidified yet. We ask for your continued prayers for the children of Vietnam and for the MOU to be resigned in time for adoptions to continue between the U.S. and Vietnam. If the MOU is not signed it "appears" that may be where our process in Vietnam will be put on an indefinate hold (along with many other families).
Some days are tougher than others but we continue to rely on the strength and faith that the Lord gives us SO abundantly!!! How we could do this without HIM; I will never know.
2 CORINTHIANS 4:16-18
Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles achieveing for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen but what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.
HORSE SHOW PICTURES
Boomer and Kelsey taking a rest before entering the arena
Claudia doing some last minute grooming before show time! :)
I LOVE my boy...He's so handsome!!!
Monday, July 14, 2008
3 weeks and counting...
Hello everyone and Happy Monday! :)
I hope that everyone had a wonderful 4th of July weekend!!! Ours was WONDERFUL! We left on the 3rd for a 10 day trip to Florida! We had an absolute ball. We drove (B and I love road trips!!!) through Atlanta and picked up my sister Kristen and then went on to Orlando to my parents house. Jill came in from Tampa and we had a fabulous 4th of July picnic with my family and our neighbors in Florida. Saturday we left for the beach for our annual family beach trip at New Smyrna Beach. As always; it was a blessed trip!! My parents, Kristen & Brian, Jill & Will and Brandon and I enjoyed each others company and time together. It's always SO DIFFICULT to leave them but we returned home last night and we were back to work today. I attempted to post pictures but I'm having technical difficulties (Imagine that! Me; the tech queen- haha ;-) Once I have them loaded, I'll send a second post of pictures.
So on to the updates!!!
RUSSIA:
We are a little over three weeks into our wait for a referral of Miss Hadley and I'm actually surprised at how fast the time has gone. It must have been that Florida SUN ;-) Not too much to report other than we are approx #18 on the waiting list for a little one and I'm not sure if there were any referrals over the last two weeks. So, we could (theoretically) be moving up the list but I'm not sure. We did learn that additional referrals will be coming very soon, so we are excited about that! We also learned that the wait for a little girl has lengthened from 5 months- 7months. We're not sure how or if that will affect us but that is the current status from Friday's agency update.
VIETNAM:
Matches and referrals!!! The Vietnam program continues to make progress! There were a few matches and a referral this past week- YAY!!! That's great news for in process families! We still don't know what precisely will happen after Sept 1st but as soon as we have an indication, we'll let you know. Please pray for the families and children affected.
BABY ROOM UPDATE:
Slowly but surely I am making progress on Hadley's room!!! I; being the goofy perfectionist that I am decided that the stripes that Kristen and I painted on the wall were not quite dark enough (pink). Sooooo, I took it upon myself to paint them a darker pink...OH SO FUN! I'm not sure what possessed me to do such a thing but off I went!! Well, I have about 2/3 of the striping done and it really does look nice. The previous pink was so light it really looked white to everyone who saw it :( Anyway, this weekend I will be finishing the task of painting pink stripes.
Brandon (aka- daddy) took it upon himself to install a beautiful girlie chandelier in lil Miss Hadley's room. Ironically, when we were looking, he was the deciding factor on picking this particular one out. I can honestly say while he was amidst the installation he probably wished he had chosen ANY fixture BUT the one he selected. Let's just say it was an eventful installation. Brandon is about the most handy man I know but for some reason this pretty little girlie light gave him more grief than was necessary!!! We both look back to that fun day a couple of weeks ago and LAUGH!
Well that's about it for now. We'll continue to keep you all posted! Thank you for all of the nice emails and prayers! They are SO, VERY MUCH APPRECIATED!!!!
Hugs and love,
Robin and Brandon
I hope that everyone had a wonderful 4th of July weekend!!! Ours was WONDERFUL! We left on the 3rd for a 10 day trip to Florida! We had an absolute ball. We drove (B and I love road trips!!!) through Atlanta and picked up my sister Kristen and then went on to Orlando to my parents house. Jill came in from Tampa and we had a fabulous 4th of July picnic with my family and our neighbors in Florida. Saturday we left for the beach for our annual family beach trip at New Smyrna Beach. As always; it was a blessed trip!! My parents, Kristen & Brian, Jill & Will and Brandon and I enjoyed each others company and time together. It's always SO DIFFICULT to leave them but we returned home last night and we were back to work today. I attempted to post pictures but I'm having technical difficulties (Imagine that! Me; the tech queen- haha ;-) Once I have them loaded, I'll send a second post of pictures.
So on to the updates!!!
RUSSIA:
We are a little over three weeks into our wait for a referral of Miss Hadley and I'm actually surprised at how fast the time has gone. It must have been that Florida SUN ;-) Not too much to report other than we are approx #18 on the waiting list for a little one and I'm not sure if there were any referrals over the last two weeks. So, we could (theoretically) be moving up the list but I'm not sure. We did learn that additional referrals will be coming very soon, so we are excited about that! We also learned that the wait for a little girl has lengthened from 5 months- 7months. We're not sure how or if that will affect us but that is the current status from Friday's agency update.
VIETNAM:
Matches and referrals!!! The Vietnam program continues to make progress! There were a few matches and a referral this past week- YAY!!! That's great news for in process families! We still don't know what precisely will happen after Sept 1st but as soon as we have an indication, we'll let you know. Please pray for the families and children affected.
BABY ROOM UPDATE:
Slowly but surely I am making progress on Hadley's room!!! I; being the goofy perfectionist that I am decided that the stripes that Kristen and I painted on the wall were not quite dark enough (pink). Sooooo, I took it upon myself to paint them a darker pink...OH SO FUN! I'm not sure what possessed me to do such a thing but off I went!! Well, I have about 2/3 of the striping done and it really does look nice. The previous pink was so light it really looked white to everyone who saw it :( Anyway, this weekend I will be finishing the task of painting pink stripes.
Brandon (aka- daddy) took it upon himself to install a beautiful girlie chandelier in lil Miss Hadley's room. Ironically, when we were looking, he was the deciding factor on picking this particular one out. I can honestly say while he was amidst the installation he probably wished he had chosen ANY fixture BUT the one he selected. Let's just say it was an eventful installation. Brandon is about the most handy man I know but for some reason this pretty little girlie light gave him more grief than was necessary!!! We both look back to that fun day a couple of weeks ago and LAUGH!
Well that's about it for now. We'll continue to keep you all posted! Thank you for all of the nice emails and prayers! They are SO, VERY MUCH APPRECIATED!!!!
Hugs and love,
Robin and Brandon
Friday, June 27, 2008
DOSSIER TO RUSSIA!
Hello everyone! I know this update is LONG-LONG overdue and I apologize. We've had many of our friends and family comment on the delay and ask how things are coming along. We've both been very busy with work and the adoption lately but have a GREAT update this week/month!
RUSSIA UPDATE:
Starting with Russia...We submitted our Russia dossier last Friday, June 20th!!! We were both SO-SO very excited!!!! Our dossier was then reviewed by FTIA on Monday and sent to Russia after review. We are now officially on the waiting list for our little girl. As a recap; we have been told that the longest we could wait is about 5 months. However, based on the fact that we are open to a child of Asian decent it could be sooner. We are happy as can be and are just waiting to get that phone call saying..."We have your referral" We will keep you posted! This week the FTIA Russia program referred both a baby girl and baby boy to two lucky families currently waiting.
VIETNAM UPDATE
The Vietnam program has picked up considerably and there have been many-many referrals over the last month. A total of about 10 referrals and many more matches have been made. This is also very exciting! Additional good news in the way of potential progress toward the MOU set to expire on Sept 1st, 2008. President Bush met with Vietnam's prime minister and had positive discussions surrounding International adoption between the U.S. and Vietnam. More information to follow over the next couple of months.
Last and certainly not least, my sister Kristen came in as I mentioned previously the first weekend in June. We painted Hadley's room for 2 days! :) It turned out absolutely adorable and I need to post pictures for everyone to see. I haven't downloaded them from my camera yet but I'll work on that over the weekend. Also we had an absolutely beautiful baby shower thrown by Brandon's mom and Auntie Carol. It was amazing and very-very special to both of us!!!! We have lots and lots of nice, new things for little Miss Hadley Jo Leese when she comes home from Russia. We were very blessed and overjoyed by the thoughtfulness and planning of the baby shower. Now we just want to meet our lil angel and get her home :)
As always, please keep Hadley in your prayers! We are truly hoping she comes home as soon as possible!!! We have faith and KNOW it will happen in Gods timing.
Have a great weekend!!!!!!!!!
Love,
Robin and Brandon
RUSSIA UPDATE:
Starting with Russia...We submitted our Russia dossier last Friday, June 20th!!! We were both SO-SO very excited!!!! Our dossier was then reviewed by FTIA on Monday and sent to Russia after review. We are now officially on the waiting list for our little girl. As a recap; we have been told that the longest we could wait is about 5 months. However, based on the fact that we are open to a child of Asian decent it could be sooner. We are happy as can be and are just waiting to get that phone call saying..."We have your referral" We will keep you posted! This week the FTIA Russia program referred both a baby girl and baby boy to two lucky families currently waiting.
VIETNAM UPDATE
The Vietnam program has picked up considerably and there have been many-many referrals over the last month. A total of about 10 referrals and many more matches have been made. This is also very exciting! Additional good news in the way of potential progress toward the MOU set to expire on Sept 1st, 2008. President Bush met with Vietnam's prime minister and had positive discussions surrounding International adoption between the U.S. and Vietnam. More information to follow over the next couple of months.
Last and certainly not least, my sister Kristen came in as I mentioned previously the first weekend in June. We painted Hadley's room for 2 days! :) It turned out absolutely adorable and I need to post pictures for everyone to see. I haven't downloaded them from my camera yet but I'll work on that over the weekend. Also we had an absolutely beautiful baby shower thrown by Brandon's mom and Auntie Carol. It was amazing and very-very special to both of us!!!! We have lots and lots of nice, new things for little Miss Hadley Jo Leese when she comes home from Russia. We were very blessed and overjoyed by the thoughtfulness and planning of the baby shower. Now we just want to meet our lil angel and get her home :)
As always, please keep Hadley in your prayers! We are truly hoping she comes home as soon as possible!!! We have faith and KNOW it will happen in Gods timing.
Have a great weekend!!!!!!!!!
Love,
Robin and Brandon
Monday, May 26, 2008
Full speed ahead...
Hello everyone,
I hope you all have enjoyed a WONDERFUL, extra long weekend! :) It was a gorgeous weekend here in Indy. We really enjoyed the extra day off. We visited and barbecued with friends, Boomer was in the Danville open horse show on Saturday (I'll post pictures soon, he looked SO handsome!!), we were able to get some spring cleaning done, relaxed, etc. So on to the updates....
VIETNAM:
Well this Vietnam update is short and sweet. Vietnam continues to move right along; contrary to what the MEDIA says. Families continue to travel and receive referrals. FTIA has referred a few children to families in the last few weeks, which is wonderful news!!! We remain cautiously optimistic and will continue to keep you posted on any new information :)
RUSSIA:
Russia is very different than Vietnam. It is a flowing program and therefore every week we hear of families on first and second trips to Russia (yes, Russia requires two trips). The wonderful news that we got this Friday is that FTIA just received their reaccreditation in Russia! It was wonderful news because that means that there are a few more Regions that will be open to placing children to families from the U.S. Prior to the reaccreditation, FTIA was working through 2 Regions only. We are getting very excited because we are rapidly approaching the waiting list!!! We continue to wait for our fingerprint appt from USCIS and then aside to a few last notaries and apostilles to be done (which should take us a couple of days) we are FINISHED! I'm hopeful that we will be on the list by mid June-ish. Our agency continues to project that the wait time (after being placed on the waiting list) is 2-5 months for a referral of a baby and then 1st trip travel to Russia is 5-12 days after we receive our referral (that is when we will meet Hadley Jo). Second trip travel (when we will bring little Hadley home) is approx 2 months after the first trip. We are really hoping and praying that we will be done traveling by October because November in Siberia is -19 degrees!!!! And "I" thought it was cold here in the winter!!! YIKES! All I can say is...UNDER ARMOR here I come!!! I imagine I'd be wearing cold gear upon cold gear upon cold gear ;-)
Last and certainly not least...My sister Kristen is coming in this weekend to visit and help decorate Hadley's room. I promise to include pictures of her room on my next post. Also, Brandon's mom and Auntie Carol are throwing us a baby shower in Chicago this weekend. We are SO excited!!! :)))
As always we ask for prayers for Hadley. We just can't wait to meet her!!! :)
Have a great week!
Love,
Robin & Brandon
I hope you all have enjoyed a WONDERFUL, extra long weekend! :) It was a gorgeous weekend here in Indy. We really enjoyed the extra day off. We visited and barbecued with friends, Boomer was in the Danville open horse show on Saturday (I'll post pictures soon, he looked SO handsome!!), we were able to get some spring cleaning done, relaxed, etc. So on to the updates....
VIETNAM:
Well this Vietnam update is short and sweet. Vietnam continues to move right along; contrary to what the MEDIA says. Families continue to travel and receive referrals. FTIA has referred a few children to families in the last few weeks, which is wonderful news!!! We remain cautiously optimistic and will continue to keep you posted on any new information :)
RUSSIA:
Russia is very different than Vietnam. It is a flowing program and therefore every week we hear of families on first and second trips to Russia (yes, Russia requires two trips). The wonderful news that we got this Friday is that FTIA just received their reaccreditation in Russia! It was wonderful news because that means that there are a few more Regions that will be open to placing children to families from the U.S. Prior to the reaccreditation, FTIA was working through 2 Regions only. We are getting very excited because we are rapidly approaching the waiting list!!! We continue to wait for our fingerprint appt from USCIS and then aside to a few last notaries and apostilles to be done (which should take us a couple of days) we are FINISHED! I'm hopeful that we will be on the list by mid June-ish. Our agency continues to project that the wait time (after being placed on the waiting list) is 2-5 months for a referral of a baby and then 1st trip travel to Russia is 5-12 days after we receive our referral (that is when we will meet Hadley Jo). Second trip travel (when we will bring little Hadley home) is approx 2 months after the first trip. We are really hoping and praying that we will be done traveling by October because November in Siberia is -19 degrees!!!! And "I" thought it was cold here in the winter!!! YIKES! All I can say is...UNDER ARMOR here I come!!! I imagine I'd be wearing cold gear upon cold gear upon cold gear ;-)
Last and certainly not least...My sister Kristen is coming in this weekend to visit and help decorate Hadley's room. I promise to include pictures of her room on my next post. Also, Brandon's mom and Auntie Carol are throwing us a baby shower in Chicago this weekend. We are SO excited!!! :)))
As always we ask for prayers for Hadley. We just can't wait to meet her!!! :)
Have a great week!
Love,
Robin & Brandon
Sunday, May 18, 2008
Getting Closer
Hello!! :) I apologize for the lack of updates recently. Brandon and I have been busy as bees these days! We have been very blessed, especially with two adoptions in the works to have Brandon's business booming more than ever before. We both are seeing the flood gates open!! I have been busy with traveling, presentation for work and adoption paperwork. All of this to say, we are overdue on our updates to you all.
I'll start with Vietnam...Our agency has reaffirmed that Vietnam is NOT closed, regardless of what the media has to say. They are still taking the stance that this is all political posturing. Matches, referrals and traveling are still occurring for families in the Vietnam program. Our dossier is in Vietnam and until we are told otherwise, we are still awaiting a referral and then travel in about 20 months. Of course things are very uncertain, as is all International adoption but we cling to our faith in God and HIS plan for our lives!!! :)
On to Russia; since my last post we have submitted our I-600A to USCIS (as a refresher this is the document that gets us our fingerprint appt and preapproval to adopt an "orphan") So we are waiting for our fingerprint appt which will hopefully come in 2-3 weeks. Our final home study (in home) visit was yesterday! We spent 5 hours with our social worker. We were of course a little nervous but we had an absolutely wonderful visit. Our social worker was amazing and very informative! She will now write our home study, send it to us and our agency (FTIA) for us to look it over and then the final will be sent to us and USCIS to finish processing our preapproval. I have completed the majority of our paperwork with a couple notaries and state apostilles still needed. The last major hurdle we have is to finish our 10 hours of education which we will be working on finishing up this evening. When we finish that, we take a couple of test online and then our agency receives a certificate saying we have complied. Until that is done we cannot bring our lil one home. With all of the above still to do, I anticipate we will be on the list and waiting for our referral in 2-4 weeks. Anytime after we are on the list we can get our referral and then 5-10 days after we receive it, we TRAVEL to meet our daughter!!!!
LAST BUT CERTAINLY NOT LEAST!!! We have decided on a name for her....Hadley Jo Leese. Until we meet her we just continue to pray and request prayers for her health, nurturing and safety. We KNOW God is holding her in His hands!!!
LOVE AND HUGS TO EVERYONE!!!!
xoxoxoox~
Robin and Brandon
I'll start with Vietnam...Our agency has reaffirmed that Vietnam is NOT closed, regardless of what the media has to say. They are still taking the stance that this is all political posturing. Matches, referrals and traveling are still occurring for families in the Vietnam program. Our dossier is in Vietnam and until we are told otherwise, we are still awaiting a referral and then travel in about 20 months. Of course things are very uncertain, as is all International adoption but we cling to our faith in God and HIS plan for our lives!!! :)
On to Russia; since my last post we have submitted our I-600A to USCIS (as a refresher this is the document that gets us our fingerprint appt and preapproval to adopt an "orphan") So we are waiting for our fingerprint appt which will hopefully come in 2-3 weeks. Our final home study (in home) visit was yesterday! We spent 5 hours with our social worker. We were of course a little nervous but we had an absolutely wonderful visit. Our social worker was amazing and very informative! She will now write our home study, send it to us and our agency (FTIA) for us to look it over and then the final will be sent to us and USCIS to finish processing our preapproval. I have completed the majority of our paperwork with a couple notaries and state apostilles still needed. The last major hurdle we have is to finish our 10 hours of education which we will be working on finishing up this evening. When we finish that, we take a couple of test online and then our agency receives a certificate saying we have complied. Until that is done we cannot bring our lil one home. With all of the above still to do, I anticipate we will be on the list and waiting for our referral in 2-4 weeks. Anytime after we are on the list we can get our referral and then 5-10 days after we receive it, we TRAVEL to meet our daughter!!!!
LAST BUT CERTAINLY NOT LEAST!!! We have decided on a name for her....Hadley Jo Leese. Until we meet her we just continue to pray and request prayers for her health, nurturing and safety. We KNOW God is holding her in His hands!!!
LOVE AND HUGS TO EVERYONE!!!!
xoxoxoox~
Robin and Brandon
Monday, April 28, 2008
"VIETNAM TO END ADOPTIONS WITH THE U.S."
Hello all,
Here is another update on the status of U.S. adoptions from Vietnam. This article says it ALL...
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080428/ap_on_re_as/vietnam_us_adoption
Please PRAY for these little ones!!!
Hugs and love,
Robin and Brandon
Here is another update on the status of U.S. adoptions from Vietnam. This article says it ALL...
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080428/ap_on_re_as/vietnam_us_adoption
Please PRAY for these little ones!!!
Hugs and love,
Robin and Brandon
Friday, April 25, 2008
What a day, what a week!
Hello all and HAPPY FRIDAY!!! :) I hope you all are doing well and enjoying this beautiful spring day! It's been absolutely GORGEOUS here in Indy!!! I can't get enough of this weather and the pretty flowers blooming everywhere you turn!!
So, first I will start with a RUSSIA update! We had a Russia conference call on Tuesday of this week with our Russia coordinator at FTIA, Inessa. It went very well. She was calling to go over how to complete our dossier...Well, she wasn't aware that I was still in a dossier FRENZY from just completing our Vietnam dossier (hehe). I'm an ole pro now ;-) Everytime she would say, "ok, so about this document"... I'd say, "done, done, done" :) Needless to say, I'm just about done with our dossier, the only thing left to do is our notaries and apostilles and then our I-600A specifically for Russia. She wanted me to wait until our home study was complete to get all of the above papers in order, so that the dates on the documentation is not far off. All of this to say, our home study should be completed along with all of our documentation (baring any unforeseen circumstances) in the next 4 weeks. At that point we are on the waiting list and our wait could be anywhere from a few days up to about 5 months. With that in mind...Many of the Russian adoptive families I have spoken with said they got their referrals as early as day THREE up to about 2 months!!!! So it could be much sooner than we anticipated. I'll keep ya posted! :) OHHHH, and we are thinking about a couple of new names....Hadley (the A sounds like the "apple") and also Carson, which is a family name on my side. We'll see...
On to Vietnam and the BIG NEWS there! I'm going to save the lengthy story and just post the warnings that were issued by our government, for you to read. It APPEARS that Vietnam is shutting down. For how long, we don't know and we also don't know if we'll be able to complete our adoption from Vietnam. Even with the recent announcement our agency issued a statement that sounded somewhat optimistic and they still believe there is a "chance" we could end up completing our adoption from Vietnam. As for any of the details, we truly have NO clue, which is par for the course on this journey. We continue to put our trust and faith in the Lord and His plan.
Here are both the relevant announcements and they are better than any synopsis I could give:
http://vietnam.usembassy.gov/adoption_warning0408.html
http://vietnam.usembassy.gov/irreg_adoptions042508.html
So, it's been a busy day and a busy week!! :) We are in very good spirits, though we were disappointed by the announcement we are at peace with where God has us right us now. Ironically today while I was out driving around I found COMPLETE comfort in listening to a sermon surrounding, Acts 20. God new just where to meet me, HE is SOO good!!!! :)
ENJOY YOUR WEEKEND!!! BIG HUGS FROM THE LEESE FAMILY!!!
Robin & Brandon
So, first I will start with a RUSSIA update! We had a Russia conference call on Tuesday of this week with our Russia coordinator at FTIA, Inessa. It went very well. She was calling to go over how to complete our dossier...Well, she wasn't aware that I was still in a dossier FRENZY from just completing our Vietnam dossier (hehe). I'm an ole pro now ;-) Everytime she would say, "ok, so about this document"... I'd say, "done, done, done" :) Needless to say, I'm just about done with our dossier, the only thing left to do is our notaries and apostilles and then our I-600A specifically for Russia. She wanted me to wait until our home study was complete to get all of the above papers in order, so that the dates on the documentation is not far off. All of this to say, our home study should be completed along with all of our documentation (baring any unforeseen circumstances) in the next 4 weeks. At that point we are on the waiting list and our wait could be anywhere from a few days up to about 5 months. With that in mind...Many of the Russian adoptive families I have spoken with said they got their referrals as early as day THREE up to about 2 months!!!! So it could be much sooner than we anticipated. I'll keep ya posted! :) OHHHH, and we are thinking about a couple of new names....Hadley (the A sounds like the "apple") and also Carson, which is a family name on my side. We'll see...
On to Vietnam and the BIG NEWS there! I'm going to save the lengthy story and just post the warnings that were issued by our government, for you to read. It APPEARS that Vietnam is shutting down. For how long, we don't know and we also don't know if we'll be able to complete our adoption from Vietnam. Even with the recent announcement our agency issued a statement that sounded somewhat optimistic and they still believe there is a "chance" we could end up completing our adoption from Vietnam. As for any of the details, we truly have NO clue, which is par for the course on this journey. We continue to put our trust and faith in the Lord and His plan.
Here are both the relevant announcements and they are better than any synopsis I could give:
http://vietnam.usembassy.gov/adoption_warning0408.html
http://vietnam.usembassy.gov/irreg_adoptions042508.html
So, it's been a busy day and a busy week!! :) We are in very good spirits, though we were disappointed by the announcement we are at peace with where God has us right us now. Ironically today while I was out driving around I found COMPLETE comfort in listening to a sermon surrounding, Acts 20. God new just where to meet me, HE is SOO good!!!! :)
ENJOY YOUR WEEKEND!!! BIG HUGS FROM THE LEESE FAMILY!!!
Robin & Brandon
Monday, April 14, 2008
Russian Approval and Vietnam Referrals
Hello friends and family! I hope you all have had a nice start to your week. We are doing well but busy bees. I wanted to give you a brief update and let you know that we received our "official" approval today from FTIA to start our Russian Adoption! Yippee! I can hardly believe we are heading down this path but we are so excited!
On the Vietnam front, there were three referrals last week (2 girls and 1 boy). Again as always the children were beyond precious. It was so nice to share in the joy of the families who got their referrals. It was a very exciting week for Vietnam families!! :)
Last but not least, I wanted to let you all know that rather than trying to maintain two blogs we are going to continue with this one blog. We will combine Russian and Vietnam updates as crazy at it may seem and as long as the posts might be, I think it will be easier for me to maintain with balancing work and compiling our dossier.
Thanks again to everyone for all of your support!!
We love you,
Robin & Brandon
On the Vietnam front, there were three referrals last week (2 girls and 1 boy). Again as always the children were beyond precious. It was so nice to share in the joy of the families who got their referrals. It was a very exciting week for Vietnam families!! :)
Last but not least, I wanted to let you all know that rather than trying to maintain two blogs we are going to continue with this one blog. We will combine Russian and Vietnam updates as crazy at it may seem and as long as the posts might be, I think it will be easier for me to maintain with balancing work and compiling our dossier.
Thanks again to everyone for all of your support!!
We love you,
Robin & Brandon
Thursday, April 10, 2008
BIG NEWS!!!!
Hello all!! :) Well, it's been a busy week thus far and we have some news to share with you!!! This is somewhat of a long story but I thought you might like to hear about the journey to our recent decision.
As you may remember, the week or two before Easter we were made aware of a potential domestic adoption possibility of a baby girl. Unfortunately, that didn't work out for us but it did get us thinking about how ready we are for our family and how open we truly are to other adoption alternatives that we hadn't considered. After that, we started discussing IF we should pursue a concurrent adoption (meaning another adoption while we are amidst our adoption for Vietnam). Neither one of us felt STRONGLY about it. We BOTH realized we were absolutely ready to be parents right now but didn't want to run with our emotion. We have been praying about it and doing lots of talking and thinking. All of this to say...We contacted our adoption agency about 2-3 wks ago to see what other alternatives we have and our facilitator asked us if we had ever considered Russia. I told her, "yes" but we decided against it for various reasons. After talking with her, I felt more at ease about our concerns and thought I'd share what she told me with Brandon. We talked and started to both feel our hearts "might" be open to this as an option. We gave it about a week and then contacted her again with some additional questions...This time I explained to her that we felt strongly about having a diverse family so that our children would never feel like they were "different" or didn't fit in with us (being Caucasian). In our eyes, the more diverse we are as a family, the less likely the child is to grow up truly looking at the physical differences. She then explained that in Russia there were many children close to the Kazakhstan and China borders that looked very Asian and were likely a mix of Russian and Chinese or Kazakh. This of course made both Brandon and I perk up!!! At that point she told us that we might want to talk to the Russian coordinator. So, I called her. She was very informative. I asked her what I thought would be the "tough question"...."Would we be able to request that our child was of Asian decent?" I thought for sure the answer would be NO, so I was prepared for that. Much to our pleasant surprise the answer was, "YES". Brandon and I perked up even more and started to feel the doors opening more and more. Our last concern was timeframe. We didn't want our children to come home too close in age and in time. We wanted to know that our children would both have a good amount of time to adjust. So, our final question early this week was..."How much longer till our daughter comes home from Vietnam (meaning our referal). The response was one that we both expected but neither Brandon nor I was quite ready to hear. We were just hoping that we might have our lil one home in summer- fall of 2009. We were told that we would likely not get our referral for 17 more months and then we would not travel for 5 months after that....22 MONTHS! I have to say that I think that was the toughest moment for me during this entire adoption process. Reality set in. We are 14 months into this process and 22 to go. That shouldn't have been a surprise because we new what to expect based on how upfront our agency has been but it still was tough. I called Brandon and was in tears, I told him about the 22 months and he said, "don't be sad Robin, I take this as good news...This tells us it's time to move forward". What an AMAZING husband I have!!! We've both been pretty level headed during this process but when I caved, he was there to make sense of it and pick me up!!! I hadn't thought of that.
We've made our decision, we are going to adopt from Russia!!!! We are both VERY excited!!!! We are going to continue on with our adoption from Vietnam (our hearts are still very much there) and in the interim, we will adopt a lil one from Russia. The other tid-bit that I left out is that if we decide to adopt a boy, the wait is 3 months and if we decide to adopt a girl it's 3-6 months!!!! This seemed incomprehensible based on our timeline from Vietnam. We haven't made a decision yet as to a boy or a girl. I'm wide open to either and have left it up to Brandon. He's saying..."60-40 for a girl" But we'll see! ;-) So, stay tuned. It's unbelievable to us that we will very likely have met or have our child home before Christmas!!!!!
The other thing that occurred to me today is that our child has already been born! In Russia, the youngest you are referred a child is 10-16 months, which means he or she could be 4-6 months right now! He/she is very likely living in an orphanage right now. We are asking that you PLEASE-PLEASE keep our lil one in your prayers. I was thinking today, who is holding him/her, feeding, loving, changing, etc. That's a tough reality to get your head around. There have been some other amazing ironies that have taken place during this time that I'd love to share but for fear that you all might be falling asleep already, I'll save those stories for another time.
Last but certainly not least...Our paperwork returned from the Vietnam Embassy yesterday and I immediately Fed Ex'd it to our agency. It is now going to be sent to Vietnam for translation and log in. Just when I thought the paper chase was coming to an end....It's time for me to get back in the saddle and hit the ground running again. Paperwork, paperwork and more paperwork!!! :) But it's going to be worth every single minute of it!!!!
Everyone have a wonderful weekend!!! :) Sending big hugs your way!!!
Oh and P.S....Where else in the country can you live and have spring weather, daffodils blooming, green grass AND SNOW FLURRIES THIS WEEKEND!!!!!
As you may remember, the week or two before Easter we were made aware of a potential domestic adoption possibility of a baby girl. Unfortunately, that didn't work out for us but it did get us thinking about how ready we are for our family and how open we truly are to other adoption alternatives that we hadn't considered. After that, we started discussing IF we should pursue a concurrent adoption (meaning another adoption while we are amidst our adoption for Vietnam). Neither one of us felt STRONGLY about it. We BOTH realized we were absolutely ready to be parents right now but didn't want to run with our emotion. We have been praying about it and doing lots of talking and thinking. All of this to say...We contacted our adoption agency about 2-3 wks ago to see what other alternatives we have and our facilitator asked us if we had ever considered Russia. I told her, "yes" but we decided against it for various reasons. After talking with her, I felt more at ease about our concerns and thought I'd share what she told me with Brandon. We talked and started to both feel our hearts "might" be open to this as an option. We gave it about a week and then contacted her again with some additional questions...This time I explained to her that we felt strongly about having a diverse family so that our children would never feel like they were "different" or didn't fit in with us (being Caucasian). In our eyes, the more diverse we are as a family, the less likely the child is to grow up truly looking at the physical differences. She then explained that in Russia there were many children close to the Kazakhstan and China borders that looked very Asian and were likely a mix of Russian and Chinese or Kazakh. This of course made both Brandon and I perk up!!! At that point she told us that we might want to talk to the Russian coordinator. So, I called her. She was very informative. I asked her what I thought would be the "tough question"...."Would we be able to request that our child was of Asian decent?" I thought for sure the answer would be NO, so I was prepared for that. Much to our pleasant surprise the answer was, "YES". Brandon and I perked up even more and started to feel the doors opening more and more. Our last concern was timeframe. We didn't want our children to come home too close in age and in time. We wanted to know that our children would both have a good amount of time to adjust. So, our final question early this week was..."How much longer till our daughter comes home from Vietnam (meaning our referal). The response was one that we both expected but neither Brandon nor I was quite ready to hear. We were just hoping that we might have our lil one home in summer- fall of 2009. We were told that we would likely not get our referral for 17 more months and then we would not travel for 5 months after that....22 MONTHS! I have to say that I think that was the toughest moment for me during this entire adoption process. Reality set in. We are 14 months into this process and 22 to go. That shouldn't have been a surprise because we new what to expect based on how upfront our agency has been but it still was tough. I called Brandon and was in tears, I told him about the 22 months and he said, "don't be sad Robin, I take this as good news...This tells us it's time to move forward". What an AMAZING husband I have!!! We've both been pretty level headed during this process but when I caved, he was there to make sense of it and pick me up!!! I hadn't thought of that.
We've made our decision, we are going to adopt from Russia!!!! We are both VERY excited!!!! We are going to continue on with our adoption from Vietnam (our hearts are still very much there) and in the interim, we will adopt a lil one from Russia. The other tid-bit that I left out is that if we decide to adopt a boy, the wait is 3 months and if we decide to adopt a girl it's 3-6 months!!!! This seemed incomprehensible based on our timeline from Vietnam. We haven't made a decision yet as to a boy or a girl. I'm wide open to either and have left it up to Brandon. He's saying..."60-40 for a girl" But we'll see! ;-) So, stay tuned. It's unbelievable to us that we will very likely have met or have our child home before Christmas!!!!!
The other thing that occurred to me today is that our child has already been born! In Russia, the youngest you are referred a child is 10-16 months, which means he or she could be 4-6 months right now! He/she is very likely living in an orphanage right now. We are asking that you PLEASE-PLEASE keep our lil one in your prayers. I was thinking today, who is holding him/her, feeding, loving, changing, etc. That's a tough reality to get your head around. There have been some other amazing ironies that have taken place during this time that I'd love to share but for fear that you all might be falling asleep already, I'll save those stories for another time.
Last but certainly not least...Our paperwork returned from the Vietnam Embassy yesterday and I immediately Fed Ex'd it to our agency. It is now going to be sent to Vietnam for translation and log in. Just when I thought the paper chase was coming to an end....It's time for me to get back in the saddle and hit the ground running again. Paperwork, paperwork and more paperwork!!! :) But it's going to be worth every single minute of it!!!!
Everyone have a wonderful weekend!!! :) Sending big hugs your way!!!
Oh and P.S....Where else in the country can you live and have spring weather, daffodils blooming, green grass AND SNOW FLURRIES THIS WEEKEND!!!!!
Sunday, April 6, 2008
The paper chase!
Hello all! :) Well, I'm happy to report that we are seeing signs of BEAUTIFUL spring here in Indy!!! The daffodils are peaking out of the ground along with the beginning of our tulips!!! It's so exciting to see GREEN!!! I absolutely LOVE this time of year here. There are so many amazing flowers. Of course, with spring comes the desire for home improvements! About two months ago, "B" and I ordered a new family room (couch, tables, etc) and so over last weekend I decided we should paint before the furniture arrives. The family room looked so nice after painting, it turned into the hallway, and next thing we knew it...Our bedroom :) I was on a mission. I'm really excited it turned out nicely and just in time for my sisters to arrive in two weeks. I can't wait to see them!
Ok, so on to the latest information and boy is there plenty. As you may remember about 2 weeks ago we were told to begin our dossier. Well, the message was very clear that we would need to do it FAST. The message from our agency was..."As fast as possible". So, needless to say I was in overdrive running around like a loony. We had to get our criminal reports, medical records, home study, I-171, reference letters, etc, etc. In the adoption world they call this the, "paper chase". I got a first hand example as to why it is called that!!! WOW!!! Talk about busy!! After we gathered out documents we took them to get them notarized and then down to the Secretary of State in Indianapolis. Now they are at the Vietnam Embassy (via RUSH mode) and will return to us, all to get to our agency ASAP where they will then be reviewed and sent on to Vietnam for translation and log in of our DOSSIER. All of this is important because we still do not know what the true outcome will be regarding Vietnam closing come Sept 1st. There has been no more news on that front but many are speculating based on all of the rushing around we are doing. If we can get logged in to Vietnam before the POTENTIAL shutdown, we have been told there is a good possibility we could continue our adoption. So we are praying for that and for God to direct all of our steps. We hope to have our paperwork back from the Embassy sometime this week and then we will be overnighting them to our agency (FTIA).
Next bit of news....USCIS has issued an "UNOFFICIAL" statement saying that all children in Vietnam who are relinquished (turned over for adoption, NOT abandoned) will require DNA testing. This opens an entirely new set of concerns. As I'm sure you can imagine, Vietnam has a much different culture than the U.S. and there is a HUGE stigma to surrendering your child, especially if you are an unwed birth mother. There are many concerns about this and how it will affect relinquishing children but to be honest, I just can't think about it or be concerned. I am doing my best to keep my eyes FIXED on God and His plan for us. It's the only thing that gives me peace. There are SOOO many unknowns in International adoption, you could "WHAT IF" this to absolute death...We just chose not to. I have actually removed myself from all but one of our support groups because of all of the negativity. I feel like we have our own support group, in each other (Brandon and I) are friends, family, agency and adoptive parents we have gotten to know personally.
Now for the good news!! :) Our agencies update this week was positive once again and they have said that amidst all the changes and uncertainty they continue to process adoptions and move forward. More children have been matched with families and more referrals will be coming soon (yayyy!!!). That means we are likely still on target for our referral sometime in April-August 2009. Of course, we'll continue to keep you posted.
Last, we ask for prayers for the little girl (birth mom) soon to give birth to her baby girl. We don't believe that we will have the opportunity to adopt this baby girl but we still ask for prayers for her and her mom. She is going through what must be the most DIFFICULT BY FAR, time in her life!! Also, Brandon and I have been throwing around a potential concurrent adoption as well. This means we could possibly adopt another child domestically or Internationally while we wait for our lil girl to come home from Vietnam. We have been talking and praying about this for a few weeks now but we haven't felt God pulling us to take ACTION, so we are waiting and attempting to be patient. While we consider options we ask for prayer for God to open and close doors along this road and direct our paths and make them crystal clear. We don't want to live out OUR plan we want to live out HIS plan.
We hope this finds everyone doing well!!! We miss and love you all!!! Anyone who wants to venture up to Indy during this gorgeous spring weather, our doors are open and you are more than welcome!!! :)
PS- MANY HUGE THANKS to The Andries, The Sampens, The Beasley's, The Luedtke's and my family for TRULY helping us get our paperwork submitted TIMELY!!!! You all don't know how much your help meant to us!!! We COULDN'T have moved as quickly as we did without you ALL!!!!
BIG HUGE HUGS!!!! xoxo
Robin & Brandon
Ok, so on to the latest information and boy is there plenty. As you may remember about 2 weeks ago we were told to begin our dossier. Well, the message was very clear that we would need to do it FAST. The message from our agency was..."As fast as possible". So, needless to say I was in overdrive running around like a loony. We had to get our criminal reports, medical records, home study, I-171, reference letters, etc, etc. In the adoption world they call this the, "paper chase". I got a first hand example as to why it is called that!!! WOW!!! Talk about busy!! After we gathered out documents we took them to get them notarized and then down to the Secretary of State in Indianapolis. Now they are at the Vietnam Embassy (via RUSH mode) and will return to us, all to get to our agency ASAP where they will then be reviewed and sent on to Vietnam for translation and log in of our DOSSIER. All of this is important because we still do not know what the true outcome will be regarding Vietnam closing come Sept 1st. There has been no more news on that front but many are speculating based on all of the rushing around we are doing. If we can get logged in to Vietnam before the POTENTIAL shutdown, we have been told there is a good possibility we could continue our adoption. So we are praying for that and for God to direct all of our steps. We hope to have our paperwork back from the Embassy sometime this week and then we will be overnighting them to our agency (FTIA).
Next bit of news....USCIS has issued an "UNOFFICIAL" statement saying that all children in Vietnam who are relinquished (turned over for adoption, NOT abandoned) will require DNA testing. This opens an entirely new set of concerns. As I'm sure you can imagine, Vietnam has a much different culture than the U.S. and there is a HUGE stigma to surrendering your child, especially if you are an unwed birth mother. There are many concerns about this and how it will affect relinquishing children but to be honest, I just can't think about it or be concerned. I am doing my best to keep my eyes FIXED on God and His plan for us. It's the only thing that gives me peace. There are SOOO many unknowns in International adoption, you could "WHAT IF" this to absolute death...We just chose not to. I have actually removed myself from all but one of our support groups because of all of the negativity. I feel like we have our own support group, in each other (Brandon and I) are friends, family, agency and adoptive parents we have gotten to know personally.
Now for the good news!! :) Our agencies update this week was positive once again and they have said that amidst all the changes and uncertainty they continue to process adoptions and move forward. More children have been matched with families and more referrals will be coming soon (yayyy!!!). That means we are likely still on target for our referral sometime in April-August 2009. Of course, we'll continue to keep you posted.
Last, we ask for prayers for the little girl (birth mom) soon to give birth to her baby girl. We don't believe that we will have the opportunity to adopt this baby girl but we still ask for prayers for her and her mom. She is going through what must be the most DIFFICULT BY FAR, time in her life!! Also, Brandon and I have been throwing around a potential concurrent adoption as well. This means we could possibly adopt another child domestically or Internationally while we wait for our lil girl to come home from Vietnam. We have been talking and praying about this for a few weeks now but we haven't felt God pulling us to take ACTION, so we are waiting and attempting to be patient. While we consider options we ask for prayer for God to open and close doors along this road and direct our paths and make them crystal clear. We don't want to live out OUR plan we want to live out HIS plan.
We hope this finds everyone doing well!!! We miss and love you all!!! Anyone who wants to venture up to Indy during this gorgeous spring weather, our doors are open and you are more than welcome!!! :)
PS- MANY HUGE THANKS to The Andries, The Sampens, The Beasley's, The Luedtke's and my family for TRULY helping us get our paperwork submitted TIMELY!!!! You all don't know how much your help meant to us!!! We COULDN'T have moved as quickly as we did without you ALL!!!!
BIG HUGE HUGS!!!! xoxo
Robin & Brandon
Saturday, March 22, 2008
WHAT A WEEK!!!!
Hello friends and family! It's been an information and emotion filled week since last Saturday. This post might be a little long, so if you have time, grab a cup of coffee. Brandon and I are doing well, he is coming into his busy season once again for work. My job is going very well and all the critters are doing well. Although lil Miss Remmie has been earning her old nickname of the, "Tasmanian devil". She must sense that spring is close by. She's been running through the house like it's a play ground. All the doggies have been loving running around outdoors, swimming in our pond and tracking all of the fresh mud (from there feet) through our freshly vacuumed and mopped house!! :) Ahhhh, the joy of our four legged family. We just have to smile :) I continually tell Brandon that they are adequately preparing us for children :)))
So on to our weekly update....First, we are asking for prayer once again regarding a potential baby girl in our future. I'm not prepared to share details just yet but some news was shared with us last Saturday of a baby girl soon to be born and we are praying for this baby girls future right now! Our prayer has been that she goes to the PERFECT home that God has picked out, just for her. If that is our home, we will feel tremendously blessed but right now we are just praying for her birth mom and her future.
Regarding Vietnam and the state of affairs with adoption there, well it continues to look more and more "uncertain". There is once again SO much chatter regarding the potential shutdown on Sept 1, 2008. We have been given no definitive news on this but my gut feeling is now telling me that Vietnam will close down come September. With that potential shutdown their will be many families and children amidst the process and it will be left up to Vietnam to decide who will be able to continue the process of finishing their adoption. There has been "TALK" that "POSSIBLY" anyone who has a dossier logged in will be able to complete their adoption. Therefore, we were contacted by our agency yesterday and told to begin our dossier. As you may remember, we were not slated to begin our dossier until April 2009 at the earliest, so this came as a HUGE surprise. My thought is that our agency is doing this to help all "in process" families finalize their adoptions and bring their children home. This does not mean that our timeline has changed regarding our Vietnam adoption, it is still looking like approx 12-18 months away. With that, we ask for prayer for ALL in process families and children. Also, I have attached a petition that will be going to our Vice President when enough signatures are added. If you feel lead to sign it or pass it along we would be much appreciative. After you have signed the petition, it (the organization) gives you the option of making a donation...We want you to know that it is not required for your voice to be heard via your signature.
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/AmericansforVietnamOrphans/http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/AmericansforVietnamOrphans/
Last but certainly not least, I have attached another website with very detailed information on what is happening regarding Vietnam/U.S. adoptions, if you are interested.
http://www.bringourchildrenhome.org/
We just want to thank all of our friends and family for their support. You truly have no idea how blessed we feel to have had so many of the people we know and love support us in this process. It can be truly taxing and emotional at times and we are so thankful for all of you and the genuine LOVE you have shown us. We truly feel blessed!!!
Many blessings to you all!!! HAPPY EASTER!!!!
Let us remember this weekend that yesterday Jesus gave his life on the cross and paid the ultimate price for ALL, so that we could have eternal life with our Father in heaven one day; if we only accept and embrace His gift of salvation.
Tomorrow we celebrate the Resurrection of our Lord, (Matthew 28)
AMEN!
HAVE A WONDERFUL WEEKEND!!!!
Hugs,
Brandon and Robin
So on to our weekly update....First, we are asking for prayer once again regarding a potential baby girl in our future. I'm not prepared to share details just yet but some news was shared with us last Saturday of a baby girl soon to be born and we are praying for this baby girls future right now! Our prayer has been that she goes to the PERFECT home that God has picked out, just for her. If that is our home, we will feel tremendously blessed but right now we are just praying for her birth mom and her future.
Regarding Vietnam and the state of affairs with adoption there, well it continues to look more and more "uncertain". There is once again SO much chatter regarding the potential shutdown on Sept 1, 2008. We have been given no definitive news on this but my gut feeling is now telling me that Vietnam will close down come September. With that potential shutdown their will be many families and children amidst the process and it will be left up to Vietnam to decide who will be able to continue the process of finishing their adoption. There has been "TALK" that "POSSIBLY" anyone who has a dossier logged in will be able to complete their adoption. Therefore, we were contacted by our agency yesterday and told to begin our dossier. As you may remember, we were not slated to begin our dossier until April 2009 at the earliest, so this came as a HUGE surprise. My thought is that our agency is doing this to help all "in process" families finalize their adoptions and bring their children home. This does not mean that our timeline has changed regarding our Vietnam adoption, it is still looking like approx 12-18 months away. With that, we ask for prayer for ALL in process families and children. Also, I have attached a petition that will be going to our Vice President when enough signatures are added. If you feel lead to sign it or pass it along we would be much appreciative. After you have signed the petition, it (the organization) gives you the option of making a donation...We want you to know that it is not required for your voice to be heard via your signature.
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/AmericansforVietnamOrphans/http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/AmericansforVietnamOrphans/
Last but certainly not least, I have attached another website with very detailed information on what is happening regarding Vietnam/U.S. adoptions, if you are interested.
http://www.bringourchildrenhome.org/
We just want to thank all of our friends and family for their support. You truly have no idea how blessed we feel to have had so many of the people we know and love support us in this process. It can be truly taxing and emotional at times and we are so thankful for all of you and the genuine LOVE you have shown us. We truly feel blessed!!!
Many blessings to you all!!! HAPPY EASTER!!!!
Let us remember this weekend that yesterday Jesus gave his life on the cross and paid the ultimate price for ALL, so that we could have eternal life with our Father in heaven one day; if we only accept and embrace His gift of salvation.
Tomorrow we celebrate the Resurrection of our Lord, (Matthew 28)
AMEN!
HAVE A WONDERFUL WEEKEND!!!!
Hugs,
Brandon and Robin
Saturday, March 15, 2008
Weekly Update
Hello everyone! I hope you all had a good week and will be enjoying a relaxing weekend.
We received our weekly update from our agency on Friday. It had an encouraging tone to it. It was shared that our agency (FTIA) is continuing to match families with children. There were not any actual referrals but the matching is encouraging. There is news that JCICS had a successful meeting while in Vietnam recently. They continue to advocate for Vietnam adoptions to continue and for a new MOU (Memorandum of Understanding) which is set to expire on Sept 1, 2008 be rewritten to everyones satisfaction and be renewed before Sept. 1st. If it is not renewed, our agency along with many other organizations for adoption are encouraging Vietnam to allow those "in process" to continue. We aren't quite sure what the definition of "in process" will be at this time because it has not yet been defined but we continue to be hopeful and prayerful that the MOU will be renewed on or BEFORE Sept 1, 2008.
As we continue to wait and see what the weeks and months hold we look to James for encouragement:
James 1:27
Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.
We received our weekly update from our agency on Friday. It had an encouraging tone to it. It was shared that our agency (FTIA) is continuing to match families with children. There were not any actual referrals but the matching is encouraging. There is news that JCICS had a successful meeting while in Vietnam recently. They continue to advocate for Vietnam adoptions to continue and for a new MOU (Memorandum of Understanding) which is set to expire on Sept 1, 2008 be rewritten to everyones satisfaction and be renewed before Sept. 1st. If it is not renewed, our agency along with many other organizations for adoption are encouraging Vietnam to allow those "in process" to continue. We aren't quite sure what the definition of "in process" will be at this time because it has not yet been defined but we continue to be hopeful and prayerful that the MOU will be renewed on or BEFORE Sept 1, 2008.
As we continue to wait and see what the weeks and months hold we look to James for encouragement:
James 1:27
Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Update dating back to last Friday, 3/7/08
Hello all :) Last Friday brought some amazing news for another family adopting from FTIA! They were referred an absolutely precious baby girl!!! I was able to see her picture and she is SO adorable!!!
Our agencies report last week (3/7/08) had a positive tone to it....They said that March should be a busy month with referrals resuming. This is also very exciting news!
We still haven't heard anything concrete regarding the MOU being renewed. There is still MUCH speculation among those adopting from Vietnam as to if we will experience a shutdown or not. Brandon and I have been fortunate not to get caught up in the speculation and I KNOW that comes from God and through much prayer. I belong to two yahoo groups for parents who are adopting (or would like to adopt) from Vietnam and there is continual frustrations and upheaval voiced daily among those adopting from Vietnam. I have made it a point to scan the posts before reading them, as to not get sucked into the ups and downs and drama of it all. As for concrete news, we did read what I've cut and pasted below regarding the current meetings in Vietnam (www.jcics.org - this is the joint council of childrens internationl services) There mission is: To advocate and protect the right of every child to a safe, permanent and loving family. They are involved in the current discussions among the US and Vietnam regarding renewing and rewriting the MOU. This is what they had to say on March 7th:
March 7, 2008
The Executive Committee of the Board of Directors is pleased to clarify Joint Council's position regarding the current Vietnam negotiations, specific to an earlier post issued on March 7, 2008:
Joint Council continues to advocate for all JCICS member and affiliate organizations with programs in Vietnam and those hoping to establish them. It is, however, important to bear in mind that Joint Council is not alone in this conversation. As we all know, there are multiple entities, governmental and non-governmental, involved in the on-going negotiations around re-establishing the MOA between the US and Vietnam. As a contribution to these negotiations, Joint Council offered the recently created Standards of Practice for Vietnam – a document all involved parties recognized as "a key element of elevating child welfare services...."
Joint Council encourages Vietnam's movement toward functional implementation of the Hague Convention and, pending that eventuality, strongly supports continuation of programs and agency licensure based on best practice as outlined in the Joint Council Standards of Practice for Vietnam.
Additionally, we have issued a post regarding the “rolling nature” of the COA/DOS list of Hague accredited agencies initially released on February 29, 2008. Our newest post can be accessed at http://www.jcics.org/Hague.htm. The Hague list of accredited agencies issued on February 29th was only an initial release. As we noted on March 3rd, many other Joint Council agencies will finalize their Hague Accreditation and be added to the list, both before and after April 1, 2008.
Again, Joint Council continues to advocate on behalf of all our member and affiliate organizations. Adoption service providers and prospective adoptive families are encouraged to contact Joint Council staff and the Joint Council Board of Directors with any questions regarding the “rolling nature” of the Hague accreditation process as well as for up-to-date information regarding Joint Council members currently pursuing accreditation.
March 7, 2008
This week Joint Council had the honor of presenting the Joint Council Vietnam Standards of Practice to the Vietnam Ministry of Justice (MOJ), Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs (MOLISA) and to the United States Embassy in Hanoi. We are proud to report that all parties expressed their appreciation for and support of the collective efforts of Joint Council, its Member Organizations and non-member organizations in addressing the ongoing concerns related to intercountry adoption. All parties uniformly stated that the Standards are a key element of elevating child welfare services to a level consistent with the tenants of the Hague Convention and the hopeful continuation of permanency and humanitarian services to the children and families of Vietnam.
During numerous meetings with MOLISA and MOJ, their desire to implement the Hague Convention was reconfirmed. Joint Council understands that the MOJ, as part of aligning practices with Hague standards, will permit the continuation of adoption licenses for agencies receiving Hague accreditation by the U.S. Central Authority. While the timing and other specifics remain uncertain, Joint Council and the U.S. Department of State have requested clarification. In addition, Joint Council has strongly advocated for the following.
All adoptions in which a referral has been issued are permitted to continue through to the finalization of the adoption.
Recognizing that a list of Hague accredited agencies has been announced by the U.S. Department of State via the Uniform Notification Date (February 29, 2008), agencies accredited as of April 1, 2008 (the date the Convention goes into full effect in the United States) be used to determine the continuation of licensure by the Vietnam MOJ.
Joint Council supports the MOJ and its continuation of licensure for Hague accredited agencies. Our support of this initiative is based on both principles and practicality. Given Joint Council’s long standing support of a functional implementation of the Convention in the U.S. and other countries, we encourage Vietnam’s movement toward that end. Given the expiration of the current MOA between the U.S. and Vietnam in less than six months (on September 1, 2008), this decision by the MOJ is a strong indicator of Vietnam’s serious intent to continue permanency and humanitarian services via a new or amended MOA.
While some may see the continuation of licensure for only Hague accredited agencies as overly restrictive, Joint Council fully recognizes this utilization of Convention principles as a means of ensuring both best practices and a key element for the continuation of finding permanent, safe and loving families for the children of Vietnam.
Please know that Joint Council will continue to engage all stakeholders and inform you of events as they unfold.
Our agencies report last week (3/7/08) had a positive tone to it....They said that March should be a busy month with referrals resuming. This is also very exciting news!
We still haven't heard anything concrete regarding the MOU being renewed. There is still MUCH speculation among those adopting from Vietnam as to if we will experience a shutdown or not. Brandon and I have been fortunate not to get caught up in the speculation and I KNOW that comes from God and through much prayer. I belong to two yahoo groups for parents who are adopting (or would like to adopt) from Vietnam and there is continual frustrations and upheaval voiced daily among those adopting from Vietnam. I have made it a point to scan the posts before reading them, as to not get sucked into the ups and downs and drama of it all. As for concrete news, we did read what I've cut and pasted below regarding the current meetings in Vietnam (www.jcics.org - this is the joint council of childrens internationl services) There mission is: To advocate and protect the right of every child to a safe, permanent and loving family. They are involved in the current discussions among the US and Vietnam regarding renewing and rewriting the MOU. This is what they had to say on March 7th:
March 7, 2008
The Executive Committee of the Board of Directors is pleased to clarify Joint Council's position regarding the current Vietnam negotiations, specific to an earlier post issued on March 7, 2008:
Joint Council continues to advocate for all JCICS member and affiliate organizations with programs in Vietnam and those hoping to establish them. It is, however, important to bear in mind that Joint Council is not alone in this conversation. As we all know, there are multiple entities, governmental and non-governmental, involved in the on-going negotiations around re-establishing the MOA between the US and Vietnam. As a contribution to these negotiations, Joint Council offered the recently created Standards of Practice for Vietnam – a document all involved parties recognized as "a key element of elevating child welfare services...."
Joint Council encourages Vietnam's movement toward functional implementation of the Hague Convention and, pending that eventuality, strongly supports continuation of programs and agency licensure based on best practice as outlined in the Joint Council Standards of Practice for Vietnam.
Additionally, we have issued a post regarding the “rolling nature” of the COA/DOS list of Hague accredited agencies initially released on February 29, 2008. Our newest post can be accessed at http://www.jcics.org/Hague.htm. The Hague list of accredited agencies issued on February 29th was only an initial release. As we noted on March 3rd, many other Joint Council agencies will finalize their Hague Accreditation and be added to the list, both before and after April 1, 2008.
Again, Joint Council continues to advocate on behalf of all our member and affiliate organizations. Adoption service providers and prospective adoptive families are encouraged to contact Joint Council staff and the Joint Council Board of Directors with any questions regarding the “rolling nature” of the Hague accreditation process as well as for up-to-date information regarding Joint Council members currently pursuing accreditation.
March 7, 2008
This week Joint Council had the honor of presenting the Joint Council Vietnam Standards of Practice to the Vietnam Ministry of Justice (MOJ), Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs (MOLISA) and to the United States Embassy in Hanoi. We are proud to report that all parties expressed their appreciation for and support of the collective efforts of Joint Council, its Member Organizations and non-member organizations in addressing the ongoing concerns related to intercountry adoption. All parties uniformly stated that the Standards are a key element of elevating child welfare services to a level consistent with the tenants of the Hague Convention and the hopeful continuation of permanency and humanitarian services to the children and families of Vietnam.
During numerous meetings with MOLISA and MOJ, their desire to implement the Hague Convention was reconfirmed. Joint Council understands that the MOJ, as part of aligning practices with Hague standards, will permit the continuation of adoption licenses for agencies receiving Hague accreditation by the U.S. Central Authority. While the timing and other specifics remain uncertain, Joint Council and the U.S. Department of State have requested clarification. In addition, Joint Council has strongly advocated for the following.
All adoptions in which a referral has been issued are permitted to continue through to the finalization of the adoption.
Recognizing that a list of Hague accredited agencies has been announced by the U.S. Department of State via the Uniform Notification Date (February 29, 2008), agencies accredited as of April 1, 2008 (the date the Convention goes into full effect in the United States) be used to determine the continuation of licensure by the Vietnam MOJ.
Joint Council supports the MOJ and its continuation of licensure for Hague accredited agencies. Our support of this initiative is based on both principles and practicality. Given Joint Council’s long standing support of a functional implementation of the Convention in the U.S. and other countries, we encourage Vietnam’s movement toward that end. Given the expiration of the current MOA between the U.S. and Vietnam in less than six months (on September 1, 2008), this decision by the MOJ is a strong indicator of Vietnam’s serious intent to continue permanency and humanitarian services via a new or amended MOA.
While some may see the continuation of licensure for only Hague accredited agencies as overly restrictive, Joint Council fully recognizes this utilization of Convention principles as a means of ensuring both best practices and a key element for the continuation of finding permanent, safe and loving families for the children of Vietnam.
Please know that Joint Council will continue to engage all stakeholders and inform you of events as they unfold.
Monday, March 3, 2008
Roller coaster ride, anyone???
Here is the days latest tid bit of info. It's a confusing process to those not involved but this does a pretty good job of summing up what is currently going on with the U.S. and Vietnam. A friend that I have met through International Adoption (also adopting from Vietnam) passed this along to me this morning.
I continually ask myself how anyone could EVER go through this process with out true FAITH in God!
http://www.adoptionintegrity.com/
Love and hugs to everyone! Have a great day today!!! :)
Robin and Brandon
I continually ask myself how anyone could EVER go through this process with out true FAITH in God!
http://www.adoptionintegrity.com/
Love and hugs to everyone! Have a great day today!!! :)
Robin and Brandon
Saturday, March 1, 2008
March should prove to be informative
Good Morning everyone! Anyone ready for Spring to arrive??! Ok, family and friends in Florida & Georgia can stop laughing. We've had what feels like a longer than usual winter and I'm ready for some HOT SUN!!! :) Hence our upcoming trip to FL!!!
Well, I know it's been a few weeks without an update but I just haven't had much to report b/c we haven't heard much. We did get a glimmer of info that will help put things into perspective regarding the MOU and where that could lead us. Below I have cut and pasted information that was released from Children's Hope International to families in their Vietnam program. It's a great explanation of where we (and everyone else adopting from Vietnam) are right now.
Key note of the US State Department warning:
The 2005 Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), required by Vietnamese law to authorize adoptions between the United States and Vietnam, expires on September 1, 2008. The US State department is warning families just now applying to agencies for the Vietnam program. Due to the timing of the process, a family now applying will not receive a referral or submit their completed adoption paperwork to Vietnam prior to the MOU expiring in September. If there is a short moratorium (in English this means shut down, all of this adoption lingo gets confusing), during which the two countries come to a new agreement if necessary, the impact could be minimal to our families and another agreement may be signed soon thereafter. Hanoi Quarterly US Embassy Meeting: Thuy, our main representative in Vietnam, attended the quarterly US embassy meeting in Hanoi for all adoption agencies. The new I-600 procedures were discussed for agencies whose families had not yet traveled under the new I-600 (immigration form for internationally adopted children). A group of US officials will travel to Vietnam in March to discuss the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Vietnam government. In March, written letters may be exchanged between the two governments to resign the MOU which expires this year. If the written letters are not exchanged in March, then the MOU will expire on September 1, 2008, and agencies will no longer be allowed to submit new dossiers after this time. Therefore, more details concerning the MOU will be coming soon. (I bolded this section in black b/c this tells us in a nutshell that if they (the U.S. and Vietnam) don't get things resolved this month adoptions will cease come September 1) For us that would mean our process is halted (whether it be temporarily or permanently)
The above info tells us that we will know where we are, one way or another during the month of March. We are not concerned or nervous about the pending decision because we have all of our faith in the path the Lord has lead us down. We have discussed that maybe He has lead us down this path to detour us on another route, we just don't know but we are faithful and certain that NO MATTER WHAT, we are in the right place right now. We are praying about this and asking everyone to please join us in prayer. As always, the toughest part of this process is the waiting. We know this will all turn out the way it's suppose to, but we really struggle DAILY with the WAIT (patience in this process is certainly not my strong suit) So, we ask for prayers of patience! :)
On a much lighter note, I'm still SHOPPING!!!! (haha) I have a picture of the latest lil peanut outfit for you all to see (above). This one is honor of my hubby....Duckies!!! (And if you promise not to say anything.....Shhhh, I even got a pair of camo overalls- hehe)
Well, I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!!! I think I just saw the SUN peak out from the clouds!!! Looks like it might brighten up enough to be a horsey riding weekend!!!!
Hugs, love and kisses!!!!
Rob & B
Monday, February 4, 2008
Shopping!!
Hello all! As expected, things have been rather quiet the last week and I anticipate not much news for 2-3 more weeks on any new referrals. There has also been silence regarding the status of Vietnam adoptions and probably will not be any new news regarding whether or not the Memorandum of Understanding (between the U.S. and Vietnam) will be renewed for a few months. So for now, we are hopeful and waiting.
So, I couldn't help myself (I really do try ;-) I was walking by Gymboree and saw this adorable little sailor dress and melted!! I could just picture it on our little princess with a cute lil red bow in her black hair. Of course, I brought it home to show Brandon and he thought it was adorable.
This long gestation of ours leaves entirely too much time for shopping!!!! (hehehe :)
Enjoy your week!
Love, Rob & B
Monday, January 28, 2008
Prayers Requested
Hello everyone! I hope you've all had a good start to your week. We have had some nice, mild weather here in Indy today. Well, you're probably wondering why I'm sending another update so early in the week. Information was passed on to us today that I wanted to share with you all. The adoption community and family's adopting from Vietnam got some nerve racking news. The U.S. government issued a warning this afternoon, urging people not to file for adoptions from Vietnam (at this time) and that reads as follows:
http://www.travel.state.gov/family/adoption/intercountry/intercountry_3939.html
Of course, we were not completely shocked because we had heard some speculation surrounding this issue. We know that this could POTENTIALLY (but not definitely) negatively affect our adoption. Brandon and I are both concerned but we have faith that God is in control and His will, will be done...Wherever that may take us. We ask that our friends and family will PLEASE pray for the children of Vietnam, the families currently in process of adopting from Vietnam and for the officials responsible for initiating this very big decision.
Again, today we are reminded ever so much:
James 1-2:5
Consider it pure joy, my brothers, when you face trials of many kinds because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish it's work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all, without finding fault, and it will be given to him.
Hugs to everyone! :)
Robin and Brandon
http://www.travel.state.gov/family/adoption/intercountry/intercountry_3939.html
Of course, we were not completely shocked because we had heard some speculation surrounding this issue. We know that this could POTENTIALLY (but not definitely) negatively affect our adoption. Brandon and I are both concerned but we have faith that God is in control and His will, will be done...Wherever that may take us. We ask that our friends and family will PLEASE pray for the children of Vietnam, the families currently in process of adopting from Vietnam and for the officials responsible for initiating this very big decision.
Again, today we are reminded ever so much:
James 1-2:5
Consider it pure joy, my brothers, when you face trials of many kinds because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish it's work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all, without finding fault, and it will be given to him.
Hugs to everyone! :)
Robin and Brandon
Sunday, January 27, 2008
Tet- Vietnamese New Year
Hello, this week and the next few weeks to come will be fairly quiet (we believe) in regard to referrals of lil ones. It is now time for Tet- THE VIETNAMESE NEW YEAR CELEBRATION!! During this time, everyone in Vietnam will be focused on this celebration and adoptions will likely slow down during this time period. I have cut & pasted an explanation (below) of Tet for those of you who are not familiar. This was a huge learning experience for Brandon and I as well. This is our first experience with Tet.
Tet, which means the first morning of the first day of the new year, is the Vietnamese New Year. The celebration lasts for 7 days. Like the Chinese, the Lunar New Year is one of the most celebrated holidays. Tet starts on February 12 in 2002. According to the Vietnamese Zodiac, 2001 is the Year of the Horse. Preparation for Tet starts weeks before New Year's Day. Homes are cleaned to get rid of bad fortune associated with the old year. Families paint their homes to give it a new look. Everyone gets new clothes and new shoes. Pay your debts and resolve differences between family and friends. A special ceremony called Le Tru Tich is held at the mid-night hour (Giao Thua) on New Year's Eve. The ritual involves firecrackers and gongs and other festive items that make loud noises to usher out the old and welcome the new. Like the Chinese, Vietnamese people are very careful about what they do on New Year's Day. The events on New Year's Day determine your luck for the rest of the year. Therefore, everything and everyone you are in touch with on New Year's Day should symbolize good fortune. Don't visit people who are in mourning because they are associated with death. Children should not fight or cry on New Year's Day. Homes are decorated with Hoa Mai, a yellow blossom that represents spring. Family members exchange gifts and pay homage to the Kitchen God. They also visit local temples to pray for prosperity and good health. During Tet, Vietnamese families plant a New Year's tree called Cay Neu in front of their homes. A bamboo pole is often used as a Cay Neu. All the leaves are removed from the tree so that it can be wrapped or decorated by good luck red paper. Legends have it that the red color scares off evil spirits. On the seventh (the last) day of Tet, the Cay Neu is taken down. This is the last ritual of the New Year celebration.
Last but not least a little story.... Brandon and I went out to dinner on Friday night and then went to a store where Brandon picked up the CUTEST shirt. My back was to him and he tapped me on the shoulder and held this PINK t-shirt up in front of my face that read, "I LOVE DAD!!- (HE BUYS ME THINGS) hehehe! We both got the biggest smiles on our face and I gave him a huge hug as he said, "We're getting this one!!" :))) This continues to be one of the most AMAZING journey's for both of us. We are learning daily about what it is to love & live in faith.
James 1:2-5
Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish it's work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.
Tet, which means the first morning of the first day of the new year, is the Vietnamese New Year. The celebration lasts for 7 days. Like the Chinese, the Lunar New Year is one of the most celebrated holidays. Tet starts on February 12 in 2002. According to the Vietnamese Zodiac, 2001 is the Year of the Horse. Preparation for Tet starts weeks before New Year's Day. Homes are cleaned to get rid of bad fortune associated with the old year. Families paint their homes to give it a new look. Everyone gets new clothes and new shoes. Pay your debts and resolve differences between family and friends. A special ceremony called Le Tru Tich is held at the mid-night hour (Giao Thua) on New Year's Eve. The ritual involves firecrackers and gongs and other festive items that make loud noises to usher out the old and welcome the new. Like the Chinese, Vietnamese people are very careful about what they do on New Year's Day. The events on New Year's Day determine your luck for the rest of the year. Therefore, everything and everyone you are in touch with on New Year's Day should symbolize good fortune. Don't visit people who are in mourning because they are associated with death. Children should not fight or cry on New Year's Day. Homes are decorated with Hoa Mai, a yellow blossom that represents spring. Family members exchange gifts and pay homage to the Kitchen God. They also visit local temples to pray for prosperity and good health. During Tet, Vietnamese families plant a New Year's tree called Cay Neu in front of their homes. A bamboo pole is often used as a Cay Neu. All the leaves are removed from the tree so that it can be wrapped or decorated by good luck red paper. Legends have it that the red color scares off evil spirits. On the seventh (the last) day of Tet, the Cay Neu is taken down. This is the last ritual of the New Year celebration.
Last but not least a little story.... Brandon and I went out to dinner on Friday night and then went to a store where Brandon picked up the CUTEST shirt. My back was to him and he tapped me on the shoulder and held this PINK t-shirt up in front of my face that read, "I LOVE DAD!!- (HE BUYS ME THINGS) hehehe! We both got the biggest smiles on our face and I gave him a huge hug as he said, "We're getting this one!!" :))) This continues to be one of the most AMAZING journey's for both of us. We are learning daily about what it is to love & live in faith.
James 1:2-5
Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish it's work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.
Saturday, January 19, 2008
2 more referrals this week!!
Phewwww is it cold here this morning! It's a WHOLE 6 degrees here in lovely Brownsburg!! :) I'm about ready to venture out and visit Boomer at the barn. NOT before I put on 12 layers of clothing, of course. I can't even believe I'm going! The things we do for the ones we love ;-) I hope many of you are cozy and warm when reading this.
The FTIA families received some more GREAT news this week!! There were two more lil ones referred to adopting families!!!!! A baby boy and a baby girl!! We were able to see pictures of the baby girl, she is 7 months old and looked like she was well cared for. She is a beautiful, pudgy lil one :))) So with these two angels being referred to their families, there have been 7 this month!! This is just SO exciting for everyone involved!!! It really revs our engines in regard to helping us feel more "in the moment". We have gone through so many ranges of emotion but the most recent one we struggle with is, embracing our time line. The process is so long that it's hard to plan and we don't know exactly how old she will be when she comes home so it makes it challenging to plan.
I asked our coordinator with FTIA when she thought we would begin preparations for our dossier and she said, anything could change but she didn't foresee us working on our dossier until April 2009. That would indicate a potential referral about 2-4 months after that. So for all of our friends and family that are curious as to our time line, this will give you a better idea.
We received some additional news this Friday regarding the adoption process. Previously, when you received your referral, you traveled to your child about 1-2 months later. Now, based on new safeguards implemented by USCIS and the Vietnamese government, it's 3-5 months. That's a tough thing to conceive of! You have seen a picture of your child at that point but can't be united with her for 3-5 months. Another reason this is important is because it makes the age of the children coming home older. Previously, the lil ones being referred were 3-6 months and now they believe this new process will mean that most of the children coming home will be 9-12 months when the travel home.
So, that's about it for updates. It's been another great week!! :) As always, we ask that you please keep our lil girl in your prayers.
Much Love,
Robin & Brandon
The FTIA families received some more GREAT news this week!! There were two more lil ones referred to adopting families!!!!! A baby boy and a baby girl!! We were able to see pictures of the baby girl, she is 7 months old and looked like she was well cared for. She is a beautiful, pudgy lil one :))) So with these two angels being referred to their families, there have been 7 this month!! This is just SO exciting for everyone involved!!! It really revs our engines in regard to helping us feel more "in the moment". We have gone through so many ranges of emotion but the most recent one we struggle with is, embracing our time line. The process is so long that it's hard to plan and we don't know exactly how old she will be when she comes home so it makes it challenging to plan.
I asked our coordinator with FTIA when she thought we would begin preparations for our dossier and she said, anything could change but she didn't foresee us working on our dossier until April 2009. That would indicate a potential referral about 2-4 months after that. So for all of our friends and family that are curious as to our time line, this will give you a better idea.
We received some additional news this Friday regarding the adoption process. Previously, when you received your referral, you traveled to your child about 1-2 months later. Now, based on new safeguards implemented by USCIS and the Vietnamese government, it's 3-5 months. That's a tough thing to conceive of! You have seen a picture of your child at that point but can't be united with her for 3-5 months. Another reason this is important is because it makes the age of the children coming home older. Previously, the lil ones being referred were 3-6 months and now they believe this new process will mean that most of the children coming home will be 9-12 months when the travel home.
So, that's about it for updates. It's been another great week!! :) As always, we ask that you please keep our lil girl in your prayers.
Much Love,
Robin & Brandon
Saturday, January 12, 2008
Great News to start off 2008!
The news we've been waiting for since August 2007!!!
FABULOUS news hit us last Thursday (January 3rd) when we returned from our time away!! We opened our mail to find out that we had gotten our I-600 Pre-approval from USCIS!!!! WOOO-HOOOOO!!!! The very next morning 1/4, I called our agency to share the good news. They asked us to fax over the paperwork, we put our check in the mail and just like that, we were OFFICIALLY added to the waiting list for VIETNAM....Another step closer to bringing our angel home!!!! We could not be more excited than we are. The excitement honestly has not worn off since the 4th. We can hardly believe that we are on, "THE LIST"!!! So what do we do from here???? I bet you guessed it....We wait and wait. When we are about 3-6 months away from receiving a referral for our little girl, FTIA will ask us to start working on our dossier. This will be about 2-4 months of extensive work preparing our packet for the US government, Vietnam and FTIA. This process never ceases to amaze us but it doesn't change the excitement in our hearts for the day we meet our little girl. You may be wondering where we are on, "the list"...We are approx #78 overall and about #60-65 requesting a baby girl. What does this translate to??? Our agency placed approx 20-30 children this past year, so you can see how the math works out. But, it does appear that the process to adopt from Vietnam is getting more and more mainstreamed and with luck, will pick up.
As if the news of us being added to the wait list was not good enough, we got even better news!!! There were 4 referrals made on 1/2/08!!!! That was amazing!! THEN, there was another referral for a baby girl on 1/11/08...That is 5 so far this year!!!!! WOO-HOOO!!!! Along with that great news, the agency sent out an email to family's adopting saying there would likely be 2 more referrals before the month of January ends!!!! What an unbelievable way to start the year!!!! We're so excited and we'll be sure to keep you posted. I hope to be writing more frequently this year to keep everyone in the loop.
Love, hugs and HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!
Robin & Brandon
FABULOUS news hit us last Thursday (January 3rd) when we returned from our time away!! We opened our mail to find out that we had gotten our I-600 Pre-approval from USCIS!!!! WOOO-HOOOOO!!!! The very next morning 1/4, I called our agency to share the good news. They asked us to fax over the paperwork, we put our check in the mail and just like that, we were OFFICIALLY added to the waiting list for VIETNAM....Another step closer to bringing our angel home!!!! We could not be more excited than we are. The excitement honestly has not worn off since the 4th. We can hardly believe that we are on, "THE LIST"!!! So what do we do from here???? I bet you guessed it....We wait and wait. When we are about 3-6 months away from receiving a referral for our little girl, FTIA will ask us to start working on our dossier. This will be about 2-4 months of extensive work preparing our packet for the US government, Vietnam and FTIA. This process never ceases to amaze us but it doesn't change the excitement in our hearts for the day we meet our little girl. You may be wondering where we are on, "the list"...We are approx #78 overall and about #60-65 requesting a baby girl. What does this translate to??? Our agency placed approx 20-30 children this past year, so you can see how the math works out. But, it does appear that the process to adopt from Vietnam is getting more and more mainstreamed and with luck, will pick up.
As if the news of us being added to the wait list was not good enough, we got even better news!!! There were 4 referrals made on 1/2/08!!!! That was amazing!! THEN, there was another referral for a baby girl on 1/11/08...That is 5 so far this year!!!!! WOO-HOOO!!!! Along with that great news, the agency sent out an email to family's adopting saying there would likely be 2 more referrals before the month of January ends!!!! What an unbelievable way to start the year!!!! We're so excited and we'll be sure to keep you posted. I hope to be writing more frequently this year to keep everyone in the loop.
Love, hugs and HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!
Robin & Brandon
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