A tid bit of news on Vietnam

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