The Magee's Adoption Journey

Life is great!

2007-12-18T08:12:00.000-08:00

Thursday will be a month that we have been home. And things are going great! Ava has blended right in with our family. It's as if she was supposed to be with us. She is very observant and alert. Always taking everything in. She continues to sleep good at night and now is starting on a regular nap schedule during the day. She is over her HepA. She was mostly over it by the time we came home. The boys still think she's great. Nate said yesterday that this is going to be the best Christmas yet. Hard to believe it's next week already.

My biggest challenge has been trying to get my work done. Mark is still working part time, mornings, so I work when she naps in the morning. Then when Mark gets home, he takes over the parenting duties and I can work for the afternoon. It doesn't seem to be quite enough, so I sometimes work after they have gone to bed. She just started taking a couple hour morning nap, so that has helped.

We're so looking forward to getting together with family and friends over the holidays.

Ava is doing great!

2007-12-10T11:17:00.001-08:00

Ava is doing great! Even though she tested positive for HepA, you would never know it by her actions. She certainly doesn't act like she's sick. She's a happy, good natured baby. She sleeps 10-12 hours/night, which Mark and I are really enjoying.

She has really bonded with our family. At the end of November, we went to a family get together. Of course, everyone wanted to hold her, but she wasn't thinking the same thing. Whenever anyone else held her, she just cried. Then Mark or I would hold her and she would settle down. Again, this past weekend, we went to a holiday party, where she met some more people for the first time. And if anyone picked her up, or got too close looking at her, she would cry. She would look for Mark or I.

I'm really enjoying having a baby again. The boys are great with her. And even the dog is gentle. One day I had her on a blanket on the floor, and Cody lay down on the corner of it.

Ava's medical update

2007-12-03T10:36:00.000-08:00

The pediatrician called last Friday to say that Ava tested positive for HepA. She is mostly done with it. She more than likely was infected in the orphanage when someone changed the diaper of an infected baby and didn't wash their hands and then touched her. It is only transmitted by stool. So there isn't anything we need to do. It probably peaked when we were in Vietnam with her, remembering back when she had a fever and probably general not feeling good. The doctor said if you're going to have Hep, you want to have A. She won't have any lasting effects of it and won't get it again. Other than that, everything else was normal. We were so glad to hear this.

Update and pictures

2007-11-27T02:53:00.001-08:00

You can tell that I'm busy, I haven't posted in a while. We're still trying to get the household organized. Everyone seems to be adjusting well. Ava is finally starting to sleep better at night. Last night was 7 hours. Wow, it was so good to get some sleep myself. So I'm up early this morning trying to do some work. We are so glad to be home. We were gone 1 day less than 3 weeks, and that was too long to be away from the boys. Nate told me he doesn't want us to adopt anymore because he doesn't want us to be gone. I totally understand. It was hard on me too.

Yesterday Ava had a dr appt with our pediatrician. He said she looks great, she's well proportioned and has gained 1 lb in the last 2 weeks. He wants to do some further checking on her liver, kidney and spleen. He said her liver feels hard, would could be a sign of hepA. If so, it can be easily treated. And he also felt something near her kidney or spleen that he wants to have checked. So she had some blood drawn and today has an ultrasound. I'm a little nervous about this. We should know the results by the end of the week.

Here's a picture from the orphanage. The older children at the orphanage were sitting around just watching us.

Typical Vietnam housing/storefront. They have their shops in the lower level and live upstairs.

A view from our hotel room window.Typical traffic in Hanoi. It's crazy. It's like this all the time.

More Hanoi traffic. This was in the shopping district. Cross the street at your own risk.

I have a whole photo album with lots more pictures. So when you see us you can see the rest.

We are home!

2007-11-21T14:13:00.000-08:00

It's so good to be home. We arrived here Tuesday morning, where Mark's parents and Luke met us at the airport. Nate had a school field trip planned, so we didn't see him until he was home from school. We still have some unpacking/organizing to do, but we're so glad to be home before Thanksgiving. Ava is doing great and the boys just love her. This is a short post, just wanted to say we're home. I'll post some pictures later.

Last post from Vietnam

2007-11-18T19:10:00.000-08:00

Last night we went to dinner with the other 2 families for the last time. I'm so glad to be going home. We did most of our packing yesterday, except for the things we would need today. We have to check out by 2:30 this afternoon, but aren't being picked up until 4pm. Our flight is at 7:10pm and it's a 1 hour ride to the airport. So hopefully we're not late. We can't leave any earlier than 4pm, because we're waiting for Ava's visa.

We are leaving Vietnam!

2007-11-17T18:29:00.000-08:00

We are leaving Monday night for home and will arrive Tuesday morning if all goes as planned. Our flight leaves a couple of hours after we get the visa, so hopefully there aren't any delays. It was the only way to get home without staying over anywhere in the states.

Happy Day!

2007-11-16T03:54:00.000-08:00

This afternoon we went to the embassy to pay for the visa, but we can not pick it up until Monday late afternoon, so we're looking at leaving Tuesday and arriving home Wednesday. Just in time for turkey. We're still looking at flight options, and cannot offically change our flight until we have the visa in hand, so that will have to wait until Monday. Airline travel within the states might be a bit of a challenge because of the holiday.

Our mood has totally changed, as you can imagine. Somehow a couple of more days in Vietnam doesn't sound so bad. The end is in sight. We had a celebration dinner tonight with the other 2 families, at our favorite restaurant, Al Fresco's. I'm sure we'll be there again before we leave Vietnam.

Tomorrow (Saturday) we are taking a trip with the other 2 families in our group to Ha Long Bay. It is about a 3 hour drive there, so it is a full day. Once there we will have a private boat tour of about 4 hours. The Bay is known for naturally formed rock formations and caves coming out of the water. We'll take lots of pictures.

Our prayers have been answered!

2007-11-15T18:26:00.001-08:00

Thank you for all of your prayers!

This morning I woke up wondering how I was going to make it through the rest of our time here, however long that may be. We went to breakfast and briefly talked to another family who was here a couple of days before us, who still have not heard about their visa approval. In fact, they were going to the embassy today to find out what was going on. So, I was sick to my stomach again, thinking there's no end in sight. As we were leaving the restaurant, we ran into the other Mark in our group and he asked if we had heard. He said Thao had called them this morning, and at first I didn't know if it was good news or bad news. He then told us we all had been approved and we have our 2nd embassy appt this afternoon. We were overcome with emotion, right there in the middle of the dining room. So this afternoon we go to the embassy, pay the visa fee, sign the required paperwork, and go back Monday to pick up Ava's visa as long as the visa machine doesn't break down, which I'm told sometimes happens. Then we're free to leave the country. I already emailed our travel agent to have him start looking into return flights for us. It looks like we'll be home before Thanksgiving after all! We called home right away to tell Mark's parents and the boys the good news. We'll be seeing them soon! I can't wait!

We need your prayers

2007-11-15T02:57:00.000-08:00

We didn't hear from the Embassy today. So we won't be home this weekend, like we wanted to. So here's where we're at now. If we find out tomorrow, Friday, that Ava's visa has been approved, then we would have our 2nd appt on Monday, pick up her visa on Tuesday and return home on the earliest available flight. If we find out on Monday that it's approved, the earliest we could leave would be Wednesday, and we would be home Thanksgiving, if there are flights available. But if we don't find out until Tuesday or after, we won't be home for Thanksgiving. We would have to wait until the following week. So your prayers are needed. We really want to be home by Thanksgiving. Even if we have to travel on Thanksgiving and be home the day after, that would be OK. But we don't want to have to wait until the following week. So continue to pray for us and I'll update the blog daily with any progress.

Ava is growing!

2007-11-14T19:19:00.000-08:00

Ava was born 7/31/2007, weighing 7 pounds something, I don't have the exact weight here, it's at home. She is now 11.5 pounds and growing. We have noticed some changes in the short time she has been with us. She now has pretty good control of her head. She likes to suck on her thumb or fingers, but sometimes can't quite get them in her mouth. In the last day, she has started lifting her legs straight up when she is laying on her back. In the orphanage, they go to sleep with a bottle propped up, so we're trying to break her of this habit. She's adjusting well. She's a happy baby and smiles a lot. She can't wait to get home and meet her big brothers.

This morning after breakfast, we made our daily trip to the store for bottled water, then stopped at the business center to check email/blog. We try to get out sometime during the day, but don't want to go to far just in case we get the call we're waiting for. When we're not out shopping or sightseeing, we're bonding with Ava.

There are more and more adoptive families getting their visa approvals and going home. There aren't too many of us left. I'm getting more and more nervous again. This morning at breakfast we talked to another family who still doesn't have approval, and they are about 3 days ahead of us. So I don't know what that means for us. We continue to pray for good news soon. We talk to the boys daily, which helps, but it's not the same as being home. I miss them terribly.

No news yet

2007-11-14T03:25:00.000-08:00

Tuesday night we got together with the other 2 families in one of their rooms for pizza and Skipbo. It was a fun, relaxing night. Ava slept the whole time. See the picture below. Ava is on the left, Bryce in the back and Lola in the front.

This afternoon we went back to Silk Village for more shopping with the other 2 families. Then we stopped at our favorite restaurant, Al Fresca's, for an early dinner. Now we're back at the hotel, relaxing.

I've been feeling much better the last couple of days. We're on the home stretch now. We're hoping to hear about Ava's visa yet this week, but that may be a bit of a stretch. Keep praying for us.

Another step checked off the list

2007-11-12T23:39:00.000-08:00

Yesterday afternoon (Monday), we took a cab to the Temple of Literature, which really isn't very far, but we were walking from there to do some shopping. After a little shopping we went back to the Temple of Literature to see if our tour guide from last Saturday was there. She is the Vietnamese woman who was our tour guide when we took the day long city tour. She also works at the Temple of Literature, and she wanted us to stop in to see her after Ava was ours. She held Ava for a little while, and all the time Ava kept looking at Mark and I, as if we were going to leave her with this woman. I think she's bonding well with us. We walked back and it was so humid. When we got back to our room, one of the other families in our group called to see if we wanted to go shopping to the Old Quarter. So we did some more shopping. The streets were so crowded, you wouldn't believe it. As soon as we got our of the cab, the street vendors swarmed around us trying to sell us our wares. Some of them even followed us from store to store. Then we went to dinner at our favorite restaurant, Al Fresco's, where they serve a variety of food, American, Mexican, Asian and Italian. When we got back to the hotel, we posted the pictures.

Ava only woke up once again last night, sleeping for 5 1/2 hours at a time. We talked to the boys and Mark's mom this morning. We had been talking to them every few days, but now we talk daily. We went to breakfast and met in the lobby at 8:30am to go pick up the baby's passports. We are excited that another step of the process is completed. Then it was off to the clinic for the visa medical exam. We had a scare there. We saw a Dutch doctor and he said, There's only 1 thing wrong with her. That scared me immediately. It seems she has an enlarged spleen, which can be due to anemia. So he wanted to do an ultrasound and draw some blood to make sure. He said not to worry, it wouldn't delay our travel back home. But if he writes enlarged spleen on the medical report for the Embassy, they will want to know why. We went back to the waiting room to wait. I was very emotional, the first thing that came to my mind was what we went through with Luke. Because he was also 3 months old and it all started with an ultrasound. The other 2 families stayed there to wait with us. The ultrasound technician said her spleen size is within the normal range. But the doctor still wanted to draw blood. They wouldn't let us be in the room when they did this. We had to wait in the hall and listen to her cry. I was hoping they would only have to poke her once. Then back to the waiting room to wait for the doctor's report. The doctor said her blood work is normal. And he gave us copies of the lab report and his report to take back home to our pediatrician. He still thinks the spleen is enlarged, but he's not that concerned about it. At least it won't delay our travel home. We ended up being there about 4 hours. We walked down the street with one of the other families and had lunch at Al Fresco's. By the time we arrived back at our room, we were exhausted. I didn't think I would ever say this, but it actually felt good to be back and relax a little.

So now we're waiting to hear about our 2nd Embassy appointment. Our agency coordinator will check with them on Thursday. Of course, we are anxiously waiting to hear from her.

Ava pictures!

2007-11-12T04:49:00.000-08:00

We borrowed a USB cable from one of the other familes here so we could post a couple of pictures. Here they are.

The first picture was taken at the orphanage on Monday, our G&R day. Here she is in clothes we brought with a couple of the nannies. The one holding her was her primary caregiver. She loves to suck on her thumb or fingers, but they discourage that at the orphanage.

This is a full body view of her taken in our room. This was the only day we dressed her in summer clothes, even though it's in the 80's here. She had a fever at the time. The Vietnamese discourage having the babies skin exposed.

Here she is feeling much better after her fever is gone. We bought these thin long sleeve clothes at the store down the street.

Here she is on her tummy. They spend all of their time at the orphanage on their back, so we're trying to get her some tummy time each day. She doesn't like it very much, but she's getting better.

Isn't she adorable? Can't wait for you to meet her in person.

Ava is feeling better

2007-11-11T19:22:00.000-08:00

I just realized that when I post in the morning here, the post actually says the previous day. So hopefully my timeline is making sense.

We didn't do too much yesterday, Sunday. We sat out by the pool for a little while and talked to another man who adopted from the very southern part of Vietnam. Ava has been feeling much better. The rattle in her chest is gone and her congested nose/sinuses are getting better. Her fever is gone. Last night she only woke up once.

The air pollution seems to be getting worse here. When we look out our room window to the city we can't see as far. And when we walk down the streets, there are all kinds of smells. Most of them not very pleasant.

Thanks to all of you who sent me comments about homesickness. It has really helped. The boys and Mark's parents went over to my friend Season's house over the weekend and Season email some pictures of the boys to us. It made us feel closer to home. I really needed it.

I will update the blog daily since we are getting closer to the end.

Still homesick

2007-11-10T19:52:00.000-08:00

Friday night we made our third trip to the SOS clinic for Ava. She had had a 102 fever for 2 1/2 days and the Tylenol wasn't doing it anymore. We saw a senior Vietnamese doctor, who gave us some antibiotics. Finally! She was still up most of the night, but it will get better.

Saturday we went for a walk around the block. We walked past a school and the soccer stadium. Saturday afternoon we took a tour to the Silk Village and Pottery Village. The Silk factory was so fascinating. It all starts with the silk worm. We saw the big machines and workers actually making the silk. Then we did some shopping at the silk stores. Next we went to the pottery village, where we saw them making pottery. The clay they use comes from the Red River here. They use molds and hand finish everything. And then, you guessed it, shopping in the pottery stores.

We met the 2 others in our travel group for dinner and we all took a taxi to Al Fresco's restaurant, where they have excellent ribs. It was so good to get out and experience a little of home. They even played music from the 80's that we hear on the radio at home.

Ava slept better last night, she was only up twice and then back to sleep. I think she's finally feeling better. She's been sick the whole time we've had her, so it's hard to know what the healthy Ava is like.

I think we've seen everything there is to see from a tourist standpoint. We're trying to stay busy, then I'm less homesick. I think the week will seem to go faster because we'll be waiting to hear about our next appointments. I'm hoping we'll hear by Friday if her visa has been approved. Thursday would be even better, because then we could pick up her visa on Friday and leave for home. But if we don't find out until Friday, we won't be able to get her visa until the next Monday. Which would mean another weekend here.

Does anyone know what to do about homesickness? Like I said, I try to stay busy, but whenever we're in our room, I just want to cry and I don't have an appetite. I just want to go home. If you have any suggestions, you can email my charter account.

I'm ready to go home

2007-11-09T01:13:00.001-08:00

I'm homesick and so ready to go home. I'm hoping we're only going to be here another week. It looks like that may be the case based on conversations with others working with our agency and same orphanage. Since our 1st embassy appointment yesterday, we are now waiting to hear from USCIS, whether they approved or denied Ava's visa. The other people heard from them in 1 week, so we're hoping to hear from them by the end of next week. But Monday is a holiday, so it could be the following Monday. When we hear that her visa has been approved, we go to sign the necessary papers and then the next day pick up her visa. Then we're free to go home. So we will only have a couple days notice that we are leaving. That's OK, I'll be ready. On Tuesday, Mark will go to pick up Ava's passport. Then we just wait to hear from the embassy. There are families who have been here for 5 weeks and still don't have approval from USCIS. But they are with a different agency and orphanage, so I'm confident that won't be the case for us. We're planning on being home by Thanksgiving.

Ava was up most of the night last night, so I am exhausted. Her congestion seems to be better today. We've been alternating Tylenol with ibuprofen to keep her comfortable. We have a crib in our room, but she hasn't used it much. Even though she hasn't been feeling good, she is still eating well. Hopefully she'll sleep better tonight.

Today we walked a couple of blocks to the Temple of Literature, to meet the woman who was our tour guide last Saturday. She works there and wanted us to come visit her with Ava. But she wasn't there today. So we stood around observing and taking pictures, then stopped at the store to buy more bottled water, then went back to our room.

The journey continues

2007-11-08T01:49:00.000-08:00

Tuesday night we met the other 2 couples in our travel group for dinner. It was relaxing and nice to get together with them and compare baby notes.

Wednesday we didn't do much of anything. We walked down the block to the store. It was really hot outside. It was probably in the 80's with high humidity. The Vietnamese are very concerned about sun exposure. Even though we thought it was hot outside many of them are wearing pants and jackets. If they think you don't have your baby properly dressed, they come right up to you and tell you so. They think they should always be covered. No sun exposure. We have been putting light clothes on her, so no skin is exposed.

The best night she slept was the first night back here. I think she was exhausted from the day, as were we. Since then she has been up during the night. She doesn't seem to sleep very soundly, real restless. She sometimes cries a little with her eyes closed, then settles down. Last night she was up with a 102 fever. We gave her some Tylenol and she slept until morning. After the Tylenol wore off, the fever was back. We took her back to the clinic. The doctor said she has a bronchial virus, and since it is a virus, antibiotics won't work. So she sent us back with some syrup for bronchial congestion and wants us to come back in a couple of days to see that she is making progress. In the meantime, we continue to use the aspirator on her nose. That seems to be getting better anyway. While at the clinic, we ran into another couple from our travel group. They weren't there for the baby. They were there for the mom. She had been so sick they gave her an IV.

This afternoon we had our first appointment at the US Embassy. We all met in the lobby and found out that now the dad is also sick. They didn't look very good. I did my best to stay away from them. They even took a separate cab to our appointment. I was nervous about the embassy appointment. We were the first to go out of the 3 of us. We were called into a small room, where an official was sitting on the other side of the glass window. He had all of our paperwork and he asked us a few questions and took some notes. Then the other 2 families went. We filled out some additional paperwork and went back to our hotel. We're hoping to hear from them the end of next week. If all goes well, we will be home before Thanksgiving. We've been talking to another family working with our agency and adopting from the same orphanage. They had their 2nd embassy interview 1 week after the first, so we're hoping for the same. Before the 2nd appointment, they will tell us if the baby's visa has been approved or denied. The 2nd appointment is just a formality, signing some papers, and you go back the next day to get the baby's visa. Then we're free to go home. I'm so ready to go home. I miss the boys.

We've been taking pictures, but will wait until we're home to post any of them.

We have a daughter!

2007-11-06T00:00:00.000-08:00

Welcome to the family Ava Ann!

Sunday afternoon we met the other 2 families in our travel group. There were supposed to be 5, but we found out that the other 2 cancelled because of the riskiness of filing the I600. Since we left to fly here on Wednesday, we missed the conference call with the other families and the adoption agency. It seems the US Embassy here in Vietnam is being really picky about the paperwork and looking for any little thing to deny or delay the visa processing. Needless to say, this made us a little nervous. All we could do was pray that everything would work out.

We were to meet in the lobby Monday morning at 6:15am. We missed breakfast because the buffet doesn't start until 6:30. So we just had crackers. It turns out our van driver overslept and did not arrive until almost 7am. We did sneak upstairs to grab some food since he was late.

Then the 3 1/2 hour ride to the orphanage. It doesn't take 3 1/2 hours because of the distance, it's because of the road conditions and traffic. We took motion sickness medicine before we left, just in case. We arrived at the orphanage and were given our babies. The nannies changed them into the clothes we brought and we all loaded into the van to go to the official building where the G&R would take place. The nannies held the babies. They don't like to give them up, but we knew that after that day we would have her all the time. The G&R took about 20 minutes for all 3 families. We signed the paperwork and we are now her legal parents. Hooray! Then we went across the street for lunch and again the nannies held the babies. It was authentic Vietnamese food, so I wasn't going to eat. But I did have some pork/vegetable spring rolls that were delicious. The officials from the orphanage were there also and it seemed to take forever. Then we went back to the orphanage to talk with the nannies to find out about the babies schedules, etc. The coordinator from the adoption agency, who lives here in Vietnam, said he would be back in about 2 hours. We were all ready to leave after about 1 hour. There was only 1 nanny who spoke English. The nannies keep the babies so bundles up, they were sweaty. They always think they are cold. It was probably around 75-80 degrees. When we got there, Ava had on a long sleeve shirt and a sweater over that, and of course a hat. They are very concerned about the sun and always shield the babies from it. The coordinator showed up about 3 hours later. By then it was dusk and the mosquitos were starting to come out. We all had on mosquito spray and had reapplied since we had been there. Then the long 3 1/2 hour drive home with 3 babies in the dark. We were exhausted, but all the babies did well. They were quiet. We arrived back at the hotel around 8:30pm. It wasn't until that time that it really hit me that we are the parents of a baby girl. She is so adorable. We ordered room service and then gave her a bath. She had a bottle and went to sleep at 10pm. I expected to be up during the night with her, but when she didn't wake up, I got up to make sure she was still breathing. I woke up at 5:45am, the same time I have been waking up every morning since we have been here (without an alarm). We showered, etc and she was still sleeping. We woke her up at 7:30am so we could feed her and go to breakfast before Mark had to leave at 9am. At 9am the guys were picked up to go apply for the babies passports. Ava and I went back to our room. We took her to the SOS clinic this afternoon to have her checked over. She has had a stuffy nose and a little rattle in her chest. But the doctor said she is fine. We were glad to hear that. She hasn't slept much today and seems a little more fussy. Hopefully she'll sleep good again tonight.

Back to the I600 issue I mentioned earlier. It seems that some of the parents adopting from other agencies or from other provinces are having problems. This morning we talked to some others who are with our agency and adopted from our province, but have already been here 2 weeks. They were waiting for their last appointment at the Embassy and found out they get to go home Friday. So that's 3 weeks for them. So it looks like we will probably be here that long also. I won't know more until it gets closer to that time.

Experiencing the culture

2007-11-03T21:16:00.000-07:00

We're adjusting to the culture here. Friday was a big culture shock to me and all I could think about was 'I want to go home.' I think it was a combination of lack of sleep and the culture. I felt out of place and was definitely out of my comfort zone. We adjusted to the time change very quickly. They started preparing us for that on the 14 hour flight from LA to Hong Kong. They served dinner at 3am Wisconsin time and breakfast at 3:30pm Wisconsin time, which was 3:30am Hanoi time. Then on our flight from Hong Kong to Hanoi we were again served breakfast at 9am Hanoi time. We arrived at the airport at 10am Hanoi time and had to wait a long time for our luggage. They only have 1 baggage claim and there was a lot of luggage on it. It was about a 1 hour ride from the airport to our hotel and it was during that ride we first experienced the culture. The first thing we did after we checked in and unpacked was walk down the street to buy bottled water. It is very inexpensive. 4 1 liter bottles were about $2. We scheduled a day long tour of the city, thinking that was the best way to see all the sights. The restaurant at the hotel did not open until 6pm and we wanted to eat earlier, so Mark ordered some Vietnamese spring rolls off the snack menu. I didn't like them, so I had a couple of crackers when we got back to our room. We went to bed about 7pm, we were exhausted.

Saturday morning we ate breakfast at the hotel. It is a breakfast buffet that is included in the price of our room. It is very good food, a combination of Western and Vietnamese. We filled up. Our city tour started at 8am. We had a private Vietnamese woman as a guide, who spoke English. Some of the things we saw were One Pillar Pagoda, a water puppet show, HoChiMin museum and mauseleum (which is closed in November and December for restoration), the Temple of Literature, the Hanoi Hilton, which is where Senator McCain was held captive for 6 years, the remains of the B52 bomber in the water, and we also rode on a cyclo, which is a 3 wheeled bicycle where passengers ride on a bench seat in the front. The tour also included lunch at a Vietnamese restaurant. I only ate the fried rice with vegetables. By the time our tour was done at 4pm, we were exhausted. We ate at the restaurant at the hotel. Mark had margerita pizza and I had vegetable lasagna, which included eggplant, zucchini and tomoto. It was more than enough food. Next time we will order 1 meal and share it. We made sure to finish the lasagna because the pizza would be easier to take back to the room. We asked for something to put the pizza in and it seemed to confuse the waitress. They provided us with a cake box for our pizza.

This morning we took a taxi to the old quarter of the city where the majority of the local shops are located. We walked the streets absorbing some more culture and did some shopping. This was the first time we ventured out on our own, other than walking down the street to get water. I now feel more comfortable with the culture since we have had some time to adjust to it.

Tomorrow we meet our daughter!

We've arrived in Vietnam!

2007-11-02T01:13:00.000-07:00

We arrived in Hanoi, Vietnam this morning after a long flight, total flying time of about 20 hours. I'm so glad to be on the ground again.

The culture here is quite different from what we are used to. The traffic is very congested and most people drive motor bikes. They haul just about everything on the back of those things. We checked into our room and unpacked. Tomorrow we are taking a day long tour of the city. We'll probably do some shopping on Sunday.

We're really looking forward to Monday, when we will see our daughter in person for the first time.

We leave tomorrow

2007-10-30T19:06:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow we leave for Vietnam. Yesterday the boys were off school so we had time to spend with them. It was such great weather, we played at the park and went for ice cream. This morning I had a few errands to run, and pack a couple of last minute things. We went out to dinner tonight with the boys and Mark's parents. Tomorrow we will say good bye to the boys when they leave for school. I'm not looking forward to that. I'm excited to be going and at the same time it will be hard to leave the boys. I know they will be well taken care of. That's not the point. I have never been away from them for this long, and so far away. If I keep thinking about the baby, it will keep my mind off of them and maybe I won't miss them so much. We will be emailing them and talking on the phone. And they will be busy when we're gone. This weekend they're going to Wisconsin Dells and next Saturday is the cub scout Raingutter Regatta. And then there's school. So anyway, we leave tomorrow and arrive in Hanoi Friday morning. (Thursday night here) We will be 13 hours ahead once we change the clocks here. I will try to post Friday night.

4 more days

2007-10-27T17:59:00.000-07:00

This morning I finished the work I needed to get done before I leave. It feels so good to have it done. Then I did some shopping to pick up the remaining items to pack. And I finished packing. Just a couple of last minute things to pack at the end. Boy, those suitcases fill up fast. But a lot of the things will be used up during our stay so there will be room coming back for the things we buy while we're there. So tonight I'm going to relax.

5 days and counting!

2007-10-26T19:31:00.000-07:00

Today my goal was to finish my work that I needed to get done before we leave. I have a little left to do that I will finish tomorrow. The boys are off school Monday so we wanted to be able to spend the day with them.

Last night I did some more packing. It's easier to pack clothes when you are going to a different climate. The forecast for Hanoi while we're there is in the 80's. They have higher humidity than we do. I've been told to take lots of hand sanitizer and antibacterial wipes. And of course we need to have room in our luggage to bring back things we buy when we are there.

I received an email from the adoption agency with the names and email addresses of the others in our travel group. There are a total of 5 families. We're looking forward to meeting them.

We're going next week for sure!

2007-10-25T09:14:00.000-07:00

It's official. Our adoption agency received an email stating that the 5 families in our travel group will have Embassy appointments in Vietnam and file the I600 the old way. I feel so relieved. I am so excited about going now!! Now I need to finish packing and tying up loose ends before we leave. Only 6 more days until we leave!!

It looks like we're going next week

2007-10-24T19:18:00.000-07:00

These last couple of days have been the most stressful of the whole adoption process. So the change officially goes into effect October 29. USCIS has decided those with 'imminent' travel plans will be able to make Embassy appointments on a case by case basis. Beginning November 17 all I600 forms need to be filed here before travel. Our adoption agency emailed them this morning with our itinerary's and travel plans and is waiting approval from them. Since they're 12 hours ahead of us we aren't expecting to hear from them until tomorrow. I think it's looking good. Our adoption agency told us to plan to travel as scheduled for now. We would all feel better having confirmation from them. So we'll see what tomorrow brings. Continue to pray for us.

possible travel delay

2007-10-23T12:56:00.000-07:00

What a stressful day. Remember in an earlier post, I mentioned that there is going to be a procedure change with the filing of form I600. Well, this morning I received a phone call from our adoption agency saying that the initial report is that the change is going into effect Oct 29. They are expecting a formal announcement by the end of the day today. So we don't know any of the details. Everyone at the adoption agency is bothered by this because they had no notice. They did not think it would happen this fast or they would not have scheduled groups to travel. She doesn't think they will grandfather anyone. Which means we would not be leaving next week. Because now we would have to file form I600 here and USCIS has 60 days to approve the form. Like I said we're still waiting to hear the details of the formal announcement. So I took matters into my own hands and called our congressman's office to see what they could do. I faxed them the info they requested and they are making an inquiry to see if we can be grandfathered in. It could be a couple of days before I hear back from them. To me it would make sense to grandfather those who already have dates scheduled for the G&R. We already have our airline tickets, we've received our visas and we're ready to go.

9 days until travel

2007-10-22T07:46:00.001-07:00

Wow, 9 days until we leave. There are a lot of things to do once you have travel dates. We continue to pack. I'm hoping to be done packing by this weekend so I can relax for a couple of days before we leave. If that's possible. The boys are excited about staying with their grandparents, so that makes me feel better. Although Nate hopes we're only gone 2 weeks. I'm sure we'll be ready to come home by then too. I'd like to be home before Thanksgiving. I'm planning on posting while we're in Vietnam, but probably won't post any pictures until we return.

Our flights are confirmed

2007-10-16T19:19:00.001-07:00

Well, I didn't hear from the travel guy last night, but he emailed me this morning. So after emails back and forth we finally decided on a travel route and confirmed our flights. We will be leaving October 31 and arriving in Hanoi November 2. Sounds like a long trip, but they are 12 hours (or 13 once we change our time?) ahead of us. It's kind of funny because when we come home, we leave one evening and get back the next morning. We were told to book our return flight for 3 weeks out, and it has to be a changeable ticket. There's a good possibility we will be home before 3 weeks. Once our flights were booked, we had to send in our applications for our visas. Then I needed to call to get travel insurance. And I also called to add her to our health insurance. So it was a busy day and I didn't get much work done.

We have travel dates

2007-10-15T18:40:00.000-07:00

Today I received the email with our travel dates and info. We are supposed to be in Hanoi, Vietnam by November 4th. Our Giving & Receiving Ceremony (G&R) will be on Monday the 5th. I immediately called the adoption travel agent, who has been recommended, to make flight reservations. I left him a message, and called again a few hours later. He said to email him the details and he would work on it tonight and call or email me. So I'm waiting to hear from him.

Wow, this is really happening. For a while when we were waiting, it seemed as if we were just going through the motions, but it's real, it's actually happening, we are going to have a daughter soon. I'm both excited and nervous. Not so much about traveling to another country, but about having a baby again. Will I remember what to do? It's been a while. And I'm not looking forward to being away from the boys for so long. That's going to be the difficult part.

Can't wait to bring her home

2007-10-14T18:31:00.000-07:00

What an emotional week it has been. I just can't tell you how excited I am! Although it has been not quite 4 months since we sent our dossier to Vietnam, the wait was long enough. All the paperwork and waiting has been worth it. She's the cutest little thing and is the perfect baby for us. I can't wait to bring her home.

This weekend I did some shopping for baby things, now that I know how old and big she is. We should have our appointments scheduled soon, so we're thinking we'll hear this week about our travel dates. The tentative date they are trying to schedule for is only a few weeks away. So I'd like to get our airline tickets as soon as possible.

We have a referral!

2007-10-10T11:01:00.001-07:00

We have a referral!! I'm so excited!! I received the phone call yesterday (Tuesday) about 2pm. I can't post any more info yet, until it's official.

Haven't heard anything

2007-10-08T06:52:00.000-07:00

I've talked to a few people in the last couple of days who say they check my blog regularly. It's nice to hear that. I've often wondered if anyone is reading this. A couple of people have posted comments, but there are many others who don't post comments, and that's fine.

Last Thursday, I emailed our social worker at the adoption agency asking if there has been any change in our status. I still have not heard back from her. Which is unusual. Usually she gets back to me the same day. So that could mean a couple of things. Either she's tired of hearing from me, asking the same thing. But I don't think that's the case based on the content of her emails. Or maybe she's on vacation. She was just on vacation recently for a week and someone else was answering her emails then. So I don't know that that's it. Unless she was just off a couple of days. Or maybe she's going to be calling me soon with good news. I like that one better. I'm trying to not get too excited about it, but it's hard not to. So here I go again, trying to figure out what this means.

Sometimes I'm OK with being #5, knowing it can't be too much longer. It's not like we're going to go back to #7 or #20 or anything. And then other times I have the strong urge to email the adoption agency, just having to know if there's been any change.

Still #5

2007-09-27T06:47:00.000-07:00

I found out yesterday that we're still #5. I was hoping we would travel before the end of the year, but you never know. When it happens, it happens. It will be the right time and the right baby for us.

There have been some changes in when some of the paperwork is filed. It used to be that form I600 was filed while in Vietnam. This form is filed once a child has been identified to adopt and USCIS (US Citizenship & Immigration Services) determines that the child has been released correctly and there wasn't any corruption. The new regulations state that form I600 is filed once we receive and accept a referral and before we travel. This could mean a longer wait between referral and travel, since USCIS has 60 days to make their determination. It doesn't mean it will take 60 days. And it will probably result in a shorter stay in Vietnam. They haven't determined when this new regulation will go into effect, so I don't know if it will affect us or not.

Annual adoption picnic

2007-09-24T07:03:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was our adoption agency's annual picnic. We visited with a couple who is adopting from Guatemala. They have had their referral since last December and still don't have a travel date. Their son had his 1 year birthday a couple of weeks ago and they weren't able to share it with him. They get updated pictures and even video, but it's not the same. The Guatemala program has become risky because of what's going on with their government and the Hague treaty. We also spent some time with our friends from Janesville. The have a 2 1/2 year old son they adopted from Korea and a 9 1/2 month old daughter from Vietnam. She is so good natured and has bonded well with them. I had some concern because I had heard of someone else who adopted from another country and is having a hard time with the bonding. She reassured me that the Vietnam babies have all transitioned and bonded well. They are very well cared for by the orphanage nannies where the ratio is usually 1:2.

We continue to wait for our referral. I have become more relaxed about it knowing it is in God's hands. When we do get our referral it will be the perfect baby for us.

A quick update

2007-09-14T10:03:00.000-07:00

As of Wednesday, we are now #5 on the list. CAS received 5 referrals about a week ago, 2 girls, 3 boys. I was disappointed to find out we had only moved up 2 spots. But I know it will happen eventually and it will all be worth it in the end. So I need to be patient. I've been driving myself crazy trying to predict when we will have a referral. I need to stop that. It's unpredictable. My friend who traveled to Vietnam the end of May received her referral the next day. And now, just a few months later, we're still waiting for ours. That's the nature of international adoption.

2007-09-06T08:11:00.000-07:00

Well, we're still waiting. It's so hard knowing we are so close. I keep thinking any day now. Everytime the phone rings, I wonder is this the call we're waiting for. It can't be too much longer, right?

Anyway, school has started and we are getting back into our routine. Nate was so excited to start 4th grade. He is at Northside Intermediate School in Milton, which is grades 4, 5, and 6. The first day he came home he was so excited about school. He will be starting Cub Scouts soon. This will be his 4th year. He is still very interested and said he is going to keep going. Mark is going to be a Co-Den Leader this year.

Luke is in 2nd grade at Harmony Elementary, which is just down the road from our house, about 2 minutes away. Luke doesn't have any interest in Scouts, but is going to be starting 4H this year.

Our hand bell choir at church started this week, so I will be going to weekly practice. I'll be taking a leave once we go to Vietnam.

I'll keep you posted, hopefully we'll have news soon!

Still no referral

2007-08-27T16:00:00.000-07:00

This morning I emailed the adoption agency to get an update thinking we must be closer. I was disappointed to find out there hasn't been any referral activity in the last couple of weeks. Which the more I thought about it, is OK. That probably means they will get a batch with a lot of referrals. So it could still happen fairly soon.

School starts next week, so we're getting in some last minute activities. Yesterday we went for a 10.5 mile bike ride. Even Luke biked the distance. We did stop to play at the park. I think Luke was getting tired on the way back and he wiped out. Scrapes and bruises on the legs. Today we went for another bike ride, but only about half the distance. We stopped at the school playground to play for a while. Tomorrow we're going to Wisconsin Dells. We have some tickets to use at Riverview Park and we have a favorite place to go horse riding. Wednesday is Luke's yearly checkup at the UW Childrens Hospital clinic. We're expecting a good checkup. Since we'll be in Madison, we're going to make a stop at the zoo. Thursday night is open house at Harmony school for Luke and at Northside for Nate. We'll meet teachers, drop off school supplies, check out the classroom, etc. We're staying around home for the Labor Day weekend. We'll probably go to Elkhorn to the Walworth County Fair, it's a favorite of ours, and go to the Labor Day parade here in Janesville on Monday. Then it's to bed early Monday night for school Tuesday.

What to expect

2007-08-16T19:56:00.000-07:00

It's been 1 week since we found we are #7 on the list. We've probably moved up some since then, but I don't want to bother the adoption agency on a weekly basis. We'll be hearing from them soon. We think we'll be going in September. Which will be good timing. The boys will be back in school and into a routine which should make it easier for Mark's parents while we're gone. And when we get back it will allow us time during the day with the baby to transition.

I went shopping and bought more of the things we will need for our trip. My friend has been so helpful providing me with a packing list, etc. I actually got out the suitcases and started packing. We are packing 4 suitcases on wheels and each carrying a backpack as a carryon. We will have a third carryon on the return trip for the baby. We'll be packing enough diapers and formula for 3 weeks, so we won't be bringing that home, which will allow room to bring home souveniers.

After we receive and accept our referral, an appointment will be made for our Giving & Receiving ceremony. We need to be in Hanoi by this date. They schedule 4-8 families in a travel group to have the same G&R appointment. So we will be there with other families. This is a great time to form new friendships.

It was recommended that we arrive in Hanoi a couple of days before the Giving & Receiving ceremony to allow time for site seeing. Our baby will more than likely be sick when we get her, so she probably won't be very comfortable. And some of the tourist places don't allow babies. It was also recommended to take her to the SOS clinic the day after we get her so she can get started on any medication she needs. Many times the babies have colds, ear infections, fever, diarrhea, vomiting, dehydration; any of these or a combination. Conditions there are not as sanitary as they are here.

The day after the G&R will be the first appointment at the embassy, to apply for baby's passport. A few days later there will be an appointment at the immigration office to apply for the baby's visa. The passport will be ready about a week after application and the visa should be ready about a week after application. So about a total of 2 1/2 weeks. I think that's what they have been averaging.

We've been told to not drink the water there. Don't even open your mouth in the shower. Use bottled water to brush your teeth. Use bottled water for formula. Don't eat any fresh fruits or vegetables because they have been washed or rinsed in their water. I'm looking forward to going, but after 2 1/2 weeks I'll probably be ready to come home. I'll also update the blog while we're there. The hotel we will be staying at has a business center where we can access the internet.

Another quick update

2007-08-09T11:09:00.000-07:00

This morning I emailed the adoption agency to touch base with them and find out how things are progressing. We are now #7 in line for a healthy baby girl. I'm so excited!!!! They received 13 referrals in the last month. They average about 10 referrals/month, which would mean we should have a referral around the end of the month. Oh my gosh, it's going to be soon! And did I say I'm excited!

No adoption news

2007-08-08T04:53:00.000-07:00

We're back from our week vacation up north where we rented a cottage on the lake. It was so relaxing. We went swimming, fishing and boating on my dad's pontoon. The boys had a blast. It was hot, in the 90's and we didn't have air conditioning, but it was OK. We reserved the cottage for next year the same time. We'll have Ava with us then.

The week before we left for vacation was our county 4H fair, which is right across the street from our church. Nate and I volunteered to work in the church food booth Tuesday night. He had so much fun that he and Mark went back the next day to work a 4 hour shift over the lunch hour.

This week the boys are in bible school day camp at our church. They are having a fun time there. Next week Nate has cub scout day camp, so it will be another busy week.

August is the hottest month in Vietnam. When my friend went the end of May/early June she said it was really hot then. I can't imagine it now. Whenever it's real hot and humid here I always say it's Vietnam weather. Since I doubt we'll be going in August I would think it would be a little cooler.

I don't have any new adoption news. But we're getting closer every day. We've been so busy this summer and time is going fast.

Still waiting

2007-07-17T19:09:00.000-07:00

I emailed our contact at the adoption agency to let her know when we'll be on vacation, just in case she needs to call us with some good news. She said we're about number 20 on the list. Not too bad considering there are about 170 families somewhere in the adoption process. She also said they're averaging about 10 placements a month, which would mean it could be another couple of months. I talked to my friend who recently came back from Vietnam with their daughter. She thinks we should be as ready as we can because once we get our referral she doesn't think it will be too long before we travel.

We're doing what we can now to get ready here. Her room is ready and we have some things packed. But I can't buy any clothes for her until I know how big she is. I even bought school supplies for the boys already so I don't have to worry about doing that later.

Still no news

2007-07-11T15:23:00.000-07:00

Well, obviously we're still waiting. Otherwise I would have posted some news. We still haven't heard anything from the adoption agency. Our dossier has been in Vietnam for 3 weeks already. Time is going fast. And since it's summer, we've been keeping busy. I know I need to be patient. I think of all the other families who are adopting in programs other than Vietnam, where the process is slower. We're very fortunate to be in a program with a short referral time. We're hoping to hear sometime in July. It's like being pregnant and waiting to go into labor any day.

And we wait

2007-06-21T19:10:00.000-07:00

A lot has happened in the last couple of days. Yesterday we went to visit my friend who returned from Vietnam a week and a half ago. We had emailed each other many many times and talked on the phone in the previous months but had not met in person until yesterday. And of course we met her new baby from Vietnam. She is so adorable and is so easy going. And now I'm even more anxious to go get our daughter. I took lots of notes from her trip, what to take and not take, do's and don'ts. So we should be prepared. I started packing a few small things.

I also found out that our adoption agency, as of today, has suspended applications for the Vietnam program. This worried me until I found out that it's only for new applications. We're fine since we're in the process. It seems that there is an overabundance of families wanting to adopt from Vietnam and the agency can't keep up. So they are temporarily suspending new applications so they can better serve their existing clients. Sounds like a good decision to me. So where does this leave us? Since our dossier is in Vietnam waiting for translation, we're near the top of the list. The question now is how long will it take to get translated? We don't know. I can't imagine it would be too long. I'm still thinking we'll hear sometime in July or early August. So we wait.

Soon!

2007-06-14T05:55:00.001-07:00

Today our dossier will be sent to Vietnam. It will take about a week to get there and then it needs to be translated. After it is translated we can get our referral any time.

My friend is home from Vietnam and it doesn't sound like she had a very good trip. Now I'm really nervous. I haven't talked to her in person yet, just through email. She said they made a list of do's and don'ts for others who will be traveling there. She's not been feeling well since she's been back so I'm not sure when we'll get together. I want to hear all of the details of the trip so I know what to expect.

She did give me some inside information. There were 4 families in her travel group who had their Giving & Receiving ceremony (G&R, this is when the child is officially handed over to you) on May 28, 5 families had their G&R the following week and 10 families this week. When she was at the orphanage she said there were about 30 babies there. She also found out that there are 10 dossiers before ours that need to be translated. So if you do the math, that would mean that as soon as our dossier is translated we should get a referral. We're so close. I think they're pretty busy in Vietnam now with the 10 families being there so I don't know if they will do any translating until after that. So maybe a couple of weeks? The first week of July? And as far as travel, if we have a referral the first week in July there is a possiblity we could travel the end of July or probably August. So I have lots to do in the meantime.

Mark and the boys are going to Noah's Ark today with our church and I'm home working. But that's OK, I'll get a lot done.

The UPS man was here!

2007-06-12T19:39:00.001-07:00

Well, last night I checked the UPS tracking number, as I have been every day for the last 2 weeks, and it showed our dossier had been shipped back to us and would arrive this morning. I was so excited! After it was here, I made 4 complete copies of the dossier and sent the original and 1 copy to CAS, the adoption agency in North Carolina. They will receive it tomorrow. And so now we wait again. This time for our referral!

I have been occassionally asking the agency if referrals are still coming in pretty quickly. They don't like to give out too much information. At one point they said yes, fairly quickly depending on what you are specifying and another time they're sticking with their standby of 3-6 months. So I guess we'll just have to wait and see. The wait it getting harder all the time. But it will be well worth it in the end.

Waiting is hard!

2007-06-06T06:43:00.000-07:00

OK, this waiting is so hard. Overall the paperwork hasn't been that bad. I was actually thinking it would be a lot worse. Maybe it didn't seem as bad because I'm pretty organized and have the flexibility to get together whatever is needed. It's hurry up and wait. I did our end of the paperwork and then send it off the the government and wait. And the waiting is by far the worst. And it's probably going to be even harder for me once we know who she is and have to wait to go get her.

Hopefully our dossier will be back from Washington within the next week. Then I will send it to CAS, our adoption agency in North Carolina. Then we wait again, this time for our referral. Then there's more paperwork. Yesterday I emailed our program coordinator at CAS to let her know we should be getting our dossier back soon and then I'll send it off to her. She said referrals are still coming in fairly quickly, whatever that means. It varies depending on the child you are requesting. We may only have a weeks notice before we travel or maybe a months notice. So I'm ready to start packing!

My friend from Janesville who I met through the adoption agency is in Vietnam now with her new daughter. I can't wait to hear from her when she gets home. Her husband, who stayed home with their son, did email me to say that they officially have a daughter and they can't wait to come home. She thinks we will have our referral within a month and will probably be going to Vietnam in August. I hope she's right! She'll be able to give me lots of advice for the trip.

No news yet

2007-06-03T18:48:00.001-07:00

Tuesday will be 2 weeks that our dossier has been in Washington at the Vietnamese Embassy. It usually takes about 3 weeks for authentication. I check the UPS tracking number daily to see if the package has been sent back to us yet.

I think about our daughter daily even though she isn't here yet. I can't wait to see what she looks like and to finally meet her in person. The boys talk about her often like she's part of our family already. They'll find a toy and say 'Mom, this can be for Ava.' Just tonight we went to Pizza Hut for supper and sat at a table for 4. Nathan said 'Once Ava's here we'll have to sit at a bigger table.' So I know they're thinking about her too. I think they'll be great big brothers to her.

Documents off to Vietnamese Embassy

2007-05-21T20:01:00.000-07:00

Wow! Today we received the certified documents back from the state. It usually takes about a week. I sent it to them last Thursday, they received it Friday morning, certified the documents and shipped it off that same day. It was here this morning at 9:30.

I shipped the documents to Washington DC to the Vietnamese Embassy to arrive tomorrow. There they will be authenticated. This usually takes about 3 weeks. With how quickly things have been going, I'm almost wondering if they'll be here before 3 weeks. We'll see.

I think someone is watching over us and knows our daughter is on the other side of the world waiting for us.

Our passports are here!

2007-05-18T04:52:00.000-07:00

Our passports arrived yesterday at 7:50am. I could not believe it! That was fast. The woman I talked to Saturday at the passport office was so helpful. She must have requested that they be sent to us overnight.

Now that I had the passports I had to make a copy of the pages with our signatures and photos and have them notorized. I completed the rest of the documents that needed to be notorized and we took them to a notary. Then when I got home I had to fax our dossier to CAS, the adoption agency in North Carolina we are working with for the international part of the adoption. Someone there had to review it to make sure everything was correct before the next step. After she called to say everything was fine, I sent the dossier to the Secretary of State where it will be certified. We should have it back within a week. Then we send it to the Vietnamese Embassy in Washington DC. That process takes about 3 weeks. Then it goes to Vietnam.

Passport update

2007-05-16T19:36:00.000-07:00

Our passports are completed and have been mailed to us! I am so excited! They should be here by Saturday 5/19. So I've been busy organizing our documents that need to be sent to the state.

Waiting for passports

2007-05-16T07:56:00.000-07:00

We're still waiting for our passports. I check their website daily to see if our status has been updated, but it still says in process. The woman who I talked to at the passport office on Saturday said to check the website on Wednesday, so I'm hoping sometime today it will be updated to completed.

Once we receive our passports, we include a copy in the packet we send to the state where they verify everyone who notorized our documents. This process should only take about 1 week.

Part of our adoption is to complete 30 hours of education regarding international adoptions and culture of the country we are adopting from. So we've been reading books, watching videos and taking online courses. We're just about done.

There's a good possibility we could be going before September.

Happy Mother's Day!

2007-05-13T09:52:00.000-07:00

Welcome to our adoption blog. We're getting closer all the time to bringing our daughter home. Here's what's happened so far. We officially started the process on February 28, 2007 with our application. It seems that Vietnam changed their application requirements effective March 1, so as of that date you could no longer specify gender. Which meant that since we want a daughter, our application needed to be sent in on February 28. So that started it all.

Then we had a series of 6 weekly meeting with a social worker from the adoption agency to complete the homestudy. Part of the 6 were with both Mark and I, one with each of us individually, a short session with the boys and a home visit. During this time we had documents to gather for the adoption agency in Madison. They gave us the name and phone number of another family in Janesville who is also adopting from Vietnam. They are further in the process than we are, in fact they are going to Vietnam on May 24. I have had numerous phone calls and emails with her. It has been good to talk to someone who has already been through what we are going through. She gave me lots of helpful hints to stay on top of things and make them go smoother.

At the beginning of the process we had to fill out a form I-600A, which is a petition to adopt an orphan, with USCIS, United States Citizenship & Immigration Services. We went to their Milwaukee office to be fingerprinted and once they received a copy of the completed homestudy from our social worker, they issue form I-171H, which gives us a favorable determination to adopt an orphan. We just received this form on Friday, May 11, which was a little earlier than expected. We were planning on having it by the end of May, so it was a pleasant surprise. Now we're waiting for our passports. It's been 2 months since we applied for them. I finally got through to someone there yesterday and after explaining our situation, she was going to send a fax to their New Orleans office (that is where our passports are) saying we need them by May 18. She was so helpful.

Referrals continue to come in quickly. I'm hoping that is still the case when we get to that point. Our best estimate is that we will be going to Vietnam in September. But it could be earlier if things continue to go smoothly.