*DTC!!!!!

Alleluia, we are DTC today! Translated: Our big bundle of paperwork (Dossier) went To China today!

Our paperwork before sent to our agency.

Today is my late Grandma's birthday and I took Koen out to her grave site to honor her. She passed away year and a half ago. I hadn't been there before and decided a couple months ago that I would go on her birthday. It was a beautiful day and the cemetery is on a hill overlooking the city. It was such a perfect day to go. Afterward we visited a park nearby that is also a farm. Koen had fun getting to see the horses, goats, chickens, bunnies, and a very muddy pig.

When we got home there was a message from our agency saying she was putting our dossier in the mail to China. Yay! Once it is there it will be "logged in." China will send our agency our LID (Log In Date) but we likely won't know about it until well after in happens.

Our agency also received our special needs checklist today, and sent us an email asking for confirmation that we would like them to try to match us with a child from the list the CCAA puts out about every month. I quickly replied with a yes, and now we wait to hear from them.

I hope, hope, hope that we will see her face soon.

*Done with Phase 1!

Today I dropped our last pieces of paperwork in the mail. We were waiting for my medical appointment, which was on Wednesday. Today we got our medical forms signed and notarized, and we are done! It's good to be done, but it only means the rest is out of our hands.

I talked with our agency this week and was discouraged to learn more about the process. We really did enter this blindly. The most discouraging news is that we will likely wait 6-9 months to travel once we are matched with a child. Can I just say TORTURE!!! My little girl will be that much longer without me. I had my mind prepared for 3-4 months like with Vietnam, but this is double that wait. I'm not sure why it takes so long - is it just because the CCAA is understaffed? Or is there some kind of paperwork happening during that time?

Our agency also said that it is up to us as to when we want to start looking for a match. They recommended we wait a couple months after our paperwork goes to China, as this will likely decrease the time that we have to wait to travel (the torturous part of the wait), but still keep out total wait about the same. I'm not sure I understood, but I will research and trust their judgment.

In the meantime, we pray hard for Mei Mei, and trust the Lord to watch over her and bring us together. We also trust the Lord to provide the funds we will need to pay in the next couple weeks when our dossier goes to China.

*An Update With Little News

My heart started to pitter-patter today when I saw an update from our agency, hoping there was good news. I opened it and found very little new info. The news is that our dossiers have been returned by the government, but will stay at our agency's office in Hanoi. And, negotiations will start on October 27th - that's next Monday. This wasn't welcome news, as I thought they had already started. Oh well - at least now I know a for sure date.

Also next Monday, we will meet with our home study social worker to begin working on our update. Our Immigration Approval expires March 6th, and we need to file a new I-171H form by December 6th to keep it active. This requires a home study update, that costs and entails more than we realized. Are we just wasting time and money?

Oh Lord, please open the gates to Vietnam adoptions again, and soon. Let negotiations be fruitful and effective at cleaning up any unethical practices. Also Lord, please open all the orphanages of Vietnam to international adoptions in this process. Provide those children with loving families. Guide us to Liv. Thank you for your faithfulness. Amen.

*Hurry Up and Wait

I was planning to wait until Friday to call the agency, but caved in to my curiosity and excitement and called yesterday, only to be disappointed. I was hoping and praying that our dossier (paperwork) would go to Vietnam this month, and with only two mailing days left, it is looking doubtful, but still possible. I thought our agency sent our dossier to San Fransisco on the 12th, but they didn't until the 20th. I'm not sure why, but I'm assuming some of the paperwork still had to be authenticated at the state capitol. I'm not real sure how it works. Anyhow, I'm still praying it happens in the next 2 days.

We're tired of waiting to start our Wait!

On a positive note, two ladies who are adopting from our agency, and whose blogs I've been following got their referrals yesterday - one a 4 mo old beautiful girl, and the other a 2 mo old handsome boy. Because they're in the north, they should be able to travel in the next month and will get their babies at a young age. How fun!