Adopting Baby Girl

Visa!

2007-11-20T06:32:00.000-08:00

We had our second appt today at the Embassy and we are approved to get Ella's visa! We will be coming home as planned on Friday! Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!

And Her Name Is....

2007-11-13T07:01:00.001-08:00

Ella Autumn!

Update

2007-11-10T05:51:00.000-08:00

Getting measued at SOS. She weighs 13.76 lbs!

nap time...she's a binky baby

Temple of Literature

Aiden on toy street aka Heaven

power lines. they're all like this.

view from our hotel room

looking out the window

We've had a very busy week...I can't believe it's been 9 days already! It's flying by! On Thursday morning we had to pack up all of our things and move to a different hotel for the night. We knew that might happen when we booked here because the hotel was full for that one night when we made our reservations. Anyway, we packed everything up, moved to another hotel and then had our first Embassy appointment in the afternoon. It seems that everything went well at the appt, but I don't want to jinx anything. Friday morning we moved back to our original hotel, then went to the SOS clinic for our medical appt, then Dan went to go get baby girl's passport. Now her paperwork will be reviewed in Ho Chi Minh City and we should (hopefully) hear something from the Embassy about our second appt late this coming week or early the following week. If all goes as planned, we will be issued her visa after the second appt and will be approved to come home.

We have been doing a lot of exploring in Hanoi this week. We visited the Temple of Literature and the Museum of Ethnology. We've done a lot of eating! Baby Girl (still working on the name!) is doing great! She is still a bit stuffy, but has had her course of antibiotics and is much better. Her skin also looks great...no longer rashy. She is such a wonderful baby! We are all so in love.

love to all!

Photos!!

2007-11-03T19:22:00.000-07:00

Sorry, these are backwards in order. I have to remember to download them in the reverse order of what I want them to show up!

First bath with us

Aiden feeding her her first bottle with us

Baby Girl with her nanny

She's ours!

napping on mommy.

kisses from big brother

happy mommy!

There she is!

the orphanage (Hanoi orphanage #1 Dong Anh)

Aiden meeting the orphanage director

walking towards baby girl's room

On our way to the orphanage

We're Here...and We Have Our Girl!!!

2007-11-03T19:15:00.000-07:00

I'm sorry I haven't posted until now...it has been a whirlwind the last couple of days! This is actually my third time trying to post! Our flights were great, except the legroom on Cathay Pacific coach is severly lacking. Dan (who is 6'4") had his legs touching the back of the seat in front of him with the seat straight up...with it reclined, the seat was completely digging into his knees. It was a rough 14 hours. Aiden was a rockstar!! (thank you Grammy Diane for the gameboy...the boy loves it!) We arrived in Hanoi after about 27 total hours travel time. The only mishap was that Dan left his coat (with his wallet) at the gate in LAX. The biggest issue with that is that in our paperwork of things needed to apply for baby girl's visa is listed a driver's license. It was a very stressful 9 hours until we emailed Cherie (our in-country coordinator) when we arrived and she reassured us that we don't actually need our driver's licenses to apply. Our hotel is wonderful. We have two bedrooms, two bathrooms, a full kitchen and washing machine/dryer (which we are still trying to figure out). The windows are floor to ceiling...and even on the 10th floor we can still hear the cars honking! Horns are an integral part of driving in Hanoi. The horn is just as vital as the steering wheel, gas pedal, and brake pedal. The lines in the road don't mean much here and street lights barely mean anything. Crossing the street is an adventure...we have a little celebration every time we make it to the other side safely! Such an adrenaline rush! Hanoi is really amazing....it accosts your senses with it's sounds, sights and smells. We are already in love with this city and I just can't get over the fact that we are here!
Now for the most important news...at about 6:00pm on Thursday evening (the first night we arrived) Cherie called us to check in on how we were doing. Dan talked to her and told her how wonderful it was to be here, but that we were not looking forward to having to make it through the weekend knowing that baby girl was so close. He told her we planned to go to Halong Bay (natural limestones about 3 hours from Hanoi) to occupy our time. She wished us a good weekend and told us she would be in contact with us Sunday eve to make plans for Monday morning. Christie, Dad and Aiden were napping and Dan went downstairs to explore. At about 6:30 the phone rang, it was Cherie and she said “I have a proposition for you, would you like to go get your baby tomorrow?” Thankfully for Cherie's ears everyone was sleeping so I couldn't let out the SCREAM of joy that was in me!!!! I said “let me see, Halong Bay...or our daughter...not such a tough choice!” She told us we needed to be in the lobby at 8am to meet Dr Hong (the in country doctor on PLAN's staff) who would take us to the orphanage. Cherie told us we would have our Giving and Receiving ceremony in the afternoon and apply for her passport as well. All of this would put us at least 4-5 days ahead of where we would be if we had to wait for Monday. This is when the true excitement and butterflies started! We were going to have baby girl in our arms in about 15 hours! I think I slept oh, about 4 hours that night.
We were a ball of excitement on our hour drive to the orphanage. When we arrived Dr Hong took us to the room where our baby girl was. There were about 10 babies laying on large cots. We'd already planned on Aiden getting to be the first one to hold baby girl. We went over and Dr Hong had has find her. Everybody was crying and we sat down and I put our sweet girl in Aiden's arms. A moment that I will never forget. She is perfect and beautiful and perfect and perfect!! Because we were the only family we had a good amount of time to be with her and visit with the babies and nannies. The babies are typically taken care of by 2 or 3 primary nannies, but all the nannies know all of the babies...and love them so much. They were all kissing and hugging her, saying what a good baby she is. She had two main nannies, but only one was there. I got to ask her what her feeding and sleeping schedule is. We could tell baby girl really knew her nanny...she kept looking at her and smiling. Her nanny changed her into the clothes we brought for her and fixed us a bottle to take with us. I gave her a big hug and said thank you and took some pictures of baby girl with her. Then we went upstairs to meet and have tea with the director of the orphanage. Then it was time to go back to the hotel with our beautiful daughter. We got back and had some lunch, Dan went to apply for her passport. Then around 3 we went to the Giving and Receiving ceremony. It was really special, but fairly informal. We signed the paperwork making baby girl our daughter.
I can't even begin to express what a wonderful baby she is. She is mellow and happy. I think in the three days that we've had her she's cried for all of 10 minutes. It's like she's always been with us, she is a perfect fit. She is a bit rashy, which we expected, so we are using the ointment we brought with us on her skin. We took her to the SOS international clinic yesterday because she is snotty and congested. She has an upper respiratory tract infection, so we got her antibiotics and cough medicine.
Aiden is in love with her. He loves to smooch on her and feed her. He gave her her first bottle. He is even helping with diapers (only the wet ones!) which is something he said he wasn't going to do. He has had some moments where we can tell that he is jealous and a bit overwhelmed....but overall he is doing amazingly well.
I promise to post pictures soon...I know that is really what everybody wants!!

Here We Come Baby Girl...part three

2007-10-30T13:41:00.000-07:00

We received our final, official approval Sunday night from the Embassy in Hanoi! We leave for the airport in 20 mins...
next update from Hanoi!

In Limbo Land

2007-10-26T23:16:00.000-07:00

After our agency told us that the Embassy was allowing families with set travel plans to travel, they were told that the Embassy was giving permission only on a case by case basis. We were instructed to write an email explaining our situation to the Embassy in Hanoi to get official permission to travel. On Wednesday afternoon we sent an email to the Embassy...and as of yet have not heard back from them. As far as I know, the other families from our agency that are scheduled to be in Hanoi by November 3rd have received their approval. I'm not expecting to hear anything over the weekend...but am hoping for Monday morning. If we don't get the approval by then we may still have to cancel and/or postpone our travel.
AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!

Here We Come Baby Girl...part two

2007-10-23T21:10:00.000-07:00

Our agency just heard this evening that the US Embassy in Vietnam has told all agencies that they can send their families that have approved and planned travel to Vietnam without having to wait for I600 approval!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We still need to submit the paperwork before we leave, but as of right now our plans remain to travel Tuesday evening! HOORAY....

New Photos!....and Some Unbelievably Bad News

2007-10-23T09:58:00.000-07:00

I'm starting this post with the positive news...look at that sweet baby girl! She turned 4 months old on Sunday. These photos are beautiful and also heartbreaking because we just heard from our agency yesterday afternoon that we have to postpone our travel. The U.S. Citizens and Immigration Services (USCIS aka Homeland Security) has just decided to implement a new policy in the way one piece of the legal paperwork is filed. The form is called the I600 or the petition to classify orphan as an immediate relative. The way that this has been working is that families take this form with them when they travel, then file this with the US Embassy in Vietnam. The Embassy then looks over all of the legal documents that have been gathered for the baby and makes sure that everything is legit. Then they issue the baby's passport and visa to come home. Now, the USCIS wants this form filed in the states before families travel. As far as our agency knows, they plan to implement this change on Oct 29th...one day before we are scheduled to travel. At this point our agency is telling all families that were scheduled to be in Hanoi by Nov 3rd (I believe there are five families) that we need to cancel our travel plans, submit our I600 to USCIS and then travel. This means that we need to wait for all the documents for baby girl that are in Vietnam to get here, then send in the I600 with the documents, wait for approval (which at this point they are saying will be about 3 weeks, but who knows), then we can travel. I cannot even begin to express how disappointed, saddened and angry we feel right now. There are so many negative things that I could say right now about what I think about the USCIS office...but none of it will do any good. I have done a lot of crying and now it's time to look for the positive and move forward. I'll keep you all updated.

Here We Come Baby Girl!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2007-10-17T04:57:00.001-07:00

WE HAVE OUR TRAVEL DATES!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Last Wednesday was the seven week mark of when we received baby girl's referral. I was having a very hard evening because our agency had sent out an email reminding all the families waiting for travel dates that, although our agency has not had families wait more than 8 weeks from referral to getting travel dates, it can take up to 4 months. They also said that with the holidays coming up, they won't be sending families to Vietnam in December. So, if we didn't have travel dates by December 1st we wouldn't be going to Vietnam until the New Year. I had received the email right before going to work and was struggling to keep it together. When I got to work the first three people I saw asked me if I had heard any good news. I am so thankful that all the people I work with are so excited for us, but that night I was on the verge of a breakdown and just had to say to people "it's been a hard day and I can't really talk about it tonight". I made it through the night, went home in the morning and immediately checked my email (like I had been about 100 times a day for the past 7 weeks), but there was no news. I went to bed around 9am and woke up to my cell phone ringing...it was one of those times when I was in such a deep sleep that the ring went into my dream and I woke up confused and groggy. I answered to Dan saying "we got it, we got our travel dates...we need to be in Vietnam November 3rd!!" It was 10am...and there was no way I was going to be able to sleep after that! I think I finally gave up around 1:30 and just got up. That night at work I was a new person...floating on cloud nine...and I haven't come down yet! The last few days have been a whirlwind trying to book flights and hotel. We will be leaving Oct 30th, getting into Hanoi on the 1st and if all goes as planned we should be home Nov 23rd. Poor Aiden is going to miss trick-or-treating. He has been telling people whenever they ask what he is going to be for Halloween "I might be in Vietnam for Halloween". So when we told him we had gotten the call to go to baby sister, he was so excited that we would be here for Halloween. We went and bought him his costume the next day. We thought we wouldn't be leaving until the 1st or 2nd, but flights are so booked up that weekend that we needed to make our flight for the 30th. So then we had to tell him that he won't be home for Halloween...he was so sad! We're trying to find some really fun things for us to do the weekend before so he can wear his costume a few times and get a good stash of candy!
The next couple of weeks are going to be so busy, I know that they're going to fly by...but I'm so ready to go, go, go now! I cannot even put into words our excitement. We're so ready to start this part of the journey...to have baby girl home!

New Photos!!!

2007-09-27T20:05:00.001-07:00

Here are some new photos of baby girl that we just got this morning! Isn't she beautiful?! I can't wait to smooch those lips! We learned that she is able to roll from her back to her tummy! Apparently she was so interested in the piece of paper with her name on it that they had a hard time taking her photo...she must be a very curious baby! She turned 3 months old on Sept 21st. It's been five weeks as of yesterday that we received the wonderful phone call that she is ours. Our agency told us that the typical wait is 4-8 weeks to travel, but that it can be longer. We are still waiting for that phone call to tell us when we are going to Vietnam. I jump at the phone every time it rings and check my email about twenty times a day waiting for the news! Needless to say we are incredibly anxious to get her home. These photos are bittersweet for me because, although I am so thrilled to see how she is growing, I want to be the one who is taking the photos....patience, patience...she will be in our arms soon! PS we are still working on her name!

It's A Girl!!!

2007-08-26T18:36:00.001-07:00

We have a daughter! This is Nguyen Thu Tra and she was born June 21st. She currently weighs 11 lbs 7 ozs! Look at those cheeks...and that hair...and that outfit! I think she has about ten layers of clothes on! Those feet...and lips...I just want to smooch her all over!
We got the call Wednesday evening. Judy from PLAN called our home first, but only Dan was home so he got the news first. Aiden and I were in the Denver Airport and we had just missed our flight home after being there visiting Jodi and her family. Aiden and I were going to try to get the next flight stand-by so I was in the middle of rummaging through our suitcase trying to pick out stuff we might need for the night in case we didn't get on the plane. My cell phone rang and I almost didn't answer it because I didn't recognize the number, but for some reason I decided to. It was Judy and she said "is this Katy?" and I said "yes" then she said "this is Judy from PLAN". My heart went into my throat and I thought, no this can't be it already it hasn't even been a full two months...so then I thought, oh crap there's something wrong with our paperwork. Judy said "I just spoke with Dan and he said you and Aiden are stuck in the Denver airport, so this will either be the worst day or the best day because you are going to be parents again!" I COMPLETELY lost it and started bawling! I think I must have said "this is it already" about ten times...I was so surprised! Our paperwork left for Vietnam on June 25th and I had prepared myself to not hear anything until at least October. Then Judy told me baby girl's birthday and I realized that she is only two months old! We are now waiting for the call to tell us travel dates, which should be in 4-8 weeks. So she should be around 4 months when she comes home. We are still deciding on a name and having a very hard time at it...who knew naming a girl would be this hard?!
I can't even begin to describe how happy and excited we are. I feel like I am walking around with a perma-grin and am having a hard time thinking about anything else! All I want now is to get on a plane to bring her home...but we also have so much to do before we go. Did I mention how surprised I am to have a referral so soon?! I feel so unprepared. We have to decorate a nursery, shop, pack...etc, etc!
Thank you to everyone that I've talked to for your excitement and support! We are so thrilled to be sharing this with all of you!

More Other Families Referrals

2007-08-02T13:57:00.000-07:00

I just got news that twelve more families received referrals today from our agency!! We're so excited for these families and babies...and also excited for us because every time a family ahead of us receives the good news about their baby we are one step closer to getting our call!

Holy Crap...I posted a picture!!!

2007-08-02T10:23:00.001-07:00

For those of you who know me well, you understand what an exciting moment this is!!! I am completely technologically challenged (well, not quite as challenged as my mom...sorry mom!). Today I am so proud of myself because I figured out how to post my first photo on this blog! This is a practice, but now that I know how to I plan on posting much more.
So, what is this picture, you ask? This is the paperwork that we worked so hard to obtain to send to Vietnam so that we can bring home our baby girl! They all look the same from the front because they all have the official seal from the Vietnam Embassy in San Francisco, but each paper is a different document underneath. This is what we sent to Vietnam at the end of June.
I wish I had more exciting news to share about the adoption, but it is really just a waiting game at this point. I am trying to not let myself get overly anxious until at least the end of August, but even that maybe a little early. Until then, I am practicing being a patient person!

Other Families Referrals

2007-07-02T14:26:00.001-07:00

Since we won't be having any exciting news of our own for a few months, I wanted to share that our agency just received referrals of ten babies for other families adopting through PLAN. These families all sent their dossiers to Vietnam mid-March to mid-April. It gives me hope that our referral will also come in two to three months. But, for the time being I am living vicariously through others!

DTV!!

2007-06-27T18:01:00.000-07:00

As of Monday we are officially DTV (Dossier to Vietnam)!! Our part of the work is finally done...now we just wait. We are still hoping for a couple of months to referral and then a couple of months to travel, but again, that is the short end and it could certainly be longer. We'll keep you posted!

I-171H!!

2007-06-05T12:49:00.000-07:00

We got our I-171H form from USCIS on Saturday!!! This is the document we have been waiting for after we were fingerprinted so that we can send our dossier to Vietnam. We are hoping to have the rest of our paperwork collected this week and our dossier sent to Vietnam sometime next week! It will be so wonderful to have our paperwork done and then just be waiting for our referral and travel dates. I am being optimistic and hoping for travel in October, but it could certainly be longer than that.
When we got the letter on Saturday Dan opened it, quickly looked at it, then handed it to me and said, "here, I'm not sure what this is." When I saw who it was from I was expecting a letter saying they needed more info from us before they could complete our application. I started reading the letter and read in bold letters "Notice of Favorable Determination Concerning Application For Advance Processing of Orphan Petition"...and it clicked with me what I was reading and I started saying "I think this is what we need, I think this is what we need". I was scanning the letter for something official...like an official seal or big letters that said I-171H...anything to let me know that I was in fact holding this important document...then I read in small font in the bottom left hand corner Form I-171H!! I immediately stated crying, saying over and over "I think this is it, I think this is what we've been waiting for!" I still wasn't letting myself believe it until I sent off an email to our agency and our yahoo group, but after getting three responses back congratulating us that this was in fact the correct document did I let myself get completely excited. I wanted balloons and confetti and music to come with the document...it felt so unceremonious for such an important thing in our lives! We really didn't expect to get it back this quickly (it took exactly 5 weeks from the day we were fingerprinted) so we still have some paperwork to gather on our own. We are hoping to have it all together this week. Then we can drive to our agency in McMinnville to have everything notarized, then to Salem to have it certified, then mail it to San Francisco to have it authenticated, then finally to Vietnam!
When Aiden turned 5 in March he randomly asked me "mom, did you cry with love when I was born?" Which of course melted my heart as I told him (trying not to cry in that moment) that I did cry with love when he was born. On Saturday when I was crying he was very concerned about what was going on so I told him "it's ok bub, I'm crying with love because we are getting closer to bringing baby sister home". He got a big smile on his face and said "this is so exciting, I'm so excited!" I couldn't agree more...

Fingerprints!!!

2007-04-23T15:37:00.000-07:00

I just got our letter in the mail telling us we are scheduled for this coming Saturday the 28th to get our fingerprints!!!! After fingerprints it should be about 7 weeks until we are ready to send our dossier to Vietnam!! I AM SO EXCITED!!!!

Homestudy to USCIS!

2007-04-12T16:15:00.000-07:00

So, as of today our homestudy has been officially sent to the USCIS (immigration)!!!!! We are now back on track and are expecting to hear about getting a fingerprinting appointment in the next few weeks. I must say the last ten weeks have been a major test of my patience and we have gotten a big taste of bureaucracy. I know that all the t's must be crossed and the i's must be dotted (is that how that saying goes?), but it's so hard waiting for the paper pushing when there are babies in orphanages waiting for their families to come bring them home. I am on a couple of yahoo groups for adoptive parents (one for parents of children born in Vietnam and one specifically for our agency) and some of the parents were joking about needing a twelve step program to help with the waiting...Hello, my name is Katy, and I'm a waitaholic. Oh, I feel so much better!! I've also been doing a little retail therapy...since I can't really buy any clothes yet (although I must admit we have gotten her a few outfits even though we have no idea if they will fit her...I can't help it, they're so cute!), I did buy her crib bedding and Aiden picked out some books for her. Notice I'm saying "her"? We are working on the name but are having a hard time...who knew naming a girl would be this hard? Any and all suggestions are greatly appreciated!
So, we'll keep y'all updated...as we are celebrating every step that brings us closer to baby girl!

Our Ultrasound

2007-03-20T22:52:00.000-07:00

Moving Forward!

2007-03-20T11:05:00.000-07:00

So last Tuesday we drove to our agency in McMinnville to go over our dossier (all the paperwork that needs to be collected to be sent to Vietnam) so that Dan and I would be able to start working on something while we were waiting for his FBI record to come back. We had been sitting in the office for about 45 mins talking when Dan asked "would you mind checking the mail to see if my record has gotten here?"...and it had just gotten there...and he has nothing on the record!! So, after being at a stand still for 6 weeks we can start moving forward in the process!!! So, the next step is for our social worker to send our completed homestudy to the immigration department. Then in 2-3 weeks they will contact us with a date that we need to go to the office and both be fingerprinted for yet another set of FBI records (yes, the same record that we just waited 6 weeks for Dan, but that first record was for the homestudy and this record is for the dossier to be sent to Vietnam...why they can't just use the same record...who knows!) After we are fingerprinted it is about a 5-6 week wait for the report to come back from the immigration department...this is the dreaded 171-H form that can hold up completing the dossier. So, while we are waiting for that Dan and I will gather all the documents that we need, such as, birth certs, marriage certs, letters from our doctors, letters from our employers, etc, etc. Once we have everything together (including the 171-H form) we take it all to a notary to notarize it all...then we take it to Salem where secretary of state for Oregon attaches a document that verifies that person who notarized our documents is actually a notary...then we sent all the documents to the US consulate in San Francisco where they attach a document that verifies that the secretary of state is actually the secretary of state...then we take all those documents and send them to Vietnam. Once Vietnam has looked everything over we get our referral!!!! We finally get to see a picture(!) and her age(!), and whatever medical history they have about her. Then 2-3 months after that we get to travel to Vietnam to bring her home! Whoo, what a process...if all goes as planned we should be travelling sometime between August and October, but as more things are completed in the process we will get more accurate dates. One step at a time!

Our first hang-up

2007-03-09T15:27:00.000-08:00

We've been waiting for the report from Dan's fingerprints to come back so our social worker can complete our homestudy. After waiting five weeks (our agency told us it normally takes about 3 weeks for the results when it's for an adoption) Dan called the FBI to see if what was going on. The woman he spoke with said "Oh, we must not have seen it was for an adoption, we haven't even started to process the request", even though Dan had written ADOPTION across the front of the envelope...ugh!! We've been told it will be another 7-10 days (but of course there are no guarantees) until our agency gets the report. It's very frustrating that someone sitting in an office somewhere can keep us even one day further from meeting our daughter....
trying to stay patient and positive!!!

We've survived the homestudy

2007-02-16T00:44:00.000-08:00

So, after a mad dash to get the house presentable (I'm not sure it's ever looked this good), we've lived through the homestudy and are alive to talk about it! It was actually pain free. Our social worker is named Cindy and she was very reassuring that she was here to be our advocate, not torture us. She was here for just under three hours and basically just asked us questions that we had already answered in our autobiographies and our pre-adopt course. It was our chance to answer the questions in a little more depth. Aiden was SOOO excited...bouncing off the walls from the minute she arrived. He was so proud to take her on a "tour" of his room..."and this is my bed, and these are my posters..." He even got to answer a few of his own questions and later said "I was a little bit shy." (He didn't seem too shy to me, running laps of the bedroom, bathroom, bedroom, dining room, living room loop over and over...those of you who have seen this phenomenon in person know exactly what I'm talking about!) Cindy told us she has until March 8th to file her report, but said she tries to get them done as quickly as possible. Needless to say this step has made us even more excited...and nervous...and scared (are we REALLY ready for a second child?!) But then I think about baby kisses and baby fingers and giggles and hugs...and know that we are.

Vietnam Photo Link

2007-02-14T05:17:00.000-08:00

http://www.terragalleria.com/vietnam/

This is a site with some beautiful photos of Vietnam. We will be traveling to Hanoi, in the Central North.

Message from social worker

2007-02-13T18:23:00.000-08:00

I am so excited!!!!!! I just got a message from our social worker to set up our homestudy! If all of our schedules work out she should be coming over to meet with us this Thursday afternoon! I have to end every sentence with an exclamation point because I am so excited!! Time to start cleaning the house! Yikes!

One Step Closer

2007-01-30T12:44:00.000-08:00

Yeah! I just heard from PLAN that they've received all the paperwork they need from us to assign our social worker. We are hoping to hear by the end of this week or early next week from our social worker to set up a time to meet with him/her to start our homestudy. One tiny step closer....

Starting the Process

2007-01-24T22:24:00.000-08:00

I am starting this blog so friends and family can follow our journey of adopting a daughter from Vietnam. We chose our agency in December, Plan Loving Adoptions Now, in McMinnville Oregon. We have our initial paperwork into the agency and are now awaiting a social worker to be assigned to us so we can complete our home study. After that we will complete our dossier (more paperwork) and then get our referral for a baby girl! We hope to be traveling to Vietnam sometime this summer.