On the List

We have good news as of yesterday! We're officially on the list to receive a referral behind 5 other families. This is incredible-- mainly because if we were with a larger agency, we could be waiting behind 25-50 other families. We love our agency, Worldwide Adoption Services, because of their personal attention, experience and compassion. Our agent is very quick to respond to questions and is very sympathetic about our impatience and excitement.

We also found out that our homestudy has been sent to CIS (Citizenship and Immigration Services) and we can expect our travel approval for Addison in 8 weeks. We have to have this in order to get her visa when we're in Vietnam to bring her home.

And, finally, I had lunch on Tuesday with two women who are in the process of adopting from Vietnam. It was pretty amazing to have an opportunity to talk to others face-to-face about the experience, adoption issues, and their experiences adopting their other children from different countries. I have been fortunate to have several friends who have gone through or are going through the process of international adoption. Unfortunately, we aren't geographically close, so we share on the phone or over email. I look forward to getting to know these women and celebrating together when our babies come home. And our kids will have built-in friends when they get here. Could it get any better than that?

More to be thankful for this year!

Today we traveled north to finish our last step for the I-600A-- our fingerprints. The third set, mind you. Anyway, a painless step has passed. There are far too few of these painless steps and we celebrated with lunch and the purchase of our nursery furniture.

While we were at CIS, a woman and her three-year old daughter came in. They sat in front of us and introduced themselves. Grace was from China and just had her birthday. Her mother told us they are returning to China for her little sister. She was darling and a reminder of why we are going through this often frustrating paperchase. She and Edward locked eyes and Grace immediately started flirting with him. Edward was smitten. If this is any indication of how crazy he'll be about Addison, I'm in trouble. I may never see her.

When we returned home, he immediately assembled the crib and changing table. He said that he didn't have time, but I sure had a hard time getting him to do anything else. It took Edward a lot longer to get excited about this adoption than it did me. I love every moment that it becomes more real for him. Men and women certainly approach starting a family differently. I had no idea how true this was until we experienced infertility and decided to adopt. We don't process at the same speed or in the same way. But we end up at the same place. This has taught me patience and appreciation for our differences.

Next year, there will be more than enough memories and moments to be thankful for. This year I am extremely thankful for the adventure to Addison. I hope you all have the opportunity to see what blessings you have in your life. Happy Thanksgiving!

Home Again

I just returned home from a lovely trip to Miami for a conference. Three friends joined me and it was nice to get some sun and warm, fresh air. It was not easy coming back to 40 degree weather after seeing the ocean on 80 degree days. But, as they say, there's no place like home.

I think Izzy and Edward were conspiring against me in my absence. She's decided that she's a daddy's girl. Parenting, even parenting dogs, isn't always fair. I guess I should probably get used to it. Because when Addi lays eyes on her daddy, she'll be a goner. I don't have a chance. Oh well.

The plan for this Thanksgiving week is to complete our CIS fingerprints and pick up the nursery furniture. Once the fingerprints are completed, our 171-H can be processed. The wait for this is considerable out of the Chicago office. It could take as much as 3 months. We're in the waiting mode, so we aren't too shaken by this. Besides, we don't need the 171-H until we actually travel to get our little girl.

That's all for now. We'll check in later...

A Beautiful Day for a Giant Step

We found out today that our state background checks went through. We're happy to report that we passed with flying colors. So, our homestudy is basically finished and our agency should have their license from Vietnam in less than 10 days. At least, that's the word on the street. We'll take it. Anything that gets us closer to Addison! God bless!

Vietnam Time

What time is it in Vietnam?

Check the Block

We had our final meeting for our homestudy today. This was to fill in any holes and make any final changes. It was uneventful and we have the best social worker ever! She's made everything so easy. We're thrilled to have one more block checked toward bringing our baby home... stay tuned.