DON'T FREAK OUT!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hello all,

Don't freak out, for those of you who read the world news. Yes, we have heard that the agreement between Vietnam and the U.S. expires September 1st. Our agency has been keeping us up to date on the developments with the agreement.

Our agency as recently as last month has issued this update to waiting families:

As you know, FTIA is actively engaged and advocating for a new Vietnam - U.S. Memorandum of Agreement to be in place by September 1st so that Vietnam adoptions by American citizens can continue uninterrupted. At the same time, we recognize that despite the best efforts of all parties a new agreement may not be in place by September 1st. If this happens, we hope and expect that families who have submitted dossiers (which we have) to the IAD will be able to continue the Vietnam adoption process even if they do not have a referral at that point.

Other rumors you will hear soon that our agency is keeping us up to date on:

There has also been a rumor that as of April 1, 2008 Vietnam will suspend licenses to operate in Vietnam for all agencies who have not been Hague-accredited. Although there has been some discussion between American and Vietnamese officials about criteria for allowing American agencies to continue operations in Vietnam, this issue is far from decided. If, in fact, Vietnam moves forward with plans to require American adoption service providers to be Hague Accredited, FTIA is well-positioned to continue our work in Vietnam. We were among the first group of adoption agencies to receive Hague accreditation on February 29, 2008.

There is a rumor that the USCIS is going to require DNA testing for all children who are relinquished by a single or both biological parent(s). The USCIS has not made a formal memorandum on this yet. If this does move forward, FTIA has already contacted a certified DNA testing laboratory who will be able to process the DNA samples for our Vietnam adoption cases. It is important to note that the USCIS has not made a formal announcement regarding this process.

We realize this news, is just that news to you, for us, however, we have been prepared for this news and are with a very reputable agency that as only the best interest in mind for the waiting families. We are very confident that if this would make a huge impact on our status with the adoption, the agency would have let us know. The agency sends out a weekly update every Friday to inform the waiting families on current news and developments in Vietnam and with their status.

The media is always trying to make any agreements between the U.S. and other countries look more dramatic than they are. They are always first to blame the other countries for the failures, also. There are always going to be problems like this in any country for many reasons. Any system is going to have it's flaws and anything is possible if you have enough money to make it happen. There are many couples like us, that are having trouble getting pregnant on their own. Some of those people have more money than they know what to do with. Some of those people feel that they are above the system and try to get out of waiting through the red tape and instead try their best to buy their way around it. As the old saying goes, "It only takes one person to ruin it for the rest of us." If there weren't people out there willing to pay more money than required to get a baby then there would not be illegal baby selling.

Vietnam may shut their doors to us come September 1st but our agency is expecting that anyone with them who has submitted their dossier to the IAD will be allowed to continue with the process. Chris and I are feel very secure in are position on the list and hope to bring everyone good news soon.

THANK YOU for caring about us and this process. It is a very difficult process but we are open to any questions you may have. We have done are homework on all of this and plan to have a new addition soon. WE LOVE YOU ALL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

On the upswing

The agency is on an upswing. There have been 3 referrals so far this month, 2 infant girls and 1 infant boy. The agency also says there are 7 other families that have been "matched" with children and are waiting for their referrals. This is all positive news for us. It means we are "movin on up".

I have an "unofficial wait list" mapped out from the info I get through the agency's chat room. I have that there are 3 families ahead of us waiting for either gender referrals or specifically boys, then I have 3 families including us that all have the same date our paperwork was approved by the International Adoption Department (IAD) in Vietnam. By my count, we could be anywhere from 4Th on the list to 6Th on the list for a boy referral. This also doesn't include anyone who doesn't get on the chat room site and share their progress. So far my list has been almost 100% accurate.

I really have been trying to stay positive in my postings on this site. It's been very hard waiting for a call, an email whatever to come our way. At the end of the month, we will have been on the list for 11 months. This is not a long time to wait considering the agency is telling us 15-18 months for a referral so I track it as right on time.

We have not been "matched" yet with a child, however, if I was I'm not supposed to share that info. This is to protect the agency and us. There is always a potential that something could change with that baby's status and it's not considered "official" until the referral. But I will do my best to keep everyone posted.

One family is back from Vietnam. They were referred a little boy back in September and have really been the "guinea pig family" since all the changes in paperwork have taken place. Everything went smooth and they were in country for 14 days. We wish them all the luck. Soon it will be us on our way home.

Once a month

It looks like I'm only posting once a month, the reason, I don't have much to say. No news on the baby. There was one little girl referral in March and one family is in country now picking up their little boy. The more families start to travel the more we will learn about the process in country.

In other news, I have decided to compete in a triathlon. I was already in the process of getting ready to play outdoor soccer starting at the end of this month. I was also getting in shape for my trip to Vegas with the girls in 15 days. Now, I need to intensify the workouts and the quantity of them. Chris is getting ready for his regular season of softball. He and the team have already competed in a tournament and are trying to get in batting practice as much as possible. So we both have things to keep our minds off this adoption process. We are in the waiting part and with nothing to keep our minds busy all we do is think about how long it's taking. My triathlon is June 1 and softball starts end of the month?? Not sure on that.

We will be keeping our fingers crossed that we hear something soon and will let everyone know when we do.