No Tainted milk

I have had some people were have asked if the orphanage uses milk from China to feed the babies. The agency sent out a notice on this to the waiting families. It was said the only reason the milk from China has been found in Vietnam was due to it being smuggled or imported. Many orphanages use Vietnamese infant formula and there have been no concerns about them.

4 families in Thanh Hoa have received their last approvals and have tentative travel dates. We are so excited for those families and can't wait to read about their experiences during the trips. There are 2 families in Quang Binh who also have received tentative travel dates. We keep up hope that our providence will start approving some of the families before us. Good Luck everyone!

New pictures

We received new pictures yesterday. They are from the Director's trip over to the orphanage. Nieman is wearing the new clothes we sent. It's so exciting and heartbreaking all at the same time to see him in something we know came from us. I would love more to have him home with us. That way I could put his new clothes on him. He look so big!

In related news, the Director's visit did not have the huge outcome we had hoped for. The officials in the providence were not forthcoming about the delays. Other officials within the country are stating that it is because adoptions have never been attempted from this particular providence. Authorities are stating the police officials have "questions" about cases, yet we don't know what "questions" or what cases. We hope with the help of other parties who are experienced with adoptions in Vietnam the police officials may been eased in their concerns soon.
We are 35 days into our 60 days process, with our last documentation needed approval, the "I-600". Once this document is approved and all other parties have signed off on the adoption you get your G & R date. The (G & R) Giving and Receiving ceremony is the day Nieman would become official ours. So we keep our fingers crossed that in the next 30 or so business days the delays will cease and other families will start to travel. That will clear the road for us to travel.

It's complicated I know and I learn more of how the process works as we go through it all. I love him so much already, it hurts. It's difficult, days like this make me want to cry for happiness and sadness that comes with this process.

Happy Anniversary

I know this blog is mostly about Nieman (who turned 16 months yesterday), but today is a very special day. It is our 10 year anniversary and I wanted to let Courtney know how much she means to me. It doesn’t seem that long ago on a bright sunny Saturday afternoon that we began our life together. She is a wonderful person with a good heart and great sense of humor (all be it weird at times). We have had ups and downs like all married couples, but I would certainly say the ups far out weigh to downs. These last 10 year have been the greatest and with the addition of Nieman to our family I can see the next 10 being even better.

Love you and 10th Happy Anniversary.