Agency Update

Yesterday while i was at work our case worker from the agency called. She wanted to update us on where our application was, and when we could expect to see a picture of our baby. She said that the initial information that they recieved about the little girl was incorrect. The agency had actually recieved referrals for 2 baby boys, and she wanted to be sure we didn't change our mind. She did have families lined up for these little guys, but since we were next in line she wanted to be sure before giving the referrals to the next families. Cris and I talked about it, and decided to keep waiting for a baby girl. She told us she expects to have referrals for baby girls next month, and we are next in line, so we are hoping for a March referral, still with hopes of travelling in May or June to bring her home.

survivor...

yes, it's me. I survived the 8 mile run from downtown Honolulu to the Aloha Stadium. it wasn't pretty, but i lived to tell the story, so i guess that's better than the alternative. It took me about 2 hours (my athletic hubby did it in just over an hour) but i made it. I ran the whole thing, although somehow people who walked the whole thing still beat me. that probably tells you a little something about my pace. Today i am very very sore
To make matters worse, today is also my first day back to work after vacation. it's so hard. i am also 'on call' (which means i have to stay in the hospital all night), making my first shift back a 24 hour shift. which really is no fun at all. needless to say i'm in a pretty grumpy mood. but i guess i can't complain. These days there are limits to the torture residents have to take, we are limited to no more than 36 hours in the hospital at 1 time, and no more than 80 hours in a week. The 'old-timers' tell stories of 48 hour shifts and 120 hour work weeks. next year will be much better though, as i will be past the 1/2 way point.
Adoption news has been scarce, obviously. However, today my case worker did call. They have 2 infant boy referrals, and she just wanted to be sure we didn't change our mind and want a baby boy. The little guy she told me about is only 3 months. But we have been pretty set on a girl since the beginning, so i told her we would keep waiting. The referral process is so strange and unpredicatble. I thought our dossier would have to be logged in to get a referral, but i guess not. i'm not really sure. anyway, you may remember from a post awhile ago that they supposedly had 2 baby boys, and 1 girl (6-8 months). Anyway, somehow it turns out that the little girl wasn't really there. or maybe she was there but she got referred to another agency. i really have no idea how these things work. anyway, they only have 2 baby boys, no girls right now. However, they are supposed to be getting baby girl referrals in March. So we will see if that actually happens. With each month things just keep getting bumped to the next month, so Maybe March really means April. Who knows.
I joined this yahoo listserve for vietnam adoption. some of you are probably members. It gets really intense at times. Right now the discussion topics have been about agencies that require a cash donation to orphanges, and if that is unethical based on the new guidlines. Call it naive, but i guess since we jumped right into the adoption world, without really knowing anything or anyone who had done it i never even considered the idea that an agency might not be ethical. trust me, now i have been looking at everythign i can find because i am terrified by the idea that my baby girl might not really be an "orphan", and the idea of her birthmother giving her up for money is terrible. it actually makes me almost sick to think about it. It is such a tricky mess, i can't even straighten it out in my head. Anyway, I believe my agency is ethical (but then again, who doesn't?) and i don't think they would do anything wrong knowingly, but i think some people can be sneaky.
any insight on this?

things i will miss about hawaii when we're gone...

I love having the opportunity to live in hawaii. Yes, there are certainly some not so great things about living here...I hate that if i want to go visit my family (who i miss very very much) it costs cris and i a thousand dollars and 2 full days in travel. There is no olive garden here. No bargain shopping (and i am a master bargain shopper...thanks, mom!). There is no chipotle. HOWEVER, there are things i love about this place. Cris and I are constantly coming up with things we will miss when we leave (thanks to the army this will be mid 2009)
-the special music at church is often a Hula. Yup, for christmas we had a beautiful hula to Oh Holy Night. It is such a beautiful dance, that i know won't be in other places
-Tropical fruit year-round. We eat a pineapple every week. a fresh, delicious, juicy pineapple in january. i just ate a perfectly ripe mango. We have an avacado tree, and we swap with our neighbor who has a papaya tree.
-The 2:00 p.m. rainbow. Pretty much every afternoon we get a gorgeous, vibrant rainbow.
-Football in the morning. This one indirectly affects me. I don't really like sports. My husband is an athletic trainer and sports enthusiast. Due to the time change football comes on early in the morning, which means i can sleep in while cris watches football, then we have the afternoon free!

Who knows where we will end up next. Hopefully wherever it is i will have a big list of things i love about that place too.

monday is my last day of vacation. monday is also the day i torture myself with the crazy 8 mile run. I think i will die on monday.

Oh, also i found out (which makes sense) that the Vietnam Embassy in D.C. is closed for Tet Until Feb 20 or 21. Unfortunately, or Dossier arrived at the Vietnam Embassy in D.C. the same day it closed. Ohhh, Tet. It will be fun to celebrate when we have our baby girl here, but for now I am not enjoying tet much. selfish i know, but i am Impatient!!

we have a nursery

now we need our baby. patience patience patience. I'm actually still doing ok with the patience thing. I really do think it is because so many other blogging buddies are getting good news that I know once Tet is over, and the country resumes it's business, things will be moving. Our dossier isn't even translated yet, so it's not like they would be reviewing it right this second if they weren't on vacation.

So, we finished the basics of the nursery. It has no decorations yet. And I'm not very good at decorations, so it might not get much, but here are some picsCris working in the nursery




Here are some adorable t-shirts i made. The "love happens" image didn't transfer to well through the camera, but it is my favorite. it is super cute.





Also, I found this website you guys are gonna love (if you haven't found it already). It's called Adoption Buzz. It is a blog by one of the lawyers that works for another agency. But it doesn't really talk about that agency at all, it is really just an update on vietnam adoption. It has awesome timelines and other stuff. Actually, this guy just got back from Vietnam and meeting with the DIA. He has a lot of updated new info. For example, maybe you had heard the rumor that the referral process was going to change. I heard it too. As it is now each agency has certain orphanages that they get their referrals through, and only through those orphanges. So, depending on how many agencies are working through that particular orphange, you might have to wait a long time. Some agencies are getting WAY more referrals than others. The initial rumor was that everone would just centralize and go through the DIA (kinda like china), but now it appears that the current system will remain in place, but the DIA will just try to equalize how many referrrals each agency gets.
There are some really cute pics on there too from the recent trip. check it out. www.adoptionbuzz.org

All about Tet

Tet, which means the first morning of the first day of the new year, is the Vietnamese New Year. The celebration lasts for 7 days. Like the Chinese, the Lunar New Year is one of the most celebrated holidays.
Preparation for Tet starts weeks before New Year's Day. Homes are cleaned to get rid of bad fortune associated with the old year. Families paint their homes to give it a new look. Everyone gets new clothes and new shoes. Pay your debts and resolve differences between family and friends.

Tet starts on February 18, which basically means the Vietnam adoption wheels stop turning for the next couple of weeks. We got word today that our Dossier is back from state certification and from the Lt. Governors office, so it will be Fed Exed to the Vietnamese Embassy in D.C. tomorrow a.m. After that it goes to Vietnam for translation, and then to Hanoi. At that time we will get our Log-In-Date (LID) which is a huge step. We are hoping for a LID the first week in March.

In other news, our baby girl now has a Dragonfly Nursery. It's very cute, yellow and green. Now we just need to get her home so she can enjoy it!

The "No News Before Tet Club"....

...just welcomed it's two newest members, Cris and Emilie. We got an email from the Vietnam coordinator basically saying as much. I am surprisingly ok with this. Probably because I know that the next 2 weeks will hold no new adoption news for us, so i don't have to sit on the edge of my seat waiting for news until March. I can actually kinda relax. BUT i would like to say congratulations to lots of other families who did get news before tet. There have been some referrals, many travel dates given, and lots of happy families out there. It is encouraging to see the Vietnam adoption wheels have been turning.
Our nursery is painted, and almost done. Just waiting for Cris to get the window dressing hardware stuff screwed into the wall. I have no idea how to use the drill. Should be done in the next couple of days. I'll post pics when it's finished.
Today I got my haircut at a new fancy salon. Let's just say there is a first and last time for everything. When I got the bill I almost choked. I guess I have just never really been one for going to the salon. My mom (who is a nurse, not a hairdresser!) cut my hair until I moved to Hawaii, so I've never really paid for this to happen. I also color my own hair, which believe me has led to many scary hair issues (hence the nickname i earned "bleach cat" - named after our calico cat- which lasted for several months until i got the color evened out). In fact just a couple of months ago I accidently turned it that old-lady purple color. Anyway, long story short I never have spent money on hair. So today I almost died. And I also decided Famous Hair from here on out is the way to go. I could get like 10 Famous Hair hair cuts for the price of todays. And i don't know if the result would be much different. But I probably wouldn't get the scalp massage and hot tea. I think I can live without the frills.
so I am on vacation this week, which is awesome. I don't really have any big plans, just cleaning the house and getting things ready for our baby girl.

First post in February

I've been having good and bad feelings about dropping off our Dossier at the agency. It feels good to have done everything we need to do get moving towards bringing Juneau home, but it also is scary, because we have no control of the situation from here. At least while I was collecting the dossier I felt like every day I was making progress, but now there it is like just waiting waiting waiting with no idea of what is happening with our paperwork.
This week we celebrated Cris' birthday. I got him a new bike, so he can start training for the triathlon he wants to do this year. We are also supposed to be running in the Great Aloha Run, which is 8 miles. This crazy thing happens in 2 week, and I don't think i can even run a mile right now. I don't know how I am ever going to do 8. that is more than i have run in my life. and I just ate Baskin Robbins. mmmmmm....it was good.
We got a package in the mail from my mom and sisters. They had gotten Juneau the cutest litle outfits, and had them embroidered to say "Junie" or "June Bug" They are so stinkin' cute. I hope they will fit her. most of them are 9-12 months.
I think our dossier will get to Vietnam right around tet. hopefully they won't just be sititng on a desk somewhere for too long.