No really earth-shattering news on the adoption front. Our dossiers are supposed to go to the DIA this week (heard that last week too) and then we will get out "official matched to orphan letter" in the mail and then Derek's dossier papers will come to us and we will get to read his abandonment report plus many other things about him. We are really looking forward to receiving them. Then our I600 and dossiers will be submitted to the USCIS and we await their approval. After that we will be contacted by our agency with our G&R date. It's FINALLY getting closer!!! Still a few hurdles to jump but looking good in any case.

As for our weekend away....
IT WAS "FAN-TAB-U-LOUS!!!!!!
The wedding was beautiful. Kristin looked stunning in her gown!!! All went off without any glitches. The hair went perfect and all heads turned out beautiful (just tootin my own horn for a minute)!!!! I believe everyone was happy!!! I got a tension headache on Thursday night and carried it with me the entire weekend, as a matter of fact I still have it!!! No, it's not Norm....just a little tension.LOL!!! Anyway back to the wedding. After the ceremony the Bride & Groom rode off in a horse drawn carriage. The carriage returned to give rides to guests. It was beautiful. The horse looked exhausted though so we chose to walk. Hmmm, Norm was mad at me for that one!! We got to the reception....WOW!!!! talk about phenomenal. It was stunning. So perfect. I did however get sick from my headache and have to go to the room to try to get a little quiet and some shut eye. I returned to enjoy the last 1/2 hour though. The next morning we rose and had brunch with Kristin & Charlie and many others. That was amazing in itself. The food was incredible. I wish I had taken pictures. I forgot the camera and truthfully I don't know when I'd have had time to take pictures anyway. We just had the time of our life there. It was great to spend time with Barb & Alan (All Time Bestest Friend Forever). Can't wait til Keith's wedding now so we can do it again. :)

I have been busy gearing up for this weekend. Norm & I have a wonderful couple we have been friends with for several years and we don't get to spend much time with. This weekend their daughter is getting married. WOOHOO Kristin!!!! I get the honors of being the on site hair designer. I will rise early Saturday morning and begin creating 8 beautiful heads of hair. It would've been 9 but Alan pulled what little he had left out already therefore not allowing for any creativity for him. LOL!!!(Just had to get you Alan!) so anyway this is going to be a phenomonal wedding and reception and we are looking forward to it. We will get to spend time with several couples that we love hanging out with but never find time to anymore. The reception is formal so I have a full length gown and VERY high heels. I can't wait to dress up, dance, and well....have a few drinks (open bar, alllll night long). WOW!!! This will be a very much needed weekend away for us. We are going to head out Friday and be back sometime Sunday later in the day. We are sure to have a fantastic time together with everyone. So my weekend is chock full but in a FUN way!!!

We are also hoping to have some good progressive news come in on Friday so that we can celebrate that as well over the weekend. We should soon be able to submit our I600 and after receiving 5 emails of approvals this morning it is giving me a good sense of completion coming our way in the next few months!!!
Keep praying....it is working!!!!

YAAAHOOOO!!!!!

Say a prayer in the "correct" manner and GOD will respond.....

Here is today's update chock full of great news....

As reported by our associate in Vietnam, the review of the 5 child dossiers by the DN DOJ was completed, there was one more minor mistake that the officials at DN DOJ found on the dossiers, but was corrected by orphanage staff the very next day. PC endorsement and police endorsement also accomplished. The DN DOJ will be sending the child dossiers out to the DIA next week. The next thing to happen would be that the DIA will officially introduce or refer the children to matched families. The CAI associate in Hanoi will be getting those official referral information from the DIA. We are not expecting this step to take very long, mostly likely within two weeks. As the DIA is busy dealing with the DoS and USCIS, we hope that this simple step will not be affected. Translation of child dossier documents are still in the work, and expected to be completed shortly.

Therefore, case managers will be preparing families with the I-600 petition form next week, and will give families more details on supporting documents.
Thank you and we hope all families will have a Happy Easter weekend!

So we already Fed Ex'd our I600 to our CM on Wednesday and she should have it Monday morning. Things are moving in a positive pleasant direction!!!!

GOD IS SOOOOOO GOOD!!!!!!

Thanks for your continued prayers....it is working!!!!!!

UPDATE DAY......
Today's update was VERY encouraging and positive. We are finally making forward leaps!!! There are still concerns however we are moving in a good direction. Here's what came across "the wire" today...

The 5 child dossiers have been submitted to the DN DOJ already on Thursday afternoon! The DOJ asked the orphanage for a couple more "administrative documents" which are not related to the children, and have accepted the dossiers already. This means they will review the details of each documents and compare with the parent dossier for the matching process. No words on how long it will take, but the associate thinks that approval should come within two weeks if no issues found, and no need to wait for 1 month.

We want to prepare families with the I-600 form first, although it still take a few weeks that we can file the petition with the USCIS in HCMC.
We will provide families copies of completed form and translated child dossier documents when ready to be send to USCIS.

About update pictures, the orphanage staff broke the camera that we provided to them. We are buying them a new one. Hopefully will be sending to families next week or so.

So we filled out the trial I600 today nd will wait for word about filling out the actual real one!!!!

GETTING CLOSER!!!!!

Keep praying....it is definately working!
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I am not going to try to make light of the situation we are all facing at this time but I want to express something to all of you that is helping me along right now. We started attending a new church a few weeks back. I am at peace there. We have looked for quite a while to find one we both could get the full benefit of The Word from. Over the past 3 weeks we have been studying the 23rd Psalm. I have been able to use this to make the adoption easier for me. I truly BELIEVE that Our Lord "The Shepard" will bring His sheep home to their folds. He is GOOD and He will provide for us all. I have learned that I need to pray for His will to be done and focus of asking Him for safety and health along with conviction upon the hearts of the officials there to review, expedite, and approve all pending issues in adoption world. There are so many questions we all have and so much fear and doubt which is normal and human. I am not saying that I stopped having all of that but I have handed it over to a stronger and higher power than what I have. I BELIEVE that God will bring goodness to us all. It may come slower than we want it to but I BELIEVE it will come.
Please continue to pray with us!!!!

I am writing this post a day late. However it has been really hard to make it through the last few days. It was ONE year ago yesterday (March 5th) that we received our referral news about Derek. It was ONE year ago TODAY that we received Derek's picture. Seems somedays like an eternity. It has been quite a year since that picture came to us. We have jumped and re-jumped every hurdle you could face in this process. Our journey isn't over yet and we are still hanging on the edge of uncertainty but after the good news of the final signature FINALLY coming through we have a little more hope. Derek's dossier is supposed to go to the DN DOJ on Monday for review and from there to the DIA. Hopefully we will get our letter shortly after that and begin our I600 process. Today I received an email from a family that only had to wait "9 DAYS" for their USCIS approval. WOW...I hope God is that good to us too. The average waits have been 60 -75 days lately so we aren't anticipating any great strides for a few months. We hope to have him home for summer while the girls are on their summer vacation from school and we can all get comfy with one another. Besides we have that really cool Mustang in the basement that he should be able to cruise around in this summer....of course there will be plenty of pictures of that to come. So as we begin facing the 2nd year of waiting for Derek's arrival we will still remain hopeful that he will soon be home to love!!!!

HIP HIP HOORAY!!!!!
Derek's dossier got that final signature yesterday!!!! PPPHHHEEEWWW!!!! Now we can breathe a little easier on that. Next step....DaNang DOJ approval...DIA approval...send our I600....
Then the wait becomes looooong again as we have to await USCIS approval. It is looking like at this point the approval process which originally was supposed to take 30-60 days is not being met. It seems USCIS is backlogged and the approvals are taking well over 60 days...some have gone as far as 90 days waiting for approval. We are going to continue to pray tha God will continue watching over th process and that His will is going to be done.

Here is an updated estimated timeline we received from our agency for Derek's adoption:

Estimated timelines for the remaining process:
Mid March - DOJ Approval of child dossiers - send parent dossiers and child dossiers to local police and to DN PC for endorsement. (Hopefully takes about 2, or 3 weeks). DOJ provides copies of approved child dossiers to DN associate. DN associate gets document translated.

End of March or early April - DOJ sends matched and fully endorsed parent dossiers and child dossiers back to the DIA in Hanoi for final approval. DN associate sends translated document to adoptive parents in the U.S. for filing I-600 petitions.

Early April - DN Associates file I-600s with USCIS in HCMC for adoptive families.

End of April - DIA gives final approval, notifies DOJ and DOJ waits for I-600 approval in order to arrange G&R

G & R - totally depends on the timing of I-600 approval.
if 45 days, mid May, then G & R end of May or early June
if 60 days, early June, then G & R mid or late June
if 90 days, early July, then G & R mid or late July.
If USCIS decides to investigate, it would take even longer.




Let's hope and pray that this will be it. It should have been this way exactly 1 year ago. HMMMMM!!!!!