And we wait some more

Monday is Tet which means everyone in Vietnam will be celebrating the New Year with their families and friends for a couple of weeks. John and I had a pre Tet dinner last night at a wonderful Vietnamese restaurant. The food was delicious. The chef was born in Vietnam and studied in France so there is a French influence to the traditional Vietnamese food on the menu.

We have reached week 10 waiting for PC approval. Since there will be celebrations for the next couple of weeks in VN, we will not hear anything from Hanoi until after 2/9 when everyone goes back to work.

I guess I have a bit more time to finalize the list of clothes I will be packing.

Good news today for Hanoi families!

Today I found out that three families have received travel approval to leave for Hanoi to meet their children! Congratulations to all of you! February is right around the corner.

On another note, we finally finished Linh's room. There may be a few other decorations that I add, but for the most part, its ready.

Update Day!

Yesterday I received a wonderful email from our agency with our quarterly update. Linh has grown 2 inches and gained 1.5 lbs since the last update. She now has 6 teeth and can feed herself some crackers. It sounds like she is doing well. And she has grow- look at her next to the little baby! She is walking while holding on to the crib and obviously sitting up. All very positive news.


Below are the pictures of our sweet little girl-

MOJ Approval!

We received notification yesterday from our agency that the Ministry of Justice has approved Linh's dossier! This means we are one step closer to bringing our little girl home. Thank you MOJ! Now we will wait for Peoples Committe approval and then Travel Approval.

New pictures

I have some new photos of Linh to share. A family traveling to Hanoi was kind enough to bring the doll Linh is holding in the photos for us and send photos. It is so amazing to see her holding an item that was with me just a couple of weeks ago. Thank you Cathy for your thoughtfulness!!

Our wait seems to be getting longer

We have been told that approvals are taking longer right now in Vietnam. Our hope to be in Hanoi with Linh or home with Linh by Christmas may not happen. We heard from our agency that travel may still be this year, but it may not happen until January. We are not alone -there are at least 3 other families that I know of waiting to bring their children home from the same orphanage. It has been 18 weeks since we first saw Linh. I really hope we are more than half way through our wait.

I have one suitcase packed with gifts for the children at the orphanage, the staff, and officials. I used our large suitcase. I am relieved that I started shopping early. I have been able to find some good deals on gifts. I have the tissue paper, ribbon and just about all of the needed gift bags. There are a couple of gifts I still want to pick up- but since they are Sanders chocolates (made in Michigan) I need to wait until travel. Those of course will go in my carry on luggage. I suppose its good that I used a large suitcase- this way when we do travel we will have a lot of space for souvenirs from Vietnam! I tested out packing Linh's things and it appears I can fit everything into our smaller suitcase. Once her room is set, I will wash her clothes and pack the suitcase. John and I need to try to fit everything in one other large suitcase. We have another small one we can use but I just can't see us walking through an airport with 2 big suitcases, 2 small suitcases and 2 carryons. It sounds like so much luggage. Plus a baby on the way home!

We STILL have not finished bedroom which is why I have not posted photos. The freshly painted vent covers have been installed. It is amazing how much paint can accumulate on vent covers over 54 years. It took a number of steps to remove all the old paint before they could be painted white. The new light fixture is hanging. The walls are painted. The hold up is the casing for the door which John has removed, sanded and is restaining. And we need to finish painting is the floor molding. The plan is to finish that up this weekend. We'll see how it goes...

I600 Approval!!

I checked my email this morning before work - which I began doing about 25 working days ago when I found out our paperwork had been submitted to USCIS in Vietnam. To my surprise we had an email from the embassy indicating we are approved. Hard to believe it only took 22 days! Now we wait for approval of Linh's dossier by the MOJ. Then People's Committee Approval, then travel approval. We are one step closer to Linh. Maybe we will be home by Christmas with Linh?

In the meantime, work in her room has slowed. This week has been totally about preparing for John's sister's wedding. Her wedding is Saturday and John is standing up. We have worked on cookies, place cards, and tonight flowers. Sunday we will be back to finishing Linh's room. Then we'll post some photos.

Linh will be 1 yr old on 10/10. I sent a package to our agency and it will arrive next week in Vietnam. I'm sorry we won't be with her for her first birthday. But I know we will be with her for her next birthday and each one after that.