Holding onto hope....

It's what we've got right now. Not a whole lot else...but we did hear a couple of encouraging tidbits this week.
1. The USCIS has unofficially let it be known that there will at least be SOME exceptions to the DNA testing of relinquished children. No clarification on which, but at least we hope it would include already referred children, or ones already in orphanages, or something that includes those of us stuck in limbo over the last 6 months.
2. We received a bizarre series of emails from USCIS this week, with them requesting various parts of our dossier (which we've sent them previously, but which have apparently disappeared.) We got an email Thursday night confirming that they had all of our dossier now and that it was being reviewed. It isn't exactly the Receipt of Acknowledgment, but then they've already sent us two of those and then later wrote us back telling us to ignore them. Confusing, frustrating, etc, but almost normal to us at this point. Upside: they admit to having all of our dossier, now we just wait for I600 (and travel)pre-approval from them.
3. Jynger expects our G&R date in the next couple of weeks. (decoding of adoption lingo: G&R is the giving and receiving date, the date assigned by the Vietnamese government, when we travel and the adoptive child is officially recognized as your child). Jynger says it is POSSIBLE, and I know that's not even close to PROBABLE or CERTAIN, but April could still be a possibility for travel if everything lines up in our favor.

So.....we hope, and wait. And pray some more. Thank you so much to all of you who have sent us kind words and prayers. The support has been overwhelming and sustaining to us. Sam has no idea how big his cheerleading team is here. But hopefully he will soon!

Wishing this were an April Fool's joke.

Things were really looking good for travel this month. We got word that the remaining documents of Sam's dossier had been delivered to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, and we were at Step 10, one of the final steps of the pingpong of paperwork in Vietnam. We were happy...we were joyous....
And then.
And then this afternoon, we got an email from our agency. Jynger forwarded to us an email from USCIS, announcing a new requirement, effective today, for I-600 approval: DNA verification of the birthmother and abandoned child. Yes, that is as complicated and near-impossible for an abandoned child as it seems. Particularly for children left at orphanages months--even years earlier. There was nothing in the email stating "for all FUTURE referrals", or "exempting those poor souls who have been delayed with the previous I-600 changes we made in October." We can only hope that there is some...who am I kidding?
We're discouraged tonight. Our good news had us brushing off our knees and seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. As the saying goes, it must have been an oncoming train. It feels like a sucker punch out of nowhere, and we're feeling a bit bruised by these punches over the last 6 months.
Sam, my man, know we're trying.

Some more new pics..

That's Sam on the left, obviously. He has his buddy Joseph with him in the pics (who happened to turn 2 today. Happy Birthday, Joseph!).
Brian is particularly thrilled to see that Sam is totally secure with his masculinity, since he appears to be wearing rather feminine pink hearts-and-flowers pants without any self consciousness. ha
Zoe is happy to see that her beloved frog blanket, Dodee, (that she sent to him in December) is still around. It's in the background in a nanny's lap.
The clutching of handfuls of Smarties makes me think his sweet tooth is still intact.
We're so happy to see these pics and know that soon...soon...we'll bring him home.

Easter: the season for miracles!

We got an update that our paperwork is moving! We are at the end of Step 9, which means we're getting close to the end of the paperwork journey. Sam's dossier has been compiled and the justice department is reviewing those documents and sending them to the DIA (Dept. of International Adoptions). There is at least a possibility of traveling in mid April, pending some miraculous I-600 approval (that part of the paperwork is still being processed.)

In any case, we're making some headway. Good news, tonight!

Needing an update...

We are hoping for something positive from our agency regarding our status soon. A fellow adoptive family who got their referral 5 days before we did (we got ours on September 26) got their I-600 approval yesterday. Hooray! They should be leaving in the next week or so, hopefully, when they get their G & R date. Heidi, so happy for you!

Meanwhile, we got this picture of Sam from another adoptive parent who traveled last month to get their child (Thanks, Amy!). He apparently is savoring a tasty meal. Zoe is anxious to share with him the joy of french fries. He has no idea what his future holds. Now, if we can just get his paperwork moving, we'll get his future started...

Serenity now....not

OK. The snow day was lovely and gave us some inner peace. The next morning we awoke to an email telling us our I-600 application has been returned to the Dillon staff in Vietnam, to be resubmitted when it is complete. This was paperwork we mailed in October. The new way of submitting for I-600 approval changed and was anticipated to take "about 60 days." Now we're told that the 60 day time period will RESTART when our application is resubmitted in its entirety. Please note that the paperwork required is apparently unavailable until our child's dossier is gathered, which in his orphanage province doesn't happen until Step 8, which we're at now. If this seems confusing, it's because it is. The bottom line is, more delays and disappointment.
It is desperately hard to remain positive today. It is a powerless feeling.
Please pray for us. There are 4 other families in our agency who are stuck in this same delay. We're just trying to get our children home.

marathons and snowfall

Leave it to Arkansas weather to surprise us.
Brian's marathon on Sunday was a little warmer than he would have expected. He did great, though, and finished with a time he was proud of. Whether that will be a cure for the marathon bug or not will remain to be seen. Either way, according to Zoe, Daddy rocks.


Yesterday was a rainy rotten day; the rotten news we got seemed appropriate for the day. We got a very bizarre email from HoChiMinh reporting that our paperwork was incomplete and that they were soon to return our documents to us. What the !#%? Needless to say, it was a stressful day of trying to get it all straightened out. It isn't yet, but there are hopefully people with Dillon who are trying to figure out exactly what needs completion. Sam felt very very far away yesterday. It was a trying day.

This morning, we awoke to a beautiful carpet of snow and a heavy slow snowfall that continued most of the early hours. It brought with it the most peaceful feeling I have had in a while. It was my day off anyway, and Zoe and I had a snow day together that allowed me to unplug my brain, veg out, and savor the moment. We stayed home, played in the snow, watched a movie, and just in general had a wonderful Zoe and Mommy day. It gave me perspective and peace. It was a welcome feeling. By early evening the snow had melted, but hopefully that serenity will last as long as the snowballs we made and stored in the freezer to show Sam later.