Our Weekend Project: Operation Closet Reno

I designed and ordered a closet unit for the baby's room. Our project over the long weekend was to install it... here are a few pictures!

The Closet Before

The Closet in Boxes

The Prep-Work

In Progress

The Closet After

We are so pleased with the results! Now we just have to start filling it!

A Disappointing Week

The process of adoption is like a roller coaster ride with the ups and downs. Last week was one of those downs. We waited all month for an update from our agency and the news was discouraging. No referrals yet. Our agency re-opened adoptions through Vietnam 6 months ago and still no referrals. One of the people we spoke to at the agency told us they don't know when to start expecting referrals. Our director is over in Vietnam now trying to get our files through faster and making the necessary connections with all the right people.

When we first started this process we were told to expect a 6-9 month wait for a referral. Once we had our dossier complete and ready to send to VN, they told us the wait would be 9-18 month. Now, after talking with our agency last week, they told us it will probably be more like a minimum of 18 months. Apparently there are 25 people ahead of us who are referral ready and 16 ahead of us waiting for IAO approval. After hearing that, there were a lot of "what ifs" going through my mind. It just seems like nothing is easy is in this process. I've been so excited about this adoption since we decided to switch to Vietnam from China - it seemed like the right thing to do after all the disappointments we had with the China route. Now this past week, it felt like the wind was taken from our sails, yet again.

I knew going into this the road wouldn't be a smooth one. I knew that there would be ups and downs. I am prepared to wait the 18+ months it may take to get our baby but I do hope that aren't too many more disappointments, I don't know how much more I can take.

Not Much New to Report

Not a lot has happened since the last post. We haven't heard anything from our agency. Our agency has decided to switch to monthly updates instead of weekly updates! Ah, the torture of waiting a whole month before an update!

Our nursery bedding arrived this week. I love it! The book we ordered, "When You Were Born in Vietnam" also arrived. I will have to practice reading it before I read it to him or her. I can''t get through it yet without crying!

We've started looking at paint colours for the baby's room. We've pretty much decided on the crib we want but haven't purchased it yet. Hopefully all the things we have to do to get ready for the baby's arrival will help make the time pass quicker.

Baby Purchases this Weekend

Yesterday we finally made a decision on the nursery bedding. I continued to search through tons and tons of selections at Baby Super Mall and when I saw this one, I absolutely adored it! Fortunately, Paul loved it too! So we ordered it and should be arriving next week!

I also spent some time looking for children's books that deal with adoption and specifically, adoption from Vietnam. I was able to find two and ordered them. The titles were When You Were Born in Vietnam and Heart of Mine.

Immigration Paperwork

This week we received a package from Children's Bridge informing us to start the immigration paperwork immediately. While filling out these forms it kind of hit me ... wow, this is actually happening, we are bringing a baby to Canada! I know we still have a long way to go but we are getting a little bit closer.

Decisions, Decisions

On the weekend we went looking at baby stuff. After walking into Babies' R Us, we soon realized that there is a whole bunch of stuff we need to get for the baby! We decided that we were going to look at cribs and bedding sets for the crib to start off with.

Well, we saw many different styles of cribs, the first one we saw caught our eye. We haven't purchased it yet, but figure that will probably be the one we go with.

Since we don't know whether we will have a girl or boy, we want the bedding to go for either a gender. We didn't have a lot of luck at any of the stores we went to but we've been looking on the internet and found a few that we like.

This one is called JitterBug ... love the ladybugs!












This one is called Flyaway ... again, lovin' the ladybugs!













Secret Garden ... not sure if it's too girly though?













This one is called Bee My Baby












This is Verona













Lots of decisions, but we have lots of time! Next will be paint colours!

Dossier to Vietnam!

I opened up my email today and found this ....

We are today, sending your completed Dossier to VN for
processing. Your file will now be translated and be directed to the IAO. At
that point it will be reviewed and a referral forthcoming. We are currently
working with 2 Provinces and as of April, we will have 2 more to draw from.
Our best guess would be to anticipate a referral in up to 18 months, possibly
sooner.

Yeah!!!!