Giving Thanks and Last Minute Preparations

Last night, my husband and I went on a date night, while our son had a sleepover with a friend.  We reflected on how lucky we are to have our son, who was conceived via IVF, and now to be blessed with another son through adoption.  We are so anxious to be travelling soon to meet our new little guy very soon.  I think of his birth Mother often and wonder what she must be feeling right now, or how she has been feeling over the past year.  I wonder how many members of his birth family know about him and I wonder who will think about him over the years, as he grows older.  We hope we will be able to learn as much as possible about how he came to the orphanage, to help answer questions he will have later in life.  Most of all, we hope he will be happy with us, and confident in himself. 

Today, we continue to work through our lists and finalize our suitcases.  We really want to pack lightly, but it's been really hard to do that!  I like to be over prepared, and I think I have bought out half the drug store and half the health food store with all the supplements, remedies, lotions and oils, etc.!  Every time I go out, I find something else that I think is essential to bring along.  My latest purchase is a snorkelling set for my older son....he is thrilled about that, and has been walking around the house with it on!  I don't do very well in the heat so I have bought cold packs, gel packs and a bathing suit and I plan to stay as close to the water as I can to stay cool!

A friend made a wonderful suggestion for my older son on the airplane trip to Vietnam.  She recently went to South Africa to visit family with her 5 year old, and she suggested we individually wrap all the items we have bought to keep our son busy.  She said to allow him to open one every hour.  I thought this was a fantastic idea!  I hope customs will be okay with it though.  But it will be neat to let him enjoy the gifts, one at a time, rather than all at once.  And hopefully, I have bought enough to keep him occupied!  But even more than that, I hope he sleeps for a good chunk of the flight!

Tomorrow night, our dog gets to have a sleepover at another friends house, who he will be staying with while we are gone.  Hopefully they all survive :)  He's a good pup...crazy at times, but a real snuggler.  I wonder what he will think of the new babe...probably will fill him with kisses and think....cool, another puppy to play with, LOL.  Yes, we will keep a close eye on both of them :)

Well, the birds are starting to chirp outside, and I think it is time to get started on the day!

Asia Bound!

In less than two weeks we are Asia Bound!  There is so much to do to prepare for our trip....our wonderful friends and family have offered to help, but most of what we need to do, we need to do ourselves.  But slowly, my husband and I are checking things off of our "To Do" list.  It will be a relief to get on the plane.

We expect that our Giving and Receiving Ceremony will be the 1st week of July.  We are looking forward to getting to Vietnam a few days earlier.  We plan to visit the orphanage a few times before taking our son back to the hotel.  This will give him a few days to get used to us before he transitions into our family, and away from all he currently knows. But we are sure with time, patience and alot of love and understanding, he will transition nicely.

Thank goodness for everyone who has travelled before us...it has been so helpful compiling suggestions and recommendations from other families.  We feel pretty organized and definitely ready for our big trip. 

Travel Approval

Words just can't describe how we are feeling right now...elated, excited, overjoyed, over the moon etc.!!!  We received news yesterday that our dossiers have been signed off on by the Department of Adoptions in Vietnam, and our paperwork has been sent to the orphanage.  This means that we can start to make our travel arrangements.  It's so hard to believe this day is finally here...it doesn't seem real yet!  I don't think it's really going to sink in until we get on the airplane.

We have been in touch with another couple travelling at the same time, to adopt a baby from the same orphanage where we are adopting from.  It's been wonderful to share this news together, to be able to help eachother and bounce ideas off of eachother too.  We are looking forward to meeting them in Vietnam, and hope to stay in touch for many years.  It will be nice for our children to have that special link together, having been at the same orphanage, at the same time.

Our older son is excited, but also a bit nervous.  He loves babies, but he says it's a little scary because "I've never had a baby brother before".  He has so many ideas of things he wants to do with him, teach him and share with him.  Hopefully, they will become fast friends.

We had hoped to have our flights booked by today, however, there is a time change between us and the travel agency.  The dates she picked for us were the original ones we sent her, not the ones we updated her with this morning.  So, that will have to be corrected, and hopefully we can finalize our plans tomorrow.  They are also taking care of preparing our visa's.

Now, with the animals/house taken care of, bags mostly packed, we are very close to being ready to travel.  Our list still has lots of items on it, but with the help of Dropbox, my husband and I can see/add to the list and also mark off things as they are accomplished.  We have the feeling that June and July are going to fly by, but we will try to slow down, breath, relax and enjoy as much as we can.

Update from Ontario - June 8, 2012

Well, we are really trying to be patient and let the process happen, but I caved and emailed the Ontario adoption agency this morning for an update.  Apparently, we are now waiting for Vietnam to sign off on our dossier (package of paperwork that we have prepared over the past couple of years).  This should happen soon, and the Director of the Ontario adoption agency is optimistic that we will travel by the end of June.  So this is good news.  We hope to have a travel date soon...it makes it so much easier to plan around an actual date!  Everyone has worked so hard to help us to make this happen and we are soooo very appreciative, and feel lucky to be working with a great team of individuals.  I also want to say a BIG thank you to all of you out there who have emailed us recently to lend your support, congratulations, and suggestions for when we travel.  It has helped us immensely to prepare for our upcoming trip. And, of course, to family and friends who continue to support us through this process, the ups, the downs and all the things in between.  I am so thankful for all of you :)

Article 17 Letter - June 4, 2012

Received the Article 17 letter today...woohoo!

Article 16 Letter - May 29, 2012

It's 5 o'clock in the morning and we are so excited to finally receive the email from Ontario that the Article 16 Letter is in from Vietnam...yaaaay!  We anticipate getting the Article 17 letter within a week.  That being the case, we could travel by the end of June.  Crossing fingers and sending out prayers that this will be the case!

New Pictures and Videos - April 21, 2012

Well, although we can't share these with you yet, we received new pictures and videos today of our soon to be son.  He is growing and looking handsome as ever.  We are all so excited.  Our older son is anxious and keeps asking when we can go and get his baby brother.  It has been 12 weeks now since proposal...but who is counting, LOL :)

Apparently, we are waiting for the Hague Article 16 Letter from Vietnam, which might be signed next week.