It's August Already

Wow it has been a while! The family is doing well. Lil Jeff turned 7 right before school was out, and then we started our fun filled summer. We started off with a trip to my sisters in Lakeland, GA, and then to Atlanta, GA to see the Baltich's. We then drove back to my sisters and then home. We had about 1 day to relax until my 4 nephews and brother came to stay with us for 10 days. It was a ton of fun. We had Lil Brett 16, Shane (my brother) 15, Joshie and Saile 13, and Caleb 10. We of course had our 3 little ones as well. That means we had about 8 kids in the house, and that equals lots of messes, lots of activities, and lots of money. Holy cow kids are expensive. They eat sooo much! We went to a Sun BB Game, Beach, Adventure Landing,
D & B's, bowling and off to Spirit of the Suwanee. Yep we took them all camping. They were a little nervous. We ended up having a blast. They were so much fun. I miss them a ton. They left to go back home to Arizona. We will see them soon though. We will be flying to Arizona soon. The place where Jeff was born, and of course the Cardinals.
School will be starting soon. Jeff will be in 2nd grade, Lola in 1st, and Sophie 3 days a week. We signed Lil Jeff up for a Fundamental league for tackle football. He seems to really enjoy it. Lola continues with Cheer and Ballet. Sophie only loves Ballet. We tried the cheer thing and she did not like it. We are a busy family.
We are still continuing our journey to Ryno. It was 2 years in July we have waited. Right now we have no idea when we will get him. The U.S. and Vietnam can't seem to agree. It's frusting at times. We know Ryno is going to be part of our family one day. When we started this journey we prayed so hard about if it was the right thing for our family, and every answer was yes. I have had so many confirmations about Ryno as well as my husband. It's those times you want to throw your hands in the air and say forget it, or we will just switch countries. Thats when we hear that warm voice say "Just be Patient". I feel it now, I feel it when I write on my blog. Sometimes I just go back a read my journals because it is all I have. It's a unbelievable process. I just know when we go to Vietnam and hold him for that 1st time, I will not even think about how long it took. I know that it will happen not on our time line, but God's.
We have been very blessed in our almost 8 years of marriage. We have 3 beautiful children. We would love to have 2 more little tikes running around.

Great News

Here we are December 10, 2008 and finally good news. I have not posted anything in months b/c of pure sadness. Just when you think this is never going to happen! Today we got news that our agency finally got HAUGE approved.. That is a treaty that establishes protection for children, birth parents and adoptive parents while it also endorses the concept of international adoption as a means for homeless children to receive permanent, loving families. This is a necessary thing for us continue our journey to Ryno. Once Vietnam does open back up again they are only going to work with agencies that have Hague approval. It has been a difficult 18 months but it has been a very humbling experience as well. I tried to call my hubby to tell him the good news, but I sat there staring at the phone for a good 10 minutes! I had tears streaming down my face. I could not remember the phone number. I had to get my self together. When I called him I told him the news, and we both cried. He said our prayers have been answered. I wanted to scream from the roof tops. I wanted to tell everyone. My wise friend Nishi had to listen to me cry tears of joy. She waited patiently for me to stop crying and I got to share the joy with her. It just means we are one step closer than we were 18 months ago. The next step is the meeting that will take place in December. It will be a significant meeting, that will decide when adoptions will resume.
I have often tried to plan my life out exactly how I think that it suppose to be, and it never works. I can't explain our desire to adopt. It's definitely something that you can't explain. Its like a pregnancy. Someone can tell you how it's going to be or how your life will change. The only way to really know is to go through it. I have a deep love for this child. He is such a sweet spirit that is waiting to come to our loving family. When I was talking to my friend Nishi and I said it's weird, but I know what this little guy looks like. I know that when I get the picture of him I will not be surprised. I imagine him all the time. I hope and pray that things will continue to look up. We are awaiting his arrival.

September 1st has come!

Here we are another day and another posting about our son Ryno. September 1st has come and gone the final day for the new MOU agreement to be signed. Vietnam and U.S. have not come to any agreement and I don't know that it will happen soon. We think about him everyday. Our son Jeff was doing a school worksheet today, and it ask how many sisters and brothers he has? He answered 2 sisters and 1 brother. I went over the worksheet with him, and he said Mommy Ryne is my brother he is just not here yet. Just when you think they don't understand. We love this little guy so much. We will continue to wait. I knew that this would not be easy. I knew that it would be lot of ups and downs. I guess it's like pregnancy, and becoming a new mom. No one can prepare you. I often hear a voice saying "Just wait, be patient". I will continue to listen to the spirit, and know it will happen. We love you Ryne.
The kids are doing great. Jeff started 1st grade. Wow Wow!!! My little boy is growing up. He loves school. He has gotten so tall. He will start baseball this fall, and Daddie is coaching. He is a very sweet little boy. Lola is now in Kindergarten. Wow Wow!! She is a very beautiful little girl. She is loving school. We have her in dance and cheer. She thinks it's the best thing ever. Lola told me today that it's OK for her to get big because that is what happens over a long time. I am so not ready for that. These times are the best! Our little Sophie is great. She is just as independent as Lola. She started a 2 day a week preschool. We cried when we dropped her off, and she just said bye bye. How sad is that. We put her in a little dance class. She is a loving dance. We have a boy that is very boy and 2 girly girls.
Jeff and I are staying very busy. Our family is moving right along. I know that I posted about Jeff's mom a month ago, but wanted to give everyone an update. She is doing pretty good. She is quite the trooper. She is powering through her treatments. We love her so much. Continue to pray for her. We will be going in October on the Bouchy/Coates annual Disney's not so scary Halloween trip. The kids are very excited about Disney. We hope that our family and friends are doing great! We miss everyone.

Frustration

Here we are almost 1 year from starting this journey to our son. We are not any closer to getting him. Our # keeps moving up, but the govt is taking it's time! I seem to be struggling a little bit more. I know that Ryne will be here in God's time, and he will be truly God's blessing for our family. The kids always talk about Ryne. Our sweet little Ryno. Jeff and Lola talk about him like they know him. They are ready for the little guy. Our family will be complete the moment we see him.

We have been having a fun and busy summer. We just got back from Arizona. We had a blast with the cousins. We rented a home is Las Sendas. We were able to spend a lot of time with our 5 nephews. Yep 5 boys,and Lil Jeff and my brother Shane! The girls were out numbered! That's OK as we found time to shop, and have girl time. We were able to see our Nana's and Papa's as well. Jeff's mom (Nana) just had surgery 3 weeks ago. She was diagnosed with lung cancer and had a part of her lung taken out. She is doing good and will start her treatments in a few weeks. We love her very much and need lots of prayers.

We have one vacation to go then school. Kids are doing great and loving the summer thing. We have 2 Chinese exchange students with us for a couple weeks. They have been awesome. We hope that everyone has a great summer.

Take Action

Hello,
We have been in process of adopting a child from Vietnam since July 2007.(we are #180 on the list) The US and Vietnam governments are not agreeing on some issues,this is placing about 3000 families in limbo if their adoption is not done by 9/1/08. We have the Joint Council fighting for the orphans and adoptive families, please help us with this cause. The first request is to sign an on line petition.

1. Email advocate@jcics. org no latter than 5/30 all you have to say is

"YOU SUPPORT "A CHILD'S RIGHT CAMPAIGN FOR VIETNAM"

2. *On June 2,3 or 4th call your Senator & Representatives and tell them

""I/we urge the Senator/Congressper son to join the Congressional Coalition on Adoption Co-Chairs and sign their letter to Secretary Condoleezza Rice in support of the recommendations found in Joint Council's A Child's Right Campaign for Vietnam."

Please follow up with an email to them. How do I get the phone numbers? Follow theses links, you should be able to put in your zip code and your government contacts for your area will come up.

http://www.house. gov/ (your House of Representivies)

http://www.senate. gov/ (your Senators)

Thank you very much for your support,and if possible can you pass this request on to
others that may help us.

HELP

Adoption agencies do feel that it is a very critical time for the Vietnam adoption program. That is why we are going to be asking for your help shortly to contact all of your state representatives and urge them to sign an agreement with Vietnam . JCICS (Joint Council on International Children’s Issues) is a child welfare organization. This organization advocates on behalf of children who need permanent, safe, and loving families. Next Monday, JCICS will be launching a campaign to pressure the State Department to settle its dispute with Vietnam and sign a new agreement that will continue adoptions after September 1st. On Monday, there will be specific times and days for you to call your state representatives and ask them to sign onto this initiative. The idea is to “get their attention.” We want thousands of families to call at the same time so that congress will know we are serious about this. We also feel at this time that congress needs to step in and pressure DOS (the Department of State) to sign a new agreement with Vietnam . Who can call? EVERYONE. On Monday when this is announced, I will be sending the information out to everyone. Please call our local state representative. This is only going to work if many members of congress sign onto the initiative. If only a few members of congress get involved the issues will be dropped. So be looking for something next Monday, May 12th, 2008 (www.jcics.org). We are asking to please help us with this. If you have 15 minutes in your day you could make a difference. Thanks for your continued support!

Family Photos

We got frustrating news

We got the bad news! We knew this was a possibility that Vietnam would close! It's seems so final. I was with my sister. I read the e-mail to her as I fought back the tears. I finally just cried. All she knew to say was I am sorry. It was a dagger in my heart. I have in visioned this sweet little boy in my head for months. I often image what it will be like to hold him for the first time, and to look into his sweet little eyes. I know that we will have our family complete when it is time. We are going to wait it out until closer to the Sept deadline then figure out what we will do. If we were to make a decision today it would be a hasty one based on anger and disappointment. With more knowledge we will be better informed and possibly feel whatever decision we make will be the right one. Here is the letter that our adoption agency sent out to give us the news. They really have been wonderful in keeping us informed.


Dear families,
We are aware that the below statement was posted to the US Embassy web site today. We can confirm that a letter was written by the DIA to the US embassy in response to a letter that was sent in February 2008 from the US Embassy to DIA. We are currently trying to obtain a copy of the letter or information directly from the DIA as to what the letter included. The DIA has also stated that they will be having a meeting with all US agencies soon (no date has been determined) to go over this new information.
We have also been told by DIA that the President of Vietnam will be coming to the US in June and one of the items they will be discussing will be the contents of a new agreement between the US and Vietnam.
We know that everyone is very worried about the current situation and anxious to know how this information is going to affect you specifically. Please know that we are doing our best to obtain information and we will share factual information with all of you as we receive it. Please know we are here to support you and realize what a difficult time this is for every Vietnam family. We ask that everyone continue to pray that the two governments will reach a new agreement as soon as possible for the sake of all the children in Vietnam that need homes.
Here is the link with the announcement:
http://vietnam.usembassy.gov/irreg_adoptions0408.html

With that being said here is a few things that have been in newspapers.

Associated Press published details of a U.S. Embassy report that outlined rampant abuses, including hospitals selling infants whose mothers could not pay their bills, brokers scouring villages for babies and a grandmother who gave away her grandchild without telling the child's mother.

Vietnam announced Monday it is halting all U.S. adoptions following allegations of baby-selling, corruption and fraud.In its nine-page report, the U.S. Embassy said some American adoption agencies paid orphanage officials as much as $10,000 per referral, while others took them on shopping sprees and junkets to the United States in return for a flow of babies.

Keep all those children in your prayers that are alone tonight. They are sweet little spirits that need Mommies and Daddies. They need to be loved as much as anyone else.