No Progress But Some Information

This weekend our agency had their annual Asian New Year celebration. Al and I decided to go and celebrate and were surprised that there were hundreds of families participating. We were fortunate enough to sit with a family that had adopted their daughter from Vietnam and then, through them, met another family that had adopted a daughter from Vietnam and a son from Nepal. We also met the couple who will be escorting us around the country and through them found out some information about our stay and the approximate timing.

We found out that we should plan on being in Vietnam for at least 3 weeks and that we'll spend two of those weeks in HCMC at an apartment complex. We'll have a two bedroom apartment with living room, kitchen, dining room, etc. The complex will also have a restaurant, room service, and a grocery store for any supplies that we will need. We found out that most likely we'll be picking up our child and having the G&R (Giving and Receiving Ceremony - which is the point that Vietnam considers the adoption final) the second day that we are there. We will then have three more weeks in the country going through the things that we have to do for the US to consider the adoption legal. After about 2 weeks we'll fly to Hanoi for our appointments at the US Embassy.

We found out that the children are typically about 6 mos old at the time of travel.

We are still number 9 on the list for a little girl. In January there were nine referrals, all for boys. We were told that there were a number of referrals that are ready to be sent to the agency - 8 0r 9, but unless all the referrals are for girls - which is unlikely - we won't receive a referral in this next batch. It is possible that we will receive our referral in April or May, and then travel three months after the referral, in July or August, returning home in August or September. It is very hot in HCMC in August.

That is all the news for now. Not really any progress but just some basic information.

Love Tina