It’s Official

Originally posted August 29, 2008 on our old Vox blog.

Today our agency called at 8:45 am to let us know that we got all the paperwork in. We beat the deadline! So it’s official, we have a daughter (from Vietnam), and we should get to bring her home in December or January. Stay tuned for a new blog address. 🙂 Oh yeah…and we are super excited!

Vietnam!

Originally posted August 25, 2008 on our old Vox blog.

I don’t even quite know how to word this, but our social worker called today with a Medical Eval. for us. If we get a referral letter by Sunday, August 31, then we will get to complete our adoption in Vietnam. Please pray for us, and we will let you know what happens. Thanks!

Encouraging Words

Originally posted August 21, 2008 on our old Vox blog.

As I have posted or shared our story with our friends, we have gotten several words of encouragement. I just thought I would share a few.

A blog reader, who happens to be an adoptee, stumbled upon my “Experiencing Pain” post and wrote these words; Ephesians 1:19-20: “I pray that you will begin to understand how incredibly great his power is to help those who believe him. It is that same might power that raised Christ from the dead.”

We also get sweet words in emails: we dont want to remind you guys of things you already know…(God is good…etc…)…its like preaching to the choir.  however we want to let you know that when you are happy…we are happy with you.  when you are sad…we are sad with you.  we will continue to pray.

That last comment really speaks to my heart. I love it. All I would ask is that you experience this with us and cry and celebrate with us. Everyone has been so kind to us, and I don’t want to diminish what anyone may have said; these words are just the most recent. 🙂 Thanks!

Experiencing Pain

Originally posted August 17, 2008 on our old Vox blog.

So, I have been mulling over several things this week. We are still prayerfully considering other countries our agency works with. We haven’t come to any conclusions, but we are open to all of our options.

Daily, I think about what we were expecting from Vietnam and try to move past that, try to prepare for where God is taking us. I know this will take time, but it is hard to let go of a dream that we nurtured for 15 months to 2 years.In the midst of dealing with this, we heard Donald Miller speak at a conference put on by Scott’s company. Miller spoke Friday night, and he spoke about story or narrative and how we are living a story. He said a couple of things that still echo in mine and Scott’s minds. He said that in a narrative the only way to change your character is to put them through pain. Well, I think we have that element. He also said that when the character is going through pain they are living a “page turner.” I think we have that too; we have a whole gaggle of people expectantly waiting for the next page of our story – including us. Another thing he brought up was closed doors. He said, “When you get to a closed door you don’t give up, you knock it down. If you say that you want to raise Godly children and they decide to smoke pot, you don’t say, ‘Oh well, God closed that door.'” (This was one of my favorite lines. Along with another about how women’s eggs talk to them, and we should listen to our community.)

Scott and I both identified with a lot of what Miller said. Vietnam didn’t work out, but that doesn’t mean we give up and say that door is closed. It is hard and painful to let go of Vietnam, but that means something is happening. There’s more coming; we are getting to the climax. We think Miller would agree that Scott and I are in the middle of our own page-turner, so stay tuned, more is yet to come. 🙂

The Hoover Dam

Originally posted August 10, 2008 on our old Vox blog.

Let me start by acknowledging that I did not want to travel to Las Vegas for our vacation. I wanted to go to the beach, but the Vegas trip fit our budget and came with poolside time. I also had no interested in touring the Hoover Dam while in Las Vegas. You can see that I started the trip with a great attitude. You are probably wondering if I was pleasant at all. I was pleasant, and I did enjoy our trip. I even found the Hoover Dam trip interesting.

So the Hoover Dam is a triumph for the American people. It was built in the 1930s in record-breaking time. The Dam took 24-7 labor from thousand of Americans, and it is massive. The mountains that the Dam spans across support it. The Dam is incredible to look at especially when you realized they built in the 1930s. I wasn’t even born then. I can’t imagine what it was like. For all I know, everyone was educated in a one-room schoolhouse, so I’m just impressed that someone was smart enough to plan the construction of the Hoover Dam.

When I stood at the top of the Hoover Dam, it made me queasy to look over the edge. There is a lot of space between the top and the bottom. Two days after our Hoover Dam trip, we were on a plane back to Dallas. Wouldn’t you know, I saw the Hoover Dam from the plane, and it looked incredibly small.

The Hoover Dam is surrounded by a mountain range and desert. I saw how massive Lake Mead is, and then I saw this tiny trickle of the Colorado River heading south from the Dam. It struck me how minute the Hoover Dam is. So thousands of Americans created it, big deal. Everything surrounding the Dam God created. All the creation around the Dam dwarfs it, but I would never have gotten that perspective if I had only seen the Dam from the ground. (As Scott said, “The Dam is huge when you’re standing on top of it.)

I don’t mean to diminish the accomplishment and hard work of those thousands of people in the 1930s, but for what purpose did they build it. Did they build it to receive accolades? Did they build it to prove the ingenuity of man?

I tend to focus on my accomplishments and immediate surroundings, so when I finish a major task (like the Hoover Dam) I want all the praise and acknowledgement. I want people to know how great I am because I accomplished this major task. I did it by myself. In reality, my accomplishments are fleeting.

I also looked at the Dam a different way. Remember how small and insignificant I said it looked from the plane? Well, imagine that the Dam represents the loss of our Vietnamese adoption. I am so focused on that loss that I can’t see or hear anything else. I can’t see what surrounds or supports us. I can only think of what I can do to make it better or make it end my way to accomplish what I want.

I don’t know what this loss means for me or my husband. I don’t why we had to experience it. I don’t know who our child will be or where our child will be from. I do know that if I focus too much on what I can do, then I will miss everything God created around me. I’ll miss what this experience can become.

As much as I wish I could go back in time and give our adoption process a storybook ending, I know can’t. I can continue to trust in the God who created my baby and me. And I can wait until He says its time for us to meet, though I do hope it’s soon.

Vietnam and Vegas

Originally posted August 8, 2008 on our old Vox blog.

So, it has been at least a week since I last updated. We appreciate all who emailed their Senators and Representatives. JCICS has not put an update on their website. We did get an update from an inside source. 🙂 Our source believes the US government is doing everything they can to help relations with Vietnam. As I understand, getting the Senators involved and Representatives is to help get Secretary Condoleezza Rice’s attention. I don’t think she has looked at any of the letters sent.

Also, we have not made any progress on where we may headed next in this process. We did hear while in Vegas that one more family than our agency originally thought got matched which is good for them but made us the cut off. Anyway, we don’t know what is going to happen, and there is really no point in worrying and trying to speed up our decision. We will just have to wait and pray and see what’s next.

Randomly, we had a waitress during our last dinner in Vegas whose mother runs an orphanage in Russia. The waitress herself runs an aid program in the US for Russian orphans. I only found this out because I was eavesdropping on the man at the table next to us trying to hit on her by saying he wouldn’t be gambling because he had already donated all his money to the Russian orphans. Needless to say, she didn’t fall for it. 🙂

Senators and House Representatives

Originally posted July 31, 2008 on our old Vox blog.

This was posted on JCICS’s website yesterday. It probably wouldn’t hurt to still email your senators and house representatives today.

The Congressional Coalition on Adoption has invited the U.S. Department of State Bureau of Consular Affairs, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to conduct a briefing of Congressional staff on issues related to intercountry adoption in Vietnam, Guatemala along with issues related to intercountry adoption in general.  The briefing is scheduled for this Friday, August 1, 2008 in the U.S. Capitol Building, LBJ Room at 10:00 a.m.

Given the pending suspension of intercountry adoption and related services in Vietnam and the continuing issues of concern in Guatemala, Joint Council urges participation by all Congressional staffers.  It is critically important that staffers participate in the U.S. Government’s role in international children’s services, specifically intercountry adoption.  Given the impact of current issues on children and families, Joint Council urges 100% participation by Congressional staffers in this very important briefing.

In order to gain the largest possible participation, please contact your Congressional Representatives and Senators’ offices and urge staffers to participate in the briefing.

Contact information for U.S. Senator’s offices can be found at www.senate.gov.

Contact information for U.S. Representatives offices can be found at www.house.gov.

If you choose to contact your representatives, please do so today by email or phone call, and request that they send staff to Friday’s briefing.

This briefing follows the briefing conducted for Congressional Staff last Friday, July 25th by child advocates and experts including Joint Council.  These briefings and continuing participation by congressional offices in the ongoing issues related to international children’s services is critically important to the continuation of intercountry adoption as a viable solution for children in need.

Not a Match

Originally posted July 30, 2008 on our old Vox blog.

So I posted all my decorating pictures around 9 am this morning, then about four hours later the agency called. The agency called to tell us it didn’t look like we were going to get matched unless some kind of miracle happens. It looks like we are at an impasse with Vietnam and will have to discern where God is leading us next.

Keeping Busy

Originally posted July 30, 2008 on our old Vox blog.

We still haven’t heard anything from our agencies. We will let you know as soon as we hear something.

I decided to post the pictures of the rooms we painted. Overall the painting was easier compared to other projects we’ve done. Even better, we used left over paint from our master bedroom, so we didn’t have to buy that. There are still a few more things I want to do with the living room and dining room like curtains and a rug for the living room, but it’s mostly finished. Our next big project will be painting the other half of our downstairs (kitchen, breakfast area, bathroom, utility room) and hopefully redoing the floors. We will keep you posted on that project, too. 🙂

Thinking

Originally posted July 25, 2008 on our old Vox blog.

So, I’ve been thinking about my last post which a friend described as “apocalyptic.” I was just trying to express some of my emotion, but I realize it was pretty doom and gloom. It happens. 🙂

We still don’t have anymore information or insight into our situation. We are still waiting to find out which news we get – a Medical Eval and matched to a child or no match. Either way we still have to keep living each day. Sometimes I have wished things would stop progressing while we wait, but that can’t be. So what’s a girl to do? Redecorate. 🙂 I have decided to infuse turquoise into my living room and dining room. Don’t worry, I took out all the yellow-gold. Now, we just have to paint the dining room and one wall of the living room. We can’t paint the whole living room because it has a 20 foot ceiling which makes for a lot of wall and a lot of work. Besides Scott’s not that tall; he would need a ladder which we don’t own.

Anyway, admist my busy redecorating, we have gotten lots of encouragement and prayer support from friends and family. It is comforting to know that we have a reliable support group. I just wanted everyone to know that we are listening and not so gloomy all the time, just for the last post. 🙂