A little Prayer Needed People

Well, if you follow the Vietnamese adoption community you will already know that there has been talk of the US and Vietnam not reaching an agreement that will allow adoptions to continue. Yesterday a lot of news on our end the US is saying that there have been corrupt adoptions in Vietnam and the Vietnamese government condemned these reports and said that they will not resign an agreement because of the US report. I also read about others who have now been questioned about their children's adoptions and whether or not they were legit. CHI is an extremely reputable agency and I know none of our adoptions were under false pretenses. However, yes there were some agencies that did some shady stuff and unfortunately the children and these parents are now paying the price. Baby selling goes on in our own country I am sure with domestic baby adoptions that go to the highest bidder. Of course this is illegal but from time to time it occurs. It is truly insensitive for others to question our adoptions and hopefully people will realize that it is wrong. I have not personally experienced this but my heart goes out to those who have.
I am asking that everyone out there pray for some sort of agreement to be reached. THere are lots of children in Vietnam that need homes and families that need children. We have made a lot of friends in this community and we want to see their dreams of a family come true.

New Photos and Good News

It looks like Delylah is doing much better. A traveling family was kind enough to snap 11 new photos of Delylah for us and said she is looking healthy. It looks like the pneumonia has cleared up. I am just waiting for official word from my agency saying that it has. But she is looking cuter and cuter every time we see her. I remember getting new photos of Lennah when she was in the orphanage and every time you get a new set you fall more and more in love with your child. It is so amazing how blessed we are. If someone would have said to me three years ago that I would have a 17 month old and another baby in Ethiopia I would have thought never could this happen so quickly.

On a sadder note. Please pray for our friends Tymm and Laura their daughter Meron has been taken from the orphanage to the hospital because of pneumonia. Please keep them in your prayers that she heals quickly. They need some miracles right now.

I attached a pic of her hair. I love that it is sticking up. I cannot wait until we go through the courts so I can post full pics.

News

Well we received Delylah's child profile today. Her birthdate is January 20, 2008 so it is nice to now exactly how old she is. Also we are a bit concerned because she is on anti-biotics for pneumonia. So please keep her in your prayers. We do have some good news she is what they consider a relinquishment which means we will not have to wait 90 days for her to be free for adoption. However, we now have to wait on our immigration application which was only filed on April 4th. THe Ethiopian courts will not hear our case until we have our approval back. So please that this comes quickly so she can spend less time away from mommy and daddy. So we should travel sometime around the beginning of August.

Updates

Today we received some updates on Delylah. She is 11 pounds and 23.2 inches long. We are starting to think that she is really 3 months old instead of 2 months. Unless, she is really big for an Ethiopian baby. We were fortunate enough to receive 3 new pictures but we can't put them up yet. I cannot wait until she is legally us and we can post her photos.

Vacation

We just got back tonight from Disney and Clearwater Florida. It was a wonderful trip and Lennah had a wonderful time. She was totally spoiled by the family since my mom kept buying her stuff in every park we went in. She loved the rides and her favorite was Winnie the Pooh in Magic Kingdom. I think she is going to be a dare devil and love roller coasters when she is bigger. But she was a real trooper and stayed up past her bed time and did not have too many melt downs. I was a bit concerned about taking a little on to Disney but overall she did well. She also got to meet a lot of characters and this was odd; she normally goes to anyone but when we went up to the characters she would cling to me. Then when we would leave she would hold her arms out to them. We did have a bit of bad weather the first two days. Lennah did not like wearing rain gear but it did make for some funny photos. After Disney we visited Keith's grandmother for a few days in Clearwater. That was a nice visit and we were able to take Lennah to the beach. Obviously, she loved it. She was totally into the water.

Lastly, if you have been following our other blog you would know that Lennah officially became a big sister on Tuesday. Our last day in Disney we received our referral for a beautiful two month old baby girl. We are in for some craziness soon.

A Referral for Real

Well, we really did get the call today. Not an April Fool's joke. We received the referral of a beautiful two month old baby girl. She is healthy from the medical information that we do have and it will take at least two weeks to get a full medical report. But she is Delylah Aviella Paulsen. We were thinking about changing her name but once we saw her we knew that she looks like a Delylah. Anyway, I am unable to post pics but we are thrilled. We will post more soon but we are in Disney on vacation so I will update when we return.

Worries

This is a little earlier for a post but I have to babysit a tote full of CRCT testing materials for my students and have a few minutes. Yesterday, a baby who was waiting to come home passed away at the same orphanage Delylah is at. This is not the first time something like this has happened; obviously you know this is you have read previous posts. What I am getting at is that I know it is no ones fault and certainly not the orphanages fault because they work with what they have. However, I am really freaked out because the numbers in Ethiopia for infant mortality is extremely high. One in ten do not make it to their first birthday and one in six do not make it to five. What I fear is if Delylah could be that one in ten? Your child is thousands of miles away and minor incidences could easily be remedied with medical care here. But over in Ethiopia what children need is not always available. I pray that Delylah stays safe and healthy and I never receive that phone call but we are no more worthy than others for our child to be saved. But I can't help but be thankful when it was not my child. I know that is selfish but it is true. I am not trying to be hurtful because I really do have sympathy and pray for these families that lose their little ones it just terrifies me to know that this could have easily been my call. I also have to add that for some reasons these fears are more apparent this time around because you hear of this happening more in Ethiopia than in Vietnam. With Lennah I was scared but not as much. In our 16 month journey for Lennah I only knew of this happening twice. In our short 4 month journey this has already happened 3 times that we know of (I am counting outside of our agency as well). We just need to pray for all these kids and for ourselves to not have so many selfish thoughts.

Good News! What?

Well, today we received a referral sort of we have not actually accepted. Our agency called us today and said that they were looking to place a set of twins and since our papers were being mailed today we could look at the information if we wanted to. They are a boy and a girl two months old. Financially this is a long shot for us but we are thinking we might be able to make this work. Obviously, there is more involved than just the extra agency fee; we are talking about another crib, clothes for a boy, toys for a boy, extra bottles, more diapers, the list goes on. They are really cute, with big eyes, and a dark complexion. I would post of course but no taking any chances in case we lean towards the yes. I do not want to get too excited because of course this is a big decision. Even harder when you have seen a picture.
I would love to hear everyone's opinion on how they think handling twins would be. However, this really would not make a difference to us because this is an april fools joke and we are still awaiting our referral. I have gotten my mom really bad with this joke because I actually sent her a picture of a set of twins while she was at work. For those of you who know my dad is our daycare and she would freak out because she would not want my dad chasing after three babies. She did laugh and take this in good spirits and I hope the rest of you have too.

Dossier off to DC

Well, we have word that our dossier will be sent from Illien to DC tomorrow. It should be there a week getting all the seals it needs, return to Atlanta, then off the Ethiopia. We are close to a referral and are getting excited. However, we have many a bad mishaps (car accident for Keith, tree falling on our fence, septic pump is out, etc) fall upon us recently so hopefully they will come to an end so we can both travel to pick up Baby Delylah. Which now I have been second guessing the name and thinking that maybe we should have went with Taite Annabelle. I really like both names but this will most likely be our last infant since Grandpa daycare will be at capacity. Our next adoption will most likely be a child at least 4-5 since we want to be able to place them straight into school. Anyway, I have a point this child will most likely be a boy so Taite will never get used as a name and I just hate to think I loved this name and never had a daughter with it. AHHHH! dilemas.

Happy Easter

Lennah and Gavin

Mommy and Lennah

Grandpa and Lennah on Easter (too cute with her glasses)
Lisa and Lennah at the Zoo

Lennah, Mommy, and Kelli

My Easter ears

Today was Lennah's first Easter and an interesting one at that. She had a rough start and at church they had to call us out of service to come get her. This was the first time this had ever happened. This morning we gave her an easter basket it that we made. She got a thumper from the Disney store, a crayola bath set, and some bunny ears. I guess when she is bigger we will do the candy baskets. Yesterday, we took Lennah for an easter egg hunt at my parent's church. She liked the eggs more than the stuff inside. Plus she liked hugging on the other kids which is typical Lennah. For dinner today my parents came over tonight and my friend Kelli. She was sweet and bought Lennah a fillet easter bonnet. She too is adopting a baby girl from Vietnam and awaiting a referral.

The other day Lennah and I joined Lisa and Gavin at the zoo. This was a preview to how we are going to do at Disney in a few weeks. She did surprisingly well. I really thought she would give me a hard time but she enjoyed the animals. I also added several random cute shots to this post because well, Lennah is adorable.

Well, Happy Easter to all.

P.S. Sorry if this sounds kind of crazy but trying to think, write, and talk on the phone is proving to be difficult