No News

I called our agency director to see what was what. Apparently there is still no news on our case. I did learn that although there are 2 issues with our file they are related issues. So the bottom line is that issues identified in January have still not been resolved to her knowledge. So we have no idea how much longer this process will take. She is going to see if she can get an update from the local agency representative tonight. I'm not terribly optimistic as apparently the DA is not eager to deal with Canada, given the fallout from the Sunrise agency fiasco. So as predicted, I still don't know when we will travel.

Distressed Again

I just read on our agency's website that wait times from referral to travel are now typically 6-10 months! Only last summer they were 4-6 months and prior to that they were 3 to 5 months. This is depressing to say the least. Hoping to get some idea of how much longer we might have to wait tomorrow. But not optimistic we will know anything more then than we do now. Blah!

Distractions - Part 3

This past weekend was fun-packed! Mike and I went out for dinner Friday night. Saturday morning Aidan and I went skiing again. This time Aidan improved so much - he was able to go down the hill and do the beginner obstacle course all by himself! In the afternoon, Mike and Aidan went to a birthday party for one of Aidan's friends - they hired Creature Quest. This piqued the interest of Mike and Aidan! Here are a few photos of Aidan holding the creepy crawlies (including a tarantula!!)

Sunday, we went to the neighbourhood skating party and then had a birthday dinner for my mother. Here is a photo from the birthday dinner.

Update of Sorts

Our agency director sent out a blast email saying that the staff at the Department of Adoptions was slowly getting back to work and that our agency's representative in Vietnam would be trying to get updates daily this week. So let's hope we get some good news in the coming days!

Distressing

I just heard about a family that waited NINE months from referral to travel. Please, please, please let this not happen to us.

Six Months Since Referral

Today is the six month mark. We have waited six months since the referral of Maya and we still don't have a travel date. Hopefully we'll get some promising news this week.

A Little Pick-Me-Up

I just received an email from another waiting mom who is sick of waiting and is going over to Vietnam. She will be visiting her future daughter at the Vung Tau 3 orphanage and has graciously offered to take some photos of Maya for us! I also hope to send her some photos of us to take to Maya so that she will know what we look like when we finally meet her.

Maya is 10 Months Old

Maya is 10 months old today. How sad it is that she is not with us yet.

When we got her referral in August, we thought we would only be waiting 3-4 months and that she would join us by the time she was 8 months old. Now we'll be lucky if we have her by the time she is 11 months. We all want the Vietnamese officials to be thorough in their investigations but it defies logic why this process has to take so long. How does this benefit the child?

Distractions - Part 2

So this weekend we celebrated Valentine's Day and also went skating at the local rink. Here are some photos from Sunday and a video of Aidan skating. Aidan is such a blessing.

Distractions

Yes, that's what we need to prevent us from going insane from the craziness of this wait. Here are a few photos from last weekend when we went skiing. This is Aidan's first ski lesson and my second (after 30 years - yikes!).

(In my head, i looked cooler than this!!!)

Discriminatory

Yep, that sums up my company's adoption leave supplemental pay. If you are a birth mother with more than 5 years of service you get 5 weeks full pay but if you are an adoptive parent or birth father you get 1 week.

To make matters worse, they accidentally sent me a memo saying I was going to get 5 weeks full pay and now they are retracting it. Nice.

Bad to Worse

Apparently there is another issue with Maya's paperwork. I hope this adoption is going to happen. Bottom line is that we are delayed even more.

A Ray of Hope?

A couple of families seem to think that there may still be news this week. Maya's dossier has been in the verification stage for over 5 weeks now. Hopefully it will be approved soon and we can get this show on the road.

Not Optimistic

So it's now the Friday before the week before Tet. Government offices seem to be closed Feb 14 to 18. It's not clear whether they are closed next week as well but from what I understand very little gets done the week before Tet anyway. So it would appear that we are not going to hear anything until Feb. 19 at the earliest. Therefore, it now looks like we will not depart before March. This adoption is starting to feel like a fantasy again.

Still No News

Not much to say except - no news yet. Well apparently there might be news it just hasn't been relayed yet. Very frustrated with how long it takes to get any information whatsoever. I'm starting to think we won't get our adoption date before the holidays. Blah!