Well last week I had a strange feeling that I would hear from my agency.
When I got home, in my mailbox I found an envelope with a receipt from a donation I had made, so I thought that must have been it.
However, today I decided to write to my agency as this feeling was still nagging me. I got a quick reply back asking me to call them....
I discovered that my file was making some movement so they were discussing it. So this was it.
While my dossier was in Vietnam already, from what I understood in the fall, I was told that it would now be deposited at the Department of Adoptions (DA) in Vietnam. So now we are even closer to the top of the list and depending on the children that are proposed to the agency the next time around, and the special needs I'm approved for, we may get a referral sooner than later.... also the other good news is some problems that developed in the fall have also been dealt with so there should be no more difficulties in that regard!...that was so good to hear!! and now I'm feeling a bit more positive......
What is also interesting is that tomorrow would have been my dad's 100th birthday had he still been alive. Matteo's birthday is in May which is the same month where my mom's birthday was....so all to say it is nice to think that in a spiritual way, my adoptions are tied to my parents.
So excited and nervous....however before I get too excited...the process was explained and now I understand a few more things......and for the special needs files once I get a "verbal referral"....this is only the beginning....the investigation on the child's dossier will only take place after this verbal referral, (like it was with Matteo's file) and the investigations from what I was told, on average are taking longer...anywhere from 6-12 months...it is only after this investigation where the DA in Vietnam will issue Article 16 which is the "Official" referral and then I meet with my social worker and then she "approves" the match and sends the paperwork to the Ministry of Children here in Ontario, who then "approves" and issues an Article 17, a copy of which gets sent to Vietnam. It is only after Articles 16 and 17 are issued where travel can be planned soon after...perhaps one to one and a half months later.......so so so so.....who knows we might be travelling in November on the anniversary of Matteo's adoption? or maybe 2015, though of course I'm hoping we don't have to wait until 2015!!!
For now leaving you with some funny faces of my sweet boy and eating his first beaver tail. Recently during our nightly prayers that we say on some of our nights, has now been asking God for a brother instead of the sister that he had been asking for. When I ask him why he's changed this. He has no reason. When I ask him if he'd be disappointed if he had a sister, he tells me he's okay with that too!

