That's why we can be sure ...

that every detail in our lives of love for God is worked into something good. God knew what he was doing from the very beginning. He decided from the outset to shape the lives of those who love him along the same lines as the life of his Son. Romans 8:28-29

Some of you may already be familiar with the rumors that have been swirling around in the world of Vietnamese adoptions. To summarize, the U.S. and Vietnam started working together under a renewed agreement in 2005. The agreement has not been followed as stated. There have been some unethical practices with agencies here in the U.S and with the people in Vietnam. As a result, the U.S and Vietnam are trying to come to a renewed agreement regarding the way adoptions are processed between the two countries. The intention is to make the adoption process as ethically sound as possible and some do not feel that this is the way it's going currently. The agreement made in 2005 will expire September 1, 2008. Agencies can continue to submit dossiers through that date, September 1, 2008. The dossier is paperwork, of the individual families in the process of adopting from Vietnam, that is sent to the Vietnamese government. The officials there approve or deny families to be eligible to adopt from the country. Our agency tells us that they have no reason to believe (at this time) that families, with their dossiers logged in before September 1, should worry that they will not be able to complete their adoption.

You can see more detailed info shared through a statement from the U.S Department of State yesterday, HERE.

So, where does this leave us you might ask? We can't really say that we even know for sure. We do know that we have never felt a calling, as individuals or as a couple, stronger than what we have in our pursuit of our sweet girl, Marlee Belle, from Vietnam. Our prayer from the beginning was that God open the doors if this is the way we were to go and he has. He has opened every single one so far. We have not had one bump in the process either. It is very clear that God wants us where we are. Brandon and I sat down for a little bit Sunday afternoon and talked about it. I told him how I felt, "It is clear to me that God has us here for some reason, and I'm not ready to throw in the towel now!" He agreed.

We are currently waiting at 187. We have moved 42 spots in 4 months. Our agency has logged in 100 dossiers in Vietnam and that is how many they plan to keep logged in. This means there are about 86 more in front of us. If you figure that we have 8 months before September and we are pretty open to special needs ( if you are open to special needs you usually are called a little out of line to complete your dossier since they will need you to be ready for the possibility of a special needs referral) we feel there is a very good shot that we will get our dossier over to Vietnam before September 1. We also think that some families are not willing to take the risk and will move to another country program or seek to build there family in other ways than adopting from Vietnam.
Our agency feels that there is a 50/50 chance that MOU will or will not be signed. We will know for sure in March sometime.

Many times we have been asked the following questions...

-Why don't you just have your own? -- We have not tried and there is a good chance that we could have biological children..we'll find out someday :o)At times like this we have thought the same thing. You can compare it to my pamper pole experience. It would have been easier to not even try... not even put the harness on much less, to climb the pole. It may have been easier to try for a biological child and not go through this but, jumping off the pole/following God's will for our first child, holds far greater blessings.
-Why don't you adopt from here? -- we actually plan to look into this option in the future
- Will you get your money back? -- we don't know and don't feel the pressing need to ask at this time...we don't think we will get most of it back though...we are not concerned with this...if we were worried about money, we would have never started this process.

The bottom line is God has us where we are currently, for a reason. We may not always know why, how, or what the timing is supposed to mean but we do trust that God has our best interest in mind. If we go through this process and come September, we find out we will not be bringing Marlee home anytime soon, we will be sad but ultimately we trust that all things work for the good of those that believe in Him. We may have a little coversation with God along the lines of..."ok, we're not exaclty sure what that was all about but, you're in control" We will wonder why all of this time, money, built up hopes/dreams, but we won't be angry. We refuse to be angry.

I do know that I have become very cautious over the last couple of days with where my heart is. I have been guarding it a little bit. It seems like this is what it would be like if I had had a miscarriage in the past and was pregnant again. I would proceed but, with caution. You try not to get too terribly excited until you are close to full term or you are bringing your child home. We are still very optimistic and open to what God has in store for our family. It may take until September to be a little more sure but, for now...this is the journey God has us on and so far the journey's been great!

If you would like to pray with us here are a couple of specific things to pray...

-That a new agreement between the U.S and Vietnam will be reached and we won't have to go through the questionable time in waiting for a new one. They are pretty sure there will be one in the future just not sure it will happen before September 1.
-If they do not come to an agreement, that we will get our dossier to Vietnam before September 1.
-That Brandon and I will continue to keep our faith strong and that we remain optimistic. We really believe God has a daughter for us in Vietnam. Won't you believe and pray that with us?
-That the unethical agencies and those sketchy workers in Vietnam, will GET A GRIP (wait, did I say that out loud?) This is where all of this stemmed from you know? Please do keep in mind that there are many more ethical agencies and workers in Vietnam compared to unethical...but any little bit of corruption can go a long way.
-That either way, God will continue to work on Brandon and me and grow us as loving spouses (boy do we love each other and enjoy sharing life together!) as well as preparing us to be parents.
-Pray for all of the children in Vietnam that are in the orphanages waiting for a forever family. There are thousands!