Saturday, May 12, 2007
Well, here we go again, me trying to navigate a new website/blog and beginning our journey toward adopting another child! How did we come to this decision, yet again? Well, we just LOVE children and want so much to open our hearts/lives to another! Caitlin first began asking for a baby brother to add to the mix! She just adores (when Claire isn't pinching or pulling hair), her baby sister! Every day is such a blessing! We will celebrate our first Family Day (when we were united with Claire) on May 22, 2007! It is amazing that we have already been together for a year! It seems like such a short time, yet, forever, as she has really bonded with us! It just seems to have been destiny that she is in our lives! She is so very sweet, oh, and very loud! We are convinced she will be a famous soprano virtuoso! She is pronouncing many more words! She LOVES 'happy" and "thank you" right now, oh and "please", when she is asked to use her words! But, the tone is very high and very, very sweet sounding, especially when she says she is "happy"(too cute)!
Well, I could go on about my two girls.........they are just the best and we are filled with joy! Now, on to our next adventure, adopting our baby boy! Well, yes the name "Foster" will be in the mix, somewhere in his name. This, because it is Rob's middle name, and his dear mother's wish that it be continued! See, he was named after a distant relative (not sure where he is placed in the family tree, either a great, great uncle or grandfather? I can't remember what my mother-in-law told me?), Stephen Foster, the great American folk song composer, of Old Susannah fame! However, Rob has some difficulty holding a tune! Caitlin is the musical talent in our family, after her great grandmothers, on both sides of the family, as well as her own mother and grandmothers too! Beautiful voices and musically talented!
So, we asked the Lord for guidance, we thought, discussed, weighed all options (and, yes, we are well aware of how old we are, so, no one needs to remind us! But, we know other family's whose parents are much older than us, and they too have adopted. Also, our reassuring Social Worker says we are the average age of adoptive parents, international, as well as domestically!) and aspects of another monumental decision, and yes, we feel we can, that is, open our hearts and our home to another child! I told Rob that I had always envisioned myself with three children! He has made me promise we won't come back from Viet Nam, after receiving our baby boy, to proclaim that I envisioned myself with 4 children! and, yes, I did make that promise! So, this is definitely it! 3 children and we do want a boy to add to all the girls! And, Rob confessed, he is excited about having a son! Always envisioned having a son! So, here we go again!! So, follow along on yet another joyful, exciting adventure with the Christner Clan!
To bring you up to time line, we have already selected a wonderful agency! PLAN (Plan Loving Adoptions Now, in McMinnville, OR.)! We feel we are in very good hands! They have facilitated adoptions from Viet Nam since the first Operation Baby lift, after the fall of Saigon! We are also enthusiastically anticipating meeting Cherie Clark, who I would consider the Mother Teresa of VN! We are reading an account of her life story, After Sorrow Come Joy (I would highly recommend reading her story), of her early adult years spent tirelessly working to nurture and rescue the infants and children in the despair and impoverished conditions in the orphanages of VN, during and after the fall of Saigon! And.......... she has ten of her own children, 7 of whom are adopted! And..........we will have the priviledge of meeting her when we travel to receive our baby boy! This is a woman, through my reading and understanding of her unselfish commitment and love, I greatly admire!
So, here we are, having applied to PLAN early March 07. We have completed our homestudy and are waiting for our USCIS fingerprinting scheduled on May 25, 2007 at 9:00 a.m. The grand paperchase! It was much easier this time, compared to our chase for Claire! Less paperwork involved for VN than China and we have already been there, done that (so to speak), so it seems more wait time than running around! Also, the local Portland USCIS office seems to be running longer wait times, than in 2005, or so it seems! However, we will just have to be patient! This is the last piece of paperwork, the I171-H (granting us permission to internationally adopt a child) that we need before our dossier is taken down to Salem (and, yes I will probably drive down to have it done this time to save a few days) for State SOS certification (official stamp) then off to the VN Embassy in San Francisco for authentication, back to our agency, then on to Viet Nam, for translation then to Dept of International Adoptions in Hanoi. They now assign all adoptees! So, we then wait! We were told that VN is certainly less a wait than for China (esp right now, as wait times for China, post dossier log-in, are 18 months +!) and a greater need for families wishing to adopt baby boys too! So, we will probably be traveling by end of year or just after the first of the year?! And, yes, the entire family will travel again! How could we see it any other way?!
The estimated time line goes like this, fingerprints May 25, 2007, I171-H approximately 4-6 weeks later (end of June/early July) then on to VN a couple more weeks, 2-4 months for assignment of our baby boy, then travel 2-4 months later. So, at the outset, it will be February or March of 08, but probably sooner! So, come along on another great adventure!
Well, I could go on about my two girls.........they are just the best and we are filled with joy! Now, on to our next adventure, adopting our baby boy! Well, yes the name "Foster" will be in the mix, somewhere in his name. This, because it is Rob's middle name, and his dear mother's wish that it be continued! See, he was named after a distant relative (not sure where he is placed in the family tree, either a great, great uncle or grandfather? I can't remember what my mother-in-law told me?), Stephen Foster, the great American folk song composer, of Old Susannah fame! However, Rob has some difficulty holding a tune! Caitlin is the musical talent in our family, after her great grandmothers, on both sides of the family, as well as her own mother and grandmothers too! Beautiful voices and musically talented!
So, we asked the Lord for guidance, we thought, discussed, weighed all options (and, yes, we are well aware of how old we are, so, no one needs to remind us! But, we know other family's whose parents are much older than us, and they too have adopted. Also, our reassuring Social Worker says we are the average age of adoptive parents, international, as well as domestically!) and aspects of another monumental decision, and yes, we feel we can, that is, open our hearts and our home to another child! I told Rob that I had always envisioned myself with three children! He has made me promise we won't come back from Viet Nam, after receiving our baby boy, to proclaim that I envisioned myself with 4 children! and, yes, I did make that promise! So, this is definitely it! 3 children and we do want a boy to add to all the girls! And, Rob confessed, he is excited about having a son! Always envisioned having a son! So, here we go again!! So, follow along on yet another joyful, exciting adventure with the Christner Clan!
To bring you up to time line, we have already selected a wonderful agency! PLAN (Plan Loving Adoptions Now, in McMinnville, OR.)! We feel we are in very good hands! They have facilitated adoptions from Viet Nam since the first Operation Baby lift, after the fall of Saigon! We are also enthusiastically anticipating meeting Cherie Clark, who I would consider the Mother Teresa of VN! We are reading an account of her life story, After Sorrow Come Joy (I would highly recommend reading her story), of her early adult years spent tirelessly working to nurture and rescue the infants and children in the despair and impoverished conditions in the orphanages of VN, during and after the fall of Saigon! And.......... she has ten of her own children, 7 of whom are adopted! And..........we will have the priviledge of meeting her when we travel to receive our baby boy! This is a woman, through my reading and understanding of her unselfish commitment and love, I greatly admire!
So, here we are, having applied to PLAN early March 07. We have completed our homestudy and are waiting for our USCIS fingerprinting scheduled on May 25, 2007 at 9:00 a.m. The grand paperchase! It was much easier this time, compared to our chase for Claire! Less paperwork involved for VN than China and we have already been there, done that (so to speak), so it seems more wait time than running around! Also, the local Portland USCIS office seems to be running longer wait times, than in 2005, or so it seems! However, we will just have to be patient! This is the last piece of paperwork, the I171-H (granting us permission to internationally adopt a child) that we need before our dossier is taken down to Salem (and, yes I will probably drive down to have it done this time to save a few days) for State SOS certification (official stamp) then off to the VN Embassy in San Francisco for authentication, back to our agency, then on to Viet Nam, for translation then to Dept of International Adoptions in Hanoi. They now assign all adoptees! So, we then wait! We were told that VN is certainly less a wait than for China (esp right now, as wait times for China, post dossier log-in, are 18 months +!) and a greater need for families wishing to adopt baby boys too! So, we will probably be traveling by end of year or just after the first of the year?! And, yes, the entire family will travel again! How could we see it any other way?!
The estimated time line goes like this, fingerprints May 25, 2007, I171-H approximately 4-6 weeks later (end of June/early July) then on to VN a couple more weeks, 2-4 months for assignment of our baby boy, then travel 2-4 months later. So, at the outset, it will be February or March of 08, but probably sooner! So, come along on another great adventure!
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