Update on Adoption

Another step, albiet a tiny one, towards bringing our baby boy (or will it be boys?) home, has been taken.
After a lot of thought, discussion, and prayer R and I decided to go with the agency we had first chosen back in January that sent our application back and told us to wait until our one year anniversary and resend it. Despite the dissapointment of having to wait, and despite the knowledge that the "wait" time for referral and travel are considerably longer than other agencies are quoting, all the reasons we chose them in the first place won out. They are ethical, have a great reputation, have been around awhile, and have many humanitarian aid projects going on in the countries they process adoptions in. Also, R had "good feelings" about his phone conversations with the regional director- which seems like a silly reason to choose someone, but I am a firm believer in trusting your instincts.
So....while we wait for that darn CPA to finish his assessment of our business, we filled out and sent in our second application to the agency. The regional director called yesterday and left a sweet message, congratulating us on our one year anniversary and asking us to give her a call.
Up to this point, I hadn't spoken with her, but today I gave her a call. I now understand Robert's "Good feelings." I really, truly, like this person. More importantly, I trust her. So, we will wait longer perhaps than others. We can live with that (ahem, remind me that I said that when I get anxious and impatient, ok?). It is more important to us that our adoption is an ethical one, and our experience a good one.
Our application is on its way to the main headquarters and we should receive our approval letter and contract and other "stuffs" in the mail in about a week. Once we have that in hand and send in our check and signed contract, we then need to give our homestudy agency the information so that they can complete the homestudy so that it fits the specifications for Vietnam. Then the homestudy agency will send in the completed homestudy to CIS (formerly known as INS and also known as USCIS) so that we can get a fingerprint appointment and eventually, the golden grail aka 171H (approval to adopt an orphan).
Oh, and we are also sponsoring an orphan through the same agency's orphan sponsorship program. A very cute seven year old boy in Vietnam who wants to grow up and be a police officer. What a gift to be able to be involved in something positive for a child in Vietnam, and the cost is so small. I am going to send a letter to this little guy soon along with a picture..can't wait for the day we receive a reply from him!
Well, I must publish this and then try to walk the boys (er, dogs to those of you who are new here and are wondering)...there is SNOW on the ground and it is icky wet nasty out. Not so sure this is walking weather, but try telling that to Ben and Bogey!