Friday is the last day...

Have you sent your email in support of A Child’s Right Campaign for Vietnam?

Here is the email address: advocate@jcics.org

This could be your message: I support the Child's Right Campaign for Vietnam, sincerely, (your first and last name)

that's all!

Your email will be included in a petition to Congress.

I've been feeling a bit hopeless the past few days...at least this petition provides a way to do something about our situation.
thanks!

another simple request

JCICS (Joint Council on International Children's Services) has just initiated a campaign for reform of adoption practices in Vietnam which includes accountability measures for U.S. agencies that would allow adoptions to continue under an
interim memorandum of agreement until Vietnam accedes to the Hague Convention. As I've mentioned before, the current agreement is set to expire September 1. Should this campaign work, there is a good chance that adoptions will be allowed to continue after the September 1 deadline.
The campaign is described in detail HERE

Please read the recommendations and, if you are inclined, send an email in support of A Child’s Right Campaign for Vietnam to:
advocate@jcics.org

Send your email no later than May 30th.
Your email will be included in a petition to Congress.

Thank you!!!

more information

When we get the call that we have a referral, apparently it isn't "official" until more paperwork is sent to Vietnam and approved. It is unclear as to exactly how long this takes. So when I said that we need our referral pictures before September 1, that wasn't exactly true. We need our "official" referral before then. I'd be much more comfortable getting our referral before the end of June. The clock is ticking so much louder than it ever has before!

Hope 4 Kids

For the second week in a row we have gone to church, and the message has been about caring for orphans! Coincidence? I don't think so...just more affirmation that we are doing the right thing by trying to adopt our little one from Vietnam. While there weren't any newly adopted babies present, we did hear from Tom Eggum who is the president of Hope 4 Kids, International. We saw many photos of the orphans in Uganda. Mark and I have sponsored a little boy over there for a few years. The nice thing about Hope 4 Kids is that 100% of donations go toward whatever project you decide to support (medicine, buildings, widows, children, etc.); that's unusual for charities. So...it's a good organization to become involved with if you are interested. Here is the site: http://www.hope4kidsinternational.org/

Still waiting for some news about Baby Wieds...

Time to get prepared

A few weeks ago it was announced on the news that California faces an almost certain risk of being rocked by a strong earthquake by 2037. There is a 99.7 percent chance a magnitude 6.7 quake or larger will strike in the next 30 years. The odds are higher in southern California than northern California—97 percent versus 93 percent. Yikes!
It is time to prepare for the possibility that we will be here when it strikes. I just cannot imagine that powerful of an earthquake, especially after seeing the devastation in China right now. You would think we would have done all of this shopping and preparing before now, since we've lived here for as long as we have, but we haven't! It's definitely time!
I put together a kit for each car and our house...just in case. I've been in a few milder quakes. When it comes, it sometimes sounds like a big truck is driving past your house. One woke me in the middle of the night because the glass on my shower door was shaking. I got up but was unable to stand...the floor felt like it was rolling. I saw the chandelier swinging back and forth. It was a strange few minutes. Luckily nobody was hurt.



Clearly I need to do more shopping, but at least it's a start!
I didn't buy the baby supplies that we will need yet...that is on the top of my list once we get our approval. Yesterday marked six months since we logged in our paperwork. It's so hard to wait! At least waiting gives me time to complete the projects that need completing...like preparing for an earthquake!

Yesterday...

Yesterday we got together with Paul and Jan to celebrate both Mother's Day and Jan's birthday! Before brunch, we attended church at Saddleback where we heard from Rick Warren's wife, Kay. Her message was basically about encouraging everyone to do something to care for widows and orphans. That something could be anything from praying, offering time or money, or going out and adopting a child. So I sat there and listened and thought about how happy I am to be in the process of adoption, while at the same time, I swallowed the lump in my throat as I sat among many mothers with their children. I was wishing I could have stood up when all the moms were asked to stand and be recognized.
I thought about how much I want to go and meet our Baby Wieds over in Vietnam.
Then, wouldn't you know it, a family came out to share their adoption story. This family had a new member, Jonathan, a toddler boy from Vietnam. He was adorable as he continually reached out his arms to be held by his mom, then his dad, then his sister...!! I was glad to be there to see him, and I felt encouraged that Mark and I were definitely doing the right thing!

I just learned that NBC changed the category! Congrats if you took the time to write them an email. The new name of the category is "Adopting Moms"
http://www.americasfavoritemom.com/

Mother's Day

First of all, Happy Mother's Day to all of you out there celebrating this weekend. This day is a challenging one for me, as I've been on the quest to motherhood for about four years now. I can't help but think about the miscarriages and unfortunate circumstances that got in the way. I also think about our baby over in Vietnam...will we get to see him? meet him? bring him home? I believe that God knows how all of this will turn out, and that he is preparing me for something wonderful, but even so, the pain of being childless doesn't go away.

The Today Show is having a contest to recognize and honor America's Favorite Mom for Mother's Day. It sounded like a nice idea until I saw the categories. There is a category for best military mom, best working mom, best CEO mom...those are all great! What shocked me is the category labeled the "NON-MOM mom" which is for the grandparent, stepmom, or mom to adopted children. Can you believe it? How insensitive! How dare they call any woman who has not actually given birth to her children a "non-mom." The Today Show will be hearing from me!

Even though I don't actually have a child yet, in my heart, I feel like I'm a mom already. I feel hope that I will get my chance to share my life with our child and be a mom, however God brings him or her to us one day.

I'm blog borrowing. Below is a verse that a fellow blogger shared on her blog today, and I thought it was just what I needed to hear.

I'd say you'll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious—the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse. Put into practice what you learned from me, what you heard and saw and realized. Do that, and God, who makes everything work together, will work you into his most excellent harmonies.
Philippians 4:7-9 (The Message)

Birds and Nesting

Thank you, Kristin and Bob, for knowing your birds! They said it looks like we have some Cedar Waxwings (the ones that like the berries second from bottom - one of Kristin's favorite birds!) and a Stellar's Jay at the very bottom. It's possible that the top yellow bird is a western variety of a Goldfinch. Feel free to come over anytime to bird watch...no need for binoculars around here. If you have absolutely no idea what I am talking about go to the post before this one, and it will all make sense.

As you know, we have been getting the house ready for Baby Wieds. Moving things around...throwing out and sorting stuff...I guess that means we are officially nesting. I saw two birds literally nesting yesterday on the patio. One had a branch in it's mouth and the other one was clearly creating fertilized eggs! Then the one with the branch flew to the nest on the garage, dropped off the branch, and flew away.
I never actually gave much thought about where we got the term "nesting" before that sight!

Some baby news: One family from our agency received their new referral this week. They had originally lost theirs a few weeks ago because the baby's birth mother changed her mind about placing her baby for adoption. We're happy for them and eager for our call!

Enjoy your weekend!