We made the cut!

Not that we thought we didn't, but it sure is nice to hear that we DID!! This morning we heard from our case worker that we are on the official list of cases that will be allowed to finish. (the US created this list of cases in process since the September 1 shut down)
Still no rhyme or reason as to who can file the i600 next, but that's the way it is. We're so glad that we will be officially allowed to finish. Off to watch the Packer game!

Tainted Milk

From: http://chao-vietnam.blogspot.com/
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Vietnam Finds Melamine-Contaminated Chinese Milk

Tests conducted in Ho Chi Minh City show the presence of melamine in samples taken from milk imported from YiLi Industrial Group, one of three Chinese companies found to have melamine in their milk products.

Local importer Kim An Company in HCMC’s Phu Nhuan District said results from examinations done by an affiliate of the city’s Department of Science and Technology revealed a melamine concentration of 25.34 micrograms per liter.

However, no regulations have been established in Vietnam that pronounce at what concentration level melamine would be poisonous for consumption.

Kim An Company also said it has recalled all the YiLi milk it had distributed. However, 321 tins of one-liter milk had already been sold. The company reportedly imported 1,494 cartons of milk (one carton contains 12 tins) from YiLi Industrial Group.

The HCMC Health Department said Tuesday it had confiscated 1,081 cartons from the company and also seized 3,375 kilograms of milk powder lacking required documents being transported on a truck belonging to Duc Long Hang Co., Ltd. in District 10.

An inspection in Hanoi Tuesday of Hoang Lam Trading and Technology JSC found 25 tons of cream imported from China lacking quality certification.

The inspectors requested the company present documents today on 42 tons of milk powder imported from China last year without quality guarantees.

Deputy Minister of Health Cao Minh Quang Tuesday set up two inspection forces to probe production and trading of dairy products in northern and southern provinces.

In related news, Sanlu Group – the Chinese dairy firm first found to be selling melamine-contaminated goods – allegedly began receiving complaints of sick children as early as last December, AFP quoted Chinese media CCTV as saying.

The media source also said local officials in the northern city of Shijiazhuang, where Sanlu is based, delayed referring the matter to higher authorities for more than a month after Sanlu informed them of the problem on August 2.

There have been no reports of formula being affected so far. It's our understanding that Henry and the other babies in the orphanage are on a brand of formula that is manufactured right in Vietnam.

tough day

I counted, and it's been 108 days since we received the picture of Henry. The news that it would take between 45 and 60 days to file the I600 was clearly wrong. It seems that once again we are caught up in the back log. No one seems to have any good explanation as to why things are taking so long. I just don't get it! At times it feels like it's never going to happen...that we are not going to be able to bring home Henry. I feel like I'm having an extremely high risk pregnancy and no one will let me in to see a doctor.

I have very little patience left.

The ONLY thing that is giving me some peace of mind is that I know Henry is in good hands. I know that he is getting a lot of stimulation, exercise, food and love!

So I'm asking for prayers that things will begin to move forward again, and move quickly.

update

We still haven't filed our I600 yet!!! I'm not even going to try to predict when it will happen any longer. It's just a big mystery! We're still hearing "don't worry" from our caseworker. Time is going by so fast and so slow at the same time!!!

Practice

Yesterday I had some practice being a mom! I took care of our friends' kids for a few hours. One of them is a kindergartner and the other is a 14 month old boy. I brought them over to the house for awhile to play with the dogs. On the way, the little boy fell asleep in his car seat so I put him into our crib when we got here. It was heartwarming to see a little boy in that crib.

Waiting for Henry!!!

Henry is 9 months today!

Happy 9 months, little guy!! Last month I was spending a lot of time wondering what Henry's been up to. Now we have an idea because we received some new pictures of him that were taken last week! He is SO adorable! He has some hair now, not a ton, but more than he did 3 months ago, and we could see that he has 2 little teeth. He was cruising around in his little walker with some other friends. We saw about 3 other babies in the background of the pictures. One was sitting up, another was on his belly trying to crawl and the other was in the walker right next to Henry. There was a caretaker sitting with two of the babies. We're just so glad that Henry and all the babies are able to move around and interact with each other. He is in good hands, which gives us much peace!

It seems that something must have made him unhappy because in the next picture he was crying. This was followed by a picture of his nanny holding him, and the tears were gone! He was looking right at the camera,too!! It was such a gift to see his nanny. I recognized her from other photos I've seen from the orphanage. I promise I'll post all of these when we are over in Vietnam.

We haven't heard anything more about our final set of papers being filed. They are at the agency waiting to be sent to the USCIS! We are hopeful that they will be shipped off very soon!

Henry should receive his toys, photo book and teether at the end of this week!

The forms have all been filled in, signed and delivered to our caseworker's office! A few other families that have June referrals are doing the same thing, so we all think they'll be sent to USCIS very soon, maybe even next week!
Another family just got their approval to travel today, so our agency currently has 5 approvals this week. One of the families received theirs in just 13 days!! That is fast!
I guess that means we REALLY need to tie up any loose ends and get ready for Henry! Whenever I think we're just about set, I realize we need more stuff for him. Now that it is approaching winter in Hanoi we'll need to get him some warmer clothing. My friend Bev actually found him some baby Ugg boots, the California beach must have, so we know he'll have warm toes!


They are adorable, and we'll match!


More soon....I hope!

One Step Closer

I was just sitting here at my computer this morning catching up on email, feeling a little blue because we haven't heard anything and saying more prayers! Suddenly, there pops up an email from our caseworker. She wants us to prepare all of the paperwork needed to file for the I600 and get it to her by this Friday. Hooray!!!!! So I guess we really do have that "official" referral!
Looks like our paperwork will be heading to USCIS soon!

another one

I just read that another family got approval to travel. We're up to 4 so far this week!

Movement

There's been some recent movement! I know of 3 families that are planning to travel to get their babies sometime within the next week! Since they are traveling to the orphanage where Henry lives, maybe we'll get some updated pictures of him! I wonder how he has changed in the past 2, almost 3, months! Plus, he will finally get his gift from us! (the teether and the photo book I mentioned earlier)

This Wednesday will mark 60 business days since we first saw Henry! I hope we hear something!!!!

Guess what found its way into the coyote trap??





The poor thing was picked up and released somewhere far away! The good news is that we discovered it BEFORE letting the dogs out that morning. That was actually the excitement around here this week. Now that Henry's room is just about done, I find that I have to keep busy to help pass this excruciating wait time. I painted our bathroom mustard, then realized that it was just too yellow. Now it's navy blue. A little dark, but with some new curtains and a few pictures it will look really nice! It's amazing that I can change the entire look and mood of a room with $15 and some paint! I'm now on to our bedroom.

It's been a very quiet week. No one has gotten approvals to travel or been told to file their I600. I'm sure there is now a whole new pile of paperwork to take care of with the recent shut down. I just wish they would focus on getting the babies home before tackling the other stuff. Next week will be our 60 business day wait. I hope we get some news then!