WE HAVE A NEW DAUGHTER!!!

and boy were we shocked (but thrilled) it happened so soon! She was born March 15, 2007 and lives in the Binh Duong Province in the SE part of Vietnam. Her Vietnamese name in An Thuy Le. We received word yesterday and got the pictures today! For Cathy and I this is the happiest day in our life together! We never dreamed she would be so beautiful! This is truly a miracle from God and we feel incredibly blessed! We will give a few more details later. Thank you everyone for all the prayers! A special thank you to our three grown children, Candice, Abby, and Austin! This would never be possible without your love and support! Your baby sister will love you so much! UPDATE: 04/23/08 - Hopefully we set a record time for fastest turn around of the Power of Attorney document! Holt Vietnam will have it on their desk 19 hours after it was sent to us! Signed, notarized, state certified, overnighted from OKC to Eugene, OR! This document is the final piece of the puzzle for the Vietnamese government to approve and process our mountains of paperwork. UPDATE: 04/24/08 - POA was received by Holt Thursday morning. We received official acceptance paperwork on Thursday. We plan on having everything completed including the picture album for Emma ready to ship on Friday. UPDATE: 04/28/08 - Holt received our acceptance papers and photo album for Emma Monday morning.

TOP 10!!!

Well we finally moved into the TOP 10 on the list to be matched with our child! The progression was a little slower this quarter than it was previously. We started as #40 in July, moved up to #29 in October, #18 in January, and #10 in April. Our hopes are that we will be matched and have pictures by July 1. Keep your fingers crossed and the prayers coming! Thanks!

Dossier Translated, Now With MOJ....

Today we received word that our dossier (all of our paperwork) has been translated, and is currently with the Vietnamese Ministry of Justice. It took 24 days. The dossier will stay with the MOJ until we receive and accept our referral. We will then fill out one more document, a special power of attorney that allows Holt Int. to act on our behalf in Vietnam. We have to get that document notarized, state certified, and then send it to Holt in Oregon. They will review it, and send it to the Vietnamese Embassy in San Francisco for authentication. It will then go back to Holt, then to Holt's office in Vietnam for translation, then finally to the Vietnamese MOJ. Our dossier will then begin the process of approval. Bottom line, this is another positive step forward!