dig...swim...dig...swim

My incessant digging has turned up 3 updates on Vietnam:

* The French agency Médecins du monde (MDM) has received 2 more "regular" referrals, bringing their total to 4 under the new system.

*  The Italian agency CIFA posted on October 19 that it received its first 2 "regular" referrals under the new system.
* Children's Bridge (CB) in Canada is waiting for their quota from the DA (which is interesting, since my agency said many moons ago that Vietnam decided not to give any more quotas!?).  CB is also looking at opening a special needs stream.  Their contact person in Vietnam indicates that waiting children include those with HIV, cleft lip/cleft palate, hernia and missing or malformed hand or digits.  This is also interesting, since a) I have been open to most of those needs, as well as many others, since I signed up for Vietnam 3 years ago, and b) the special needs stream was open the whole time that the "regular" stream was closed.  It doesn't make sense to me that families who are open to various special needs wait for 3 years while matching children sit in orphanages all that time. Nor does it make sense that an additional agency is going to open a special needs stream when there are a number of agencies already working in this stream, yet apparently unable (not a judgment, just an observation) to connect waiting children with the families waiting for them. I guess I shouldn't be surprised when things don't make sense....considering what I have seen, lived and learned over the past 6 years.

Does anyone else hate the word "wait" as much as I do?  Stay tuned for more on that topic...and keep on swimming.

TDH update

This is the Vietnam update in the TDH October newsletter, which was posted today:

"During this quarter, TDH Ontario has completed 6 special needs adoptions, bringing the total for this year so far to 11. We have received proposals of 2 children from List 1. There is one other special needs child in process, and 4 other families have indicated their readiness to proceed with particular special needs children. We are seeking families for about 10 other special needs children."

And since you may need a little encouragement, here's Jack Johnson's "In the morning", which is a beautiful love song he wrote for his kids.  I can't wait for the day when I sit on the edge of of my girl's bed with my guitar, sending her to sleep with this song, looking at her and thinking "so much JOY I'm afraid to be swept away, upstream there's a spring that brings in the new day".

Keep swimming.

 

In the Morning

So much love

The kids are laughing in their sleep

Swimming through their dreams into the morning

So peaceful all the stories that we're told

Lead them through the night back from the shadows

So much joy every little girl and boy

Even better when they wake up tomorrow

So much love

In their little missing teeth

Gonna miss you till we meet again in the morning

So much peace in their pitter-patter feet

Any open eyes can see that minds are reaching

So much joy

I'm afraid to be swept away

Upstream there's a spring that brings in the new day

These are the gifts we keep

And this is the morning that we breathe

And then we see

These moments are the only gifts we need

And your crazy curly morning hair

Your maka piapia stare

Smiling down from the top of the stairs

You're so sweet

And your robot pictures spread around

I swear your feet don't touch the ground

Once it starts it don't slow down

But I don't want it to

And these are the gifts we keep

And this is the morning that we breathe

And then we see

These moments are the only gifts we need

news of the world

I've been looking around for news since my last post, and here's what I could find:

1) According to one the bloggers in my list on the right, the French agency Médecins du monde / MDM recently received two referrals from Vietnam's "regular" stream.

2)  The Danish agency Danadopt posted yesterday in Danish that they are still waiting to hear when they can send more dossiers to Vietnam, but they expect "host countries meeting in late November / early December" (google translation of the second part of the post).  I assume this refers to the Vietnamese DA, which would make sense given that I have read elsewhere about these new DA meetings in which decisions are made about distributing waiting dossiers and accepting new ones.

In related news, I was told by my agency that it could be a long time before round 2 (including my dossier) receives referrals...possibly towards mid-2013.  Danadopt seems to be expecting things to happen faster than my agency does.  If round 1 was sent to the DA about 6 months ago, and to date we only know of a dozen or so referrals, then it could take a number more months to complete round 1 referrals.  Let's say it takes 6 more months... that brings us to April 2013 for the beginning of round 2.  Let's say round 2 takes a year.... we're at April 2014 for the start of round 3.  So maybe my agency is being realistic.  Even if the DA accepts dossiers  for round 3 anytime soon, they could be sitting in a centralized pile for a long time.  It's better than sitting in Canada, where the families would have to keep updating their document$.  But honestly, the pace sucks (understatement of the year) for everyone involved, especially children growing older in orphanages while loving families wait desperately all over the world to give them a better life.
Of course anything can change, and I hope with all my heart that it does, but I wouldn't count on things speeding up, based on how things have gone since September 2010.  I think that families should be prepared (if not by the appropriate people, then by me) for alot more waiting.  Better to be prepared for the worst and then maybe pleasantly surprised by something better, than to have false expectations that don't come true.  Trust me on that one.

Until next time, here is the song that has taken me through the last few days, written by Jason Mraz and covered by two gorgeous and talented young girls.  For me, this is a love song about my daughter, so hearing it performed by little girls with big old souls (which is how I imagine my girl) and an acoustic guitar makes me tear up with all kinds of emotions.  I hope it gives you inspiration, because even though our skies are rough we have to keep looking up and send all our love to the other side of the planet, where things are much more rough.

I Won't Give Up

When I look into your eyes
It's like watching the night sky
Or a beautiful sunrise
There's so much they hold
And just like them old stars
I see that you've come so far
To be right where you are
How old is your soul?

I won't give up on us
Even if the skies get rough
I'm giving you all my love
I'm still looking up

And when you're needing your space
To do some navigating
I'll be here patiently waiting
To see what you find

'Cause even the stars they burn
Some even fall to the earth
We've got a lot to learn
God knows we're worth it
No: I won't give up

I don't wanna be someone who walks away so easily
I'm here to stay and make the difference that I can make
Our differences they do a lot to teach us how to use
The tools and gifts we got, yeah, we got a lot at stake
And in the end, you're still my friend at least we did intend
For us to work we didn't break, we didn't burn
We had to learn how to bend without the world caving in
I had to learn what I've got, and what I'm not, and who I am

I won't give up on us
Even if the skies get rough
I'm giving you all my love
I'm still looking up, still looking up.

I won't give up on us (no I'm not giving up)
God knows I'm tough enough (I am tough, I am loved)
We've got a lot to learn (we're alive, we are loved)
God knows we're worth it (and we're worth it)

I won't give up on us
Even if the skies get rough
I'm giving you all my love
I'm still looking up

-Jason Mraz