I'm going to be a Viet MaMa!

My hubby and I are eagerly pursuing the adoption of a little one from Vietnam. Wonderful, wonderful! What a crazy journey this has already been... and we've only just begun!

That's not exactly honest. We've accomplished some major milestones already.

About six months ago, Hubby and I decided that it was time for us to pursue an adoption. At that time, we knew next to nothing about adoption laws, domestic, foster, OR international options, or even what a home study entailed (other than what the name implies).

We've never had any qualms about bringing a child into our family through adoption. However, we had no idea how difficult it would be to start that process and make a commitment. We were absolutely amazed at the sheer volume of self-education required to be able to make even a moderately well-informed decision.

I'm not typically a weepy person, but I'll admit to being brought to tears more than once as we were overwhelmed by adoption choices, jargon, and internet rumors. I'm an indecisive person, and I have perpetual buyers' remorse over choices as mundane as a new type of salad dressing. Choosing an adoption path - and thereby cutting off the other options - was the most nervewracking commitment of my life.

However, after umpteen hours of conversation, the pieces started to fall into place. We fell in love with babies all over the internet, to start. We knew that whatever path we chose would lead us to OUR child. International adoption started to feel more and more right. We developed a level of comfort and trust with a highly reputable agency who takes the guesswork out of everything. And finally, we learned all about Vietnam adoption. It's right for us.

So, where are we in the process? Though we've been living and breathing adoption, we aren't even officially on our agency's wait list yet. We have, however, successfully muddled through hours - actually, days - of paperwork and processes. We have written autobiographies, gathered eight positive references (thanks peeps!), had our fingerprints screened by DHS, received passports, passed physicals, been interviewed, disclosed our personal finances to strangers, finished hours of adoption training, and received a positive home study.

Whew. I'm exhausted and we haven't even started.

What are we waiting for now? We have submitted another batch of paperwork, along with our I-600A (application to adopt an orphan), to our local Customs & Immigrations office. Any day now (optimism!), we should receive an appointment in the mail. They'll take our fingerprints (just in case they've changed in the last two months, you know) and, upon approval, send us our I-171H. This precious piece of paper will grant us pre-approval to adopt internationally. We'll overnight that puppy to our agency in a flash, and THEN we will officially be on the (ever-growing) waiting list!

I may or may not admit that I'm already working on a packing list for our trip to bring our new child home - though I'll likely have two years to get our suitcases just right.

This is such a crazy process... but it will be so worth it. I don't know what in life could be more exciting!