Hello! This is our first BLOG entry for the Irwins. Kinda fancy for us!! Our family is in the process of adopting a baby girl from Vietnam. We began the process about 3 months ago. Wow.....who would have thought the paperwork would be so involved. Our homestudy was completed last month and we have collected around 20 documents. Most of these have been notarized, county certified, state certified (Dennis always adds..."and fortified"), and will soon be authenticated by the Vietnamese consulate. We have been fingerprinted at the state capital & are close to the end of our paper chase! Shew!!!
We are currently waiting on an immigration document to arrive in the mail (form I-171H). When we receive it, we can send our entire package of documents on to our agency and then on to Vietnam. It will then be translated and go into the Vietnamese government system to be matched with a baby girl.
This "paper pregnancy" has been very consuming, but it has been exciting, every step of the way. We expect our baby girl will be between 5 & 8 months old when we bring her home. We hope to have her home by next summer.
We have 2 beautiful biological children: A boy (age 12) and a girl(age 9). We feel that the LORD has called us to add to our family through international adoption. As the process moves along, we become more and more excited about meeting the baby girl that the LORD has planned for our family. We talk about her a lot & we all debate on what we will name her.
We have began working on her bedroom which makes the process a little more real. Big brother is developmentally delayed and has a hard time understanding some things. We're hoping that getting the room ready will help him understand a little more. We're not real sure he understands that he will have "another" little sister. It seemed at first he thought we were going to trade his sister in, but we've assured him that, like it or not, we are keeping Big Sister!! Ha!
Big sister is ecstatic about being a big sister. We've pulled some of her old baby clothes out of the attic & she volunteered to wash them, fold them and place them in "the baby's" dresser. She's been trying some of them on a doll (that she's estimated to be the size of a 5-8 month old). We are all anxious to bring our new baby home.
We are very excited to share our experience with you all. I'll probably post when we have a more news -- when things are progressing. Please pray for us as we seek the LORD Jesus Christ in all these happenings! Please also help us pray for our baby's birth mother -- that the LORD will give her a peace concerning her difficult decision. Pray for her health & most importantly, that she will somehow come to know the LORD if she doesn't know Him already.
Thank you for sharing this special time with us!
Dennis & Kathy
"Don't be afraid, for I am with you; I will bring your children from the East and gather you from the West." Isaiah 43:5
The Griswolds could learn a few things from us!!
