Now it's for real!

So for my first post, I have to say that I am celebrating tonight that my agency is finally licensed! I had sworn I wouldn't start my blog until this license was in place, for fear of "jinxing" things somehow. But I got the call today and it really hasn't sunk in yet...

So to back up a bit - this is my blog for friends, family and fellow adopting parents to share my journey to adopt my first child from Vietnam. Creating a blog is new to me, so hopefully I'll figure it out as I go!

I've been an avid blog and message group reader and lurker for months while I've been researching and beginning my adoption journey, and now I feel I'm at a point in my journey where it makes sense to start sharing my progress with everyone else.

I've known for a long time - years really - that I would someday adopt. My aunt Karen has adopted twice, and so I was fortunate enough to learn some time ago that adoption was an option for me as well. This past year I finally decided that perhaps I was finally close to being in the right place to begin the process. Not the perfect place, but I decided that there would probably never be that perfect time to start and I couldn't stand to wait anymore! Ha - "not waiting" and the process of adoption really should not be mentioned in the same breath!

So I decided to begin the process and now here I am on the brink of having things really start moving! It hasn't sunk in yet - my agency has been waiting for this license for a long time, and I am so relieved it is finally in place. I know there are a number of other agencies already licensed out there, but I never seriously considered anyone except Crossroads. This is the agency my aunt used twice, it is local to me (which is not necessary but has been a good thing for me) and I have felt really comfortable with the staff. Adopting from any country can be nerve-wracking, but in my reading it has become easy to see that the process in Vietnam can have some crazy things happening. This is sad to hear since the country only reopened to adoptions last year, but I knew that Crossroads would be an agency I could trust. As I've learned more about Vietnam and the process, I've also become more familiar with the humanitarian group Crossroads is working with, called Humanitarian Services for the Children of Vietnam (their link is on the side). I've had the opportunity to meet Chuck, who created the organization, and I believe they are doing really wonderful things in Vietnam. So I am excited to be able to support a great organization like this - all around it just feels like the right fit.

I will be one of the first families with my agency going through the process. That wasn't exactly my intent - I was hoping to let them "work out the kinks" with a few families first, but now that it's happening the way it is, I'm excited.

So that's a bit of my intro - lots more to come!