New beginings and new Promises!

Hi! I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas! Richard and I sure did.

We split our time between Mississippi and Memphis to spend time with my family and his mother. We were even able to slip in some time to see my favorite girls.






All of my friends have little ones. Richard and I are the only ones with no children so when they were taking family photo's someone came up with a clever idea so we wouldn't feel so left out...



Pretty funny.

Well, we have been on the list for more than 200 days now. Wow. That seems like a really long time, but I have a feeling it will easily be another 200. However you never know what the new year will bring so I will remain optimistic =)

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and has a blessed New Year!!

Love,
The Dortches

Spreading Holiday Cheer!

Christmas is around the corner! I can't even believe it! This year has gone by so incredibly fast!!

Wow. Well, we have been on the waiting list for about 6 months. It seems unreal that it has been that long in some ways. Other ways it feels like we have been waiting much, much longer. But I have to say it feels good to put half a year behind us. That just sounds like a significant amount of time. Even if we have a year and a half left. Slowly but surely, we are getting there =)

I hope everyone had a fantastic Thanksgiving. Ours was wonderful.

I just love, love, love this time of year!

It's been a while!

Wow. It's been a while since I have posted, hu?


No updates as far as our adoption goes other than we have now been on the list for 5 months. How many more to go? Good question. According to CHI 's current estimated wait time for referral we have about 13-19 months. If I may be frank, I am actually worried if there will even be a VN program at all in a year and a half. With all that has gone on it makes me very, very nervous. I am not going to get into a long post about it because I feel like it has been talked about and debated so much that I would probably just be repeating what someone else has said at some point. The one thing I would like to say is that I am proud to be with Children's Hope International. I feel they are a good, solid agency and the ethics which they operate on have never been a concern to Richard or myself. But still I am beginning to doubt whether or not we will be bringing a son home from Vietnam. So what now? Do we stick it out? Do we hope against hope that as we get closer and closer to a referral the doors aren't slammed shut in our face? Do you come up with a plan B? What country would we adopt from if Vietnam is no longer an option? These are all questions I feel like Richard and I need to discuss and resolve right away. My sweet husband does not. He wants to wait it out and see what happens. Which, really is all we can do. I just hate having such uncertainties. I should say I am so grateful that I have someone like Richard in my life. He truly is my rock. He keeps me level and focused. It's such a blessing for me that I have him to lean on. I truly, truly love him.

In other news I am driving to Mississippi this weekend. My friend Julie is having a party for her birthday. It will be nice to see everyone. Then of course the next week is Thanksgiving. Gosh this year has really flown by.

The longing for love and the search for Knowledge

"Three passions have governed my life:
The longings for love, the search for knowledge,
And unbearable pity for the suffering of [humankind]."
---Benjamin Jowett

We attended an adoption workshop at Vanderbilt's Children's Hospital this past Saturday. I really enjoyed the speakers and found the information very interesting. We attended a class at CHI back in August (I think it was August) and we have another class at CHI we are attending in October. We have also completed the Because They Waited series and read Adoption Parenting. Richard and I want to attend as many workshops and classes as we possibly can. I don't think there is such a thing as being too prepared. Gosh, let me tell you I was not as eager about 'learning as much as I can' in school. I guess when the subject is something you feel so strongly about and it will personaly affect you in such a big way, you want to do all you can to gain as much knowledge as you can.




Another bonus about going to these classes are the great people you meet. We met a couple from Knoxville, Michelle and Eric who are also adopting from CHI. They are adopting from the Russia program. I also met a very nice man named Jerry who is adopting a son from VN. He is also going thru CHI. He had recently received a referral for a beautiful 4 year old boy. He was so proud to show his referral picture. He is anxiously awaiting a travel date.

Okay, it seems not even a threat of extended wait times will keep me from shopping for our little Sam! I just can't help it! I really can't!! I can't remember the last time I bought myself something. I would rather put that money towards all the cute things I can buy for Sam. Some people may think it is a bit premature, but the bottom line is it makes me happy and puts a smile on my face. So, I will continue to shop for little boy clothes. I am thinking ahead though only buying things that are 12-18 months. So at least I know they are things that if they don't fit, he will grow into.





Tomorrow starts another work week. I have to say I love my job and the people I work with, but I never look forward to going back to work!! The weekends are just too, too short!! Oh, tomorrow also starts my hard core diet :( Another thing I am not really looking forward to. But since healing from my foot injury I haven't been able to find the motivation to work out like I have always done and to make the best choices when it comes to food. I used to work out at least 5 days a week for at least an hour a day. I have done this for years, but I simply have just not felt the drive. Oh, and the food situation is out of control. So, tomorrow is the day. I plan to get up at 6:00 am to work out. If I can get on a daily work out routine, the healthy eating will fall into place more easialy. Wish me luck!

I hope everyone has had a great weekend and has a great week to come!!

10 years ago

Wow. I can't believe it was 10 years ago that I graduated high school. Crazy.



This weekend was our reunion. It was fun to see people that I went to school with so many years ago. Everyone looked great. My close friend Amanda did most of the work pulling the reunion together and she did a really, really good job. It was a great turn out and a successful event.


I haven't written about the news from our agency regarding the extended wait times. I am going to be completely honest and say I did not deal with that news very well. I was very upset and in tears for a day or two. I know everything happens at the right time and in the end it will all work out and bla, bla, bla, but at this moment I want Baby Sam and seeing the silver lining isn't easy. I also know that there are so many families who feel the same way I feel and are just as desperate to bring their child home. I just can't come here and write and pretend that I am not devastated by the extended wait times. One big fear I have with the VN program being so overly taxed is I worry about stability of the program. It's just that so many things can happen and change in two years. It's scary. I do have to say that I feel very secure knowing that we signed with CHI. They have always been very honest and fair. I would be a little more worried if we were with another agency.

It's been hard and disappointing the past couple of weeks, but I know that one day we will bring our little Sammy home.

100 Days...

And counting...