When we started the whole adoption process, we had been told to expect a 12-18 month wait for our baby. We switched agencies as the one we were signed with has had ZERO infant placements this calendar year. So we switched to our new agency Plan Loving Adoptions Now "PLAN." We turned our dossier in in late May. Expecting a long wait for a referral, Susan and I decided that it would be a good time for me to accept a job promotion and relocate from Albuquerque, NM to Loveland, CO. Soooo.... We sold our house in New Mexico, Susan went job hunting, and we went house hunting. 2 weeks before closing on our house here in CO, we got the wonderful news that we had been matched with a Vietnamese boy. Immediately, we were overcome with excitement, shock, surprise, and quite honestly a good dose of panic. Still, we had read that travel is usually 2-4 months after receiving a match. Then, we found out that we needed to travel 5 weeks after recieving our referrals.
Just to sum it up, here's our timeline!
- 5/15/07-Mike completed manager certification.
- 5/25/07-Mike Got a Promotion offer and spent a week in Colorado to check out new job.
- 5/25/07-Thomas Michael Linh Kaduk was Born.
- 6/18/07-Mike heads off to Colorado to start his new position.
- 7/21/07-Mike and Susan load a rental suv with a truckload of stuff the movers wouldn't move as well as 200 lbs of furry slobbering dogs and head off for a 7 hour drive to our new home in Loveland, CO.
- 8/2/07-We received our referral of our son.
- 8/20/07-We received our travel dates.
- 9/6/07-We leave for Vietnam!!!!
Busy couple of months!!!!
Susan and I are both about to explode with excitement and anticipation. We can't wait to meet our son in person. I have his pictures on my computer at work, and I regularly catch myself just staring starstruck at his picture. I have dreamed about being a dad for so long that it's hard to believe that the time has finally come for me to take on that role. We board our flight for Vietnam via LAX and Hong Kong thursday night at 7:45 pm. God willing, we'll be arriving in Hanoi, Vietnam on Saturday around noon. We expect to spend Sunday recovering. If all goes according to plan, we will be going to the orphanage and picking up Thomas on Monday. Then the real fun will begin. We have to get his Vietnamese passport, american visa, and then we come home. It may sound simple; however, these 3 things take 3 weeks. Anyway, that's it for now, we'll post more when the time comes. -Mike
