A New Referral

So much has changed in the last 24 hours. We found out yesterday that our original referral was pulled due to medical issues. The baby was taken in for a follow up medical visit when it was discovered that he was not healthy. I don't know exactly what the problem was but we were issued a new referral because of it.

It didn't take us long to fall in love with the picture of our new referral. He is an abundantly healthy baby boy to say the least. He looks so different from the other baby. He was born on 9/26/06. I giggle every time I look at his picture...all I see are those cheeks!

Our agency isn't expecting this change to delay us much at all. Apparently this baby was already "paper ready" so they'll just have to match our paperwork with his and then issue our G&R (Giving & Receiving) date. We'll hopefully travel the first week in February. Our social worker will be in VN for the next month so we're praying that she will be able to make things happen while there. We are really, really hoping to be there and back before Tet, the VN New Year. This year it falls on Feb. 18th. We are really cutting it close though.

We've already packed Jackson's suitcase. We did some last minute shopping this weekend for a LSU outfit for him (that Brad just had to have) but other than that his bag has actually been packed for about three weeks now. I can't wait to dress him in all his cute clothes. My brother is loaning us his laptop and we've set it up already with our digital camera software and Skype. We'll be able to use Skype to call home from our computer to any phone number using a headset and microphone. I think it will be nice to be able to call home often. Of course, I'll post here as often as possible too. Now, we just sit and wait on our travel dates so we can order our Visas and make our flight arrangements.

We've decided on a name too - Jackson Van. Van is pronounced Von, like Don and was recycled from his given name, Thuc Van. Brad's cousin Tammy is already working on getting his first personalized gift, an adorable handmade diaper bag.

My dad said that we could call him "JD" but I objected immediatly! I new he was going to come up with some crazy, hick nickname. It could have been worse though, like "T-JD".

I better go now, my dog is staring at me and putting the pressure on...I think he's ready for a treat. Hopefully, I'll be writing soon about travel dates.

Raegan