Feeling accomplished

Today I tackled some baby gear and to my surprise I was successful.  After completing the easier of the two I decided to go on to the next and after a bit of frustration I did manage to get them both together.....all on my own....sans hubby!

Things are really coming along.  We still have the carseat and several other items but have a good portion under our belt.

EP APPROVAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Wahoo!!! Finally!!!!  Little man has Exit Permit approval (official permission to leave Korea).  It has been a long wait but I also can't believe it is finally here.  Our dates of actual approval is somewhat unclear but my agency thinks maybe the 4th or 5th of June.

So now we just need to get submitted to court then wait for our court date and then off we go to meet little man......so excited and SO much to do.

We were also given pleasant news that on average we should get submitted to the court around 7-10 days after EP approval so wow that could be early next week.

Now I feel like I can officially get excited.   We still don't know exactly when we will travel but on average we should be in Korea around 2 months from now.  That being said there are several cases where it is taken 3-4 months from here but the average makes me feel so much more positive.

Can't believe it!!!!!!

Celebrating a great day Jeff's birthday and approval :)

The end of a Chapter and beginning of another

I'm not even sure how to begin this post.  This week has been a whirlwind of emotions.   John's parents came in from Korea for John's graduation.  We shared many dinners with them and then they spend the next day cleaning and packing his room.  I can't really describe the mix of emotions I felt upon entering his room after they finished packing.  It was so empty.  The room has been the hub of a teenage boy for the past 3 years.  We are excited to prepare the room to welcome our new little man but to walk into the room emptied of all of John's things was hard.

What an unexpected 3 years we just experienced.  It seems like it was only yesterday the idea of hosting the boys was presented.  We rushed to paint the room, buy some bunk beds,  and within two weeks had two teenage boys living with us and here it is already over.

I think this summer will be like none other.  I just said goodbye to a boy I never expected but mothered for three years and will hopefully meet a little boy I have longed to mother for over three years.

Sometimes I pause and am in awe of how God connected us all.  He had this amazing plan.  He brought two boys into our home who we though we would just host for one year and we have turned into family.  We have learned more about our little mans birth country and culture and been given a gift to understand it far better than we could have ever learned from books.  We have become like family and made life long connections, and the finances for our adoption have been provided for in a way we never expected.

Today we saw John graduate.  He has accomplished so much and should be so proud of himself.  He has graduated with honors, conquered the culture and another language, and been able to blend both culture and connect both his families.  It hurts my heart a little to know this phase is over.  Our kids were so small when they came and we have made some amazing memories.

I left a hotel parking lot tonight after saying goodbye with my little girl sobbing saying she feels like she just lost her best friends.....what she really lost was a very good big brother.

So blessed

Yesterday I was so blessed to have been given a beautiful baby shower by my sweet friends.  It wasn't a surprise (which is a pretty funny story but I like more of a surprise I know about anyway)

My sweet girl who I bubbled with excitement over each gift we opened.  Love her enthusiasm for her new brother

There were some surprises.  I couldn't believe my Aunt drove almost 3 hours to come to the shower then home again the same day.  So thoughtful.

 My sister made a korean style quilt for his room with bright yellow stars on it.  His name means Bright Shiny.

 HiHi getting to hold his first great granddaughter 

The food was yummy and we were given so many beautiful gifts.  I just feel so overwhelmingly blessed by the love and support for our adoption and our new little guy.

Close but not close enough

No EP approval....Big sigh!

Not the news I was hoping for.  It seems the other two agencies got 2/20 approvals some even saying ALL their 2/20 submissions were approved but not our agency.  

Trying to remember this is all in God's hands....and honestly I would not want it any other way but WAITING IS SO HARD!

So close

Well today was a great day for movement in the Korea program.  Holt got all their 1/23 and 2/20 EPs approved and ESWS previously had their 1/23 EPs approved and today got their 2/20's approved.......so where does that leave us.......very hopeful that little man's exit permit is approved as well and we just don't know it yet.

Our agency is pretty understaffed so unless action is required from our US agency they may not make them aware so there is a great chance our EP is approved but I would love to get confirmation.

I e-mailed our director and told her about the other two agencies EP movement today and ask her if she could email SWS and check and she said she would.  Please Pray..........TO BE CONTINUED!!!!!!!!

First beach trip of 2014

Yay Memorial Day at the beach.  It was unexpected we had planned to go on the boat with friends which would have also been a fun time but much to Jeff's dismay the boat engine was just not working right so plan B was put in effect.  The weather was perfect and we had such a great relaxing day.

Great Mothers Day weekend

We had such a busy but fun Mothers Day weekend.  Saturday we went to a party hosted by a family with our adoption agency.  It was great to meet so many families in the process.  We finished our evening off with a side trip to visit some friends for ice cream since we were not far from their house.  John and the kids seemed to have great fun with capturing pictures while Jeff and I were talking.  

We started Mother'd Day off with breakfast with Jeff's parents and then headed back home to plant our vegetable garden.

Some Mom and Carrot hammock time while the boys dug the garden

 Picnic dinner of pizza and fried dough  

 Beautiful yellow Knock-out rose bush that my mother-in-law gave me for Mother'd Day

 It is always a face with him

We ended the day planting our vegetables.

Such a handsome guy

Mothers Day thoughts

Mothers Day is bitter sweet. I open facebook and  I see so many of my friends with pictures of them and their mothers and it reminds me of how much I would have loved to have my mother to share the day with, but I remember that I was lucky to have such a wonderful mother even if that was cut short.  I had a mother who taught me everything I know and helped me become the mother I am today.

I feel happy and blessed on mothers day to be able to mother two incredibly smart and beautiful children.  I couldn't ask for more from them and my heart swells to think about how lucky I am.  

I am blessed that I am about to mother another beautiful boy.  Though not born from my body I have longed for this child like I have not had to do in the past and the feeling is overwhelming.  I think about him on Mothers Day as I anxiously wait to become his mother and think about the mothers in his life.  

I think about his first mother who made such a brave and loving decision to choose life for him.   I'm sure it made her path more difficult in life.  I honor and respect her for the terribly hard decisions she has had to make and I will share that respect and love I have for her the best I can with our son.  

I think about his second mother who he lives with right now, the woman he calls Umma (mother in Korean).  I am so thankful and blessed for the love and care she is giving our boy until we can make that trip to make him part  of our family.  

It is a thoughtful day but I am beyond blessed.

What I wouldn't give for a picture

It is a lonely place waiting for your little boys and knowing you don't even know what he looks like anymore.    The last picture I had of him was at 7 months and at the end of this month he will be 11 months.  I think back to Banana and how much he changed in those short months and it makes my heart hurt.

The good news is the group of EPs right before us started to get approved yesterday so we are next.....just holding onto hope they will approve this month and not wait for next month.

I am tempted to ask our agency if they will let John take a birthday present to little guy when he returns to Seoul in a few weeks after graduation....also hoping they might allow him the pleasure to meet him and he might be able to capture a picture or two.  It is probably a lot to ask of both John and the agency but 3 years of cooking his dinner and washing his clothes I think I'm going to ask anyway :)

Updates

I realized I have not updated in quite a while.  Not much is happening right now for us.  To catch you up I have been dealing with a MESS with our I-600.  Our paperwork was approved and we were notified but the paperwork was not sent on like it should have been.  I spend about 2 weeks trying to figure out where our paperwork was to find out it was still in someones desk and just hadn't been sent on.  After being promised the paperwork would go out that day but the officer and a supervisor I waited the 3 days and checked on it again - STILL NOTHING!!!  I was beyond frustrated so ended up calling our senator and finally the problem was resolved.   The next governmental agency actually process the paperwork the same day they got it to help expedite so that was very nice.

So right now we are all approved on the US side and it is all up to Korea now.  We are just waiting on his exit permit to be approved as the next step.  I am hoping this happens sometime this month but am not holding my breath.  I am still holding on hope for summer travel but things really need to start moving for that to be the case.

Friday we completed out psychological testing which is a new requirement.  What a day!!!  We left the house at 6:30 a.m. to travel an hour and a half for our appointment.  I gave us 30 extra minutes but we were still almost an hour late due to traffic.  The testing went ok.  Better than I expected it to be.  It took about 3 hours.  We wrapped up there and grabbed so lunch and headed off to our travel meeting which I was very fortunate that our agency scheduled on the same day as our Psych. test.  I was able to take one day off and kill two birds with one stone.  That went smoothing then we hit traffic :(  It took us about 5 hours to get home so we didn't roll into the house until almost 8:30 at night.

The good news is it is done.  One more step done and finished towards our little boy.  I have been doing ok with the wait lately, but what I wouldn't give for a new picture.  I bet he has changed so much.  He is almost 11 months old now and my last picture was at 8 months.

I-600 Approved

Today we got notification that our I-600 was approved.  Our I-600 classifies our new little guy as an immediate relative to us to allow him to enter the United Sates become a citizen once his visa is approved in Korea.  Very exciting to get the American side of the paperwork all done and complete.  

Next step this document is sent to Korea and we will hopefully get his exit permit approved in the next month or two then will be submitted to court.

The Roller coaster ride

Our process has been nothing short of a roller coaster ride lately. 

Good news, bad news, good news, bad news! One day we would end the day on a high of good news just to find out bad by morning.

So here is what has happened.  About a month or so ago the news of a tragedy broke (news article).  I was worried right away that there would be a delay or freeze of our adoption but it seemed some people were still getting court dates so we were all hopeful that things were still moving.  Come to find out the Ministry of Health and Welfare in fact did put exit permits on hold.

We were fortunate enough that we got submitted for our exit permit just days before the news of the tragedy broke (otherwise we would be even farther backed up).  It is hard knowing that things are on hold with no idea when things would begin to move again.  

This past Monday the agencies met with the Ministry and we were told things would start moving again.  Court dates followed and so we were hopeful that EPs would begin again to.  Finally today we saw the first EP approved in a very long time.  The people today who were approved were submitted in mid December.  

We are still waiting on news if the courts will require us to get a series of 5 psychological test before we travel or if they will pair it down to just one or two.  I do have an appointment but am hopeful that we will be able to have less test.  I have been told by multiple psychologist when calling around for the test that several of the test they are asking for are very outdated and not used anymore.  It will also be significantly less money if the test are narrowed down.  

So what does this mean for process?  Well it is still hard to know.  The average EP is approved about 2 months after being submitted so we were originally hopeful for around April 20th but we will see what happens after this hold.  I am at least glad things are moving again. 

Once we get EP approval we get submitted to court and then the next step is notification of our court date and we leave for Korea.....It is getting close and we can't wait for our little man to join our family. 

Submitted for Exit Permit

Our week has been a crazy one.  At the end of last week some families were told they would need full battery psychological testing done.  The Korean courts were going to require this before approvals.  We hoped it would not be true as it seemed the list of test they were asking us to have were not easy to find and were very costly but alas early this week we got the email from our agency and ask we get the test done ASAP.

It has been a stressful week.  More money shelled out having trying to find a psychologist and get an appointment and make arrangements for my daycare etc, but it ended AWESOME.

Yesterday I was luck enough to have all the daycare kids head home a little early so I rushed off to the YMCA so I could meet Jeff and Carrot at her swim lessons.  I miss this every week because I am still working.   I got home and checked my e-mail to see if we had gotten an appointment for the test and low and behold there was an e-mail from our agency.

We had been submitted for EP......A MONTH AGO on February 20th.  I couldn't believe it.  We were submitted only 1 month after referral and I had already been waiting for a month for EP approval and we didn't even know it.

This is pretty awesome news.  Generally EP approvals come in about 2 months but things have been a little slow lately.

So what is next for us.  Well we get EP approval and then are submitted to court and then our court date.  It all seems too good to be true.

If things stay on course (which they never do) we should for sure be there in the summer.  Hoping and praying this happens.

Legals Arrived!!!!

Our Legals arrived from Korea today and are being sent off to USCIS (U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services)

Legals are documents that come from Korea to our U.S. agency that transfer guardianship of our little guy to our U.S. agency.  

We waited about 7 weeks for legals.   The timing seems to vary quite a bit from just a week or two to a few months.  I am glad I can stop stalking my e-mail for a while.

Next we have to wait for our USCIS officer to process our I-600 form.  This form is for non-Hague countries and classifies an orphan that will be adopted by a U.S. citizen as an immediate relative to the petitioner so the child is allowed to enter the United States.

Celebrating first step complete and one step closer to our little guy!

Snow Day!

Yesterday we had a snow day but I ended up with no daycare kids so we had a fun day off and went sledding.  Might be our last time this season....I SURE HOPE SO.

Carrot and daddy in their camo

 John preparing for a snowy ride.

A Jeff and John run

Fun times!!!!  Have to enjoy our big kids activities before our little guys comes.