Care Package

 
After reading another couple's blog about their care package to their little guy, I got on the phone and asked our social worker if she knew of anyone traveling to Korea that wouldn't mind taking a little package with them. She gave me the name and number of a couple that is waiting for their travel call any day now. It is their second trip to Korea for their second son. They said they'd be happy to take it for us. It is so very nice of them to take it with them. I hope we can do the same for someone when it is our turn. So as you can see from the picture I put together a little photo album and got him a little blankie. (The jellybeans are for his foster family).
While I was talking to our social worker she gave me some surprising news. Our legal paperwork came today! A whole week earlier than she predicted! Which is FAN-TASTIC!! So she sent them on to DCFS and we'll wait to hear from them in the next 2-3 weeks. We're overjoyed that our first step took a shorter amount of time than expected, I hate to get my hopes up that the rest of the process will be quicker than we except too. But maybe....just maybe!!

Happy 1/2 Birthday, Junior!!

No, we're not naming him after Sean. I'm just trying out some new nicknames. His first 1/2 birthday is tomorrow! I doubt he'll be celebrating (since in Korea it is your first birthday that is a huge celebration), so we've decided to celebrate for him! Cydney picked out a cake mix she thought he'd probably like. It'll be fun to have a reason to celebrate him!
I don't really have any news as far as our paperwork goes. Our acceptance paperwork was delayed a couple of days getting to Korea (postal service....grumble grumble), but that shouldn't slow us down. We'll hopefully be getting our "legals" from Korea in the next 3 or 4 weeks. But who can think about paperwork when it's time to party?!?!?!?

Control Issues

I guess you can say we have "officially" accepted our son. We sent off all the paperwork to our social worker on Tuesday. It will then be sent to South Korea on Friday. I had a feeling that I didn't expect when I sent it off, sadness. Back to waiting. Only now waiting with a picture I've already come to love. I saw this coming, but not this soon. Having the paperwork to do was something that made me feel like I had some control in bringing him home. Focusing on the next step helps. For us it is to wait for our "legals" from South Korea. That will probably take about 4 weeks. During our 3-6 month wait the governments (his and ours) will be working to issue a visa for him and a passport.

I'm sure it will go faster than I'm anticipating. We have a lot we need to do before he comes. We need to finish his room, buy thank you gifts for people in Korea, get him some clothes, pick out his name.... I've been trying out a few names just to see what seems to fit him. I've been confusing Sean a lot, he says "who?" :-)

They say time flies when you're having fun....then I plan to have A LOT of fun this fall!!

We have a SON!!!

We got "the call" yesterday! We met with our social worker today to confirm our referral. Here is what we know about him. His Korean name is Jee Han (Gee Hon) Kim. He was born in Seoul on February 23, 2008. He weighed about 6 pounds. He gets excited when he sees his bottle. He's soothed by being patted. He likes to have his legs massaged when he gets his diaper changed. He drools and can roll from one side to the other. He likes to shout when he's happy!
Here are the three pictures we have of him. The first is him at 5 months, the next one is him with his foster mom, and the last one is his newborn picture.

It looks like if all the paperwork goes well we will pick him up in November or December. Just maybe in time for Christmas!!! Our social worker did have some news to be weary of, though. Korea only issues so many passports for orphans a year. If they meet their quota then we may have to wait until next year. But there are fewer referrals this year, so who knows. I only say it because I'm trying to prepare myself in case it should happen. Just thought you might like to be prepared too. That was the only slightly discouraging news she gave us.

Cydney is very excited. She's been studying his picture and telling everyone she's going to be a big sister. I'm not sure she totally has the concept of it yet, but she seems to understand more each time we talk about it.

We are over the moon with excitement! When our social worker called, she asked if I wanted her to fax the information to me. Well, yeah!! I tell you, a fax machine has never worked sooo slowly. :-) But once I saw that little face he became so very real.

There was a quote from Elizabeth Barret Browning on another couple's blog (Rachel & Josh's...for those of you who would know) that I thought is so very true. "God's gifts put man's best dreams to shame."

Moving on UP!!

Lifelink just updated their website today. (They post how many referrals they've received and how many children have arrived home to date). In July so far, they've received FOUR referrals for boys!! According to my calculations (again) that would put us at #3 on the list!! Three is my new favorite number! It is such a nice small number. Perhaps this should be a lesson to me to never doubt your social worker (see previous post).

Another word for Waiting....Anticipating

I can't believe that it has been one month since my last post. Time seems to fly in all other aspects of our life than in the adoption part. :-) According to my calculations we are now 7th on the adoption waiting list for our agency's South Korea program. They only received one male referral in June, according to their website. At this rate I'm finding it hard to believe that we will have a referral by the end of summer, but that must mean that our little guy just isn't ready yet. Our social worker swears she doesn't have a crystal ball. Although, I think it should come with their profession. :-)

We've been doing a few things here and there to get ready. I dusted off the 50,000 Baby Names book. You'd think we'd be able to find a name in there! We most likely won't have a name for him until we see him. Right now we just call him Baby Brother or our Little Guy.

Yesterday Cydney and I went and picked out fabric for his quilt. I made one for Cydney when she was born and want to carry on that tradition. I found a nice pattern for an airplane quilt. Since it will be an airplane that inevitably brings him home, I was drawn to it.

When shopping the other day I found a cute pair of little shoes. Buying them made the whole idea of him a little more real. So there they sit on the kitchen counter, I can't bring myself to put them away yet. They're a nice symbol that he WILL be home someday to wear them.

A little Q & A

What....to...talk...about???? (tapping on head) I've had writer's block for at least a week now. Don't think I've forgotten to write.... I'm constantly thinking about it. I just figure you're not interested in what I had for lunch that day. :-) Here are few questions that have come up when we were visiting with family and friends recently. Question: How old will our little guy be when we bring him home? Answer: He will be about 5 months old when we get the referral (because of South Korea's new law, the child has to be up for domestic adoption for 5 months before being placed on an international list). Then it will be 3-6 months of paperwork until we bring him home, so he'll be 9-12months old. Next Question: How long will we have to stay in Korea when we go? Answer: We have to be there for 4-5 business days. With South Korea there is an option for having him escorted over here, but we want to be able to see his country and document as much of it for him and to learn a little more about his heritage. Cydney will have her birth story. We want to give him a good story as well. Next Question: Will Cydney go with you? Answer: Most likely, no. The jury (me) is still having a hard time with this decision. But life will be easier if she doesn't go (for both her and us...see next question). Question: How long will your flight be? Answer: We've heard up to 18 hours, but the handy dandy travelocity website tells me it'll be about 14 hours. Who knows, let's just say it'll be a loooong flight. But on the way back it'll give us a lot of good "bonding" time with our little guy. He'll be placed in our care the day before we leave. His biological mother can reclaim him at any point until we step foot on a plane. It doesn't happen very often, but I think it'll be hard not to look over our shoulders while we're waiting to board.
Thank you again for reading and checking our blog. We feel your support and feel so very blessed by it. And as always if you have any questions....PLEASE let us know...it definitely helps my writer's block!