"WON" more thing off the checklist....

 
Thank you for any sympathy laughs on my little joke there. The currency used in South Korea is called WON. I ordered some through our bank to have in case of emergency when we step off the plane. It is also customary to give a donation to the adoption agency over there, so I thought I could go ahead and put our donation in a card (one less thing to take care of while we're there). I really find the money to be so pretty. I especially like the 5000 bill. It obviously isn't dollar for dollar. If it was #1) I wouldn't have this much #2) it wouldn't be on my kitchen counter & #3) seriously, what kind of emergencies would I be expecting?? What you're looking at here is about $24.

Sean's work had a surprise baby shower for him a few days ago. I'm sorry I don't have a picture of all the wonderful gifts we received. It was a book themed shower, which we absolutely loved! We'll be reading new books before bed for a long time to come! They were very generous and thoughtful!

Still no news. According to information from another fellow blogger's blog (), the South Korean government only issues emigration permissions in batches once every 4-6 weeks. Apparently the last time they issued them was September 23rd. So that would put us at receiving our EP this next week at the earliest. Of course, she said this is all conjecture, but you know what? That's all we've got right now. So I say, conjecture away!!

Whoever said....

"No news is good news," apparently was not involved in the adoption world. As of this morning our P3 packet hasn't been returned to the Embassy. Our agency needs our little guy's emigration permission before they can turn the packet back in, so I'm wondering if that possibly could be the wait. Of course, I'm wondering a lot of things lately.

This blog entry wasn't to complain about not hearing anything (although, since I was here...). It was to show you the thoughtful gifts we received last night at our baby shower. My office threw my coworker (who is due in November) and I a shower last night. I got to wear my "Pregnant on Paper" shirt. I felt a little guilty that I was making it all about me, so I made buttons for Cydney and Sean to wear as well.
Mandy and I felt a little sheepish getting a baby shower since this is both of our second children, but they insisted. And as you can see they were all very generous. We had a very nice time.

We're keeping ourselves busy. This happens to be a very busy week and so hopefully it will fly by and we'll know some more information by the end of it. He NEEDS to come home soon. Just look....we've added him to our van window family. Now he HAS to come to stop our false advertising!! :-)

Still moving forward....

Although at a slightly slower pace now. It took the full two weeks for our visa paperwork to be received at the US Embassy in Korea. I checked last week to see if it had been received a couple of times. At one point a visa specialist at the State Department said, "Why don't you try back in a couple of weeks?" I politely thanked her for her time, but was thinking "Whatever, lady, I'm calling back tomorrow!". Luckily I've gotten someone different every time I call (all of whom are very friendly), but they've probably marked our file as "a little crazy."

A P3 packet has been sent to Eastern (our agency over there) and when it is returned back to the embassy, a visa interview will be set up at that point. I guess I missed this step in my reading through the timeline information. Once he has had his interview it will be about a week or so before we get the travel call.

We're still plugging away on our list. We've managed to cross off a few things. We've been organizing things with our human resource departments. I was sad to learn last week that I will not be getting a normal "maternity" leave (shaking my fist at the state). The person I'd spoken to before in HR was mistaken. But Sean and I have a lot of sick time and vacation accrued, so between the two of us we should hopefully be able to keep our little guy at home until January at which point I'll go to working nights part time and be at home during the day with our kiddos (I like saying that). Another preparatory task that we'll be doing is going to vote next Saturday! Since we just can't be sure we'll be in the country come election day we wanted to make sure we got to have our say. :-)

So.....stay tuned for some more info in the coming weeks. It'll probably be a week before we know anything more. Unless I can't help myself and start calling again and actually get some information before then. Let's hope!!

It is Outta Here!!

O.k. So I know I wasn't supposed to contact the National Visa Center until two weeks after we got our letter and I was going to make myself wait at least a week before contacting them, but self control has never been my strong point. But it looks like it is my strong point today! I called the NVC and they said our paperwork had been sent to Korea yesterday!! Woohoo!!

Now we contact the State Department and they track the progress of the visa in Korea. For instance, when Jee Han has gone for his visa interview. This is an interview I'd like to see. Picture it if you will:
Visa worker: "So will your trip be business or pleasure?"
Little Guy: Blink...blink
Visa worker: "Will anyone be traveling with you?"
Little Guy: Looks at the little frog we sent him
Visa worker: "Is this your first trip to the US?"
Little Guy: Starts eating paperwork

So as usual we'll keep you up to date on anything we find out. We're still plugging away on our list of things to do. I started his quilt last week. Please don't go back and look to see when Cydney and I picked out the fabric. I know....procrastination.

Keep 'em comin' !!

What a week! We just got our letter from the USCIS yesterday saying they'd approved us and were sending our paperwork on to the National Visa Center (NVC)!! I guess when they said 2 - 3 weeks they meant 2 - 3 DAYS!! Woohoo!! So I called our social worker and she said to wait 2 weeks and then I can start calling to check on our visa status and see when our visa is cabled to the US Embassy in Seoul. I'll give it a week and then I think I won't be able to help myself and will start calling. :-)

This slight jump in the timeline has given us the jolt that we very much needed. We are now in operation "baby arrival" mode and have started doing the things we should have been doing these past 9 months while we've been waiting. I've made a list and am looking forward to checking things off of it. One of the items is to narrow our name selection down to 5 possible names. We won't name our little guy until we meet him, but with Cydney we had narrowed it down and it sure made it easier.

Our social worker says it all depends on how fast South Korea is processing their side of the paperwork, but to still kind of plan on traveling in November. So who knows!!

DCFS has spoken....

and it is good. We have been approved by the state to adopt. They have now sent our paperwork on to the USCIS. It will be 2-3 weeks for them to approve us.
I didn't realize but I guess I kept some of you on the edge of your chairs from the last post. We successfully got our paperwork signed and to the FedEx place with 10 minutes to spare. I spoke to the director of our program the next day and she assured me that it would NOT slow or paperwork down on the Korean side. Phew!!
We still have our fingers/toes/legs crossed for a travel call in November.

Two steps forward, One step back

We got word today that part of our paperwork was lost in transit to Korea. I heard a hesitation in our social worker's voice when I asked if this was going to slow us down. So...we need to get it filled out immediately! For those of you tapped into our personal life, know that Sean's show goes up tomorrow night and getting the two of us and a notary in the same room tonight is going to be a challenge. But we MUST PREVAIL!! (that sound you just heard was me donning my cape and putting my hands on my hips)To the kid mobile!