Pouting a bit today....

So, as of right now I no longer look forward to updates from the Director of Adoption at LL.....(yes I'm pouting a bit right now and may be for a few days). I'm glad they do keep us updated but, I'm getting a little burned out with the bad news.

We got an update today as to the status of EPs (Emigration Permissions) for this year. Eastern's quota for EPs will run out earlier this year than last year. This means families who receive referrals after April 1st will not be able to travel to pick up their children until after Feb 2011. So, if we receive our referral in the next few months, our son will not be able to come home for at least another year. Right now, I'm just trying to wrap my head around bringing home a toddler rather than the 10 month old baby I was thinking would come home when we started this process a year ago. I know it will all work itself out and this is not a terrible thing but, jimminy crickets....this whole process and wait is brutal sometimes.

The letter did also note that Eastern has met with Gov't officials and they are doing everything they can to address this issue. I do understand the push for domestic adoption in Korea but, I do not understand the "punishment" for not doing so. It basically seems like the Korean Gov't is punishing Eastern for not increasing domestic adoptions by not letting them send babies home to their forever families. That is really hard for me to understand. It just doesn't make sense.

May 9th, the day I was born

Happy Mother's Day to all moms and moms to be, especially my mommy and mother - in - law/ step mother - in - law. I am so lucky to have such wonderful mentors and special people in my life.

This year my birthday happened to fall on Mother's Day. It's not very often that May 9th does fall on the second Sunday of the month but, I do know it did this year and thirty (clearing throat) years ago, on the day I was born.

While thinking today about what a special day that must have been for my mom, having her first child born on mother's day, I also started thinking about what a gift being a mother is. It's the gift of being able to give unconditional love to an amazing little person. I am so blessed and thankful to God to be Gracie's Mommy and I can't wait to share this love with the little boy I know is waiting for us in Korea.

Number update...

We have been emailing back and forth with our SW to get a few things updated on our HomeStudy. In the last email I sent her on Friday, I went ahead and asked if she could give us an update as to our spot on the waiting list.
She sent me a reply this morning letting us know we are #5 ! (such a great number)
I knew we had moved up one or two spots since our last # update from her but, didn't think 4 or 5 spots. Good news!~

Our 1st Korean Dining Experience

I know....right?!? You can't believe we haven't been out to a Korean restaurant yet but, that's correct. Last night was our first experience and it was wonderful! The food, Korean wine, Soju and most importantly, the company, were excellent. We met up with a couple that we met through our Agency. They are very close to us on the waiting list. It was so great to talk about the process so far and just get to know them better.
Thank you Rick and Patti for making the night so memorable. The food was delicious....I can't wait to go out again or even try some cooking at home on my own. We are looking forward to doing it again sometime soon.....crossing fingers that the next time you will have a picture of a sweet little boy to share with us.

Couple Adoption Updates

** We received a letter in the mail on Friday detailing the merger. LL will be merging with Lutheran Child and Family Services. The letter specifically states "We do not expect to have any delays or disruptions in our placements". I called our SW just to confirm a few things. Most importantly, she confirmed LCFS does not currently have any adoption programs. She agreed and added that this is good news; as the current Korean program will not change and our spot on the list will remain.

**Our HomeStudy has been approved by DCFS and our 1st Endorsement Letter has been sent to our SW. Now that this approval has been given,we can go ahead and submit our I600a --(Application for Advance Processing of Orphan Petition)

**I600a completed and sent to SW yesterday.

***I just love checking off steps in the process**** :)

Gracie Started Soccer

Gracie started soccer this year. The games are on Saturday mornings....so cute and so fun. At this age, the kids all cluster around the ball and try their hardest just to get a kick in. She loves it and it is so much fun to watch too.

1 Year of Waiting

Tomorrow marks our 1 YEAR anniversary on LL’s Korean Waiting list. We are currently #8 on the list….. which we are very happy about. If you would've asked me last year at this time where I’d thought we’d be; I would have told you much closer to #1. When we got on the list, waiting time to Referral was about 12 months and waiting time from Referral to Travel Call was 3-4 months. You may or may not recall, that babies in Korea are available for international adoption at 5 months of age (referrals are given to families when babies are 5 months old). So last year at this time, babies were coming home around 8 or 9 months of age. In the past year, the wait time from Referral to Travel call has significantly increased. Referrals are still given to families at 5 months but, the wait time until travel call has increased to 7-9months. This means babies are coming at about 13 – 14 months old.
I would be lying if I didn't say at times the wait really bothers me, and the idea of missing major milestones in our son's life makes me sad, and bringing home an older baby scares me a bit. But, most of the time, I'm okay with everything. It will all work itself out. We also now have all the uncertainty about how LL’s merger is going to affect of all this. We should know more about this by the end of the month. I’m hoping for positive news and not much change to the program….let’s all pray and keep our fingers crossed.