Gracie's last day of Preschool

Grace's last day of preschool was on Wednesday. Her class ended the year with a picnic outside across from her school. Although, it was a VERY hot day, the kids had a wonderful time saying goodbye and talking of school next year. Grace is officially a Kindergartner and has awoken the past two days asking when Kindergarten starts. :) She's such a big girl and I just love her excitement for school (we'll see how many years that lasts... ;-) )

Here's a picture on her 1st day of preschool in August of 2008...and I just remembered I started this blog right around that time. Here's a 1st day of preschool post....

And here are her class pics from this year. Same sweet smile, just a little bit older.

Love you sweet princess!

Done Pouting

All done pouting and feeling much better. :) Thanks to all our friends and family who encouraged, advised, and just listened. I love you all!

I am now much more comfortable with things. I think I just needed a few days for this to sink in. We know now that we just have to prepare differently for our son. The adjustment and attachment process is going to be different than I was thinking but, it's going to be okay. The timing of most steps in this process are completely out of our control. We just have to go with it and hope and pray for more EP allotments early in 2011.

As for a referral...we are hoping it's soon! I talked with our SW on Friday ( who was also instrumental in making me take that deep breath and realize it's all going to work out the way it's supposed to ) and she informed us we are now #4 on the list!!

Palms Springs, CA

I got to tag along with KJ on his last business trip to Palm Springs, CA. My super, wonderful mom took a few days off work to come and stay with Gracie. She's the best.

The trip was wonderful and consisted of laying by the pool, reading, going out to fantastic dinners and some time at the spa.

This was my first trip to the desert and oh, I loved it. It was about 98 degrees, sunny and no humidity.

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.