Gracie home sick

Grace has been home sick the past few days. She started out with a bad cough and fever last Wednesday. She seemed to be on the mend until Saturday night when she woke up with a high fever, (it had gone away) coughing, and throwing up. I took her to the pediatrician on Monday fully expecting to be told it was just a virus and continue doing what we've been doing....(hydrating, rest and Motrin). That has happened to me many times when Grace seemed much sicker than she is now. I thought MAYBE she would give us an antibiotic. I was completely shocked when she told me Grace has pneumonia. You would never know it looking at the kid, now. Like the pediatrician said, pneumonia can be very sneaky. Great news is the high dose of antibiotics has made her feel so much better already. She's bouncing off the walls today and is very stir crazy.

Needless to say, being stuck at home for days in the middle of winter can get old real fast. But, we're doing our best to keep busy...

We have played numerous board games. These are Grace's favs right now.

Coloring, crafts and baking are also keeping us busy.....

....and lots of doll playing.

She does tell me I'm not very good at the pretending part of this one. But , I do try. ;-)

Happy Birthday KJ!

Wishing the most wonderful husband and daddy a very Happy Birthday! I love you!
To celebrate, we had dinner last night at a local Japanese Steakhouse with some friends and family. Obviously, not the best picture of us but, the only we one we've got. Thanks to all who helped us celebrate. We had a blast!

Tonight, G and I made KJ his favorite dinner, pot roast and potatoes in the slow cooker. We then had a little celebration with just our family at home. Isn't the "cake" so creative? Ha!

Okay, Okay, I admit, with the busyness of the past few days, I forgot to make a cake. I didn't realize this until we were getting ready to sit down to dinner. So, G and I got creative and made do with what we had.

Our first Christmas celebration this year was at Uncle M and Aunt A's on the Saturday before Christmas.



On Christmas Eve, we went up to Schaumburg to celebrate with Grammy, Aunt L and Uncle M. and cousins, of course. We had a a great time and enjoyed the night. After dinner and gifts, we had to hurry home to put out treats for the big guy in the red suit.

We had plans to make it up to Michigan to spend the weekend after Christmas with Baba and Grandma. But, the weather had other plans for us. We hope to get up there for a long weekend sometime in January. We miss them!

New Years Eve was fun as always; a night over at the neighbors, filled with family and friends and fun.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Years!

Final Meeting in our Home

Our SW came over on, Tuesday 12.22. , to complete our final homestudy meeting. It went very well. She stayed for about 3 hours. The time seemed to fly by while we were talking, answering questions, and walking through the house.

The meeting started off with a short "Q & A" between G and our SW. K and I left the room so they could talk privately. When we returned, our SW recapped a few things for us. They discussed how Korea and America were on opposites ends of the ocean; how her little brother is going to look different than her; and how things around here may be a little a different when he comes home. G mentioned to SW that we've discussed this mostly through reading books...her favorite being Katie -Bo by Iris L. Fisher. I think she enjoys reading this one the most because it's very age appropriate. Our SW said the best thing G said to her was "I pray real hard every night for my baby brother to come home soon". ....smiling big smiles right now.

The rest of the meeting was fairly simple. We answered a good amount of basic questions (about our home and how we will provide basic care and needs for a new child) for DCFS licensing. We then went over the 'Child Acceptance List'.

We are so happy the homestudy is complete. I will be even more excited when it has been submitted and we are DCFS approved. Our SW told us she will start putting it together but, won’t submit anything until we are closer to #10 on the list.

We are guessing we are someone in the teens right now but, really can’t be sure. It will definitely be exciting to hear from her when we are at #10.

We did touch a little on timing with her. She mentioned most families have been getting referrals right around the 12 month of waiting mark. Although, I have been following other families on the Yahoo group and kind of already knew this, it was nice to hear her thoughts.

We think this was a great way to complete our adoption journey steps in 2009 and can’t wait for the changes, excitement, and blessings 2010 will bring!

Our Princess is 5!

G turned 5 on Sunday! I can't believe we have a 5 year old, sounds crazy to me. 5 years went way too fast! She had a great birthday weekend. Friday -- I brought cookies to her class and read a story while she wore the birthday crown. Saturday--- she had a party at gymnastics with her friends. Sunday --- we had some family over to sing and blow out candles. .


Happy Birthday, sweet princess!

Quick Update

Once again, we had a wonderful Thanksgiving here at our house with family. K cooked a yummy turkey to go along with all the usual sides. We had 13 at our table this year and we really enjoyed ourselves. The star of the day was our new nephew little S. G was so intrigued by him. She followed M and A around and wanted to watch his every move. After dinner, a few of us played Yahtzee while the others watched a movie. It was a great day. So much to be thankful for!!!

Some goings on with the adoption..... Our referral letters were sent out right after our last meeting with our SW. We've heard from all our friends that we choose to be referrals. We are so grateful and thankful to them for filling out the questionnaire and being a part of this journey with us! Thank you!

When we last met with our SW, she mentioned that LL was expecting a few more referrals before the end of the year. I am happy to say, she was correct. Since our last meeting, I know (through emails posted on a LL message board) that a few families have been matched with their children.

It brings such a feeling of joy when I read that another family has a received a referral. I can't help but smile and even tear up thinking about the excitement they must feel....such a blessing for each family.

Homestudy Meeting

We had our final combined interview for our Homestudy with our SW today. We started out the meeting with some questions we had.
Most specifically, we asked her what she thought about the number of EPs (travel documents) that are issued each year and how this will effect future waiting families. EPs or Emigration Permits are issued by the Korean Gov't and gives a child permission to leave the country. Once a family receives a referral they must complete a few other documents and wait for EP before bringing their child home. There are some LL families who received referrals in the first part of 2009 but, will not be able to bring their children home until after the new year. This is because the allotted number of EPs for this year have been given out. I asked her how she thought this "catch up" next year will effect other waiting families. She told me, although, this is unusual, she does think (of course, she can't be certain) that this will work itself out and not significantly increase wait times. I asked her if she thought this would push our time frame out; if it would be more realistic to expect to travel in 2011, rather than late 2010? She told us they are expecting more referrals this year and we shouldn't jump the gun and change our waiting expectations. She asked that we try and be patient and see how the "catch up" works out at the beginning of the year. I did like that answer, it made me feel a little more at ease ;-)....let the process just progress and work itself out.

After we got our questions answered, the meeting seemed to go really well. I think we are more comfortable with our SW and the whole process. The questions and answers seemed to flow easily. She asked about our marriage, our parenting style, our thoughts on birth parent searches, our feelings toward the birth mother, how we do/will discuss adoption in our home.

We also did a quick paperwork review and she thinks we have ALL of our paperwork complete and turned in. Yeah! Next, our SW will come to our home for the final step in the Homestudy process. At this time, she will talk with G and take a look at our home. We are looking forward to completing this final step.
G seems to be doing a great job of understanding adoption (as much as a 4 year old can). The hardest thing for her to understand is the WHEN. WHEN is my little brother coming home? Will it be when I'm in Kindergarten? How come you don't know? It's so interesting to watch a 4 year old try to conceptualize how he is going to get here and where he is coming from. She doesn't seem the least bit concerned with this. She just wants to have her baby brother here to play with, now! I do think she understands more than most people would expect.....and her excitement is just PRICELESS.