Anderson

Let me tell you a little about Anderson, my youngest. He is 16 months old, and definately was not born early like his big brother! Anderson was 8lbs. 6oz., born at 39 weeks via c-sec. Big boy - imagine if I had gone another week!!! He is just a sweet little boy. He is definately a mamma's boy, too. He loves his big brother Jack and his daddy, too.

Anderson's favorite words are Mamma and Cacker (cracker). lol. He reminds me alot of Jack at this age, but I think he is more shy. Jack was a bit more independant. Lately he has a little temper, which is kinda funny, yet kinda worrysome. (already??) He cackles when he laughs and it is hilarious! Here are some pictures of my second little sweetie!

Wordless Wednesday

My South Korean tshirt - notice the heart where Seoul is. :)

God's timing

God's timing is PERFECT. That is my mantra for this adoption.
Ecclesiastes 3:11 He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end. (NIV)

I know "our" Leah will come to us in His perfect timing. The waiting is so hard - unbelievable hard when I have my whole heart vested in this. I can imagine it will get harder as time goes on. To love someone you have never even "felt" growing inside is amazing - truly shows the beauty of love.

Thanks for all your sweet replies to my whining yesterday - I really needed it!!

Homestudy hold up

I am so sad. Our home visit which was supposed to be in 2 days has been put off for another 2 weeks because our social worker's sister in law just passed away and they are going out of state for her funeral for a week, and next week she is all backed up. I feel for her and her family for their loss, but at the same time I am so frustrated this homestudy is taking sooooo long. We have been at this for 3 months now. I can't get fingerprinted by the FBI until we get this homestudy to USCIS. Then we still have to wait for those to come back to them before our paperwork can be sent to Korea. I feel like we are never going to get our little girl. :(
I am very very upset. I see so many homestudies finishing up so fast. Why does mine have to be taking so long??? The holidays messed it up first, now this. Sigh.

Jack

I thought I would tell a little about my 4 year old, Jack Ross today!

Jack is my buddy. He is just the sweetest little boy. Very very energetic and funny, too. Jack was born 4 weeks early with underdeveloped lungs. He was 6lbs.4oz and spent 2 looong weeks in the NICU. The first time I saw him he had tubes all around him and he was on the ventilator. Poor little fella. I had a c-sec and they would not let me leave my room until the following day, so I spent the first 12 hrs. after he was born crying. (He was in the NICU by the time I had left surgery) The whole experience scared me to death, but he came home healthy and has always been a little fighter. We are very thankful for our Jack.

Jack loves dinosaurs and bugs. Dinosaurs the most! He goes to preschool two mornings a week and does really well there. He was recently a shepherd in the Christmas pagent at school and ran out to us in the audience halfway thru the play. lol. He has lots of funny little sayings and is just a joy to us. Here a a few pics! :)

Crazy crazy

Alrighty, I am way behind on my blog. We just got back from our visit from Georgia and now I am feverishly trying to unpack the mounds and mounds of suitcases, bottles, gifts and diapers. Plus I am trying to get ready for the homevisit on Thursday. So, I owe everyone a super great blog about our Christmas complete with pictures, but it may be awhile before I can manage that. Must go unpack. And where to put all the new toys?? Must also clean out a closet......
Hopefully tonight after the kiddos go to sleep I can catch up because I see lots of new blog entries from you all I want to read!!

Christmas with my family

We are visiting my Mom and sister in Georgia and having a wonderful time! I am tired , tired, tired though. We drove down late last night so the kids would sleep most of the way, got in at 2am and Jack and Anderson were so excited it took me until 3 to get them back to sleep. Then the little stinkers woke up at their usual early time. But, at least we did not have to endure much screaming from Anderson who does not like to be in his car seat for very long.
We went to visit my Dad and Grandma today. My Grandma has Alzheimers, but it was so good to see her. I am saddened by the illness she suffers. It has to be one of the most tragic things to watch a loved one endure. She does not know who I am anymore, but still knows who my Dad is. At least we have that.
Tomorrow we have Christmas Eve with my extended family. It will be so good to see them all.
So, if I don't get back on here before Christmas, Merry Christmas everyone! May you all be blessed this year.
I can't help but think about what next Christmas will bring for my family. Much joy and anticipation, I imagine!

State fingerprints

Yea our state fingerprints came back to the agency and look great. I was worried we would have to re-print because they were taking so long to get back to our social worker. One more little check for my list of things not to worry about. So our home visit will hopefully be next Thursday.
We are snowed in - I have some great pictures to share but have to get them downloaded onto this computer - more on that later!
I have to get Jack checked out by our pediatrician tomorrow - the checkups I had done back in the summer for them are too old now to use. This is crazy how all this is falling right around Christmas. I sure did not plan this well. This has been the craziest holiday ever!!!

How it went

Our second meeting went super - whew! She only asked us to clarify a few things from our autobiography. She was really nice and in a great mood. It did help that when she told us about her grandkids Daniel looked shocked and told her there was no way she could be a grandma. (and she does look really young!) Then I brought her homemade chocolate chip cookies. We buttered her up, alright!
She did not ask us any hard questions. Nothing about how we are incorporating Korean heritage into our lives or anything. I guess we answered her questions in our autobiography. I told her about how Jack and I watch Pororo on youtube, and she thought that was great, and said it would probably be reasuring to our Korean child to hear the langueage like that. :) And the home visit is in two weeks. Normally would be next week, but with Christmas things are moving more slowly. Oh and our fingerprints are still not back to her. I don't know what that is about. They should have been in her hands weeks ago. ??? I hope they don't need us to re-print or anything.
Then we had our LAST adoption required parenting class. By the end of the night Daniel and I were spent. Adoption overload, lol. It feels good to have the required classes under our belts. The head of the agency led our classes and when she left she told us to bring our babies by to visit her when we get home. (the only other time we will go to the agency is when we get our referral). Me and the other adoptive mom looked at her shocked. It was kinda like we were surprised someone was acknowledging we would actually be parenting a Korean baby. The other mom said "wow, you make it sound like it will be tomorrow!" The head agency lady laughed and said it feels like it will be an eternity now until we have our babies but it will happen. It just felt GOOD. :)
I now do have a different outlook on the whole homestudy. I am kinda seeing that they do want to approve adoptive couples, and are just on the lookout for red flags. I don't know why I was so nervous. One more visit to go then look out USCIS. I will be annoying you......

Second homestudy

Today we have our second homestudy visit. (finally) I am so nervous because I do not like being interviewed! I am afraid I will answer her questions all wrong. At the first visit on her question as to why I want to adopt internationally, I just teared up and could not even answer. Ugh. I think I have better answers today, and will try to just pretend she is a friend who does not hold the power of me getting to adopt in her hands. I know she is going to ask us how we have been incorporating more culture into our lives, as at the first meeting she told us we need to work on that. So we have been reading, watching Pororo (lol) and talking to Jack alot about Korea. I hope this all counts - no Korean festivals or markets around here to go to. So wish me calm nerves!!! They told me from the second meeting to the final home visit goes fast, so I am hoping she will come next Tues. for the final home visit. I want to get that done with. Oh and someone is cleaning our house Monday - perfect timing. (and a Merry Christmas to me!) I have someone clean our house about once every 6 weeks and it is heaven - i totally give up spending money for this luxery. I highly recommend! I guess some girls spa - i do this!
Wow I am wordy today. Then, after our second homestudy visit, we have our final education meeting. Long day! I am worried about leaving Anderson for so long, too because he is running a fever. Poor thing. But I can't reschedule anything, so hopefully a dose of motrin will help the little fella. I think he must have a virus. :(
I, of course, will tell you all about how it goes tomorrow.
Oh, and to Elizabeth, Olive's mommy, I am on pins and needles for a little more info. lol. thanks.
Happy Thursday friends!

A Monday

Well today was definately a Monday. Daniel tried to leave for work this morning to find that both our cars were broken into overnight and his GPS and some other valuables were taken. Well, actually we forgot to lock our cars, which we usually do, so they were just opened, no broken glass or anything. Nothing was gone from my car. I guess the crook was not interest in my two cowmooflage car seats. (whew) Our neighbors car doors were wide open, too. Bummer!! We are going to install a floodlight to turn on when motion is detected for out there - no garage.

On to happier notes, Jack and I made Christmas cookies and had lots of fun. Anderson napped thru the festivities, poor guy.

OH, and comment moderation is now permanently on, so if your comment does not immediately show up, it will. (unless you comment in another rambling language which i do not understand and am worried about what it says) - anyone know how to erase a comment?

These pictures were taken right before we figured our cars were broken into, and Anderson was going to get to help with the cookies, but then got to sleepy after we sorted thru everything....lol and yes, it was pillsbury all the way!!!

I-797C

Wow - First official piece of mail from the US Gov't today - our I-797C, Notice of Action. We do not have our fingerinting appt. yet, as they still have to receive our homestudy, but it says that is the next step. WOO-HOO. I was worried our i-600A did not get to the offices.
We have our second homestudy meeting set up for this week, and I am hoping she will do the third in-home visit right after Christmas so we can get this going.
I am just so excited for an official piece of mail from the Gov't saying they are aware we are adopting. Happy dance, happy dance.!!!

Second education meeting

Last night we had our second education meeting. Just one more to go next week - one more thing to check off on the long list of becoming adoptive parents, right? :)

It went really well. They actually had an adoptive mom come in to speak to us with her little 3 year old daughter adopted from China. ummmm....not really sure what she said. I pretty much was mesmerized by this beautiful little girl. I do know they adopted her with a hole in her heart that she had fixed about 3 months ago. So they went special needs. It was really neat to hear her story. ( I guess I must have listened!) And the best part - her name was Mia.

Copying a post from a few weeks back here in case you missed my first "Mia" encounter:
Blessings in store....


COOL NIGHT, Huh? :)

Thanks

For all your responses to my whiny post yesterday. They made me feel better! We started out with China, so that may be why I feel like my homestudy is taking long. I feel like I have been paperchasing for awhile......
But on to great news - CONGRATS to my bloggy friend Kelly on her referral of a beautiful baby boy they have named Max.
This is my first referral of a bloggy friend I have actually known before the referral, and I am so excited to get to hear all about it!! How's that for a Christmas present to remember?
And my other bloggy friend, Elizabeth is hosting an auction for an adorable Loopy from Pororo the Penguin. Go visit her and bid to benefit her Tenth Life for Kitties foundation. Pororo the peguin is an adorable Korean cartoon that is very popular in Korea.http://saintlouisfricks.blogspot.com/2009/12/loopy-auction.html

Yea for bloggy friends. :)

Second homestudy meeting

It is taking forever (or so i think) for us to have our second homestudy meeting. We had our first one almost 2 months ago. I did not realize our social worker had to have all our background checks in to interview us for our second meeting. (and I have checked around, it seems most social workers will do the second homestudy meeting without all this.) When I realized it about 3 weeks ago I rushed around getting them all in. But our social worker still does not have them all back yet. gRRRR..... She thinks she should have them this week - I hope so! If she gets them we can set up our meeting for next week. I just want this homestudy over with so we can keep things moving. Hurry up background checks, hurry up!!!
This feels like the longest homestudy ever.....
Someone tell me I am over-reacting and yours took longer....

Busy weekend

Oh my I worked myself into a tizzy all weekend. Moving rooms around, Christmas decorations, and cleaning out our disgusting disgusting basement laundry area. I am happy to announce, that, despite seriously pulling a muscle in my back, my house looks great, I have Christmas decorations up and I can now do laundry in a much cleaner environment.
We moved Daniel's office to our apartment in the basement because his friend that was renting it from us moved cities. So, now I get a whole room for the boys to play in. And my sunroom is now free of toys. I know some pictures would be great but that is what I want for Christmas, my own camera. Daniel uses our digital for his job. But, I am going to snag it from him later today to hopefully show some pics of our house. I got some cute car artwork at Target yesterday and put it up in my new playroom (which will be Jack and Anderson's bedroom when Leah comes home.)
I am so tired from the weekend!! But now I am so proud of my house. I only have one closet to clean out before the homestudy. whew......
What did you do this weekend?
P.s. - I feel so bad for the boys because they basically had to watch us clean and organize all weekend. I am taking them to see Santa today and to ride the Christmas train!

Dreams

Well last night we had our first adoption education meeting and it went really well. Honestly, I already knew much of what was spoken about, but we met another couple adopting from South Korea and that was awesome. They are a few months ahead of us in the process and were so nice. They have a 5 year old daughter they adopted from Russia. Another couple was adopting domestically.
Being an adoptee myself, I kinda felt like last night was a therapy session for me. It was reassuring to hear the director explain about how our adoptive child will feel and I felt myself thinking, yep, right on. That is exactly how I feel. Of course, international adoption will bring some different feelings out but some of it will be exactly the same. I think it is so neat that I will be able to share that bond with Leah, and really understand how she feels, at least in part. I think my being adopted is why my heart has always wanted to adopt.
Now onto my dreams. They are very vivid and always about adoption. Last night I was actually in Seoul, holding a little Korean baby boy walking into the place where I would meet his foster mom. It was so REAL. The little boy was tiny and squirmy and oh so cute. Odd it was a little boy, eh? I remember thinking in my dream "this is so awesome." Almost every other night since we started this adoption I have dreams involving it. How about you? When you were in the adoption process, (or now if you are like me) did you have dreams about your future child all the time? I remember when I was pregnant with the boys, many of my dreams revolved around my future children. I am finding adoption is similar to pregnancy in more ways than I realized.....

Pitter Patter Art

I wanted to share this really great t shirt I am ordering with Korea on it from Pitter Patter Art. I discovered this site from my new bloggy friend Kristi over at http://www.weloveourlucy.blogspot.com/ She wore an African t shirt on her trip to Africa for Lucy Lane. I contacted the creator of these shirts and she has made a South Korean one before - check it out! Her blog is http://pitterpatterart.wordpress.com/2009/09/21/taking-new-order-more/

I am having her make me one on a black t shirt with bright colors and a heart where Seoul is in Korea. :) The creator of these t shirts has an adopted baby herself. I can't wait to get my t shirt!!

Wordless Wednesday

Jack on the day his little brother was born!

1-600A

I have conquered you!! I sent it out at the post office this morning after making copies at the copy center with a very grumpy Anderson. He screamed at the post office because i would not let him eat a cracker off the floor or try to eat my pen I was trying to write with. Hallelujah I finally got it out. And I put we are traveling to get Leah on the petition, I hope if we change our minds and need an escort that does not create a problem.
I am so happy - I think I am finished with paperwork for now. I just have to wait for our fingerprinting appointment. Yay.

(The 1-600 A is an orphan petition to USCIS to be approved to bring our baby into the country by the US gov't. )