Waiting......

5 months waiting on Leah to come home. But happily, each month brings us closer to her.

Dreams.....

Last night I dreamt I had this journal all about our adoption and I passed it around to friends and family and everyone wrote their wishes/thoughts/prayers for our baby. One entry in my dream was from a wise friend of my Mom's. She said that she just knew from prayer Leah was going to come home faster than the 12 month timeline from now I have been thinking. I was just so excited in my dream to read that entry. Perhaps it will come true?
I PRAY!! Adoption can be so tough with just not knowing first off who your baby is for so long. Then you get a picture and info. Then you wait......All the while people ask when is the baby coming home? I get that question all the time. And you know what? I have no idea! I only have my hopes and dreams that fuel this adoption. And I just know our baby girl will come home......someday.
We are all under the same moon.

Looks like some changes in S. Korean adoption....

I just got an email from our agency. We are with SWS over in Korea and they confirmed the wait time from referral to travel as 6 mos. (from 4mos - 6mos) This just stinks overall. They said it will remain this way for the "forseable future" so I am guessing it will affect us. AND SWS does not want any children escorted over here unless extreme circumstances call for it. UMMMM.. we were going to use an escort. I am terrified of flying and Daniel can't leave his company for that long. I am sure me being terrified to fly will not qualify us to have an escort. Passport please. Oh my.

Anyone else hear anything?

Wordless Wednesday

(For everyone fed up with slow adoption processes...)

Valentines!

So a little late on the Valentine photos, but here they are!





Jack had a color change car in his bucket, and here he is dipping it in the hot and cold water


We made heart pancakes and smiley face one, too!

weekend

We had a good weekend. I have been soooo busy getting our house ready to sell. It goes on the market one week from today! I have many things to do this week to get it ready, including a major spring cleaning. I want this place to fly off the market because we found this amazing, amazing house to rent. It is seriously our dream home.... and even better, the owners are interested in renting to own, so we could actually buy this amazing house from them in a few years. It has this awesome kitchen with beautiful marble countertops, all new cabinets (and lots of them), stainless steel appliance, double oven! (my dream) and two living rooms, 4 bedrooms upstairs each a very good size, a large walk out basement for Daniel's work zone and a sweet screaned in porch and deck. It is in the neighborhood we were going to buy a house in, too. Perfect school district for when Jack starts kindergarten. PLUS, the owners are my friends parents who are so sweet. They have just moved out due to a job relocation and do not want to put it on the market due to the economy. How perfect is this? I feel so so thankful this is all working out. God is just providing the room we will need for our little Leah. I have been so wanting her to have a room of her own, and our boys to have more space. To me, it seems like confirmation this little girl is meant to be with our family. The pieces of the puzzle to her are just all falling into place. I have to shout it out again, God is good, all the time. He is just meeting all our needs. Our situation with Daniel owning his own business, adopting, needing a larger vehicle.... seems overwhelming.... but somehow, miraculously.... God is showing me how he has a plan for us.
My heart is so burdened for the orphan, and I know He loves these children so much, I feel like if you just open up your heart to His children, blessings will pour over you and he will provide a way. I hope our story helps inspire families to adopt. There are SO MANY orphans. I have met so many amazing families by blogging that are providing homes and love for these children. And what I see again and again is the CHILD providing love and life for these families. I read of the blessings and future these family have with these little ones. God weaves these little ones into homes that need them as much as the children need the homes. I am praying our Leah home and you know what I have also began to pray? Homes for each of the orphans. I pray thru our family, people in our lives will see the beauty of adoption. And that their hearts will be burdoned for the orphans. Once it hits you, it is like a freight train and you can't get off until you DO SOMETHING. 143 MILLION orphans are in this world. That is a BIG number. But our God is BIG. I love to say it - does your family tree have room for one more??
AND super great news. I found out another couple got fingerprinted in NC a month ago and got their prints back in 3 weeks. Oh I hope I hope we get ours back that fast. Come on mail man - bring me that sweet piece of paper so everything can go to KOREA!!!!!
And I just wanted to thank all my new blog friends. Reading your blogs, whether your child is home or you are waiting, is so inspiring to me. Thank you for all your encouragement and for sharing your journeys with me! I count you all as my friends, and hope to meet you in real life one day and introduce you to our Leah.

For sale

We finally figured out what we are going to do with our space problem. For awhile now I have been thinking if you adopt from South Korea, you have to be a home owner. I am not sure where I came up with this from, possibly the social worker told me this was the case with a Chinese adoption? Anyway, I called our agency this week and found out we can absolutely RENT and bring Leah home. WHAT? I about did a dance because there are some amazing 4 bedroom homes in our area for rent that are actually nicer than anything we can afford right now. SO our house is going on the market in a week and half and we will RENT a larger home for a year or two. I am so so excited. This will make it easier to move in the process, too, as we can pretty much move into a rental home as soon as we get a contract on our home. I know it seems odd, as this is the third home we have owned, but renting for a year or two totally makes sense to us right now. PLUS, all the equity we have in our home will help cover our adoption expenses. But keep those coffee orders coming - lol. ....God is good. All the time.

USCIS fingerprinting

Well folks, we are fingerprinted and waiting for our official governement approval to arrive in the mail, called the I-600A. As I always do, I have stalked some of my bloggy friends timelines that are further ahead in the adoption process than we are, and some of you got your approval quite fast. I have heard that because of the Haiti crisis, USCIS is backed up. As soon as we get this (please let it only be 8 weeks or less!) I will immediately fax a copy of it to our adoption agency, then our homestudy and our I-600A approval will be IN the air to South Korea. Will be doing a happy dance that day.
According to the timeline in my head and the timeline our agency quoted us, I really think our Leah will be born soon. My gut is March or April. That would put us right in line with us getting our referral in very late summer/early fall. (babies from South Korea are usually referred when they are 5-6 months old) Why is this? The South Korean government want to give their citizens plenty of time to adopt these babies domestically. Unfortunately with the stigma associated with adoption over there, it does not happen much. Hence our family has the opportunity to bring one of these precious children home. I have heard South Korea is trying to shut down international adoptions out of their country, but so far no announcements from them on an exact shut down date. Part of the reason we jumped right into a South Korean adoption. Such a great program and not too sure how long it will be open in the future.
I took some pictures at USCIS yesterday, but, ummmm got in a little trouble for snapping them, so will hold off on posting them on my blog.
Adoption friends, how long did it take for your 1-600A approval?

Weekend

We had a fun weekend! Saturday Daniel and I looked at some larger homes we are interested in. We found a 4 bedroom (all rooms up) that we love and may put an offer in. Our home now has 2 bedrooms up, one small full bath, and one bedroom on the main level. Ok layout for 2 small children, but worrysome for adding a third child. We may put our home on the market in less than 2 weeks to try to move before referral. Stressful? yes? Kinda necessary, though. We feel cramped upstairs now with both boys sharing a room and one bathroom for all of us. The house we looked at has 4 bedrooms upstairs with 2 bathrooms, a larger main floor and an awesome fenced in flat backyard. The kids would love that. Plus it is only a mile and a half from us - :). We love the area we live in. Very old homes with lots of charm.
FIngerprinting tomorrow! Snow is coming in today (1-4 inches). I am really happy it is coming today and not tomorrow for our trip to be fingerprinted. I think all will be ok.
I have some great pictures from Valentines Day yesterday I will have to upload later today. The boys had a fun day. I am so so bummed I missed a Chinese New Year's festival in a town about an hour from here. I had no idea it was going on and saw a recap on the news this morning. The ironic thing is, I was just complaining to my hubby yesterday that there was not anything cultural to go to near here. Bummer! That would have been so fun for all of us. Next year, for sure!!!
My Dad lives in South Korea, and he called yesterday to wish me a happy new year. He said everyone was celebrating over there. How I wish I could have been there to experience that! Korea, you will always be close to my heart. Happy Korean New Year to all my friends!

worried

This snow has GOT to stop. Our adoption agency has been closed for a week straight, we have fingerprinting on Tuesday and it is supposed to snow 1-4 inches on Monday. I can't figure out for the life of me how to get ahold of the USCIS offices in Durham. I checked the forecast and it is snowing there Monday, too. What if the offics are closed and we drive 4 hrs. each way?? The 1-800 customer service number has no way to actually talk to a real live person, just recording after recording. I may lose my mind. I am worried sick about this. Our international agency may have their direct line in their offices, but have been snowed out. I am SO hopeful they will be back in the offices Monday, but another clipper storm is coming thru. Anyone have any ideas??? If we fail to show up for printing, our application is considered abandoned. I was supposed to send in the appointment notice to reschedule, but I had no idea the weather was going to do this. I "think" even if we get 4 inches on Monday, we can travel, but a) can our sitter still come? and b) how do I find out if their office is even open on Tuesday. Someone help!!!

Sometimes you just need a nap

Yesterday's nap time

Stairs and fun

"wrestling"

Anderson loves the stairs - Jack helping him up



This is what Anderson does when he wants help and he also grunts "UUGGHHH"


Jack and his artwork

Week in review

Wow, this has been a long week. Thanks to the many many snow storms we have had, Jack's preschool has been closed for two weeks straight. (he goes on Tues/Wed. mornings) I did not realize how much I valued this time to myself with Anderson until these past few weeks. I have been having a hard time entertaining both of them all day long by myself, snowed in or stomach bugged. We have been doing lots of art projects, (Anderson not so much)library visits, and romp n roll. The days have still been long. We have only been able to get out a few days, and that was the library/romp n roll times. I am SO READY for warm weather. I really have a bad case of cabin fever. Oh and on Wednesdays lately Anderson has been going to the three hour mothers morning out program at the preschool, so I have had 2 Wed. of 3 hours all to myself. That was SO NICE. I love love my boys, but having a small break like that mid week really renews my soul - :). I think today we are going to try to head to the Childrens Museum.
On the adoption front, just waiting until next Tuesday to travel with Daniel to get fingerprinted. We can't take the kids, so I have sitters all set up for the day. That will be the LAST STEP before our paperwork goes to South Korea. Heads up, there will be some type of awesome give-away when our paperwork gets there!!! Major celebration!!!
To my knowledge, we have sold 2 bags of our coffee from our fundraiser. (YEA!) Keep those sales coming - :). I will be having a big yard sale this Spring, too if any friends or family would like to start saving things for me they would like to donate for our sale.
This Saturday I am so excited because we are looking at some larger homes with a realtor. We really need more room with Leah coming home next year, and if we find something, may have our house on the market here very soon. How many of you moved between paperwork and referral?
I promise I have some good pictures I took yesterday I will get on here later today. (for Mom, Rebecca and Kelly -haha)
Have a wonderful Thursday friends!

New adoption fundraiser!

We have a fundraiser going! I found this great adoption coffee fundraiser program. Each bag of coffee you purchase will go directly to helping us bring our little girl home. If you could help us out, we would really love it!

http://www.justlovecoffee.com/TheReads

Snow, snow, snow

Some snow pictures. You will have to excuse poor Anderson's nose. He bonked it a week ago. (these pics are from last weekend) It is all healed up now. Poor guy. Look at all our snow!!!

My boys

Really, what could be better than this?

Under the same moon

The snow is coming down here again! We are expected to get 12 inches by tomorrow. I feel like I live in the north pole. Another storm is moving in Tuesday. We never get this much snow. Because of that, things kinda shut down here, roads are not plowed very fast, and we are stuck at home. After all this snow I definately have cabin fever, especially since we were sick at the beginning of the week, and preschool was cancelled this week. Yesterday we did get out to Target and a fun place called Romp n Roll where the kids can run and play. Similar to gymboree. At least they got some wiggles out. Today I plan on making Chex muddy buddy mix with the boys (yum) and we will do some art stuff.
On my snowed in weekend, I am going to finally write our "dear birthmother" letter to send to Korea. I bought stationary yesterday for this. Our agency in Korea requires this letter along with 8-10 photos of us and our home. I have already written a rough draft, but I am sure when I write the actual letter I will need plenty of kleenex. I am not sure if Leah's birthmother will ever actually read the letter, but I hope she does. I want her to know her daughter will be loved and cherished.
Because of all this cabin fever, I have done a little Etsy shopping. Look at my beautiful new piece of jewelry. "Under the same moon." Leah and I are under the same moon, even if she is still in the womb. Praying for you, my sweet little girl.

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?ref=vt_related_1&listing_id=20031455

FINGERPRINTING APPOINTMENT

We got our fingerprinting appointment in the mail today!!!! That took less than a week. It was expected to take two. YIPEEEEEE
Appointment is set for February 16. HALLELUJAH for something moving faster than expected!!

I feel human

Again. Ahhhhhh......
So a recap for you. Saturday it snowed 8 inches here and the kids played (photos to come later tonight) and had a blast. Sunday everything was cancelled but we had to get out of the house so we did a Walmart run. When we got home Jack kept telling me his tummy hurt. Around 3pm he started throwing up everywhere. Just in the knick of time for Daniel to be at the gym and not home to help me clean it up and keep Anderson clear. About 3 throw-ups later Daniel shows up, tells me he feels sick and immediately starts throwing up. I spent the rest of the afternoon cleaning up yucky yucky stuff then laid my head down on my pillow at 8pm, happily, fell asleep and woke up 15 minutes later feeling sick. It begins for me. I throw up all night. Jack woke up every 30 min. or so (he sleeps in our room in his toddler bed) (trying to get him back to his own room but not working) wanting juice or a popcicle ALL NIGHT LONG. Yesterday (Monday) I felt like death and Daniel did, too but Jack was really happy and bounced back from this thing much faster than us. Daniel lost 6lbs. in 12 hours!!! I lost 2 (probably have already gained it back) Most of today I felt crummy but I am started to feel better.
What a weekend. It is snowing here AGAIN and they are calling for 18 inches this weekend. Holy Cow.
It is flashback Anderson picture day. ;)

This just makes me smile

I know, it is not Fall. But this picture of Anderson makes me smile - and we all need a smile sometime!

Flu

Daniel, Jack and I have the stomach flu. So I will by mia until I start to feel human again. It struck all three of us yesterday. My whole body just aches. I was up all night sick. I just hope little Anderson does not pick it up because it is awful. I hope you all are staying well!!!