About 2 days ago, I felt like I should update the blog, but all I could think to say was how close to insanity I was.
Since our last post, we found out that our Emigration Permit (EP) was finally approved on May 29, 4 months after submission. Then our paperwork was submitted to the court. It took them about 3 weeks which was very frustrating for us. I know, we've waited this long, what's 3 weeks? ;) considering we were originally told we could travel as early as April, it has been a long wait.
THE ROLLERCOASTER:
On Tuesday, I finally discovered a well-hidden/secret group on Facebook, the Adoption families in process for Korea group. It's a group of lots of people throughout the world adopting from Korea but the wonderful/awful part of being in the group is access to a timeline with a load of people listed.
On the positive side, it's great to have people who understand what this insanity feels like and it's wonderful when someone gets news.
On the negative side, when you see a bigger picture of how things are playing out in Korea, it can make an organized person flip out.
Don't get me wrong, Korea is a wonderful program and we are glad we went this route, but there are some people going through some seriously long waits while others fly right through(like us apparently).
It's like if we all went to the license branch and took a number but they just picked numbers at random instead of in order. I might be able to deal with that at the license branch (with something tasty to snack on and a book maybe), but I like to know what's happening with a huge life-altering event such a this.
So with this timeline, I drove myself crazy trying to predict when our court date would be and when we would get the call. After much obsessing, I realized there was no magic formula. We could get the Friday judge that takes months to summons people, but they all still love him. Or we could get the Wednesday judge who only has one hearing a month.
Last night, as I sat in a living room with my small group and we talked about intercessory prayer, I asked everyone to pray for the Tuesday or Wednesday judge. I just couldn't handle possibly waiting til October for the Friday judge. Kennett will have to pray every week now, because less than 12 hours later, I got an email that said we have been given a court date on TUESDAY August 12. Seoul is 13 hours ahead of us, so when we prayed for those judges at 8:30pm our time, they were beginning their work day and putting us on the list. My mama likes to say "prayer changes things" and this is proof.
So WE ARE THRILLED!
I woke up this morning just not feeling quite right, probably because my stomach has been in knots all week. ;) so I decided not to go to work. 20 minutes after that, I got the email from AIAA. Their office was closed today for the holiday weekend, but Tammy knew I would want to know so she emailed anyway. Good thing I wasn't driving to Henry county!
I spent the entire day working on plane tickets. I emailed several agencies for quotes, called Delta, wrestled with the Korean Air website that wasn't working, tried Kayak, expedia, etc. We didn't get the fabulous price we were hoping for, but we did get a relatively quick flight with limited stops. August is a busy travel time for Korea, so we were lucky to get what we did.
THE TRIP:
We'll be travelling for 12 days (we had to be there for 7, takes 24 hours to get there, and it's cheaper to fly on certain days) and we will hopefully be staying in the guesthouse which is within walking distance of the SWS office where we will meet Jonah Daniel for the first time. :)
We have to be there a week before our court date so they can take pictures when we meet him. They will submit those to the court before we actually go.
We will get to see him but we don't know how much. We will just hope for more than one visit and see what happens.
BEYOND:
For those who don't know, we will be taking 2 trips. After our court date, the judge has to notify the birth mother once again and see if she has changed her mind. Then we should be able to go back and bring him home 4-6 weeks after the court date. I'm thinking "yay, just in time for fall!" But Zach's probably thinking "just in time for football!" ;)
A HUGE THANK YOU to everyone who has been praying for, loving on, and PUTTING up with us! The crazy isn't over but at least we have a date. Please pray for our sanity, for perseverance to keep working to pay for travel and maternity leave, for that lovely Tuesday judge, and always for our sweet little Jonah Daniel who is walking now but a little unsure of himself. We're ready to see that smile in person. ;)
