Oh snap, it's a girl!

The Facebook world has already been alerted, but this is a more detailed description of the shocking week we just had. 

When we started this paperwork phase about a month ago, we had a "plan", though God has taught us time and again that He laughs at our plans ;). (It's like he's patting me on the head saying "oh YOU have a plan. That's so sweet." 

Our plan was, start the paperwork now, get the home study done so we can raise money before we get a referral, and hope it's a girl. Well, the only part of our plan that actually happened was the girl !! 

Despite being warned that it is a miracle to get a girl from Korea, I just hoped without any kind of restraint that it would be a girl. We literally could not think of any boy names. 

The referral:

We are almost done with the paper gathering for the home study. I did my physical last week and Zach goes this week. We have one final employment letter to get, besides Zach's medical form, and we are done with our part of the home study. I've been asking lots of questions because for one, the paperwork has changed in the last 2 years since we did all this last time, and two, because I don't remember any of it! When our agency director called Thursday, I was at physical therapy with a heating pad on my just yanked neck. I had missed the call but called right back, thinking it was yet another form request or something. I was NOT expecting to be told they had a little girl that they felt would be a good match for us. Of course my pt and the techs thought I was insane with the gestures and crying, but they got to be the first to see her, after I called Zach of course. 

When we got Jonah's referral 2 years ago, we had to wait an excruciating 2 days to meet at Starbucks and see his pictures in person. This time, we got an instant email with details and pictures. Ah the joys of technology! Within 60 minutes the grandparents were alerted and I'd taken the study to our doctor to look over. There is no reason for us to say no based on her health and history. We are just required to have it reviewed before we accept. 

What's next:

Everyone is asking when we will travel. We have no idea! 

They tell us to prepare for anything from 6-18 months. Jonah came home 11 months after referral but there really is no average because things are always changing. 

The next steps:

-we officially accept & turn in a mound of papers

-we send our home study to Korea and they decide if they accept us (in a waiting child situation, our agency matched us. When you get a referral, like we did with Jonah, you are matched in Korea)

-if they accept us, we send a big fat chunk of money to Korea. (This is the leap of faith part)

-we get our legals

- we apply for her visa and wait for the paperwork to be submitted to the foreign ministry in Korea, and wait for the EP (emigration permit). This step is where we got bogged down for 5 months last time. 

-after EP, the agency submits to the court. Eventually we get a court date...travel to Korea twice and hopefully get our girl! 

We're so excited to finally have a sweet face to look at while we pray for our sweet girl. Jonah can't wait to meet his baby sister, who he been talking about non stop. Keep praying for sweet Zoey! Once again, part of my heart is on the other side of the world. 

Here we go again...

We have decided to adopt again!

Jonah's homecoming anniversary is in October but we have been given the go ahead to get started a little early. His adoption took about 14 months, so we are estimating that amount of time, + or minus a few months ;)

We briefly considered China, but decided our hearts are in Korea.  We love Korea and we want to take Jonah back with us and let him see his foster family. We can't pick the sex of the child so we are technically open to either, but we are hoping for a girl now, just in case we decide 2 kids is enough for us ;). If we don't get a girl, we'll just have to find the energy to go one more time.

So far we are swimming in paperwork. Since we have seen our case worker several times this year, we don't have to do another home visit for our home study. We are in the process of gathering all the documents: background checks, reference letters, employer and bank letters, medical forms, etc.

We are on the list to be contacted regarding waiting children, which is basically children who may not be referred for some reason. Very vague.
We are going to hold off on sending our home study to Korea for now so we can have a little more time to raise funds. We got matched so very quickly last time we had to scramble to get the huge chunk of money to accept the referral.

We have already begun working on an online auction to be held September 16-20. Also when our home study is complete, we can apply for some grants. We are also considering doing a fundraiser through Lifesong for Orphans which involves getting a group of friends together to do a work project for a local widow in need. Each volunteer gets sponsors like in a walk or run, and the money goes towards the adoption but also helps the widow. Win win!

Funding the adoption will be a little different this time because I'm only working part time so I can be with Jonah. Also Zach is likely going to have a change in his employer which means we likely won't be able to get employer adoption assistance as we did last time. That assistance covered almost 1/3 last time, so that is a bummer.

We're not nervous though...When God calls, he provides the way.

Catching up. Korea Trip 2: Bringing Home Jonah

It used to drive me insane that people stopped updating blogs and Facebook timelines when they get their travel call. Now I get it. Who has time?!! I tried to update the blog when we were in Korea, but our little guy has a serious iPad addiction and would not give it up.
So I will do what others have done and write about our second trip and last months in sections... as long as Jonah will allow me. ;)

The last time I wrote, we were waiting, in agony.
A few days after my last post, we got notice that there was a delay in the court. Apparently Jonah's birth mother did not return a document, so they had to do a public notice. We were having a very hard time up until this point, especially as we watched other new facebook friends getting their visa appointments when they had court dates after us. It was actually a huge relief to know that there was a reason for the delay. At that point they were also able to give us an idea of the conformation date because the public posting is for 2 weeks.

On September 24, we got the email! Tammy was my favorite person in the world at this point, so getting her email was like hearing from Publisher's Clearing House ;) We were given a travel date 3 weeks later, which was frustrating, but AT LEAST we knew something finally. I had given notice at work and was planning to be out of there by mid-September so it was a little bit of a shuffle to keep my job a little longer. Luckily, I work with flexible people who were able to accommodate my unknown schedule.

On October 10, we got on a plane once again to head to Korea. We booked with Adoption Airfare from the get go this time. It was much easier to just let him wade through the millions of options. We had to be routed through Atlanta, which made us nervous, but it worked out. We just said NO JFK!!! Bad memories ;) We also had to move our dates around a bit so we could take Korean Air instead of Delta. Once again we were traveling around a holiday, BUT it was about half the price of the trip in August. What a blessing! We also had a family member with Marriott points, so we got to stay for free in a swanky hotel with a remote control for the shade in the bathroom (that we didn't find for a few days). We were in a different part of the city, Dongdaemun Square, and had a rough time finding food and Starbucks, but it was close to a lot of interesting stuff. We arrived on  a Saturday night, went to bed, rested all day Sunday and adjusted to the time change.

On October 13, we became Omma and Appa to Jonah.

My facebook post: "best part of yesterday was when Jonah came in the room, saw me and yelled OMMA (mama). Granted that is his favorite word and he uses it for everything, but it still made me happy. Foster mom said he was talking to me so I choose to believe her."

We took a taxi back to our hotel because this dude doesn't travel light. His foster family is absolutely in love with him, but they did a wonderful job of smiling and being happy for him. I would have been a mess giving up this sweet boy.

The first few hours in the hotel, he was fine. He loves windows, so this is where he planted himself.

He seemed okay with us. I think he just wanted his foster family too. He was a sweet snuggler, but also very curious.


 He seemed to be okay with us, until he saw his shoes and wanted to put them back on. We think he was ready to go. We spent a while crying that night and we experienced our first attempt to sleep with Jonah. He's a wiggly kicker and slapper!

Luckily, he was crazy about the iPad. Despite knowing iPads aren't good for toddlers, we decided we needed to do whatever it took to help him be okay. This was traumatic for him so we wanted to make it as easy as possible for him.

On October 14th, we had our Visa Interview appointment at the US Embassy. We were out there with about 7-8 other families. Unfortunately they take all electronic devices when you go in, so we have no pictures of the time we were there. It was really interesting to see all the different personalities. Some kids were curious, some loud and crazy, some hiding, some snoozing. Jonah was just cool. He played with his toys and the toys in the waiting room. Some kid came over and hit him, and he just looked at him without flipping out. We answered a few questions and he was ours. We just had to wait for the paperwork and we were on our way.

 This is the best I could do outside the US Embassy. ;)

Already making them dress alike. Jonah thought it was hilarious!

We had a short trip this time because of the Korean Air flights, so we spent our 3rd day seeing the city.
From facebook (because I can't remember everything): "Last day in Korea. We got up early (now we know better) and went to get breakfast. Kid looked at the pancakes like they were vegetables. Then we went across the city to the aquarium. The subway had issues so at one point we were stuck. Despite being roasted, Jonah took a nice nap. The aquarium was fun but little man melted down by the end so we hurried back to the hotel. Noodles and a nap made it better. Tonight we're ordering the ridiculously expensive room service because we're exhausted, planning for the trip home, and maybe a trip to the pool for Jonah. We're ready to get home! I just want some pb&j and cheap noodle."

 Jonah literally wanted to see every single fish in the place.

Once again he had a rough night. I tried to take him to the pool at the hotel, but he flipped out. So glad we had Pororo apps on the ipad!  

On October 16, less than one year after we got his referral, we brought Jonah Daniel home. 

 He was a rock star on the long plane ride. We were very glad we got him his own seat because he was sprawled over all 3 of our seats. We took a whole suitcase full of toys and diapers, so we were well prepared. He watched the Pororo movie about 10 times :) He took a snooze in the middle of the crazy Atlanta airport after breezing right through Customs/Immigration.

We tried to keep him awake on the flight to Louisville, so we had to listen to the Pororo theme song about a million times. We learned early on that Jonah likes to fall asleep right before important moments. True to form, he fell asleep right when we touched down in Louisville. The family and friends waiting for us got to experience his quieter side ;)

 So that is the story of how we brought Jonah home. Coming soon... Life with Jonah