home study visit

Today was our last home study visit for now! Yippee!!! Happy, happy, joy,joy!!! We are so glad to have those behind us, not that it was a bad process, just steps closer to getting our baby. Hopefully my SW will get everything written up and sent over to us quickly so that we can get it all finalized and sent to Korea. We are getting there!! I am so excited to have that all done.

Fingerprints

Yesterday, I was still feeling sick from the headache I had had since Wed. I canceled my nail appointment because I just felt too bad. I had to meet up with Rob at 1 to get our fingerprints done again, since we are changing countries, we had to do them again!! I got there, Have no clue how I made it, went in and was out in 5 minutes! That was the only thing I hated it was an hour drive one way, 5 minutes to get them done and then another hour to home. I got home and crawled back into bed. I was so ill, I just thought, God must have given me strength to make it, otherwise, I don't think I would of been able to do it!!!

A little dissappointed, a little relieved

So.......today was suppose to be the day, the last home study visit. Well, I woke up this morning in a fowl mood with a horrible headache. I was dreading having company this evening but was thinking, finally the home study will be done. I was at work telling my hubby how I felt so bad from my headache that I felt like I could just hurl when the phone rang. It was the social worker, she was canceling for tonight. I thought here we go, we are going to have to wait until next week now. Well, she explained she was sick and asked if we were busy on Sun.? By the way, this Sun. must be the only day that people have available, this was like the 4th thing I had been asked to do THIS SUN.!!! I said well, I have to be at my sister's house by 2 but prior to that we are free, keep in mind we have to leave by 12:30. She said, would 9:30 be ok? Of course, I would of liked to of slept in a little but this is our baby so OF COURSE, that is ok. Soooooo.........Sun. should be our last visit for now. She did say she would get to work on writing up what she can now so we do not have much of a lag. Thank goodness, she sees the urgency in getting this done!! I want my place in line!!!

Baby Expo

Sunday Rob and I went to the Baby expo. One of our friends was an exhibitor and she encouraged us to go. It was actually kind of comical. We kept getting asked when we were due or how far along we were. Rob just said things like oh, in about a year and a half, we have a baby on order. It was just funny because of the looks and responses we got. So, this was actually kind of an ice breaker to the "we are adopting" conversation. We were surprised at all of the positive reactions we got and the questions. We met one lady who was in the process of getting together the paperwork for a domestic adoption, another lady who was thinking about adopting and a couple who had adopted. My husband was so excited to see a couple with an Asian baby that was clearly adopted that before he even thought about it, he asked what country the baby was from. This opened up what was a little bit of a strange conversation at first but turned into a wonderful new contact. The cute little boy was 5 months old, a domestic adoption, he is part Thai, Japanese and Mexican, He was just plain gorgeous. We, of course, talked with the couple for quite a while and have plans to stay in touch in the future. We are actually thinking of trying to put together an adoption themed type expo. Believe it or not, we were the only ones there that were not exhibitors that were adopting. We were amazed at how warm of a reception we got. The best part, we won a raffle prize and it was Tupperware, who knew they still existed??? Anyway, one of the items is the ball thing that you out the different shapes in through the holes. Our first toy for Ethan!!! It was a nice day!

2 down, 1 to go!!

2 down, 1 to go!!! That's the way my hubby put it!! We met with the SW again tonight and did our individual interviews. She commented to my hubby that we are on the same page with a lot of things and said that was a good thing. So far, so good!! We will meet with her at our home next Wed. night and then about a week later, we should have a copy of the home study to go over and then revisions and then off to Korea with it!!! We are chugging along!!

What a relief! It feels really strange to tell someone you do not know about your life. I guess this will be something we will be faced with once we get our baby as people are naturally curious. I will have to get to work on my witty come backs just in case I need to pull them out!!! Any suggestions??

Well, I am very tired so, off to bed for now!! Will report more later!

Beautiful Stranger

This morning, I got up and got ready for my nail appointment. I went to a new place that a friend of mine had suggested. Just to let everyone know where I am coming from, I do not believe in coincidences, I believe things happen the way they are supposed to. I also believe with each person you meet, you are either the teacher or the student, sometimes both. So, on with the story.

I go into the nail place and it was all people of Asian decent there. I love talking to them, I like to find out where they are from and how they came to America and about their culture. I start talking to this beautiful young lady who is doing my nails. I mean she was really pretty, super model pretty. Of course, we talk about whether we are married, how many children, typical shop talk. I proceed to tell her that I have no children that my hubby and I are adopting. She proceeds to tell me about the orphanages in her country. I believe she was from Vietnam, she never really said which country she was from, the other people in the shop were from Vietnam so I am guessing she was too. Anyway, I asked how she knew of the conditions of the orphanages in her country seeing that she was not adopted.

This young lady proceeds to tell me how each time she goes to her country she goes to visit. She pulls out 2 small photo albums and tells me about some of the children in the photos. She says she felt really bad that this one little girl had died since the last time she went to visit. She continues to tell me that she takes her son so that he can see how other children live so he will learn to appreciate what he has. She then tells me that she takes all the money she can and gives it to the orphanage when she goes. The hairs on my neck and arms stand up straight. I was so touched and moved by all of this. What a wonderful lesson to teach a child. Needless to say this beautiful stranger is beautiful inside and out.

She asked me to please keep coming to the shop, she enjoyed talking to me and is so happy for us. She also wants to meet our baby when we get him. I of course will continue to go to her not just for the conversation but she does wonderful work.

You never know how beautiful a stranger can be until you take the time to look and listen.

Korea's liberation day!!!

Today is Korea's liberation day. I think that is interesting on so many different levels. First off, this is what it means. With the official surrender of Japan to the Allied forces on August 15, 1945, the 35-year colonization of Korea by the Japanese came to an end. August 15, 1948 also marks the establishment of the Republic of Korea.
Secondly, N. Korea and S. Korea have celebrated this day together on many occasions since 2001.
Thirdly, you can go here and read what S. Korea's President Lee proposed for this year's celebration.

http://www.philly.com/philly/wires/ap/news/nation_world/20090815_ap_skoreasleerenewsaidoffertonkorea.html

So......with having said of all this, Happy Liberation Day Korea!!!!!

Home Study

So..... I finally heard from our Social Worker on Tues., I was getting ansy, and of course she called right when I had a mouth full of food during lunch!! We set up a meeting for last night. I was so anxious, I did not think to ask her what she looked like. We ended up meeting at a library, My hubby and I walk in and it looked like we were scoping the place out. We had no clue who we were looking for, it was quite comical. Since when did the library become a video store? All we saw was rows and rows of dvd's, I guess learning the card catalog was a waste!! LOL

My hubby was getting ansy and feeling stupid so he tells me to go outside and call her and he will listen for a phone to ring in the library. I tell you, we would make good partners in crime, we would totally stick out like sore thumbs but atleast we work well together!! Anyway, I go outside and call and I hear this music, I look over and I see this young lady walking towards me, she looked about 22 and I point to her (I know it is not polite to point but you have to remember, I was anxious so that rule went out the window!!) and say the SW's name and yes, it was her. I had to tell her what I was trying to do, I told her I forgot to ask what you look like. She started laughing and said, I would of found you guys, I have a picture, I was baffled for most of the evening, how did she get a pic of us? Then, DUH!!!, we had to send one in with our paperwork!

So, we get a seat in the back and she asks us questions and everything. The whole time, I am flashing back to high school thinking, why isn't anyone shushing us? We are in a library after all!! I feel so old, the library sure has changed from 18 yrs ago. (WOW, I guess it has been a loooonnnggg time!! LOL)

Well, our next interview is next week, same place, same time. I am looking forward to it, I want to get it done!! Our SW seems pretty cool too, She told us a little about herself and boy, she has a tough job!!! I don't think I could do some of the things she has to do.

Side note, we have our album finished and it looks awesome if I do say so myself!!! I can't wait to hear what the agency has to say about it!! We still have to do the dear birthparents letter, I am dreading that a little because where do you start? How do you thank someone enough to have the courage to make an adoption plan for a child and for giving you the most precious gift there is?

I will update on the home study next week!

Photo Album

First off, let me say this week has been a little crazy. I had sent both sets of paperwork off to each agency and on Mon. heard back from both Social Workers. They said everything was looking good and coming along well. Yippee!!! The local agency said I should be getting a call on Thurs. to start setting up the visits. Let's get on with it already!! LOL just anxious to get it done! The other thing I was told was to go ahead and have our I-600A switched to Korea and ask for the renewal. I did that, this way my paperwork won't be held up for Korea. Thanks Stella for giving me the heads up on that one!! Gotta love her, I don't know how she has dealt with all my questions! We have started on our photo album to send to Korea. I had told Rob I would just do it myself but I got a loud NO! to that. Hey, I wasn't going to argue, I think it is wonderful he wants to contribute and make sure it is just right. He is such a perfectionist, he is worse than I am. So...... 4 hours later, we have 2 pages done! Only 6 more to go!! He must have gone over each page atleast 10 times, he found a period missing here, a flower too close to the words there, it was just really cute to watch him. I finally told him we were done for the night and we could go back to it later, it was driving me batty!! Rob was so cute, he told me to ask if we could make the album bigger or put more pics in as he has a lot he wants to include. I am just so excited to see him get this involved with getting our baby. It just makes me fall in love with him all over again.
LOL Anyway, I am hoping to have more news on Fri about the home study!

Getting to the bottom of the paperwork?

Tues., I sent off loads of paperwork to the local agency and on Wed. I sent more paperwork to the agency in NY. At the bottom of both of the piles, I swear I saw this little hand that said "feed me some money!!" Not wanting to disappoint the little bugger, I did!! LOL You have got to have a sense of humor about it all or you will freak out!! I think if it weren't for the fact we have been through all this paperwork stuff before, I would be on the freak out list!! Anyway, both of my Social Workers took vacation last week and need I say, they did not ask for my approval, they should each have a nice package on their desks waiting to be opened!! We are still working on our home study questionaire, 10 pages, I feel like I am writing a book about our lives!! I am also waiting for my Birth certificate to arrive, the fact that I am breathing is not good enough!! LOL Rob and are currently working on the birthparents letter, the album and adoption education. So much to do, so little time!! I am hoping we can get started pretty soon on the home study. I want to get that done and submitted, I want my place in line ALREADY!!!!! Well, that's it for now, I may have more news in the next week!!