More Birthday Moments

Well the birthday post was short...it was just a very painful time being without Violet and we all just tried to get through it. But now I would like to write some more. First of all, I was (and have been) thinking of Violet's birth mother. I wondered if she was thinking of her tiny baby she last saw one year ago. I believe she loved her little Bo Ra very much and that making an adoption plan for her must have been very hard and painful. I am so proud that she was able to give my daughter her birth name. I hope some day I can meet her and thank her for the gift she gave and tell her she is forever a part of our family. Violet just has no idea how many people all around the world were thinking of her on her birthday.
We did have our own little celebrations to commemorate Violet's special day. Clay took Aidan and Faith out for dinner. Then the next day I took them to Fun City (Clay was out of town). When he got back we all shared some cake and took some pictures so hopefully one day she will know we were all thinking of her although she was far away.

 

Having pizza at Fun City

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I also sent off Violet's birthday package. I took this picture, but the "sun" toy did not make it in, and I also added 2 Gymboree outfits and a small blanket that matches. I forgot to take pictures of them before I packed them :(. I sent a Burt's Bees "starter kit" and some baby shampoo and diaper rash cream - and spent hours trying to translate all the items into Korean Hangul and printing them off and taping them on each bottle. They are probably all wrong and make no sense, but hopefully the foster mom can figure out what they are! I also sent the foster mother some Red Door perfume, body butter from Bath & Body Works, a Valentines bag with chocolates, a heart hand towel & V-day card, and about 100 pictures of our family (most terrible quality - boo Snapfish). For the birthday girl we sent a birthday card that sings "Happy Birthday", a book that let Clay and I record ourselves reading, 2 pairs of shoes (size 4 - I have no idea if they will fit!), a cream colored with a black floral print baby Gap dress (size 12 mos), a toy phone, Desitin, baby shampoo, & the outfits & blanket I mentioned (I will post some pics I found online).

Here is what the blanket I sent looks like - I found this pic online

Here is a picture I found online of the shirt & pants I sent

 Good news - we are seeing some movement now with EPs! Some other families have already been submitted and approved and they are waiting on passports and travel clearance! That means we could very well be next! It may not be a Valentine surprise like I had hoped, but very soon!

Faith also had her "show day" at gymnastics last week! She is such a great gymnast ;) Aidan also made ALL A's this semester!!! WOOHOO! I have GREAT kids!!!

SNOW DAY!!

Happy First Birthday sweet Violet!!

Today you are one! I am thinking of you and missing you and wishing I could see your face at your tol! I hope you are having a good time! I know you are getting lots of kisses and hugs and prayers on your birthday! I bet you are having your picture taken wearing a beautiful hanbok! Eating rice cakes and fruit! I wonder what items you picked at your Toljabee! I hope I get pictures soon! We love you so much Violet!

Waiting 7 months and some backtracking

June 14th-January 14th...we have been waiting 7 months today...

Back in December we had the opportunity to send Violet a Christmas package. Here are some pictures of what we sent her.

Lets see - there's a musical toy, soft reindeer socks, cashmere booties, teething tablets, a cloth diaper, "Guess How Much I Love You" in Hangul, and a stuffed black cat for Violet. Some soft scented (peppermint I think) Christmas socks, a violet heart necklace (Bo Ra means violet - I prefer to say violet since purple is a word made up by the Crayola company *wink*), and 2 Ghiradelli chocolate bars for the foster mother; and a necktie for the foster dad. I also got a cute reversible tote bag from the farmer's market to put everything in.

I am currently working on sending Violet her birthday package, and will post pictures soon of all that stuff. I am very late on this, but I am WAITING for Snapfish to send me my pictures I ordered in the mail. They are taking forever. They also took forever to send me my pictures for my Christmas cards, and that paired with the fact that we ALL got the flu over Christmas, I never sent out Christmas cards :(.  Here are the pictures we would have put in our Christmas cards had we done Christmas cards! :)

We also ordered a Boba baby carrier (woke up at 5am to get the Black Friday deal!) and tried it out on Faith when it arrived ;)

 Even though we were all sick and had fevers, we still woke up on Christmas morning to open presents!  We did not, however, get to enjoy our traditional Christmas morning Waffle House breakfast :(

More waiting!!! I AM MAD!!!!

So  - if I have this correct - earlier this month, Emigration Permissions were submitted for April referrals. We got our referral in June. It is supposed to take 4-6 weeks for those families to receive E.P. approval...UGH!!!! And then 2-4 weeks after that for a visa, then 2-4 weeks for travel. I am so ANGRY! I cannot believe this!!! February will mark 8 months of waiting for us. I am going to go INSANE if they only submit E.P.s for MAY referrals next and I have to wait another 2-4 MONTHS!!! This just cannot be happening. I am so mad. 

GIVE ME MY BABY!!!!!!!!!!!

UPDATE: Clay called and talked to our agency to get a a time estimate since I was going nuts and we were told now that it we will most likely get travel call in April. APRIL. GRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!