Passport Issued!!

We received the email today from our agency telling us that Violet's passport has been issued! YIPPEE!!! We now enter the 2-4 week wait for travel clearance!!

Right now I am also starting to really worry about the recent nuclear disaster in Japan. A tsunami has damaged a nuclear power plant and it is at risk of complete meltdown and radiation being released into the atmosphere. My little girl is very close to Japan right now. The general public is being told there is no risk to Korea right now. Still doesn't make me want to hop on a plane and head in that direction! Unless its to get my child and leave!! Which is what I plan to do...

Preparation and Socks

There is no one post or one blog that can contain all of the preparation we have gone through to get ready for Violet. I am fairly confident that I could have read one book and been about as prepared as I am now. I could have read just one book and got her the next day and we would have been fine. However, that is not the way. Here are a few pictures of some of the most recent and most enduring preparation we have under taken.

Amanda says she hates Mondays. She actually is just sad that we're still waiting. We believe that God's time line is the only one, but it is harder for moms. I just pray about it a lot and put it out of my mind, some days. Today that is pretty hard. I'm not certain exactly why, but there was an understanding in the air at work today that there were somethings that people needed me to get done before I traveled and stayed home to attach. It was busy and I left with many more things on my to-do list than I arrived with, but I liked it. It was fun. I worked hard. That makes me happy.

Most of the documentation.

The binder on the left does not look very big, but it was filled one piece of paper at a time: one copy of a document, form completed, form received, and important documents to be saved at a time. There is a lot of stuff in there. If our house was on fire and I could get one thing, I would get this binder. Most people think of pictures first, but all of our pictures are on my laptop and those are all backed up, so this binder is next. We could start over with this binder and some cash. Marriage license, birth certificates, immunization records, income tax information, insurance policy information, and proof that we've completed the education requirements for the adoption are all in this binder.

Books

To the right are some of the books we have read. These are the books that were required. I have read a lot of non-fiction books in the last several years. These are not the best. In fact, I have some disappointment in how most of them are not speaking to the situation we find ourselves in. Most paint one horror story after another. Basically, if Violet does not bind us and set us on fire while forcing the other children to watch, we have been warned. Most likely whatever our journey ends with we will have read about much, much worse.

Certificates

Left are some of the certificates we have earned. Some were for online classes. Online classes are either really good or they are really bad. Amanda and I have sat through about 50 hours of online or synchronous classes. Through those, we have been bonded closer. Through those we have learned a lot of important things. 

I hope Violet likes socks.

We have acquired a few pairs of socks for Violet. I hope she gets to wear each pair once before she grows out of them. It seems like a lot of socks and somewhat wasteful. I will tell you that I am confident that Amanda has paid much less than you would imagine for that drawer of socks. We probably have $8.00 invested in socks. That seems impossible, but if you figure Amanda has shopped for 40 hours a week for 50 weeks a year (she does take her two weeks of vacation) for 3 years, she has had 6,000 hours to find the best sock deals on the Internet.

I cannot wait to have child number three at home. I am very tired of having a child living half-a-world away. I believe that at some point I might have actually wished that either child 1 or child 2 did live half-a-world away. I now regret that. I should have just wished for a visit to Bella's or Grandma's. Be careful what you wish for!

Through documentation, education, and socks, I know we will be prepared. Certainly more than the education and even more than the socks, I faithfully believe God has prepared us too. I am thankful to Him. Amanda and I have always had hearts ready to raise children and to adopt children. I am thankful to God for her. I am prayerful to Him for more patience and wisdom in child rearing. I love Him for the sacrifice for me, Amanda, and our children. I pray that our children will be agents in growth of His church.
-CLAY

No Passport yet, I hate Mondays

I am checking my email every five seconds.

Waiting for Passport & Spring Break

Well, we are officially headed into week 2 on our wait for Violet's passport.  This last week has also been Spring Break and Aidan and Clay have been home. We have spent all weekend getting our house cleaned and reorganized in preparation for Violet's arrival! We bought some suitcases, diapers, and made a gift registry at Toys R Us! We sold some items on Craigslist and made some money for our trip! We also decided to put our mattress on the floor, which will hopefully help Violet to be safer and more comfortable, but it sure is hard for us old/fat people get out of bed in the mornings! I got out all of Faith's baby clothes that I think might fit Violet and washed them; I am still trying to find enough hangers to hang them up! My little boy turned 12 and had some friends spend the night. Later we took him out to a movie and Toys R Us and bought him a Razor (an effort on my part to get him away from the video games and outside into the sunshine). We are headed to Harrison for our nephew's birthday and then the guys head back to school Monday...hopefully the next week will go by just as quickly and we will have her passport before we know it. Then it will be a lifetime of waiting for that travel call...

Finally! EP APPROVAL!

Today we got the email that Violet's EP has been issued!!! Now it is 1-2 weeks for passport, and 2-4 weeks for travel clearance.  Back to constantly checking my email!! I am getting SO NERVOUS!!!

Tomorrow is Aidan's birthday party. He will have some friends come over and spend the night. His actual birthday is on Monday, and my little boy will be 12! I can't believe it!! Where does the time go?!

Really?!! Still nothing today!!

What is going on over there in Korea?!! This is excruciating.

Jesus replied, "You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand."- John 13:7

A new week!

It is Monday at Midnight (14th - I don't know why my blog says 13th)! The start of a new week! I am pretty anxious to see what this week will bring! How will I handle it if I still get no news all week long? One day at a time. Lots of prayer. 4 more days and will be an entire month of waiting for our EP approval.

Yesterday was my birthday. Yuck. I hate my birthday. Clay was out of town too. I spent the day with Faith though. I always love to spend time with my precious daughter. Then after church I went to my parents where my dad grilled me steak! It was good!

Before Clay went out of town he did surprise me with new furniture! (Well, new to us!) It was the sweetest thing hes ever done! He put time and effort and thought into planning out this surprise! I was sitting on the couch (luckily I had gotten dressed that day and not wearing pajamas...and had also vacuumed!) and Clay opens the front door and said "I have a surprise for you!" And in walks his co-worker! I looked out the door and there is a U-Haul in the yard full of furniture! I was so confused and in shock it took awhile for it to sink in!  And then they started moving out the old furniture and moving in the new! And then 2 other guy friends showed up to help! There was a couch, love seat,  huge TV cabinet, and 2 end tables and a coffee table! Apparently he got a really good deal on the whole lot! I love a bargain! Luckily just that morning I had made brownies and was able to cut them into huge pieces and give them to the guys as a thank you! haha! No pajamas, vacuumed, AND brownies! God was in on it. That new comfy couch will be so nice for late nights with Violet!

I get so many adoption questions and I am so terrible at explaining things. I would love if all our family and friends would be as obsessed with our adoption as I am and read all the blogs, books, and magazines that I do and fill their brain with knowledge to better understand what is happening! BUT since that is unrealistic, I would like to post some excerpts from the book I am reading...

"It takes very determined parents to intrusively and persistently impose attachment strategies upon a resistant child."

"Spouses who are able to lean on each other and on extended family...or friendship support system feel less isolated and better able to weather the storms as a toddler adjusts to his new life circumstances."

"The intrusive strategy is often accompanied by deliberately regressing the toddler to the bottle-fed stage of development. Deliberately regressing the toddler to bottle feeding accommodates the incorporation of the other elements of the attachment process: eye-contact, smiling, physical touch, and motion."

NOPE.

Now I have to wait through the weekend.

It has been about 25 days now.  I guess the 4-6 week wait is going to be true for us.

Clay is out of town so I took the kids to Fun City for pizza and games. They had a good time and I got to sit and read some of the required reading. Maybe God doesn't think we are ready yet since we have one book left. So I will go read some more before bed!

AAAHHHH!!!!!

NOPE. STILL NOTHING.

NEW PICTURE! Still no approval...

WHERE IS THE APPROVAL?! I know they always say 4-6 weeks, but it NEVER takes that long! Almost everyone before us got their approval in about 15 days! It has been over 20 days and still no approval. I am going a little crazy. I feel like everything takes longer for US! I am sure everyone feels like that at one point. It is so frustrating!


On a lighter note, we were pleasantly surprised with a picture of the most beautiful little Korean princess I have ever seen in a hanbok yesterday!! ENJOY!

 She is looking so much bigger. Her face has really changed. I am amazed how beautiful she is. That makes me so sad to watch her grow through pictures. It is going to be SO hard on her now to transition to our family, and worse the older she gets...

By the way, the consignment sale was not as great this time. No car seat & not many clothes to choose from. But I did find a few outfits, and I also got one of those push toys that will help her walk. Faith loved hers. Of course, she may be an old pro at walking by the time she gets home.

WHERE is the approval!?!! And car seat confusion.

I have been checking my email constantly, but still no notice of EP Approval. It has been almost 20 days!! Most get their approvals by this time! I made the mistake of telling everyone we may travel within a month. Every time I do that I jinx myself and add on more time to our wait. In the meantime I have been researching car seats. I cannot decide. I have that problem with most things. Clay will need a car seat in his car and I will need one. So we need 2. And of course I want the super nice ones with all the safety features, but  I am nervous to spend $400 on 2 car seats! I know I could get by spending $100 for both, and they all have to meet safety regulations anyway. Decisions, decisions. I am going (hopefully if I can get a sitter) to a gigantic consignment sale that comes around every 6 months or so tonight. I get a mom-to-be pass to get in early tonight (open to everyone else tomorrow) since I am adopting! Yay! Although I hear tonight will be like Armageddon with all those crazy moms pushing and shoving and stealing thing out of your basket, etc. haha! I am hoping maybe to find a car seat, but I am afraid to say I spent way too much money on clothes online last week so I cannot buy many more clothes at the sale :(. I am also excited that I bought a Loopa bowl from www.thinkgeek.com. A little one in Faith's playgroup had one and everyone was amazed! They do not spill!

http://www.thinkgeek.com/geek-kids/1-3-years/c0d9/

My sweet husband went to Wal-Mart last night with me (just to get stuff to make chili) and while I was in the restroom he grabbed Gerber puffs, baby food, baby spoons, diapers, wipes, and a can of formula! haha! I said, "we really don't need to get this stuff right now..." And he cut me off and said, "I need to!! Just let me do it! I'm having a baby!" haha! So cute.

I am going to go continue checking my email now...OH PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE LET ME GET THE APPROVAL TODAY!!!!!!

EP SUBMITTED!!! And another update!

Yay!! FINALLY! Some movement!!! 

We got an email from our agency February 18th telling us Violet's EP had been submitted the week before! So looking back through the past history of timelines, most everyone traveled about 45 days after EP submission!! So hopefully we will travel in early April and I will be able to buy 2 little Easter dresses this year! Okay, so I already have! I just hope Miss V comes home in time to wear it! And hunt some Easter eggs!

Since we have EP I have also been very anxious because that means it really is time to get things done! Get the house ready, education requirements done, and buy things! I got Faith's baby clothes out of the attic yesterday. There is not much and most have mystery stains from being stored. I had given most away not anticipating anymore children at that time. I have bought a couple gifts for the foster family and a few outfits for Violet (some coordinating with Faith's!), but STILL - I cannot bring myself to buy much yet. Back in November I thought once I get her next update I will start shopping for her. But then I felt that was too soon. Then I thought once January gets here I will start - nope. Then I thought for sure once we got her EP. Well, I still hesitate! I don't know why! I am so scared to buy all this stuff and then she never comes home!  So now I am waiting for her EP to be approved, and then I will hopefully do most of the shopping. That is typically when things really begin to speed up. Friends at church have been asking when they should throw me a shower, and I mentioned maybe after we get EP approval, but after she comes home would be good too. But I still need necessities like a car seat, diapers, & wipes. Everything costs money, money, money! One problem we have run into is not knowing exactly how much to budget for our trip to Korea. We are still trying to save and are afraid to spend any of it because we just do not know how much we need to travel!
We did, however, get another update on her!! She is 18.3 lbs and 28.7 inches!! Such a petite princess! So, I have bought some size 12 month clothes, I hope that is right! Most clothing brands include weight and height on their sizing. (Again, I don't want to buy much until closer to time in case she comes later than anticipated and outgrows everything.)  She is also standing alone and taking steps with support. This makes me kinda sad. I was so hoping to see her first steps. Oh well, there will be firsts for me! She had her first birthday tol and we were told she picked a pencil and then a golf ball at her toljabee. Maybe that means she will be smart and athletic?! Imagine an athlete in our family?!! We do not have one of those! haha! That should be fun!! ALSO, we are supposed to get pictures of her in her Hanbok at her tol in the mail!! I cannot WAIT to see them!!!

We bought this amazing photo book about the area we live in for Violet's foster family