The American Spectacles!

 We are done!! Besides the Flight Very Well we have all the correct and long but his Visa Paperwork. Ours He is and he is now legal to Come Home. Fact About Tonight that I got teared up while feeding him his bottle. He was so tired, snuggly and fell asleep in my arms. I just looked at his little Face and thought, WE DID IT! Thank You Jesus!! And we started with the verse popped in to My Head, "He Calls you is Faithful, He Will surely do it".

Today was interesting to say the least, we were such a spectacle! We get a lot of looks going out in public, people notice us and then I watch their eyes to see Charlie's face, I think they are looking to see if he is Korean or not. When they Realize he is (he is in and he is faced inward toward a Carrier Me) they Stare More. We learned that Charlie does Not like Car Rides and TODAY we learned that he likes the Subway, for About 4 min. Our trip to our agency today took about 25 min. So its bad enough but now they Stare Stare Because people that goes in the Carrier Charlie, Charlie Come out of the Carrier,  Charlie flings his body backwards, to the Ground Chucks Things charlie, charlie screams, makes goofy Faces Ron, Ron and Erin Sing , Erin bounces .... At one point we both just started laughing because not only are we in a moving tram, its at least 80 degrees and we have umbrellas, coats, diaper bag and purse plus a very unhappy baby and we were sweating and making idiots of ourselves. too worked up We TRY to Not Get it all and then stop right before an About Our Final Old man, who was staring the Whole time, he comes over to U.S. exits before the Tram. His Eyes are glistening and U.S. gives a Thumbs up and he says "Thank you for your kindness" then takes Charlie's hand and says "Happy!" Almost I started crying. He got it and was such a tender, sweet moment from a stranger.

 We finally made ​​it to the agency only to get packed into a car for 30 min, Sigh! C Fell Asleep harlie About 10 minutes away from finally the Embassy. 

Because there was a line Huge Outside the Embassy and it was raining but we got we were ushered right in American, we also went up to a room which was SO HOT and waited. About The Entire Process took 2 hours during which we met some really Completing all their Families Adoption Lovely. unconsolable One Poor little guy was so distraught and his parents just looked, we later learned that they had picked him up and he had Only a few hours earlier and then awoke to Unfamiliar people fallen Asleep. I Felt so bad! Another Family was cracking up from the South and had U.S. with their "Bless his heart", "Ya'll" and "So precious" Twenty seconds every phrases. They had been in Korea for 4 weeks and had gotten to Visit their daughter every week for a few hours, she was very happy and easygoing with them. I asked how long they had been in the process and she said 13 months start to finish. I literally almost decked her but she was one of the sweetest people and its not her fault our process has been so long. We also met a women and her mother with their little son as well. It was nice to spend some time hearing others stories and swapping. When it was our turn we had to go up and hold up our right hands and swear that everything we had filled out was true, we were asked a few others questions and then just like that ... done. DONE! Then I was back in the T and then back on the Subway Car, More Stares, Screaming and Singing and finally back to Our Hotel room. 

Charlie was happy to be back and was very fun for a few hours, we are learning that he has quite the temper and does not like to be told no ... ever!

He is in to everything and anything he can Get his hands on, his favorite thing to do is thrown .... anything! Very Vocal About He is whatever he is doing but he is also Very Sweet and Smart. Would We Only do Something once and if he saw us then he would try and succeed a lot of the time. He is now running up to us with outstretched arms and when we pick him up he smiles so big. He has a darling little laugh and this is the second night in a row that he has gone to bed with no tears and not calling Oma. YAY!!

We did get him in with a doctor today before the Visa appt and she took one quick look in his ear and stated that it was very nasty and infected. They gave us an antibiotic, drops and a decongestant. I am so thankful that we decided to have him looked at but feel bad we didn't do it sooner. Hopefully Will he be feeling much better by the time we fly which is coming so soon! I am so excited that we have and then we just Get One More Day to Come Home!

Although we have been stuck in the room a lot and the weather has been very rainy, we have had some small wonderful things happen this trip as well. From the sweet man on the Subway, to the little old women who kept hitting me offering me her seat since I was holding Charlie (little did she know that Charlie prefers me to stand, yes we have some work to do when we get home) to the absolutely wonderful staff at the hotel we are staying at. The whole staff has been anticipating us coming and they lined up when we came back with Charlie the first time, they all come running over every time we go into the lobby to ask how he is and how we are doing. They ooh and ah over him and the concierge desk sent up a hand written note with warm wishes and promises to pray for us (thanks, we need it) with a fresh fruit bowl and gifts of toys for Charlie. Truly, caring people and genuinely kind. I am feeling emotional tonight as I recount this week, its been so big and exhausting but the good kind of exhaustion. We are looking forward to having our sons meet each other as well as our family and friends. We are so grateful to God for Charlie and are loving getting to know him, fits and all, more each day!

                                                     We visited an aquarium yesterday

                                                Beautiful view of the sunset from our room

                                             View from one of the tallest buildings in Korea
                                              also the building that had the aquarium

                                             Charlie just checking out Seoul, we are on the 40th
                                            floor of our hotel, quite the view!

 Wasting time and energy running the hallways over and over (no judging about no pants)
          Our Happy Boy!

Gotcha!

It has been whirlwind two days, we arrived in Seoul on Thursday night and got to our hotel and grabbed dinner then went to bed. We slept pretty well and then got up and got some groceries and things for our hotel room and then got ready to go get our little man.

We arrived at SWS about 10 min before 2 pm. He was already there and playing in the playroom. He was happy and played well with Ron while I went over things with his foster mom. She gave us each gifts and had a large bag filled with Charlie's favorite foods and his very special blanket. She is such a wonderful women but I could tell she felt uncomfortable and seemed just a bit distant. She stayed in the play room for just a few minutes and then left so we could hang out with him. He let me pick him right up. After 10-15 min our caseworker came back in and asked us if we would like more time or if we were ready to leave. We said we were ready and so we packed everything up and went out to the elevator. On the way out his foster mom took him and spun him around once and whispered in his ear then patted him and kissed his cheeks. At this point I couldn't hold back the tears and gave her a hug she just smiled and patted my back. Ron hugged her as well and we got into the elevator. He did not know what was going on but was happy to look at himself in the mirror. As the doors closed I saw his foster moms face fall and she started wiping the tears. I think she wanted to be happy with him the last tim he saw her but I will not soon forget the look on her face as she turned away. We are so very grateful for her and for the love she have to him.

We had a taxi bring us back to our hotel and in the busy traffic it took just under 40 min. He did well at the beginning but towards the end we could tell he was agitated, we were about 3 blocks from our hotel and he puked all over Ron. Poor Baby and poor Ron, he is not used to cars and had car sickness plus he has a pretty good runny nose and low grade fever so he was / is not feeling the best. He was fine after that. We were even able to take him out for dinner. After dinner he was very tired but we wanted to keep him awake for a while so we played and played. Then we put him in a bath, we were told he loved the bath but I think he felt very overwhelmed and just started crying.

We got him warmed up and in jammies and fed him a bottle and he fell sound asleep but after about 45 min he got startled and then the crying began. He cried and then he started to wail and call for Oma (mom) over and over so at that point we were both crying pretty hard. I am thankful that he let us comfort him and after about an hour he finally settled down and slept. He wrapped himself up his special blanket from home and went to sleep. Although he slept very fitfully and tossed and turn he slept from 10-7:45. We are very tired today as we did not sleep well. He moved all night and although we set pillow around him on the bed (he was having nothing to do with the crib) I was worried he would fall off the bed so we were up off and on all night.

He woke today with a fever and we can tell that he does not feel so good, he is very timid today and quiet. We have gotten a few laughs and smiles but not much. We took him outside and for a walk for two hours around our hotel just to get some fresh air and out of the room. Only he would PUT U.S. Let him down a few times. I do not Think Outside he has playing with much Experience. Seoul is really beautiful right now with everything in Bloom. TODAY The weather was low 70's with a slight Wind and it was so nice to be outside. 

We headed back inside as we could tell he was getting tired. When he gets really tired his big bottom lip comes out and he whines for Oma. It breaks my heart but all in all for him not feeling great and not knowing us, he is doing remarkable. We are hoping for a good night of sleep tonight and that he will be feeling better tomorrow. Our Visa appt is on Tuesday and then we fly home Thursday morning. We are taking one day at a time but will be very thankful when we are home.

It seems so surreal that he is finally ours and we are giving God Praise and Glory for his life.

Finally, here are some pictures of yesterday's Gotcha Day:

                                                        At the adoption agency

                                                                  Car ride to hotel

                                                     Nap at hotel with his special blanket

                                                       Finally calmed down and resting

Easter : What a great start to a big week

I remember the day I went into labor with Greyson, it was a Sunday and I woke up at 5:30 am with contractions.  I was so ready to get the baby out! I was very restless and when I realized my contractions were very far apart I decided we should go to church. Ron just had a deer in the headlight look most the day and was okay with doing whatever I thought was a good idea. We took a walk after church and then we came home and I cleaned the house, I even vacuumed (I love to clean, seriously).Finally, at about 5 pm I decided we should go into the hospital and I labored ALL night until at a few minutes before 7 am our little boy was born. It was such an experience. Exhausting, frightening and exhilarating all rolled together. I remember thinking as we loaded Greyson into the car the first time to take him home "So, their really just going to let us take this kid, I have no idea what I'm doing"For a long time I did not consider giving birth and pregnancy as a parallel to adopting at all but the more I think about it the more similarities I see.

While I don't have to Physically labor for Charlie we have labored and labored to get him home. Paperwork, fingerprints, meetings, travel etc. And to think that I thought 9 months was such a long time to meet my baby. It pales in comparison to the 3 1/2 yrs we have waited to bring Charlie home. The experience has been exhausting, frightening and exhilarating as well. And today as I was cleaning out my garage (the last thing on my long to do list) a neighbor walked by and said "Oh Boy, your nesting!" And it made me laugh because I realized I was and have been since we have been home from the first trip. The same thought crosses my mind tonight " I can't believe they are going to hand this kid over to us, we don't even speak his language, I have no idea what to do." 

Since I am in such a reminiscent mood today and it is Passion Week, I was also thinking about the time when I was holding Greyson, late at night during a feeding and I just started to cry. I cried because after having my own child and realizing just how much I love him, I thought of Jesus.  Jesus, such a sweet name.  Son of God, The Darling of Heaven, Holy and Blameless...Crucified. How did God do it? Why did God do it? I looked at Greyson, his perfect little face all snuggled up and I wondered how any parent could send their son to be killed through a horrible death. I wouldn't do it, ever.  Never mind that there are some really worthy and great people on this earth that some might be considered worth dying for but what about the awful people. What about those who hurt others and are unlovable? Send your perfect child to die in their place.?    Inconceivable and yet He did.

I think about that type of love, the kind that puts you first, the kind that dies so you can live and I am so humbled. I am so grateful to The Father for giving us His Son and I am overwhelmed by Jesus who came for us, willingly. He took on human form to experience all that we go through and to overcome death. By doing this not only did He become our Savior but He became relatable. It is so encouraging to know I have a heavenly Father who can relate to me and whatever I am going through. Even better that He is bigger than the situations we face and more than willing and able to walk through them with us.  I love Him and I am so excited to start my week out tomorrow celebrating His triumphant Life and then have Him walk with me the rest of this big week. 

Happy Easter!!!

Below I included some pictures of Charlies room,  clothes washed and organized, toys and books put away, pictures hung and diapers bought.  Nesting Indeed! So happy for our journey to bring Charlie home to be coming to a close with week.

Our Current State of Mind

It's been two days since we found out the news regarding our adoption, so how are we doing?? I have giggled, probably inappropriately, at times a few Things About Regarding the IRONY of the situation. First, When we started there was the Adoption About your mental State rules. For example, you were actually Not Allowed to be on any anti-depressant Allowed to be nor meds you were seeing a Therapist for mental problems or phycologist. would be Considered The Only exception was that in the case of "baby blues" for Mothers in relation to post pardon depression. As of Four days ago we are now Required to be analyzed. Okay, I understand that being tested for mental stability is being treated but you can See Different than the IRONY. Also, to be truthful Totally 3 1/2 years ago I Felt balanced Process When we started this, and now, well I feel Very "unbalanced" Naturally so now is the time I am told I have to be tested ... I really Hope I Pass! I am Not trying to make light of the situation, a terrible tragedy occurred in Motion to set These new regulations but I am beyond frustrated about it!

Since I am Talking About My mindset from the difference in up until a few years ago TODAY, I Must Bring up My faith. So many people post How About My faith is strong, that they could Never do What we are doing, they admire Me for my faith and so on ... First, since the beginning I have trusted my heavenly Father but the way and depth I have learned to trust Him has changed. 

My life is pretty Easy, truthfully, I have had some issues with My health but other than that (and those are minimal in Comparison to some) I Live a really, really nice life! It has always been that Way Not growing up and I My parents watched Trust God for Things, Big Things and while we thought He did not always answer the Way, he always provided. I learned from God's Word is that an Early age THE Way, THE truth and THE light. Throughout My life I have seen the evidence and character of God. I have felt Him and experienced His goodness. I believe these instances are what helped me (us) take the leap of faith to actually just start the process. We did not have the means to even begin the process when we did and yet we have lacked for nothing throughout the entire process. I have learned about patience and deep trust in God through this adoption. I have seen my mind and thoughts change to what I believe now are more aligned to His thoughts. I have seen My wishes and Dreams Dreams Appear blown away and Completely new. I guess I am saying all of this again Because I saw TODAY WHERE Me My Jesus I was meet and reach out and touch Me. Remind Me and What He was He who promised to do.

We went to church today, it's Sunday so that seems ordinary in itself but it is how we "happened" to attend this church today and what was said to us while we were there that is so amazing. Seoul is so Big, I can not really describe it. There are no towns or Communities Buildings and people just everywhere. Within each Building Building and within another that is anywhere from 5-20 is Different Businesses or resturants. Place another within The Volume of places and people in a Square Mile is Mind blowing. Seoul is the Second Largest City in the World, it makes New York look Small, Honestly I have been to both and can say that there is simply no Comparison. So you understand, how would we find a church in Seoul? 
RON has a coworker and his son travels all over the World for his job. He lived in Seoul for a few months here a few times a year and travels. He and his wife have adopted a daughter from here and so he has gotten to know some people. Well, he flew in to Seoul yesterday and through his father learned that we would be here, Ron had talked with him on the phone before we left to get some ideas on sites etc. He suggested that we meet while we were both here. It just happens that we both have days Free U.S. TODAY and so he Invited to Church with him. Personally, I was so excited to go to Church in another country, to worship with believers in another Part of the World. I had no idea the news we would receive about the adoption while we were here in Korea and how much I would need to go to church and my goodness did we need it!
So, we met him off a subway station and he walked with us and directed us to turn down a side street and at the end of the street was this building called Grace Chapel. Churches in Korea don't look like typical churches back home. They are just another building amist thousands and I would have never known this was a church by just passing by, so I am glad to have had directions. In we went and it was so nice to hear English and see other westerners!! It's amazing how much you miss the regularity of "your people" especially when your going through difficulties. The service was great and it just happened that we had to sit in the front row of this church that probably had about 400 ppl at it. After the praise and worship (to which I couldn't keep from crying) they have you break off into small groups to share a request and pray for one another, our poor group, they didn't know the emotional wreck that was about to hit them. We went around the circle and before I could even open my mouth I started crying, Ron took over and explained our situation (short version). One little, tiny Asian girl says "Oh that must be why" and we all just turned to look at her and she went on to tell our group that last night she could not sleep so she went on youtube and somehow got on watching stories about adoption and has been thinking about adoption all day. She admitted to thinking that it was so random to have been thinking out adoption but once she heard our request she knew she was to pray for us. This little thing turned into this powerhouse, laid her hands on us and just prayed a beautiful prayer over us. Aaaaand more crying, have I mentioned I hate to cry in front of people?!? Turns out she is visiting her family here but has been living in Australia for a while but just felt like she should come to this church today. It gets even crazier. The pastor of the church comes over after his message, which was great, and asks if this was our fist time here and why we were in Korea, after going through our story again he says "Well, I was praying up there and looking an at you two and I just felt like I should tell you that God told me you both have the gift of discernment and that you will know when to speak out in truth "so for whatever that is worth, I hope it means something to you. Who knows what that means but our agency is telling us that they will let us know if they want us to talk to the judge and the letter that they are writing for us may be an open door to let God speak through us in the court.

I don't believe in coincidences when it come to the adoption. It's all God! I hope for people on the fence about believing in God or for those who don't believe in him at all that come across this blog that you don't take lightly our adoption process. God is Real and He is active in this world!! He is all around, waiting for you to encounter Him. We just couldn't get over how we ended being prayed for by a girl who lives in Australia and spoken into by a pastor from Korea! All that being said I go back to my opening question, how are we doing? We are good. 

We have decided that there will be good that comes out of this situation, God tells us He will make good out of bad. We have decided to choose Joy, we have picked Jesus and His mindset.We really, really are still praying for a Miracle and exemption by the Judge but if that is Not God's Will Humble ourselves and then we Submit to His plan. I Don ' T Come back and want to wait longer to Get My son, I'm crying (Shocking) Because now as I type this blog is waiting longer to do the Very Last thing I want out of His Will be EXCEPT. If we have to wait longer and come back then we will and I will be sad about it but I will trust Jesus. 

Romans 8:26 -28
In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought pray for, but the Spirit intercedes for us through wordless groans. And he who searches our hearts know the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God's people in accordance with the will of God. And we know that ALL things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to His purpose.



Thank you all for your kind words and prayers, please keep them coming. We can feel them and they help.

The good, the bad and the very ugly news

I really don't even know where to start today. I apologize in advance if my thoughts seem scattered. Im not in a completely calm state of mind.  I guess I will start with some good news...

We met with Charlie again today, we met at the adoption agency and we were both a little nervous as to how it would go as last time it went so well. We arrived about ten minutes early and went up the 7th floor, where the office is located. We walked in and he was already there just chilling. I was a little surprised to see him there already but it was so fun to see his little face again.  His foster mom just walked over and handed him to me, he wasn't thrilled about it but he let me hold him. They took us to a small playroom and I set him down and he immediately went to his foster mom to sit by her. After about 10-15 min she got up and walked away, she left us alone with him for the next 45 min. It went very well! He is extremely social and very easy to entertain and get to giggle. We had to constantly introduce new toys and do silly things to keep his attention on us but we did not mind. Eventually, he willingly sat on my lap and let me kiss him and nuzzle with him. We met another couple adopting a little boy his age from Canada and the women noticed right away how happy and social Charlie was. She couldn't believe how content he was with us. Towards the end, he got very sleepy and I rocked and bounced him with a blanket and he was almost asleep but his foster mom came back in and it was time to hand him back over. We did sing Jesus Loves Me to him and I consider that such a highlight of the trip. Overall, we were just so pleased with the visit and how well he let us interact with him.

The bad news is that we now have to wait four days for court and honestly the days are very long. We are enjoying the sites but it is very different from a vacation. We are tired and while the subway system is pretty easy to navigate, the city is just HUGE, it takes a lot of time going from one track to another to get anywhere. We also feel a little purposeless, we have traveled thousands of miles and will spend 10 days in this country for 3 hours of significance. Two hours of time is all we get with Charlie and then the final hour is court, our actual time in court is only about 10 min but to travel there and back and wait for our turn will take an hour or more of time. It is very hard to be here and not be able to see him. 

And now for the very ugly news. I will try to explain this as best as I can, this morning we received an email from our US Agency stating that there are some new requirements that have to be met in order to finalize your adoption. These new requirements states that each adoptive parent needs to have a mental/psyche exam that includes 5 separate tests before the judges will approve the adoption process.  To shed some light on the situation and why they are requiring these tests I will need to share a pretty terrible story. A few weeks ago a little boy who was adopted from Korea last Oct passed away. His adoptive father has been charged with his  alleged murder and this is a very bad child abuse case. For obvious reasons this was very troubling news for the Korean government. They have had meetings on how to address this series of events and how to move forward with the adoption process. These new requirements are their response to this terrible event. We are told that we should be very grateful that the adoption process was not shut down as has been the case when things like this happen in other countries altogether. I really can't go there in my mind...
It did not happen and so I praise God for that. 

We immediantly contacted our caseworker to see if these new requirements applied to us, I mean we are here in the country for goodness sakes. She said they received a list of families who would need to complete the tests and we were included. I was awestruck! How can this be happening?!? I have basically been crying all day. I hate crying in front of people and I cried at the agency, I cried on the subway and I cried at the resturant. We got to speak with the head manager of SWS (our korean agency) today. After our meeting with Charlie, she came in and said she wanted to go over a few things with us. She was absolutely wonderful! She said that our agency as well as the other two agency's who deal with international adoption have appealed the judges decision. She called this ruling "insane". She also said that in her 15 years of working in the adoption field this is the worst time for adopting she has ever seen. She went on to explain that originally the judges were requesting that 10 separate tests be done but soon decided that was too much and cut the number in half. The problem now, she explained, was that not alot of research went into deciding what tests need to be done and out of the 5 tests the USA only conducts 2 of them. We were told that France only ever runs 1 of 5 tests. The reason behind this is that the testing is so outdated that the USA no longer gauges mental stability using those techniques. We were also told that many famillies will have to travel a very long distance to find facilities capapble of doing this type of mental examination, its not a common test. Also to get an appointment can take several weeks, then you have to actually take the test, get it read and approved, send it Korea, get it translated, get it okayed by the judge and then after all of that your adoption can be approved . Only after all of that can you paperwork be submitted for Visa, which takes another 2-5 weeks. So I was crying pretty good at this point and I looked at her and said "so your telling me it could be months before we get to travel back?" She said "yes". I nearly came undone!

The agency and workers are very upset by this and are appealing the whole thing and stating that there needs to be a better solution. We all understand the terrible tragedy that has taken place and I know why they are wanting to add more requirements, to hopefully prevent anything like this happening again. The problem with all of this for us is the time. We were praying for 3-5 weeks and hoping that was as long as we would have to wait before we could come back and now we are back to not having an end in sight. In the mean time, Charlie gets older and more attached to his foster mom.
The thing that really, really gets me is that another family who lives right near us and we have befriended was in Korea last week. We were submitted to court the same day they were, they got a court date 13 days ahead of ours and they received word that because they have already been to court once, they are exempt from this process. We are basically one week too late. It apparently does not matter that we are in court in 4 short days. The manager at SWS did say that they are trying to figure out any and all means to help the judges understand that this is not a good solution, that once again the children will suffer and that she might want us to say something in court next week to the judge. We will have to wait until the morning of our court appearance to find out wether or not we are to "plead our case". Either way I think that we will have to get at least some kind of testing done.

I don't really know what to do or think right now. We are stuck here for another 5 days so we can't get started on anything. Here we sit a few miles away from our son and I have no idea when we will get to see him again.  Please Pray for Us, this is the hardest thing we have ever been through!!

Hello, We are your parents

Well, we made it! The flight was long but not unbearable and really very short considering how long we have been waiting to go.  We were exhausted after getting to our hotel around 8:30 pm. We unloaded our stuff and then got dinner in the hotel restaurant, it was very good. I was worried that I would not sleep well but we slept great! We got 7-8 hours in so that really helped us be ready for today.

I woke up pretty calm and read Jesus Calling devotion and had some quiet time (Ron was down at the lobby figuring a few things out) I got ready for the day and we headed to breakfast. About halfway through breakfast I started to get very nervous. I told myself to eat or I would get a headache and I needed the energy for the day. After breakfast we headed to the subway, it took us a few minutes but we got it figured out and soon we were on route to SWS, our agency in Korea. We didn't know how long it would take us so we left two hours early and got there and hour early so we just sat across the street at a coffee shop until it was time to meet with our caseworker.

We headed in and met our caseworker and after a few minutes we loaded into a van that drove us to Charlie. My nerves actually calmed down on the ride over and my excitement took over. It is a very surreal thing to meet your child in this way. Our driver parked the van and our caseworker who also acted as our translator started walking around, looking for his home. She was a little confused but then we heard yelling and saw his foster mom waving towards another street. We followed her to a home like building where she lived. I was expecting a high rise complex as most people reside in an apartment but she lives in a home. We went up a winding staircase scattered with tons of pots that are filled with various plants, really not a lot of room to walk because of all the pots but up we went.

Suddenly, there he was!  He was a little apprehensive at first and just kinda stared at us. I really wanted to just walk over and pick him up but I resisted.  We both waved and talked to him for a few seconds and then got pulled into his toy room. It did not take long and he was making noises and looking at the light and sound puzzle we brought, I thought he would love that and the bubbles that we blew but his favorite thing was the container for  snacks I had brought. He didn't want to eat the snacks just take them in and out. Eventually, he moved closer to us and near the end he sat on both our laps and got cozy.  It was close to his nap time and so he was sleepy and just let me hold him. WOW! Just so thankful at how well it went. I said to Ron a bit later after we left that this is what answered prayers look like, a little boy who has never met us ended up feeding me his strawberries, giggling and clapping like crazy when I would crash the tower of toys and sitting and snuggling with us both. His foster mother said she could tell he liked us as he does not usually sit with strangers. God is good!

We got to know a few things about him by asking lots of questions, he is very active according to his foster mom and loves to climb up on the furniture. He stacks toys and trucks up and then climbs on them to get up (OH BOY!) . She said he was very smart and played well with other children. He eats "anything and everything" She also took a bunch of pictures for us on the disposable camera I had sent in a package and I can't wait to get them developed. She gave us the hangbok that he wore to his first birthday party and a photo album with tons of pictures from when she first got him up until now.  He has a special blanket that he will go and find and drag around when he is tired. His foster mom said that we may keep that as well. We also learned that his birth mother had bought him an outfit and we will be getting that on our next visit. What treasures!!

Much too soon it was time to say goodbye. I tried really hard not to cry but it wasn't possible. I held it together pretty well and only let a few tears out. He let me hold him close for a minute and give him a kiss on the cheek and then after a few tries he went to Ron and let him hug him as well. In fact he didn't really want to go back to his foster mom and she said "Oh, that's so good, he really likes you". 

We are just so pleased with how it all went, he is darling little guy with some really crazy hair and I so wish we were allowed to post the video and pictures of him. We are completely in love and we know he will fit into our family perfectly. We will get to be with him one more time this Friday. I cried today already thinking of that being our last visit until we come again. It is very hard to be so close and not be able to hang out with him. Our court date is next Tuesday and then we fly out the next day. Tomorrow we hope to see some sites and learn more about the Korean culture.

Today was a very big day that went so well. We give God the Glory and Praise Him for Charlie!

Excited but Are you kidding me?

Well, we leave in 4 days. We are so excited!! I am feeling like we are in pretty good shape, we are mostly packed, I have Greyson plus Marge all set and my 2 1/2 page "to do" list only has about 3 things left on it. I have been nervous about the flight but today after reading my devotions and spending some time in prayer, I have complete peace.

 So many people have let us know that they will be covering us in prayer while we are gone and a lot of people have offered to have Greyson over for a play date or pick him up from school so I can get things done. Also I have a list of friends who want me to give their numbers to both my mother in law and mom while we are gone, in case they need a break or help with Greyson, they are willing to pitch in. WOW! The support is so great and we are just so thankful. And so that being said along with  prayers for safety and a good trip we are asking for everyone who reads this to really, really be praying for our paperwork on our behalf.  I got a bummer of a phone call today regarding our paperwork and I just don't want to have to deal with it.

Here is our current situation:  We are due in court on March 25, after our court hearing, we wait for our adoption decree. This decree takes about 2 weeks or 14 business days to process before sent to the embassy for a Visa appointment for Charlie to leave the country. If everything goes perfect we could get a call to return to Korea within 18-21 days of our court date. This would be awesome!! But if the birth mother or a relative would like the adoption decree for personal records then the court must send it to them. This seems easy enough except that a lot of birth mothers move or are hard to locate and so the decree does not get delivered. The court will make 3 attempts to try to deliver the decree. If all three attempts fail then it is mandatory that the decree gets posted to a private website that birth mothers have access to. It must be posted there for a at least 17 days. After the 17 days our paperwork can then begin to start the actual 14 day process. So, basically the wait in between visits can be anywhere from 3-8 weeks. Obviously, we are hoping for 3 weeks.

Today our caseworker called and said that a bunch of our paperwork for the US government expires the first week of May. This means that if we do not have the call to go get Charlie we will have to once again redo a ton of paperwork. You get one free pass from our government for an extension, they do not charge you for this. If your child is not home 18 months after you originally sent your paperwork in you can redo all your paperwork for free. This free extension lasts one year, we have already done the free extension so this paperwork would not be free. Lets just say that I never knew filing one piece of paper could be so costly in addition to that we will need to get FBI clearance again, new physicals for every member of our family and update our home study. All of those things have fees included as well. I do not want to seem like I am complaining about the money, I am not worried about that, every time we need it, it is there. Our God is faithful. I am just so sick of this!!!

The killer is that we may very well be home from Korea with Charlie before any of these updates need to be done. The bad thing is that we just don' t know until we get the call and all of this paperwork takes time. After figuring all of this out today we received an email that said we needed to have two forms filled our before we leave on Monday because the clearances we need can take a few weeks to process and if we wait until we get home, it might not be enough time. So about twenty minutes ago , I finished the paperwork and it will get sent out tomorrow. Ok, all of that said, we just REALLY need prayer that our decree has no hold ups and we get word as fast as possible that we can go back to pick Charlie up. If that happens none of the paperwork issued will matter!

For now,we have done what we can and we wait in great anticipation to meet our little boy! Thank you all so much for your support!!