Hello from KOREA

Korea is wonderful, the sights, the sounds, the beauty, the hustle the bustle and the FOOD!
I am going to leave it at that and end with a few pictures.

THE CALL

On July 13, 2010 at 10:00am the phone rang… the caller id listed our adoption agencies name and phone number. I knew that this was the call that would start my own special kind of labor pains.

I was told that our baby girl was ready for us to come and get her. I was ready to go. In fact, I was so ready to go that I had already held two seats on Korean Airlines leaving on July 15th. Now normally one is able to go once they get the call. And in fact I was given the green light to go to Korea on Thursday or any day I would like. But, I was told that our adoption staff would be traveling to the US (and bring home some babies to their parents, but not mine) for meetings and I would not be able to pick up our daughter until after July 26th. Ok then, at least I am going!

So begins my labor pains. I am deathly afraid to fly, but I am also someone who can conquer my fears and will do absolutely anything for my children. I leave for Korea with a friend on July 25th. I fly directly to Korea on Korean Airlines and arrive on July 26th at 6:30 pm. I get our girl on July 29th. I leave Korea on July 30th at 6:30 pm and return on July 30th at 12:30 pm. Sort of like my last two deliveries in and out (of the hospital) so fast it made my head spin.

I will have my laptop with me and I plan (if all goes according to plan but I know how plans can go…) to update my blog and show lots of picture while I am in Korea so you can follow along on this amazing journey to become a family of five!

See ya in Seoul!

서울

Our Girl has her Visa

I learned this morning that Baby G has been issued her travel VISA today.  She is ready to come home. 
Now I just need our phone to ring and tell me GO GET YOUR GIRL! 

One Very BIG step

Baby G’s Emigration Permit (EP) was approved on June 9, 2010.

What is next you may wonder?

It is hard to say exactly when we will be able to travel to Korea to get her but we do know that we there are just a few more steps left.

Next Baby G needs to have her Travel Certificate (TC). Our agency in Korea will apply to the Ministry of Foreign affairs for the Travel Certificate now that the EP has been approved. The turnaround time for this step is usually about a week and needs to occur before Baby G is ready to travel. We will not be notified of this step but it should take place next week.

After the TC is approved, Baby G will need to have her Visa Physical Examination. This exam is done by a doctor who has been appointed by the US Embassy. The exam takes place at our agency but is not done by an agency doctor. The exams are generally done on Wednesday’s but it is hard to guess what Wednesday she will have her exam. It is safe to say it should be this month, maybe the 30th. We will be notified as to when Baby G has her exam.

Our file which, hold everything from our marriage certificate to our girls legal documents and vaccination report is submitted to the Embassy for a one way Travel Visa. This takes about 5 to 8 business days.

And there is also the Visa Interview where her Foster Mother will physically take her to the Embassy. We will not be notified when this happens.

After the above steps our agency will contact us to let us know that our daughter is ready to come home. And I will be on the next plane to Seoul Korea!

Well Baby Check aka… WBC

Our wonderful agency gives our kiddos a well baby check every month. Our May WBC told us that our baby G was right on target developmentally, she is already walking while holding on to furniture and she is described as cute and fine. She has her two bottom teeth in and is saying Mama and Dada! She is 29 inches tall and weighs 17.5 lbs. Knowing what we do of her bio mom’s height/weight and her bio dad’s height we are not surprised that she is tall and thin. We are hoping to travel in the next five to six weeks.

TimeLine

“When Does she come home?” Short answer, I am not sure
long answer read on…

For a detailed explanation please scroll down to Post
“We Have Legal’s” dated March 30, 2010.

Here is our timeline so far and once everything has a date next to it we will be on our way to get our girl!


Legal’s: 03-30-2010

I-600 Approval: 05-03-2010

National Visa Center In: 05-11-2010

National Visa Center Out:  05-12-2010

Emigration Permit Submitted: 04-15-2010

Emigration Permit Approved: 06-09-2010

Visa Interview: 7-06-2010

Visa Physical Exam: 06-30-2010

P-3: 7-02-2010

Visa Issued: 7-09-2010

Telephone Call to Travel: 07-13-2010

I-600a Update

Just a quick update for those who are following along, our I-600a is now in the hands of our "angel" along with our I-600. Once we get our approval the next stop is The National Visa Center. We are getting closer. Good thing too because none of us can stand one more day with out our girl! 

Oh where oh where can our I-600a be

Oh where oh where can it be…

There is some debate as to who should have our I-600a and I-600 petitions, the local office or the national office. Right now the national office has our I-600 and the local office has indicated that they have mailed the I-600a. Either office (local or national) can approve our petition. If I have my wish I want the wonderful woman who works in the national office to get our I-600a so she can merge it with our I-600, approve our file and send it on to the National Visa Center. Please say a lil’ prayer or send out a good vibe that our “angel” in the national office will get her hands on our I-600a soon and she will be able to complete that end of the process. I call her our angel because she is such a compassionate woman who is tirelessly working to get our I-600a and get our petition approved and yes she works for one of our government agencies.

Once we have the above completed it is on to the National Visa Center.

And our wonderful agency has already submitted our daughters Emigration Permit.

After many emails yesterday and today with regard to where our I-600a may be we all decided it was in transit. And who should receive our I-600a the vote goes to our “angel”. So receiving another email from our agency later this afternoon was no surprise. When I opened it I got the best surprise, we have six new pictures of our girl. The pictures are a bit bitter sweet. She is changing and growing so fast and the pictures bring that realization home. But the sweetness of her face melts away any bitter taste I may have of all that I am missing.

As you can see she is wearing the dresses we sent to her. I am now wondering if the other outfits I have ready for her next care package are going to be big enough. Eh, this Mamma doesn’t mind buying new clothes for her princess.

So without further adieu…

The Care Package

Just about everyone I know has either received a care package, perhaps sent to you by your Mom when you were at summer camp or away at college or has sent a care package, maybe to a family member or friend overseas in the military. Either way we have all received or sent a care package. I tried to remember have I ever sent a care package? I have received them, but I don’t think I have ever sent one. I have contributed items to go into a care package that was being sent to our brave military men and women. But I don’t think I personally have ever sent one.

Well, I did the other day. In fact I mailed out a care package on March 23, 2010 to our daughter in Seoul, Korea. Our agency has rules about sending care packages so I was careful about the size of the items I choose, as well as, the value. I needed to fit everything I wanted to send into a small box. It wasn’t easy, but I did manage to include; three adorable dresses with matching bloomers and matching headbands with bows. A soft doll (I bought two, so that Baby G will have one here at home in case the one sent in her care package does not make it home with her). I also sent a tube of Aveeno baby cream. And a “who loves baby” soft cover photo album, which included photos of each of us, the boys together and an exterior picture of our home. Each picture was labeled with the appropriate Korean name. We also sent her wonderful Foster Parents some goodies as a small thank you for the care and love they are giving our daughter while she is in Korea. We sent a 12- pack of VIA Starbucks Instant coffee, a box of Tazo Tea, a box of Centrum vitamins (a gesture to say we care about your health and well being) and a handful of post cards highlighting the beauty of our local area.

Everything fit fine in our box, in fact I had plenty of room to include a few other items which I had thought about but they didn’t make it into the box, as I was under a deadline to get the box mailed out before Baby G had her next well baby check. I am looking forward to sending another CARE PACKAGE very, very soon.

I must admit it was a bit daunting sending this first care package. I felt as if every item I picked was directly connected to the amount of love and gratitude I fell for my daughter and her Foster Family. Also our agency states that they cannot guarantee that the care package will be delivered to one’s child and the USPS said that I “might” be able to track the package on line but again, no guarantees.

Well, our Care Package arrived safe and sound in Seoul Korea and it is in the hands of our dear sweet, Baby G. How do I know this you wonder? Because We GOT a PICTURE, yep a picture of our daughter, her Foster Mother and the care package items lovingly placed out on the table around them. I have cut out our wonderful Foster Mother’s face for her privacy. I loved being able to see the beautiful face of the woman who is caring and nurturing my daughter until she can be home with her forever family.

Ok I will stop rambling and just post the picture, it’s why you even stopped by isn’t it ; )

We Have Legal's

What does this mean? Well legals are the paper work that starts the process to bring our daughter home. The first thing we received is the I-600. The I-600 is a 2 page form that is a Petition to Classify an Orphan as an Immediate Relative. Our I-600 has been turned into our agencies Portland branch office. They will be filing it for us with The United States Citizen and Immigration Services (USCIS) which is a branch of Home Land Security. The USCIS also handled our finger prints and background checks along with our I-600a (also known as the Application for Advance Processing of Orphan Petition).

Now we wait for our I-600 to be approved.

After our I-600 application is approved, USCIS will notify us of approval. After approval our file (which has been growing with every document we submit) will be sent to the National Visa Center (NVC). In April of 1994, the Department of State opened a permanent Immigrant Visa processing facility at the National Visa Center (NVC) in Portsmouth, NH. The NVC will log our I-600 In and Out and we will be assigned an SEO number (the SEO is the case number).

After the NVC logs us out they will send our file to the US embassy in Seoul, Korea. The US embassy in Seoul, Korea will send a packet of paperwork known as the P3 to our agency in Korea. This packet /P3 needs to be completed by our agency in Korea and then returned to the US embassy in Korea.

In Korea an application for our child's Emigration Permit (EP) will be submitted. The Korean ministry will review the EP application and approve it. Once our EP has been approved, our agency in Korea will file for our child's travel certificate this is similar to a passport.

After our agency in Korea has obtained both our child's Emigration Permit approval and our child's Travel Certificate, the agency will then schedule our child for a Visa Physical. Visa Physicals are done by a non-agency doctor at our agencies clinic or at a local hospital. The Visa Physicals are typically scheduled once a month.

After the Visa Physical our agency in Korea will return the P3 packet with all the necessary documentation to the US embassy. At this point the US embassy will set an embassy appointment and a visa interview will be scheduled.

Our daughter does not have to physically attend the embassy appointment or actually be interviewed for the visa interview. Once those two things are done we will receive the call that we have been waiting for since we started this process. The call that tells us our daughter is ready to leave Korea and come home. At this time our plan is for me to travel alone to South Korea, stay between 3 to 5 days and bring our daughter home. We will keep the blog up to date as we enter and complete each of the above stages.

 As cold waters to a thirsty soul, so is good news from a far country.

Proverbs 25:25

This month No Truer words come to mind. We have received the call that we have a sweet baby girl waiting for us in Korea!


Earlier this month we received the call informing us that we had been referred the file of a little girl who was six and a half months old. We were told that we would be receiving an email that would contain all the information about her including her picture.


S and I sat down at the computer and decided that we would open her medical file first. We learned that she was born August 24, 2009. I guess I can say that from this day forward I have officially forfeited my birthday. She was 8 lbs and 14 oz and 21.7 inches at birth. She was full term and had a normal delivery.


She is living in Seoul Korea with a Foster Mother and Father. She is right on target developmentally. She already has two bottom teeth and has started to creep along. It is very likely we will have a walker by the time she comes home.


Then the time came for us to open the file that held her picture. We both sat silently as we gazed upon our Meant To Be… She is Perfect.


Now what everyone has been waiting for…

Mommy Shopping

When I first found out I was pregnant with J, I started reading books, everything I could get my hands on really. “What to expect when expecting” “What to eat when expecting” If it had to do with being pregnant, giving birth or bring home a new baby I had to read it. I took a lot of valuable information way from these books. So when I was pregnant with L, I re-read a few of them - a bit of refresher. So now that we are “paper pregnant” and waiting for # 3 who will be a baby but not a new born I decided I needed to get my hands on everything I could about adoption.

I have also been reading a lot of articles on the internet. One article in particular caught my attention. The subject -

MOMMY SHOPPING

Perfect. I am a Mommy!

Perfect. I like to Shop!

Sounds Good, but mommy shopping is not good for the baby or the Mommy (or Daddy). So what is this Mommy Shopping? I will try to explain Mommy Shopping the best I can and how it may affect our daughter.

Our daughter will have been separated from her birth mother and then again she will be separated from at least one other mother, her foster mother, before she will join our family. Given the amount of loss our little girl will have experienced she may come home ready to be once again handed off to yet another care giver.

To the world our daughter may look well adjusted, happy and very social. She may reach out to family, friend’s even strangers. She may coo and make eye contact with Grandma or the checker at the grocery store. She may appear completely happy to be passed around from family to friends to the mailman. But what she is doing is Mommy Shopping. She expects that the two (maybe even more) heartbreaking separations that she has already experienced in her very short little life will continue to happen. Once my little girl is placed in my arms I will do everything in my power to make sure she never feels the need to Mommy Shop.

When our little girl gets home we need to help her establish that we are her family. That we are her Mommy and Daddy and that she never needs to look further then home to know she is Loved, Safe and Wanted. We need to reinforce that we are her family before we can help her establish bonds with other family members and friends.

An action as simple and harmless as allowing Grandma to hold her, feed her, change her diaper, is only reinforcing that Mommies (and Daddies too) are replaceable. If we allow our daughter to Mommy Shop we are also allowing her to avoid Bonding with us.

In order to make sure that our daughter does not Mommy Shop we plan to temporarily restrict holding to just Mommy, Daddy and brothers when she first comes home. We are also going to have to restrict feedings and attending to her cries and other intimate needs as well.

We understand that many of our family and friends are just as anxious and excited for our little girl to join our family. All of us will have looked at her picture many times. We will have discussed her arrival. We will have made plans for her to join the family. To us she will already be part of our family. But to her we will be strangers. She will not be old enough to understand that her Foster Family was only temporary. She will not be old enough to know that she will be leaving her birth country and all it holds; familiar faces, sights, smells, all that she has grown to know as her home.

While we have been waiting for her she has been living with a wonderful family in South Korea. They have been the ones that have awoken many times a night for feedings. They have been the ones who have rocked her to sleep and comforted her when she has cried out at night. They are the ones who she sees when she first wakes up and when she closes her eyes at night. They have been the ones to play peek-a-boo. And in a blink of the eye they too are now gone and she is once again in the hands of a stranger.

Because of all she has been through we plan to do the following;

We are going to baby our baby. We are going to consider her emotional age when she comes home and not her chronological age. Don’t be surprised if you see us giving her a bottle instead of a Sippy-cup, or tending to her at every little whimper. She needs to get what we all give our new born babies, the trust that we are her Mommy and Daddy and we are here for her forever.

We are going to stay close to Home. And at first we will also need to limit visitors. We are strangers to this little girl. She has not been waiting a long time for us. So when we come home we will stay close to home, limit visitors and when we introduce her to family and friends we will restricting holding and passing her around (but this won’t be forever we promise).

We plan to Use a Baby Carrier and carry her as long and often as possible. She didn’t get 9 months of Mommy carrying her around and she needs that closeness to bond.

Establish a routine, yes us. Although we have never been much to a strict routine with the boys, we plan to provide our daughter with a very strict routine at first to allow her to adjust to the many changes in her life. We feel that giving her a consistent routine will help her predict what will happen next and give her a feeling of safety.

Often when parents come home with a new baby everyone wants to hold the baby and help with feeding and diaper changes, ok only Grandmas enjoy doing this. If you want to help but don’t know what to do because we are restricting the care of our daughter to Mommy and Daddy only. I may suggest that our boys will love the extra attention to be given to them until their little sister is ready to be cared for by anyone other than Mommy and Daddy. After all we don’t want her Mommy Shopping!

Some great information on this subject can be found at: www.A4everFamily.org

WE ARE

Yes you read that right.  We are #1 on the wait list!  Needless to say we are ExCiTed.  So what does this mean?  It means that the next little girl that is not adopted domestically in South Korea would be referred to us.  As with most of this process the time frame as to when this could happen is unknown.  It could take a few weeks or a few months.  What we do know is that soon we will get to see the face of our daughter.  Oh did I mention we are ExCiTed!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!