New Court Process

We have been eagerly awaiting news of the new family court decision in Korea as to how they are going to implement a new adoption law put in place last August. Unfortunately there has yet to be an American family travel to pick up their child since the new law went into effect.  It is very sad and disappointing for everyone involved. The family court judges have gone back and forth as to how they wanted to proceed. Currently, the judges are requiring adoptive families to appear in court. In order to do this we must travel to Seoul, meet our child, wait a few days, go to court for 15 minutes, then one of two things: 1) go home and wait to travel back to Korea then spend another week in country or 2) wait in Korea for all the paperwork to be completed. (probably about a month).  Financially it makes more sense to stay in Korea plus this gives us a wonderful opportunity to experience our children's birth culture on a whole new level compared to our short one week trip last year with Evan.  We can make the most of it and be able to share that experience with Evan and one day tell baby sister all about it.

The first families scheduled for court are May 31st. We will be in prayer that this will be a smooth process and these families will be united with their children and the travel/paperwork process will go quickly!  

We still have no idea when we will travel but we still hope before the end of the year.  Please keep us in your prayers as we continue to plan for the extended travel, preparing Evan, and baby sister's adjustment.

We are looking at some short-term apartment rentals, different kid-friendly cultural adventures to plan for, and trying to plan for the things at home to run smoothly while we are gone (Going to miss our little firecracker Mocha)

yes, this is her halloween costume, don't judge me people; I have a toddler that wanted to play dress up!

I have included some of our travel pics from last year to get us excited about traveling again!  Just picture us with a toddler this year!  yikes!!

CHSFS Info Meeting

Tonight Dan and I joined with other waiting families via a webinar for an program update.  I was really hoping they would say "hey Korea thinks this is silly having the kids wait so long, come get your kiddos!"  yeah right.

Oh well still learned a bit.

Things I didn't know or had questions about:

• Typically how do children respond/adapt to pets after coming home?

Pets are very uncommon in Korea, if there is any exposure to pets they are the tiny dogs that fit into purses. That might be a problem!  The speaker even said sometimes the foster mom is even frightened of the photos of dogs that are sent so doesn't share the photo with the child.  boy is Evan in for a surprise!

•  learn about a child's foster home experience

Children sleep on a floor mattress with foster mom until school age and there is very little discipline until school age. Children are with the foster mom 24/7, usually on her back in a carrier. Typically their homes are very open, and not cluttered whatsoever. Many of the foster moms live in apartments in Seoul. Life revolves around the child. Children eat with the family on the floor eating the same foods- although seriously mashed up.  She even mentioned that some adoptive parents question why their child will not chew or has trouble chewing after coming home - because they have never had to.  Everything they eat is either mashed up or a 'dissolvable consistancy', think "puffs".

Typically children have never been a car seat or car for that matter. Public transportation is utilized and baby is again carried on foster mom's back.  (doesn't sound like a real fun drive home from the airport, after a really fun plane trip??)

• practice some basic Korean words that will be helpful during your child's transition

So just last week I was researching a little Rosetta Stone - Korean action to prep for the trip and help with the language barrier with Evan. But I learned last night that I should NOT attempt to learn Korean. Because I do not look Korean it would confuse Evan.  Korea is a very homogeneous society, very few foreigners live there (especially outside of Seoul). I am not to call myself Umma (Mom) but to use the English word to prevent confusion.  The speaker did give a few words that would be good to learn, I cannot remember everything right now but will have to get the print copy of the presentation. but words that would be useful: "up" or "carry" like a in the carrier/piggy back style and different words for food.

unfortunate news

We received some unwelcome news, our wait just got a bit longer. instead of the 10 months they had thought when we started it will now be closer to 14 months. So we are looking at February or March.

I am trying to motivate myself that it gives us longer to earn more vacation time away and save more $$ for the big trip to Korea!

I have a whole list of things I want to get done around the house before he comes home, one of which is painting his room and making all the bed linens. Thank you Ty Pennington for the inspiration!

good news and rough news

So the long awaited mayo craft fair is over! Val and I worked so hard to prepare and it showed! I don't think we had any idea how much we really had until we set everything out on our tables. We have plenty left over in case anyone needs any last minute christmas gifts!



So on to the rough news. the same week of the fair we were told by our adoption agency that the 9-12 month wait has now been extended to 24+ month wait. whoaaaaaa. I knew it wouldn't be 9 months (we are at 8 months now) but 24+????? between gov't regulations and increased humanitarian work the number of adoptable orphans has decreased . I know this is a great thing that because of aid to families in need families are able to stay together. but it is still hard to think that the number of children in need of homes has truly shrank that much.

I think we are just heartbroken that our hopes of having a family continue to be just out of reach.

We have attempted to keep busy just so we don't sit around and dwell about about it. House hunting and open houses for us. we think we found the house perfect for us, only catch - still need a buyer for our house! We always like to do things a little different or challenging, and trying to sell a house in the off season - in the middle of the holidays should present enough of a challenge.

keep us in your prayers we need wisdom and patience (nothing new!).

6 months and counting . . .

Okay so Dan and I have hit the 6 month waiting list . . . I cannot imagine waiting for another 6 months, it seems never ending. Pretty sure I have taken the "keep busy and time will fly" idea to the extreme.

1. Val and I are doing the Mayo craft fair on Nov 14th, we are so busy trying to prepare for that, we are so excited. mom and val plan to head up to our winter wonderland for the fun-filled (and hopefully profitable!) weekend.

2. Sounds crazy but we have decided to move, which means we have to sell our house (sounds simple right?) I thought our house was in pretty good shape but the list of things to do keeps growing not shrinking; and everything is taking longer than expected. Ernie and Dan have been working to repair the deck, a small project turned into completely redoing the entire floor. I have been painting, packing, de-cluttering, packing more, multiple delivery trips to goodwill.

What put me over the edge today was after a sleepless night (did i mention both dan and I have been sick?) the garbage disposal exploded. I decided I had enough for the day and was taking a serious break from de-cluttering/packing. The friendly plumber installed a nice expensive disposal that the new owners are sure to enjoy. Who knew disposals were so expensive?

I have shopped at Menards almost everyday for the past week and I am sure tomorrow will not be any different, ughhhh. did i mention I ordered new countertops and replaced all the possible hardware in our house.

the big questions is: how do I get the "Designed to Sell" and "House Hunters" pros to come take over this disaster!

Trip down south

I need to start out by saying that Dan has now cut off my ebay/etsy fabric purchasing habit, he calls me a hoarder and wants to hold an intervention, so if you are interested to joining the intervention be sure to chat with Dan, I have such trouble saying "no" to such beautiful and fun fabrics! I think he will feel better when knows my creations are selling!

I had the pleasure of spending almost a week with my family in Monett, MO and Fayetteville, AR. We had a great time and yes I was referred to as the sweat shop boss who kept everyone on task, come on we had a lot of crafting to do in a short time!

Rachael was the acting photographer showing off all our hard work. Charlotte is showing off her fave, a ruffle onesie with the lily pad print.

We worked on a lot of blankets, mainly the 12x12 tag blankets or the silky ones, between the 4 of us (mom, rach, val, and me) we have a great selection and enjoy bouncing new ideas off each other.

I love this Pink Minky fabric and paired with the Chocolate Corduroy on the backside with the satin edging, it is so girly!

My more masculine attempt was this chocolate argyle minky with chocolate cord on the backside with fun tags/ribbons.

What can I say I just love the fun Owls! Have I mentioned I love this super soft corduroy? especially when paired with the super soft tangerine minky!

the baby carrier cover . . . .Okay this little project was a bit more daunting, between my mom and I we are reworking the pattern (because it stinks) but I still love the orange hippo fabric. and Yes that is one of my (or my sister's) old Cabbage Patch kids as our model, Charlie is a little too big!

Mom has been working very hard on her apron sets, this one showcases the Black Kitchen apron with hot pink "kitchen DIVA" with coordinating black and white print on pocket of apron, the towel, and the cuffs of the kitchen gloves. I love Green (all things green) and this is no different, I love the retro print mom paired with this apron.

Well just wanted to share what we have been up to lately, oh and we are now at the 5 month waiting mark!

Two Months and Counting . . .

Tuesday marks two months on the official waiting list, I am not obsessively counting though :) It has been a huge blessing to have Val along for the journey. There is only so much a person can relate to the whole adoption process unless if you have done it yourself. Not only is Val my baby sister but i count her one of my closest friends. As much as Dan reminds me that i need to stop obsessing and just 'stop thinking' i know Valarie can totally understand that i cannot just turn it off. Even if it isn't something specific about our future children we obsess about the culture, family, and nation they will be born into. Just last night Valarie started talking about someone she knew just received a referral (matched with a child) and before you know it she is just going on and on about politics in North Korea and the future US/Korea relations . . . Okay I probably need to explain I have always felt like I was the one in the family that kept up on political goings-on and current events and suddenly my sister is spouting off all kinds of current events that i personally have been too tired to keep up with the news. It was an ah-ha moment; Val is obsessive too, I am Not ALONE!

Lately I have attempted to distract my obsession with my future child with fabric, yes it does sound silly when i put it that way. i have been sewing and planning my next quilt, loving almost every minute. Dan thinks it would more financially responsible to go back to obsessing about the adoption instead of spending $$ on fabric. I am so proud of my new tags, no they are not fancy or exciting but it is all mine and i made them so I feel pretty great about them.

If you have some great ideas on distraction that are 'financially responsible' please leave a comment and help me out, and please don't say "go to the gym" because the chances of that happening are not great.