Our Sweet Annie

Busy mom, forgot about her blog

2010-05-24T08:27:00.000-07:00

Hi friends! I'm not even going to try to update on the past 8 months. Annie is 22 months now and doing amazingly! She sleeps all night in her big girl bed and she is talking like crazy. She knows her letters, numbers, animal sounds and has lots of sentences. She loves to play outside and we're looking forward to a fun summer!

Beach Babe

2009-08-17T10:17:00.000-07:00

We went to Santa Cruz a while ago so I have some photos to share.

Annie is having a rough time sleeping lately but is walking, talking and learning so much! Here are her words:
ma ma
da da
buh buh = buddy (Calvin's nick name)
nah nah = Nathan
ba ba = bottle
bay bay = baby (what she calls herself)
poo poo
nie nie = night night
hehwo = hello
bye bye
mah ma (rhymes with grandma) = grandma
up
ta da (she raises her arms up and says this after daddy flips her)
uh oh
dog
cat
no no (she wags her finger back and forth while saying this)
diapah = diaper
dat = that (what she says when she points at something she wants or is interested in)
bah = bath

I may be missing a few. She also mimics us a lot so we get more words but the ones above are words she uses accurately. Right now she is crawling down the hallway, saying "bah bah" asking for a bath!

We have a walker!

2009-08-05T09:35:00.000-07:00

Annie took her first steps the week before her 1st birthday. She still crawls most of the time but every day she's walking more and more. Yesterday she took 21 steps in a row including a big turn!

She's also talking like crazy. She's up to about 15 or so words.

A few weeks ago we went to my Dad's retirement party. It was held at the Compass Rose Gardens in Bodega Bay, the same place Lance and I got married. Here are a few photos from that evening.

Had to share this sweet happy girl at a recent neighbor's birthday party.

Yesterday we went to the fair. After Annie recovered from her first public meltdown we all had a good time!

We're doing well here. Still working on sleeping but I'm sure that will work out eventually...right?

Annie got her first haircut.

2009-07-27T10:55:00.000-07:00

I asked the woman to trim her bangs to her eyebrows so they weren't hanging in her eyes anymore. They are a good TWO inches above her eyebrows now! :( She doesn't even look like the same girl. Thank goodness they'll grow.

*Edited to add photos. I wanted it cut so that I wouldn't have to put a hair clip in it 100% of the time. Now I will have to until it grows an inch or so. Should only take a few weeks...

1 year checkup & the water table!

2009-07-20T15:19:00.000-07:00

Sweet Annie had her 1 year check up today and is doing great! When we brought her home at 9 months she was at the 42th percentile for weight and the 81st for height! She's gained 4 pounds and has grown an inch in the last 3 months. So now she is 22.75 pounds and 29.75" which is the 73rd percentile for weight and 65th for height! My sweet little chunky girl. :-)

Annie got the greatest water table from her Grandma Sue and Grandpa Alan for her birthday. She loves it (as shown below)!

Annie is one!

2009-07-15T23:38:00.000-07:00

I can't believe it. Annie turned one on Saturday. We did a Korean Tol celebration at her party. In Korea turning one is cause a big celebration and Annie's foster mom gave us a beautiful Hanbok for her to wear on her first birthday.

Part of the celebration includes Annie picking items on a table, each with a meaning to predict her future. She chose the needle and thread and then the money which means she will have a long life and be wealthy! It was a lot of fun.

The River

2009-06-30T18:48:00.000-07:00

The heat wave is over and it was a beautiful 75 degrees. We had lots of fun with friends on the Russian River.

Daddy Time

2009-06-27T19:32:00.000-07:00

Today Annie and I went on an 8 hour shopping trip down to San Jose. We had a wonderful time at a Korean Market, a great lunch with Grandma and Grandpa and got her some adorable shoes at Nordstrom Rack. She did great on the drive and it wasn't until the last 30 minutes that I had to sing her the same song over and over so that she wouldn't cry.

When we got home she was so happy to see Daddy and they had some snuggle time on the hammock.

Here are the goodies we got at the market.

Can you believe Annie is almost one? Time is flying!

Annie's homecoming slide show!

2009-06-03T09:56:00.000-07:00

Photos were taken by Lisa, Thad (thank you!) and me. Music by Israel Kamakawiwo'ole.

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Learning so fast!

2009-06-02T10:17:00.001-07:00

Annie has 5 words and knows how to use them. She says mama, dada, baba, hello & cat! She babbles and understands lots too. When we say "bye-bye" she waves, "yea" she claps, and "bouncy girl" she bounces. Here's a quick video clip clapping.

Guess what?

2009-05-24T14:41:00.000-07:00

Yes, you guessed it, more photos of sweet Annie. She's had a pretty yucky stomach bug so I haven't been online much. Even when she is sick she's still such a sweet heart, just a little less smiley.

Yesterday we went over to our good friends Brett & Kali's house. The big kids all swam while Annie played poolside.

Thanks for all the replies to my last post! :-)

Annie's first trip to the pool

2009-05-13T19:40:00.000-07:00

She LOVED it. She slept the first hour but then had a great time hanging out and dipping her legs in the pool.

Nathan & Calvin are on the left in the first photo too.

First day back to work

2009-05-07T17:02:00.000-07:00

Annie and I went back to work today. She was great, as always! She spent a lot of time on my lap pounding on my keyboard so I gave her a spare keyboard to pound on in her play yard. The Ergo buckle and keyboard were her favorite toys! She took a nice nap on me and slept soundly while I worked and answered the phone. Looks like I have another happy fire house baby. The loud noises at work should teach her to be a sound sleeper. :-)

We met my mom and the boys at Slice of Lice for lunch and she liked my veggie/rice plate. The cauliflower was her fave.

She fell asleep on the way home and let me transfer her from the car seat to the crib. Such a good girl.

Cuties

2009-05-06T14:18:00.000-07:00

I love to post photos of Annie with huge grins and her eyes closed so I thought I'd share one of her big beautiful eyes today!

How sweet is this photo of Annie & Calvin looking at each other? This was 2 days after she came home.

My girl loves the camera!

2009-05-03T14:34:00.000-07:00

She's a ham, just like mama.

A new way to get Annie to sleep

2009-05-01T17:51:00.000-07:00

Guitar Hero! The first photo is at the beginning of the song and she fell asleep before it was over! Last photo is Nathan (my competition). Annie & I won.

The flu.

2009-04-29T16:08:00.000-07:00

Sorry I haven't posted in a while. Calvin has the flu...thankfully not THE flu. Annie has been under the weather as well.

Annie's transition is still going well. I feel like our bond gets stronger every day. :-)

I still need to edit and post more photos from the homecoming. The ones of Calvin holding his sister for the first time are going to melt your heart! Here are a couple Lisa took of me holding Annie for the first time and breathing her in. The tears started to come but I was able to hold it together. These both were from Monday, April 6th.

Annie laughing!

2009-04-19T19:12:00.001-07:00

We are having so much fun finding different ways to make Annie laugh. Nathan is throwing her stuffed animals together (violently, haha!) and I'm pulling and pushing her on a bean bag.

My favorite photos from our first week home.

2009-04-18T17:44:00.000-07:00

It's going to be hard to keep this short. I've taken a million photos. I also got my hands on the photos Lisa took in Korea and as soon as I have a chance to resize those I'll post them too.

Annie had her first well baby check up on Monday. She handled it pretty well. She's very healthy and at 9 months old is 19 pounds. That puts her right at the 50th percentile. It's also the weight I estimated that she would be when she arrived home since she's followed that growth curve since birth.

My poor baby has caught her first cold and is all stuffed up and miserable as of last night. Hope it passes quickly!

Exceeded my bandwidth, oops.

2009-04-14T20:06:00.000-07:00

I'm going to upgrade to pro as soon as I have a chance and/or upload those photos to blogger instead of photobucket. Sorry about that...

The homecoming.

2009-04-12T22:16:00.001-07:00

These above were about 2 minutes after the tearful goodbye with Annie's foster mom. I sat her on the bed and I was sobbing. She must have thought I was a funny sight because she started smiling and laughing at me. That was the first time I ever saw her smile. Cheered me right up!

Not sure if this was the same night or the next morning but she was still smiling!

All dressed and ready to go home.

In the plane waiting for it to take off. We had the whole row (3 seats) to ourselves which was much better than a bulk head/bassinet seat with people on either side of me.

Daddy & Calvin's first time holding Annie

2 of the signs welcoming Annie home

Annie's first bottle with Daddy

Her first bath at home

Here she was after our first stroll around the neighborhood.

Easter photos coming soon...

a couple videos from the afternoon I received Annie for good

2009-04-11T16:01:00.000-07:00

We're home!

2009-04-10T17:09:00.000-07:00

The flight was good and Annie slept about half way but I didn't sleep a wink. I got motion sickness too - yuck! We arrived at SFO at 4am Korea time (12 noon here) and Immigration took forever. Finally made our way out family. There were at least 12 waiting for us and it was a wonderful moment!

We got home about an hour ago and it's now 9am Korea time and still no sleep for me! I'm somewhat delirious. I think I'll wait a couple more hours to sleep so I can get back on schedule. Hopefully Annie will too. Our friends and neighbors surprised us with beautiful signs and balloons out front welcoming Annie home. Daddy is now feeding his girl a bottle. If she falls asleep I'm going to join her.

Hoping her adjustment home goes well. Thanks for keeping us in your thoughts.

Checking in from the agency guest house

2009-04-09T04:05:00.001-07:00

I received Annie today at 4pm. It was a very emotional goodbye with her foster mom...hugging and crying. She asked me to please send her photos of Annie with her brothers and growing up. I assured her that I would.

Annie cried for a couple minutes at first and then she shocked me by smiling and giggling! I couldn't believe it! I saw her smile for the first time ever while I was still sobbing from the goodbye. Especially when I got the camera out, she got this huge smile. I got some great photos and video but I can't share it now since I'm no longer on my laptop. They have a computer here that adoptive parents can use which is very thoughtful. So we played on the bed and walked around for about 3 hours before I could tell she was getting sleepy. I tried to lay down with her and soothe her to sleep but she wasn't having any of that. I put her in the Ergo carrier and we walked up and down the stairs and back and forth in the hallways. She cried off and on for about 10 minutes. A few times people came up to look at her and she got really upset. She finally gave up and now she is sound asleep on my chest.

I'm heading to bed too since I've been told she still gets up twice a night for bottles. I hope she's not too scared when she wakes up in a strange bed next to her strange American mommy. I may be in for a long night.

Short videos from yesterday

2009-04-08T16:42:00.000-07:00

2nd meeting, a little tougher

2009-04-08T00:58:00.000-07:00

**For some reason the photos aren't showing correctly for me in this post. If they look weird to you, click to see each photo.**

When Annie saw me today she became a little worried. I can only imagine what's going through her little mind.

They left us alone and she cried a lot. Not screaming or too hard, more like sobbing. The foster mom came in a handed me a bottle and once I fed her she was a little happier. Foster mom said she didn't have a nap yet and was very tired.

Some exciting news! The agency asked Lisa to escort a baby home to San Francisco on Friday. She accepted and is honored to do it. There is a shortage of escorts right now so the parents are very happy to get their baby a couple weeks sooner than they had thought. We met with that baby girl and foster mom today too. She kept trying to tackle Annie. LOL I took lots of photos to share with her parents but I won't post her face publicly.

Here are some photos from today -

She took her bottle on my lap but insisted on holding it herself.

I did get some finger squeezes.

We watched some babies leave today (the women from my agency were escorting them) and it was heart wrenching. The foster moms were devastated. Everyone was crying including us. I suppose it prepared me a little for what might happen Friday. On the other hand some adoptive parents we met here from Seattle got their baby yesterday and the foster mom wasn't emotional at all. It was her 33rd baby.

I spent a few hours in the nursery today holding, feeding and changing. That was a really special experience. I can't believe how tiny they were, most only a few days old. There were so many beautiful babies!

I get Annie for good tomorrow (Thursday) afternoon. We'll stay the night in the guest house alone and then leave for the airport Friday afternoon. I'm so excited but pretty nervous too.

Backing up a little to our day yesterday. Our new Korean friend Bella that we met on Sunday called our hotel yesterday to see if we wanted her company. Of course we did, she is wonderful! She met us at noon at Dongdaemun shopping complex which is the most unbelievable place to buy fabric! It was amazing, like nothing I could have ever imagined. Floor after floor with mazes of stalls selling fabric, thousands of them. I couldn't see it all if I spent several days there. On the top floor was the food court where we have a delicious traditional Korean lunch.

After that we went to a bath house. That was amazing! It was at least 4 stories tall. The pools/baths were neat with varying temperatures from freezing cold to burning hot. I couldn't go in either of the 2 extremes but stayed in the middle pools. After the pools we went into all these different saunas that were shaped like huts. They each had a different function. One had coal and clay and was said to be good for your lungs. Another had salt and was for your kidneys. One was literally an oven and we could only stay in there a few seconds it was so hot. We also went into a freezing ice room. I liked that one! We would have never figured any of this out without Bella translating. This wasn't a place for tourists so we were really grateful for the experience. After the saunas we went for massages. I had a traditional Korean massage and Bella asked her to go easy on me but I am still in pain. The woman gets up on the table and uses her whole body during the massage - ouch! Lisa had a massage and Cupping. The cupping is these hot ceramic cups that are heated and stuck to your back and legs. They pull toxins out of your body. Lisa has the big purple marks all over from them still! This bath house also served food, had exercise rooms, sleeping rooms and lots more. It's less than $6 to get in and you can stay all night. The hour massage was only around $35.

After the bath house Bella took us to dinner. We went to a barbecue place where you cook your own pork on a grill on your table. Of course like all Korean meals there were a bunch of side dishes. We grilled the pork, added toppings and wrapped them in sesame leaves. Delicious! We drank rice wine that is supposed to make us live 100 years. I love that about Korea, that everything has a fun purpose like that. The label on the bottle translated to "100 year wine" or something like that. I picked some up at the convenience store to bring home. The corn tea I drank earlier that day had a specific purpose too but I can't remember what it was.

When we were done with dinner Lisa and Bella were ready to go to Karaoke but it was 11pm and I was to meet Annie in the morning so I turned in. They had fun and I'm sorry I missed it. I would have loved to take video. Here are some more photos from our site seeing -

Bella, Lisa & I at Mister Doughnut

Lisa & I on the street

Bella and I at dinner last night

I haven't uploaded the photos of Dondaemun yet. I'm getting hungry and this post is getting long so I'll do it later. I have a couple more short videos of Annie to upload too. That's all for now, will post again in the morning and then I'll be offline until I get home since I can't use my laptop at the guesthouse.

Photos!

2009-04-05T23:54:00.001-07:00

We met her!

2009-04-05T21:19:00.000-07:00

It was magical. It could not have gone better. She and I got along so well. She played with me and let me hold her. She put her head on my chest and played with my hair. I'm going to get her for good Thursday rather than Friday since the social worker saw that she was so comfortable with me. The Foster Mother gave me a big album of photos of Annie from the time she was a newborn until now. That is an amazing gift for Annie to have. She gave us her Hanbok which is the traditional Korean outfit she will wear on her 1st birthday.

I get to visit with Annie again on Wednesday morning. The best photos of the moment we first met are on Lisa's camera so I won't be able to share those until next week. I had big tears in my eyes then but I pulled it together for the rest of the visit. More photos will be coming shortly...

Meeting Annie in less than 12 hours!

2009-04-05T06:28:00.000-07:00

We've been in Korea 1 day now. I'm too tired to recap the trip so far but it has been really nice. Will post more after my meeting with Annie tomorrow. Now I need to get some sleep. I'll attach a couple photos from Seoul today.

TRAVEL CALL!!!

2009-03-31T22:34:00.000-07:00

Got my VI and TC on the same day! My agency just called at 9:30 PM and I'm all set to go! I booked travel for this Friday through next Friday.

I'll arrive Saturday night and will meet Annie on Monday morning. I can't believe it. I'm on cloud 9!

Please pray that I get healthy quickly. Lance had a 24 hour stomach flu all day/night yesterday and I just came down with it this afternoon. I really need it to be gone tomorrow so I can pull it together, pack and be ready for the trip of my life on Friday.

It will be this week!

2009-03-30T06:51:00.001-07:00

Annie's Visa Interview is scheduled for tomorrow (Tuesday) at 1pm. Since Tuesday at 1pm is really Monday (tonight) in California I could have the travel call tomorrow morning! We're planning on flying out Thursday but I can't book the tickets until I get the official travel call from the agency.

I can't believe this is really happening!

Still another week left.

2009-03-23T14:12:00.000-07:00

We are all ready to go but the US Embassy in Korea is asking for one more document. If they accept it by fax or email I could get my travel call in the next day or 2. If they insist on waiting for the original to get to Korea, I should get the call next week.

If I get the call this week Lisa and I will leave Sunday (3/29). If I get it by Wednesday of next week we'll leave the day after the call. If it comes next Thursday or later we'll leave on Sunday (4/5). We have to arrive on a week day and Korea is a day ahead so we can't depart on a Friday or Saturday.

Hopefully my next post will be announcing our TRAVEL CALL! Every minute Annie isn't in my arms has become torture. I need my baby girl.

New photo & we're almost there!

2009-03-19T15:54:00.000-07:00

Today has been 3 months since being matched with our beautiful, sweet Annie and seeing her face for the first time. We're so close to going to Korea! On 3/12 the Embassy sent P3 to our Korean agency. Now they are just waiting to get that paperwork back then they will scheduled the Visa Interview. After that the Visa is issued and we get our travel call! Hopefully that call will come early next week.

I was so excited to receive an updated photo of Annie in my email today! She is 8 months old in the photo so it was taken recently. I can't wait to have her in my arms and kiss her sweet cheeks.

NVC OUT!

2009-03-06T13:28:00.000-08:00

We were logged out of NVC today already! Just a couple more weeks to go... :)

Logged in to the National Visa Center!

2009-03-05T10:39:00.000-08:00

Today our I600 (USCIS approval) was logged in to the National Visa Center. Another step down! Next it will be logged out and sent to the Korean Embassy. There are a few more steps after that but if everything goes smoothly our travel call should come in 2-4 weeks. I've actually crunched numbers on about 15 recent families and their time lines and the average TC from NVC being logged in is 3.4 weeks for those who already have EP! Can you believe it? I could be on my way to Korea by the end of the month!

2 steps closer to bringing home Annie!

2009-02-26T16:26:00.000-08:00

Oh my gosh I'm so excited! We FINALLY got our I600 (immigration approval) from the U.S. for Annie to come home. It took 5 weeks, was approved on Monday and we got the approval letter in the mail today. The wait was supposed to be 4-8 weeks so I'm so happy it wasn't longer.

I called my agency to let them know the good news. She was happy and said that everything is ready on the Korea side! I was like, what do you mean everything is ready and she said my baby has departure permission and her passport is all done. I asked her if that meant she had "EP" and she said yes. I asked when that happened and she said a week or 2 ago. Having EP is so important and basically now EVERYTHING is approved on both the US and Korea side and it's just a matter of the approved paperwork going through the Visa Centers and Embassies via snail mail.

So now I have I600 & EP! I'm shaking I'm so excited. She said the average time to travel from I600 approval is 4-6 weeks but the quickest she has seen is 3 weeks. That puts travel between March 16th - April 6th.

So much to do!

Wish I had some news.

2009-01-31T10:39:00.001-08:00

This waiting to travel junk is no fun at all! I want to get on a plane now. It takes at least 3 months from referral to travel. USCIS received my I600 application on Jan 20. They say it will take 4-8 weeks to be approved. Praying that it's closer to 4. After that is approved my agency has told me it will take another 4-6 weeks until I get my travel call. Once I get that call I will book my ticket and be on a plane within a day or 2. Hoping that will be in mid-late March.

Here's a peek in to Annie's closet and just some of her 12-18 month dresses. I'll post more pictures as the nursery progresses. It's a big job turning a sewing room into a nursery!

Legals!

2009-01-09T15:34:00.000-08:00

I called my agency today and found out my baby's legal documents arrived from Korea! What a way to improve my mood! That was so quick. Because of Christmas and my agency being out of state, my acceptance wasn't sent to Korea until 12/30/08. My agency is sending out my I600 and my Interstate Compact today. My I600A was approved quickly so I'm hoping the same is true for the I600. If everything goes smoothly I could be traveling to Korea to bring home Anne in about 2 months!

We got our Christmas wish!

2008-12-26T23:31:00.000-08:00

I should have posted sooner but it's been a whirlwind week. On Friday 12/19 we were matched with our baby girl!!! I was out to lunch with my friend Chrissy at Monti's, we were celebrating our birthdays. After lunch I called home to check my messages and my agency had left two messages. I could not get home fast enough. The 5 minute drive seemed to take forever. I called back and Morgan told me about our little girl. I asked him to email me her information. I quickly checked my email, saw her precious face and read just a little bit about her. She was born July 11th weighing 7.7 pounds. I called Lance and he told me he was almost home. At this point it was about 10 minutes until 1pm and I was due to be in Calvin's class at 1 for his holiday party. Lance walked in and I showed him the photo and then he was off to his office for a 1pm conference call. I rushed to school and to Calvin's class. I told him the wonderful news that he had a baby sister! He was so happy and started telling all his friends. Soon it was time for recess so I went out, found Nathan on the playground and told him the great news as well. So exciting! The next hour I spent in Calvin's class and it was all a daze. I could not wait to get home, read more about our girl, stare at her photo and celebrate with Lance and the boys. When school was finally out I hurried over to a group of my friends (Kelly, Katie & Carmi) and told them the big news. More excitement and hugging. I found Crystal & Nicole (2 of my friends who have adopted from Korea and Taiwan) and told them. Then we went home.

That afternoon I brought the baby's medical information to our Doctor's office for him to look over. All weekend we spent sharing the news with our family and friends as well as getting ready for Christmas. I saved lots of my shopping for the last minute. On Monday morning we heard from our doctor that in his opinion our daughter is healthy, growing well and is being well cared for. We called our agency, accepted her referral and they overnighted her documents to us. We got the documents on Christmas Eve. We had to go get 30 signatures notorized!

On Christmas Eve we went over to my mom's house to celebrate with family. Then we headed over to my dad's for a big family dinner. Christmas morning was very special here. My mom came over for brunch and the we headed down to San Jose Christmas afternoon. There was so much more celebrating, both for the holiday and the newest addition to the family. Lance's sister Lisa went a little crazy shopping at my favorite store (Oilily) for our baby girl. I will have to post some of the photos of those later.

We spent the night in San Jose and then went over to Lisa's house this morning to play Rock Band on the Wii. My favorite was playing the drums. We finally arrived back home this evening and this is pretty much the first time I have sat on the couch and relaxed for a week.

We have a ton of work to do in the next few months. I'm overnighting the adoption documents back to our agency in the morning and then they will start the immigration process. They said our daughter will be ready to travel in 4-5 months but I'm really hoping and praying it's closer to 3.5-4. My sister-in-law Lisa will be traveling to Korea with me to pick her up in the Spring. In the meantime we will be getting the home and the nursery ready here.

More about our baby! We'll be naming her Annie after my grandmother. We're still deciding on a middle name. She has the cutest chubby cheeks and lots of hair. Her paperwork mentions her dimples. I can't wait to see them. I hope that while we're waiting we'll get more photos of her and possibly even video!

Enough rambling, here is our Sweet Baby Annie!

All I want for Christmas

2008-12-18T11:21:00.000-08:00

What do you think that is? ;) Just to bring a little color to my blog, here are some of my baby girl's clothes. This is just a tiny sample. I think I've bought and sewn her enough clothes to last a few years.

The next post I make to this blog should be my referral announcement!

Still #1

2008-12-08T15:07:00.000-08:00

So far being #1 has been the hardest part of the wait. Knowing we are so close but having no idea when the call will actually come. I was hoping to have a picture of our daughter to send with our family Christmas card but that will have to wait until next Christmas. Still desperately hoping for a referral this year...

This is getting hard.

2008-11-02T15:30:00.000-08:00

I really thought that we'd get our referral in October. I'm no longer going to make guesses about when things might happen...though I'm still hoping for a referral this year.

The waiting is getting hard. Every time the phone rings I get excited thinking we have a daughter. I know the wait after we are matched and I see her photo is going to be even harder. Last time I whined on my blog we had a huge jump on the waiting list so hoping I have that luck again! ;)

I did just get my first passport in the mail on Friday. That was exciting! I'm going to be traveling to South Korea alone to bring home her home. I can't wait for that day...hoping that will be in the Spring.

Preparing for baby!

2008-10-06T21:09:00.000-07:00

We are so close to being matched with our daughter! I think this is our month. I've been buying and trading for cloth diapers for her. I received more since this photo and have more on the way. You will have to click to enlarge these photos.

& look at all these wonderful hand me down wool longies and covers that my super generous friend Rebecca sent me!

I can't wait to have a baby to diaper! Thank you everyone for all of your support so far during our adoption journey.

Getting Closer!

2008-09-30T10:26:00.000-07:00

We were #1 on the waiting list for a bit but then a couple people in front of us came off hold so I think we're back to #3. It could be just a few weeks until we're matched or maybe a couple months. I'll post an announcement as soon as I hear anything. Getting so excited! Here are some little dresses I sewed last night for my daughter.

It's official!

2008-08-01T14:11:00.000-07:00

We are #6 on the waiting list. Wow, this is going fast! From #22 to #6 in just 6.5 months! You never know how quick 6 referrals will come in but it could be a couple months. We're just now beginning our homestudy. Hopefully we'll complete it quickly.

So excited! -Kori

A quick note

2008-07-07T15:47:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to say that we're moving up the list quick! We are ready to start our home study now. I just called the agency and she said we're #14 with 5 people on hold in front of us AND 3 baby girl referrals just came in last week and haven't been assigned yet! So really, if the people on hold don't come off any time soon we are #6!

Yesterday, I was complaining about the wait, wishing that I could do something to help move things along. Now today, there's just so much to do! So exciting...

We're moving up the list!

2008-05-22T14:42:00.000-07:00

Just a quick post to share my excitement about now being #17 on the waiting list! There are 5 people on hold in front us so we could possibly be even closer. Not much more to report. I'm hoping we start our homestudy in the fall. Here's a beautiful little doll that my friend Krista made for our future daughter.

Did I say 2009?

2008-03-21T13:35:00.000-07:00

Maybe I should change that to 2010? I thought when we were placed on the waiting list a couple months ago I was given an estimate of about 12 months until referral. Maybe I misunderstood. I just hung up with the agency now and she estimated 10-12 months before we begin our homestudy. :( We're #21 on the waiting list and we're to start the homestudy when we're #10 so if it might take 10-12 months to get to #10, than it might also take that long to get to #1 and our referral. Add another 2-4 months to that, waiting to travel and it looks to me like 22-28 months from right now. We started the process a little over 3 months ago and I'm already feeling impatient. Keep your fingers crossed that they're estimating a little high because things have slowed down lately and that they will speed up again soon!

There's a spot on my lap waiting for our baby girl -

Waiting

2008-03-07T00:08:00.000-08:00

Well, we've chosen an agency and have been on the baby girl waiting list for 1 month, 3 weeks and 1 day! Our daughter will be born in South Korea and when she's ready to come home Lance and I will travel there to get her.

Guess what I'm doing to pass the time while I wait?

Yes, you guessed it - sewing for my baby girl! Want to see a little more?

Last one -

I'll update soon but don't expect any change in our progress for quite some time!

:-) Kori

Hi there!

2007-11-16T22:57:00.000-08:00

My husband and I are beginning the process of adding a daughter to our family.

Wish us luck. We're hoping to bring home our baby daughter in 2009.

Kori