Today we learned of some exciting changes being made to the Korea program. This is how things worked in the past: A day or two after the adoptive parents arrived in Seoul, they would meet with the baby and foster mother at Holt for a few hours. Two days later they would meet again at Holt for a quick visit and then would be allowed to bond with the child in the hotel room for a couple of hours. On the night before or the day of departure we will official be given the baby.
On May 1st, the new arrangement takes place. The baby will have a physical the day before the adoptive parents arrive in Seoul. At the first meeting we will visit with the baby and foster mother for a few hours, take the baby to the international doctor and will then officially receive the baby...all in one day!!!! This will allow us to bond and sight see with him 3-5 days before leaving Korea.
We had originally planned to stay a few extra days in Korea so that we would have more time to bond with him. Unfortunately, Korea would not have placed the baby with us until the last day anyways, so there was really no sense to stay additional days. We are really glad they have made these changes. It will be great to actually get him right away and tour the city with him in our arms!
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
How we knew he was our son
Update: So I forgot one piece to the story...yes, there was one more sign:) At the end of summer last year, we were having dinner with one of our neighbors. We had been talking about the adoption and how at that point we didn't know if we were going to proceed...for several reasons. As we were talking, April left the room and came back with a checkbook. It was a check from the bank of heaven. At the top of the check was a scripture, "If ye shall ask anything in my name, I will do it" John 14:14. In the pay to the order of section, "Who so ever believeth in Me". In the following section, you were to write whatever you were asking God's blessing on. We wrote..."adopt a second child". We dated this check 8-17-2009. Our son was born 13 days later. I get goose bumps every time I think about all of these signs. God is so Good!!!
When we first received the file of Yi Seung Gi on March 16th, our hearts melted. His sweet little face took us in and we were hooked. At first, I was nervous to open his file. Did they send his file to us in error? Are they sure the weight requirement had been waived? We went ahead and opened the file and there he was. His newborn picture...sleeping quietly...he looked so peaceful. I didn't even need to read anything more. A baby boy...born in Korea...file sent to us = match made in heaven.
Then reality started to set in. He has a pretty significant special need. Can we handle his needs? Why did no other family show an interest? Was there something we were missing or was he just meant to be? These questions kept running through our minds day in and day out. Every minute of every day we prayed. This time we prayed differently though. When we would pray for each of the other waiting children we had requested info on, we would pray "let this be the one". This time however, we prayed for God's will to be done. If Yi Seung Gi was meant to be our son, We believed with all of our heart that God would lead us down the right path to our son. He is the only one in control in this situation, and we honestly believe he knew all along which child was ours and from which country he would be born in.
At this point, we felt pretty confident in submitting our name to be matched. Our next concern was how to afford the remaining cost of the adoption. We were blessed with a grant of over $10,000, but since we were switching countries we needed an additional $7,000. That evening, we spoke with my dad and step mom about our financial concerns...no one knows better than the developer of the M.W. school of finance...lol:) Anyways, after talking things over with them, they made it clear to us that we would not be able to proceed with this adoption due to our current financial struggles. We were devastated. I have never cried so much in my life. I felt like I had to give up something I never had.
From that moment, we prayed specifically that God would help us financially continue on this journey. That evening and the next day were so hard for us. I could barely see out of my eyes from all of the tears I had shed. There was just something about him that I could not just give up on. That is when it all started to change. We were graciously presented with $7000 to continue on our journey. Words can not even describe the joy we felt that day.
Our next step was to submit our name to be matched. I began to pray even more. This time I not only prayed for His will to be done, I prayed for a clear sign that he was our son. Some may say my signs were a bit off, but to me they were sent from above. As I sat at my desk searching ridiculous amounts of random websites I noticed an add for a clothing line. It was for the Tea collection and at the top of the advertisement it read, "Destination Korea". A few hours later as I was leaving work, I noticed a bumper sticker on the back of a car. It read "Remember Korea". On my way to pick up Lydia from school I was scanning through the radio when I heard these words to a song..."hey, soul sister". I just had to laugh. Lydia just might be a "soul" sister some day. Ok, so you may think these are not signs from God, but I truly feel they were. I immediately called Justin to tell him I felt 100% confident he was our son and that we should proceed.
On March 19th, we submitted our names. It took them nearly a week and a half to make a decision. It felt like that day was never going to come. I kept thinking to myself...we just have to be the family. Why would God present us with this child (born in Korea), make our hearts at ease, and help us financially find a way to bring him home if we were not going to be matched with him? I just couldn't get that thought out of my head...he just had to be our son.
The day finally arrived. On March 30th, we received the call...we have a son. It was his 7 month birthday. I shed even more tears that day. My head literally fell between my legs as I sobbed in Justin's office. We were sent an updated picture of him...he was just perfect! I thanked God for this precious child He has allowed us to raise. I was so emotional...I honestly don't know how I drove to Lydia's school.
So, even after all the signs we were given...here is one more for you. The song that was playing on the radio on my way home that day...You are so good to me by Third Day. Here are some of the lyrics:
You are beautiful my sweet, sweet song
And I will sing again
You are so good to me, you heal my broken heart
You are my father in heaven
You ride upon the clouds, You lead me to the truth
You are the spirit inside me
So I love this song for so many reasons, but on this day I loved it because he was my beautiful song. (We were originally told Kai's Korean name Seung was pronounced Song. Before I had a chance to publish this post, we have since learned his name is pronounced Sing). However it is pronounced, I still love him and this song.
When we first received the file of Yi Seung Gi on March 16th, our hearts melted. His sweet little face took us in and we were hooked. At first, I was nervous to open his file. Did they send his file to us in error? Are they sure the weight requirement had been waived? We went ahead and opened the file and there he was. His newborn picture...sleeping quietly...he looked so peaceful. I didn't even need to read anything more. A baby boy...born in Korea...file sent to us = match made in heaven.
Then reality started to set in. He has a pretty significant special need. Can we handle his needs? Why did no other family show an interest? Was there something we were missing or was he just meant to be? These questions kept running through our minds day in and day out. Every minute of every day we prayed. This time we prayed differently though. When we would pray for each of the other waiting children we had requested info on, we would pray "let this be the one". This time however, we prayed for God's will to be done. If Yi Seung Gi was meant to be our son, We believed with all of our heart that God would lead us down the right path to our son. He is the only one in control in this situation, and we honestly believe he knew all along which child was ours and from which country he would be born in.
At this point, we felt pretty confident in submitting our name to be matched. Our next concern was how to afford the remaining cost of the adoption. We were blessed with a grant of over $10,000, but since we were switching countries we needed an additional $7,000. That evening, we spoke with my dad and step mom about our financial concerns...no one knows better than the developer of the M.W. school of finance...lol:) Anyways, after talking things over with them, they made it clear to us that we would not be able to proceed with this adoption due to our current financial struggles. We were devastated. I have never cried so much in my life. I felt like I had to give up something I never had.
From that moment, we prayed specifically that God would help us financially continue on this journey. That evening and the next day were so hard for us. I could barely see out of my eyes from all of the tears I had shed. There was just something about him that I could not just give up on. That is when it all started to change. We were graciously presented with $7000 to continue on our journey. Words can not even describe the joy we felt that day.
Our next step was to submit our name to be matched. I began to pray even more. This time I not only prayed for His will to be done, I prayed for a clear sign that he was our son. Some may say my signs were a bit off, but to me they were sent from above. As I sat at my desk searching ridiculous amounts of random websites I noticed an add for a clothing line. It was for the Tea collection and at the top of the advertisement it read, "Destination Korea". A few hours later as I was leaving work, I noticed a bumper sticker on the back of a car. It read "Remember Korea". On my way to pick up Lydia from school I was scanning through the radio when I heard these words to a song..."hey, soul sister". I just had to laugh. Lydia just might be a "soul" sister some day. Ok, so you may think these are not signs from God, but I truly feel they were. I immediately called Justin to tell him I felt 100% confident he was our son and that we should proceed.
On March 19th, we submitted our names. It took them nearly a week and a half to make a decision. It felt like that day was never going to come. I kept thinking to myself...we just have to be the family. Why would God present us with this child (born in Korea), make our hearts at ease, and help us financially find a way to bring him home if we were not going to be matched with him? I just couldn't get that thought out of my head...he just had to be our son.
The day finally arrived. On March 30th, we received the call...we have a son. It was his 7 month birthday. I shed even more tears that day. My head literally fell between my legs as I sobbed in Justin's office. We were sent an updated picture of him...he was just perfect! I thanked God for this precious child He has allowed us to raise. I was so emotional...I honestly don't know how I drove to Lydia's school.
So, even after all the signs we were given...here is one more for you. The song that was playing on the radio on my way home that day...You are so good to me by Third Day. Here are some of the lyrics:
You are beautiful my sweet, sweet song
And I will sing again
You are so good to me, you heal my broken heart
You are my father in heaven
You ride upon the clouds, You lead me to the truth
You are the spirit inside me
So I love this song for so many reasons, but on this day I loved it because he was my beautiful song. (We were originally told Kai's Korean name Seung was pronounced Song. Before I had a chance to publish this post, we have since learned his name is pronounced Sing). However it is pronounced, I still love him and this song.
Sunday, April 25, 2010
Kai in action
Early Friday morning we received an email from our social worker telling us that Holt was able to get a video of Kai and it was in the mail. I thought the agency was waiting to receive it and then within the next week it would be on its way to us. She quickly responded that they already received the package and that we should be receiving it that day or in the next few days. Well, the mail lady came and went that day so I thought for sure we would have to wait until Monday. Much to our surprise it was in the mail on Saturday. I saw the mail truck coming up the road and had a slight hope that she was carrying a precious package. As she pulled around the turn I saw a large envelope and my heart skipped a beat. When I read who the package was from I started jumping up and down and began to tear up. I am almost positive the mail lady thought I was a little crazy or had just won the lottery. It was even better...video of our sweet baby boy!
I haven't talked on here much about Kai's special need. He was born with a malformation of his left ear and it was also noted that he had abnormal posture. We spoke with Riley about some concerns we had and she said that with each well baby check we have been given he is doing extremely well, and is right on target developmentally. He has perfect hearing in his right ear and has partial hearing loss in his left. As far as his posture, it was noted that he could sit up assisted and that he was receiving physical therapy each week.
The doctor asked if we could request his brain MRI to see if he had an ear canal on his left side to see what treatment he would need once he was home. She was also interested in a video to see his posture and interaction with others. Videos are rarely given out, so we are very blessed to have even gotten one. Since videos are not common, we figured it would only be a few minutes long...five minutes tops. It was over 20 minutes and taken over a span of three days. I can't get enough of his smile and his little belly laugh. He seems to be doing GREAT...sitting up on his own, crawling (well, the army crawl), and smiling ear to ear. Such a happy boy and we couldn't be happier. Here is a few small pieces from the video. Enjoy!
e
Here are a few pictures we snapped from the video. They aren't the best, but still cute!
Mommy's little sumo baby!
Oh, and if anyone knows what this little musical toy is or where to find one let me know. I would love to get him one for when he comes home.
I haven't talked on here much about Kai's special need. He was born with a malformation of his left ear and it was also noted that he had abnormal posture. We spoke with Riley about some concerns we had and she said that with each well baby check we have been given he is doing extremely well, and is right on target developmentally. He has perfect hearing in his right ear and has partial hearing loss in his left. As far as his posture, it was noted that he could sit up assisted and that he was receiving physical therapy each week.
The doctor asked if we could request his brain MRI to see if he had an ear canal on his left side to see what treatment he would need once he was home. She was also interested in a video to see his posture and interaction with others. Videos are rarely given out, so we are very blessed to have even gotten one. Since videos are not common, we figured it would only be a few minutes long...five minutes tops. It was over 20 minutes and taken over a span of three days. I can't get enough of his smile and his little belly laugh. He seems to be doing GREAT...sitting up on his own, crawling (well, the army crawl), and smiling ear to ear. Such a happy boy and we couldn't be happier. Here is a few small pieces from the video. Enjoy!
e
Here are a few pictures we snapped from the video. They aren't the best, but still cute!
Mommy's little sumo baby!
Oh, and if anyone knows what this little musical toy is or where to find one let me know. I would love to get him one for when he comes home.
Thursday, April 22, 2010
Learning Korean
We are trying to learn as many Korean words or phrases before traveling to Korea. This past week, with the help of one of our Korean professors, we have learned words to help Kai identify who we are.
-Mommy: Umma
-Daddy: Ah-Pah
-Sister: Nu-Na
-Brother: Dong-Sang
-Love you: Sa-Rang-Hae
That is all we have so far...very difficult to learn (for us anyways). We are thinking of other words to learn to help his bonding go more smoothly.
We also asked if we were correctly prounouncing his name. Seung Gi is prounounced..."Song Gee". We also had her translate a small letter to the foster family to put in with Kai's care package...which should be going in the mail soon.
-Mommy: Umma
-Daddy: Ah-Pah
-Sister: Nu-Na
-Brother: Dong-Sang
-Love you: Sa-Rang-Hae
That is all we have so far...very difficult to learn (for us anyways). We are thinking of other words to learn to help his bonding go more smoothly.
We also asked if we were correctly prounouncing his name. Seung Gi is prounounced..."Song Gee". We also had her translate a small letter to the foster family to put in with Kai's care package...which should be going in the mail soon.
Monday, April 12, 2010
Things are moving right along
After a weeks worth of reviewing new documents, making the necessary changes, writing letters and signing/dating a stack of papers we are one step closer to bringing Kai home:)
This morning we were able to mark one more thing off our checklist...a meeting with our social worker to put the finishing touches on our new home study. If everything goes as planned, she will have the changes to the Indy office by this afternnon and it should be sent to the head office by Wednesday (no later than Friday) and then off to Korea.
We also discuseed what we should expect in the next few months. Our sw informed us that we have already recieved Kai's legals (which we have heard takes 4-8 weeks...yay!) and the next step is to get our revised 171-H. Since we have already filed our 1600-A with Taiwan we are just filing a change of country and should receive it quicker than if filing for the first time.
Our agency originally told us to expect travel in 4-6 months, but since we already have legals and things are running smoothly they believe we will travel in mid July or August. I am trying not to get to my hopes up...hard to do though. It would be so wonderful to have him home by his first birthday. Here's to praying for a quick travel call!
This morning we were able to mark one more thing off our checklist...a meeting with our social worker to put the finishing touches on our new home study. If everything goes as planned, she will have the changes to the Indy office by this afternnon and it should be sent to the head office by Wednesday (no later than Friday) and then off to Korea.
We also discuseed what we should expect in the next few months. Our sw informed us that we have already recieved Kai's legals (which we have heard takes 4-8 weeks...yay!) and the next step is to get our revised 171-H. Since we have already filed our 1600-A with Taiwan we are just filing a change of country and should receive it quicker than if filing for the first time.
Our agency originally told us to expect travel in 4-6 months, but since we already have legals and things are running smoothly they believe we will travel in mid July or August. I am trying not to get to my hopes up...hard to do though. It would be so wonderful to have him home by his first birthday. Here's to praying for a quick travel call!
Saturday, April 3, 2010
Our first taste of Korea
This afternoon we tried Korean food for the first time. Well, Justin has tried it before, but this was the first time for Lydia and I. It was actually really good. Very similar to the dish we get at the Vietnamese restaurant we go to. I got a chicken dish with noodles and vegetables, and Justin got the same but with beef...extra hot. Can't wait for all of the celebrations we will have here when our little guy comes home:)
Friday, April 2, 2010
Our story
As most of you know we have been on one crazy, windy, bumpy, worth every minute of it kind of journey to find our next love. Today, that journey has changed and our prayers have been answered. We received a referral of our precious baby boy!!!
Here’s our story:
In the summer of 2008, we followed God’s calling to pursue our second international adoption. Little did we know it would take us nearly two years to be matched with our second love of our life. I know there is nothing quick about international adoption, but compared with our first adoption where everything happened so quickly (8 months from start to finish), it was hard adjusting to the feeling of standing completely still.
After looking into several countries, we found our hearts in the Korea program. I don’t know what it was, but something about this program made us feel so comfortable. Maybe it was the short time frame compared to other countries, the age of the child at referral or maybe it was just God’s way of telling us this is where our child was.
So late that summer, we contacted an agency and requested information on that specific program and sent in our application that same week. We were accepted on three different levels…never felt closer to finding our child. That was until we learned Korea had a weight requirement and due to my…oh let’s say chubbiness, we were no longer eligible to complete the adoption.
Back on the search we went. We started looking into adoptions with Thailand (children were older), Taiwan (didn’t meet the marriage requirement), domestic (estimating three years) until we started wondering if our child was meant to come to us through adoption. This is when we started looking into fertility treatments. This was by far the worst decision we have ever made. After two failed attempts, we knew this was not the path God was leading us on.
After much heartache, we decided it would be best if we took a break from the adoption for a few months. Then we got a call from the agency we had been working with. They had an opening in their Korea program and asked if we would like to reapply. Again, it felt so right…like this is where we were supposed to be. Unfortunately things still stood where they were before. In order to complete the adoption, I knew I would have to lose x number of pounds before officially turning in our documents. Could I do? Possibly if I really put my mind to it, but the stress put on me to do it in such a short time frame was really making me nervous. Not to mention the fees we would have lost if I wasn’t’ able to lose the weight by the deadline. As hard as it was, we turned down the offer.
A few weeks later we got a call from the agency again informing us of a new program they took over in Taiwan. We jumped at this opportunity. We started our paperwork in March of 2009, but couldn’t officially turn in our paperwork until November because of the five year marriage requirement. At this time we were expected to be matched in 12-18 months. However, things quickly started changing. Referrals weren’t coming as quickly as they were and the time frame was expected to reach 3 years. Something in my heart was telling us this is not where we were supposed to be.
At this point, we started looking into several waiting children. I believe we looked at 9 profiles over the course of a few months…but nothing came with them. We even went as far as looking into other agencies and came very close to making the switch when we learned they were estimating referrals in 6 months. Do you know that agency told us NOT to make the switch? What agency would not but jumping on someone right now? Must have been God’s angel sitting there that day. Anyways, we pretty much hit rock bottom and were struggling with every emotion possible. We were struggling with financial issues, family drama, and this feeling of not being worthy of another child. This is when it all started to change.
On Tuesday March 16, 2010 an unexpected email came across. It was our social worker and the title of the email was “2 Korean babies needing homes”. My heart literally fell out of my chest when I read those words. We opened up the attachment and there was his precious little face. He, along with another little boy, was on Korea’s waiting child list. No one in the Korea program showed an interest in these sweet little boys’s, so the agency presented everyone in any of their programs with their files. Since they were special needs waiting children, Korea lifted the weight requirement…Praise God!!!!
We immediately feel in love with his little guy. We prayed every minute of every day that if this was the child God set aside for us then to let his will be done. From that moment on, we were given every sign possible to put our hearts at ease and knowing this was our son. On Friday March 19th, we submitted our request to be matched. After a very long week and a half we officially received our referral of our baby boy on March 30th…his 7 month birthday. God’s work is truly amazing and we are beyond blessed!!!
Here’s our story:
In the summer of 2008, we followed God’s calling to pursue our second international adoption. Little did we know it would take us nearly two years to be matched with our second love of our life. I know there is nothing quick about international adoption, but compared with our first adoption where everything happened so quickly (8 months from start to finish), it was hard adjusting to the feeling of standing completely still.
After looking into several countries, we found our hearts in the Korea program. I don’t know what it was, but something about this program made us feel so comfortable. Maybe it was the short time frame compared to other countries, the age of the child at referral or maybe it was just God’s way of telling us this is where our child was.
So late that summer, we contacted an agency and requested information on that specific program and sent in our application that same week. We were accepted on three different levels…never felt closer to finding our child. That was until we learned Korea had a weight requirement and due to my…oh let’s say chubbiness, we were no longer eligible to complete the adoption.
Back on the search we went. We started looking into adoptions with Thailand (children were older), Taiwan (didn’t meet the marriage requirement), domestic (estimating three years) until we started wondering if our child was meant to come to us through adoption. This is when we started looking into fertility treatments. This was by far the worst decision we have ever made. After two failed attempts, we knew this was not the path God was leading us on.
After much heartache, we decided it would be best if we took a break from the adoption for a few months. Then we got a call from the agency we had been working with. They had an opening in their Korea program and asked if we would like to reapply. Again, it felt so right…like this is where we were supposed to be. Unfortunately things still stood where they were before. In order to complete the adoption, I knew I would have to lose x number of pounds before officially turning in our documents. Could I do? Possibly if I really put my mind to it, but the stress put on me to do it in such a short time frame was really making me nervous. Not to mention the fees we would have lost if I wasn’t’ able to lose the weight by the deadline. As hard as it was, we turned down the offer.
A few weeks later we got a call from the agency again informing us of a new program they took over in Taiwan. We jumped at this opportunity. We started our paperwork in March of 2009, but couldn’t officially turn in our paperwork until November because of the five year marriage requirement. At this time we were expected to be matched in 12-18 months. However, things quickly started changing. Referrals weren’t coming as quickly as they were and the time frame was expected to reach 3 years. Something in my heart was telling us this is not where we were supposed to be.
At this point, we started looking into several waiting children. I believe we looked at 9 profiles over the course of a few months…but nothing came with them. We even went as far as looking into other agencies and came very close to making the switch when we learned they were estimating referrals in 6 months. Do you know that agency told us NOT to make the switch? What agency would not but jumping on someone right now? Must have been God’s angel sitting there that day. Anyways, we pretty much hit rock bottom and were struggling with every emotion possible. We were struggling with financial issues, family drama, and this feeling of not being worthy of another child. This is when it all started to change.
On Tuesday March 16, 2010 an unexpected email came across. It was our social worker and the title of the email was “2 Korean babies needing homes”. My heart literally fell out of my chest when I read those words. We opened up the attachment and there was his precious little face. He, along with another little boy, was on Korea’s waiting child list. No one in the Korea program showed an interest in these sweet little boys’s, so the agency presented everyone in any of their programs with their files. Since they were special needs waiting children, Korea lifted the weight requirement…Praise God!!!!
We immediately feel in love with his little guy. We prayed every minute of every day that if this was the child God set aside for us then to let his will be done. From that moment on, we were given every sign possible to put our hearts at ease and knowing this was our son. On Friday March 19th, we submitted our request to be matched. After a very long week and a half we officially received our referral of our baby boy on March 30th…his 7 month birthday. God’s work is truly amazing and we are beyond blessed!!!
Thursday, April 1, 2010
Introducing...
Kaidon Seung Gi
-He is 7 months old
-He weighs 18.7 lbs
-He is 26.5 inches long
-He is currently living with a foster family in Korea
-He will be in our arms in 4 to 6 months
We are head over heels in love with this little guy and can't wait until the day we finally meet him.
-He weighs 18.7 lbs
-He is 26.5 inches long
-He is currently living with a foster family in Korea
-He will be in our arms in 4 to 6 months
We are head over heels in love with this little guy and can't wait until the day we finally meet him.
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