Our Journey to Jack

Finalization...October 4th 2010

2010-12-06T06:28:00.000-08:00

Our life has been so busy lately I have not had the chance to update the blog. We have a house guest staying with us from Korea. She has been stying with us for the last couple months so life has been a bit different and a bit busier as well. We have enjoyed her stay and look forward to visiting her in Korea someday.

Jack's adoption was finalized in Court on Monday October 4th. We had a nice crew in court with us. Here is a few photos from the event!

Our First Chuseok

2010-09-23T14:32:00.001-07:00

We have officially survived our first Chuseok celebration.
What is Chuseok? It is Korean Thanksgiving. This year it was on September 22nd. We had a great day. I wanted to mark the occasion with some fall photos of Jack in his Hanbok. It was rainy most of the day but the rain held off long enough for me to get some fun shots of Jack.

I really like the circle because it reminds me of the full harvest moon of Chuseok.

I spent time preparing a Korean meal. We had bee-bim bop, which means "mixed up rice" in Korean.
It is thinly sliced beef marinated in garlic, green onion, soy sauce and sugar. Then you cook thin strips of eggs, various veggies. We choose spinach, sprouts, and carrots. Each item has it's own bowl.
Then you pile the rice in the bottom of your bowl, then add whatever you choose of the other ingredients and mix them all together. In Korea they sometimes serve this dish in a HOT bowl. They put a raw egg on the top if thir rice mrat and veggies, and when you mix it, the bowl is so hot it cooks the egg for you. I hope to try that next time we visit Korea.

Jack saying the "B" in "bop" Korean word for rice.

Jack saying the "o" in "bop" He said bop evening long, over and over.

The spread.

Bee-bim bop

We ended our evening playing a game of Yut. It is a fun game, and can be simplified for kids like our five year old daughter, or involve enough strategy that it can make even adults think hard on what moves they want to make.
It is played with a set of four sticks. One side of the stick is flat and you get to move spaces on a board for how many sticks face up or down when you toss them.
Jack had the tossing part down. He enjoyed himself. What one year old boy wouldn't like to throw sticks?

A special surprise came at the end of the day. We got a phone call from a friend who brought over some Songpyeon. This is a special rice cake that is made special for Chuseok. It is glutenous rice stuffed with a sweet sesame seed mixture or sweet red bean paste. It is sticky and chewy and sweet. It did take a bit of getting used to, but it was a great treat. I ate much more the next day, since the first night I was already so full from eating dinner I didn't have much room for more. I think Songpyeon is much like Kimchi, at first you are not so sure, but it grows on you and then you start to crave it!

Happy 4th of July!

2010-06-24T12:31:00.001-07:00

I know it is early but I wanted to get a post up and took some red, white and blue pictures today. We have done lots over the past few months. Time flies. It honestly feels weird to have a blog about just Jack because he is one of our three kiddos. He does have a special story and he is adorable. Yet in our house he is one of the crew.
This is one reason this blog has not been quite so busy lately. The process of adoption does not consume our lives as much as it did while we were waiting for him to come home and during his adjustment. Jack's adoption process is no longer something we are learning about, or striving towards it is our lives. We love him so much! Enough mumbo jumbo, let's get on to the photos and all the stuff Jack has been up to.

It was a pretty wet spring here so we spent a lot of rainy days inside playing in boxes was a fun pastime. His PJ's are the ones he was wearing under his clothes when we picked them up. They still fit. He wore them last night.

When it wasn't raining he got to help dad wash the car!

Jack attended sister's preschool graduation program.

He likes to help unload the dishwasher.

Jack modeled the new "knee pad" pants his mom patched up for him. Sporting the golf club, hat turned backwards and turned up collar. Look out Baby Gap!

Finally was warm enough to test out the water table Jack got for his Birthday back in March. You are supposed to stand and play in the water, Jack prefers to climb in and sit in it. Guess we should have gotten him a pool instead.

Jack sleeps thought the night now consistently. Doesn't wake for bottles, and just last week started to take water in his bottle before bed and nap instead of milk. We are in no hurry to ditch the cuddle bottle routine before bed. This was a day where he decided that he was ready for his nap and went into the other room and went to sleep. Too funny. Never did it before and has never done it since.

He likes to play outside with his brother and sister. They can get each other giggling that is for sure.

He knows his nose. Will point to it if you say "Where is Jack's nose."

Likes to wash his hands in the kitchen sink. But you have to make sure he doesn't try to climb into it like the water table.

He traveled to a family reunion in MN. with his cousins and got to meet his great-grandparents.

Still falls asleep when carried on someones back. Jack loves his blue and brown blanket. We brought it with us to Korea and he has not been a night without it since. The last thing his foster mother did was wrap this blanket around him while he was on my back and tucked it in, then we walked out the door.

Jack has had many play dates with is friend Zane since he came home. Zane is 3 months older than Jack and came home from South Korea three months before Jack did. Nice to have a friend who is blazing the finalization trail for us. Then we will know what to do and who to call once our final post-placement visit is done next month. They are usually excited to see each other, but are just not to the point of playing together yet. When they get a bit older, we will totally have our hands full keeping up with their big ideas I am sure.

When you like to climb, life has it's ups and downs. Jack fell off a recliner and hit his head on the side table in his room. This is right after the trip to the ER. He didn't get stitches just some glue. As you can tell he was TOTALLY upset about it. Ok it really didn't bother him hardly at all. Plus he finally got to do something he had been dying to do....

take a bath in the sink. It was the only way I could keep him from blowing bubbles with his whole face in the water. He has no issues with water in his eyes. Can you tell he was LOVIN' it!

Men and their power tools! Jack has helped with a few projects around the house this spring too. Likes to put on the sound proof headphones and yell. Because he can't hear himself.

He has decided that this is the best seat in the house. Nice and cool on hot summer days and plenty to eat.

Having Family Picnic's on the Deck.

Playing with Grandma at Daddy' soccer game last night. He likes his red Adidas soccer jersey and wears it for both USA world cup games and South Korea world cup games. Other times too since it is so cute! Both US and South Korea have moved on to Round 2 of the World Cup. Fun to have two teams to cheer for! (Disclaimer:Dad does not play in the World Cup, just local rec league.)

Here is mommy's photo shoot from today! Patriotic style!

Happy 4th of July!

Walking and Playing the Drums

2010-05-10T13:16:00.000-07:00

Jack started walking now! We have have some of his adventures on this video. He walks from one couch to the next. Now he is walking quite a bit but still pretty wobbly at it. He keeps his arms way up high for balance.

Click to see Jack's Walking Video

Here is one of our garage sale finds this season. We got this drum set for $1. Jack loves it. Quite a natural! Way too cute not to share!

Click to see Jack's Drums Video

Jack is doing well. He is starting to be more afraid of strangers which is normal for his age but certain circumstances have effected his sleep at night. He is fine when people come to our place to visit but doesn't care for friendly waitresses at restaurants or people flirting with him in stores. He freezes up, sometimes grabs for me and sometimes even starts to cry. After a friend whom he has never met wanted to hold him in a restaurant he couldn't sleep that night without me next to him and woke up screaming the word "NO" and crying horribly. He doesn't even use the word "no" when awake. This made me so sad for him and the fears he carries inside him. Yet it is good to see that he is attached to me and is no longer indiscriminate when it comes to people.
Other than that sad night he sleeps well in his crib in his room by himself and wakes up with smiles and hugs for his brother and sister.

We have made it through a busy time of year now with the two older kids birthday parties and we are looking forward to summertime so we can start our swimming adventures which should be fun!

For now here are a few more pictures.

Jack the Climber and Explorer

2010-04-10T19:09:00.000-07:00

Although Jack can not walk independently yet, he can climb everything. We have found him in a few interesting places. He is quick and we have to keep an eye on him. One thing we have found is that he enjoys playing in the potty. We have to keep the lid down and the door shut. Just the lid down does no good because he explores the TP roll and last week we even found him on the back of the toilet. Not on top of the seat, but on top of the tank!!! hands against the wall. CRAZY! He is an engineer like John, he already is a big problem solver and can configure things to get what he wants. For example I was folding laundry on the floor in our bedroom, Jack was down on the floor with me and John and the two older kids were on the bed watching a movie. He wanted up on the bed but we wanted him to stay on the floor with me because he likes to dive off the bed still at this point. Well.. this little engineer, not walking yet like I said, and only 12 months old, takes the laundry basket, tips it over, pushes it across the room to the side of the bed and climbs up on top so he can get up on the bed. Like I said we are so in trouble.
Well keeping the potty door closed works pretty well, except for this morning. This morning we were getting ready to head out the door to Allie's first soccer game of the season. We were to the point of just heading towards the back door. I walked down the hallway to the garage door and noticed the bathroom door was open. I peeked in, and instantly ran for the camera. Here is what I saw.

No babies were harmed in the taking of this picture. He may look in an uncomfortable position but you are looking at a boy who can do the splits, and put his feet behind his ears no problem. He even headed down a park slide on his tummy, one foot straight down the slide first, the other by his head. Smiling the whole way. Boy is our boy flexible. By the way the toilet had been reciently flushed so although cleanup was untimely since we were just headed out the door, it could have been much much worse.

Making Korean Egg Rolls

2010-04-10T18:43:00.000-07:00

I asked a friend from church for her Korean egg roll recipe from a friend at church. Her Mother-in-law is Korean and she had posted on facebook that she had made some a few weeks ago so I took the opportuntity to ask her how she does it. I then invited my friend Natalie over to make them with me. Her son came home from Korea three months before Jack so it is fun to see them together. Although they really don't play "together" much yet since the are so young, we still managed to get them close enough to get a picture of them together. They enjoyed emptying cabinets while we cooked. Both of them enjoyed the end product. So did we. I was impressed with my wrapping skills even though I had not wrapped egg rolls before. I have however used wonton wrappers for various things before so maybe that made it easier.

Here is the recipe:
1 pkg of egg roll wrappers (I get them at HyVee)
1 pkg of Cellaphane noodles (HyVee)
3/4 cup carrots (julienne)
4 green onions sliced using some of the green
1 egg
1 pound hamburger
onion fine chopped
1/2 TBSP roasted sesame seeds
1 tsp sesame oil
2 tsp soy sauce
salt and pepper
1/2 tsp MSG (optional, we didn't use it)

Basically you boil the noodles like you would any other noodle. they only take about 3-4 minutes. Drain.

Mix hamburger and all the other ingredients. Cut the noodles with a scissors into smaller pieces. Just take the scissors and cut the ball of noodles randomly so they are not so long. Add to Hamb mix. Stir up good.

Put mix in the wrapper and roll. Deep Fry 350 degrees.

Stuffing.

Stuffing on wapper.

Rolled rolls.

Cooked rolls.

And our Cuties!

Easter Sunday

2010-04-10T17:58:00.000-07:00

Easter Sunday we hung out in Grandma Weber's backyard with the cousins. The kids looked for some eggs, Jack looked for rocks too. We got some very cute pictures of Jack that day in the yard. Here are some favorites.

Eating bunny marshmallows.

Hunting eggs.

EGGS!

Hey mom I found a ROCK! That is cool too right???

Happy Easter

Showing off standing skills. Now where do I go??

Walking with help from Aunt and Uncle.

Big Boy Haircut.

2010-04-10T17:24:00.000-07:00

Our little boy no longer has a bald spot and we have trimmed his hair a few times since he came home but we decided to go a bit further and give him his first big boy haircut. I was not very excited about the idea because I didn't want my little guy to look different and we cut John and Ethan's hair at home so John wanted to cut Jack's hair himself as well. I did cut a bit too much off behind his ear during a trim so the thought of a full haircut made me nervous. Well we survied with out too bad of a result. I was still sad to see his hairstyle change but now I am used to it.
Here is some pics from the day of his haircut when we were playing outside, and the after picture.

and after haircut.

Doljabi, First Birthday

2010-04-10T16:55:00.000-07:00

Jacks first birthday went off without a hitch. We has Chinese food (sesame chicken, fried and white rice) cupcakes, fruit, veggie tray, and Korean cucumber salad.
We made our own ballooon towers and I bought cupcake stands that I decorated into fruit towers. It is traditional Korean first birthday celebrations usually have fruit displays and food towers. We put our own spin on things but friends in the area who are of Korean decent were very impressed with our Dol Table. We were too. It turned out nicer than I could have imagined I was very happy with it. I even impressed myself. I also made his banner to go behind the table.
At the party we also did the Doljabi. Doljabi is where Jack is put in front of a table and chooses an item to pick up. The item he picks fortells his his future. It was great fun. Jack had everyone fooled. He put his hand on top of the money right away everyone said (Ooooo) but he did not pick it up.. He just used that hand for balance and reached straight to the far side of the table and picked up the spool of thread. Then he picked up the small soccer ball with his other hand. So Jack it is foretold will have a long life, (thread) and be athletic (ball). We were happy with his choices and he was very proud of them too. He held them up for all to see.
Here are some pictures from his big day.

Dol table.

Jack on his birthday table.

Jack in his hanbok. (traditonal Korean clothing)

Choosing his item. Doljabi.

Eating Cake!

Photoshoot with seven.. wait eight teeth.

2010-02-28T20:17:00.000-08:00

Well we did it! We survived our first family photo shoot as a family of five. Fun! Stressful getting ready of couse. Ethan was not too excited and was pretty much done before we got there but we still ended up getting some cute fishing shots of him.
Allie loved every minute of her time in the spotlight like I knew she would. Jack did well too, but was teething that day, so there was much wiping of drool and much fingers in his mouth. When that happens you just have to go with it. We are happy to announce that Jack now has eight teeth.
We are using many of the photos in Jack's b-day slideshow on March 20th so we will post many on here sometime after that date but to hold you over here are a few favorites.

This is Jack wearing his hanbok. A hanbok is tradtional Korean clothing that is worn on special occations. He will be wearing this for part of his dol,or Korean first b-day party, which we will celebrate on the 20th of March. Jack will wear his hanbok for the part of the party before the cake.
If you want to learn more about a tradional Korean first birthday party click here.

My flexible boy.

My fish crazy boy.

Outfit that his Foster Mom got him. He was wearing it the day we picked him up.

My flying girl.

Family of five.

Photos by Dolby Photography www.dolbyphotography.com
If you visit the site you can see some more pics of our family in the gallery.

Happy Valentines Day!

2010-02-14T09:28:00.000-08:00

Glad to report we are all healthy again. We survived a round of RSV that went thought the whole house. Jack was on a nebulizer to deal with that. He also had a round of Roseola, and finally after three rounds of antibiotics for ear infections, finally has healthy ears again.
To celebrate Valentine’s Day we had the kids wear their red soccer jerseys. The two older ones are wearing Korea Jerseys we got for them in Korea. We also went to church and made a conversation heart box. Inside a hearts that have faith discussion questions to ask our children once a week during Lent. I can't believe it is Ash Wednesday already this week! Time is flying by!
Jack is doing great as far as attachment. He is really an easy going guy. He gets shy around people when they first come over to our house and stays close to mom but it doesn't take more than a few minutes before he is playing like usual. He is so happy!
He says the words, A ball, bye bye, hi five, dada, just started to say mama, says baba for bottle, and is working hard on Book. He currently says the "b" and the "ck' a bit later, which makes us all laugh.
He sleeps in his crib now at night and I have been able to sleep in my room all night long a few times. He actually sleeps more soundly without my extra movement and noises. He still wakes once a night for a bottle which is a lot better than the twice a night he was doing in Korea. Our older son still wakes at night so getting up once for Jack is so not a big deal for us. He may stir other times at night but goes back to sleep easily if I am not in the room making noise as well.
He likes to play with his brother and sister and is happy to see them when he wakes up in the morning and from naps. They make him smile, and he likes to give them hugs. Sometimes when they get a bit too wild he will just crawl away to play by himself in another room. He can play independently for quite a while, just happily playing with trains, balls, blocks or other toys.
His birthday is coming up next month. I am busy planning his party and inviting everyone to come to meet Jack for the first time if they have not already. I am thinking it will be on Saturday March 20th, so if you are friends, or family, that live close by mark it on your calendar. More details will come soon.
For now enjoy our V-day pics!

Taking a Picutre of Three!

2010-02-13T15:04:00.000-08:00

Sounds easy enough. I had heard from many that the more children you have the harder it is to take a good photo of them. Think of all the vaiables. One child may not be looking, or smiling, or eyes may be closed, someone may have a finger up their nose, somone may decide that they are done with photos before the otherone decides that maybe it is ok to smile. UHG! Words can not explain as well as the photos so here you go. Those going from two to three, this is one of the hardest challenges. lol

You get the idea!

One month ago today!

2010-01-29T09:28:00.000-08:00

One month ago today we picked up Jack from HOLT in Korea. I can't believe it has been one month already!! In some ways it seems like yesterday but in other ways it seems like Jack has been with us forever.
We have been very sick the last 8 days or so. A horrible cold has made it's way though our family and we have not left the house for much other than John leaving for work and to get things we need from the store.
This most recient sickness Jack kept at bay for a while, but then when his big brother and sister started to get better he caught it. He also had a round of Roseolla in between his colds. Cold bugs and viruses are differnt depending on the area you live. This means that while Jack is used to bugs and viruses that he was exposed to in Korea. We have a whole new set of bugs here and he is more like a newborn when it comes to exposure to those bugs. This means that we expect Jack to be off and on sick for around the first six months. This time since he has been sick he has turned into a mama's boy. This is a very good thing. It means that instead of dealing with not feeling well on his own or waiting for his Omma to come and help him feel better, he is seeking me out. Makes me feel pretty important actually since our little guy had been pretty content to play off on his own. I kind of like beening needed all the time, at least for now. But I am sure he will be back to playing with toys and brother and sister and not needing mom all the time before you know it. Maybe not, mabye we have gone into a differnt stage of attachement, but only time will tell.
I am READY for spring. Although we have been to sick to go out we still have not missed much since it is so cold here. I can't wait until summer when we can play outside. Take walks, bike rides, and go to the pool. I am sure once that time comes I will be tired of the hot weather, oh well.
Here are some pics from our first month home. Not too many current ones becaue they would have far too much green nose junk, and goopy eyes.

My Smart Boy in Action.

2010-01-24T13:32:00.000-08:00

This is a video of Jack doing a Korean nonsense syllable song. It is supposed to be good for brain development according to my friend. He is no pro yet but for 10 months I am so impressed. I think he may have done this one before he came home a few times. He sure seemed to recognize it the first times we sang it to him.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gPPKMaNlP1A

PHOTOS!!! again!

2010-01-19T16:37:00.000-08:00

Thanks Ritchard and Melissa for the new outfit! Good guess on the size!

Sister playing dress up!

Now you can tell they are brothers. :)

Everytime one of the great-grandchildren meets Grandma B. She takes their photo in an empty fruit basket she has. The kids are all sizes since some live farther away and can't get to meet her right away. I still think Jack may be the biggest basket baby.

Big Sister and Big Brother go on an ice-skating date with mom, hot chocolate and popcorn included. Pics are laying down because they were down on the ice more than up. They loved their skates!

Has He Adusted Yet?

2010-01-16T20:03:00.000-08:00

I have had some people ask if Jack is all adjusted and bonded now. Those of us who have parented an adopted child know that is not possible. Jack IS doing extremely well, yet there is so much that even I don't know about him in this short time. I feel that being bonded and adjusted will mean I know him and he will know me. We are still learning.
When Allie and Ethan were nine months old I knew them inside and out. I knew when they were happy, sad, what made them happy and sad, what scared them, when they liked to sleep, how they liked to sleep, when they were getting sick, when they were tired, stressed, hungry, even when they were going to the bathroom in their little diapers I could tell by just looking at them. They knew me too. They knew when I was joking and playing and when I was serious. They knew when I was rubbing their back it meant I wanted them to go to sleep, they knew when I went to the kitchen I was not going to just leave them in the highchair forever, but was getting them more food or a washcloth.
Jack and I have barely gotten to know each other. There are times when I don't know if he is crying or laughing. I don't always know his fake laugh from his real laugh and if a fake laugh is just his awkward way of covering up a feeling that he is having. He doesn't know when I am being silly from when I am being serious and sometimes confuses the two and ends up thinking he is in trouble when mom was just playing. He doesn't know how to tell me when he is done eating and is I think almost afraid to tell me if he doesn't like the food I am feeding him. I am learning the head down and sad eyes may mean he doesn't enjoy baby food carrots. Yet he doesn't know what will happen if he doesn't eat them, will there be something else? He has been sick with a cold and ear infections since he has been home, they are now just starting to go away, so the Jack I have gotten to know may well be different then the Jack that may show up when all this sickness disappears. Who knows! Sleeping patterns, naptime, the food he will eat may all be totally different, just like they are when any child gets sick.
Yes he turns his head and looks at me when you ask him about mommy but he doesn't know what a mommy is, he is still learning. Omma to him is his mommy who took care of all his needs. I am called mommy and John is called daddy but he could be looking at us for nothing more but for the reason that those are our labels such as if we taught him Kara or John.
He does look to me to take care of his needs, but how much of that is out of fear that no one will otherwise. Does he cling to me when strangers are around because he loves and wants me, or because he is afraid if he goes to someone else it maybe the last time he will ever see me and I will be gone like Omma. We have a lot more to learn about each other before we are anywhere close to adjusted or bonded. Yes I love Jack! Yet we are still pretty much strangers who are getting to know each other. I am still waiting for my first kisses.

Somtimes It Just Takes Daddy

2010-01-16T17:38:00.000-08:00

Jack was out of sorts tonight. He kind of looked like he was crawling in his own skin. He wouldn't settle in one spot. He didn't seem happy doing anything. He was just very agitated. I almost assumed he was coming down with something and not feeling well. I tried bottles, rocking, singing, holding, naps, nothing seemed to work. I pretty much gave up. Then John came along and took over. Dad wrestled him, tickled him, tossed him in the air, made him fly like an airplane, tickled him some more, crawled around and pushed him with his head playing get you.
Well I guess sometimes it just takes Daddy. Mom was just too boring. All we have had since then is smiles and giggles and Jack totally crawling all over Daddy. Of course Daddy loving every minute of it too!
Thank goodness for Daddy's for boys who need some rough-housing therapy. Mom doesn't always have the energy at the end of the day.

We have had some really good nights and Snow Play!

2010-01-12T14:29:00.000-08:00

Jack has pretty much stopped crying at night. He falls asleep in the carrier per his vocal request for Uooba and not rocking. Then I have been laying him down in the crib. He wakes around midnight and that is when I usually join him in the room. Even if I go in there earlier and am there when he wakes in the crib he still wants out. He does naptime in the crib too and wakes with little crying, he just stands up and makes some noise until I come in to get him right away.
Last night I figured he wanted a bottle again when he woke the first time but it was early and so I just went in and picked him up since he was reaching for me. He then twisted away toward the full bed. So I laid him down in the full size bed we usually co-sleep in and instantly he started to snore.
Bottles go better now since he is able to breathe better through his nose. He wakes and starts to squirm a bit in bed with a few whines. If I just try to calm him he gets more upset and fully wakes and starts to cry. So when he starts to wiggle and whimper I head to make the bottle which is in the room on the heat vent to stay warm. If he is fully awake I have to bring him with me but usually he is just stirring and restless wanting a bottle so I don't worry about leaving him on the bed quick to run across the room and back. Then mix the bottle on the bed then give it to him. This co-sleeping and not breastfeeding thing is tough. I now know why they sleep with babies on the floor in Korea. No chance of falling!
All goes well unless the heat hasn't kicked on in a while then it is crying Jack and mom making a trip downstairs to warm up the bottle. We have a water softener so I don't believe we can use our hot water tap for bottles. Makes life very difficult. Suggestions would be great. Bottle warmer maybe, anyone have one I could try, don't know if I will like it and where I would keep it to make it handy and not within reach of Jack. But all in all since I have figured out what he wants at night and the cold is getting a bit better we have not had any of the crying fits without being consolable.
He still has his ear infection and is pulling on both ears, but his nose seems to be getting a bit better. Antibiotics didn't help much from what we could tell so I am sure it is viral and we may just have to wait it out. The thrush diaper rash seems to be gone but we will keep using the cream a while longer and avoid bath time with siblings just in case. That first bath time with brother and sister should be fun and everyone is looking forward to it especially big brother who keeps asking if Jack can take a bath with him yet!
Days are going great. He plays and plays with brother and sister and with all the toys we have. We have many! Brother and sister and having more fun as well playing with all the toys again because they are suddenly more fun when you have someone new to play with. We move from room to room spending time in each kid’s bedroom, the playroom and the music room. Not much time spent in the basement yet because it is too cold and unfinished. We have play stuff down there too but it is more suited for a walker. Give us a few months and I am sure we will have that down, but we will also get to venture outside then.
We did actually venture outside yesterday for a bit. Jack sat for one photo before he freaked out because of the snow. Here are the photos of our backyard right now. It is crazy we don't lose Allie and Ethan out there in a snow bank. If they were any heavier they would sink in but they are both lightweights and stay on top of the snow mostly.

Jack watching Sister play outside in the snow. He wanted to eat the snow on the rug.

Our deck actually has three large steps to get climb. You can only see one.

Our fence is 4 feet high and the snow fills every corner of our yard to the top of the fence.

These are photos of our Basketball court area.

The snowsuit is a bit big!

Jack's Old Man Hair

2010-01-12T14:18:00.000-08:00

I had so many comments about Jack's cute hair, and how there is so much of it. Well there is a lot... In the front anyway. I felt it only fair to document his "Old Man" hair before it grows out. He will probably love me for this when he is older. That is fine I can bring out this post for his graduation party.

Hang in there buddy! I am sure it will grow out soon!

PHOTOS!!!

2010-01-11T08:59:00.000-08:00

OK I have been neglecting my photo duties. So this is to make up for it. Please keep in mind he has a runny nose and is cutting teeth so the drool and red nose is prevalant in most of the pics. It is getting better though.

Meeting his twin cousins for the first time. Jack is on the big side and they are a bit on the small side so 6 months doesn't translate into much difference in size!

Checking eachother out.

Bathtime is fun again after watching big brother and big sister play in the tub!

As you can see the crawling tunnel is a hit, so are balls, and cars.

Airport pictures. Family Day!

2010-01-11T08:36:00.000-08:00

We of course did not have the chance to snap photos at the Airport. This is why we are thankful for Grandma's. Enjoy!

Just off the plane.

Hanging out in the airport waiting to meet eveyone.

Jack meets one excited Grandma.

Jack checks out his big brother!

First ever family of five photo.

Kids playing on the floor at the airport. Mom is tired. Luggage is missing.

Jack plays peek a boo with sister. Ah coo!

Jack crawls right over to other grandma's lap!

Two excited Grandmas!

Everyone is happy!

Big brother gives Jack a big hug. Jack not so sure yet.

Bedtime Was Awesome Today!

2010-01-09T18:39:00.001-08:00

Let me first start by saying we had a major play session in the crib today to make it not so scary. All three kids hopped in and were jumping and climbing in and out. Tossing in stuffed animals and tossing them out again. I at one point took Jack out thinking he was overwhelmed with the wildness of it all, but no he wanted back in. Then I had the big kids get out and Jack just sat and played with a stuffed animal for a while and crawled around tossing some more animals out. Then stood up smiling looking at me laying in the bed next to him. So I got up and took him out. I think we may have made the crib a bit more fun and a bit less scary. So we will see...

Jack has always gone to sleep fast in the back carrier I don't think I have had to spend more than 3 minutes average, maybe 6 ever at the most in his room with him in a back carry and he is OUT. It is a great tool but I know we are not going to be able to use it forever, don't see myself Uooba with a 5 year old at bedtime. It is hard to get him from the carrier to the floor, or even harder carrier to the crib crib. He does well staying asleep but still awkward for me to get him there going solo. Well tonight at bedtime we sat down in the rocking chair with a bottle. We had had bathtime and he was wearing his PJ's from his Omma he was wearing under his clothes the day we picked him up. He drank his whole bottle making great eye contact then started doing handsigns. He usually does this when he wants me to sing. So I sang him Twinkle Twinkle Little Star one time through wiggling my fingers. He grabbed onto my thumb and pinky and began to sing too, baby style of course which is mostly an Ah with a few Da's and Ba's thrown in. Once I was done singing he kept singing away doing hand signs and looking right into my eyes. He sang and sang for over a minute smiling and kicking his feet. Then he yawned, still holding tight to my thumb and pinky again and closed his eyes and started to snore away!
No uooba tonight! Couldn't believe it! I rocked him a few more minutes just becaue it was so nice, then put him to sleep in the crib which is much easier to do from a cradle position then from a back carry position.
What an awesome bedtime. I had stared at his little hand stretched outwide while he was singing and thought about how fast it was going to get bigger. Made me sad to think about. I think I may remember tonight forever.

Play Time!

2010-01-07T19:21:00.000-08:00

Jack did some hard playing today. He met some new friends who came over to play. The one is three months older and born in Korea as well! Yet Jack has him beat in size I think. But not by a huge amount. We enjoyed our playdate and lunch and cookies they brought. Allie was not up for company I guess and got a bit snooty toward her friend. Ethan was feeling left out and actually went on the lunch run with my visiting friend.
Looks like a cold day again tomorrow so no MOPS. I am kind of bummed since John was going to take Allie to preschool and then spend time with Ethan while Jack and I took off for MOPS. But now no preschool, no mops, and I am sure John will go to work. Stuck at home again. Aside from a trip to the Doctor on Monday I have been in the house going on 5 days now. Not that I want to go out in this COLD COLD weather. Yet it is fun to see supportive friends. So I was thankful for our visitors today.
Ethan asked to get out the crawling tunnel tonight. All three kids had a blast crawling in and out of our 12 foot tunnel. Jack had a blast and was squealing and giggling the whole time. Will have to get it out tomorrow for some pictures.
I haven't been taking as many pictures or at least not sharing as many because of his cold. There are not many pictures without snot in them. His nose is like a faucet currently. Constantly wiping and putting stuff on his nose and cheeks to keep them from getting too chapped. The drool is extra bad to because of the teething and not being able to breath too well out his nose.
We have taken a few videos of him lauging, and doing actions to a Korean song he obviously learned before he came home but I knew what he was doing from somone posting it on youtube. He even tries to sing while doing it. So cute! We were sure to get a crawling video too.
I was very tired today. Because of his cold Jack snores LOUD!!! He didn't stay awake as long as usual at night crying last night but he got up an hour earlier. I wasn't able to sneak a nap today since the kids naptimes didn't line up today. Yesterday all three kids were sleeping at once! John however was able to work all morning at work, come home and listen in on a call while sitting at the computer with Allie, then had an hour nap. Not sure how he rates. Oh well.
Bathtime actually went well last night. I put him in about 2 inches of water by himself in our smaller bathtub. The kids were in the big bathtub in our bathroom at the time being supervised by dad. I think now that he is more familiar with me and of couse the toys in the tub probably helped, he actually didn't want to get out. I washed him and he was happy. I got him out to dry him and he kept trying to wiggle his way back to the tub. This was the second time we tried the bath since the first time didn't got well in Korea. Nice to know it is no longer a scary thing for him.
Smiles smiles smiles. He is so easy to smile and giggle during the day. He even flashed smiles for a whole group of nurses at the doctors office. He was snuggled into me at the time but he melted all their hearts. Warning, he is a charmer.

The Honeymoon Is Over.

2010-01-06T11:36:00.000-08:00

I honestly think Jack has and is going to have an easy transition compaired to other stories I have heard but I do want to put out there that an easy transition doesn't involve some tough times. I am impressed he make awesome eye contact and seeks it out actually. He held eye contact with me through a whole 7 ounce bottle today! He loves to touch my face and look into my eyes. He may just think my eyes look funny since he pulled at my eyelids a few times today when we were looking at eachother. Not eyelashes but tried to pick up my eyelids.
He does cry at night. It is usually the first time he wakes at night that he cries unconsolably for a lenght of time, sometimes two hours, sometimes and hour, sometimes 20 min. He is so tired when he does this. He pushes away, but doesn't want down, the more you try to talk to calm him the more he screams. He is very unhappy and lets us know. He is greiving at these times. He also is not feeling well but I do all I can to fix those things to let him know I can take care of him. I put stuff on his dry lips, and give him tylenol, give him teething medicine, change his diaper, put on the diaper cream, give him a bottle which he is usually too worked up to take or want. Cover all the bases just in case it is something else bothering him. I don't want to miss anything, any pain he may have I want to take care of. He is up anyway so it is best to do it all and not worry about missing something.
When he starts to wake up later in the night it is more gradual and I have time to get a bottle ready. He drinks his bottle in the bed while I change his pants if needed, and most times it is needed with his bowel troubles lately. Otherwise I lay next to him and feed him his bottle, he doesn't need the help but it helps with bonding. It is just the first time he wakes that is the worst. He even drank most of what was in his bottles last night so we have improved a bit from where we were.
What is funny is that with all the thashing and crying and unconsolable mourning he does at night which makes me feel that he hates me and that things are going to be bad forever, he wakes up with HUGE smiles like nothing ever happened and snuggles in while he wakes up enough to explore the world again.
I don't want anyone to think that he is sleeping through the night and not having any issues. He does. He is even crying out something that sounds like "Ah coo" over and over again. I know that he has been using this word in the day to play "peek a boo" but I know that is not what he is trying to convey at night. I did ask on the boards to see if this word could mean anything else. Well... There is a similar word that adults say when in mourning. Similar to "Oh my" or "Oh my God" in meaning and sounds like "Ai goo" Now this is an adult word, and I have no idea if Jack has ever heard it or if that is what he is saying especially at nine months old, but it sure does convey the feeling he may have. If that is not what he is saying it sure would fit the poor look on his face at night.
We have gone back out of the crib which seems to make things worse because he is scared of it, back to the floor for naptimes and inital bedtime. Then it is back to the full-sized bed in the room for the rest of the night with mom.
Still working out the Mommy, Jack dance. Still have a few kinks to work out. But we are getting there.
He goes in the carrier for a few minutes when he is ready for bed and is snoring usually in less than five minutes. Transferring him to the pillow was never an issue in Korea but is harder now, we are not sure if it is because he is sick and waking slightly reminds him that he doesn't feel well, or if he is worried now about being left alone in the room. Only time will tell.
Also when I hold him to walk around the house he doesn't always mold to my body but prefers to sit on my hip but turn his body outward so he is facing forward with his arm between him and myself. Keeping me at a distance. When he is upset he does snuggle in but just in average holding he turns away and doesn't help me hold him by holding some of his weight by holding my shoulder. Makes it harder to carry him and sometimes he even ends up in a supeman pose on my hip, with me holding him by his tummy. He doesn't complain about being held this way and preferrs it to the regular hip carry. When others are around like my parents he doesn't do this as much and snuggles in more because he is unsure of the new people and more insecure about what is going on.
All in all he is doing great. He plays independently for a while and with brother and sister without complaint so I have had no issues going to the bathroom alone, or picking up a few toys around the house is usually not an issue. I really do feel blessed.

Trying to Get Healthy.

2010-01-05T07:39:00.000-08:00

Before we left Korea Jack had dirreah which has cleared up but he is not quite back on his regular BM schedule. He has a diaper rash. The doctor in Korea gave us some diaper cream to put on it but I used what we brought instead. It turns out it is a yeast rash. That part must have been lost in translation. Then I would have used the cream he gave me. But now we have cream from our doctor and it is getting better. Our Doctor also was able to tell us that he has an ear infection, which I suspected, and a sinus infection, which from the green snot I also assumed.
Doctor said to head home and drug him up American style. So hopefully in five days we should be all better! He is still more smiles than crying. We got a tough kid! He has had a couple hard nights since he can't breath too well out of his nose. But was only up for two hours each night Saturday and Sunday nights. Last night was a little better. We found our blue ball snot sucker thingy and he is able to drink his bottle better.
He has been starting the night off in the crib and uses the crib for naps now instead of the floor. We had to up up a crib bumper we have, it is one with tulips on it, because he is so used to rolling round free on the floor at night he kept bumping into the hard sides of the crib and hitting something hard while sleeping is just no fun. But Jack has been co-sleeping with mom on the full-sized bed in his rooom once he wakes the first time at night.
He is fine with room temperature bottles but the room temp at night is just a bit too cold so we have resorted to putting the water filled bottles on the heat register so they stay toasty at night. Mom is still trying to figure out how to respond to Jacks cries in the night right away and make a bottle for him. Wondering if I leave him crying while I make the bottle, or respond and then end up fully waking him because I have to make the bottle while holding him. humm... We will figure it out.

Got A Good Picture of All Three!

2010-01-03T16:38:00.000-08:00

Happens once in a blue moon so I hear so it is worthy of it's own post. Enjoy!

HOME!!

2010-01-03T10:50:00.000-08:00

Well we are home now. Everyone is trying to adjust. Jack is trying to get used to two noisy siblings who are overly excited about their brother. Sleeping is going well for all. He is keeping his two naps durring the day and only waking twice a night for diaper and bottle. He cried a bit for Omma last night but John made the mistake of going into his room instead of me. I start the night sleeping in my bed to get in a good two to three hours then I finish the night in his room. Well I didn't wake up when he cried last night because John was still watching TV and didn't hear him, so John decided to be helpful and try the night bottle himself. Well Jack didn't take lightly to a shirtless dad wearing glasses coming to comfort him when he was expecting Mom. We won't be doing that anymore. It took him quite a while to calm down and I heard a few cries for Omma after that scare. Poor little guy. He still has a stuffy nose and we are using the medicine they gave us in Korea to treat it still at this point. We will most likely head to the doctor this week. His bowels are still frequent and he is poopin 4 or 5 times a day, but they are not dirreah like before so we still consider this an improvement. He hates wet and dirty diapers. He can not sit still and sqirms all over if he is wet or messy and will not take a bottle in a wet diaper. He wants to be changed right away even if only a tiny bit wet. But becomes a happy boy again right after.
We are all adjusting to eachother. We could not be happer with the little guy we have. He is so happy!! I feel a bit sad he is so overwelmed by brother and sister, but he was also excited to see them this moring and gave them both hugs! We ventured out to Church this morning and he sat really well, but he was more than ready to come home after church when all the people wanted to meet him. He cried in the carseat on the way home and calmed down after daddy put him in the carrier for a while. He needed some carry time and then drifted off to sleep relaxed.
Life with 3 children is a bit harder than with 2. We are lucky that Jack is doing so well. It is hard enough to adjust to three without Jack having a hard transition on top of it. We are greatful and blessed by all the prayers. Keep them up! It is working! You know how hard it is to take a picture of two kids ages 2 and 4. Well it is even harder to get a picture of all three. There is always someone who is not in the mood. So here is what we got so far. I am sure when we all have time to calm down a bit we will get some better shots.

Sister helping him open his Christmas present she made for him.

PJ time after bathtime, Jack is sticking to showers with mom for now.

Airplane Day!

2010-01-03T09:49:00.000-08:00

What was cool about our airplane day is that we got to celebrate New Years twice! We crossed the international dateline on the way home so althouth we left on New Years morning we got to hop back to New Years Eve while in the air since we crossed the international dateline. Kind of a fun fact!
There were three other adoptive families that we know of on the flight back from Japan. The other three families had adopted from China. We sat behind a family who had twin girls from China. They were 2. They were a handful!! But they did soooo good considering how scared they must have been. They didn't much care for the seat belts, and the fasten seatbelt sign was on a few times. There was much crying then.
Jack however did great! We were VERY VERY blessed in that the flight was no where near full, and we ended up with four seats all to ourselves. Jack was able to lay down and sleep on the two middle seats with us on the oustide. The two seats also gave him room to play when he was awake. He did sleep quite a bit. We were able to get the seatbelt around his little body so he wouldn't roll off the seat. Then we snoozed as well. It worked out great. All were happy and the flight home was super fast compaired to the the trip out. I would almost discribe it as enjoyable. I know I am crazy!

Packing the precious cargo.

Saying goodbye to Korea.

Chocolate cake to celebrate Airplane day. Well cake for mom and dad anyway.

Almost home!

National Museum

2009-12-31T22:17:00.000-08:00

We took a subway ride out to see the National Museum of Korea. We figured since it was so cold outside this would be a good option for us to see things but be inside. We all ended up a bit tired and hungry by the time we got there but were glad we tried to fit one more thing into our time in Korea. We will have lots to see when we return someday and we plan not to go in the middle of winter. We could not take many pictures in the museum since they do not allow flashes in many exhibits. So here is what we got!

Mom and Jack outside the Museum.

Dad outside the museum. He was excited. Enjoying his trip!

What to expect.

2009-12-31T10:56:00.000-08:00

We did learn a few things about Jack yesterday while out and about. He is super smiles with us... Flirt flirt flirt. When he saw others like at museums or on the subway who tried to get is attention or talk to him he froze and stared. He was overwhelmed on the subway and yesterday afternoon when we went to the national museum.
We know this is his behavior when he does not like something or when something is too much for him. Yesterday when he woke up in the moring John had on his glasses and didn't have on a shirt. Suddenly the daddy who he smiled and flirted and snuggled with the day before kind of scared him. He went from full on play fun mode, to shut down not moving snuggle with mommy mode.
From reading books we kind of see what may be going through his little head. Smiles and flirting with mom and dad is to say possibly I am cute and I am good don't leave me. Then the total opposite behavior for strangers out and about we know means he is scared. He doesn't know what is going to happen, he has been handed off to strangers by his Omma, who's to say it can't happen again at any point. You can tell he is worried and a little hyper vigelant when awake. Putting him in the carrier helps since he is not as easily passed off to someone and he knows it. But he still only gives strangers blank stares when in it and even won't smile for us when overwhelmed or in a large group.
His nose is still stuffy, diapers are improving texture wise but are still more frequent than his once or twice a day usual. He is also not eating as much as Omma said he does and takes a bottle better from dad right now than from mom. Mom got overtired last night and Jack was tired too so it was nice to have a daddy that could come to both our rescues.
Sorry about the pictures for the last posts. I have a ton of them but want to use my time getting rest instead of posting them all. They will get up at a later point. I have them all mostly on photobucket, but have to resize them all for the blog and we took a ton yesterday.
Love you all see you soon. Today is our airplane day!!

Korean Food Finally!

2009-12-30T20:36:00.000-08:00

We finally went out to a Korean resturant. We had Bulgogi of course. It was good. John and I tried all of the differnt side dishes as well. Jack slept the whole time. We sat upstairs in the resturant so we had to take off our shoes to go up there and we sat on mats on the floor. John was really out of his element. I loved it. We were the only ones up there. The waitress did not speak any English so we did the best we could. Good thing I knew how to say Bulgogi!

Insadong

2009-12-30T20:34:00.000-08:00

We had to head back and grab a few last things for family at Insadong shopping area. We feel pretty comfortable down there this time compaired to the first trip. We had our camera this time to so here is what we wanted to show you about what this place looks like.

On the street of Insadong. Shops and resturants line both side of the street.

This is what a lot of the shops looked like inside. Many places had the same things.

Notice there are two masks missing off the wall. We bought those for grandma and grandpa.

Gyeongbok Palace

2009-12-30T20:21:00.000-08:00

Just across from the Sommerset hotel there is a Palace to see. Gyeongbok Palace. We arrived just in time for the changing of the guard. It was WAY freezing outside but we paid the three dollars to go in and see it. I was neat! We couldn't stay long enought to learn much about it on a tour because of the cold temperatures. We had Jack in Omma style dress with 3 layers shoes and snow suit with a hat and under a blanket. He pretty much slept the whole time. I wanted to take a picture of his cute face with the palace in the background but it would have been torture. So although we got some pictures with him as a big hump on my back I still don't have great pictures of him in his birth country. Other than the hotel room. I felt so bad hauling him around in the carrier but he honestly slept the whole time, did not want a bottle and didn't need his pants changed. When we got back to the hotel room he was all smiles ready to play so I didn't feel so bad. He was up for a while when we visited the Palace museum nearby and enjoyed looking at the different displays.

Changing of the guard.

Inside the gates of the palace.

The outside gate.

All the celings are decorated ornately.

All the closer we could get of a picture of Jack at the palace. He is the blue bump on my back. Sleeping.

How did he sleep?

2009-12-30T11:08:00.000-08:00

Well it is somewhere around 4 or so in the morning I belive. I needed a snack so that is why I am up. Jack was sleeping in the crib which just a tad smaller than he one we have a home. His Omma said he likes to move around at night and boy she wasn't kidding. Rollin over and back and crawling someplace to get comfy. He got smooshed up between the two sides of the crib in the corner and woke up at 12. Omma said he take bottles at night still so I was not sure if he wanted one so I made him one. He wasn't too hungry. But was so confussed we put him in bed with us but five minutes went by and he was still tossing and turning and trying to get confortable then he got upset. I think we were too much stimulation for him. But he let us know what he wanted. Uooba which means back carry. Instantly he relaxed and went out in less than 5 minutes again so we tossed the crib blanket and bedding on the floor where he slept fine until 3 when he stirred so I gave him medicine which he was due for, and was sounding a little stuffy. He doesn't care for the medicine and was pretty mad, but I gave him the bottle and he calmed down pretty quick, then he drank about 4 oz or so and then took out the bottle and I was able to lay him back down no problem. He was out. Everything seems pretty much like Omma said so far, except the bath thing, which one other family sent me a message saying the same thing happened to them and it just took time. Her bet was that he knows that is Omma's job just like we thought might have been the problem.
He is sound asleep now and even laughed in his sleep a few minutes ago. I can not believe it. Thank you so much for all the prayers, keep them coming. Pray that his cold and tummy troubles go away before the plane ride home.
We will see how the rest of the night goes sleep wise but I don't think it will be an issue. If I did I would be in bed sleeping right now instead of filling you all in.

Breakfast

2009-12-30T10:15:00.000-08:00

The most important meal of the day. Honestly it is the nicest meal of the day because it is included in our hotel stay and has familiar food.
It is buffet style and has scrambled eggs, pancakes, french toast, bacon, sausage, french fries, tator tots, baked beans, made to order eggs and omlets, cressants, mushrooms, kimchi of course, soups, pastries and other dishes I ether don't recognize or don't remember off the top of my head. This is one reason I am glad we are staying at the Sommerset. It is nice to to have to worry about breakfast and we know we will at least have one familiar meal each day. John says if we return with the whole crew someday he would love to stay here again and he is pretty picky when it comes to hotels.
Here is Jack enjoying breakfast and the buffet is in the background.

Yummy food! John took a picture of his breakfast!

Jack's Tricks

2009-12-30T03:28:00.000-08:00

We ended up staying in the hotel after getting Jack. Once he was asleep he napped 2hrs or more. Combining his usual 1 hour morning nap and 1 hour afternoon nap into one we believe. He has had a couple of boughts of saddness. His cry is very soft and very sad, but those are not long lived. We have had a few smiles too.
Once Jack woke up Daddy fell asleep for 2 hours leaving Mommy and Jack with some one on one time. Not sure when Mommy is going to get her nap. Jack was pretty calm but now is coming out of his shell after a whole day. He is into everything! He can push up to his feet no problem and from what I have seen is not to shabby at getting back down either. He got afraid a few times this afternoon and didn't want me to go farther than 4 feet or so from him. Even washing my hands after diaper changes he was sad. But I tried my best to assure him I wasn't going anywere and tonight has been much differnt. Well with daddy awake it helps. He isn't keeping a super close eye on me like he was when daddy was asleep.
John and I both were not excited about eating dinner. So we settled for some snacks from the convience store in the hotel. On the way down we looked at the Christmas lights. Jack excitedly grunted at them all saying "UHHHH" over and over. People standing by thought it was very cute. We headed up stairs and had a picnic in our hotel room. Jack had rice cereal given to us by HOLT for him. It is not like our rice cereal but has all kinds of things in it, it is still a mush but has veggies and meat and doesn't smell too good but he ate all that they said that he would which was quite a bit compaired to what my older kids used to eat. He also had about half a small banana. He also likes the gerber puffs we brought and we bought him a bag of potato sticks, the same snack he was eating at HOLT the first day we met him. I had a colbyjack cheese stick which was a softer cheese than I was used to, and bought a pack of saltine crackers which were harder than I was used to. I also enjoyed a snickers bar. John had a chocolate chip muffin. Here is a picture of our picnic food.

Jack had a couple boughts of dirreah today. One I barley saved from going up his back. Good thing I have some experience. Totally not a job for a first timer. Hope that the banana will help. He also enjoyed a cracker tonight.
Busy busy busy!!! He can pick up tiny things and can pull himself up so that means big brother and big sister have to put their toys up high expecially the ones they don't want to be chewed on. Everything goes in Jack's mouth.
Daddy got some full out giggles out of Jack tonight by copying the sounds Jack made when he coughed and doing his Donald duck wiggle voice.
We WILL be going out tomorrow. The only way to contain this little man is to carry him on our back. We will see how tonight goes as far as his sleeping and how sad he is not at home with his Omma but right now we are very busy trying to keep up with him. Dad is starting the bath for him now, one of his other favorites from what his reports said. I am hearing the same grunts that I heard when he saw the Christmas lights. I think he is excited!!!
Then again maybe not. Bathtime was a flop. Tears and all. We didn't wash his hair or anything. We thought it was maybe because he was in the tub alone but he was still not too sure when I went in with him. He was better but still not liking it. Maybe it was the diaper rash. Maybe he takes his bath in the sink, maybe it was too cold. Who knows. Note to others following me. Be sure to ask Omma about bathtime. It was supposedly one of his favorites. Yet maybe it just sent him down a sadness path because it is Omma's job and where is she? No way to know for sure what is in his little head. He is all dry now in his new jammies from his Omma having a bottle with dad. Poor guy. What a big day. Five minutes in the carrier on daddy's back and he was out. That was pretty easy woke a bit when we layed him in the crib but I just patted his back and he layed down. No tears or anything. Wow! We will see how long he sleeps. His Omma said he still wakes for bottles and he will need more medicine at 3am and a diaper change I am sure.

On our way down to buy munchies.

Upon our return to the room showing off his flexibility.

Our munchies of choice for the evening.

Getting ready for bathtime!

For all you worried about big babies from Korea, Jack is 25 pounds and 9 months. There is not much chub there. He is heavy but really not that big.

Just cute!!

Really cute!

In jammies ready for bed.

He Is With Us!

2009-12-29T21:27:00.000-08:00

We picked up our little man today. Everything went well. He is on medicine for his cold and for dirreah. His foster mother said he had two loose stools since yesterday. Once we had him back to the hotel and finishing his bottle he had some dirreah. So we are glad we have the medicine. I also picked up a banana at breakfast so we may try some of that later too.
Anyway... The pick up went well. His foster mother bought him a really cute outfit and shoes, and hat, and mittens and coat. I didn't want to make her feel bad so I didn't get out his fleece snow suit we brought him. As it was he bairly fit in the carrier he has so many layers on. We also put a blanket on top of the carrier. Mrs. Lee said it looked like I had a mountian on my back. He had some of his bottle on the subway. They have a straw type thing in the bottle so that they do not have to be tipped to drink it. So we just stuffed it in the carrier and he happily sucked away.
The subway ride went without incident except for a man probably in his 50's or so thought Jack was cute and gave him a piece of hard candy. Put it right in his mouth. (SHOCK!!) I know he was just trying to be nice but HELLO! chocking hazard!! He didn't know or think I guess. I couldn't do anything because he was on my back. John just stood there in shock. Lucky Jack spit it out pretty quickly. John held it so that Jack could lick it, just to not offend the man. He didn't speak English and we are not sure how the univeral sign for chocking would have gone over in this situation. John threw the candy away at the next subway stop and got out a wet nap for his now sticky fingers.
They like to put layers on babies in Korea. Today Jack is wearing two long sleeved shirts, and a zip up sweatshirt, two pairs of pants socks shoes and a hat. He is sleeping comfortably in all those clothes, including the hat, right now.
He was not too excited when we tried to put him down for a nap. His foster mother said his nap was at 11 so he needed a bottle and a nap right away. He wss too busy checking out the toys we brought and the room and us. He wanted to make sure he didn't miss out on anything and was very intereste in everything daddy was doing.
He didn't care for when we turned the lights off and cried a bit. So we decided to head downstairs with him on my back and grab some sandwiches in a shop downstairs at the hotel. By the time we left the shop to take our food upstairs he was out. We left the lights off in the room and I was able to lay him down on a blanket on the floor. Now we are just waiting for him to wake up so we can play some more. But it is nice to have some time to tell you all what is going on.
His foster mother didn't cry. Which was a relief. But she was sure worried about the wind outside, kind of makes me think that we should have taken the polar fleece suit out to show her that we were prepared. Oh well. She was a bit sad I think, but like I said she has done this like 35 times, so I am sure that helps a bit.
Time for some more picures.

Daddy holding Jack at pick up time at HOLT office. No tears at all today when he saw us!

Waiting for the subway train.

Me with a mountian on my back.

Tired boy snuggles with mom.

Snuggley guy!

My "teething bling" necklace was a huge hit with Jack.

He also liked this ball.

A little on the tired side, but too much going on to sleep.

Looking out at Seoul from hotel room window.

He can pull up to his knees.

Crashed!

We get Jack today for good!

2009-12-29T10:21:00.000-08:00

I am feeling a bit nervous, excited, and scared. It is so hard to fathom that they are just going to give him to us and he is ours. No one will tell us what to or what not to do. All the decisions about his care will suddenly be up to us. Well I know first thing I am going to do is get some Triple Paste out for that diaper rash. It didn't seem like they were using anything on it yesterday. This is the stuff that takes care of that in a hurry. I happened to have a travel sample of it and knew to pack it. Ha, funny to think one of my first steps as a mom to Jack is to put on the diaper rash cream.
Depending on Jack and depending on the weather, we may try to go to a museum today or a palace. Both are very close to our hotel, and we are thinking an adventure out being carried on a back, (his favorite thing) may be a distraction opposed to being in a hotel room all day.
We pick him up at 10 and will venture back to the hotel first to drop off his medical folder of information and his HOLT diaper bag wich will have two cans of formula for us and two bottles. They know we packed diapers and a carrier so we won't be needing the ones they give other families who don't bring one.
We also brought him a winter hat and a columbia polar fleece snow suit and can't wait to see him all bundled up. He is a bit of a drooler cutting his top teeth so I am glad I brought a burp rag and some drool bibs, but worried about his little mouth getting chapped. We will just have to keep him burried under the blanket we brought. Well I guess he is used to being burried outside anyway.
We haven't decided yet if we are taking the subway back to the hotel or getting a taxi. Taxi's usually have no working seatbelts and forget about a car seat in Korea. It was supposed to snow here yesterday which it did for like an hour, just a dusting, but it was predicted 5-6 inches overnight. I do not see any additional snow out the window right now so maybe it didn't happen after all. Yet if it did snow we would probably avoid the taxi for sure. No snow plows in Korea, traffic is very dangerous when accumulating snow fall occurs. Honestly I would almost say traffic is dangerous anytime. Fast paced lane changes, lots of honking. And if you are walking across the street and a car is coming, you better run, because they may not stop. I do what I see other's doing and many Koreans are running to get out of the way.
What an adventure today will be! Not sure when I will get a chance to write about it but hopefully I will.

Korean Chinese food /American Chinese food

2009-12-29T09:27:00.000-08:00

I have always heard people ask where to have good Authentic Chinese food. No one seems to think there is any in Sioux Falls. I have always heard that it is "Americanised" well just as much as our Chinese food has an american flare, I believe this resturant in particular had Korean Chinese food. We went out for Chinese food last night. There is a place we can see from out our hotel window so we asked at the front desk if it was a good place and they said it was good. So feeling confident, after all we have been to many Chinese resturants in the US we walked in. NO one spoke English, which was fine. We sat down and they bring small bowls of kimche (a Korean spicy pickled cabbage dish eaten with most every meal in Korea), raw onions sliced into big chunks, some yellow half circle shaped things we didn't identify, a tiny bowl with what I think was plumb sauce but was a bit more salty, and another bowl of somthing that kind of looked like maybe summer kimche?? At any rate John was confussed. I knew from research and from others that in Korea they have many small bowls of food on the table and this was sort of like the bread course that everyone gets. John didn't buy it, he just sat there staring. I tasted a few of the things and John said "how do you know they don't bring those out to every table, like these were on the last table and no one ate them so they brought them here." I just looked at him confussed not even sure what he was saying. Needless to say he did not try any of it.
We were able to order by pointing at the menu items we wanted. Garlic Chicken, and Sweet and Sour pork. The Garlic Chicken was pretty spicy, but ok, and the sweet and sour pork was ok too but in a sweet clear looking sauce not a red sauce. No rice was served, you could order fried rice meals but we were suprised at the fact there was no steamed rice. There was plenty of food and we couldn't finish it all. We wondered if we could take our leftovers home since we have a fridge and microwave in the room but after looking in all the Korean guide books we found no place that said "doggie bag please" or "may I have a take home box" worried that we would end up confussing the waitress to no end, we ate a bit more than we needed and left it there. We were not super crazy about our meal anyway so I was not sure I wanted leftovers. I guess we do not enjoy Korean/Chinese food. We will stick to our favorite American Chinese food.

After dinner we took a walk down the street to see an ice skating rink we could see people skating on from our hotel room window.

View from hotel window at night. Notice the blue lights?

All the blue lights are decorations on trees for winter/Christmas. Here is John by one of the trees.

This is me by a subway entrance. More trees in the background.

The outside of our hotel at night.

Elevator door sign at our hotel. I guess you are not suppoed to lean on the door or you will fall and hit your head. John enjoyed the sign.

Interview with an American???

2009-12-29T01:49:00.000-08:00

We started down the street in Insadong and got no further than one block when a guy with a video camera stopped us. He was from a local TV station doing a story on Korean food. His english was not so good but he wanted our opinion on Korean food. I told him we actually had not had any yet. He was not taking this for an answer and I think he thought that we were saying we had not had lunch yet. He asked what I thought of bulgogi or if I knew bulgogi. I said yes because I know what it is and I have had it myself, only because I made it once at home. I am sure that homemade bulgogi by a person who has never had actual Korean food does not make me fit to answer questions about it. But he insisted. So on camera I mumbled something about bugogi having more familiar flavors to me than other Korean foods. Then he asked what I thought of Korean food. Wanted my opinin. Still I insisted that I didn't have one yet because I had not had any, but again not good enough for him so on camera I said it was spicy. That is all I know from what people have said. So if you happen to watch Korean TV tonight please be nice to the American in Korea who interviewed about Korean food but never really had any. I am pretty sure no one I know is going to see it. It was too funny!

Insadong shopping

2009-12-29T01:28:00.000-08:00

We set off to find some lunch and do some shopping after our meeting with Jack. We started off exploring the tourist shopping area nearby. I ended up really enjoying this. We found out that the prices on things are not necessarily set in stone when sale people started automatically giving 10 percent off things automatically. I am guessing we could even get them to go lower on prices if we asked. Most of the stuff we got was already a great price. We got Jack a Korean mask for his room, and some wedding ducks. We also got our family a set of Korean chopsticks which are made of metal. We got a few Red Devils soccer shirts/jersey for Allie and Ethan. Since we love soccer in our family we thought this was an awesome find and a great price. I was so excited! We also got some spinning tops and some Yut games. I loved stopping in the Korean quilt shops because my mother quilts and I know she would love to see them too. Unfortunately when I tried to take a picture of one of the shops we realized that we had left our memory stick in the compter from when we unloaded Jack's pictures. That is ok we will have time to go back. It is so closeby and there are many resturants in that area so we will probably end up there for most of our meals.
I am guessing you may be wondering what we had for lunch. Well John was not yet feeling brave enough yet to try out a Korean resturant. We ended up at good old McDonalds.
We are holding out for some good pulgogi. I am pretty sure John will be a fan of this korean dish even if he doesn't care for the other dishes we have seen on signs today, many of which feature meals containing octopus. YUMMY!

A few more pics.

2009-12-29T01:08:00.001-08:00

I didn't have time to post them all before so here are a few more.

First Meeting

2009-12-29T00:26:00.000-08:00

We took off from the hotel this moring giving ourselves 45 minutes to get to holt by the subway. We had directions from the web forums that another mom had posted and they were AWESOME directions. We referred to them many times. I don't think we would have made it without them. As it was, 45 min for us was not enough. We did take a few wrong turns on the way and had to backtrack. The directions were right, we just didn't follow them to a tee, missed a part here or there. Then when we read them agian we got it right. Anyone waiting to go, print those off to take with you!!!
Anyway with our two wrong turns and having to wait a whole 5 min for one train, no clue what that was about, we ended up being 15 minutes late. We went inside and mistakingly went to the first floor. The guy there did not speak any english so we sat and waited. One foster mother walked in with a very large baby and we almost assumed it was Jack. He was waving like crazy at us and had a huge smile. So we waved back and smiled too. But this was not Jack. We were not dissapointed by this, but the pic we had of him was from 5 months and we thought he would be HUGE since he weighs 25lbs.
Next we saw another foster mother walk in. We noticed the back of her coat buldging. It kind of made her look like a she had a hump back. We smiled because we knew she had a baby under her wool dress coat. Her coat in the front was all buttoned up. We assued it was a small baby because it just doesn't seem physically possible to fit an older child under a coat like that. Later we learned that that bump was Jack!
We finally talked to a man in another office nearby and leared we were supposed to go to the second floor. So now about 20 minutes late, we sat and waited with Mrs. Lee for Jack.
I guess Jack was downstairs having a bottle before he came up. He didn't drink much of it because he was upstairs pretty quick. Well daddy got his wish as you can see. Jack's hair no longer sticks straight up. But oh is he ever cute! We think so anyway. We soon got to hold him but he was not very happy about it. He started to cry, but he didn't turn and reach for his foster mother, he just burried his head in my shoulder and snuggled in. When we knew we could not distract him with toys I handed him back to his foster mother who sat him next to her and Mrs. Lee gave him a snack. You can see he is pretty happy eating in some of the pictures. When we tried to play with him a bit he would start to pout. But after we exchanged gifts with the foster mother he had warmed up to us already. Let us hold him and play with him a bit. Still keeping Omma close by.
I asked Mrs. Lee to ask Jack's foster mother how many children she had fostered. Well it turns out she can't even remember the exact number. Somewhere between 35 and 40 children. I know from experience right there that I probably didn't need to ask half the questions I had lined up. An incredible woman who has cared for over 35 children, told me that Jack was an easy going guy. She told us he loves other kids, and when I asked about if she was concerned with any of his medical background she answered that he is perfectly normal. She thinks the doctor was overly concerned about nothing. I figure that a foster mother who has cared for that many children would know. We didn't even ask to see his back knee, or the tip-toeing at this meeting. Honestly we are not concerned about it. I am sure when we talk to the doctor tomorrow he will show us.
We took Jack down to see the doctor today too. He is getting his two top teeth, which may be the cause of his cold. Yep poor thing has a cold, is teething, and had some dirriah yesterday, but not today, and is fighting a diaper rash from the dirreah yesterday. Lucky I packed a whole baby pharmacy so I think we totally have these things covered. Plus have a couple days. The rash doesn't seem to bother him too much even when the doctor was examining it, he didn't cry.
Jacks foster mother said he is not shy with anyone but was with us a bit this morning and was tired at our meeting. He came down with his cold yesterday or the day before, and is cutting his top teeth. She says she thinks he knows something is coming. I belive she would know after all her experience.
I don't expect her to be super sad tomorrow. Sad yes, but not fall down greeving sad, which is a relief to us especially John. We have a pro on our hands so to speak. I wouldn't doubt if she took a new baby home with her tomorrow possibly. That doesn't mean she doesn't love Jack. Oh my you can tell she does, We got professional pictures from her of Jack, and tons of other pictures from the camera we sent, and from her personal camera as well. We got gifts from her on top of that as well. Some artwork for our home, and a hanbok for Jack.
Jack actually had two foster mothers and his first Foster mother actually saved us his umbilical chord when it fell off. She also sent to us his first set of clothes that he wore home from the hospital, she bought them herself, and made him a mobile by hand that she sent with him for us to bring home. We also have pictures of Jack that she took. We are so blessed by these two women!
We showed Jack pictures of Allie and Ethan and he was really interested in them, or maybe dad's credit card which was right by them. He did like the pictures though. I can't wait until we are all together as a family of 5.
We still don't know how things will go on the plane ride home. We are hopeful that his personality will make things a bit easier, but the cold and diaper rash may do us in. We have a few days before we leave so hopefully we can get that taken care of before we board.
We pick him up tomorrow at 10am. I origionally thought we met at 10am today and got him at 11 tomorrow but I somehow had switched that around. John randomly asked to read that email and caught the mistake so at least we were not as late today as we could have been. Yet we still go there before Jack so I think we were ok. I just kept picturing him there waiting for us but was glad that was not the case.
We left the meeting on a high. Perminate smiles were on our faces all though the subway. What an amazing day!
Oh and you probably wondered how we knew Jack was under the coat. We saw his foster mother outside walking down the street with her bump on her back. Jack looks like he has a full head of hair but actually is is bit like an old man in the back. I think it maybe from her coat. We treid to get a picture, but couldn't get the camera out while walking and she soon had crossed the street and was too far away. But I will never forget our/her little baby bump.

Jack Photos!!!

2009-12-28T19:39:00.000-08:00

We have arrived!

2009-12-28T07:00:00.000-08:00

Well it is around midnight here. I am very tired. But who needs sleep right? We left SF on the 5am flight the other flight we were scheduled on was pushed back to 10 and we were worried we would not make it for the connecting flight if any little thing went wrong and caused a delay. So after 2 hrs of sleep we left for the airport and made the flight. The last two seats on an oversold flight that was suppoedly overweight but magically was not all of a sudden. Humm.... Wonder who's hand was in that one?
Well this made it easy to follow my friend Shayna's advice and not sleep the night before. Sleeping on the plane was not the easiest either but we both managed to get some sleep and watched a few inflight movies. Wierd to take off and follow the sun around the world. It never got dark until we landed in Japan. Then the sun set before our last flight.
The holt driver picked us up at the airport. Easy to find him with the sign that said Weber just ouside the airport doors by the money exchange. Just like everyone on the forums said. He drove us 1hr through Seoul past Holt office, and gave us all the info we needed for subway and maps and everything. John feels much better now that he has all that info.
Well we meet Jack tomorrow so I need to get some sleep. I have decided I do not care for long plane rides. Feeling a bit homesick and miss Allie and Ethann, but I haven't met my son yet, and there is not much to see in the dark. Maybe a bit of culture shock as well. Finding food that John will eat tomorrow will be an adventure. We had some interesting choices on the plane.
Lots of nightlife here. TONS of people out walking around here and there and it was past 11pm. If we were at a red light in the Taxi we had to wait for around 10 people to cross the street each corner. I am not much of a nightlife girl so I think I will enjoy things much more in the morning with more sleep under my belt.
I can't believe we meet Jack tomorrow!
Of couse what fun is a post without a few pics.

Sleeping at the Tokoyo airport.

Our hotel room.

Leaving on a Jet Plane

2009-12-26T16:03:00.000-08:00

Dear Jack,
We will soon be on our way to pick you up! Tomorrow we leave on an airplane and fly as fast as we can all the way across the world to come and get you. We were not sure yesterday if we would make it. Our car even got stuck leaving the driveway. But the plows came and planes started to land today so we are pretty sure we are on our way. Here are some picutre of the snow at our house the night before we got on the airplane.

Here is a pictures out our back door.

Here is a picture of our swing set, and how the snow comes all the way to the top of the 4 foot fence.

We are busy packing and getting ready. We taught your grandma's all they need to know to take care of your brother and sister while we come to get you. They will miss us while we are gone and we will miss them but we are so excited to meet you! Here is a picture of your room the night before we got on the airplane. We are using your room to pack our bags in. Soon the room will be filled with Jack and his toys and there won't be room for suitcases anymore.

There are other babies waiting to come home to their forever families. Some of those babies are not as healthy as you so we are bringing them some presents. Rice cereal that the really small babies need (premies) and cans of special formula for a little baby that can not have any other kind. We are bringing some bottles of baby lotion as well. They don't have these things in Korea so we wanted to bring them with us as a present for all the babies waiting to go to their forever families like you. Here is a picture of the suitcase with the presents for the babies who are waiting like you to come home to their families.

We can't wait to meet you Jack and bring you home to be in your family forever! We will see you soon!
Love Mom.

Expect the worst and hope for the best. Pray for us.

2009-12-21T14:43:00.000-08:00

We have been waiting for Jack for over 4 months now, and knew we were going to adopt over a year before that. We have been preparing ourselves for this journey. Taking classes about adoption, reading books on attachment. Researching and learning about everything that we may expect. But Jack, Jack has not been waiting for us. He is in his little nine month old world that consists of living with a wonderful woman who loves him very much. This is his foster mother. It is unbelievable how much love these foster mother's in Korea poor out into these children and the evidence is proven time and time again when these children are sent home so healthy and visibly well taken care of and loved, and by the heartache in a foster mother’s eyes when she hands over the child she has cared for, for so long. Jack does not know we are coming. He may not have even gotten the picture book we sent him of our family. We assume he did but we never heard. We will be total and complete strangers to him and we will be taking him away from the only mother he knows his Omma. He will be scared, confused, and will be in shock and morning over the loss of this woman who has loved and cared for him for over the past 5 months. He will be taken away by strangers who look like no one he has ever seen before. These strangers do not have black hair, they most likely are much taller than the people he usually sees. They won't have dark almond shaped eyes like the people who have comforted him everyday of his life so far. They may be scary to him. Yet he is supposed to learn that these people are his forever mom and dad. Then these people will take Jack on an airplane, which can be a scary experience and his ears may hurt, and he will want his Omma and wonder why she is not coming to get him. For weeks he will search for her, he may even cry out the word Omma in his sleep.
We will do everything in our power to make Jack feel safe. It will take Jack a while before he will trust us. It will take longer for him to open his heart to us, because it will be broken and unable to open for a while. He may push us away and not want to look us in the eyes because he is broken inside and does not want to trust again, or love again because he feels he may be left again. He may seek out others and reach out to them. Mom or dad shopping, so to speak, as a way to have control over his situation.
We as his mother and father will do all we can to foster the growth of attachment for our child. This includes only us filling his every need. Only us changing diapers, only us feeding, only us picking him up if he starts to cry. He needs to learn who his mother and father are and when others take care of his needs he could become confused as to who is who. Or assume that the position is open to whoever comes by so why trust one person.
How long will this take? Well the books and research has said you can never put a number on it and only mom and dad will know when he is ready. Some well known books say one week with his new family for every month he was not. This would mean nine weeks before Jack has made a full transition to our family.
Transition is different from attachment however. He may have transitioned into our family by then but attachment is a long slow going process that is continually worked on and takes months and sometimes years. It is also a process that can have many setbacks. Things in Jack’s life may cause him to push us away again such as illness, or maybe just a memory that was triggered.
We know all of these things. We have a huge job ahead of us and would like prayers and support as we journey home with Jack. Jack will have experienced more loss and life changing experiences in his little life than I have ever in my whole life. He has lost a birthmother who he grew with for nine months. A child knows their birthmother. When I left Ethan in the nursery at the hospital shortly after birth they brought him back in saying he was hungry less than 10 minutes later, I found it strange because I had just fed him. So they laid him down next to me and his crying stopped instantly and he fell asleep and did not want to eat. He was not hungry, he wanted his mother. Internally Jack's little system knew he lost his birthmother and it remembers she was gone. His heart was healed a bit when he was placed with a foster family in the city in which he was born, but he lost her too when he moved to a second foster family in Seoul at around 4 months. Now Jack is going to lose a mother a third time. Many foresee this as such an awesome thing for Jack to come home to his forever family. Jack won't. We can see the big picture that a little 9 month old boy cannot see or comprehend. He will once again experience loss and pain. We expect to bring home a very sad boy, yes there will be bittersweet moments and even maybe some smiles and giggles along the way. Those are the moments we will live for and that will keep us going when at night he is mourning and pushing us away because we are not his Omma. Jack with be in mourning and will be grieving the loss of his foster mother, the loss of his home, the loss of the sights and smells and language of his birth country. He will be sent across the world to live with strangers who will slowly try to mend his little heart.
We know the power of prayer and know that God can do wonderful and marvelous things when we ask. We want to ask you to pray for us. We want you to pray for Jack and for his transition into our family. Surround us with a sense of peace as a family. Send us patience and understanding. I truly think this is going to be the hardest thing I have ever done in my life. I know there is a light at the end of the tunnel. I have seen it in the faces of others who have journeyed before me, but I have also seen the heartache and the low days of those same people. I know we will see those times. I just pray we don't stay there long. If you are still reading, thank you.

What's the plan?

2009-12-21T14:12:00.000-08:00

Ok crazy, but we found out some plans today. First I want to rejoice and thank God! We are going to go get our son and everything is falling into place! One Grandma is a teacher and has the week off we are traveling. The other Grandma has two days of that week off for new years and is taking an additional day off. So they are doing every other day. How wonderful! So blessed! We know they will be in great hands!
We found out a few exciting things today, blessings really. We get to stay in the Hotel we wanted to stay in. It is called the Somerset. Pluses include family friendly atmosphere, so they are used to adoptive families with children crying, awesome rooms including laundry machines in the room, and a full breakfast with made to order omelets all included! This is the place to be according to those who have been there and done that. Right next to a major shopping district where we can pick up local items to bring home for Jack to give him in the future, and to pick up other items on our list to bring home. One less worry and I am very excited to stay there!
We also got our schedule for meeting Jack and for picking him up for good! We arrive in Seoul at 9:30pm on Monday. We will be picked up by taxi arranged by HOLT, I have been told not to expect to get to our hotel much before 11:00pm so it will be a late night. But also an early morning because we meet Jack at 10:00am on Tuesday. We have been told to give ourselves 45 minutes to travel to HOLT on the subway which is near the hotel. (honestly I have no idea what I would do without the HOLT on line web-forums. I have learned all these tricks from families who have been there and done that and would have had no clue otherwise.)
We will meet with Jack and his foster mother, possibly the rest of his foster family maybe, and with Mrs. Lee who is in charge of things at HOLT Korea. She will interpret for us. We will meet with Jack and his foster mother for an hour. We can ask questions, and we will exchange gifts. Gift giving is part of Korean culture and it is important to show respect for your foster family and HOLT Korea by giving gifts. (this means I need to pack wrapping paper too since you cannot bring wrapped gifts through customs, another web-fourm tip)
Then we say goodbye to Jack for the day. Here is where things get interesting. We get to pick up Jack for good the next day. Most families have to wait a whole other day, but we were not told when we got airline tickets that HOLT is closing from noon on the 30th to Jan.3rd. So we get Jack on Wednesday. Many been there done that's have called this a blessing since it will give Jack one extra day to get to know us before we get on an airplane. We will spend two nights with him in the Hotel. Other families actually request extra time in country with their children, so that there is not so much change at once. He can get used to us but still smell the smells and see the sights of his country. We plan on trying to venture out on Thursday with Jack to do some site seeing. His second word ever in Korean is carry on back and we have been told that that is one of his favorite things to do, so we are planning on strapping him to my back and heading out to site see. Many others have done this and say the pictures they get of their child in their country before they leave are invaluable. Yet we will see where Jack is happiest. If it ends up being in the hotel room then that is where we will stay put. We are looking forward to this time to get to know Jack while in Korea, before we come home. Undivided mommy and daddy time before we add our other children back into the mix is a blessing. Or so I have been told by many. We will miss Allie and Ethan tons, and can't wait to bring home their new baby brother.
We will spend Christmas with Allie and Ethan here at home, then, spend New Years with Jack in his birth country! What an adventure! It seems so crazy but I have so much peace about everything. How awesome is God's timing? How awesome is his plan!

Here's to a busy week!

2009-12-21T13:26:00.000-08:00

We are going to meet our son in 8 days can you believe it! What I can't believe is how busy those 8 days are going to be! Three days of Christmas celebrations then we jump on a plane. Before that, packing, getting last minute stuff, lining up everything for our other kiddos. This is so exciting! We sure have a long to-do list!This does not seem real!
Today just flew by. Tons faster than I ever imagined! Let's not even talk about how many Christmas cookies I ate today!

TRAVEL CALL!!!

2009-12-18T10:24:00.000-08:00

Wouldn't you know it. I forgot my cell phone when I went to watch Allie's preschool Christmas program. So came home to a message on my answering machine from our social worker. Then another one from John saying she had called him. Then it was busy busy busy time calling the travel coordinator at HOLT in Oregon, while making lunch for the hungry and over excited children. Then calling the travel agent while eating and feeding excited children. Then relaying all that info to John at work, and of course trying to announce this to the whole world of people who have been constantly waiting to hear.
We are planning on leaving on December 27th and leave for home on January 1st. We didn't have much choice as far as tickets go. But we think this will work out ok. Start the New Year off as a family of five!

A few things, and a new dress for Barbie.

2009-12-14T13:19:00.000-08:00

Doesn't seem like we are getting a call today, which is not so bad since we know we probably won't get to go until later anyway because of flights. I am going to a MOPS leaders Christmas party tonight and had to take some good jeans out of my suitcase. I was getting by with the ones with holes until TC. One week of that and the holes are too big now to wear them out in public so I unpacked a couple things to wear tonight. I had all the kids clothes laid out for this week when we thought we would be gone but started into Allie's piles since she has a couple Christmas themed outfits that need to be worn a few more times before Christmas comes and goes.
This weekend we put Jack's car seat in the car. Actually it is Allie's old seat and since she spilled some syrup on it last week it was a perfect opportunity to take it out and wash it and put it back in rear facing. This meant Allie got to move to her big seat in the back of the car and Ethan moved to the driver side. This did not excite Ethan. He came out to the garage crying about Allie eating his chex mix and then went into a full blown fit when he saw his seat had been moved. Of course it was nearing nap time as well. So I am sure this contributed.
We left the house this morning, all in new places, and no one was complaining. Ethan actually was trying to get a rise out of his older sister by stating that he was sitting in her spot. Little stinker.
We dropped Allie off at preschool and then I was looking forward to a trip to the chiropractor. Well we got there an hour before the doc, I guess my husband was confused because he told me 9am but that was only on Saturdays. So we left to kill some time. I was not horribly disappointed because my favorite thrift store is right down the street. So off we went. I got lots of good deals. An extra dress shirt for the trip. I want to stick with a black dressy theme so I do not have to pack brown dress shoes and I needed another top. I also scored some new boots for the trip. I was planning on bringing my black ones but they are not so comfy to walk in. I found some new looking leather suede ones that will work perfect for dress or for casual. These just may be the only pair of shoes I will have to bring on the trip which would be awesome since shoes are heavy and take up lots of room in a suitcase. I grabbed some last minute presents for the kids, not that they needed more, but they were on the list of things I had in my mind to look for at a thrift store so if I see them I buy them. Allie got a pair of brand new double blade ice skates. This means Ethan can wear the strap on double blade ones that she used the last two years. So we can all three skate this year. Dad will hang with Jack and watch us from the window. We may even have a change to use them before our trip maybe. I also got her a basket for the front of her bike to carry around her stuffed animal friends. That still had a tag on. Oh and an adorable Easter dress probably only worn once. Now I won't have to shop for one later this spring. She already saw that one and had to try it on and march around the house like a princess even grabbing her tiara. Thumbs up on that purchase. Don't worry, believe it or not I did end up leaving some things in the store although John may not think so.
The last thing I got will also teach you something about Korea. That is Barbie's new dress. I happened to spot in a bag of Barbie clothes a perfect outfit for Barbie. We only have one Barbie in our house and Allie has never been a fan. Of course Barbie has always been naked. We actually bought her because Barbie legs make great teethers and Ethan was all about chewing her legs when his new teeth were coming in. Allie was never a doll fan more of an action hero kind of girl. She loves her stuffed puppies and other animals, but dolls such as Barbies she describes as too girly. She would rather play with her Buzz Lightyear any day. Well Barbie got a dress today just like the one I promised to bring Allie home from Korea. One with rainbow sleeves. It is a traditional Korean dress called a Hanbok. Barbie has suddenly become Allie's best friend. At least for today. I am sure tomorrow she will be back to Buzz but today I have a girl who is actually playing with a doll! Here is Barbie in her new Hanbok.

Waiting some more...

2009-12-13T14:38:00.000-08:00

Well as you have guessed we did not get a travel call last week like we expected to. I assumed we would be on a plane to Korea this week but God had other plans. Honestly there is not much of a chance that Jack will be home before Christmas. Why? Well the answer is plane tickets. Two families that I am in contact with got travel calls on Thursday. One was able to get tickets for Monday the other family had to wait to leave on Christmas Eve. According to both families here was only one other choice available to them and it was not a good choice. The flight they both mentioned had horrible layovers on the home leg of the trip. I am talking layovers of around 10 plus hours. Way less than ideal. The rest of the tickets available seen to be business class tickets that cost 6K a ticket. Not something we are willing to pay to an airline. We have not gotten our TC yet and things may change but we expect that even if we could get tickets before which is not a huge possibility; we would most likely have to be away over Christmas which does not work well for our family or childcare arrangements.
Usually families are asked to travel within two weeks of the call. We were concerned about this wondering if they would expect us to pay the holiday business class prices and or be traveling right over the holidays. I called to ask what the expectations of the agency were. Our minds were put to ease when we were told to wait for TC, since it is always an unknown, then book tickets that have prices that we are comfortable with that line up with our family arrangements. Then they would notify Korea of what works best for our family. So it sounds like there is a bit of an exception to the two week rule. She also added that there will be closings of the offices for Christmas and New Years and we would not be able to meet with the agency on those days so being in country at that time may not be the most effective either. So she said that even if we traveled at the beginning of Jan. She is sure that the HOLT agency in Korea will be ok with that. We feel much more at peace with this information and not as stressed out about receiving our TC. We were not worried until we heard the flight news on Thursday. Funny the difference a day can make.
This week was also stressful on Wednesday when we found out that our home study which we thought to expire on the 29th which we assumed we would be home by then actually expires on the 23rd. Well that sent us into a panic since we didn't know if it had to be good through travel or up to travel date or until we had Jack in our arms etc. There was even a point we thought it may have an expiration date of the 16th. So back on the phone calling two different people to figure it all out. Now our home study update appointment is for the 23rd. If we are gone in Korea no big deal, if not no big deal and our social worker will make a visit and update it. Of course it is going to cost to update and it will not be a valid home study once Jack is home because it is a study on our family now not our family with Jack. (sigh) Nice huh? Oh well, at least we know that it won't affect our travel call.
I am kind of doing this post backwards. So going back to before that part of our stressful week, we had a bit of more stress, not huge but disappointing news. We and a few others had Tuesday as our child's Visa Interview date. Others I knew had Visa shortly after the interview that showed up on the system in DC. Not us. When I called DC Jack was marked as a "no show" to the interview. This would send most people into freak out mode! But not me. I had remembered seeing this many times, although not for a long time, from other parents in the process, it actually doesn't mean that Jack's representative didn't show up. What it means is that the person, who enters the visa information into the system at the US embassy in Korea, did not get around to entering all of the cases into the computer. (I always blame things like this happening to us on having a last name that starts with a "W" although I am not sure if this was the case in this situation) Anyway, if the visa does not get entered into the system on the day or within a certain amount of time from the interview time, we are not exactly sure how it works, the system defaults to a "no show" entry. Time after time when this happens the visa is input into the system by the next day. This was the case with us. Of course I was a little worried when no one else remembered this info from the past posts on the HOLT board. Yet I was right and a couple people reassured me a bit as well. Jack does have his visa, just had to wait a day longer than the others, so we are again just waiting for the call that the others got on Thursday. There are other things that can hold up his TC. They will not clear Jack for travel if he has a bad cold for example. We will never know for sure.
What a week! Here's to Monday!

Great way to start the week!

2009-12-07T06:18:00.001-08:00

I figured this would be our week for our TC! I think I am right. Jack's Visa Interview is officially scheduled for tomorrow! Some people get a call the same day, most who travel get a call within two or three days of the interview! Pending the class B which now I do not think that we will be needing after Jack's last medical report, we will most likely travel next week or whenever we can get tickets, but it has to be at least three business days after the call. SOOOOO CLOSE!!!!

The RH report finally showed up!

2009-12-03T14:08:00.000-08:00

So this big Rehab report we have heard was done but were waiting to look at, came today.
I don't even know where to start... First of all good news! Jack is totally fine!
There were two things on Jack's WBC the back knee, which we assumed was what the doc's were concerned about since we were not at all familiar with it, and tip-toeing, which we were not very concerned about because many many babies tip-toe at this age and it doesn't mean anything until after they are walking and still doing this. So this although it can mean certain things, we were not worried about it since Jack was on target developmentally for everything else. Our Doctor was not worried about it either. So we didn't think they were. But like all have told me. They check into everything in Korea and keep their bases covered. So... because he was tip toeing, they sent him to an Rehab consult to be checked out.
On to the report. The report did not even mention the back knee. I take this to mean that it is really a non-issue kind of like we ended up assuming. They assessed many areas and Jack seems to do well at many things. He is crawling and sits up with no support. He is even said to have good balance.
The main sentences say. "When he stands with support he doesn't try to touch his feet on the bottom. But he can stand with slight planus.
Ok I had to look up the word Planus too. It means flat.
Here is the next, and last sentence of the report. "It doesn't matter clinically."
We translate this to mean... "No biggie." Yep after all that worry it is no biggie.
Of course we have sent it off to our doc just to be sure, but she wasn't worried to begin with.
Couple of fun Jack facts we learned from the report as well..
He can say two words. Uma which means mom. And the other is Uoooba. Uoooba means carry on back. Like it said in an earlier report "squeals with delight when carried on back" I guess Jack loves it so much it was his second word.
I just want to thank my friend Natalie who is lending me a very special carrier that can carry infants,toddlers,or preschoolers. I am sooooo going to need it to carry my 24 plus pound boy around! For those of you who are just now joining us. Jack is 8 months old. Yes he is big and we can't wait to see how heavy he is in person!!!

DC Can See His Picture!!

2009-12-02T13:13:00.000-08:00

I called DC today and they said they see his picture, and that he went to the Embassy yesterday. As of November all babies must make a personal appearance at the US embassy in Seoul. Jack has now done this so check this off his list! This is good news. It means that although we do not have any medical reports from Jack's RH consult, that he must not have any other standing medical appointments that will hold up his travel.
I will keep calling DC every day to see if they have scheduled is Visa Interview. Another family was able to see their daughter's pic for around 12 days before news of a Visa Interview. For others it was more like 24 hours. So we will see.
One other thing that may happen is called a class B waiver. Families are sometimes asked to sign this after their child has their visa physical. It states that there is a medical condition they want to be sure the family is aware of. No one knows whether or not they will end up with one. Some families get them for minor things, while other families who have children with greater needs sometimes don't. I think we may end up singing one because of Jack's back knee. If this happens it has to be signed and notarized and then sent back to Korea. Mail only goes out of Fridays from Holt in Oregon, so depending on when we find out if we need one, and when it is notarized and when it gets to Oregon, and sent to Korea on a Friday, then processed. It could add around 2 weeks. But it would be a total last step! Yet like I said... We may not need one, you never know, just wanted you to know about what is going on if we do need one. If we end up not needing one I will fill you in!

Since everyone likes to see some sort of picture on a blog I will show you my project for the day. Burp rags. I scored some new receiving blankets off Craig’s-list cheap and transformed them into a few burp rags. I have decided to just make 4. I don't think we will need too many but they will be good for possible drool, and a messy bottle mouth. Jack doesn't spit up according to his reports but I added a ring for chewing on attached through a button hole. He does have two bottom teeth so these may help with the rest!

Thanksgiving Aftermath.

2009-11-29T12:12:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving was a great distraction. It was fun to be around family and have something to do. It is good to have a reason to clean the house. We did our Thanksgiving on Friday so Thursday was just a down day to clean and prepare. Friday was busy with family over. 17 total. Then Saturday was a good recovery day to clean up after so the house is clean.. again. Today is Sunday and I am so ready for it to be Monday again. No news since everything has been closed for Thanksgiving and the weekend. I am ready to hear some news again. I really think that next week is our week for TC. I was thinking about how I was going to stay busy and distracted. Well I woke up this morning with a cold. So I guess I will put my mind to getting over that. I don't want to travel with a cold.
This week we are waiting on a RH report which should come soon, I don't know if we will get video and pics like we requested before we get our travel call or not.
Monday I plan on brining Ethan to the doctor to have his ears checked again. He is waking about five times or so each night. I really want to have that taken care of before Jack comes home, yet the last set of antibiotics did nothing anyway and if he catches my cold there is no way he will improve with the ears thing. I am starting to think that this may have been his issue with sleeping all along. Maybe tubes are the answer I don't know. We don't usually go in for ear aches until they are bad enough that he is miserable especially with the chance of catching other things while at the doc.
Tuesday is off to the doc again for flu shots. They have a clinic that day so the kids and I are signed up to go.
Next weekend we plan on taking one last road trip before Jack comes home. We are not sure yet where we are going. We may end up in Aberdeen visiting friends, but they may have to work, so then our back up plan is to head down to Omaha to the zoo and to stay at the Holiday Inn with a water park. We have a free stay to use up before the end of the month so this will be a fun trip to take with the kids. We are kind of thinking that we may get a phone call on our trip. We got our referral on our trip to WI this summer. We got Jack's EP while on a trip to the cities a month ago, so we think if we take a trip we should get another phone call!!! Just maybe???
Our Packet 3 has been out for three weeks, it will be 4 weeks on Thursday. Average times from P3 to VI are around one month. So our P3 went out on 11/5 so we expect VI to be around 12/5 but that is a weekend. So next week we think we will get our TC! This is all guessing. It could take longer for P3, there has been some families with it out longer. With Jack's RH consult even though it happened quickly we do not know if it held up P3 being returned or not. Just a wait and see type of thing.
Allie made a taggie for Jack's Christmas present. She wanted him to have a taggie so she helped sew it on the machine, with mom's help of course. Here is how it turned out. It matches his baby blanket that she picked out too.

Some news!

2009-11-23T10:58:00.001-08:00

We got word back from Korea today saying that Jack has already had his RH consult appointment. The report has not been translated yet so it is not ready to be sent to us but they said it should come soon. At any rate, we do not have to worry about his appointment holding up our travel anymore. Thanks for your prayers for a speedy appointment. Turns out it was done before you started praying! God is AWESOME!

Roller Coaster

2009-11-22T10:42:00.000-08:00

After my emotional breakdown at Church today I thought I better get word out about all that is going on with Jack. We got a few medical reports that said that Jack is on target for everything except weight bearing. Then we got another that said he has something they call back knee. We were not familiar with the term back knee and neither was our doctor. We ended up doing a ton of research on our own and were not able to find much. Yet our biggest fears were that Jack would possibly have CP given his background yet after talking to mothers of children with CP we do not think this is the case. On his last well baby check it said they were going to do an "RH consult". After talking to some other adoptive parents with Children from Korea we assume RH to mean Rehab. We sent questions off to the Doctor in Korea last month to get some answers and clarify the information they sent. We asked if Jack was looking at being in a wheelchair, or have braces, or maybe just do some physical therapy to correct his back knee. On this month’s WBC it noted that he needed the RH consult ASAP. Why? Well it had been a month and he had not had it yet so the Doc was asking that it be done. He also jotted down that the thinks Jack's weight bearing issues would improve with physical therapy. (aka PT) So we assume that this consult was to verify that and set him up on a PT program. Sounds good right? Well medically we are very relieved to hear that his situation is most likely not as serious as we first feared. Yet... this appointment may prove to be an issue. Why? Because if it says he needs an appointment he will most likely get it before he is allowed to leave the country. As you can tell since he didn't have this appointment last month getting children into special appointments doesn't always happen in a quick manner. Travel has been held up for others waiting for their children to have appointments. So we fear that this appointment may hold up his travel until after Christmas. Our timeline as it was already beginning to get awfully close to the week of Christmas and now I fear with this added appointment on the list he just may not make it home for the BIG day.

Now... on to the "back knee" since I am sure some of you are very curious. Well it is described as the hyperextension of the knee joint when you look up the definition on the internet. Which in plain terms as far as we know.. just means that he is double jointed at his knee joint. So when he stands or puts weight on his legs they bend backwards. How much? We don't know. We assume it cannot be that severe or they would have diagnosed it sooner than they did. What do I think at this point? Well from the information we have been given from our doc, and the doc in Korea, I think Jack has the same knees as my brother and his daughter Autumn, my niece. My niece when she was little and would stand with us holding her, her legs would bend backwards at her knee joint. It actually looked very odd and looked painful to us, but never bothered her a bit, and her doc was never concerned about it. Furthermore it never affected her ability to walk and is not an issue today. My grandma tells me my brother's legs did the same thing when he was little. So am I worried? No not really. My doc says there are a lot of babies at this age that just don't want to put their legs down period. She assumes because his development in all other areas is right on target and he is obviously growing well, now 24lbs at 8 months by the way, that this is really not an issue. Could it be an issue? Yes. Is it likely to be an issue? No. He is creeping and crawling according to the report, and sitting up without assistance. So if he is doing so well and this is a minor thing, why did the doc bother with documenting it? Well Korea is very through with its medical reports for their children in the adoption process. They want every detail documented so that if an issue arises in the future they can say that it was documented. Because Jack has “weird knees” and is not weight bearing the same as other 8 month old children they do all they can to figure out why/get him caught up. I do not know if the Doctor even knows how close Jack is to travel. So that is not even on his mind. We hope that this week we will receive the photos and video to show what they are reporting so we can see for ourselves. It is hard to know from the two words of Back Knee what they are referring to for sure. Photos and videos usually come a few days after the medical report. Our agency has sent off the request for these if they have them, and has asked that their main priority is getting him home. If missing this appointment is not detrimental to his health. Yet others in the same situation have made this request and still the appointment was carried out and caused delay in the child's homecoming.
Pray that the appointments are done fast. He needs the consult, then visa physical, and his visa interview. Plus... Just to add to this list, it turns out starting in the month of November all children must be seen in person at the US embassy. So this too will add more time to our wait. We figured we would get a call within the next two to three weeks now we are not sure when it will be. The appointment for the RH consult was supposed to happen last month and didn't. So I am sure it is possible for it to take another month. Who knows?

It is all a guessing game and we get to be along for the emotional roller coaster ride. Pray for pictures and video, pray for fast appointments, and fast processing of his visa.

Lucky "8"

2009-11-19T13:33:00.000-08:00

Jack turned 8 months old today. This is a lucky day for him. In Asian cultures the number eight is considered lucky. This is our lucky month! (We hope!) He is also considered lucky because he was born 8 lbs 8 oz. Double eights are considered twice as lucky!
Many have said that Jack is a "lucky boy" because he is going to be a member of our family. We don't see him to be lucky in that sense. Why? Because if Jack was not matched with us there would have been another family waiting further down the list that would be matched with him. He would have ended up with a family either way. He is not lucky in the sense that we have rescued him or anything. That isn't ture. Is Jack lucky to be a part of our family??? No. We are the lucky ones to have Jack.

Jack Jack Appleseed

2009-11-06T12:23:00.000-08:00

I had to share this before I forgot to write it down someplace. My kids love the song Johhny Appleseed. They like it so much and know it is a prayer that they like to sing it at bedtime for an extra prayer. But.... Ever since we knew we were going to have a Jack Baby, they sing the words a bit differently. Here is how their prayer song goes.

Oh the Lord is good to me, and so I thank the Lord,
For giving me the things I need,
The sun and the rain and the Jack baby
The Lord is good go me!

Amen, Amen, Amen...... etc.

I hope Allie and Ethan always remember singing that every night waiting for their brother to come home.

I also hope Jack will realize how excited they are to have him come home. Ethan even tells random people we see in stores like the checkout lady that he is going to have a "Jack Jack" he is in "Koweea". Jack Jack is the name of the baby in the Disney movie about a superhero family called the Incredibles. Ethan knows that his Jack is not like "Jack Jack" but the name stuck. Ethan loves to look at Jack's picture and say "my Jack Jack". Allie told aunt Lara once that she doesn't like it when Ethan says it is "his Jack Jack" because it is "All of our's Jack Jack". Allie associates Jack with Christmas and thinks she is going to unwrap a present with him inside it. We are trying to talk her into just a bow. They both like to say when their brother drools on them or tries to crawl on them that they are going to say "Jack Jack Attack"

We have Packet 3

2009-11-06T12:12:00.000-08:00

I called DC this morning and they told me P3 was sent out yesterday!!!!
You know all the paperwork we had to do to get this far? Well it is their turn. Holt Korea was sent a packet to fill out from the US Embassy in Seoul. It is the packet that ties up all the loose ends so to speak. Sometime between now and when the packet is complete Jack will have his Visa Physical. We will never see this packet, but once it is completed, Jack's Visa Interview is scheduled and we should receive TC right after that. It seems like it has been about one month give or take a week from P3 to the Visa Interview for other families in the process. Some people get a travel call within days of VI some actually the day of or I have even seen the day before.
To me right now I am feeling like 4 weeks is going to be so fast!!! But ask me again in two weeks. I don't think that the wait gets harder the closer to TC you get, like some say, but I do think it gets more stressful the closer you get. Maybe that is what they mean. Well... time to really dig deep and baby proof the house again. I’ve got to go through the kids toys and put away all the choking hazards and it is time to put safety plugs in all the outlets again.
I broke down and started buying things we need like bibs and bottles and I am even starting to think of buying some formula. It’s Jack Jack time.

Waiting for Jack #3

2009-11-03T13:05:00.000-08:00

Plugging along on Jack's room. I was in love with a bookshelf I had seen in another nursery picture, so I told John I wanted one for Jack's room. I searched all over and was able to find it on Ebay in a couple listings. One was a guy in the cities who made them. I contacted him and he said we would not have to pay shipping if we picked it up. This was our best bet since we were going to the cities anyway. The other listing was from Pottery Barn so we all know what the price was like on that one. John finally took a look at the shelf and decided, because of the fact that wood was on sale last week, that he would make it himself. So $60 later we have the bookshelf I wanted. Ended up costing around $90 less than the one we were considering picking up in the cities. Sorry, I get excited when we save money on things like this. I am so grateful for my handy hubby! He has even started to stain it now, a job he originally said was mine, but he volunteered to do once the shelf was built. Here are some pictures of John's building the shelf for Jack. We hope he likes it. I joked with John saying that Jack can take it with him to college and when he gets married etc.

The back is not attached yet because it is easier to stain and finish it that way other wise good to go!

Jack has his Immigration permit!

2009-11-03T12:49:00.000-08:00

We are three for three for trips! We took a trip at the beginning of August and got our referral, we took another one at the end of August and got a nice WBC report while we traveled and yesterday while traveling to the cities for our yearly get away/John's work trip to the MOA area we got an email! We were eating at Outback Steakhouse one of John's favorite places and I told him to check his email on his phone. I added... “It would be nice if you could find an email about Jack's EP or a picture or something.” and he said “OK how about EP” and he smiled!

The email stated that we actually have had notification of EP since 10/27 but it was delayed being sent to us since since Mrs. Lee in Korea, who usually sends them, was out of the office recivering from surgery for apendicitis. We actually knew of her illness already so we were not upset at all. Everyone says Mrs. Lee is the best in the world at what she does and we will most likely get to meet her when we got to get Jack! We are happy she was able to recover.

We expect to have word that our P3 or (Packet 3) has been sent from the US embassy in Korea to the HOLT Korea adoption agency to be completed. It takes average about one month from what i have seen on other's timelines for P3 to be completed. That is when the Visa Interview (which is not really an interview) is set up for them to review all the information, then most people get a call within days of that interview. So... This may mean that we are traveling late Nov, or early Dec. if all the cards fall right. If we have to sign a waiver for any medical conditions it could take two or so weeks longer. But still this puts us before Christmas like we hoped!

Only time will tell! But he has permission to leave the country!

I think I'm ready.

2009-10-30T14:18:00.000-07:00

I am sitting here at the computer. I have had dinner prepped and ready to start to cook for an hour. The table is set. The house has been dusted and vacuumed. The kids are both down for their usual two hour nap. The laundry is done. The dishes are clean. I am actually bored! Yep, I think I am ready for a Jack Jack.

Please note: After Jack is home the situation described above is not likely to ever happen again, or at least for a very very long time.

NVC out!

2009-10-30T09:01:00.000-07:00

Wow! That was fast! One day turnover! That is awesome! What does that mean? Well again I am not exactally sure but one step closer again. Still waiting on the EP! Keep your eye on the white list on the right side of the page. The next step usually takes about a month after you get EP. We will just have to see!!! It is such a guessing game!

National Visa Center

2009-10-28T09:13:00.000-07:00

We are offically logged into the National Visa Center. What does that mean. Well... I am not exactally sure but it is one more step checked off the list. In a few days we hope to be logged out and have our info sent to Korea.

Still waiting on our EP, which was held up because of an audit that was done in Korea. Hopefully we will hear about that soon!

Movin' right along!

We have I600!

2009-10-25T11:31:00.000-07:00

This means that we got approval on the US side to bring Jack home! That doesn't mean he can come home yet... See the white checklist of the right hand side of the page. That will let you know what still needs to be done. The main thing we are waiting on right now is his immigration permit from Korea, also known as EP.
But... back to the I600. It took about 5 weeks. It was approved on 10/21. I was worried that I would have to call them after the 6 week mark and hunt down his info to get it approved since others I have talked to had to do that. I guess we were lucky! I am grateful. One more thing off the checklist!

Waiting for Jack #2

2009-10-21T10:32:00.000-07:00

Jack turned 7 months on Monday. I guess I figured, while we waited, we would get some illness out of the way. On Monday I was just starting to get over a battle with what I believe was H1N1 and Ethan was on day 2 of his round with the illness. We were in survival mode mostly and I thought to myself how thankful I was that Jack wasn't home yet, to be around all this sickness. H1N1 is around in Korea too and actually when you travel to Korea they are currently asking you health questions, and taking your temperature, before you enter the country. They have also called some travelers mid-trip to ask about their health status. They are trying to control the spread of H1N1 there, and like here in the U.S., it too has been related to deaths in their country.
I am hoping what I had was H1N1. For one, I won't have to worry about getting it while we travel. When I am all better, I will get my flu shot, if one is available, and hopefully be set. John and Allie ended up with nothing but a stuffy nose from the whole ordeal so far. They were popping vitamins the whole time we were sick so we are thankful that they have not been dealing with this virus like we have.
I did make some progress on Jack's room. Not done yet, a few more projects to go, but here is a sneak peak anyway. We are using a puzzle theme.

These are pieces from a giant floor puzzle that we painted or covered with scrapbook paper.

I bought some wood and cut out some large puzzle pieces of my own. I stained them and painted the edge of two. I covered the edge of the one in the middle with scrapbook paper. I then put hooks on the pieces so we can hang things. Allie has three flowers with hooks in her room and Ethan has three stars that have hooks. I couldn't find wall decore puzzle pieces, at a good price anyway, so I made my own. I was happy with how they turned out!

Jack's letters are from Hobby Lobby, they are actually a cardboard type material, I then covered them with Scrapbook paper. The puzzle pieces on each side give it a nice touch I think.

That is all you get to see for now. You will have to wait for the rest. Feel free to look back to a July post to see some other artwork and such that will be in the room.

Jack, I hope you like your room!

How do you say Jack's Korean name?

2009-10-07T10:39:00.000-07:00

This is a question I have been asked by many friends and relitives. The answer I gave was not always the most confident. I leared when I asked a friend over the phone and I had to practice a bit. His Korean name is Gyeong-min. The G is more like a "K/G" sound together. The whole first part Gyeong, is one syllable and the second part is another. I had a freind over for coffee this morning so I could get to know her a bit. Her name is Eunha. She is a friend I met at MOPS last year and I found out today that she actually shares the same hometown as Jack! She has been a great help to us when we have questions about Korea. I can not express how thankful I am to have her as a friend, it has been so nice to know I have someone I can talk to about Korean culture. She is even going to bring me some of her mother's home made kimchee to try! I will write about that adventure when it happens. So while I had this wonderful woman over for a visit, I had her say Jack's name and I video taped it. So for all who want to learn, and for all who are curiuos... you can check out the video. Unfortunatly though the timing is off and I do not have a video editor that I can fix it on. But it will help just hearing it anyway. It wouldn't let me load it either. So use this link. Ugh technology!

http://s547.photobucket.com/albums/hh466/soccermom113/Fall%202009/?action=view¤t=MOV05667-1.flv

What is Jack Like???

2009-09-29T10:22:00.000-07:00

We got new info on Jack today! It was info that was gathered sometime between Aug 10th when they have his weight written, and Aug 28th when the report was written by his social worker. So we are going with 6mo old for sure.

What great and awesome info. I feel very blessed because there are some families that do not get this info. They usually do an updated Child report a few months after a child is placed with a new foster family. Jack was born outside of Seoul and then trasferred to a new foster family in Seoul, where we will be traveling to pick him up. He is living with his second foster family since birth. He stayed with the first until he was 4 months old and has been with his second family now since then and will still be when we pick him up. They do an updated report to see how the second placement is going. Since he is now older there is so much more information about him! I cannot believe it! Are you ready??? Here you go!!!

Jack loves to take baths! He is not shy with strangers. He recognizes the faces of his foster family. He also loves to go outside! Feels refreshed and screams in joy when he is carried on back. (I am guessing they mean in a carrier since they are very popular in Korean culture, even for big babies!) It also says he mixes well with peers, seeks out other children and babbles at them. He is described as a cute and alert little boy with a bright and mild character. He laughs loudly when his foster mother covers her face and plays peek-a-boo. He has been healthy and has had no medical concerns since leaving the hospital after his birth.
His foster mother calls him “Gyeong-min-a” which it is noted that he responds to, usually with a big smile. The “a” at the end of a name is common for baby nick names in Korea. Kind of like the way we added a “y” sound to the end of Ethan and called him Ethey.
Right now it says he sleeps from 10:00pm to 6:00am and wakes up twice at dawn for feedings. He also takes two naps a day for an hour each. Likes it dark to sleep and sleeps on the floor with his Foster mother. He often moves around looking for cool places during the night. He has some trouble going to sleep on his own and is usually carried and patted to sleep. Once he is asleep, noises do not bother him and he sleeps well regardless of noise.
If he is laid on his back he lifts up his buttocks high and pushes to his tummy. On his tummy he happily spins in circles and moves up and down by pushing with his arms. It says he sits up briefly leaning against the sofa and keeps standing with good force in legs. It says he puts his fists in his mouth and sucks them while drooling much. Laughs and giggles when he feels good. Babbles much. Does not use a pacifier, a little different than what we are used to. Says he has 2BM’s a day and drinks milk based formula and never spits up, but burps well.
Well as you can see we are on cloud 9 with this information. Loving every minute of it! We also know the ages of his foster family members and who is living in his home.
Things may change when we turn his little world upside down but it nice to have a glimpse at the sweet happy boy that will be joining our lives!

Happy 6mo. Jack!

2009-09-20T05:04:00.000-07:00

Jack has turned 6 months old. I was worried about being sad on that day but we had a busy day so it was hard to find time to be sad. It was a great day as well. Here is what we did.
We all went to our daughter's morning soccer game. She had fun this time; she didn't enjoy herself too much the last two games. Dad is the coach so he was happy she was happy. Grandpa came to watch too.
Then we headed to the Olive Garden for Lunch. Everyone was happy, well behaved, and ate a ton of pasta! It was a nice lunch.
Then after the carb load we all headed home for an afternoon nap. After the snooze we went to a block party in the middle of town. My band was playing a show there and the kids had fun playing and running around with the kids in that neighborhood while dad ran sound and mom sang songs. Grandma and Grandpa H. came to listen and help out with the kids as well.
After the show the four of us headed home. Dad and daughter took a jog/bike ride around the neighborhood, while Mom and Son set up blankets and pillows out on the deck to lie down and watch the stars. When Dad and daughter came home they joined us on the deck with telescope, binoculars and a bag of microwave popcorn. We hung out under the stars until bedtime. It was a wonderful evening and a wonderful day!
Happy 6mo. Jack. I can't wait until you can watch the stars with us!

Timeline revisited.

2009-09-18T11:50:00.000-07:00

I did write a post a while back outlining the timeline for the process. I think it is time once again to go over what needs to happen between now and Jack!

6) receive legal documents for the specific child (this happened last week)
7) File I600 with immigration (we filed last week, it can take 2-6 weeks for approval)
8) I600 approval goes to National Visa Center where it is logged in and logged out) (this part takes about a week or two)
9) Receive Emmigration Permit,permission from the Korean government for our child to leave the county.(this actually is what is happening in Korea now, we may get this in the next 4 weeks)
10) Embassy requests packet of info from agency to complete visa, also known as P3. (This doesn't happen until steps 6-9 are complete)
11) Get visa interview (Kind of an unkown, maybe a month)
12) Get our travel call(within 2 or 3 days of step 11)

So the steps we will post about are.
EP (immagration permit from Korea)
I600 (permission for VISA US side)
NVC in date (Natioal Visa Center in DC)
NVC out date
P3 (packet 3 that is sent to and completed in Korea, not by us)
Visa Physical has to happen before Visa interview but can happen anytime.
VI (visa interview) which is not an actual interview for babies but just when their files are processed.

And if you are not confussed now you should be.
So if you print off the above bold list and keep checking things off you will have somewhat of an idea of how close we are getting. All this still needs to happen before Jack comes home. It is quite a bit and it is never strictly cronological as far as time goes. There are too many variables on both sides, too much paperwork to be processed. There are so many steps that something can get lost or mistakes can be made so prayers for smooth processing at this time would be helpful.

Natalie is off to South Korea!

2009-09-18T11:07:00.000-07:00

My friend Natalie, who got her referral on May 21'st, got her travel call yesterday! Which means she has the all clear to make travel plans to pick up her little man. I am so excited for her! She is also in my MOPS group this year. We had a meeting this morning and she was only stopping in to drop off some fruit for breakfast before she ran around town to get ready to leave next week. So I ran to MOPS this morning to drop off the care package that she will deliver to HOLT when she goes to meet her son. Then HOLT will get it to Jack. I was bawling when I got to see her. I was so happy for her. To think next time I see her she will have her boy.
I must admit I am sad a little bit only because I now feel I am waiting alone, when before I had someone to wait with. Yet I would not, for the world, want her to wait longer!!! She is going to be so close to where my son is, or at least in the same city. I know I will be in the same situation in a few months! It does make things seem a bit more real. It will be nice to have a friend who has boldly go before us so to speak. She will be able to give us hints and tips on travel and such.
So where does that leave us. Well... We got our referral about 2 1/2 months after her so that could mean that 2 1/2 months from now we could be traveling! But there is no scientific way to know. I will outline the steps for you in the next post so you can keep track a little easier.

Legals!!! and WBC

2009-09-16T12:45:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was an exciting day. We received Jack's legal documents in the mail. So we were able to finish our I600 application for USCIS and send it off. We now have to wait for approval for that which takes 2-6 weeks. It did take a full 6 weeks for a friend of mine in town that just recently went through this step so that is what we expect.

We also got a new Well Baby Check (WBC) yesterday Jack is now 22.4 lbs. His physical appearance is described as "cute and smile" We already knew the cute part.
He drinks almost 7oz of formula every three to four hours so that may explain the 22.4lbs, but he is also 28 inches which sounds huge to me. He is rolling over, laughing, reaching for and holding objects, and assessed to be at a 5-6 month level. Right on target!

Our friend here in town who is also in the process we hope is traveling soon. We have asked her to bring Jack a care package for us. She will not be able to meet Jack but can just save us shipping cost by delivering our package to HOLT Korea. We are sending Jack a blanket with a teddy bear head, and a Sassy baby photo album with photos of our family. I am also planning on sending a disposable camera so they can take some extra pictures for us of Jack. We can get the camera back when we go to get him and develop it here, but he may not have many photos from when he is little so this will help some.

Here are some of the family pictures we are sending to him in his baby album.

Waiting for Jack #1

2009-08-31T13:06:00.000-07:00

I wanted to list some things our family has done or accomplished while waiting for Jack. This is my first list.
We have painted Jack's Room. Even John, who hates to paint, helped some.
Here is the color now.

Our daughter has learned how to ride a bike with no training wheels. This is good so that her two little brothers can ride in the bike carrier. For bike rides to the park or pool next summer she can ride her own bike. Not bad for 4 years old!

We wrote a welcome note for Jack on our driveway for the neighborhood to see. Yet I don't think many people did since it rained the night after we did it. But the kids were proud. In the picture was Jack's Korean name written in Hangul, and the South Korean Flag.

Then my daughter wanted to do her own. So this is her (creative 4 year old version) of the South Korean Flag and her brother's name in Hangul. I was very impressed!

My mother and I have gone fabric shopping for Jacks quilt. She has done one for each grandchild so she is getting busy on Jack's. It will be a puzzle piece quilt. These are our fabric choices so far. We will see what goes or what stays or what is replaced once we have a finished product.

I also have purchased some artwork for Jack's room. I fell in love with this print I saw on another child's wall and had to get one. It matches the room so nicely. I do however need to purchase some new glass for the frame. It broke when I was putting the print in. I was so sad since I had just bought the frame with a 50% off coupon that day, but John says glass is easy to replace. That is what I needed to hear. I love him!

Acceptance Paperwork

2009-08-31T12:47:00.001-07:00

Our acceptance paperwork is all in. We mailed it on Saturday so it should be at the office in Oregon on Tuesday. There was 110+ pieces of paper. Copies of documents and forms we have filled out. Think... South Korea is actually a country that requires less paperwork than other countries. So I really feel for those who have to do even more. The paperwork part is stressful. You fear forgetting something or making a mistake. There is so much, there is bound to be something missed. It is not uncommon for signatures to be forgotten on certain documents causing things to be done over again. Organizing it all is difficult. But hopefully we are past that for now. We will have more documents to do but they are a few weeks away. For now we wait.

This is what our table looked like while we were filling out documents. Honestly this was at the beginning and it got worse as we went on. The big binder is what we keep and organize everything we fill out in. We have copies of every form and document we have sent in case for some reason they get lost or misplaced by the agency here, or possibly in Korea, or lost in the mail. Most forms require originals so we will have to do them over if they are lost but if we have a copy they will be easier to do. Also we know what we sent where when because we put post-it notes on the outside of every plastic sleeve and put the copies of the documents in that sleeve.
Now we are waiting on Jack's legal documents. This could take a month. Then we get to do more immigration paperwork. A form called the I-600 that we turn in at the USCIS office. Hopefully they will make a speedy approval. Yet a friend of mine who recently filed hers waited a whole six weeks for it to be approved. So honestly that is what I am expecting.

Updated Photo!

2009-08-20T11:57:00.000-07:00

We received an updated photo of Jack today. I had Allie click to open the pic. We were surprised on how big he looks already. Allie loves his naturally spiked hair.
We are just waiting now to get the acceptance paperwork notarized. It has to be a week after he turns 5 months which is about a week away. All the paperwork if filled out at least for this step, just waiting for the notery date. Just to give you an idea of how much we are sending. There is a total of over 100 pages that we have printed out. Some neede to be filled out. Some are Tax Info, and copies of birth certificates and such. Yet lots to keep track of and fill out keep organized and get noterized.
There will be more paperwork to do in about a month when we receive his legal documents. That is when we start the US immigration paperwork.
That is all for now! Enjoy the picture. The second is the same picture just cropped. Oh and that is a Mongolian spot on his ankle. It is on his medical paperwork, so we know it is not a bruise or anything.

It's a BOY!

2009-08-12T06:02:00.000-07:00

Meet Jack Gyeong-min Weber!

What can I say. We were not expecting the referral of our new family member until around Chirstmas, but God had other plans. Now we may be a family of five by Chirstmas.

He was born in March at 8lbs 8oz. (I will not be posting his birthday on the blog so I will give family and friends that info later)

We thought we still had four months to wait to see the picture of the child that is meant for us, but we got an early surprise.

We got a phonecall in the car on the way to WI for the Weber side family reunion. Grandma Linda W. was with our family in the car too. In the car we had been discussing with Linda that it may take more time to even recieve a referral since we had been informed things were slowing down as far as the number of children available in the adoption program. But talked about how we were not worried and how we as a family trusted God's timing. We were patient and not in a hurry.
Like I said God had another plan. We were in the middle of a rainstorm not more than an hour or two later and got a call from our social worker, we didn't answer becasue we didnt' know it was her until we heard the message. She just said to call her back. I assumed it had to do with some paperwork we had to update. But it wasn't. I couldn't hear very well what the social worker was saying becasue of the rain. When she told me that our file had been matched with a baby boy I tried to tell her she had made a mistake. I told her that was not possible since our Home Study was not in Korea yet. Our agency had sent an email to me by mistake in the past right after our Home Study was completed that it was in Korea, which I knew wasn't true so I had big doubts in my mind that this was real and not just a mistake.
She reassured me that it was not a mistake and asked if we wanted to see his file. She tried to tell us some things about him by phone but it was difficult to hear and at one point we thought she said that he weighed under 4lbs at birth. This is not the case. It was listed as kg, not lbs. So in reality we have a very large baby by Korean standards since he was actually born at 8lbs,8oz. A good pound larger than our other children.
We were about two hours away from our destination so it was not going to be easy to look at his file. John had his laptop along so we could look at it at the hotel but he also had his blackberry phone that he is able to look at things on. So there I was sitting in the car reading his 9 pages of medical history on John's little phone. I had to zoom in a great deal to be able to read it and it was slow going. I also found it a bit frustrating becasue I didn't know how to use the phone too well and it was taking forever.
We were in TOTAL Shock!!
How did this happen that we got a referral so soon? Well families are asked to fill out a medical checklist as to what conditions they are open to. We were open to quite a few things. We were not in the special needs child program and our boy is totally healthy. It was the combination of three things that the people in line four months ahead of us were not open to. These things were respitory distress.... We were open to this because it can mean so many things. For example our nephew was in NICU on oxygen for 24 hours after birth, so he would be labled under this catagory. He is by no means having any issues because of this start and is acutally meeting milestones faster than his twin brother who never had respitory issues at birth so it is by no means any measurement of future development. A start like this can mean nothing. That is the case with our little guy. In South Korea, especially for children who are entering the adoption system they document EVERYTHING. Once a child has a label such as respitory distress, it can never be taken off even if it never really had an effect. Our little guy did not cry after birth until 2 minutes after he was born. Because of this they gave him a bit of oxygen. After only two hours they decided it was not needed and took him off the oxygen since he was doing so well. That is all. That was his only issue with respitory distress. My neighbor who works as a labor and delivery nurse at Sanford only laughed when I told her they wrote it down as being in respitory distress. She said it is pretty common and not unusual.
South Korea is so complete in documenting the health of children in the adoption system that they decided to do a brain scan as well. His last brain scan at the beginning of June showed no abnomalites so he has been given a total green light as far as hit little road bump of a start goes.
The second thing he had was Jaundice. They did not even bother putting down his levels and did not list it as things adoptable as. So pretty routine minor jaundice. We state we were open to Jaundice on our medical list as well. I had some jaundice when I was born and I turned our fine. A friend of mine who was born and grew up in South Korea is also a family practice doctor and now lives in Sioux Falls. She said becasue of skin tone most babies in Korea start off with some jaundice, so again not an issue.
His last issue was a couple of birth marks. His largest is a salmon spot on the back of his neck that is only 1cm big. Allie has one on her chin. So no big deal with that issue for us either.
So these three things, respitory distress, jaundice, and birthmarks are the tools which God decided to use to move past four months of families in order to bring our Jack to us. We feel God has chosen Jack to be our son and chose us to be his parents. None of these things, according to the medical people we have spoken to, should have an effect on his health in the future.
Just to give you another idea of how complete the South Korean medical people are in thier information, I talked to a International Adoption Physician who's job it is to review medical files of children before parents accept the referral. Once he heard that we were with Holt's South Korea program and he was not in the waiting child (children with more things in their medical history) He told me to save my money and just have my Doctor read it. He said if he was in the regular program he didnt' think he would find any issues. He said if our doctor had any concerns that we could give him a call. She didn't state any concerns and said he looked good!

So off we go on our Journey to Jack! How long will it take for him to come home? Well that is a bit of an unknown. It is stated to take 3-6 months. From when we turn our acceptance paperwork in. We have to wait until he is over five months to do that, Policy in South Korea puts a hold on children for international adoption until they are five months seven days old. They did let his file go out a little early becasue chances were very high he was not going to be adopted domestically because he is a boy and his little bump of a start. So we can not turn it in for two weeks, but consider that we got his referral at 4 months a blessing because we have time to do paperwork not under a time ticker of him growing older. We will have it ready to turn in the first day we can. This is as young as a referral gets and is nice to think best case senerio is that we may have him home a few months before he turns one.
Three to six months is the numbers given to us by the agency. Average over the past year has been 4 months. Yet because of the holiday season I have seen things in past years slow down with friends I have talked to on the HOLT forum boards. Their govenment agencies shut down just like ours do for holidays. Will he be home by Chiristmas? I hope so but there are no garentees. I have been told to possibly expect the later of 5-6 months by the person in charge of the Korea program at HOLT. Which doesn't always mean anything either because they like to be conservitve so you are not dissapointed.
There are things that have to happen on our government's side and on the Korean government side. Lucky most of it can take place at the same time. I have a friend in town who is doing this process a couple months ahead of us so I am now watching her timeline very closely.
Other than that I don't have much else to say at this point other than pray for Jack and his foster family, pray that the paperwork all gets done and gets to where it is supposed to be at the right times and pray for a smooth trasition home.

Oh yes and are we traveling??? Probably!

Born on the 4th of July!

2009-06-23T07:00:00.000-07:00

Maybe... According to our timeline (which is nothing close to scientific or garenteed) our child just may be born in July. Five to six months before our expected December referral. We will know nothing of them or about them until we recieve our referral but they will have arrived long before that so pray for the new little one this July.
John is specifically betting on a July birthday for our new son because it makes sence. Johns birhday is in March, Ethan in April, Allie in May, Kara in June. So that leaves July!

We've been told to expect a Boy.

2009-06-23T06:33:00.001-07:00

The monthly updates from Holt have told us to expect a boy. (most likely) While we are open to either there are some families that can choose a girl. They either have two boys at home already, or are Korean born Americans. There are many families in the process at this point that fit this profile.
Another reason is that domestic adoption is picking up in South Korea. Yet they are mainly adopting healthy girls. Girls when they marry in South Korea are added to the family registry of the male so it does not matter what their family history is. Yet males have no family registry to belong to because of being born out of wedlock or in other circumstances that do not allow them to be added to a family registry because of older South Korean rules. South Korea is slowly changing this but it takes time. So boys are still not considered as often for adopton in South Korea at this point.
China seems to have more girls because there is a rule they can only have one child and they want it to be a boy so that they can take care of the family when they are older. Yet Korea does not have this rule. Because of these two circumstances, South Korea's domestic adoption of healthy girls increasing, and the list of families that are waiting for girls specifically growing, there are less and less healthy girl babies going through the adoption system. Since the line and wait for those requesting girl babies is longer and growing and the adoption of girls picking up in South Korea, they have told families that are waiting for either boy or girl, that they better expect a boy referral. Does this mean we are having a boy? Maybe, most likely. We are setting our minds that way, but it still does not rule out a girl because it all depends on the circumstances. What we listed we were open to on the medical checklist, and if a child matches that. Yet the chances for a boy are much much higher than the chances for a girl.
So think blue!

Whats going on right now? Timeline Refresher!

2009-06-23T06:20:00.000-07:00

Many are asking what is going on right now in the process. So it is time for an update. Even Grandmas and Grandpa are confussed as to timelines, dates and ages, so you are not alone if you are unsure what is going on.
Well we are waiting. That is about it just waiting. We have not gotten notifications that our home study is in Korea so that means it is still sitting in the U.S. waiting for the agency Holt Korea to call for more home studies.
At this point we are still optimistic that we will receive our referral around the Christmas/ New Year Holidays. They will be most likely; around 5 or 6 months at the time of referral and it will take 3 to 6 months (average now being 4 mo.) for all the paperwork and travel approvals to be complete so they can travel home. So that makes them anywhere from 9-12 months when they come home. Maybe not the baby that some of you have been picturing. We very well could have a busy walker by the time they come home. So doing some estimation math lets say we get our referral at the end of December than wait four months or so for all the paperwork and such to be done we can roughly estimate our child will be home around May. Maybe for Grandma H. and Allie's B-day on the 4th of May. Hey it is a double special day already! This is just a guess and can be thrown way off by many things. But it gives you an idea of the possible timeline.

Children's Book "Just Add Once Chinese Sister"

2009-02-11T11:50:00.000-08:00

I have borrowed the book “Just Add One Chinese Sister” from the library for my daughter and I to read together. It is about a mother who is making a memory book for her daughter who is still very little about her adoption story. It also has the big brother's perspective about what things were like and what happened. Allie fell in love with the page that was about traveling to China to pick up their baby. She liked that page because it had a map of China and since South Korea is so close by it was also on the map, labeled and everything. I was able to tell her that in the book their baby came from China, and ours will come from South Korea and show her the picture. She kissed Korea on the map and got tears in her eyes. I asked what was wrong and she said that she misses our baby. We have a long time to wait, but it is nice to see that she already has feelings for her new sibling.
After we finished the book she went back to that page layed down on the couch and stared at it a long time. She fell asleep with the book on her chest. Here is the picture I had to take. You can see South Korea in the upper right corner of the map.

Prayers for our Child's Birthmother

2009-01-12T10:37:00.000-08:00

At this time my thoughts and prayers everyday have been for our child’s birthmother. If we go by the timelines given our birthmother is most likely pregnant. What this means for her and for her family we do not know. She may or may not know yet.
My thoughts go back to when we found out we were pregnant with Allie and Ethan. I know what it is like to find out you are pregnant in the best and joyous of circumstances. Yet even in those situations there is much stress involved even though you hoped it would happen.
I will never know the feelings that our child’s birthmother will experience. All I can do is pray that she is supported by friends and family, loved, and taken care of. She will be making a huge decision, making an adoption plan for the child she is carrying. I pray that she be at peace with the decisions she will make for her child. I hope that you will be praying for her and for the growing child inside of her who will someday be our child.

Psalm 139:13 You formed my inmost being; you knit me in my mother's womb.

Homestudy approved! Dec 29th.

2009-01-12T10:28:00.001-08:00

We got a letter in the mail stating that our Homestudy is approved and waiting in line to be sent to Korea. The letter was dated 12/29/08 so that is the date we go by. They say to expect a referral around a year from this date. From those I have talked to it can be a month or two in either direction. Remember it is usually three to six months after the refurral that our child will come home so we could still be a year and a half away from having our baby home. Yet we could very well know who our new family member will be around Christmas next year!

The Process Outlined!

2008-11-25T07:51:00.001-08:00

For those of you who were wondering a bit about the process from here on and what happens when, this is somthing I took of another site and kind of outlines what will happen.

1) Homestudy (Once the social worker finishes it, She writes it up and it gets apporved by HOLT. We are considered to be officially waiting for a refurral.) This gets sent to Korea, they look at this when matching you with a child.
2) File I600A with immigration (Will be sent with an offical copy of the Homestudy) This is the pre-approval for immagration and should be taking place in the month of December for us.
3) Get fingerprinted for I600A4 (They call you and tell you when you have to come in for fingerprints.)
4) Wait Wait Wait
5)Get referral!!!!!! (which usually takes about a year on average but there are exceptions both ways) the child is usually around 6 mo. at time of referral.
{Steps 6-12 usually take anywhere from 3-6 mo on average but there are exceptions that make it longer}
6) receive legals for the specific child
7) File I600 with immigration
8) I600 approval goes to National Visa Center
9) Receive Emmigration Permit (permission from the Korean government for our child to leave the county).
10) Embassy requests packet of info from agency to complete visa (also known as P3)
11) Get visa interview
12) Get our travel call or escort date (we are not decided yet on what we will do and we have a while to think about it.)

Home Study

2008-11-25T07:42:00.001-08:00

It was kind of nice to have our homestudy on Monday and Tuesday before Thanksgiving since it made us get the house cleaned up before the holiday. It wasn't that messy to begin with but it was nice to have an earlier deadline so that we didn't have to do all the work just before my family came for Thanksgiving. Waiting for a homestudy is a bit more hectic than actually having one. She asked us general questions about eachother, our relationship, our children's personalities, why we were adopting, and about our extended family. They needed financial information and asked us questions about our jobs. Now that our part of the homestudy is done we just have to wait until we get our offical approval letter. Once we have this letter then the time starts to tick for our wait on our referral. She said to expect this sometime in December. So come next Christmas we just may know who is joining our family, although it may be a while longer until they come home.

Home Study Scheduled

2008-11-17T06:59:00.000-08:00

All of our references were in on November 8th. Just a few days short of two months. We were hoping that they would have been in sooner but one got lost somewhere along the line and had to be redone and another just took a while.
We received a phone message from our social worker on Saturday Nov. 15th. I finally caught up with her on the phone today and scheduled our home study for the afternoon of the 24th and the evening of the 25th. Each visit she will be here for two hours.
She wanted to do it sooner and wants to get it completed right away. She suggested that she come tonight which would have been OK with me but John thought we should at least vacuum before she comes. I am sure we will be cleaning a bit more than that. Ethan came down with a bad cold today and had a bit of a rough night with a fever as well.
So that means next week will be a busy one. Home study Monday and Tuesday and hosting Thanksgiving on Friday. We will also be getting our flu shots next week!
At least the home study will be finished before Thanksgiving, which is nice!

Pile of Paperwork

2008-09-22T12:22:00.001-07:00

There are some other things going on in our process right now. Some of our friends have received letters of recommendation to fill out on us through the mail. They will have to complete them and turn them in. I think we had to give them names of five people if I remember correctly.
John and I have to have a physical. I had mine this morning and John will have his tomorrow. We have to have TB and HIV tests. How fun! John's HIV is already done since he is a regular blood doner. I have to wait for the results of mine to come back before we can send the paperwork in.
We have written answers to some pretty interesting questions about our expectations of adoption, or extended family's view on international adoption, our families health history, our experiences growing up, our relationship, our parents relationships, financial information, community and neighborhood information. You name it they most likely asked it. The completed form is 16 pages long. John and I were also not allowed to look at each other's answers.
Once all this paperwork is in and the background check comes back which could take 16 weeks from the time of our fingerprints, then everything is given to a social worker who will schedule a home study. Our HOLT social worker lives here in Sioux Falls so I am sure our home study won't be difficult to schedule.

PIP Class Catastrophe!

2008-09-22T11:16:00.000-07:00

John and I got signed up for the Parents in Process (PIP) classes 1-4 in Omaha. They were Sept. 19th and 20th. The plan was to stay at my friend's house from high school, attend the classes and hit the zoo with the kids.
One major problem we had was we had no one to watch the kids on Friday while we took our classes. I spent hours using all my resources and found three different people who said that they would be available to watch them. The one we decided to go with was a lady I met on the HOLT adoption website who has three year old twins from Korea. I figured Allie would have a blast playing with the kids and Ethan would get good attention from the mom since the three big kids would be able to keep pretty busy on their own. She was a nurse before she stayed home and I even went as far as to call her social worker to see what she thought of the whole thing. The social worker had no hesitations whatsoever and said that she would leave her two children of the same ages there in a heartbeat. I was feeling pretty good, on top of the world that things were working out so well. To add to the positives all three places, the class location, my friends house where we were staying and the lady's house who was going to watch the kids ended up being about five minutes away from each other. Considering how large Omaha is that was pretty miraculous. Then... my world came crashing down on me. I found out for sure on Thursday, a little before noon, that the gal who was to watch my children could no longer do so because the twins were both in bed with fevers. We were planning to leave town around 5pm on Thursday. I frantically called up the back ups I had lined up to discover they were both thirty minutes across the town of Omaha. Way farther away than I wished they would be while we were in class. I was starting to feel very uncomfortable with the situation. Then Ethan started a low fever. "Could be teeth." I said to myself, way emotional from all the sudden changes to the great plan I had spent so long planning.
John came home from lunch, I started to feel sick but blamed it on the stress of the situation. If we didn't take the classes in Sept. we would wait until Nov. for the next opportunity. We could not even begin our home study until these classes were complete. John had already taken off work and just wanted to get them completed so that we could continue the process. We decided at lunch time that if Ethan did end up being sick no one in Omaha would want to watch him and we would be making the trip for nothing. So I called my mother, bawling at this point from the stress and frustration of it all. I felt like a duck on a wheel in a carnival shooting game.
Mom said that I was being silly and of course she would watch them on Friday and spend the night. She had volunteered earlier but I didn't want to take her up on it because we had it covered. Now that we didn't have it covered I headed her way. I also felt guilty for even asking because she was also helping out with her two, one week old, grandsons (twins) a couple days a week. Yet super grandmas to the rescue. John's mom also agreed to help out by taking Allie Friday after she got off work and watching them both on Saturday.
The plan was to leave early Thursday morning 5:45 am for Omaha. Grandma one, my mother, would watch both children until Grandma two, John's mother, got off work. Then Grandma two would pick up Allie and have her for the evening then Allie would have a sleepover at her cousin's house down the street. Great plan until... Ethan was sick and threw up a few times on Friday, Allie refused to nap in the afternoon. Then Grandma two picked Allie up and had to bring her back a couple hours later because Allie was also ill. At this point we had taken the first day of classes and had one day left. I was having stomach issues also but not enough to prevent me from going to the classes. I seriously considered giving up and driving home at that point, but the Grandma's had another plan.
The plan on the home front had changed to both Grandma one and Grandma two spending the night at our place, tag teaming through Friday night's sick child adventure. I was told that they had it covered and we should stay and finish our class. I felt guilty being away from my babies when they were not feeling well. I was confident in the abilities of the Grandmas to handle everything yet guilty that they had to deal with it as well. Emotions were all over again at that point.
We did finish the classes and left and went straight home. We had an enjoyable evening with my high school friends on Friday and had breakfast at a fancy place the next morning (McDonald's). It was a whirlwind trip and I am sure I won't remember much about it in the future because of all the worrying, emotions and because of the fact that I did not feel the greatest.
I just want to say a personal thanks to the two best Grandma's in the world. We love you both very much and want you to know that we can not thank you enough for what you two did. We know that you are awesome grandmas and can't wait for you to meet the little person who you went to such trouble for and who you did all that hard work for. I know you did it for us and for Allie and Ethan too, but there is another one out there who this is all for also. I am sure this story will make them smile when they are older.
John described the classes as having a total of about one hours worth of information that he got out of them that he previously didn't know already. Considering that the classes lasted about six hours each day that didn't say much for them. I knew, I would say, 90% of the material covered in the classes already from research I had done myself. I understand that no everyone thinks and researches things the way we do and know that the information needs to be shared with everyone that is adopting since there are things you obviously have to consider. It is just unfortunate that the circumstances leading up to and during the classes made it feel like a real waste of our time.
There were six couples attending the class. All the other couples were adopting from countries other than Korea. With the majority adopting from Ethiopia. We were the only couple adopting an Asian child which surprised me greatly.
I was also surprised to find that they are closing the Korean program to new families on October 1st. Only those who have adopted from Korea before, Korean Americans, and those choosing the waiting child program will be able to apply from then on. This does not effect us since we already have our application in, but if we would have applied three months later than when we did we would not be eligible for Korea. Which makes me very sad to think about. I was also surprised, when I went on to the HOLT adoption forum, to find out that other families that are adopting from Korea were also not aware of this new change that will happen very soon.
Korea is slowly weening itself off of international adoption and hopes that there will not be a need for international adoption in there country in the future, which we knew. At this point there is still a need, but there are enough families interested in the great program that Korea has for adoption that if they continue the way they have been their will be more parents waiting than they have children who need homes. I think that it is great that Korea's plan is that they be able to provide more homes for children in their own country, yet until that happens I still feel that this is where our child is waiting for us.

Local Adoption Information Meeting.

2008-08-28T08:06:00.000-07:00

John the kids and I attended a adoption informational meeting on Tuesday night. It was at a library here in town so the kids were busy reading books while we got to discuss questions that we had. It was nice to meet our social worker and have her meet our family.
Only one other family attended the meeting to learn more about adoption and it turns out it is a family I know from my MOPS group. They are just exploring the idea at this point. We discussed being able to go down to Omaha together to take the classes necessary before the home study can take place. Yet the realization hit me that although we are not far at all in the process it would not work out to go to the classes at the same time because we are so much farther than they are at this point. Funny to think that we really have done quite a bit although it doesn't seem like it. Like I was told by a Holt employee, "It is not the paperwork that is hard it is the waiting." It takes a certain amount of time for the background checks to be processed. We are not in a hurry by any means. It was just funny to think that we were too many steps ahead of this other couple for them to catch up, even though I didn't think we had moved to far from the starting line.
There was one more family that attended the meeting. They were a local couple and their two year old daughter who had been adopted from China. She was a cutie of course. She and our son hit it off right away and were chasing each other around the room. The couple had three sons and the wife had always known that they were going to adopt. Her brother was also adopted so the idea was always there. It was a nice way for them to get their girl. Just like everyone who I have talked to, that has adopted, they had the firm belief that God knew the right person for their family. With three big brothers she holds her own and they love her. She was said to be the perfect fit!

Fingerprinting!

2008-08-28T07:57:00.000-07:00

For the adoption process you have to go through a local and Federal background check. One of the things you need for this is fingerprints. We were surprised to find out that the City charges an individual $12.50 per card for fingerprinting. It turns out that John and I had to have three cards each. Now if you do the math that turns out to be $75 to have your fingers stuck in some ink and pressed to a card. Fortunately John's uncle happens to have some experience with fingerprinting so he happily took care of that for us. Thank you!

Genesis

2008-07-13T21:19:00.000-07:00

John and I on July 12, 2008, have electronically sent in the initial application to adopt a child from South Korea. Our journey has begun. We are excited about our decision and feel like a weight has been lifted as far fears pulling us from beginning the journey.
The next step will to be to sign the agreement they send us int he mail and to get our pictures printed off and ready to send. They want one picture of your family and one of your house.
Kind of feels like a positive pregnancy test because you feel there is no turning back now, yet two years is kind of a long time to be pregnant. Maybe it is more like waiting and trying to get pregnant then when you are matched it is the positive test then when you have your baby it is like well... having a baby.
Don't know for sure. Just excited to be on our way. Ok one day is not far into the journey. But seriously we are doing this with the two years plus timeline in mind. If they told me they had a baby for me tomorrow, which obviously won't happen, I would have to say, No Thanks. Two years plus is fine with us. We have decided to think of our adoption journey as being not on our time on Gods time. Who are we to say when the best time is. He will know when it is the right time. He is just telling me that the right time is not tomorrow.
We will see what I think about waiting once we are waiting to be matched or waiting to travel. That I know will be much more difficult. Just think of how long Sarah and Abraham had to wait after God matched (promised) them a son. They had almost given up, yet God knew when the time was right. Sarah even laughed when God told her that she would have a baby after being far beyond the usual age.

"Now the LORD was gracious to Sarah as he had said, and the LORD did for Sarah what he had promised." Genesis 21:1

Do we know what we are getting ourselves into?

2008-07-13T20:07:00.000-07:00

John is the type of guy who researches everything. Even if he has to go buy a light bulb he just may look up to see what one is supposed to last the longest and most cost efficient and whatever else you can think of. This is no exception. Why would it be, we are adding a person to our family.
We have heard specific stories of issues that have come up with families who have adopted children. Children who have had unseen medical problems that may have been overlooked, some possibly on purpose yet who is to say for sure. Other families that have broken up because of stressful situations that arose from adopting a child. Stories of children who have issues with bonding, and others that have ended up in counseling for various reasons. Too many to list. All of which are very scary and on our mind.
Yet, I did not spend my pregnancies worried about all the different disorders my children could be born with nor do I worry about ones that they may develop in the future. At some point you have to give all those fears to God. There is nothing you can do to control most of those situations even if you are familiar with the families personally and know all the details. I will get all the information I can from those people who have gone though this process before me but I know that God already knows who he has chosen for us and us for them. We are already praying for them and we are carrying them in our hearts.
At some point you have to just have faith in Gods Plan.
Do we know what we are getting ourselves into?
"No. but does anyone with any choice they make?"

Why South Korea?

2008-07-13T18:07:00.001-07:00

In the year leading up to our second child Ethan's birth I took a workshop to get credits to keep my teaching certificate current. The lady who taught the class, The class was titled "How to use world music and jazz in your classroom." which was right up my alley since my degree is in K-12 music education. The lady leading the class brought along her 9 year old daughter who just happened to be adopted from South Korea. I honestly had not heard of children being adopted from South Korea before this, although I know now that is one of the oldest international programs. I didn't think much of it at the time. I had just found the stories that her mother told about how searching for things to connect her daughter to her specific South Korean culture was difficult. It was much easier to find workbooks and things for young children about China which she had done a bit, trying to let her child learn some about at least an Asian culture. She said most of the books about South Korean culture she had found were too advanced or just were not appropriate for a child.
A few weeks later at a local community center playgroup a mother walked in with three Asian children. A boy and two girls. She hurried in our direction and seemed very excited. I happened to be sitting by a friend from MOPS who had just recently moved to the US from Japan. The lady with the Asian children was excited to see someone from an Asian culture since people of Asian decent do not make up a very big part of the population in our town. She began to tell us her story about how she and her husband could not conceive and adopted a boy from South Korea. "Wow meeting two adoptive parents with children from Korea in one month. Weird!" Still didn't think much of it. She kept telling her story. Once they had their boy home they were surprised to find out that they were pregnant. They had another boy. Then... Yep there is more. They got a phone call a few years later from HOLT adoption agency who they had worked with for their sons adoption. The voice on the line said that the mother of their boy was expecting twin girls and wanted to know if they could be placed with the same family as her first son. That was her family. They were not actively looking to adopt, so the call took them by surprise. I was impressed that an adoption agency at the birth mother's request would even do something like that. Now they have twin girls who are biological siblings to their oldest boy, and of course they were the cutest little things you have ever seen. Wow what a story! Yet at the time I was still pregnant and not even thinking about adoption. I was more worried about how I was going to share my love with more than one child and other worries that the thought of adding a second child to your family gives you.
A month or so later I was chatting on a mom website and the topic of adoption came up. People were discussing international vs. domestic. One lady online, who I had previously befriended, was posting about her niece's and nephews. It turns out her sister and her husband had adopted four children from South Korea.
"AGAIN with the South Korea thing." Chills! It was beginning to seem like a common thread with me lately. I chatted with her briefly about the experience her sister's family had had with adoption and again put it to the back of my mind.
We had prayed for guidance about our decision to adopt and at that point it still kept weighing on our hearts as something we are meant to do.
So when the time came to look into adoption we started to look at the requirements listed on various international agency's websites. Of course the first country we clicked on was... China. That was the plan from back in high school, remember. We were both saddened to see that the requirements for China did not fit our family. We are young and would have to wait to long to both turn 30, the minimum age requirement, and then three years plus from that point for placement. That didn't fit the timeline we had planed for our family. Bummed we sat at the computer saying things like, "Well that is dumb." lol So we went back to the list of countries.
"Hey look at that South Korea. Let's check that one out." I remember saying to John.
"South Korea?" he said. Obviously hearing about as much about adopting from that country as I had less than a year earlier. I said "Yes, I know three different families that have children from South Korea. All the stories began to flood back into my memory. Some of them I had even in shared with with John previously but of course he didn't remember the details about it being South Korea. I soon refreshed his memory. At that point, we didn't know if the program requirements would fit our family. Turns out they did. Almost to a tee. We were within the age limits, we were excited to see the two year plus timeline instead of the three year plus we had seen on the China timeline. Travel requirements seemed to work out better in our minds. The only thing that we did not plan on honestly was the possibility of a boy since we had always talked about China where girls are often the ones waiting to be adopted.
Upon praying about it further we decided to let go of the idea that we were only open to a girl and let God make the decision for us. After all we did not get a choice for our first two children, and God knew who was meant for us and who we were meant for. If we do plan on a fourth family member we would be right on schedule (30 years old) to begin the process for China after we (like we said when we added our second child to the family) "See how this one goes!"
So after all that there was no denying that all signs pointed to South Korea. We discovered that South Korea only works with one agency per state. The agency that works with S.D. is Holt International. We went to their site and found ourselves staring at a list of requirements that would determine our families future, where God was trying to lead us this whole time.
"Ok we get it now. Our child will be waiting in South Korea."
Another great thing about the South Korea program are is that they have the most complete medical history information. They also have children placed with loving foster families while they wait instead of some countries who are only able to provide group facilities.
We did look at the other countries program requirements but our hearts already had made the decision.

"Do not be afraid, for I am with you; I will bring your children from the east and gather you from the west." Isaiah 43:5
I know it wasn't talking about adoption but it seemed fitting.

Where did you get that idea?

2008-07-13T17:11:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone,
For those of you who do not know me I am Kara. My husbands name is John.
John and I have been together since we were both 15 in high school. Back then when we were dreaming of our possible future we had a discussion about adoption. We both agreed that we were the type of people who were ok with that idea. We even decided that a little girl from China would be cute. You know the way that a 17 year old may say it.
Again about 6 years later, after we were married, when we decided to have children the idea of adoption was there as a back up if for some reason we were not able to conceive. Yet we had no problems in that area and now have two children Allie who is currently 3 and Ethan who is currently 14 mo.
John and I have always said that we would like three or four children. Another plan from high school. Even if it may come to a shock to John's family the higher number came from him.
Before we had our second child we moved into a bigger house knowing that we would eventually need more room. We plan on being in this house for the long haul. At least until we can no longer use stairs. You are probably wondering why I even mention the house. Well.. it has five bedrooms and two bathrooms all on the second floor. It seems like we have plenty of room to add more players to "Team Weber".
However after having our second child, almost the day after we were both saying that we would not be saddened by the thought of not being in the delivery ward again. It was a totally positive experience don't get me wrong but we both had the feeling that this was going to be our last visit/stay. I wouldn't describe either of my pregnancies or deliveries as difficult or horrible. They were for the most part positive experiences aside from some unusual things such as a broken rib both times during the end of the pregnancy. (ah the life of a singer),that is another story, and some extra bleeding with my second delivery, nothing that would keep us from having more.
Two months after Ethan was born John and I had a discussion about our future family plans. We always say, we will have to wait and see how this goes. Both of our children I would describe as easy babies so it was around that two to three month mark when our lives started to feel normal again. We had the discussion about having another child and neither of us felt the need or want to go the pregnancy route again. Of course who ever feels like they want to be pregnant only two months post delivery. But it was at this time the idea of adoption came to us again this time we were more serious.
It felt like God was telling us that our future child was not waiting for us at the end of that road again, they would be waiting somewhere else, somewhere far away. That is when we were first excited about our new little one and we began to pray for them. We pray that they will be born healthy, that they will be in a safe place and well taken care of until they come home to us.
I even remember Tori, John's cousin asking us at the Fourth of July family bash back in 2007 if we were done having kids. I remember saying at that time that John and I were "thinking" of adopting a child from South Korea. It was the first time we had said anything to anyone, outside of our parents, and even when talking to them it was just to hear their opinion about the idea. The news traveled fast. I had a few people who were not around ask us questions about it later that night. We knew we better tell the rest of our close family members what we were thinking at that point so that no one would have to hear it second hand.

"For I know the plans I have for you...plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:11