Monday, September 29, 2008

What's Happening Now!

The number one question I get asked these days is "When will Owen be home?" The basic answer is 3-6 months. This answer is usually followed by the questioner sucking all the air out of the room and saying "WHY?" The reason is that we still have paperwork to complete to receive permission from both countries to bring Owen to the United States. He must receive both a travel visa and a passport. As you know, these things can take time. Please pray that he will be home by Christmas. Not just because we want him with us for Christmas (which we do) but it is better for all of us the sooner he is home.

So...I am still on Cloud 9! I have been so excited making all the plans. First, I had a visit from "The Stork." Is this what you thought the stork would look like?

Yep, that is him! Our "stork" works for Fed Ex. That package he is carrying...contains the official acceptance paperwork that we had to sign and return to Dillon. We have returned that paperwork back to Dillon and now we are waiting on our "Legal" paperwork. That package should come any day.

We also got to prepare a care package for Owen and his foster mom. We could only send a one gallon bag. It was a challenge, but a fun challenge. Here is a picture of the contents of our care package.
As you can see, we sent a burp cloth (made by Grandma), a photo album for Owen, a photo album for the foster mom, a couple of toys, a teether, a animal/blanket, lotion and chocolates. That bag was full! I also sent a letter to Owen's foster mom thanking her for taking such good care of our son.

Please continue to pray for us. It is the strangest feeling to be parents and have your baby be a world away. Please pray that our documents make it through all the proper channels quickly. We can't wait to have our little guy home with us.

Friday, September 19, 2008

Oh Boy! The Details!




So, I wanted to post the details, but I liked the last post so much, I couldn't stand to put up another post! We are so thrilled and totally in love with this little guy. We like a lot of you have said, can't wait to kiss those cheeks and legs. Isn't he the cutest?

Last Saturday we had spent the day around the house and Nathan's parents called to ask us to come over and eat pizza. This meant no cooking at my house, so I was all on board. As you know, the phone has been perma-glued to my hand for months now. I had not the slightest thought that we might get a baby call on a Saturday night, it didn't even occur to me that I should take the cell phone. When we got home we had a message from our social worker. I told Nathan who call and he said "Yeah, so!" I said "She doesn't call just to chat!" Nathan's reply was "Then call her back." I am so thrilled that she called when we were home together. We were able to hear all the details about our baby at the same time. She started to tell us about this little guy and he sounded great. We rushed to the email to get all the details that she sent and we poured over the details for a couple of hours together and with our parents. He had a couple of MINOR things for us to consider, but not anything that was a "deal breaker." Just think about it like this...if you looked back on your child's first five months, what would you read? To be very honest, most people would be thankful for the kind of healthy start that Owen has had.

For the next few hours and into Sunday we talked, paced, prayed and thought about what to do. We had such a peace. We knew we need to be prudent and ask for objective medical reviews. Finally, the next day, we were brave and called and asked our social worker for the pictures. We saw the picture of our little guy together for the first time on Sunday right before we went back to church that night. OH MY WORD!!! It was baby love from the minute I saw that sweet face! I knew I was toast and if we had to say "No" now I would be crushed.

We had a close friend who is a nurse, Zoe, review the paperwork and we submitted his information to an International Adoption Physician. After that, we knew we could say "Yes, this is our baby." I called the adoption agency and told them we would be honored to accept this referral.

He was born on April 7 weighing 7.3 pounds at 19 inches long. Now at 5 months, he weighs 18 pounds and is 25 inches long. According to his paperwork, he is babbling, shouts when happy, puts weight on his legs and likes to jump on your lap. He is doing all the age appropriate things. He hasn't rolled over yet, but I think it is a matter of time, they say he is trying really hard to. He lives with his foster mother and her husband. She is a first time foster mother and the paperwork says she has a special love for our baby. From the pictures it appears she is taking very good care of him and that makes us very happy.

Thank you all for you love, prayer, support and kind words - they mean so much to us.

Here are some more pictures of our little guy. The one on the right is with his foster mother.

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Oh Boy!



We are pleased to introduce to you our son, Owen, born April 7, 2008 in South Korea! Please join us in praying for a speedy homecoming!

I will sing to the LORD, for he has been good to me. Psalm 13:6