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.

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.

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

Dr. Kim

Dr. Kim, Duk Whang is the founder and Chairman of the Board of Eastern Social Welfare Society/ESWS. In this video he is shown demonstrating his fatherly devotion and dedication to each child in Eastern's care. He is to praying a special blessing over this child as he does for each child prior to his/her departure to their new adoptive family.

I am always moved when I see this and other videos like it. I am so happy to know that someone cares enough about our baby to lift him/her up to our Heavenly Father. I know many of you pray for our baby. Thank you! We feel your prayers! To my adoptive blogging friends, I am praying for your babies too and praying they all come home safe and soon.

Ring Phone Ring

Can you will a phone to ring? Is chanting Biblical? Both are questions I asked my dear friend Tasha, in an email today. She thinks perhaps if we put the chant to music, we can call it a praise song and then it would all be o.k..

It is quite comical to see me these days with my cell phone always within ear shot if not in my hand! Waiting for "the phone" call has become a daily ritual. Should the phone be out of my reach and start to ring, you should see me as I begin to scramble, flip flop and whatever else it takes to get the phone before it stops ringing. The other day I noticed that I was taking it with me to the bath room! Come on - what would I do if it rang while I was in there? I gave myself a really good lecture "You know, this is what they have caller ID and voice mail for! Do you really think that they would give your baby to someone else if you couldn't get to the phone?"

My mind does wander frequently to our baby who is in the care of a very capable foster mother half way around the world. This yet to be identified baby captures my attention often. What is he (or possibly she) doing right now? Is he happy, hungry, tired or dirty? Please let him be happy, content and loved in the care of his foster family. I want to know all about him and be the one giving him all good things. I love him so much and I don't even know him! Even though he is not growing in my tummy, he grows in my heart every day.

We will hang in there, we will remain strong, we will keep up the fight. That baby is so worth it. I am inspired by my Heavenly Father who thought I was worth it to. If He hadn't fought for me, I would be destined to remain an orphan.

Ephesians 1:5 God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure.

Time to Learn!

One of the reasons we choose our adoption agency, Dillon International, is because they have an office within about a 2.5 hour drive from where we live. This allows us to take advantage of the education opportunities they provide. So far, they have provided us with a wealth of information about raising an adoptive family. Their belief is that adoption education starts when a family who is exploring the possibility of international adoption asks the first question and continues even after the child comes home. Adoptive children have unique needs and challenges. Dillon attempts to equip us for those needs and challenges. We look forward to a lifetime of learning about parenting and adoption. They also offers a wide array of post-adoption services. Their calender is full of opportunities for parents and children understand and appreciate the child's birth heritage.

Admittedly, when it comes to parenting we are "rookies." We have a lot to learn! Here are some of the books that we have picked up along our journey. Some of the book suggestions are from friends, some are suggestions from our agency and others are books we have picked up on our own.

My questions to you are:
"What is your favorite adoption or parenting book?"
"What piece of adoption education have you benefited from the most?"

Blog Award

Thank you Abby for bestowing this "Brillante Weblog " Award to me for sharing my adoption story.

I would like to pass this award on to a few of my "adoption blog" friends:

Meredith - I am giving you this award for being so open and honest with your blogging and for sharing such beautiful pictures as well.

Sunny - I am giving you this blog award because I love your enthusiasm for following the Lord at every turn and for being willing to give Him the glory and just like Meredith, I love to see your pictures.

Yvonne - I am giving you this award because I don't miss a day reading your blog because it makes me excited to think that one day, we will be in your shoes...so close to picking up our baby. Thanks also for always encouraging me on my blog too.

Pass it on girls...