What's happening with the adoption?

I get this question a lot and I feel bad because I never have anything new to share. I want to have news, sometimes I kind of even make something up to tell them (not that I'm lying but it's not really "news" that I'm telling them).

But, today we got an email from our agency with real news so I actually have something to say. Jack's emigration permit has been approved. This doesn't mean much more to me than it does to you, but I know it's good! In our guidebook it gives all the steps that need to be completed before we can pick him up and as far as paperwork goes that doesn't originate with us this is the first one, but there are several more.

My social worker that I've worked with locally (and is part of a different agency) had this to say, " It looks like your little one will be coming home in the not all too distant future!". This is probably one of those things that social workers shouldn't say, but so what, I loved hearing it!

Now don't start worrying about me, I've been involved in the waiting of adoption for 16 months now, so although I enjoy the good news and praise God for it. I'm not getting anxious thinking maybe I'll be going any day now. They said to expect to wait 3 to 5 months and it's been 1. On the other side of that I have everyone praying for this adoption and one of the things people are praying is that we will shock the agency and get Jack home even before 3 months. So I'm trying to balance the hope and the paitence and prepare things while not expecting him here before Christmas.

Another update I am feeling much better, I feel like I've come out of the fog of worry and fear and depression about getting Jack home. I feel much more joyful and trusting that God is taking care of him and He will continue to do that once Jack gets home. Thank you to anyone out there who was praying for me. The other night for the first time I dreamt about Jack and it was so wonderful (and real!) . In my dream, I was trying to make him a bottle but I didn't know how to mix the formula because I've never done it, then Kylynn had a poopy diaper, then Jack needed his diaper changed and I only had big sizes. I know it sounds like an anxious dream but really during it I was so happy, I was loving my crazy, hetic life, and thanking God for blessing me with my children. Then I woke up to Kylynn crawling on my bed to wake me up for breakfast that her and Daddy had made. From one dream to another.

Ike

Here in College Station we were blessed to be protected from Ike's wrath and even more blessed to have thousands of evacuees here that we can help. As I go about my days and deal with one little "crisis" and then another, it is a good reminder that I don't begin to know what a crisis is and I can thank God for that.

We actually had a wonderful experience due to Ike. A dear friend of mine that moved to Sugarland a couple of years ago came up to stay with us with her family. They actually evacuated after the hurricane ,she is an Aggie by association after working for A&M for years, so maybe she didn't understand how it was supposed to work :). Anyways, they got here Saturday evening and stayed with us through Monday. Now there were five extra people in my house and I have to tell you that it was a lot of fun. This is a major God thing, someone was praying for us, because 1) my house is relatively small and 2) I like my space and time to myself. Their oldest daughter who's 10 practically took care of Kylynn the whole time while she played with the 2 and 4 year old. The adults were tons of fun and did my dishes before I could blink. I have never had better company and we were all sad when they left (I'm promise!!). And then they thanked us by taking us out to eat (twice!) and giving us a gift certificate to Christophers because my friend remembered that I've never eaten there (which is true). What a blessing they were to my family, it wasn't fair, here I was wanting to help them out and it only went the other way around. It's funny the way God has set up His world to work.

On top of that, Ike got me the door prize today at Bible study. It was who had the most Ike evacuees staying at your house, I won with 5. This is not fair really, they should have said who had the hardest time keeping Ike evacuees in their house and I would have been the first to sit down.

So all in all it was a good weekend for some of us but a horrible weekend for so many more. Please pray for all those people who lost homes and the thousands who are without power. Pray specifically for them that power would be restored, they would be able to get ice, water, and gas as needed. I'm praying that God would use this horrible tragedy to do some amazing things in the Texas coast.

My "big boy"

No not Jack. Kylynn, she tells me several times a day, "Mommy I'm a big boy". To which I always say, no sweetheart you're a big Girl! Then she says no Mommy I'm a little girl...Ok that is technically true as well. Here is what my Big Boy/little girl is up to these days.

She's a BIG helper, it is amazing how much she loves to help with chores and she's actually even helpful at some of them. She now has a chore chart on the fridge that includes (throughout the week): help cook, take out recycling, fill up bird feeder, water plants, help put away dishes, feed dog, clean up toys, help with laundry, help make mommy's bed. She really loves to be my helper she would rather help me cook or put away the dishes than watch Elmo or eat cookies, so I hope it can become a routine now so she'll always be a part of all that it takes to keep a family and house running smoothly.

She loves to tell me about Jesus (which is my favorite thing to hear about, it really blesses me). Some of my favorite things she's said about Jesus lately. "Mommy, I want to see Jesus, I want to see Him". I explained that I want to see Him too and that we will someday and then something way over her head about how people can see Jesus in us when we do kind things. "Daddy Jesus have no crib" Really? Where did He sleep? "With the animals". "Mommy, Jesus ate a goldfish" Did, He? "MmmHmm, Jesus hungry, Jesus thirsty, Jesus cries" This one made me really excited I told her yes and then went into a long explanation about how wonderful it was that Jesus is God and yet he loves us so much he left heaven to save us and experienced all the same things we experience, I think her eyes glazed over :) Another of my favorites, "Mommy Jesus take care of Kylynn"

She is semi-potty training herself. That's right, I'm apparently not very good at this potty training business and have gone back and forth with her and made I'm sure a million mistakes. So currently when at church for Bible study, church, school, she tells the teachers when she needs to go potty, they put her on the potty and she goes. At home she either says "no unders, wear diaper" or she'll wear "unders" and then have an accident. Apparently though she'll include me in her loop of people she tells when she needs to go potty when she's good and ready to :).

She is so excited about Jack, she talks about him and asks to pray for him more often than I do. The other day she took her photo album opened it up to Jack's picture and showed "him" her ballerina jelwery box, telling him all about it. She understands (as much as she can)that she grew in Mommy's belly but God had a different plan for Jack so he didn't grow in my belly and that her baby brother lives far away right now and will come home soon. She tells me that her crib is baby Jack's crib and once told me her special blanket was Jack's blanket, which blew me away since it's her favorite thing in the world, I quickly explained that she didn't have to give Jack her blanket he'll have one of his own.

I'm very proud of her (can you tell :) and know she's going to be such a great help when Jack gets home. She has made such great progress on being "kind" (a word I say 50 times a day) and has become very good with manners. It's quite fun going out in public with her because she will make 10 new friends a day with adults and kids alike.





This was a picture from when Kylynn
played in the sprinkler naked.

Some updates

I just wanted to let you all know that we have gotten a letter from our agency letting us know that the paperwork to complete this part of the adoption process has been mailed to the adoption country. They say we can now expect to wait 3 to 5 months to bring Jack home (from 8/28).

Thank you all for your prayers for the paperwork mess to be taken care of, it took 1 full month and should have taken 1 week...I know God's timing is perfect. Please pray that we would have Jack home in the 3 months (or less!) time frame.

I have begun reading all I need to accomplish in order to prepare to travel to pick up Jack and it is very overwhelming! Pray that we get all the steps completed correctly and are not overwhelmed by all the to-dos.

A dear friend of mine wants to throw me a baby shower so that is a really fun thing to look forward to. It means so much to me to have everyone doing things exactly the same as if I was pregnant with Jack, that is very much what I hoped for.

I'm having a hard time emotionally with the waiting. I am doing okay, but just feel down and am coping by eating (one of my many flaws) it has not been good for my waistline :) It is beyond stressful to me to see a month go by on the calendar due to paperwork and a nutty social worker and realize that was a month of my son's life without me, a month where nothing moved forward and the countdown clock was not clicking.

But 3 to 5 months will be here before I know it and all of this will be forgotten as we're caught up in our new life with Jack.

Well at least I'm not alone, the goats feel my pain.

I'm a fainter. The first time I remember fainting I was 6 or 7 and I've continued to pass out with amazing consistency. This week I had to go to the dermatologist, I had a funny mole on my leg I wanted her to look at. She agreed that it was suspect and decided to remove it by cutting it out, so she laid back the chair till it was in the laying down position and gave me a shot to numb it. So there I was LAYING DOWN in no pain, with no blood or guts in view and what do I do but pass out!! Luckily the doctor and her nurse were very calm and didn't seem the least bit concerned and it was all in all not a huge deal.

Now a little background on my amazing ability to faint. Every time I have fainted in my life and there have been many were to do with seeing blood (mine or someone else's) or having some type of procedure done by a doctor, most likely having my blood taken. My most amazing feat up until this most recent incident was passing out after HEARING a story about a bloody car wreck and their attempt at saving someone. That's right, there was absolutely no visuals to go along with the story, I heard it and passed out (in the middle of High School no less).

So for years I have on occassion asked a doctor about this strange fainting and they said dumb things like, Oh you're probably holding your breathe (which I can assure you I made sure this last time I was not!). Then about two years ago I was getting a physical for our adoption and we were going over all my history and I asked him about the fainting. And he said oh yes, you have "yadda yadda" disorder, it's not very common, but whereas most people when they're really scared or in distress their blood vessels and heart do one thing (speed up I think) your body does the opposite, it shuts down, causing you to faint.

So, this week after fainting again I was telling Kyle about it and he asked how it was possible to faint laying down when I could neither feel nor see anything painful. So I reminded him what the doctor had said...and he said, Oh yeah you have that fainting goat disorder.

Goodbye Olympics, Hello Students, Kitty, and Job

Goodbye Olympics. I will miss you dearly, soon I will begin my count down till we see you again...4 more years till the next summer Olympics! You have been a wonderful friend these past two weeks, entertaining me, causing me to jump up and down with excitement, and reminding me why I love being an American. But you have also caused me to become so sleep deprived that I no longer make sense when I speak and the other day I fell asleep sitting straight up in Kylynn's room playing "kitchen". So while I'll miss you, it is time for you to go, I have to get something more done than just cheering for the USA!

The students are back in town, marking one of my favorite times of year I love their excitement about A&M and this new chapter of their lives. Being around them makes me remember how it feels to have a lifetime of possibilities and adventures laid out before you. Kyle and I got to go help out at a BBQ for students on campus this past weekend and it was such a joy to talk to the students, I'm always amazed by their intelligence and their respectfulness. Living in a student town is such fun for our family and we're so glad y'all are back. Whoop!!

In addition to the students we also have a kitty hanging around our house. Now we're not cat people and Kyle is allergic, but this kitten decided to adopt our family and we must admit it is a really sweet cat. This kitten has been coming around every other day or so for the past couple of weeks and Kylynn just loves it! It is a really playful kitten and Raven (our dog) doesn't know what to think about it, since the kitten is not afraid of dogs at all, and therefore doesn't run away.

Thank you for all your prayers and networking, Kyle has gotten a permanent job that he will start once his six week job is over. For once in our life we were calm and still and allowed God to work and it is nice to see that indeed there was a plan He was working out. God provided a job that Kyle is very excited about, with our first raise in a number of years, and a boss that he likes and respects. All of those things were an answer to prayer and none of them would have happened had he not been fired.

Now if only we could be calm and still again and allow God to work. But instead this adoption is making us frantic, we are at our best (and by that I mean worst) state of uptight, worrying, frantic type A people. The paperwork is still being rejected for something that doesn't make sense and we cannot fix, so our frustration is at a high. Please pray that our paperwork will be deemed acceptable on this try and will therefore be sent off to our adoption country. Until this happens we are at a stand still and the countdown of 3 to 6 months has not begun. Writing that makes me cringe..so I say to myself, "God is good, His plan for my life and this adoption is perfect, God's timing is perfect, God is in control, He is bigger than any crazy social worker or country, this adoption WILL happen in God's perfect timing and perfect way." Then I feel better for a while and do it all over again :)

This song has become my anthem, I literally walk around the house singing it whenever I'm worried about all that is unfolding. Has God asked you to do something crazy, listen to it I promise you'll soon be singing it in the shower!

Jack

Life has gotten away from me, we've been so busy, I haven't had the chance to go back and tell everyone a little bit more about our baby boy and how the adoption is going.

First of all his name is Jack. We have not decided which of his Korean names to keep as his middle name, but his middle name will be one of the names his birth mother gave him. I like very unique names in fact I made up Kylynn's name in hopes that she would always be the only "Kylynn" in her class. But the more I thought about my unique boy names the more I thought about how our son is so unique already. He will most likely be the only Asian child with White parents in his class, maybe the only adopted child, and definitely a minority throughout life because of his heritage. So I wanted a name that was not the most popular but a name that would never be mis-pronounced or made fun of. I also wanted to honor Kyle's grandpa Johnny and his uncle Rick (who's given name is John), who were some of the most important men in Kyle's life and shaped him into the great man he is today. So Jack it is, Jack is a variation of John, which means God is gracious.

Indeed God is gracious. Our son is almost 6 months old now and was 5 months when we received the referral, this is a huge blessing as many of the children were not being referred for adoption till they were older. We are being told to expect 3 to 6 months to get him home, that would make it somewhere between November 2008 and February 2009, we are praying that it is very soon, even sooner than expected. We have filled out the paperwork that is to go off to different agencies in the U.S. and the country from which we're adopting. The paperwork was tedious to say the least, but after a week we got it all straightened out.

One of the common questions I am getting from people currently is whether or not he is "healthy". This is not something Kyle and I took lightly, we have spoken with a doctor twice regarding his medical records and in general yes he is healthy. He like me is not perfect though and we never set out to get a perfect child, just our perfect child. Jack does have a cleft lip and palette and his mother did not receive prenatal care for most of the pregnancy. All that to say we believe that he is healthy but you can predict very little about a person's future from the way they are at 5 months old. I can assure you that we prayed about this child, spoke with experts, received counsel and are sure of this: This is the child God has chosen for us. And that is all we need to know, the rest we will find out as we go.

So many of you have come up to us in the past few weeks and congratulated us and told us you are praying for us, I just want to say thank you. I love the look of joy and celebration on your faces, you make me more excited, you assure me that we will be well loved and supported throughout this journey of adoption we're on. Your prayers are more valuable to me than most anything in my life, I feel you holding me up when the journey has been especially challenging and tiring, as it has during these past few weeks.

I have a million things to do, so hopefully I'll stop with my procrastinating (which I do when I'm scared) and start preparing to be a mother of two, Kylynn and Jack.