Finally...Some info about our adoption

(This pic. is unrelated but really cute of Elaine at the beach in the U.S. Virgin Islands)
So, Ben and I have talked about adopting since we were dating! We both had an interest in adopting from Korea before we even met each other. Ben has been a Tae-Kwon-Do martial artist since he was nine, and has had a lot of Korean influence in his life. He's always liked the culture, values, and customs. I first thought about adopting from Korea after dating someone with two adopted Korean sisters. I was very close with the whole family, and really enjoyed spending time with them. Although the girls were adopted, I never felt like they didn't "fit in" with the rest of the family. Their parents did a great job of celebrating their adoption, and by doing so inspired me to adopt.

After more research, turns out Korea is a GREAT country to adopt from!! The birth-mothers and babies are taken good care of (medically), and the babies are in foster care until the age of two. With Korea we have the option of flying over to pick him/her up or having the baby escorted over here. We've decided to GO TO KOREA!!!

After sending in our initial application, we had our intake interview with our agency on December 9th. That's when we were given the BIG application. Holy-moley.. talk about work! We have had to give all our personal info, tax info, references, income, family medical history, etc. We've gotten police clearances, Child Protective Services clearances, DMV records. We've been fingerprinted by the Dept. Of Homeland Security, we've been x-rayed, we've had blood work done, we've written autobiographies, done fire escape plans, and THAT'S NOT ALL FOLKS! I'll spare you the rest. Anyway, we FINALLY started our homestudy (HS). This is where the social worker (SW) comes to our house to inspect it and interview us. We will have four meetings total, and we've already done two. All four will be done by the end of March.

Here is our timeline so far:
12/9/05 Intake Interview
2/27/06 Homestudy Began

Here is a link to our agency's website:
http://www.childrenshomeadopt.org/asia-adopt_org.html
Our agency is A.S.I.A., they recently joined up with CHSFS (Children's Home Society and Family Services).