I want to scream!!!

AAAHHHH! I'm so frustrated! I was SURE we would have final-approval by today, but I haven't heard anything (even after several e-mails). I just called my SW only to find out she is out of town until Monday. UGH! Wow... all this waiting is insane. I can't even imagine waiting for our referral call and then again for our travel call (when they call to tell us the baby is ready to come home). Thank God I have Elaine and Micah to keep me busy! By the way, we have had OVER 1000 visits to this blog site. YEAH! (There is a ticker at the very bottom of this page.)

(Off Topic) Breast Cancer

Renee and Ryan

As you know (for those of you who know me) my sister Renee was diagnosed with breast cancer last year at the age of 37. She is curently undergoing chemotherapy and will have several surgeries this year to help her fight the disease. This May, our family and friends will be walking in the "Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure" in her honor. We are trying to raise money toward this cause. Any donation would be appreciated (from $1.- up)... PLEASE, if you're able make a donation, make one. My goal is $5000... I'm only up to $50! My sister and all of the other women in the world fighting breast cancer (1 out of every 7) need a cure. Bless you all! Here is the link:"Racing for Renee"

Who's There???

Just wondering who's following along with our blog. I would love to know! Please click on "comments" below this link, and leave a message. If you don't want to register, choose "anonymous" and leave a message.... you can just add your name to your comment if you want. Thanks!

Rainbow Kids

Just wanted to let you all know about a great website. It's called Rainbow Kids. When you go to the site, click on the top left line entitled "Waiting Children", then click on "sort by date added" to see the most recent additions, or "sort by birth date" to see them in order of age. These are photolistings of children all around the world who need homes for various reasons. They are called "waiting" because they either have medical conditions or a family history of medical conditions. I look at this site everyday. Our agency (ASIA/CHSFS) lists children on here too... but everytime I read about a child that would fit well into our family, their file is already being looked at!!! That's a good thing though. Please go check it out. There are so many beautiful children on here. Maybe after adopting from Korea I can talk Ben into adopting a waiting child from Haiti!!!

WE GOT PRE-APPROVED!!!

YEAH YEAH YEAH!!! My SW called JUST now! I'm so happy... ready to dance a jig (of course all the caffeine in my system isn't helping that). So, the next step is for the SW to finish up the last touches on the written home-study and send it off to Korea. THEN we are eligible for a referral. UGH! Hurray for us!!!

Happy (late) Easter!!!

Well, we had a great Easter. Lots of cute pictures. I FINALLY got a call from the SW about the approval... she thinks that she will have an answer from Eastern by tomorrow! I am so nervous. I don't think I will be sleeping much tonight. I think this is equivalent to waiting for an answer on a pregnancy test... only a MUCH longer wait. I'll let you know as soon as I do, but PLEASE PRAY THE ANSWER IS "YES"!!!

Micah Turns One!

Micah had his first birthday this week. I can't believe my baby is already one! Unfortunately he started his second year of life very sick. Saturday he started with a fever, and by Monday morning he still had a fever with a cough, and GI issues (vomiting and the like). We took him to the doctor and he was diagnosed with an ear infection, upper respiratory infection, and possible Rotavirus. Yuck. By Wednesday morning he had quit eating and was very lethargic... still with a high fever and bad cough. I took him back to the doctor, and was told that he most likely had either Adenovirus, or Influenza to begin with... and now he has a secondary infection of Pneumonia!!! My poor baby. The doctors have changed his medications around, and hopefully he will get better. He seems a little better today, but he's wheezing a lot. I'm getting ready to call his doctor again about that. Anyway, he didn't smile at all during his birthday party (as you can tell in the pictures)... I don't think I would have either if I was that sick. HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MICAH!!!

No luck on the baby boy...

Well, after talking with our SW, we agreed that it isn't a good idea to get this baby boy's file. She is worried that if Eastern says "no", we will already be attached to this baby, and end up broken hearted. I understand where she is coming from, but it's so hard to just keep waiting for a decision from Eastern. I've been in tears over this whole situation, and I worry about it every day. Ben keeps telling me it's out of my control, but if you know me (even a little) you know I'm a control freak and I have a really hard time relinquishing control.. especially when it comes to my family! Anyway, this is a picture of the baby we were looking into.. I'm sure he will find his forever family in no time. Hopefully we will find our forever child in no time as well.

A sweet little boy...

We'll we still haven't heard anything from our agency regarding the pre-approval:( Hopefully tomorrow. But, we did inquire about a very sweet baby boy (almost 2 months old) that is listed in the "Waiting Children" photolistings. These babies are called "waiting children" because they are a bit more difficult to place because of medical problems or because of medical/psychological family history. I should hear back from the agency about him tomorrow. They may not be able to let us view his file until we are pre-approved... we'll see. If they DO let us view his file, we read through and learn all about him and then decide if he is *right* for our family. I have decided not to post his picture right now until we know whether or not he's "the one". Take my word on this though... he is beautiful!

Links Again

I know I posted all of these about a month ago, but they have been archived and I cant for the life of me figure out how to put them on the sidebar. Any advice would be great! Thanks

Here are some links that might interest you:
Information about Korean Adoption:
Adopt Korea
Adoption Financing Ideas

Adoption Agency Websites
Children's Home Society and Family Services
Holt International Childrens Services
Eastern Social Welfare Society

Korean Adoption related items to purchase:
Heart and Seoul
Asia for Kids
International Cultural Connection
Korean T-Shirts
Mandy's Moon
Lingo House

Information about the "Tol" Celebration (Korean childs 1st birthday):
Life in Korea
Asian Info

Another fast referral through our agency!

Wow... another mother using our agency was placed on the "waiting for referral" list by A.S.I.A. this March. Guess what! She just got a referral call!!!! That is LIGHTNING fast. Seems to be the trend with our agency these days. I hope it's like that for us! BTW- no word yet from Estern, but a LOT of people using them have told me their stories about past situations coming up during the HS. Apparently Dr. Kim (the founder of Eastern?) understands that people change as they grow and Eastern really looks at where you are in your life CURRENTLY, and how you are as a person CURRENTLY. They don't focus so much on the past. Still... the wait is awful.

Still waiting...

We're still waiting for Eastern's (Korea's) decision. Our SW told us it will be about 2 weeks. Assuming they say "yes", then we are officially waiting for a referral! It's crazy to think there is a possibility of having our referral in only 2 weeks! I seriously doubt it will be that quick, but someone else with our agency only waited 3 weeks for hers (from the time she was "approved"). We shall see. Right now I'm just trying to stay positive about Eastern's decision. Thank you everyone for your support on all of this.

Micah's Big Boy Haircut

We took Micah yesterday to get his first haircut! We just wanted a trim, but the woman ended up giving him a SHAVE!!! He looks cute, but it's not what I had in mind. Oh well. Still no news about Eastern's decision on the approval. I've only checked my e-mail like 5 times today!

Elaine's First Soccer Game

Today was Elaine's first soccer game. She was a miserable whining child for the first 40 minutes. She just stood in the middle of the field crying and sucking her fingers. UGH. We were so frustrated. ALL of the other children (boys and girls) were playing and just running around her. I don't know what changed her attitude, but FINALLY she perked up and ran her heart out. She really enjoyed the last 20 minutes, and it was hysterical listening to the coach and the parents OVER-praise her hard work. We actually ran into our SW there...it was kind of funny to see her somewhere other than in our home! Anyway, hope you enjoy the pictures, they are slightly blurry because my camera decided to focus on the Daffodils behind the kids. Oh well. Also, as you can see my hair is substantially shorter than it was last fall... I donated it to "Locks of Love" and I am now impatiently waiting for it to grow again.