Twists and Turns

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Two weeks ago our file was ready to go to Korea.

The director of our program was in Korea at the time...we were told she would send our file as soon as she got home.

She came home with news instead...

Korea has already met their quota for international adoption visas for the year.  We were told no movement will be seen until late fall. 

Our file will stay in the states for an unknown amount of time.

So we wait.

This is not the end of our journey, we must wait.  At first, we were a little freaked out.  Honestly, we weren't even sure about staying in the Korea program (for a few minutes).  But some time in the past week since we recieved the email, God's peace has washed over our family and I know I needed this time.  If you know me well or have read my other blog at all, you know the last almost two years have been full of being pregnant, trying to get pregnant, trying to stay pregnant, the intense loss of burying two of our children and beginning the adoption process.  God is showing me that I, that we as a family, are given this time as a gift.  Not to say I don't still get frustrated at the thought of all the little ones waiting for their families and all the families waiting for their little ones and all that is keeping them apart is that peice of paper... 

But, we are waiting.  This is just the twisting of the our thread and turning it to an unbreakable cord. 

I plan on writing much more over now.  Everthing is completely out of our hands.  We have done everything in our power and now we wait.

Thank you all for patiently waiting and for praying with us for our little one and all the other little ones waiting.  Their waiting is much harder than ours.  So who am I to complain?

Changes

Our family is getting ready to undergo some changes.  Not just the kind where you bring a child home from half way around the world.  One major change will be happening next week.  I'm changing jobs.  Well, actually, I got laid off from my current job (due to government grant funding ending) and I will be finishing up my position this week.  Next week I will be starting a new position with the local Crisis Pregnancy Center I have been volunteering at for a few months.  I will be the Client Services Director.  God has really been opening and closing doors for the past three years to get me to this position I believe.  Actually, I believe God has been leading me to this place since I was in my early teens. 

Honestly, at first, I was a little freaked out by the pink slip and what it could possibly mean to our adoption.  Then when I gave it to God, doors started opening and I decided to trust Him above all else.  The position at the pregnancy center isn't full time and is definately not a money maker (but if I were in it for the money, I never would have went into social work!).  This is more of a ministry than a job anyway and I am SO excited. 

Today we found out how much health insurance is going to cost and I freaked out again.  I honestly can't believe how much it costs to insure a family these days!  We have been blessed to both be covered by the state employee health insurance and cross reference our insurance so it has been extremely cheap.  Now, if we keep the current insurance we have it will cost more a month then I will make at my new position...wow.  So I'm totally open to how other families make health care more affordable!

I also have started my own Tupperware business to help bring in some extra money and Ben is mowing for a few of our neighbors and still officiating soccer and doing handy man type work in his free time. 

So, as I mentioned before, this new position is not full time...meaning more time at home!  Yay!  Which leads us to our next big family change.  Ethan will be 4 one week from today and will be starting preschool in the fall and I have to say, I'm pretty thrilled who his teacher will be...even though this will be her first year teaching.  Her heart is totally in it and I know he already loves her...

Yup!  That's me!  We are beginning the adventure of homeschooling in the fall!  Well, technically, we've been homeschooling (teaching with everyday experiences) since he was born.  If your child knows their ABC's, you've been doing it too!  We are excited and nervous at times too, but more excited.  I have many friends who homeschool, but don't know many locally...but just found out one of our neighbors is planning on homeschooling their 5 year old too!  Yay!  Ethan is such a little sponge right now.  He already knows so many things and is SO good at his memory verses (he is up to 14 verses now!).  We have been doing "lessons" for a year, but I am looking forward to being able to start a more structured routine. 

So here we go!  Job changes, income changes, adoption, homeschooling...how's that for a few changes? 

By the way...

I talked to our social worker and our placement agency and our file is going to Korea today or tomorrow morning!!! YAY!!!

Formal Application Sent!

Our formal application was sent to AIAA on Thursday, April 28!  YAY!!!


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Now we wait and pray.  The way the time lines are being predicted, our baby might be being born right now.  Today.  Can you believe it!?!

I've got mail!

After getting the email and a follow up letter two weeks ago that it could be 4-6 months before our formal application would be sent to us, guess what I got in the mail today?

That's right!  We got our formal application packet in the mail today!  I actually got an email night before last from our agency telling me that our formal app had been put in the mail and I just hadn't had time to update.  But when it came today I could hardly believe it!  Praise God!  I told the Korea program manager when she sent me the "it's going to be 4-6 months" email that if that means more orphans are getting forever families...fine withe me!  I guess having a good attitude is paying off! 

So here we go!  We have 4 weeks to get the packet back to them.  I need to have my physical, get the required photos together, fill out the financial statement, the formal app, the medical needs checklist and read through the material they sent!  I'm so excited!

A Copy of a Copy

A couple of weeks ago, I sent off the paperwork to change my name on a very important document...


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I had to fill out a form, send a certified copy of our marriage license, my old passport and a check.  I got a letter back this week that they were processing my request, but they a copy of a certified copy of the marriage lisence wouldn't work...they need an actual certified copy.  Which I thought I sent.  But apparently not.  So yesterday, I got that taken care of.  I sent a certified certified copy of our marriage lisence.  Hopefully, it is all in process now and I will be getting my passport back in a few weeks!

One more thing off the ever-so-long to do list!

Progress is being made!

We are feeling some progress being made!  The past two weeks have felt like baby steps but now I feel like a lot of things are now out of our hands and where they need to be for now.  So...here are the two major things accomplished this week:

* We FINALLY got everything worked out with the bank and re-submitted our financial statement to our placing agency and to our homestudy agency to revise our homestudy.

* Our I600A was sent to our homestudy agency and ready to be mailed with our revised homestudy!!!  YAY!!!

I'm SO excited to have these two things done!

What is next:

We now wait on recieving notification to have our biometrics (fingerprints) done.

I'm not feeling impatient yet, I just didn't anticipate certain things taking the amount of time that they did.  I'm not complaining though.  God knows our child.  He knows the child's needs and when we will be a forever family.

Our Hope is in Him.

We wait in Hope.