Things have been a little crazy over the past few days in the Moro household.  Getting used to have three children is taking some time, but we are all adjusting well.  Isabella is quickly adjusting to her role as little sister and loves watching her big brothers sing, dance and try to make her laugh.  She has fallen in love with her daddy (and daddy has fallen in love with her).  Isabella and I were up this morning and she was giving me lots of big smiles and laughs.  Marley, our golden retriever is having second thoughts about the new addition.

I tried uploading the video today to youtube, but at the end, there was an error.  Hopefully we will get that up quickly.  For now, I will leave you with these pictures.

I slept pretty soundly until 6am this morning.  We are so excited to be able to meet Isabella today.  I cannot believe that this day is finally here.  We are in Troy Ohio, about 3 hours from the Detroit airport.  I am blogging while watching the kids swimming in the hotel pool, highlight if the trip so far. 

I just checked Isabella’s flight and she is still over the ocean, but getting ready to enter into Seattle, Washington.  She will arrive in Chicago at 9:58 this morning.  She will go through US customs in Chicago, so we will not have to wait for that when she arrives in Detroit.  She will leave Chicago at 2pm and arrive in Detroit at 4:25.

Isabella Minjoo is leaving Korea this evening at 10:40pm (which is 11:40am, Tuesday in Korea).  We are so excited to finally get to meet our baby.  I have had so many emotions over the last few days.  I am finally comprehending that the primary caretaker that Isabella has known as her mother has put her to bed for the last time.  I wonder what Mrs. Kwon is feeling?  I am sure that she is just as sad as we are excited.  In a few hours, Isabella will be leaving all that she has ever known, with a person that she has never met before.  She will fly 17 hours with a stranger on an airplane where she will be handed over to a very excited family that she has never seen or met before.  We will be speaking in a language that she has never heard before and we will look so different to her.  This is extremely emotional for me.  We have prayed for months now that God would allow Isabella to hear our voices and see us in her dreams, so that when we first meet, we will be familiar to her.  We are placing all of this in God’s hands.  I have shed many tears this weekend and tears of anxiety for Mrs. Kwon and for Isabella.  I have also wondered if Isabella’s biological mother knows that she will be placed with her forever family tomorrow afternoon?  I am so incredibly grateful to Isabella’s biological mother.  She could have chosen to terminate her pregnancy.  But, she did not; she chose life.  Now we get the privilege to raise this little gift from above.  Please keep us in your prayers.  Pray for Mrs. Kwon, pray for Isabella at 10:40pm tonight and all throughout the day tomorrow.  Pray for us all at 4:25pm tomorrow when we all meet for the first time. 

What an amazing ride this has been.  I am so glad to know that the “process” is almost over.  We are looking forward to the next step of beginning our lives together as a family.  With the help of God, we are ready for the next chapter in this journey and whatever challenges lay ahead. 

Thank you all for praying for us faithfully and reading the blog faithfully.  Please keep checking after Isabella arrives and we will post pictures and videos as quickly as we can.  Oh, and if you are confused about her name, I know that I have mostly referred to her a Minjoo.  As soon as we got our travel call, something clicked in my head, Isabella is her name.  We will call her Isabella Minjoo for a few weeks until she knows Isabella.  Then we will call her Isabella.  Okay, I will call her Isabella.  Most everyone else will probably call her Bella; that name has already stuck with so many people and she has not even arrived yet! 

We will be Detroit bound this evening, never thought this day would come!

Happy Day ;)

tiffany

TRAVEL CALL!!!!

Isabella will be in Detroit on Tuesday at 4:25pm.  We are so excited!  We should be home on Wednesday sometime.  Thank you for all of your prayers!  Remember to pray for Isabella to remain healthy and for safe travels.

No travel news yet…

We are still waiting on travel arrangements.  Again, we have asked our agency AIAA for information and they are not helpful in getting to the bottom of this delay.  They frustrate me to no end!  At this point we are not sure if they are keeping Minjoo until her endocrinologist appointment on 3/19, then the results will not be in until 4/19 (yes I know!) or if it is an issue with finding someone to escort her to Detroit.  If we had an advocate for us, we would know.  If we knew, we could act. Shame on you AIAA!!!

We are almost there!

MRI results showed a cyst on Minjoo’s pituitary gland, our pediatrician says there is nothing that she is concerned about.  What a wonderful praise!  Thank you all who have been praying.

Our agency in Detroit will let the orphanage know that we accept Minjoo as she is.  Sad isn’t it?  Does our society really put that little emphasis on human life?  To know that families would deny just because a baby who is an orphan is not perfect!  Amazing, God has formed us all wonderfully; she is perfect in our sight!  Yes, I digress again… Okay, so on Thursday (which it is now in Korea) they will begin booking airline and an escort to bring Minjoo to Detroit.  Once both are booked, she will arrive in 5-7 days.  We are praying that they book both tomorrow, or today, you know what I mean!

We are almost there.  I just cannot wait for that call!!!  Happy evening to all, tiff

For you did form my inward parts; You did knit me together in my mother’s womb.  I will praise thee;  for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvelous are thy works. Psalms 139:13-14.

We hopefully will have the results of Minjoo’s brain MRI on Wednesday morning.  The orphanage will have them on the 10th, this is really the 9th here, because they are 14 hours ahead of us.  I wonder if they participate in Daylight Savings Time?  HHMMM…I digress…Story of my life for those who know me well .  Okay, back on task.  We REALLY hope that we have our travel itinerary this week; so keep praying that Minjoo will be released as soon as we get the test results.  At this point we are waiting on nothing beyond the results so we are hoping Minjoo will be here next week. 

I wanted to share something so amazing that God showed me yesterday morning.  I prayed before going to church that God would speak to me.  I am SOOOO ”ADD”,  and I have a hard time focusing on things, especially at church.  I have to really concentrate to stay on task and pay attention.  We have a huge cross hanging in the front, center of the sanctuary.  I looked up and I saw this beautiful picture of Jesus standing and holding Minjoo.  He had her cradled on his shoulder and He was caressing her, patting her on her back ever so gently.  I had this awesome feeling of comfort and love come over me.  I felt Jesus was comforting Minjoo also.  Ohhh, what a beautiful sight!  Right now, God is preparing Minjoo’s heart to leave her foster family; I think this is where the comforting came into play.  She has been with them since we accepted our referral.  She has come to love and depend on them as her family.  This separation is going to be extremely difficult for her.  We have tried explaining this to the boys and it seems so sad when we talk about what she is about to experience.  I am sure that having everything that you know taken from you is traumatic.  God is also preparing our hearts to help Minjoo cope with the loss that she is about to experience.  God’s timing is absolutely perfect, He has been with us this entire journey.  Minjoo’s homecoming will be one full of happiness and tears.  We are ready, with God’s help to help her grieve for the loss that she is about to encounter.

We need all of the prayers that we can get right now.  Please pray for us this week, especially on Wednesday morning.

tiffany