We got the video of Minjoo today!  It is amazing to see how she changes, she is more vocal, trying to move more and her hair has really grown.  I am posting the video to YouTube now and then we will get it up on the website.  She is not crawling yet, but eating beef and broccoli and orange juice; interesting huh?  My boys did not even start on any solid foods until they were 6 months old.  So amazing how different cultures di things differently.

It was great to see how much love Minjoo’s caretaker has for her.  That is the only thing that makes this process a little bearable.

We are waiting on God’s perfect timing to bring our little girl home!

We still have no news!  Just waiting…The waiting game has been so hard on all of us.  Not knowing, will we get a call today, not being able to plan for events in advance.  Even Luca said to me this morning that he had a dream about Minjoo last night.  He said that we went to Detroit to get her and then got back home, and she loved her new family and room.  He said he was so sad when he woke up and it was not true.  This was amazing coming from Luca (yes, many of you know what I am talking about), a 5-year-old who has said all along that he does not really want to have a new sister.  To now see his excitement for her is amazing.  But also difficult because she is not here with us. 

We did however, keep our mind off of things this weekend with a lot of sledding and snow boarding.  I did many a snow dive trying to snow board, now my body is full of bruises and I feel like I have been hit by a huge truck.  We also paid a visit to the mall this weekend.  I had a friend who gave me a really cool gift.  She allowed the boys to go to Build-A-Bear to make a bear to bring to the airport when we welcome Minjoo.  The bear is so girly!  They chose a pink bear and a dress with hearts all over it.  They even got the bear a purse and bows for her ears.  They really got into making this for Minjoo, and loved every minute of it.  Wow my 100 percent boys making a girly bear, fun!!  Thank you Denise C.   What a great gift and memory for our family. 

Our social worker emailed us that she had overnighted a progress report on Minjoo today that has a new video.  We are excited to get that tomorrow and see how much Minjoo has grown, if she has changed and what new things she is doing.  I am wondering if she is crawling now, I am sure she is!  We were also told today that there have been no arrivals of Korean babies with any agency in the US so far this year.  She is hoping that there will be some travel soon.  We are hopeful that Minjoo will be one of those in the first wave of arrivals.

We appreciate your continued prayers for our family.

-tiffany

No News!!

Okay, we are closing the third week of January, which we have looked forward to since we thought we would be bringing our baby home by now.  We are both having a lot of difficulty dealing with God’s timing.  We know it is perfect, but we want our baby here with her family.  Our last progress report was on December 3 and Minjoo was trying to crawl, creeping around.  I am sure at this point she is crawling and we have missed it!  We need her to arrive so that she can begin her medical regiment and we have that cut out for us!

I think that I am having the most trouble with the fact that this process of “having a baby” is so different from being pregnant.  I do not feel close to Minjoo, but I love her so much.  I have struggled since we got our referral with the fact that I would never actually see her or hold her.  I know that this is a spiritual attack, but it is difficult for me.  As the days go by, I hear a voice in my head saying “this will never happen.”  Crazy, I know! 

I will update as soon as I hear something.

tiffany

We need your prayers!

Following my last post where I had a meltdown, we got a progress report today on Minjoo.  I do not want to elaborate too much now, however, we need your prayers for our family.  Please pray fervently that Minjoo will arrive this week and that she will be safe and healthy.  This prayer is not for me and my “mental health”, we just need her to arrive very quickly. 

I know that I am being very vague and I am sorry.  Just PLEASE keep us in your prayers.    

thank you, tiffany

interesting post, read on…

Okay, is it possible to be “nesting?”  I am not sleeping at night, much like the last few weeks of both of my pregnancies.  I have been wanting to complete things here and there around the house.  Weird, huh?  Yeah!  I would love to get some sleep.  Last night (and tonight) I will; with the help of Tylenol PM. 

No news yet on a date to go and get Isabella.  I do not know how much one person can analyze the words of a social worker “Things seem to be moving along.”  What is that supposed to mean?  Are you kidding me?  Give me more!!  I am beginning to be a little obsessed with “the call.”  I cannot stop thinking about when we will go to Detroit, what will the weather be like, what things I need to do before we go, what doctor appointments do I need to make for Isabella when she arrives, what do I need to pack for her, what is she eating and drinking, will she love us, will she cry, does she have any idea that her life is about to totally change, legally what do I need to do?  Oh my, that is just the tip of the iceberg and what I typically think about at 3am.

Ok, can you tell I am sleep deprived?  Our baby is not even here yet.  Do you know that we have to deal with a 14 hour time difference when she arrives?  I have my nights and days cut out for me.

Lastly, on a more serious note.  Dominic and I have been so touched by the outpouring of love and support that we have received in the past month or so.  When we started this process in April, it was on the direction of taking a step of faith in something that God wanted for our lives.  He told me that if we would take the leap, He would provide.  I never doubted that, however, it is amazing to see the amount of friends, acquaintances, people who we have not spoken to in years and people who we have never met who have so graciously donated money and time to bring Isabella home.  From an  elementary school class who has “adopted” our family for the month of January to a total stranger who inspired other strangers to donate money to a family who is trying to help one child find her forever family.  It is amazing, that is all that I can really say. 

I am closing for now, hopefully next time I post, it will be a “gotcha day” video!  Okay, do you know what gotcha day is?  I have learned so much adoption lingo lately, it is amazing what you can find out when you have read 186 korean adoption blogs!  Okay, that is a huge exaggeration.  Gotcha day is the day that a child comes home to their forever family.  There are lots of videos on you tube showing gotcha days.  I am sure that I have not watched all of them, but no new ones have popped up in the last four days.  That I am afraid is not an exaggeration!  Oh my, maybe that does mean that I have watched all of them. 

tiffany

Minjoo had a follow-up doctor appointment on December 28 and we are waiting on results from that.  Our agency, AIAA, is not provided with the status of visa or passports for Minjoo in Korea, so we will have to wait to get our final call for travel for progress on when she will arrive in Detroit.  We have been told that Social Welfare Society in Korea is in a sort of holding pattern for the holidays, and they begin to submit the paperwork for visas again after January 1st.  We have been told that it usually takes 2-3 weeks before the first babies are ready to travel.  So we are looking at the second to third week of January for arrival.

Please keep us in your prayers.  We are getting very impatient for Minjoo to arrive.  It is getting harder and harder each day without her here.  Please pray that Minjoo stays healthy so that there are no delays in travel.  A simple cold can delay her arrival.  Continue to pray for us financially, we are still about $11,000 away from fully funding our adoption expenses.

Video is posted!

Visit www.faithfullyadopting.com then go to the page “our little girl” to see the video of Minjoo.

WARNING….She is too cute!!

New update…

We received a package from Minjoo’s orphanage today with medical progress reports and video!  It was so exciting seeing Minjoo in action.  Hopefully we can get some of the video onto our website.  Medically, she is doing well.  She will have to have a minor operation when she arrives to treat a short frenulum (tongue tied).  In the videos, you can visibly see how her tongue is attached all the way to the tip.  She is eating fine, but will eventually have trouble with speech.  She also will need to be observed and possibly treated for Exotropia (outward drift of the eyes).  This could be as simple as an eye patch to glasses or something more complicated which could mean a minor surgery.

Minjoo is otherwise developing normally and trying to creep, but has not yet been successful.  I even saw on the video that she has her two lower teeth.  She now weighs 16.8 pounds and will will be 8 months old on December 21. 

We are so excited to see her on video, but as you can imagine, it makes it ever more difficult.  I know that she is being well cared for, but we long to have her home with us.  Continue praying that the process of obtaining Minjoo’s visa and passport will go extremely quickly.

We got our approval!!!!

Today we received our I-600 approval (this approves Minjoo as an abandoned orphan).  We are very excited to have positive information!  Now we are waiting on Minjoo’s visa and passport, after that they will give us our travel time.  Continue to pray for us that the process with go very quickly.

We are still hoping for a pre-Christmas arrival for Isabella, but still no official word. 

We have already begun receiving Christmas cards from friends and family.  We love to see how your families have grown and changed since last year.  We are not going to be send out Christmas cards this year.  We are going to send out a family card when Isabella arrives. 

I will update again when I have new information, but if there are no posts before Christmas I hope that every one has a very merry Christmas!