Acceptance Paperwork-Check!

Yesterday was amazing and crazy! I am totally ready to take a mega nap today, but I'll write this post first. ;-)

I got to have an amazing lunch with a fellow Korean adoptee, who is also adopting from Korea. We went to a wonderful Korean restaurant, which I know I'll visit again and the best part of course, was just talking, and talking, and talking some more... 3 hours later, I think the only reason we stopped talking was because we both noticed we had missed calls from our adoption agency that we're using, as well as emails from the agency.

And...you guessed it both of our emails had our acceptance paperwork packets in them! So last night and this morning all of us have been busting through the paperwork so our agency gets it by tomorrow morning. Let me tell you, my eyes feel like they are going to pop out of my head and they are really tired. Hopefully we filled everything out correctly. I'm pretty confident we did on some of the forms, but on the government ones...I'm going to be biting my nails waiting to hear back from the agency.

The best part about both my friend and I getting our acceptance paperwork together and mailing it in on the same day is that we should be traveling together!!! That would make the trip even more special than it already will be!!!

Okay, so we know you're waiting for a picture and we can't wait to share. However, the acceptance paperwork needs to be on it's way to Korea. So, like a lot of things with adoption I'll say that the wait should only be about 1 or 2 weeks before you will get to see a pic. :0)

June 9th, Part 2--- IT'S A BOY!!!!

Yes friends, it is hard to believe that we are announcing we already have a referral for a sweet baby boy! And again, this happened on a date, that somewhat had significance to me. On Thursday I was at the district's TECH Camp helping teach the last class I would teach as my current role as a CIT. If you haven't seen my previous post, I will be going back into the classroom next year. So in a way I was considering it "my last day on the job." Well, since I was the "driver" I didn't think it would hurt to have my cell phone out on silent. At 3:15 I saw my phone light up with an Austin area code. And I thought, could it really be possible?!?! Could we already be getting a referral?!?!? And to my great surprise, it was!!!!

To say it is unbelievable is an understatement. It is surreal to think we have a baby waiting for us in Korea. :0)

Now, we know that you're wondering do we have a name, not yet. We're still considering...

Of course you are probably curious about a picture and more info about our "big" bundle of joy. However, you're going to have to wait until our acceptance paperwork is off to Korea. Hopefully you will not have to wait longer than a week!

Seriously folks, this time when I say we are going to have to wait for awhile I am totally serious. I know everytime I say we're going to have to wait, we turn around and BAM we're announcing something new. But really due to the Emigration Permit process we don't think we will be traveling until 2012. (Some agencies have already run out for the year)

Granted, we never know...obviously we've been wrong quite a bit this year! :0)

Thanks for all of the love and support!

i600a-check!

I guess we didn't have to wait until our anniversary or the 4th of July! We received our approval letter in the mail today! It was a very nice surprise! So we're on to referral, which is when we get matched with a baby!

Other than that, summer vacation has started and if you've looked at the weather reports you know that it is HOT, HOT, HOT in Texas.

A Great Visit with Great Friends

Tonight we had some special visitors at the Parker Household. That's right, friends of ours from college came to visit! It's hard to believe we're old enough to have known each other for 17 years. Boy, I hope that the math is wrong. We met our freshman year in college, and I actually double checked my work and it has been 17 years. Crazy...essentially we've known each other half our lives. Sean competes internationally in the Scottish Highland Games and he was in the Texas Scottish Festival last weekend. Unfortunately, we didn't get to watch him compete, but we hope to in the near future. Luckily for us they continued to drive south so we got to see them! Okay, I am still dwelling on how long we have known each other. I don't think I can get past that number. Well, all I can say is we look forward to adding even more years to this special friendship.

I'm sure you're wondering if anything has happened with the adoption process. And...nope, we are still waiting for a form to be approved by the government. I think I mentioned before how a lot of things have been approved around a holiday or significant date for us. So, maybe we'll see some movement around our anniversary or the 4th of July...of course if it's sooner than that, we will not complain.

We hope you're enjoying your summer and if you could send some rain or cooler weather to us, we would appreciate it! :-)

Back In the Saddle Again

No, I'm not going horseback riding...our school district has finally succumbed to some major budget cuts, so next year I will be going back to the classroom. For a short time, I thought that I was being displaced from the campus, meaning the district was going to place me at a random campus to fill a spot. Truth be told, I was nervous especially since I'm certified to teach up to 8th grade. Luckily, I will get to teach second grade at the current school I'm at, which is the grade level that I taught for 8 1/2 years before I became a CIT. I am pretty thrilled about that. I'm also happy that I will get to stay at my current campus. This year was our inaugural year, so to leave would have been pretty disappointing. Although I will miss my current position, I do look forward to having "my own class" and having the opportunity to continue to work with some pretty amazing people. :0)

P.S. This weekend I went to a friend's birthday party and her sister, who happens to be a junior in high school, talked about some peers of of hers which happen to be former second grade students of mine, YIKES! I am getting OLD, lol!

'Stuff n Things'

This past week we went to our favorite Korean restaurant, Ilsong Garden. I LOVE it! I could literally eat there every day and every meal. Well, that might be an exaggeration, but I know I could definitely eat there more than once a week. As usual I had my fav, which is bi bim bop, and then even though the ban chan are essentially the same I had to eat them, too. Of course, as tradition has it I will always try to convince Matt to eat something coated in the kimchee sauce, but he learned after visit number two which dishes to avoid, LOL! I have a friend who says that a different Korean restaurant, Kiku Garden, is better. Since we haven't been there yet, I can't say, but I really don't need an excuse to go and eat Korean food.

This week the adoption community was sad to learn that Dr. Kim Duk Whang passed away. He established Eastern Social Welfare Society. I would consider him the founding father of international adoption in Korea. He is the gentleman who helped facilitate my adoption. This wise gentleman was beloved and will be greatly missed.

One of the many ways that Dr. Kim, Duk Whang (founder and former Chairman of the Board of Eastern Social Welfare Society/ESWS) demonstrated his fatherly devotion and dedication to each child in Eastern's care was to pray a special blessing over each child prior to his/her departure to their new adoptive family.

As for adoption news...that's right, we are still waiting! I think maybe our i600a will be approved around our anniversary?!?! Once that form is approved then we are really in the running for a referral. I learned this week that you need that approved before you can move on.

One more thing...after looking at how many different topics are in this post, I'll try to post more frequently. :0)

Fingerprints...and some other Stuff

Today we went to get our fingerprints scanned. I wish there was a funny story or something to share about the experience, but we essentially went in, only had to wait about 5 minutes and then we were done. It's just one more thing that we can check off the list. It's supposed to take about a month for approval for the I600a...and I know I keep repeating this phrase, but now we are waiting, again until the next thing we can cross of our list. :0)

A Korean Culture Tidbit: Tomorrow, May 5th is Children's Day in Korea.
"Children's Day (Eorini nal) is a South Korean national holiday celebrated
on May 5. It was founded by the Korean children's writer and storyteller Bang Jung-hwan in 1923 as a way to instill in the children a sense of independence and national pride. Children's Day highlights the dignity of children and their need for love, care, and respect. It is also a day to honor adults that have contributed to improving the lives of children."
http://www.dodoland.com/childrenday3.php
Happy Children's Day!!!

Of course, on Sunday is Mother's Day. I wish all mothers a very Happy Mother's Day! The picture at the bottom of my post is when my mother first held me in her arms after I was escorted to America.

Happy Mother's Day!