We're Sending a Care Package!

Fun Baby Stuff for Our Little Guy!



A Cute Safari Hat


Everything fits!

We got some great news yesterday. One of the social workers from our adoption agency is going to Korea in a few weeks to visit the adoption agencies there and meet with the babies and foster moms. She will visit Baby HJ and bring home pictures, a video, and an update on how he is doing. I haven't let myself buy very much since we already have a lot of baby boy items, but since we get to send a care package with our social worker for when she visits HJ, I decided to go all out. I went with an animal theme: one piece outfit with a lion, a cute little plaid safari hat, tiger pj's, an elephant soft blankie/teether/rattle, a teether photo album with ocean animals and pictures of our family, and animal bibs. I think the bib with the earth and animals is my favorite, because it represents that our baby is halfway around the world; and the bib says, "handle with care." DW also colored a picture for his little brother, and I attempted to label it with a few Korean words: little brother, big brother, and love you. I also included a small gift for HJ's foster mom: a pretty journal and paper set. The challenge of a care package is that everything has to fit in a gallon sized ziplock bag. After about 20 minutes of rearranging everything, I finally got it all to fit! I think I'm going to have to buy another safari hat for DW. He wanted to wear it and didn't want me to put it in the bag. Anyway, we are so excited to get updates on Baby HJ soon!!!

Explanation of Adoption Expenses

I was hoping to post about how successful our yard sale was today, but it got rained out. We are rescheduling it for next Saturday, which gives us another week to collect donations. We have been blessed by incredible friends and family who have donated lots of stuff for us to sell. We're excited to see what will happen when we actually have the sale!

Our home study was last Wednesday evening, and we had a nice time catching up with our social worker. She is hoping to have our home study written within the next few weeks. Once it is approved by the adoption agency, we should receive HJ's legal documents and then we will be able to make an appointment with our local USCIS for FBI fingerprinting and filing the I-600 (Petition to Classify an Orphan as an Immediate Relative).

Many people ask me why adoption is so expensive. Well, there are a lot of fees that go into the total cost of an international adoption, so I will attempt to explain them.

*Application Fee - $200 - $300: This basically covers the administrative task of the agency creating your file and setting you up in their computer system.

*Adoption Agency Service Fee - $3,000 - $5,000: This includes the cost of copies, phone calls, emails, overnight mail, postage, administration, marketing, home study proofreading and approval, support with preparation of documents that will be sent to Korea, document translation, and travel preparation assistance.

*Home Study Fee - $1,500 - $3,000: This fee pays the social worker. He or she drives to your home one to three times, interviews you, inspects your home, and then writes a lengthy report about your life indicating that you are suitable to be an adoptive parent.

*US Citizen and Immigration Services Filing of I-600 and fingerprints - $830

*Korea Country Fee - $13,000 - $18,000!!! This includes expenses for caring for the child in Korea such as diapers, formula, food, etc; medical expenses (and I am positive that HJ's medical expenses of 6 weeks in the hospital with meningitis FAR exceed this fee!), child's U.S. Visa application fee, child's Korean passport, Korea adoption agency staff and caregiver salaries, registration fees, legal fees and document processing, humanitarian aid, program development, etc.

*Airfare - $2,500 - 3,500: This includes 2 adult round trip tickets and a one way child in lap ticket. Prices vary depending on season, and summer is the most expensive time to fly.

*Lodging - $300 - $500

*Gifts to Korean adoption agency and foster family - $200 - $400

*Adoption Finalization in US Court + Lawyer Fees - $1,000 - $3,000

*Filing for Certificate of Citizenship - $420

Thankfully, the fees are not due all at the same time. They are only due when the service is performed.

After our home study is completed, we will owe a $4,300 agency service fee. We are hoping to raise a large chunk of this money through our yard sale. Please join us in praying that our yard sale will be profitable, that those who donated items and helped with the sale will be blessed for their generosity, and that those who purchase items will receive a blessing as well. Also, please pray that God will give us opportunities to share our faith and our adoption story, and that He will give us the right words to say to encourage those in need. Thank you!

Memories

I've been doing a lot of reminiscing this past week. Two years ago, on April 15, we missed a very important phone call. Tim and I were at the hospital visiting my best friend and her newborn baby girl. I was actually holding the baby when my phone vibrated in my pocket. I didn't think anything about it, and ignored it. Later, on our way home from the hospital, I remembered I had missed a call. I listened to the voicemail, and it was our social worker. She left a message saying she had a referral of a baby boy for us to review if we were interested. I called her right back, but she was already out of the office for the day. Tim and I talked for the rest of the hour drive home about all the what-ifs. We were so excited! I called the social worker the next day, and she told me about DW. Then I called Tim and told him about DW. DW was 6 months old, living with a foster family in South Korea, and healthy. We just knew he was our son! The social worker then emailed me this photo of DW and the rest is history. :)



We accepted DW's referral on our 4th wedding anniversary on April 17. A baby was the best gift we could have ever received!

Here we are 2 years later, celebrating our 6th anniversary, and "expecting" another son from Korea. It definitely hasn't been easy becoming parents, but we wouldn't change it. We're on a tighter budget, we don't have much time by ourselves, and I do more cooking, cleaning, and laundry, but hearing "mommy" and "daddy" is worth all the sacrifices.

On another note, we worked on our house all weekend. Six months ago, our house partially flooded with sewer water, and we had to pull out the flooring, base boards, and the vanity/sink in the master bathroom. We immediately replaced the flooring, but have waited on fixing everything else. With the help of Tim's cousins, we now have all the base boards back up, and we have a new vanity that his uncle built! I'm so so so excited to have a sink again in my bathroom. Our remodeling is complete (and just in time for our home study), and that was a wonderful anniversary gift. Thank you honey for working so hard to get everything back in place and looking better than it did before the disaster. You are amazing!!!

Update: T-Shirt Fundraiser

Something really awesome happened yesterday with our t-shirt fundraiser. I put a reminder that we are selling t-shirts as an adoption fundraiser as my Facebook status, and I put the link to our store. One of my Facebook friends is Dillon Adopt, which is Dillon International, the agency we used for DW's adoption. Later in the day, whoever runs the Dillon Adopt page posted my link in their status talking about how this was a neat fundraising idea. We've had 3 sales today from people we've never met who are friends with Dillon Adopt. How crazy is that?! Thank you to whoever runs the Dillon Adopt Facebook page for posting our link, and thank you to the special people who bought t-shirts. What a wonderful story to share with HJ in the future to show him how special he is. Again and again, God continues to show us that as long as we follow His plans, He will provide for us. If you want to read more about the work Dillon International does in caring for orphans around the world, click here.

Our other good news is that OUR HOME STUDY HAS BEEN SCHEDULED! It's next Wednesday. Another small step to bringing home our little boy!

Mini Celebrations

Today my little baby is 9 months old, waiting in Korea. Oh how I wish I could be there to kiss those chubby cheeks! I hope and pray that it doesn't take another 9 months to bring him home. The agency doing our home study has received the papers they need to request that our social worker start our home study. We hope to see her in the next few weeks.



A year ago today, we finalized DW's adoption. He also became a U.S. citizen that day, and his name officially changed to what it is now. We took him to our county courthouse and met in the judge's chamber so he could sign our adoption decree. It was a special day for our family since the legal system finally recognized that we were a family! Today seems like a good day for a celebration. I think I might have to get some cupcakes or a decorated cookie. Yum!

Happy Easter!

Easter 2009



Easter 2010

Happy Easter! Yesterday, we had a potluck lunch with Tim's family and all the kids hunted eggs. DW was interested in finding eggs until he found a puddle of water to play in. :)

This morning, Tim was sick, so I took DW to church by myself. DW ended up sitting in my lap through almost the whole service instead of going to the nursery. I think he was exhausted from all the fun yesterday, and I enjoyed the cuddle time. That is, until I felt something hot and wet in my lap...yeah, his diaper leaked big time all over me! So, unfortunately, we didn't get to hear the end of a great Easter sermon. We headed to the nursery to change him and then headed home. Thankfully, it's been a really quiet day since then. DW took an almost 4 hour nap, so I was able to get a lot done around the house AND take a little nap myself.

I hope you were able to go to church and celebrate the real meaning of Easter. Now that I am a mom, I have a different perspective on Easter. I can't imagine what Mary must have felt while Jesus was being crucified. Watching her son suffer like that must have been the most horrific thing she had ever experienced. I am so glad that the story didn't end with Jesus's death. Praise the Lord that He is Risen, we can have a relationship with Him, and we can spend eternity in Heaven with Him! I am so thankful for my Savior, and I hope and pray that you know Him too.