Some NOT so great news from Korea

Well, that didn't take long, did it?  For 6 days we got to enjoy the news that Grant's file was moving along and likely going to be submitted to the government for an emigration permit shortly.  Unfortunately last evening everyone in the Korea program got a bit of a "bomb" dropped on us that came out of left field.

In short the unfortunate news is:

1) The government agency (Ministry of Health and Welfare) that processes they emigration permits (permission to leave the country) is apparently scheduled to move their office from Seoul to a new city called Sejong City, which is two hours south of Seoul.  The move is expected to take place in November.

2) There are going to be some changes in staff at the Ministry.  The director has been rotated out and others in management positions will be rotated out as well.  Whatever that means.  I mean, rotating staff to me means that nobody can ever get proficient and efficient at their job but apparently this is a regularly occurring thing in Korea within the government and judicial system.

3)  Right after the agency moves to Sejong City, they will be undergoing an "audit." Apparently this happens every year and it takes the workers time away from processing adoptions.

Once again, welcome to the world of international adoption.  Two steps forward, one step back.  While the agencies do not know to what extent this news is going to have on the process they can only predict that we are going to once again see a slowing down of processing adoptions while all this takes place.

So, we had hoped that we would be submitted to the Ministry by the end of next month but now all this could mean that they are not going to accept anymore submissions until after the move or until after the audit, who knows.  So, a March travel date seems a little bit like a pipe dream right now after last night's news.  But as my die hard half glass full husband said, "well, if we travel later than March that just means more time to save up more money and leave time for our trip and warmer weather for the month we are in Korea."

Only time will tell what the effect of all of the above is going to be.  In the meantime, I do my best to remember that Grant is safe, healthy and happy with his foster family right now.  That's all we can ask for when we he can't be with us, his forever family, yet.  

Care Package #9

This month's care package we sent a few big items, it was quite a challenge getting them in a gallon ziplock bag but I did it:-)  Auden and I went to Old Navy last weekend and bought him cute superman and batman long sleeve t-shirts and I had to sneak another superman one in the basket for Grant in a smaller size:-)  Superman is pretty special in the adoption community since the story goes that Clark Kent was adopted at birth.  I also put in the package a pair of Auden's old pants and adidas sneakers.  Unfortunately I can't find Auden's old size 6 sneakers which is probably what size Grant is now so I had to send size 7s.  Hopefully his fostermom can double the socks and still get some use out of them.  We also included an insulated straw sippy cup and some Gerber puffs for Grant to enjoy.  I found another family from my agency to take this care package on their trip to Korea next week so he will get it in time for his October 20th monthly well visit to the the Korean agency. 

Great news from Korea!

Today is a very special day. As you all know, for almost a year now we have been patiently waiting in a long line of families to be processed and finally be able to travel to Korea to be united with their child. Little by little, month by month, our file has been slowly moving to the top of the line.

Today we were notified that our file has been requested by Korea to be prepared for submission to the government to get Grant's exit/emigration permit (EP)! So what does this mean exactly? It means that today we enter the first stage of processing to bring Grant home. We filled out some additional paperwork, our file will be translated for the government and Court and the biggest step of all- they will be attempting to contact Grant's birth mother to relinquish her rights for a second time due to the new law. Please think of her and pray for her this month as she has to go through this again.

So, what happens next?  This process is anything but predictable right now and you can breeze through one step just to get hung up for weeks on another step. But right now, this is how the timeline is looking: 

1) File requested to prepare for EP submission (TODAY!): 1-2 months
2) File submitted to the Ministry of Health & Welfare for EP: 2 months
3) Approved for EP, waiting for court date to be set: 1-2 months
4) Notification of court date to arrival in Korea- 1-1.5 months

On average, agencies are telling families from the point we are today it should take 5-6 months until we are in Korea. So, we have our eye on being in Korea in March right now!  It's too hard to predict for sure but every time we get through another stage of the processing we will get a better idea of when!  As long as we are there before Grant turns 2 on April 20th, I will be a happy Mommy.  But March would be even better:-) 

I must say, luck was on our side today! We knew we were on the edge of making the cut-off for this "prep" group they announced based on how big the last two groups have been.  We didn't tell anyone this could be happening soon since we didn't know what way it would go.  Since they base it on the date they received your referral acceptance paperwork (11/7/12 for us), I kept thinking of Cody and I standing in the FedEx store last year and Cody saying he didn't want to pay for overnight shipping!  Lucky for Cody we made this group's cut-off by ONE day, it was 11/8/12, so no overnight shipping was needed, ha.  We were the last family in our agency to make the cut-off.  Sure, we will probably get the shaft at another point in the process the next few months but you have to celebrate the small victories, right?! 

Hang on Grant, Mommy and Daddy are coming for you!

My friend in Arlington recently got her court date in Korea for October 30th and this Saturday night is having a "court date party!"  It will be fun to celebrate our good news with all my Korean adoption Mommy friends this weekend:-) 

Auden's new classroom- 2013/2014 school year

Last week after a couple day break from school Auden went back to a new class, new teacher and some new students that weren't able to start in the summer like he did.  He is now in the "bee" class with Ms. Michelle.  He loves his new classroom because it is one of the biggest at school so it has room for a train table, pretend kitchen, dress up area, and a nice little story nook.  He misses his best buddy Chase who was in his summer class but they still get to play on the playground a few times a day together.  

One really neat thing about his school is that during the regular school year they offer extra activities that you can sign up for.  We signed up for tumbling/movement class on Wednesday mornings and Spanish class on Monday mornings.  So they will pull him out of his regular class to participate in these special activities.  This takes the pressure off of working parents to sign up for a ton of weekend activities through the county:-)  

I got these cute signs off of Etsy for the first day of each school year.  So I "had" to make Auden pose with it for the start of the official fall school year:-) 

 

backyard wonderland

A few weeks ago we got a new addition to our backyard- a new playset for Auden.  I say the term "new" loosely because we actually got it used off of craigslist and I say "for Auden" loosely because to date the neighbor's kids have used it more than him:-)

Cody had his mind set on the good quality playsets with the brand name Rainbow as they are made from the best wood and have lifetime warranties (he knew it would have to withstand all the neighborhood kids).  However, we certainly didn't want to drop a couple thousand dollars on a new one.  So Cody found one in good condition off of craigslist in a neighboring town for a good price.  The only catch is you have to dissemble and move it yourself.  So, after renting a U haul truck and a bunch of help from the neighborhood dads- we now have a great playset in our backyard! 

We plan to power wash and stain it to get it looking good as new.  Cody also has plans to put an aluminum roof on the fort portion.  Auden loves it and we are confident that it's going to get a lot of use over the next few years with our growing family.