Appletree Show!

Ever since we signed Auden up for this preschool, we've been hearing about this amazing show the school does in the spring.  Every year it's a different theme and the kids spend months practicing and preparing for it during music class.  Needless to say, we were excited to see what the hype was all about on Thursday night.  They rent out the auditorium at a local high school and to Cody and I's surprise, it was a packed house- family, grandparents and friends filled the entire place.  We guessed it was around 500 seats or so.  So, for the first time we got to experience the "parent jitters," just hoping our child wouldn't be the one to cry, pick his nose, grab his crotch, etc. on stage! 

It was a full house!

 

 Before the show-here is Auden lining up in the hallway with some of his classmates.  And hugs for  his teacher Ms. Michelle when she got there!

The theme this year was the four seasons and they had each of the classes do one month of the year.  The entire school was on stage the whole time signing back-up chorus when each class came forward to the front of the stage when it was their assigned month and did two songs each. 

(you can see Auden in the above pictures in the front row between the "December" and "January" signs)

 

 Auden's class of 11 kids got the month of November so when they got to the front of the stage they sang two cute songs, one called "Be Thankful" and another song called "10 Little Turkeys." The latter song was about a cook that was trying to catch the 10 turkeys for the Thanksgiving meal.  That is why you see his one classmate dressed as the cook while the others got to wear turkey hats.  Smartly, each class had a prop and Auden's class had the kazoos, so they had fun playing them while they were center stage doing their songs.  Don't worry grandparents- we bought the DVD so you can watch the recording of his performance!  Auden did great, he didn't seem to mind being up on stage and even found me in the audience and blew me a kiss at the end of his two songs.  That was my favorite part!

It was nice that they kept all the kids on stage the whole time singing back up but you could tell the little ones were getting tired and antsy by the end of the show.  As soon as it was over he ran over to me saying he needed water quickly as the bright lights made him so hot!  Glad he was a little trooper and was able to stick it out. 

 

Here are some of the other class's performances...

 

All in all, it was quite an impressive show!  It's hard to believe they are only 3-6 year olds!  His school has two years of preschool and also a kindergarden class.  They all looked so little on a high school stage, ha.  The kindergartners even ended the show singing the song about the 50 states (which I still don't even know)!  The amazing owner of his preschool (who is also the music teacher) was playing the piano during the entire show.  Her dedication to the school and all of its families is nothing short of awesome.  We can't wait to go to three more years of these performances between Auden and Grant!  

Korea's Response to MD tragedy

It's amazing how someone's actions can affect so many.  Since the arrest of the Maryland man for the death of his newly adopted South Korean son, the following has happened:

- The Ministry has not issued any emigration permits.  At this point in time they have been holding files for longer than they ever have before.  There is no indication when they will start issuing permits again.  (we are out of this step but I have many friends that are stalled here).  The Ministry has asked for records of all the agencies of rates of adoption disruptions and those that didn't complete certificate of citizenship's for previously adopted children.

- The Court (where our file is) has thankfully been still issuing court dates but unfortunately at a snail's pace.  They usually issue a huge group at a time and in the past month they are trickling out.  They are apparently scrutinizing the files and being very careful to cross all their Ts and dot their Is for each case.  Currently, they are issuing dates up to April 18th.  They are almost finished the group of files before ours.  So, what does this mean?  Well, because they are issuing dates so slowly it's almost impossible to predict.  Perhaps us traveling in mid-May at this point? 

- The biggest change came Friday afternoon and was further clarified today.  The Court starting immediately is requesting every prospective adoptive parent undergo psychological testing.  It appears that they want us to take what is called the MMPI 2 test which is a standard psychological test given by employers, courts, health practitioners, etc. for various reasons.  While I completely understand why Korea is responding with this request there are a few problems with it.  First, they don't understand our health care system and are requesting it be given by public/government doctors.  In this country the vast majority of psychologists are in private practice.  Finding the type of doctor they want is almost impossible under the time constraints they are giving us.  Another problem is they are giving April court date families a March 28th deadline for the testing.  These families have plans to leave for Korea in a few days and are not able to find a psychologists that can do the evaluations in this time frame.  And of course the costs are unbelievable as families are being quoted anywhere from $1,000-5,000 for the testing.  I feel so bad for these "pioneer families" with court dates in the next month that are scrambling to figure out how to get this done when the Court themselves aren't even clear what they are asking for.  I guess that is the silver lining to not having a court date yet- seeing how this all pans out with the first few families with this mandate. 

We are trying hard to stay positive given the above circumstances.  We are happy that court dates are still coming, albeit slowly.  We are relieved that they didn't do something drastic like close the program all together or halt the court process for months while they figured out what to do.  We hope that the decision to mandate these evaluations will make the process go faster now since a decision has been made.  Of course, these psych tests were definitely not in our budget and are the last thing we need before a crazy expensive trip to Korea.  But we will figure it out.  Grant is our son and we will find a way over obstacle they throw at us.

Below is a picture of his March care package that he should be getting in 3 days.  Lots of random stuff in it this month:-)  I must admit the care packages have gotten really hard after the one year mark.  As I send bigger and bigger sizes, I just want him home.  The realization hit this week that we will not be in Korea for Grant's 2nd birthday (Easter Sunday), like I was hoping and dreaming.  So I started shopping for his birthday care package so he could get it on time.  It was not easy.