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.  

Summer Winding Down

Somehow next weekend will be labor day and summer will be over.  The hot days might not be gone yet (hope not!) but the pool will be closed, no more trips to the lake and Auden's preschool will be shifting to their regular school year program.  It surely went fast!

We had a great summer but as usual it was very busy traveling the majority of the weekends.  We got to Keuka Lake a lot this summer since Nana and Pappy have a boat to keep there now (very lucky!).  It was super fun spending time with the Sherrock family at the lake when they were visiting their grandparents who happen to have a house there as well.  And Auden and his cousin Reegan had wonderful quality time together for the annual McCormick family lake weekend. 

We had a Philadelphia wedding in early July for one of my sorority sisters that brought us back to our very own reception venue- Knowlton Mansion!  It was really nice to be back there and Cody and I did a lot of reminiscing and wandering around parts of the Mansion we never had time to during our wedding.  We recently had in August my cousin Kaitlyn's wedding in Point Pleasant, NJ which was on the water and beautiful and we got to have lots of fun with the whole McCormick clan.

The Hansen (Cody's mother's side) family trip this year was in Holden Beach, NC in the beginning of July.  We had great weather and awesome accommodations.  My mother-in-law found a brand new house on the island with 16 bedrooms and 17 bathrooms, yes, that is correct.  It was beautifully decorated (think pottery barn beach style), had a nice pool with a tiki bar and was right on a private beach.  It doesn't get much better than that!  And a wonderful bonus was being able to meet my childhood friend Jessica in Myrtle Beach since she doesn't live too far way in Charleston, SC.  Her adorable two little boys and Auden got to play on the beach for a little bit then we grabbed some lunch before heading back to Holden Beach.

While we were on vacation Auden really honed in on his swimming skills.  He has been more or less teaching himself how to swim this summer and it has been really something to watch.  He loves being underwater with his goggles on, so forget teaching him how to dog paddle above water.  We are trying to get him to use his arms more because right now he is pretty much just swimming under water and kicking.  He has no fear when it comes to jumping in the water and even learned how to dive on vacation!  He can swim about eight feet by himself right now but you really have to watch him because he thinks he's better than he is, haha.  I signed him up for proper swimming lessons at the indoor pool this fall (instead of doing them right now at our swim club) so he doesn't loose all the good skills he's acquired this summer.

Auden turned 3.5 years old on August 12th, which is easy to always remember because it's Cody and my anniversary (7 yrs!).  Every six months we mark his height off on the inside of the linen closet door and wow- did he grow since his birthday in February!  Two full inches to be exact.  That is still average for his age, so basically it's just amazing how fast toddlers grow through these years:-)  Auden is still enjoying his new preschool Appletree.  He comes home every day with his legs two shades darker from dirt and a bucket of sand we have to dump out of his sneakers.  So I'd say he is still enjoying the awesome playground at Appletree too.  We are looking forward to the regular school year starting after Labor Day where he will get a new classroom with a new teacher and their day will be a little more structured and will sneak in some more learning while having all that fun.

So goodbye to Auden's sun-kissed blonde hair and ice cream stops along I-95, we'll see you both next summer!  

Care package #8 and program update

I was excited to put together this month's care package because one of my "friends" in my agency that I met through facebook is hand delivering the package this week to Eastern Social Welfare Services (ESWS).  She is  travelling to go get her little girl finally and is taking care packages for several of us waiting families.  ESWS is the Korean partner agency my U.S. based agency works with and is where Grant goes every month for his well visits.  Sending it with someone in our agency on their trip to Korea is a lot nicer because you don't have to deal with a two month lag time that usually occurs if you send it through our U.S. agency (therefore making it difficult to plan correct clothes sizes and seasons).  Also, when we send directly with traveling friends we can slip in some goodies for the foster mother and treats for our child which our U.S. based agency doesn't allow for some reason.  Now that there is a steady flow of families traveling to Korea to get their kiddos, I hope to be able to keep sending packages this way.  Typically, traveling families have one big empty suitcase on the way to Korea because they are going to fill it with any clothes/stuff their child comes home with as well as souvenirs on the return flight.  So, it isn't an inconvenience for them to fill it with care packages on the way there.  And you get to feel like Santa Claus when you get to ESWS:-)

Since my friend will be arriving a few days after Grant goes into ESWS (goes in on the 20th usually) this month, he won't get this package until September 20th so I wanted to make sure I sent fall clothes.  I went through Auden's old stuff and found a couple of my favorite long sleeve shirts along with a pair of jeans and navy pants.  Hopefully they should fit Grant well.  Grant's growth chart is very similar to Auden's, he is just a little bit heavier than Auden was at his age.  I threw in a cute Vera Bradley (I heard that brand is popular in Korea) small pouch along with Starbucks Instant Iced Coffee for Grant's foster mom.  I'm sure Grant is used to getting toys every time he goes to ESWS from our care packages, so I was able to squeeze in a couple toy cars for him too:-)

And the end of last month we received super precious 15 month pictures of Grant!  It was the first time we have seen him standing up in a picture and could see his cute little legs!  His foster mom dressed him in the adorable OshKosh B'Gosh plaid overalls I was hoping so badly to see on him.  Every month I love this woman more because it's like she can read my mind.  His bangs grew in from his hair cut the month prior and his hair looked so nice.  I'm thankful we got these pictures at the end of last month because right after we got them ESWS announced they would not be sending picture updates for two months in efforts to work really hard at getting files ready for submission to the Ministry (government).  So far, they have been doing just that and the process (knock on wood) has been starting to move faster.  Thank God.  I hope they can keep it up.  One would think after the Ministry sees the same forms over and over they can start to move quickly once they know what they are doing with the new law and requirements.  If they can keep up this pace we hope to be in Korea right before Grant's second birthday in April.  Fingers  and toes crossed!!!