The Latest News

We received some great news recently, as well as some scary news. First, the scary: Korean Social Services, which is the agency in Korea that "provides" the babies is no longer going to be providing babies to our agency here in Ohio. We received this news via letter in the mail, and our hearts dropped, not knowing what this would mean for Allie. However, upon calling our social worker, we got the fantastic news that everything for her has been approved both on the US and Korean side of things, including her Visa, which is the last official step! They said that the closing of KSS shouldn't affect us and that they would be hopefully making her travel arrangements soon. Typically babies are brought home in groups of 3, so they are waiting on approvals for 2 more babies, and then they'll start scheduling her trip home. We are literally waiting for the phone to ring. We've been washing up baby clothes and pulling out baby toys and equipment. She'll be 9 months tomorrow! In other news, we're in our birthday "spree". Jeremy's birthday was last week, Sam's is this Thursday (my baby is going to be THREE!) and Ben's is the following week-FIVE. Needless to say, things are a bit busy around here these days! Hopefully we'll be posting her "due date" very soon! In the meantime, we'd appreciate prayers that her travel arrangements get made quickly. And please pray for the families who have begun the adoption process with our agency who are now having to start over with another country or agency due to the closing of KSS. I can't imagine how devastated they are and we are feeling very fortunate and anxious to just get our little girl home.

Time Update

Everyone is anxious for news about when Allie might make her arrival... we are the most anxious of all! The not knowing is so hard. I keep putting things on our calendar, wondering if she'll be here for the things we're planning and if we'll have to reschedule around her. We did talk to our social worker this week, and she said they still think April is a possibility, but it could be longer than that. It all depends on the timing of the paperwork getting completed, both from the US and South Korea. So in the meantime, we are trying to enjoy our days as a family of four. Although, even the boys are getting tired of waiting. Sam keeps getting teary eyed and telling me, "I need Hee Young to come home NOW, Mom!" He insists on calling her Hee Young. :) I just hate thinking of all the milestones she's achieving without us, but I know she will come when she is meant to. We will keep you posted on any new news!

February Fun

February was a pretty quiet month for us, which isn't a bad thing! We had 2 projects that we made that the boys are very excited about. One is a castle that we (I) made out of our new TV box... impressive, huh? We did have help from my dad with the spray painting. It was Ben's idea to put them names on the front. The other project is an idea we had from the ball pit area at the Children's Museum. We covered a large piece of plywood with felt and then put velcro around the PVC pipes. They can arrange the pipes however they want on the board to make tunnels, and then put marbles in them. This has kept them busy on these long winter days!

Jeremy and Ben got to go to our Korean support group's Korea New Year event and brought home a few Korean crafts. Another pictures demonstrate just how much Sam loves to read-he fell asleep on his dinosaur book in bed and at one point was even sleeping under the pages. There's also a pic of them w/their beloved Great Grandma Toodie, who watches them every week so I can tutor. They can't wait for her to come every week and bring a special treat-fruit!

Both boys are visibly growing right now, they both look so much bigger and older to me. Can't believe we just picked up Ben's kindergarten registration packet at LECC... he'll be playing t-ball there this spring as well. He's also doing great in swim lessons, he swam cross the width of the pool this week crawlstroke all by himself! Sam will go to preschool two mornings in the fall, just as he is doing this year. And he made a huge leap in his swim lessons this week as well. We switched him from a parent class to a 3 year old class where he gets in without me. He did great and I sure loved staying dry and watching from the side!