Firsts

Just had to share the trouble makers... now on to Allie's recent firsts.

First ball game (Go Ethan!).

First trip to the park.

First ride in the bike trailer (she clapped a good part of the ride).

Baby Love

One week ago today, we were on our way back home from the airport with our girl! Seems like she's always been with us. She's doing great, she gets more relaxed every day. Nighttime sleep is still an issue. She wakes up for hours at night and just can't calm down. A 13 hour time difference and total life change will do that to ya, I guess! She'll get there in her own time. We're still trying to keep things low key for her, sticking close to home. She does love to take walks and seems to like meeting new people in small groups. She had her first checkup at the pediatrician and passed with flying colors. She's very tall and doing great developmentally. Ben and Sam just LOVE her, and have been helping with her bottles and baby food. Although, I think the baby food phase isn't going to last long. The girl can EAT and she loves just about any kind of table food I give her. Jeremy is off work through next Wednesday, so we are just enjoying these lazy days getting to know our girl.

Smiles, Kisses and Sleep Deprivation

Life with Allie is good. Really good. We are having so much fun getting to know our little girl. She is still very clingy to me, but is finally willing to let Daddy hold her a little more the past day or so. As long as she is very near to me, so is happy. She laughs and shows her 8 little teeth, and her whole face lights up. She's even started to give us kisses. So far she's a fabulous eater., taking 5-6 bottles of formula a day, plus some baby food and a lot of table food. She's going to give Sam a run for his money in the eating department! The scale agrees: At her first checkup we found out she's 21.8 lb which is 65th percentile! She's also very tall, almost off the charts, which is surprising. She got a clean bill of health and our pediatrician was very impressed with how on target she is developmentally. She's walking great, uses a spoon and fork some, mimics sounds... of course we think she's a genius. :)

Sleeping is not her forte so far. She is up a lot at night, although she is slowly improving. Nighttime is when she grieves as if she's realizing all she's lost. She cries and just is so sad and can't relax enough to sleep. It breaks out heart. So we hold her and rock her and reassure her we're not going anywhere. Time will help. We continue to "cocoon" around her some and plan to continue this until she seems completely safe and secure. Our only outing so far has been for her checkup! We're totally enjoying our time at home to just hang out and be together. If only Jeremy could quit his job! We are so incredibly proud of the boys and how they take care of and love on their baby sister!

Here's more homecoming pictures. Our good friend Leigh was generous enough to take some of the airport photos, all while carrying her brand new baby in a front carrier! Her baby Evie is just a little younger than Allie and we just know they'll have a lifelong friendship having embarked on this incredible journey from Korea together.

Day 2

Hi Everyone!

Well, we are exhausted but doing well. Allie has bonded to me to the point that she literally doesn't want me to put her down--which is a good thing! I literally can't go to the bathroom without her. She is not used to men, as in the Korean culture men often don't play a role in helping with the kids. So she has not taken to Jeremy yet, which of course is killing him. So far, I am holding/sitting with her whenever she is awake and taking care of all her needs. And Jer is on Ben-Sam duty and taking care of the house, cooking, etc. I'm also sleeping on a mattress in her room to help her through the night. She has her nights and days all mixed up, so she literally wants to sleep the day away and play at night. Last night she was awake quite a bit, and she sat next to me on the mattress clapping happily while I tried to doze! We've been told that'll take a few weeks to adjust.

She's eating great, a mixture of table food and baby food. She didn't want a bottle at first, but we've figured out the right type of nipple she likes, so she doing that pretty well too. We have a feeling that once she's more adjusted to us she's going to be a social butterfly. She loves to clap and smile and make sure all eyes are on her (well, except mens' eyes!). Boys are doing GREAT, they love her and kiss her and help take care of her. And they are loving that Daddy is home for almost two weeks.

The airport experience was amazing. While we were waiting for her to come through customs, there was some military men and women returning from duty over seas, so it set a very emotional tone. Then out she came, and she reached right for me. The boys couldn't get enough of her and it was just wonderful. Her escort said she did great on the plane, slept a lot and was pretty social. After a few brief instructions from the escort, she was ours forever. It was a glorious feeling walking out of the airport with her. All 3 kids slept on the ride home from Detroit and so began our life as a family of 5.

We have so many pictures and video to sort through, but they are coming! By the way, she is walking, has 8 teeth and a crazy mop-top of hair! We are smitten already.

We've FINALLY Got Our Girl!!!

Yesterday went more perfectly than we could have imagined. Boys did so amazingly well in the car ride to Detroit, flight was early, and Allie is phenominal. She's walking, smiling, laughing, playing peek-a-boo and just all around perfection. Pictures and more details to come! See the previous blog for details on how we're going to handle the next few weeks as we bond with her!

Allie's Homecoming!!!

Allison Hee Young Coleman

Born: June 28, 2010, Seoul, South Korea

Homecoming: Friday, June 10th, 2011

Dear Friends & Family,

Wonderful news! Allie is FINALLY scheduled to come home next Friday, June 10th!! As we prepare for Allie's joyful homecoming, we wanted to share with you some of what we can expect in the coming weeks. This will be a time of adjustment for our family as we help her adjust to life with us. Bringing home an 11 month old baby is very different from having a newborn join the family!

In Allie's short life, she will have gone through more life changes than most adults coudl handle. She will experience immense loss and feelings of grief. She experienced the loss of her birth family, as well as the caretakers at the orphanages where she lived for her first 2 months. She will experience the loss of her foster family, who has cared for her for the last 9 months. The sights, smells, tastes, sounds and language of her birth country will change overnight. She will also be dealing with a 14 hour time difference and a very long flight with a stranger!

Our social worker has shared with us that while the day we meet Allie at the airport will be one of the best days of our lives, it will be one of the most difficult days of her life. She will be grieving for the life she has lost. We won't know what she likes to eat, how she sleeps, what her favorite toys are, etc. We'll be starting fresh with this little baby who has already had 11 months to develop her own likes, dislikes and preferences, only to have that be completely taken away from her.

The best way for us to form a bond with her is for us to have the time and privacy to hold, snuggle, soothe and feed her. Over time, she will learn that we are safe to trust and to love. Although it may appear that we are over-protecting her, please know that these decisions are thoughtfully made choices based on our training and advice from trusted adoption mentors. We plan to "cocoon" around her and spend time alone at home as a family. This may take weeks or months, not days.

We want nothing more than to have Allie cuddled and cherished by ALL of you, but until she has a firm understanding of our family, we would be so grateful if you would allow us time to bond as a family. The timeline is different for every child. We will follow her lead and trust our instincts as her parents. Of course, we also have 2 very active boys, ages 3 and 5, so we will strive for a balance for all our kids.

That being said, we've decided to follow these guidelines when Allie comes home:
-Only immediate family members will meet her at the airport.

-No initial welcoming parties in an effort to avoid an overwhelming situation.

-Limited visitors for at least the first few weeks to allow her to bond with us. Once she's ready, we'd love you to come here to meet her in small groups.

-Avoiding outings and errands as much as possible at first.

-Even after her initial period of adjustment, we'll continue to be cautious about any situation with large groups of people or traveling long distances.

You can help by giving us your prayers and patience! We'll keep everyone updated through our blog with lots of pictures and details on how she's doing, so check back often!

We have every confidence that she will adapt and become a part of our family in her own time. We are so grateful to have your support, patience and understanding! we know Allie will grow to love each and every one of you as we do!

With love,

The Coleman Family

Jeremy, Jen, Ben, Sam and Allie

jcoleman48@cinci.rr.com

Things are Looking Up!

Great news! Allie's passport came through last week and her flight is booked from Seoul, South Korea to Detroit on Friday June 10th! We are still waiting for her visa to be appoved, and anything can happen in the world of flights schedules, etc. so we are cautiously optimistic at this point! Keep checking back!

Good News & Bad News

Thank you thank you to all of you who continue to ask about Allie and pray for her safe homecoming. We received quite a bit of news today regarding her situation and wanted to share this with all of you. As time has been going by, we have becoming increasingly worried about the situation and why there has been such a big delay in getting her home. The good news is that our agency reassured us today that they continue to expect that she will get her paperwork eventually and will be coming home to join her family. The bad news is that right now it's looking like it may be early June or later. That seems like a long time away to us right now since we thought she'd be home in April, but we are very relieved that things are still expected to get processed as they should.

Basically the Korean government has to approve her to travel and issue her passport and visa before they can book her a flight home. They have slowed waaaay down on this process (we are not sure why) and all the orphanges and agencies are upset with their government right now because of this. So we wait as patiently as we can for them to get around to doing these things for us. Our agency told us today that the agency we work with in Korea, which is called Korean Social Services (KSS), gave them an estimate today that they thought she could be ready to leave Korea in early June. So between now and then they have to get her approval, passport and visa. There are several babies in this same group and same situation with her. Our agency told us that we are very fortunate that she should be coming "soon" because there are some families who will have to wait until next year for their babies to come home, since they only issue so many passports a year. Luckily, Allie is in the group that should receive one.

We asked if it would expedite the situation if we went to Korea to get her and were told no, absolutely in no way would that bring her home sooner, and in fact they probably wouldn't allow us to do that. So they are still planning to escort her to the Detroit airport when the time comes. So we continue to wait. We are worried that the Korean government has all the power at this point, but are very thankful that our agency continues to be very hopeful despite the delay. They also told us that early June is just a guess until some of the paperwork starts to get approval. In early June she'll be 11 months old; I am very hopeful that she arrives before her first birthday June 28th.

We appreciate your continued support. One of the hardest parts of all of this has been our lack of control in the situation, but we continue to have faith that God has a plan for Allie and that she will come home when the time is right. We are also sad that we are missing first teeth, possibly first steps, first words, etc. It's also been heartbreaking to see just how excited Ben and Sam are to finally have their sister home. But we believe that all this extra waiting will just make it that much sweeter when she is finally in our arms!!! We will continue to keep you posted.
Love,
Jen

No News....

Well, we are STILL waiting for Allie's travel call. We are trying so hard to be patient and trust that she will come when the time is right. About two weeks ago we found out that for some reason the Korean government has slowed down on issuing passports. The 3 babies in Allie's group, including Allie, all need passports to come home. They have everything else they need, so as soon as the passports come in, they'll work on booking her flight home. We were so disappointed that she wasn't home for Easter and her Easter dress hangs in her closet. But the Easter Bunny did leave her a basket of goodies here for her when she comes home! We would love for her to be home by Mother's Day, so pray pray pray for her that the passports come through very very soon!

Water, Sand & Animals

Water, sand and animals pretty much sums up our March. The boys finished up their swim lessons with a splash. We also spent a day at Coco Keys Water Resort, which was fabulous! Ben keeps telling me that he dreams of going back there. :)

As an early birthday present to both boys from Grandma Toodie and us, they were given a brand new, big-boy size sandbox. They are thrilled and are starting to log in many hours of play time out there, digging away.

Some of the other pictures shows Sam's bedhead, a cute pic of the boys with their beloved Cat in the Hat books, and our playgroup partying together on St. Patty's Day. Gosh how they've grown from the little babies they used to be.

The biggest news of the month was Sam's THIRD Birthday! He was adamant that he wanted to spend the day at the zoo, so that's just what we did, despite chilly temperatures. Daddy took the day off and Grandma and Izzy joined us at Sam's insistence. He was so excited and proud to be turning 3. I just can't believe it. A special fact: he was born in the last hours of Red's Opening Day in 2008 and this year is birthday was on Opening Day.

Allie Update: Well, we're still waiting. We had been told beginning of April, so we started anxiously waiting for the phone to ring with her travel day. But yesterday we got word that it could still be a few weeks. So we're trying to be patient and enjoy our last weeks with just the boys. We will keep you posted!

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!

Allie Update!

We received a wonderful update on Allie in the mail today! It included a CD with a bunch of pictures of Allie and around Korea. It also included information about how she's developing. She weighs 17.8 lb, is described as a good eater, easy going, and light sleeper (oh boy!). She is crawling and has 2 bottom teeth! They had just given her some things from a care package we had sent her. The one picture shows her getting strapped onto the foster mom's back, which is the typical way Korean's carry their babies. So far no update as far as when she might come home, we're still thinking April. Will keep you posted!

A Video of Allie!

Here's a video of Allie taken on Feb. 7th, so she was about 7 months old. The lady in the video with her is her foster mom, who they've told us she's very attached to. The social worker is asking the foster mom questions about Allie's development. She's playing with things that we sent her in a care package! The little book has pictures of us in it.

Catching up

So I got a little behind on our blog... okay WAY behind. I just updated all that has happened in our family since Thanksgiving, so go back to my Thanksgiving post and start reading there if you want to read things in time order.

As we get closer to Allie coming home, I'm going to try to update more often with any news that we have!

Allie's Registry

Some of you have been asking what we'll need for Allie such as clothes, etc. We have been generously blessed by friends and family donating girl clothes to us, so I think it's safe to say that we won't be needing clothes or baby supplies! We discovered that Amazon carries an abundance of resources on Korea, adoption and Korean adoption! We're excited to learn as much as we can about the Korean culture and to have some books and other items in our home with familiar sights for her.

If you'd like to see some of these items, you can view them at our Amazon Baby Registry. Go to http://www.amazon.com/ and click on Baby Registry. You can search by my email: jcoleman48@cinci.rr.com.

Trust and He Will Provide

This is just too beautiful of a story to keep to ourselves. Jeremy and I have long thought we may adopt some day. When the time came to take the first step, we agonized over whether or not we could afford it, especially on one income. However, we felt God calling us to adopt, specifically from Korea, so we made a purposeful decision to follow our hearts and trust that God will provide for us.

We began the adoption process in Dec. of 2008 by putting our names on a wait list with our agency. Sam was only 9 months old, but we knew it was a long process. A year later, we were able to officially apply and began the Home Study process, which is full of lots of paperwork and home visits from our social worker (who is wonderful, by the way). Once we were approved, the official wait to be matched with a baby began. Up to that point, we had paid a few thousand dollars towards the adoption, but we knew the real "chunk of change" would come when we accepted a referral for a baby, which we were told should come by the end of 2010.

Lots of people ask how much does it cost and we don't mind sharing. It ended up being over $33,000. (Yes, that's a lot of money, but keep in mind that some people have cars that cost much more than that!) We opened a flex line of credit with our bank, and just resolved ourselves that we would pay what we could each month for as long as we had to. However, God had another plan.

Friday, December 17th, 2010 we got the call, Hee Young would be our daughter! When we accepted Hee Young's referral right before Christmas of 2010, we mailed in a check for almost $27,000. Some of that we had saved and the rest was borrowed from our flex line of credit. As news of Allie spread, amazing things began to happen that were completely unexpected. First, a few days later, two close family friends donated towards the adoption. We were so shocked and so very grateful to have their help.

Then, on Christmas Eve, we arrived home from church joined by Jeremy's parents and brother. I grabbed the mail, only to be confused by a Christmas card with no return address. Inside the card was an anonymous note which indicated that in the spirit of the season and in anticipation of her arrival, a donation had been made to our account. Sure enough, a large sum of money had been put into our bank account, which significantly cut down on what we owed on the flex line. We were shocked and so amazed that God put someone in our lives who cared this much for our baby. We have no idea who that person is, but we will be eternally grateful for their love.

At this point, we just couldn't believe our luck. The amount we owed had been more than cut in half and we were rejoicing. But the story didn't stop there. Christmas Day brought more monetary gifts from family members. Finally, about two weeks after Christmas, we again opened the mail to see a check from a family member. The amount not only paid off the rest of what we owed, but also allowed for some extra money for her for future use. This all happened in less than one month's time from when we first saw her face! A huge burden has been lifted from us and now we can just focus on her and the joys she will bring.

Aside from the monetary miracles, we have also been so amazed by the process of adoption. Doors have just opened for us all along the way and we are humbled. This is a story written by the hands of God. Good people do exist, good things do happen, and we are just overwhelmed by the generosity of our friends and family. We believe fully that Allison Hee Young is supposed to be a part of our family and we cannot wait for her to hear this story and know that she was so loved even from halfway across the world. Thank you everyone for your support, love and prayers. Miracles do occur!

Our Family 2010 at OneTrueMedia.com

Here's our family video from 2010. 20 minutes long, very cute!

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Oh Allie Allie!

We were so excited to open our mailbox a few days before Christmas and find these new pictures of Allie Hee Young. The one with her on the orange onesie was taken when she was right at one month. The other two were at about 4 months. They said at 4 months she weighed about 14.5 pounds, which is 75%, but she sure looks tiny here! We haven't received any more updates past the time when she was 4 months. We were told we should get some more information in February or March. We're hoping for more recent pictures and a more accurate estimate on the timing of her arrival here!