Kai's Exit Interview!!

WOW!! A few short weeks ago we felt like Kai would never get home, now things are moving WAY faster than we ever imagined!!! I just got off the phone with the VISA center in Wash., DC, and was informed that Kai has his EXIT interview on 12/3!!! To say we are in a total state of shock would be an understatement!! I was not even expecting his I-171 to reach Seoul until Monday, and now that's the day he has his exit interview! So, now you're probably wondering what happens next. After his exit interview on Monday, his VISA will probably be issued within a couple days. After that, Holt Korea will start working on travel arrangements to get him home. This usually takes about a week or so. When his travel is arranged, they will call us (the highly anticipated "travel call"), and notify us as to when he'll be HOME!! Yes, I said, home!!! (Can you tell I'm in shock?) Looks like all our prayers for a Christmas Miracle are working!!
RA

Great news for a new Friend!!

If you've talked to me in the past few months, you have undoubtedly heard about my new friend "H" (keeping details out to protect their privacy). We met on the Holt web forum, and have met in person a few times. She is also a waiting mom, her son is in Korea, and is just a few days older than Kai. Our "timelines" have been nearly identical since our referrals in Aug. We live in the same state, so they were stuck in the same CIS mess that we were. They pulled out ahead of us in late October when they got their immigration approval, and have been about 2 weeks ahead of us since then. Well...today they got their TRAVEL CALL!!! YAY! I am so excited for her and her family!! Sounds like on Monday, they will be Korea bound!! We have already decided that our sons will be friends, and hopefully they'll be able to come to the airport when Kai comes home (and vice versa)! I can't wait to see her cutie pie in her arms, and can't wait to see our boys together!!
RA

More to be thankful for...

After a very fun trip to see our friends and families for the Thanksgiving holiday, we are safely back at home, with more exciting news on our adoption. First of all, yesterday we got word, from the NVC, that Kai's immigration approval has been sent to Seoul! That means that everything that needs to happen in the US, has happened! As if this wasn't enough to shoot us off to Cloud 9, when we got home today we had another wonderful surprise. A well baby report!! So, here's the latest on Kai: he's now measuring 21.6 lbs and 28.75 inches tall. He has 4 teeth, and is pulling himself up. He's also saying "Mama" and "Dada" (it didn't specify, but I'm assuming he's saying these in Korean). His report said that he was "well cared for", and a "cute, alert and active boy". It was wonderful to hear that he's doing well, but also bittersweet to see what milestones he's passed. He's going to be such a "little man" when he comes home! We don't expect to hear anything further regarding his arrival, until his I-171 reaches Seoul, which will probably take 10-14 days. At that point, they will begin filing his VISA! :-)
RA

A Day for Giving Thanks

This year we have so much to be thankful for. We are thankful for each other; and the love, friendship and companionship that we share. We are thankful for our son who is waiting in Korea to come home to us. We are thankful that we both have secure jobs, and that we have food on our table and a roof over our heads. We are thankful that we live in a free country that allows us to build our family through international adoption. We are thankful for our social worker, and all the wonderful people at Holt International who have aided us thus far in our adoption. We are thankful for all the wonderful and caring people at Holt Korea who have been tending to Kai’s needs, and preparing everything in Korea for him to travel. We are thankful for his wonderful foster mother who has loved him and cared for him like one of her own. We are so very thankful to his birth mother, that she loved him so much that she gave him the gift of life. We are thankful for our wonderful families, who have been 100% supportive of our adoption, and are waiting, with arms open and ready, to receive our new son into our family. We are thankful for all our amazing friends, who have been so supportive over the past several years; always there, lending either a shoulder to cry on, or a smile to brighten our day, whichever it is we need. Above all, we give thanks to God, who has provided all these wonders in our life.
Happy Thanksgiving!!
Joe & Ruth Anne

Family Photo

Today we took our first family photo:



We took it to make a Thank You card for a group of Joe's wonderful co-workers who gave us the rocking chair at our shower (along with a basket brimming with other goodies). In the background you can see the banner that they also had at the shower, made by "Nana Hannah" (note: our name has been cropped to protect the innocent).
RA

I-171...

In our hot little hands!! (This document is the approval of our orphan petition) I am so happy, this means it is already well on it's way to New Hampshire! It brought tears to my eyes just to see our names on the form...with his name as the beneficiary...he's really ours!
RA

FINALLY...SOME GOOD NEWS!!

Today we received a phone call from our Senator's office, saying that our I-600 (orphan petition) was approved this morning!! This is what we've been waiting for! We don't know if it was approved as a result of our appointment with them last Friday, or if it's because the Senator's office called on our behalf, but we really don't care! It's approved! Now it must make a journey to New Hampshire (via snail mail, of all things), then it must be logged in and processed through the "National Visa Center" (NVC). From there it is sent to Korea. Once the hard copy arrives in Seoul, the embassy can start processing Kai's Visa! From this point, our agency is saying he should be home in 4-6 weeks. Yikes! That's cutting it awfully close to Christmas! We need lots of prayers that everything goes flawless from here, so we can be on the low end of that timeframe. We need to get our little boy home, so he can spend his first Christmas with his forever family!!
RA

Another month gone by...

Today our sweet Kai is 9 months old. Today I thought of him every time I saw the date (OK, who am I joking? I think of him all the time anyway...). Wondering what milestones he's met this month. Sitting up? Crawling? How we long for another update on him...or better yet to hold him in our arms. Hurry home baby boy!
RA

Ridin' the 'coaster

Yesterday was a roller coaster ride of a day if we've ever had one! We felt just about any emotion you can think of, all in one day...needless to say we're a little drained today!
We started the day out with butterflies in our tummies and high hopes as we had our appointment with the USCIS. Those high hopes quickly plummeted as we first found out that "the lady who deals with adoptions is off today", and then the news that our request to bring Kai into the US has not yet been approved. I tried to hold it together and stay composed, I really did. But, hearing those two things just sent me over the edge and I had a full-on breakdown right there in the CIS waiting room. I am so thankful that Joe was there and able to keep composure enough to speak with the supervisor and plead our case. We got the same story we've been hearing for the past 6 weeks- "the officer is new, having trouble getting them done, we hope to get to it in the next few weeks". We feel this is no excuse, it seems as if they have no idea that there is a real baby on the other side of the world who can't come home until they do their job. Needless to say, we left their office crushed, heart broken, devastated and hopeless. In the end, we left a message for the "adoption specialist" to call us next week with a status check (of course, we won't hear anything until Tues at the earliest since Mon is a holiday for them). We do know that our request is "on the officer's desk", but we also know it has been there for the past 6 weeks...
So, we headed home...and to a baby shower in our honor. After getting no info from CIS, I was crushed and really not feeling up to a baby shower. Luckily, we had a long drive to settle down, and thanks to the power of modern technology (cell phones), we actually made quite a few calls while driving home. By the time we reached our shower destination (LTD), we had contact information for one of our senators and placed a call to his office. We ended up leaving a message with an immigration specialist there who assured us she would inquire with CIS about our case (unfortunately she also needs to speak with the lady who was off yesterday, so we'll hear nothing from them until next week). After settling down, and beginning steps of getting local government involved, I was feeling better about the shower.
It was such a wonderful time, again blessed beyond belief by Joe's co-worker's and friends. We are truly overwhelmed by everyone's generosity and helping us prepare for our new arrival. After it was said and done, I was happy we had something fun to come home to and were surrounded by such supportive people after such a huge let-down. It was much better than if I had come home to sulk by myself.
Later in the day, I was able to speak with the head social worker for our branch office of Holt, and she was very encouraging. She said that even though we feel like our trip was a waste of time and nothing happened, something really did happen and it will bring our case to the fore-front in that office and hopefully speed things up for us.
We are still feeling very frustrated with the whole situation, but we're also feeling like we have more control if we get some local politicians involved. Or, at least we feel like we're "doing something".
We're looking forward to the weekend, relaxing, going through stuff from our shower yesterday, and perhaps a little retail therapy (with gift cards from showers- even better!!). Hope you all have a good weekend, and please continue to keep us in your prayers.
RA

Bunco Baby Shower

Last week at Bunco, the bunco babes threw me a baby shower. The bunco babes are absolutely the best, and are all so excited for our sweet baby boy to come home! I've been playing with this group of wonderful women for (I think) about 7 years now, and they've all been so supportive through our journey. It was so fun to celebrate our son with them, and they're all asking when he'll come play Bunco!! Thanks you guys- you're awesome!! (Be sure to take special note of the cake that Chris made herself- decorations and all!!) Click here to see the pictures!
RA

Party Time!!

As you can probably guess by now, we have no "adoption news" to share yet. We are still on pins and needles for our USCIS approval. Even though I am expecting through adoption (vs. pregnancy), I fully believe I am going through the same (or some) stages that occur in pregnancy. Right now, that would be nesting. I have been for a while now, but I am just really feeling the need to finish up projects and make things "homey". So, my weekend consisted of some major nesting activities yesterday, and a family birthday party at our house today.
Yesterday I spent cleaning, making a card collage for Kai's room, and working on sewing projects for Christmas. I made the card collage with ribbons from shower gifts (thanks, Kim), and cards from our showers and random baby cards from friends and family. Sorry, I cannot disclose more about the sewing projects since the recipients read this blog...
Here is a picture of my creation for Kai's room.Today, we had a birthday party for my Mom and Dad (Grandma Nancy and Grandpa Dave), our niece, Bea, and our nephew, Ryan. It was lots of fun, but we were all sad that Joanna (the kids' Mom, and our sister-in-law) was home sick. :-( (Hope you feel better soon- we're praying for you!) Here's a small slide show with pics from that event. Some of them came out dark, but were so darn cute I had to share...

At this point, I'm not planning to hear anything about out CIS approval until our appointment with them later in the week, but will definitely share when we hear something!!
RA