Still waiting

Now that July is almost over, we are sure that our referral must be very close! The suspense is absolutely killing us; but what can you do besides just take each day in stride and continue with life?? A referral this week would mean; 1) our prayers are finally answered, and 2) we'd have a picture to show off at the Holt picnic this weekend. Not holding my breath, but- it could happen! Our chances of getting our referral this week are better than they were last week! I am also anxiously awaiting Holt's Korea program August update, hoping it will give us some clue as to what's really going on (as opposed to what I see on the bulletin boards, AKA: the rumor mill).
OK, I better stop typing now because I'm starting to ramble- no thanks to a super busy day at work today! As always, thanks for stopping by- maybe next time you'll see something really exciting!! (Oh, FYI- my friend Kathy's wait is over...her daughter arrived safely back on US soil early this morning!)
RA

Our wedding day

Was 9 years ago today! Wow, how unbelievable is that? It's gone by so fast; it seems like yesterday we were just a couple kids, starting our life together and ready to take whatever it had to offer us. Little did we know what life really had in store! Despite the rough patches we've been through (mostly relating to expanding, or lack there of, our family), it's been a wonderful journey with many chances for us to grow together and learn about real life. As we look forward to what the upcoming year holds, we are excited beyond words and amazed at the miracle that we will experience.
RA

Happy Birthday, Joe!!

Just wanted to wish a very happy 30th birthday to my wonderful husband!! Hope you have a great day today, and don't work too hard!! Love you,
RA

Will this be the week??

Your guess is as good as mine!! And our answer is "We sure hope so!". As we begin our annual "week of celebration", with Joe's birthday on Tues and our wedding anniversary on Weds, we would be thrilled to get our referral this week- what a perfect gift!! (OK, we would be thrilled to get our referral at any time, but you know what I mean!) I just realized today is 10 months since our home study was sent to Korea...10 months!! That's a long time!! It's gotta happen soon...

My new identity

I am so excited that I've finally gotten my first necklace from Seoul Identity!! The character on it is Um-ma, or Mom, in Korean. And, what made it even more exciting; it was delivered, in person, by the artist who makes them! (She just happens to be my manager's sister) Amy does such beautiful work, handcrafting these custom pieces of jewelry with Korean or Chinese characters. If you have a moment, check out her website (link is on the side-bar), you won't be disappointed!
RA

A new week...

...brings with it a new sense of hope. Well, here we are, starting week 3 of July, and still waiting for "the call". The good news is that each day that passes brings us one day closer to learning more about our baby who is waiting for us in Korea. My friend and co-worker, Kathy, is also awaiting exciting news this month. Her daughter, who has been in Afghanistan since January, is expected to return home any day now!! (but she doesn't know exactly when due to security reasons) She has been my partner-in-crime at counting down the months until July. Here's to good news (soon!) for both of us, Kathy!!
RA

It's so hard to say good-bye...

Earlier this week we said good-bye to our sweet Spencer. His passing was somewhat unexpected. We found out late last week that he had a cancerous tumor in his mouth and nose, and he would not be around for much longer. His condition deteriorated quickly over the weekend. By Monday night he was miserable. We couldn't bear to see him in pain any longer, so we had to make the heart-wrenching decision to put him down. He was a part of our family for nearly 8 years, and much more than "just a dog". For those of you that knew him, you know he was just about as good as they come. He was very sweet, kind, gentle, well-mannered, and loved by all who met him. He was a wonderful big brother to Willie; way too tolerant of all his antics.
"We'll miss you big-boy!!!"
There is a tribute video below that Joe made in his memory.
RA

Spencer ~ A Good Dog

Our piece of paradise...

Is our new backyard! I have to admit, I am so impressed that my husband did all this work, almost entirely by himself! We started demo right before the marathon (end of April), then I injured my foot and wasn't able to help him. What an amazing job he did! When we found our new house last summer, we agreed the backyard needed help. It was kind of landscaped, had lawn and some beds around the edges of the yard, but had a very small patio and very little space to just enjoy. Shortly after moving in, we realized it gets the sun all afternoon long and we decided it was the perfect yard for a pool! I was a bit skeptical at first, when J proposed a yard with no lawn (I've never had this in my life!), but now I don't miss it a bit. In case you're wondering- we built a run for the dogs along side of the house and we live across the street from a very nice city park, so we have that space we can use. So far this summer we've already been enjoying our new space, and eating "al fresco" nearly every night! We can't wait to share it next summer with our little one(and we're really hoping s/he like the water!!)
Well, thanks for checking in on us. Take care.
RA

Free Hugs in KOREA

Here's what happened when they tried it in Korea, not quite the same as the US, but awesome just the same!!
RA

Free Hugs Campaign. (music by Sick Puppies album out April3)

I just love this!! Enjoy!
RA

Happy 4th of July!

Hope you are all having a safe and fun 4th of July. We've had a pretty low-key day around here. Pretty much just hanging out with friends and enjoying our new backyard. We're staying around the house this evening since the doggies don't like the fireworks. I was not able to run the Butte to Butte (annual Fourth of July road race) since I am still recovering from my marathon injury, but I did go down to the finish line to cheer for my friend Robyn (who I trained for and ran the marathon with)- Way to go Robyn!! Alright, I better get off the computer and go enjoy the rest of this beautiful day!
RA

A room for baby

So, of course, one of our "waiting for baby" projects has been the preparation of the nursery. We did the bulk of this work during the winter months (so we could be outside doing projects when the weather was nice...more on this another day). It was a little difficult to make color decisions not knowing if we were getting a boy or a girl. So, our plan is that once we know the gender, we are going to paint the dresser (bargain find from one of Joe's coworkers), the toy chest (yes, Uncle Mike, that's the one you made for me!), and the mirror frame, in a contrasting, gender specific color.

Before

During

After

The quilt you see in the photos is my first (and only!) quilt I've completed to date. We plan to use it in the nursery, either hanging on the wall or as a "rocking" blanket. The good wishes quilt will be my second quilting project!
RA

It's July!!!

It's finally July, and we couldn't be happier about it! We have been anxiously awaiting July since last August! You are probably asking yourself "What's the big deal about July??" Well, let me explain. Last summer just as we were about to have our second home study visit with our social worker, she shared some not-so-good news with us; that Korea would be changing some of their guidelines effective Jan. 2007. This change would delay our process, possibly up to 5 months!! Before the start of this year, the Korean government would release babies for international adoption basically as soon as they were born. In an effort to promote domestic adoption in Korea (which I know in my heart is a good thing), starting in Jan. 2007 they would keep the babies in Korea for 5 months before releasing them, making more infants available for Koreans to adopt domestically. What did this mean for everyone patiently waiting for their babies here? Basically it meant there would be no referrals coming from Korea of babies born in 2007 until June at the earliest. Our social worker told us we would not hear anything about our referral until at least July! Well, now it's July, so bring it on!! (By the way, today has been one of those "not-so-patiently" waiting days!).
RA

Why Korea??

Surprisingly, few people have asked this question, but probably many more have wanted to. So, I will attempt to entertain your curiosity. After making the decision to adopt (which is a huge decision in itself), we found we had many more decisions to make before we could even start the process. There are so many options: Domestic or international? Open or closed? Private, agency or independent? Then, what agency? Which lawyer? What country? If open, what degree of contact to have with the birth family? Needless to say, we felt a little overwhelmed. At this point we had told very few people of our decision (not even our family...sorry!), but we did feel international adoption was the right for us. We also knew that we wanted to adopt a healthy infant, beyond that we were clueless. We felt totally lost in this big world of adoption, and Joe confided this in a co-worker (whose husband just happens to work at Holt). Cosette and Dean (can't thank you guys enough!) invited us over for dinner just to talk about adoption. What a huge surprise when we learned they invited one of Holt's intake social workers and her husband to dinner also! She was gracious enough to give her own time, on a Saturday, and detailed each of Holt's international programs with us, giving us good points and not-so-good points of each. This helped us so much. We instantly decided that if Holt had staff this dedicated to the job, it was the agency for us. So, in the end, we decided on Korea because we fit their criteria (China was also at the top of our list, but we did not meet the age requirement), and they fit ours. The age of child at the time of travel (in 2006), was about 4-6 months; the babies are well cared for while waiting to travel- in foster care, not institutions; they are generally healthy; and most importantly, Holt has been working with Korea for over 50 years, their Korea program is very stable, something that was very important to us after going through several years of repeated miscarriage and unexplained infertility. Finally, a plan that would end in the arrival of our child!
RA

In full bloom

One of my favorite things about this time of year
is watching my garden grow daily. Yesterday this is what we came home to; this daylily opened entirely during just one day...amazing! What a great reminder of God's miracles...
For good measure, I threw in a shot of my new rose garden and patio pots, also brimming with blooms and buds. The pot just to the left of the daisies is a Rose of Sharon, which is the national flower of South Korea...can't wait to see that one in bloom!
RA

Different trips to the same place

I ran across this on an adoption board, and it's just too perfect not to share. It puts into words the feelings that are so hard to describe.

Different Trips to the Same Place Author Unknown

Deciding to have a baby is like planning a trip to Australia. You’ve heard it’s a wonderful place; you’ve read many guidebooks and feel certain that you’re ready to go. Everyone you know has traveled there by plane. They say it can be a turbulent flight with occasional rough landings, but you can look forward to being pampered on the trip. So you go to the airport and ask the ticket agent for a ticket to Australia. All around you, excited people are boarding planes for Australia. It seems there’s no seat for you; you’ll have to wait for the next flight. Impatient, but anticipating a wonderful trip, you wait---and wait---and wait. Flights to Australia continue to come and go. People say silly things like, “Relax. You’ll get on a flight soon.” Other people actually get on the plane and then cancel their trip, to which you cry, “It’s not fair!” After a long time, the ticket agent tells you, “I’m sorry, we’re not going to be able to get you on a plane to Australia. Perhaps you should think about going by boat.” “By BOAT!” you say. “Going by boat will take a very long time and it costs a great deal of money. I really had my heart set on going by plane.” So you go home and think about not going to Australia at all. You wonder if Australia will be as beautiful if you approach it by sea rather than by air. But you have long dreamed of this wonderful place, and finally you decide to travel by boat. It is a long trip, many months over many rough seas. No one pampers you. You wonder if you will ever see Australia. Meanwhile, your friends have flown back and forth to Australia two or three more times, marveling about each trip. Then one glorious day, the boat docks in Australia. It is more exquisite than you ever imagined, and the beauty is magnified by your long days at sea. You have made many wonderful friends during your voyage, and you find yourself comparing stories with others who also traveled by sea rather than by air. People continue to fly to Australia as often as they like, but you are able to travel once, perhaps twice. Some say things like, “Oh, be glad you didn’t fly. My flight was horrible; traveling by sea is so easy.” You will always wonder what it would have been like to fly to Australia. Still, you know God blessed you with a special appreciation of Australia, and the beauty of Australia is not the way you get there, but in the place itself.
RA

Good wishes quilt

It's not too late! Many of you have been asking if you can still send fabric and a wish, and the answer is "YES, YES, YES"! Thanks to everyone who has already sent them, but if you haven't, you still can! I am just starting to sew them together. If you need the info again, please email me and I'll send it to you.
RA

9 months and counting...

It's been a little over 9 months since our homestudy was sent to Korea (our adoption process started about 13 months ago). We are now waiting, sometimes patiently-sometimes not so patiently, for our referral (or assignment/match with a baby). We are hoping for the news any day, but more realistically our social worker has told us it could be another 1-2 months. So, as we continue to wait we will bring you all up to date on how we got this far, information about adoption and international adoption, and anything else we deem worthy of note. Make sure to check back often for updates!!
RA