Happy Birthday Joe!!! Today is dear Joe's birthday. We had a little get together last Friday night and today we hung pretty low(after work). Another year older. At least we're the same age for one month!! Happy Birthday and many more.
Referrals arrived today and it appears that the cutoff is either 1/20 or 1/22 of 2006. This is alittle better than 3 days. Its also a happy time for one family that we know. My friend from gradeschools brother had a 1/16 LID and saw their beautiful TWIN daughters for the first time today. Thats right TWINS. They are 15 months old. My mom called with the news and tears sprang to my eyes. It's weird to think that someone we know got their referral. It's starting to happen!! We felt emotions for them like I know we will feel someday for our own referral. Congratulations to all those seeing their babies. This is the best time of the month. We continue to hold out hope and carry Ava in our hearts.
MARTIN'S LITTLE DRAGON'S!!!!
6/9/08
Dragon Boat Festival
Yesterday we went to the Dragon Boat Festival in Boston. It was a hot day but we had a great time. The races were fun to watch and the entertainment was great. They had Chinese dancers and Korean drummers performing. The atmosphere was just awesome and it's hard to explain but we just felt so comfortable all day. It was funny because we saw a couple from our culture class who were expecting a referral next with their baby. We were too chicken to say hi so we admired them from afar. Their baby was adorable!!! Joe was going to try some food wrapped in seaweed but at the last minute he chickened out so we ate chinese food (like you get at a restaurant). They had alot of crafts for kids and we can't wait to bring our children here someday. It was so interesting to just soak up the culture and language. We completley enjoyed ourselves!!!
5/30/08
One year celebrating China LID May 25,2008
One year ago today we were officially logged in to China. Everyone says Wow, a year already! and we feel that way too except when we live in it day to day. This year has been hopeful, difficult, happy, and sad in the adoption world. We have seen many families see, hold, and cry over becoming a family and we have cried along with them. We know someday it will be our turn.
We celebrated today by going out to Chinese dinner and then we let one red balloon go in our backyard hoping it will make it to China. It was a bittersweet celebration but we are pleased with how we honored Ava Rose today.
When we went to get the balloon we asked for one red balloon. The lady responded "Just one" Yup, just one. Then the cashier says "Just one" Yup just one Joe proceeded to say in the parking lot "Don't worry next year we'll be back for two, then three, then four........................ Fresh is what he is Haha Geez haven't they ever had someone requesting just one red balloon before?
We celebrated today by going out to Chinese dinner and then we let one red balloon go in our backyard hoping it will make it to China. It was a bittersweet celebration but we are pleased with how we honored Ava Rose today.
When we went to get the balloon we asked for one red balloon. The lady responded "Just one" Yup, just one. Then the cashier says "Just one" Yup just one Joe proceeded to say in the parking lot "Don't worry next year we'll be back for two, then three, then four........................ Fresh is what he is Haha Geez haven't they ever had someone requesting just one red balloon before?
Korea adoption 101
We are excited about this new adventure and guarded at the same time. We thought we'd share some basics:
When our homestudy is done we add it to our dossier and then its sent to Korea and we receive our HSTK (homestudy to korea date) This begins the official wait. Joe and I have agreed to not discuss timelines, timeframes, anticipated time with anyone because of what happened before. Please respect this and know that when we hear anything we'll let you know.
Referral: Our referral will come with pictures and medical info. Most babies are in foster homes and are referred young. After accepting referral, we receive updated info.
Legals: All legal proceedings are done before we get our child in both the US and korea. This makes the time between referral and holding that baby longer than China. It could be a few to several months, but at least we have a picture to stare at and plans to make!!!!
Baby Home: We have the option to travel or to have the baby escorted. Traveling is a short trip about 5-7 days but you get to meet and spend time with the foster family who has cared for your baby for months. Escorting would be into Boston or New York.
Babies are young at time of referral 6-12 months and are very healthy. Whether its a boy or girl will be a total surprise!!!!!!
When our homestudy is done we add it to our dossier and then its sent to Korea and we receive our HSTK (homestudy to korea date) This begins the official wait. Joe and I have agreed to not discuss timelines, timeframes, anticipated time with anyone because of what happened before. Please respect this and know that when we hear anything we'll let you know.
Referral: Our referral will come with pictures and medical info. Most babies are in foster homes and are referred young. After accepting referral, we receive updated info.
Legals: All legal proceedings are done before we get our child in both the US and korea. This makes the time between referral and holding that baby longer than China. It could be a few to several months, but at least we have a picture to stare at and plans to make!!!!
Baby Home: We have the option to travel or to have the baby escorted. Traveling is a short trip about 5-7 days but you get to meet and spend time with the foster family who has cared for your baby for months. Escorting would be into Boston or New York.
Babies are young at time of referral 6-12 months and are very healthy. Whether its a boy or girl will be a total surprise!!!!!!
Florida
May 17-24 we went to Florida. We committed to going there to relax and thats what we did. We didn't talk about adoption stuff at all and I felt great. We laid on the beach, by the pool, and went to a Polynesian show and to butterfly world. All in all we had a great time. Much needed and well deserved.
When we returned we picked up our book we ordered before we left and have begun our required readings. The book is a wealth of info and now I actually can't put it down. We're glad we were recommended to read it.
Our references were mailed, my physical form mailed(Joe's is scheduled for 6/24) and I think thats the only thing we need now. Then our social worker will probably do a homevisit and ask a million more questions. We're looking forward to a busy month.
When we returned we picked up our book we ordered before we left and have begun our required readings. The book is a wealth of info and now I actually can't put it down. We're glad we were recommended to read it.
Our references were mailed, my physical form mailed(Joe's is scheduled for 6/24) and I think thats the only thing we need now. Then our social worker will probably do a homevisit and ask a million more questions. We're looking forward to a busy month.
1st homestudy meeting May 15th
Today was our first homestudy meeting with our new social worker to begin the process to adopt our little bundle from Korea. She had our original homestudy which she had highlighted but had many more questions. We were there for 3 hours with question after question being fired at us. It sort of felt alittle like an interegation..the room was hot, the questions came one after another, and our palms were sweating. It's definately more nervewracking than China and we felt so disconnected. Maybe because we've answered this before, maybe because we're tired of proving ourselves, or maybe because our hearts are so guarded from this past year its hard. We made it very clear we want this to move fast and we are committed to doing whatever to bring our baby home.
Because we started our China adoption pre Hague we didn't have to do any courses or number of hours before. Guess what, we have to do them now. We have assigned reading, online courses, and two seminars at the agency to go to. This is all great education and we're happy to learn about things like attachment and stuff but all this needs to be done before she can write the homestudy. We know each delay can push you further back in line. Oh well, we signed up for a seminar on 6/16 about medical records with a person from the adoption clinic in Boston. It will be nice to be able to put a face to a name of someone there due to the fact that we'll be visiting there hopefully twice. We also signed up for a required group 6/24 run by our social worker. Now we work on getting criminal checked again(they're going to wonder who in the world we are the FBI), letters of reference and on and on. Let the document gathering begin. It's alittle easier this time because we have alot of the documents already.
Because we started our China adoption pre Hague we didn't have to do any courses or number of hours before. Guess what, we have to do them now. We have assigned reading, online courses, and two seminars at the agency to go to. This is all great education and we're happy to learn about things like attachment and stuff but all this needs to be done before she can write the homestudy. We know each delay can push you further back in line. Oh well, we signed up for a seminar on 6/16 about medical records with a person from the adoption clinic in Boston. It will be nice to be able to put a face to a name of someone there due to the fact that we'll be visiting there hopefully twice. We also signed up for a required group 6/24 run by our social worker. Now we work on getting criminal checked again(they're going to wonder who in the world we are the FBI), letters of reference and on and on. Let the document gathering begin. It's alittle easier this time because we have alot of the documents already.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)