Happy New Years (Eve)! I can't believe tomorrow is the first day of 2009, the year that, as my friend Char's dad would say, 'the good Lord willing and the creek don't rise', Jon and I will become parents!
It's been an interesting Christmas holiday for Jon and I. On the 23rd we were sitting at home relaxing when all of the sudden our Carbon Monoxide detector started going off. Of course, I freaked out a little, while Jon called our dad's to see what they suggested we do. Long story short, we had to leave our house for a few days, and Jon's Christmas present to me was a new furnace, and mine to him was central air (which we didn't have before). Needless to say we are SO thankful that we had those detectors, while the levels weren't lethal to us, who knows what could have happened to the dog, or if we had been exposed for a long period of time!
So, with 2009, we are hoping our luck will change, at least that is what my fortune cookie said last week! This weekend my parents came over and my dad and Jon figured out some renovations that we will be doing upstairs to get ready for this baby! Just think, somewhere in Korea right now, a women we don't know is carrying a baby that she will eventually give up for adoption and he or she will become ours! It gives me chills!
HAPPY NEW YEARS EVERYBODY!
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Five Months and Counting!
Well, as of today we have been 'officially' waiting for 5 months for our baby. Depending on a variety of things, we could be at the half-way point of waiting for our referral. We were told 10-18 months for our referral to come through. Right now, on the BCS discussion boards, most families have been waiting 12-13 months to get theirs.
Jon and I will be taking the next month to get 3 different Grant applications together. Some of them require letters of reference from our friends and family, some require copies of our taxes, and all require written letters from us explaining why we are adopting, and why we need help financially with the adoption. We are not banking on getting any of these grants as it seems everyone is struggling right now, but we are hoping (and praying) that something comes our way to take a bit of the burden of our loan payment off of us.
Just think, some woman is walking around South Korea right now pregnant with who will become our Son or Daughter! Isn't that crazy! We just keep praying that she takes care of herself and the baby, and that she knows how much we will love the little one that she is giving up. The more and more I read about the experience of the birthmothers in the adoption process, the more I realize how much of a gift adoption truly is. I can't wait, WE can't wait, to "unwrap" our Korean gift!
Happy Holidays!
Kelly and Jon
Jon and I will be taking the next month to get 3 different Grant applications together. Some of them require letters of reference from our friends and family, some require copies of our taxes, and all require written letters from us explaining why we are adopting, and why we need help financially with the adoption. We are not banking on getting any of these grants as it seems everyone is struggling right now, but we are hoping (and praying) that something comes our way to take a bit of the burden of our loan payment off of us.
Just think, some woman is walking around South Korea right now pregnant with who will become our Son or Daughter! Isn't that crazy! We just keep praying that she takes care of herself and the baby, and that she knows how much we will love the little one that she is giving up. The more and more I read about the experience of the birthmothers in the adoption process, the more I realize how much of a gift adoption truly is. I can't wait, WE can't wait, to "unwrap" our Korean gift!
Happy Holidays!
Kelly and Jon
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Service Plan? No we want a baby, not a car!!
Yes, we just signed our updated Service Plan. Before we started this process, I would have thought that only cars and electronics came with a Service Plan. Little did I know that we would have to have one to adopt a baby. Every 3 months after our homestudy completion we re-sign a Service Plan which basically states what Bethany will do for us, and what we have done in our preparation for the adoption.
If you would like to check out the information that gets posted about Korean adoption every few weeks by Bethany Christian Services, go to their Blog at: http://www.bethany.org/blogs/koreablog.nsf
To see the whole process of adopting from South Korea, check this out on the BCS site:http://www.bethany.org/A55798/bethanyWWW.nsf/c79edbd86c517a1d852569c800702556/47fcebe05b9710da85256cf2000b6e14?OpenDocument
DID YOU KNOW? November is National Adoption Month
If you would like to check out the information that gets posted about Korean adoption every few weeks by Bethany Christian Services, go to their Blog at: http://www.bethany.org/blogs/koreablog.nsf
To see the whole process of adopting from South Korea, check this out on the BCS site:http://www.bethany.org/A55798/bethanyWWW.nsf/c79edbd86c517a1d852569c800702556/47fcebe05b9710da85256cf2000b6e14?OpenDocument
DID YOU KNOW? November is National Adoption Month
Thursday, October 30, 2008
A Little History
So, let's go back in time a bit. On April 24, 2008 Jon and I went to a meeting at Bethany Christian Services called Discover Adoption. We went just to get a little info. We were both kinda' familiar with the process since Jon's parents had adopted his sisters from South Korea, but wanted to go see what they had to say. Well, an hour and a half later I think we both felt like moving forward with our thoughts of adoption was the right thing for us.
The next week we filled out our preliminary application and on May 1, 2007 we found out that we had been pre-approved to adopt from either China or Korea. At first I was leaning more towards China. We thought it would be the less expensive option (which we struggled with saying out loud, we didn't want to sound like we were looking for a 'bargain basement adoption'), but Jon's heart was really with the Korea Program. We were able to fill out the Formal Application without deciding which country we were going to go with, and little did we know, fate would have a hand in our final decision!
On Friday, May 30th, Jon and I went to the Bethany Christian Services office in Muskegon to meet Ann, our adoption worker for the first time. It was a little like going on a first date, we were nervous, and really wanted her to like us, as she did have part of our future in her hands!! While we were meeting she confirmed that we were applying for adoption from China. I immediately said yes, but Jon hesitated and explained that we would still like to keep Korea an option. Well, it turns out that a family had dropped out of the Korea Program that day, and there was a chance that we would get their "spot" if no other families were in front of us. We would later find out that the Muskegon Bethany office only can allow 5 families a year to apply for adoption from Korea. We went on with our meeting, and left with Ann looking into whether or not we could go with South Korea.
The next Tuesday we heard back from Ann...we were in! We both were so excited, not only will we have our baby sooner, but they will be cared for in a loving foster home as opposed to an orphanage. At that point we set up the rest of our homestudy appointments and before we knew it, we were ready to send our first paperwork to Korea!
On July 15, 2008, our homestudy was officially "approved" by the adoption agency and ready to be sent to South Korea to be processed. At that point, we started our paperwork on the U.S. side. We sent out our I-600A To Immigration, that is our Application for Advanced Processing of an Orphan. Basically, it is the form the US government reviews to make sure we will be able to support the child we are trying to adopt. It requires a VERY thorough background check and special fingerprinting at an office in Grand Rapids. On Aug. 28th we went for our fingerprints, and on Sept. 24th our application was approved. Now, we wait. No more extensive paperwork until we receive our referral, just updates every 3 months from Bethany.
So, that is basically where we are now. Now we wait. Hopefully this time next year we will be busy bees getting ready for our baby to come home!
The next week we filled out our preliminary application and on May 1, 2007 we found out that we had been pre-approved to adopt from either China or Korea. At first I was leaning more towards China. We thought it would be the less expensive option (which we struggled with saying out loud, we didn't want to sound like we were looking for a 'bargain basement adoption'), but Jon's heart was really with the Korea Program. We were able to fill out the Formal Application without deciding which country we were going to go with, and little did we know, fate would have a hand in our final decision!
On Friday, May 30th, Jon and I went to the Bethany Christian Services office in Muskegon to meet Ann, our adoption worker for the first time. It was a little like going on a first date, we were nervous, and really wanted her to like us, as she did have part of our future in her hands!! While we were meeting she confirmed that we were applying for adoption from China. I immediately said yes, but Jon hesitated and explained that we would still like to keep Korea an option. Well, it turns out that a family had dropped out of the Korea Program that day, and there was a chance that we would get their "spot" if no other families were in front of us. We would later find out that the Muskegon Bethany office only can allow 5 families a year to apply for adoption from Korea. We went on with our meeting, and left with Ann looking into whether or not we could go with South Korea.
The next Tuesday we heard back from Ann...we were in! We both were so excited, not only will we have our baby sooner, but they will be cared for in a loving foster home as opposed to an orphanage. At that point we set up the rest of our homestudy appointments and before we knew it, we were ready to send our first paperwork to Korea!
On July 15, 2008, our homestudy was officially "approved" by the adoption agency and ready to be sent to South Korea to be processed. At that point, we started our paperwork on the U.S. side. We sent out our I-600A To Immigration, that is our Application for Advanced Processing of an Orphan. Basically, it is the form the US government reviews to make sure we will be able to support the child we are trying to adopt. It requires a VERY thorough background check and special fingerprinting at an office in Grand Rapids. On Aug. 28th we went for our fingerprints, and on Sept. 24th our application was approved. Now, we wait. No more extensive paperwork until we receive our referral, just updates every 3 months from Bethany.
So, that is basically where we are now. Now we wait. Hopefully this time next year we will be busy bees getting ready for our baby to come home!
Friday, October 24, 2008
My first time bloggin'
Hello everyone! As you know by now, especially after reading the name of our blog, we are adoptiong. What you may not know are all of the details, that is what I decided to create this blog for. Over the next week or so, I will be posting about our journey up to this point, and then will post updates moving forward. With adoption there are many times that we will go months without hearing anything, but we are constantly doing research and will post about all of the interesting things we are discovering about South Korea, adoption and anything else. Thanks for supporting us in this amazing journey!
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