Bad News

Bad news.... Andrew will not be home in March. The social worker called and Andrew did not make the March list of passport approvals. Darn Korean Goverment! Good news, I guess its good news?? Andrew will be on the April flight. I guess we must be right on the cut off line for them to be so confident that we will see him in April. Moreover, I am disappointed we will not get to celebrate his first birthday together and we will miss another month of milestones.

Baby Shower

As most of you know, probably long before I did. My family totally pulled one over on me today and threw a surprise baby shower. You got me good too, I had no idea. Looking back there were many clues but I was totally oblivious.

Thank you Angie, Mom, Dad & Matt for the great day. I really enjoyed myself and hope everyone else did too.

I am so grateful that Andrew will have so many family & friends to welcome him, and help him through the difficult transition ahead.


Love you all!
Heather

Olympics

US Olympian Toby Dawson just won a bronze medal. He was adopted from Korea when he was 3 years old.

http://www.nbcolympics.com/freestyle/5074586/detail.html

Not in February

Well, the Korean Government issued the February passports and our Andrew was not included. In January, 16 passports were issued and so far it looks like only 3 passports were issued this month. Unfortunately, no one knows the method to their madness.

I guess we will just have to be patient and wait until March to see if we make "the cut".
Sadly,
Heather

KimChi

Last night we tasted KimChi for the first time. KimChi is Korean’s best known food and is served at almost every meal. It consists of fermented cabbage, complemented by salted fish and other seasonings. Needless to say it has a unique fiery taste. One bite satisfied my desire but Matt had seconds.

Care Package

Another day has passed and still no word. I am becoming desperate for information. I am such an organized person and it’s driving me crazy not being able to plan the next 2 months. It’s like being pregnant and not having any idea what day you are due. AHHHH!!!
In an effort to keep my sanity I delivered a care package to the agency today. At least I can send Andrew a gift. Sydney picked out a bunch of little things at Marcs and colored him a picture of Blues Clues. I also included some gourmet coffee and a letter for his foster mom. I put another disposable camera in there too. I sent one back in December too hopefully, his foster mom and used it up by now.

Maybe tomorrow will bring good news….

~Heather

10 Months

Andrew turns 10 months old today! I hope we can get him home before the next one.

Rumors

Rumor has it…..

Our adoption agency has a message board for their families adopting from Korea. It is wonderful group of parents in all stages of adoption; from application to veteran families who have adopted several Korean children.

According to the board chatter, the list of babies arriving in February will be released by the end of next week. HOW EXCITING!! I am trying not to get my hopes up because we are on the bubble. There is a chance we could be included in the February arrivals but more likely the March group.

~Heather "Andrew, please be my valentine!”

Still no news

Still no news on Andrew's arrival. I suspect it won't be long now. His room is all ready but I have held off buying clothes & diapers until I see what size he is.

Last week I was feeling so guilty thinking, "what have I done", Sydney will have to share her space and our attention, etc, etc. That feeling ended quickly after her friends Ben & Nicole came over to play. Sydney spent the entire morning shouting, "mine mine". Maybe she does need a little dose of reality.

We are taking Sydney to Kalahari Waterpark later this week. It's sort of our last mini vacation with just the three of us. Plus I need a distraction from all this waiting.
COME ON PHONE RING!!!!


~Heather

Fun Day

STILL WAITING.......... this wait is beginning to test my patience. Andrew is growing up and hitting milestones without us. I wish Korea would just hurry up and get that passport issued so we can bring Andrew home.

Thankfully, today I had a distraction. I attended my friend Angel's baby shower. She is also adopting a little boy from Korea. His name is Alex and he was born April 3rd just four days before Andrew. They lived in the same orphanedge and there is a good chance they will fly home together too. Isn't that crazy!! These 2 little boys lived together in Korea; then fly around the world and end up only a 5 minute drive from each other. Small world!

To top it off! While I was enjoying the baby shower in walked my neighbor. I was thinking "what is she doing here"? Once she sat down I find out she is also adopting. They will be bringing a beautiful baby girl home from Guatemala.

What a day!

~Heather

"Wishing Andrew, Alex & Brooke a quick journey home"

Getting Ready

Today Mom, Angie and I worked on Andrew's room. After many pin pricks and actually running the sewing machine threw my finger we successfully created curtains & a bedskirt. We are using a vintage baseball theme in the room. I hope for Matt's sake Andrew likes sports! :)

I also got an exciting email today. It was from a Tina Fulkerson in Indianapolis. Apparently our son's have the same foster mother, Mrs. Lee Hae Kyung. Her son James is 15 months old and should be coming home soon. Maybe they will be on the same plane? I would love to have a picture of the boys together, since they will have a unique connection as foster brothers.


~Heather

Hospital

This week we received a letter in the mail from our adoption agency. It said: after suffering from a fever for several days, our little Andrew was admitted to the hospital. He was treated for an ear infection and possible pneumonia. They treated him with antibiotics & nebulization and when his symptoms normalized he was discharged.


~Heather

Holiday Season

Happy New Year Everyone!! We just returned from Mt. Dora, Florida where we spent the holidays with family. Sydney was overwhelmed with all the new toys, clothes, and dolls. She also got a new bike. Grandpa Bud took her for a lesson and by the end of the week she was fearless.

Andrew got a few gifts too! But, still no word on his arrival date. We hope the new year will jump start the passports. As you may know, Korea issues a set number of passports each year. In 2005 they hit that number very quickly so there is a now a back up of babies waiting to travel home. Once Korea begins issuing 2006 passports the flood gates should open and the babies should start coming home quickly.

~Heather

Update Report Picture

Andrew at 8 months old.

I love the mailman

I about broke a hip on the ice running from my mailbox to the house. Our mailman left two gifts in our mailbox today. First, we received our visa approval!!! This is a huge step towards bringing Andrew home. This visa allows him to enter the US as our immediate family member. Now the only item preventing Andrew's arrival is his Korean passport. Unfortunately, Korea implemented a passport quota which means they will only issue a set number of orphan passports per year. So we know Andrew will not be arriving in 2005 but hopefully this quota will not cause too much of a back up in 2006. Nevertheless, it is very exciting to be in the final stage!!!

Icing on the cake was the second item in the mailbox. An update report from Korea! It included new pictures and report of Andrew's progress. Our little one is now 8 months old, 18 pounds, 25 inches long. He is crawling, sitting up unsupported and sleeping from 11 pm - 6 am. He is also noted as easy going & loves fruit.

Andrew was moved from the KSS orphanedge to foster care on Aug 25th. His foster mom is Lee, Hae Kyung who has been a foster mom for 11 years.


~Heather

Happy Birthday

Today our little Andrew turned 8 months old in Korea. He should be in foster care by now so I hope his foster mom made it a special day for him.


~Heather


"Happy Birthday Andrew" Love, Mommy

A New Name

After much deliberation I think we have finally agreed on a name. Andrew David Min Lavelle. We both like Andrew, that was going to be Sydney's name had she been a boy. David is Matthew's grandpa's name. Min is his given name and what they have been calling him in Korea.

We are still waiting for the visa!


~Heather

Birth Certificate

Today we got a Lee, Min Shik's birth certificate in the mail. EXCITING!!! Of course, we couldn't read it but they sent along a translated version also.

Out of curiosity I checked the time & temperature for Seoul, Korea. Today it was sunny and 44 degrees in Seoul while it was 34 degrees in Canton, Ohio. Not much different! But they are 14 hours ahead of us.

Busy Holiday Season

Thankfully the holiday season keeps us busy. Otherwise, we would be dwelling on the fact that the government takes forever to process adoption paperwork!!! So, still no word on our visa, but I doubt we will hear anything before the new year.

In the mean time we have been working on the nursery. We decided to go with a vintage baseball theme and Matt & I hung border for the first time. Its looks straight and hasn't fallen down so I would call it a success. We also registered at Babies R Us and deliberated on baby names.

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!