Heading South

Only 2 more days till April. Hooray!! The agency said Andrew would arrive in April. So, we are heading down to Atlanta to visit family for the weekend. Hopefully that will make the time fly by.
We ran into our social worker at a restaurant last week. She said we should have more info by the 7th. I am still predicting a travel call on April 13th and a flight scheduled to arrive on April 20th.

Jamie arrived safely

Andrew’s foster brother, Jamie arrived safely in the US last week. Tina emailed and said he is grieving terribly for his foster family. He cries out for his Oma & Appa (Korean for mom & dad) especially at night. I’m sure it must be heart wrenching, but Tina said he is getting better as each day passes.

So I am preparing as much as one can, that Andrew will have a similar reaction. I guess in a strange way it is a good sign that he is grieving. It shows he was loved and well cared for by Mr. & Mrs. Lee. Tina said they send gifts home with Jamie. I will hope they do the same for Andrew, we will treasure them.


~Heather

Jamie

Hello Everyone!
Just wanted to give you an update.... I just got an email from Tina in Indianapolis. Her son Jamie is living with the same foster family that Andrew is. They are "foster brothers"!! The adoption agency called Tina this morning because Korea just issued Jamie's passport and he will be arriving in the US on March 17th, just 7 days from now.
So why am I telling you this???? Because Korea is very regimented in their paperwork. They told us our passport would be issued in April. So, if they keep to their typical time schedule, Andrew should arrive sometime between April 17-21. My prediction is April 20th. Of course we will just have to wait and see.
~Heather
P.S. My thoughts will be with Mrs. Lee & Andrew as Jamie departs. I'm sure they will miss him greatly.

KSS Orphanage

FAC, our adoption agency posted a video tour of the KSS orphanage on their website. You can either visit their website or use the link below to see where Andrew spent the first 4 months of his life.

It’s sad to see so many babies living there but it does look like they are well cared for.


http://facadopt.org/modules/Downloads/tourkssbb.html

Depending on your computer it may take awhile to load this video but it does eventually play.

More Pictures

Andrew Pics

Andrew & his foster mom Mrs. Lee Hae Kyung

Update Report

Hooray! 20+ new pictures of Andrew and an update report arrived in the mail today. I will try and get the pictures scanned tonight so I can post them. The report says Andrew is now 18 lbs and 27.9 inches long. He is holding his own bottle, and eating solid foods. Cheese and biscults are his favorites. He stands and walks with help. Although he is difficult to put to bed he does sleep for a solid 7 hours and takes 2 naps during the day. YEAH!!!!! Under comments they put: sucks his thumb, can be fussy. Oh Goodie! Hopefully, these information will help hold me over until he arrives. He is still scheduled to arrive in late April. We should know by early April what the exact date will be.

New Picture

The agency emailed me a new picture of Andrew yesterday. They said more pictures and an update report are coming by mail. Yeah!! He is now 10 months old and wearing the outfit we sent him.

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