Off to Immigration

Today we received a copy of the letter the state Department of Health and Family Services sent to the immigration office in Milwaukee along with Natalie's legal documents. We are thrilled. So far, the paperwork is moving along very well. Our social worker has estimated that immigration is taking about 4-6 weeks to approve the visa, which puts us at the end of July or the beginning of August. From there, the Korean adoption agency needs to have Natalie's passport and once it has been issued, get the visa from the US Embassy in Seoul, and then we should get the call. All we have heard about that step is that it is "very slow" but we have no idea what that means at this point. I'm afraid to speculate as to when we could possibly travel, because really, we won't know until we get the call and our social worker is still saying end of September, but I'm thinking that I will make a more concerted effort to make progress on completing items on the "things to do before Natalie comes home" list. But this is a wonderful situation to be in.

Legal Documents

Our social worker called today to say that Natalie's legal documents have arrived from Korea and she was hand delivering them to WI Department of Health and Family Services this afternoon!! Yeah! One step closer. DHFS reviews the documents, makes sure that everything checks out with state law, and then passes everything along to US Immigration in Milwaukee for Natalie's visa. Paul and I were estimating that it would take a month for the legals to arrive, but here we are, just under 3 weeks later with the legals. Hopefully the rest of the paperwork process will move as quickly, but we aren't assuming that will be the case. It is a balance of expectations and readiness. We want to be ready early enough so that when the call comes to travel, we can just go. But we don't want to be too optomistic either in terms of handling the wait. Regardless, this is great news and we are very excited that the legals have arrived already and we have moved one step closer to bringing Natalie home. Yeah!!

Making lists

I find it interesting what I focus on at different points during this process. I am a planner by nature and I love making lists and organizing, so getting ready for a baby is overall an enjoyable process for me. But sometimes I surprise myself about the order in which I tackle things. Currently, I am obsessed with what to pack for Korea. People in Seoul dress very well - it is a modern city with lots of people who all look very nice. While I require very comfortable walking shoes, sneakers are not going to cut it in Seoul. This was confirmed for me last week when we recieved a packet of information from our international adoption agency, AIAA, about traveling to Korea. It seems like a silly thing to think about in some ways, but since it will be obvious that we aren't natives just by looking at us, we want to be as respectful as possible about any cultural differences. Our last visit, we brought nice casual and comfortable clothes, but apparently our midwestern roots were showing, because we were a little underdressed. So, I am thinking about clothes and shoes, making lists of things we will need in Korea and what to bring for Natalie. Once we get the travel call, we will just want to pack and go, so I'm hoping these lists will make sure we won't forget anything important! This is my version of packing my bag for the hospital...only for a longer stay. We just can't believe we are returning to Korea and will be meeting our daughter and bringing her home in just a few months. Wow.

One month later and a big boy bed

It has been one month since we learned about Natalie. On this Father's Day weekend, we are feeling pretty good; we are very excited about returning to Korea but are enjoying our summer here with Andrew. There are a number of changes in store for him and we had one this weekend - we moved Andrew out of his crib and into a twin bed on Friday night. He was ready for the change - he hasn't been in a crib at daycare for a year and he loves laying on our bed and the couch and has enjoyed being able to get onto his bed whenever he likes (and out too...but that is improving). It was a little sad to make the switch, but we wanted there to be enough time between this transition and Natalie's arrival (and use of the crib). And with the twin bed out of Natalie's room and into Andrew's room, we were able to move the furniture around a bit in Natalie's room, pulled some things out of the closet, and are little by little making it into her space. We still have a ways to go, but I'm having a great time planning and organizing!


Paul and I had dinner last week with our Korean adoption group (we are all in the process of adopting from Korea, many of us for the second time) and really enjoyed talking about traveling to Korea, what to see or do while we are there, experiences with our children's foster parents, and what baby food to pack for a 9-month old since American baby food is different from what Natalie most likely will be eating. Even though this is our second trip to Korea, I found that I had a number of questions (not that many of my friends would be surprised about that). Natalie's legal documents haven't arrived yet, so we still have a number of months to go, but right now we are enjoying the process of getting ready and anticipating having Natalie home with us.

6 months old

I've been thinking of Natalie a lot today because she is 6 months old today. We know, from our experience with Andrew, that as soon as she is in our arms, it doesn't matter that we weren't with her on her 6th month birthday - we'll be there with her for birthdays and celebrations to come. But here and now, I'm thinking of my daughter and hope that this week she will receive the pictures that we sent her and see us like we are seeing her.