Jadens Journey

It’s been quite some time since I’ve written anything… and there’s probably no one following us now, but here I am anyway.

The end of the semester is winding down now, I finished the tedium of putting together the final exams for my students today and submitted them to the copy center. Now it’s a matter of picking up the exams, administering them on Tuesday, and then grading (and grading, and grading…). Lately I have been the most disorganized (unorganized? anyone?) person on earth so I’m sure it is going to take me at least a week to gather all the little scraps of paper on which I’ve jotted down my notes on who deserves an A from Santa this year and who deserves a C (or worse). Grades are not due until after Christmas (thank goodness for little miracles) so I have a chance to take a deep breath and….

do all my Christmas shopping!! Yes, folks, I have not even started. Here we are, 13 days until Christmas, and I don’t have one person finished. I just started last week because my mom wanted to check out a local fair they were having while she visited here. I found a couple of nice gifts for Jaden’s teachers at his day care center, and maybe a couple of things for some family, but that’s about all I have done. This, unfortunately, is the usual story for me. I get caught up in the end of the semester and don’t start making my shopping list until after finals.

The more I think about it the more I realize that I’m basically caught up in a tornado from the start of the semester until the end of the semester, and I’m very thankful for those little “breaks” in between that allow me to do things like brush my teeth without simultaneously trying to remember if I already photocopied the handouts for class later the same day.

As for Jaden – he is doing TERRIFIC. He’s really come a long way in the last couple of months. He enjoys going to his ’school’ three days a week. Sometimes he does give me a hard time about leaving, but on other days he goes straight to Miss “coco” and happily waves to me while he says “bye-bye” in his hilariously cute, toddler-phase, word approximation style accent. He must know close to 100 American Sign Language (ASL) signs (I’ve lost count)— believe it or not. I stopped having to teach him new signs — he actually teaches us signs now! His ASL-fluent teacher at school signs as she talks, so he picks up signs up from her and then comes home assuming we’ll know what he’s ‘talking’ about when he repeats the sign. It took us weeks to figure out that he was signing train, and another for helicopter. He kept giving us an evil stare when we showed we obviously didn’t know what he was talking about – it was as if he was thinking “YOU taught ME this language, why are you feigning ignorance?!”

We’ve been working weekly with early intervention on Jaden’s verbal skills. He’s coming along – he has approximately 20 word approximations now. Things like mama, dada, papa (grandpa) and bye-bye are really clear now. Today he said water and I couldn’t believe how much better it sounds than it did just a week ago. I have a feeling he’s going to start rattling off words as he rattles off signs. The funny part is that the words he speaks are also signs he knows — he’ll sign at the same time he says the word, so I still think, although it has taken him a while to speak, the signing was a godsend. Without it I’m sure we’d be having (many more) temper tantrums out of frustration. He’s been able to communicate with us really well with the signing even though the words are coming more slowly.

Interestingly, the word approximations he started with are less likely to be word approximations a child born in the U.S. would start with — for example he learned the sound of g’s and k’s first, which are usually later in an English speaking child’s language development (according to the literature early intervention gave me). My theory is that because Jaden spent 9 months listening to Korean, his tongue was learning to form Korean language sounds, and those were the first sounds he started babbling. Although, now that he is learning more and more, his language development is starting to appear more closely related to an English speaking child’s language development.

I have to wonder how our little nephew who is expected on 12/24 will fare with language development. My brother and his wife are going to bring him up bilingual. My sister-in-law will only speak Portuguese in the house, and my brother will only speak English (at least that’s the last they mentioned to us) — so it’ll be interesting to watch their son develop from that perspective. We are all SO excited about the new addition to our family – and of course the grandparents are nearly bursting with joy. Two years ago it seemed they’d never have grandkids, and here we are, with my brother and his wife expecting the 2nd (grandchild).

As for us, we always wanted two children, but I’ve been dragging my feet about putting in another adoption application. It was such a long wait for Jaden, and such a stressful process with Vietnam closing and not knowing what was going to happen with our application, etc, etc… so I think that’s what has me procrastinating. I also can’t imagine how I’ll get all the paperwork and running around done now that I have a toddler at home. It was hard enough to do it while it was just me and Neville. Plus I worry about our ages. Oy. Maybe I just need to have faith, and go with the flow. So I should just fill out the darn paperwork and leave it in our Creator’s hands, right?

We took this picture on Thanksgiving day before heading to my in-laws:

Everything else, Pictures Adoption, finals, grandkids, Korea, picture, rambling, school

…is settling in. We are still having some sleep issues, but we checked the Korean adoption message boards and it seems to be a common issue. Jaden will go to sleep for a couple of hours at a time, but no more. We transitioned him pretty easily from our bed (for the time we were in Korea, and the first few nights at home) to the pack-n-play by getting him to take his naps in the pack-n-play (thank you, Grandma!)… so now we have the pack-n-play in our room at night. He goes to sleep there, but wakes up frequently looking for us. If he doesn’t see us fairly readily, he goes into a panic. He has had night terrors a few times – where he (seems to wake up and) starts screaming, but he’s not really awake, which makes it harder to calm him because he won’t open his eyes. Luckily this has only happened twice – it is very scary when it does.

There are so many things going on, so we’re really just guessing at the reasons. He’s teething, so that could be waking him up. We all had jet lag, so maybe that’s it. The nights and days in Korea are opposite what we have here because of the time difference, so that might have something to do with it. He’s had some stomach problems in the past few days, so maybe that’s it. Then again, maybe he’s just being a normal 9 month old and waking up regularly during the night like he’s supposed to. It is hard to tell.

Then again, much of the information I’ve read on other blogs and adoption lists indicates that most Korean families co-sleep (meaning the babies sleep with the parents until they’re ready to sleep in their own room). I’m not 100% sure this is true – but if that’s the case then it could also explain a lot. Our paperwork from the agency says that Jaden would fall asleep with the foster-father, or the foster-mother – so we think that he may have had someone in the room with him at all times. The papers never said whether they would leave him to sleep solo after he fell asleep. I doubt it. He really does seem to need someone there at night when he wakes up, or he gets panicky.

The sleep issues have taken its toll on us – and especially me – I am now sick. I started antibiotics today so hopefully by tomorrow I’ll feel much better. I am really hoping Jaden doesn’t get sick too. I’m sure it won’t help him get into a regular sleep pattern if he does!

Other than that, things are going really, really well. When Jaden came to us he was pretty much on 100% formula. They gave us 2 cans of his formula, which is supposed to last about 3 weeks, but Jaden was going through it much more quickly. We introduced some stage 2 baby foods (which also helped him sleep) so now he’s down to 30 oz or less of formula a day. Our terrific sources (thank you Krissy, Jodi, and Aunt Terry!!) tell us that is closer to the ‘norm.’ He love sweet potatoes and squash, but oddly he hates rice cereal. I say it is odd because the one thing they gave him in Korea (aside from formula) was seaweed soup with a little ‘very soft rice’ in it. Unfortunately Gerber doesn’t make seaweed soup, and I am clueless. So we’re doing oatmeal.

We ended up at the doctor’s office thinking he had an ear infection because of the way he was pulling on his ears – like he wanted to yank them off. No infection. Just a strange affinity to pulling on his ears. We’re thinking maybe the teething is the culprit.

He gained some weight since we picked him up – he was 22 lbs 9 oz (with potentially wet diaper on) at the docs office yesterday. The doctor assured us this was okay – he said it is hard to overfeed or underfeed a baby – just follow his cues. So we just feed him until he doesn’t want any more. He recognizes the word ‘more’ – if you say ‘more’ while feeding him he opens his mouth for the spoon as long as he’s still hungry. It’s pretty funny. Then again maybe it’s just that I’m his mommy that I find it adorable.

I could go on… but I’ll save it for another day. I have to go check on hubby to see how it is going getting the little one to sleep.

Before I go – I wanted to thank you for all the comments – I wish I could answer everyone individually but if I started that now, I’d never finish, nor would I be able to blog ever again. Well, at least not for a few years, anyway. I do read every comment, and appreciate all the advice, and also that you’re enjoying the pictures!

About Jaden's Journey co-sleep, Korea, sleep deprivation

Today was the day!!! Of course I couldn’t sleep all night – I don’t know why I tried! I tossed and turned, anxious about our big day, until it was time to get up to get ready to go. When I got up I discovered grandma and grandpa did the same thing. So we were all very, very tired today.

At 9:10 a.m. we met the social worker at the children’s hospital and she took us to the foster family’s home. It was about an hour drive from where we were staying in Seoul. We met Jaden’s foster mother and foster brother, and of course, Jaden. It was a very emotionally exhausting day. We were warned by the agency that Wednesday – the day we pick Jaden up at the hopsital –  would be the day for emotions, so I’m not sure we were fully prepared for the level of emotions today.

There are new pictures posted to the “First visit” tab. Jaden is more adorable than ever! He is definitely well taken care of – he is a little roly-poly. He has such big hands and a big smile to go with them. He loves to put his feet in his mouth. He is on a very regular sleeping and eating schedule, and unfortunately we were visiting right in the middle of nap time, but he handled it like a champ. 

His foster mom gave us a hanbok, which is traditional dress for special occasions. The first birthday of a Korean child is a very special occasion, so we will dress him in his handbok for his birthday and hopefully we will have the foster family’s address to send them pictures. 

His foster brother and foster mom were very sad. It is the first time they had a foster child and they have grown very attached to Jaden. The foster mom said that she is very sad that he will be leaving but she is also happy that he will be our son. It made me so sad for them, but it really was wonderful to see how much they love him, and how well he was cared for while living with them.

The social worker spent some time asking the foster mom a ton of questions about Jaden so that she could put a report together to give us on Wednesday when we pick him up – what he is eating, how much he sleeps and when, what he likes to do, etc. We didn’t get a new weight or height yet, but we will get that on Wednesday. I have a feeling he’ll be well into 12 month clothes by now! The agency told us that “Korean babies are fed well” and we see the proof of that in Jaden’s adorable cheeks and his heart-warming smile.

After we left the foster family’s home and made our way back to the Guesthouse, we were able to go to see the children’s reception home, which is in the same building as the Guesthouse. The social worker took us in to see where the babies are cared for until they are around 4-5 months old and a foster family is identified. It is where Jaden spent the first 5 months of his life. There were so many babies – all so tiny – and all crying for their bottles and to be held. I was surprised at how many babies were in the reception home. 

After that, we went to our room and just about crashed. We later met up with my colleague who is originally from Korea, and is now spending 6 months in Korea, teaching here at a university on a grant. His hospitality was indicative of his Korean heritage. He took us to a palace in the northern section of Seoul, where the last king lived. It is close to the president’s “Blue House.” The intricate paint work on the palace was incredible. We have many pictures to share, and once we get a chance to load them in we’ll include them here.

We went to another traditional Korean restaurant for dinner – this time a popular one for the locals. We learned that kimchi is actually a generic name for fermented food and it doesn’t have to be spicy. Sometimes it is not spicy at all (which made Dad very happy)!

We are ready to crash, and they are starting a game of bananagrams which I can’t miss due to my bananagram addiction (I think I need BAA- LOL), so I’m signing off for now. I guess it is Monday morning there…..have a great week!!!

About Jaden's Journey first visit, foster family, Jaden, kimchi, Korea, Pictures

It is 6:45 a.m. on Monday morning September 29th in Korea and I have been awake since 5:00 a.m., yet yesterday we were completely wiped out by 6:00 p.m.–I guess this is jet lag at its best.

Yesterday we were fortunate to have a tour of Seoul and experience a variety of traditional Korean foods. Neville’s colleague’s brother-in-law, Mr. Lee, picked us up around 1:00 and first took us to “Korean Restaurant Chil-Ryang.” There we met his two adorable daughters and his beautiful wife. His daughters are ages 9 and 10 in Korean years, which is ages 8 and 9 in U.S. years (in Korea you are considered a year old the day you are born). They were all so friendly and hospitable even though we had met him only on Saturday when he picked us up from the aiport. They made us feel like we were old friends reuniting after many years. They presented both Neville and I, and Mom and Dad with pottery; two exquisite, handmade cups. It is something we will cherish from our visit, and I am sure Jaden will too as it serves as a remembrance of our trip to Seoul to pick him up.

Mr. Lee’s daughters go to International School and spent 4 years in Canada, so their English is excellent. There were no communication problems whatsoever, and we managed to learn a lot about the Korean culture, foods, and lifestyle. Unfortunately I cannot tell you everything we ate since all the names were Korean, and for we American’s it is difficult to remember all of the syllables -(I’m still trying to get ‘please,’ Pu-di, and ‘thank you,’ kam-sa-ham-ni-da, down pat) – but I can tell you we had two types of kimchi. One was soup-style and the other was traditional kimchi. It was very, very delicious and very, very SPICY.

The restaurant’s brochure says “Traditional Korean Formal Cuisine with Celadon and Dishes.” The restaurant is also a ‘pottery restaurant’, selling master pottery pieces of Mr. Chung, Yoon-Seok and his son Young-Kyun. From the brochure: “The meisters are handy crafting potteries with natural enamel by Traditional way in Chilryang-Myun, Kangjin-Kun located in Southern peninsula.” They ferment all the different types of food in the pottery, which “develops a rich and deep taste.” There was some gorgeous pottery there, and we were able to take pictures of the pieces in our private dinner room.

Speaking of pictures… we took most of the pictures yesterday with Dad’s camera, and didn’t realize until we returned to the room last night that he does not have a cord to download the pictures to the computer. This afternoon our job is to find the subway, take it to the CO-EX mall, and try to find a cord. In the meantime the rest of the pictures we will take with my camera since I have the connector. We’ll post the pics from yesterday as soon as we can find the connector.

Our experience yesterday did not end with lunch (which consisted of so much food it really turned out to be like an early dinner). After we ate, our hosts took us to the north side of the River Han. We drove past the President’s house, which is known as the ‘blue house’ because of the blue roof. We weren’t able to stop there because there is no parking, and there was so much traffic in the area that we would have had to walk miles from where we finally found a parking spot. We did get to go to the Insadong shopping area, which consists of tons of shops, restaurants, tea houses and coffee houses. It is famous for its antiques, travel clothing, art galleries, and Koryeo Celandon pottery. We could not believe the sheer volume of people there, both in the local area and walking throughout the Insadong shops.

Mr. Lee also took us to a tea house to have some traditional Korean tea. It was outstanding. I want to go back for more. I may get the chance- we hope to get to the Insadong area again before we go home since there were so many great shops to buy souvenirs, and we’d really like to pick up some items to have for Jaden as he gets older, until we can plan another trip back to his home country.

It seems no one slept well last night. Either it was the jet-lag, or the excitement over going to visit Jaden’s foster home this morning. We have a 9:10 a.m. appointment with the social worker at SWS. I best get ready before they all leave without me. I hope to have time for another update later today (Monday morning in NY) with pictures of our visit to the foster home.

About Jaden's Journey Celadonl, Chil-Ryang, Insadong, kimchi, Korea, Korean restaurant, Korean tea house, pottery, Seoul, shopping

Every once in a while the excitement just bubbles up inside me and makes me want to jump up and down yelling “We’re going to Seoul!!!!! We’re finally picking up our son!!!!!”

Last night Neville and I realized it was our last weekend as a ‘dual income no kids yet’ couple.  It was during one of those “overwhelming excitement” moments.  We’re moving on to a new phase in our lives – one we have waited and waited for – one that we’re so happy to be entering. It is almost hard to believe. Yet, here we are!

We confirmed our flights and started making our packing list. Yesterday I spent a few hours with Mom’s and Dad’s help decorating the nursery. It looks so adorable – I’ll post pictures soon. There’s a lot to get done this week – we have to pick up the loaner crib (our furniture is not in yet) and set up a makeshift changing table for the time being. I need to figure out how to operate a car seat and a jogging stroller. We are completely in the dark about what they are feeding Jaden right now – we’ll find that out when we visit the foster family’s home next week, so there’s really no planning for that at the moment. We don’t even have an update on how big he is so we’re guessing based on the last medical exam we have information for, which was in May. Our SW tells us that they “feed babies a lot in Korea” so since he’s about 8.5 months now, we should be prepared to put him in 12 month clothes! 

The baby shower could not have happened at a better time. We made a list of everything we need to get this week at BRU to be completely set up for bringing Jaden home – it is a short list. We realized that after thinking for so long that we were adopting from Vietnam (where the babies tend to be about 2 months younger but much smaller) that Jaden’s closet is full of clothes for 3-6 and 6-9 months. We received many shower gifts that were sizes 12 months and up – so that’ll help a lot – but we have to do some clothes shopping this week too (poor me – how I hate to shop for baby clothes -jk -LOL).

Our plan is to arrive in Seoul on Saturday, tour the city Saturday and Sunday, visit the foster home on Monday to meet the foster family and Jaden, tour the city on Monday afternoon and Tuesday, then meet the foster family on Wednesday to take Jaden back to the hotel with us. 

It turns out that Neville’s new associate at work is from Korea, and his family has asked to meet us while we’re there. I just found out last week that I have a colleague that is teaching there for the semester – he is also from Korea – and he has offered to meet us at the airport and show us around Seoul. It is uncanny how these things come together.

We were lucky enough to get the two bedroom unit at the agency’s guesthouse. It is quite a lot less expensive than a hotel in the same area – so we’ll have plenty of Korean won left to spoil Jaden with. LOL 

We are jumping up and down inside, and nervous at the same time. It’s the first time we’re taking a 14 hour flight, no less to pick up our first child! We’ll be flying back 14 hours with an infant – which would probably be a challenge for any first time parent. (Heck, flying 14 hours is going to be a challenge for me!)

I don’t have the details worked out yet as to whether or not we’ll have regular access to the internet, but I’ll try to keep posting while we’re there, and adding pictures to the blog. I realized last week that there is a way to do as slideshow directly in the blog- if I can figure out how to post one I’ll do that rather than add in the snapfish links. It might be easier on your end to just flip through a slideshow.

Thank you everyone for all your support and the wonderful, heartwarming comments and emails. It is so great to hear from all of you and to know that you are following us through this unbelievably exciting, life-changing journey.

About Jaden's Journey Adoption, Korea, Seoul, travel

Greetings everyone. I am on day – - oh, heck, I have no idea – - I lost count. I just know that if the phone keeps ringing and it’s not the agency telling us that we can travel as soon as we can pack, get plane tickets, and get to the airport to head on our way to Korea…. I’m going to end up having heart failure. I have never, ever spent so much time staring at caller-id before in my life. 

So I took another look today at the I171H approval and it seems that CIS received the I600 on July 22nd, but didn’t approve it until August 7th. Somehow I had myself believing that it was approved on July 22nd (wishful thinking!) – so my calculations are slightly off. That means that this Thursday will be 3 weeks since the approval, and according to the agency if we fit into the ‘average’ category we will have another week or two before we get “the call,” affectionately known as “TC” on the Korea adoption boards. 

I was sincerely (and selfishly) hoping that it would work out that we could go the first week of classes. This is possibly why I convinced myself our approval date was 2 weeks earlier. It would be so much simpler for me to go that week for a number of reasons, one of which is that there is not one college student in this universe that actually pays attention to anything a professor says on the first day of class. They are too busy figuring out which class is next, where the class is being held, how to get to the building, picking up the syllabus, making a judgement call as to whether this class seems like too much work to add to an already overwhelming schedule, determining which professors they like the best, dropping those they don’t like and adding those that they do like, changing their schedules around to match with their work schedules…. etc, etc. etc. So it’s pretty much a “Hi Professor, nice to meet you, give me the %@$! syllabus, and I’ll see ya next week!” 

In short, the first week of class isn’t a horrible one to miss, if you have to miss any. After that it gets stickier, and it screws up the entire schedule that you spent so much time putting into the syllabus in the first place. All the left-brained students hate it when the schedule gets messed up, so we try not to change the schedule at all, if possible. (All the right-brained students never realized there was a schedule in the first place, so they are usually okay.) 

The other reasons are also selfish, so maybe I should shut up – (but I can’t…  bloggers plight) – for instance, Neville is stuck going away for a week if we are not heading to Korea soon – and it’s not something that is really fitting well into our lives right now for a number of big reasons. Alas, we will manage, as we always do, but it really begs the question as to whether or not there are some things in our lives that we need to give serious reconsideration to, especially with our precious one so close to being home (yes, this is purposefully nebulous – sorry to those who have no idea what I’m talking about. If you PM me I’ll fill you in on all the gory details).

So I see I just went off on tangent number three  - odd numbers are considered lucky in Korea so three tangents seems like a good place to stop….

I wonder if anyone else is jumping out of their skin every time their phone rings this week?

About Jaden's Journey agency, blogger, I-171H, I-600, Korea, phone, schedule, school, syllabus, TC, timing, travel

There is a terrific article at this link:

http://www.rainbowkids.com/ArticleDetails.aspx?id=602 

It is an article written by a Korean adoptee about her experience meeting birthmothers in Korea when she traveled there as an adult. Hopefully by the time you are reading this the link will still be active (you never know with these things…). The article at the above link was reprinted from Chicken Soup for the Adopted Soul, which I didn’t even know existed until now.

About Jaden's Journey adoptee, Adoption, article, chicken soup, Korea, soul

As of today we haven’t heard anything more than the last update I posted. I was hoping for some information this week but it didn’t happen. I am thankful that we are fortunate to at least know that there is a light at the end of the tunnel and we expect to be traveling within the next 2-4 weeks. That is a lot more than some of my friends can say, as they are still caught up in the difficulties being faced by the parents waiting to adopt from Vietnam. I think of them every day.

This weekend my parents held a gathering with a few cousins since it has been many years since we were all able to get together. I wasn’t able to make it to the last one (long story for another day) so it was really terrific to be able to be there and spend time with everyone. Some I hadn’t seen in ages. We had such a beautiful day and it was a lot of fun. All of my cousin’s little ones are so adorable. I don’t think I have laughed that much in ages. The things kids will say and do….

About Jaden's Journey Adoption, family reunion, kids, Korea, travel, Vietnam

Today I received a call from the director of adoption at agency #2. It was a pre-planned call to go over the travel information packet they sent me in the mail. She confirmed we will likely travel within the next 3-5 weeks (usually it is 4-6 weeks from approval, and our approval was 8/7). The next steps are a whirlwind of occurrences: we will get “the call” that Jaden is ready to travel. We will travel the same week (on the nearest Friday or Saturday). We are to immediately call the travel agent (who we don’t have yet) and put a 24 hour hold on our flights. After that we contact the agency and let them know what our tentative itinerary is. They will contact Korea, get the confirmation that the itinerary we gave them is peachy, and call us back so we can purchase the tickets (or make other plans if the itinerary doesn’t work). 

They prefer if we travel out of NY either on a Friday or Saturday and then return to NY from Korea on the following Friday. While we are in Korea we will visit the foster home on Monday to meet the foster family and Jaden. We go to the foster home with the social worker who will hopefully speak English well enough to help us communicate. Then we leave (without Jaden – boohoo) and tour the city on Monday evening and Tuesday. On Wednesday morning we go to the Korean agency and the foster mom meets us there with Jaden. We get to bring him back to the hotel with us, then spend Wednesday evening and Thursday getting adjusted and finally fly home on Friday.

The way they do things is very specific – they like everything just so — which is why we won’t be able to take Jaden until Wednesday. Their rule is that we cannot take him with us until 2 evenings before our departure. Once we have him in our care we are not allowed to leave the city limits of Seoul except to board our flights. This is to avoid having health complications before traveling. 

Jaden’s passport will have his Korean name on it. We won’t get to change his name officially until after the social worker visits us at least three times at our house once we return to the U.S. and provides a report back to Korea. After those three visits, we will have all the documentation necessary to complete the final paperwork — at least, that’s the way I understand it right now. As these things go, there are so many intricate details it is very difficult (especially for right-brained people; teehee) to absorb all at once, so you learn as you go. 

The agency representative warned us that Wednesday, when we meet the foster mother to take Jaden home with us, will be a very emotion-filled day. She said it is not uncommon for the foster mother to cry a lot, and Jaden may become very emotional too. I have been having nightmares about this…. for a couple of weeks now… maybe it is my mind trying to prepare me for the emotional exhaustion of it all. Our brains are amazing. 

We should bring gifts for the staff at the agency in Seoul, as well as the social worker. I read some suggestions on the message boards about Korean adoption as to what types of gifts to bring…. they suggest things made in the USA (hahahaha – is anything anymore?) or related to our local area. I also saw a hint on one of the  boards suggesting we bring flowers to the foster mother the day she brings Jaden to the agency to go home with us. I thought that was a great idea. 

The agency rep also told me a few interesting tidbits about Korean culture: proper dress usually means no jeans, sneakers, or open toe shoes. Slacks, dresses, and button down shirts are the norm for restaurants. It is proper etiquette to wear socks or nylons when entering someone’s house — no bare feet. How different from here! I’m always barefoot in the summer (but obviously not pregnant- LOL).

So this is totally off-topic, but a number of you have asked me for websites or other resources on green housecleaning – so tomorrow I’ll post some of the things we’ve been doing around here to be more ‘organic.’

Until then, nighty-night!

About Jaden's Journey ceremony, culture, flight, itinerary, Korea, travel

After the insane day I had yesterday running around to all of my engagements, it has finally hit me that we were approved by CIS!!! I think I was in a daze yesterday – the email was so unexpected. In the adoption process, this is truly a significant milestone. CIS is usually the biggest holdup, according to the adoption community circles I’ve run with, in the entire process. Having them process our paperwork in less than two weeks is utterly amazing. I have watched as waiting parents have sat on the edge of their seats for 30, 60, sometimes 90 days, biting their nails, waiting for the OK from the US to travel to pick up their baby. We are so blessed to have this portion of the process go off so quickly. CIS has just given us the gift of two more weeks with Jaden during his infant months. This is tremendous. 

I did hear back from agency #2 and they are jumping up and down for us too! They are sending us a packet of materials covering travel details, and we have to give a call to another representative (let’s be original and call her rep #2) to discuss travel plans. Here is part of their response, outlining the next steps: 

“From this point, we generally receive travel notice about 4 to 6 weeks. The notice will come in the form of “[Jaden] is ready to travel at any time” – at which point you will arrange to travel to Korea on the first Friday that you are able – it’s definitely a whirlwind!”

Whirlwind – no kidding! The way I’m thinking about it, if we are really, really fortunate, the process in Korea will go as quickly as it did here in the US, and we could potentially travel in 2 weeks! I guess that is my optimism carrying it a little too far… but it is fun to imagine!! I guess I really, really do need to get the nursery together now! So much to do and so little time!

About Jaden's Journey adopt, Adoption, approval, blessed, Korea, nursery, time, travel