All is quiet in our house. My son had a burst of post-candy energy, but he went down without a fight. He was exhausted from the day’s activities. He had a party at school and then trick-or-treating after dinner. He had a blast. They were gone for nearly an hour. Now, he’s asleep and I’m going to be right behind him. I am very very tired. If you’re interested, here’s a link to my other blog to see our Halloween pictures.

Link: Halloween Memories

I’m... more

Link – Part 1 Link – Part 2

I had a pretty easy time – no outbursts, no hard questions, no tears… I stand by my belief that I have lived a charmed life and I am rather grateful for whatever plan led me down this path. But reality says that everyone will not have such an easy time. There are families who will be wary of a Korean adoption and there will be families who reject the whole premise. I get goose bumps just thinking of it.

Now, my grandparents... more

My family knew that we were going to adopt from the beginning. There were no worries there. After all, my parents had adopted from Korea twice and everyone in our family, including the extended family, had gotten pretty used to it by the time we made our announcement. On our side, there weren’t very many questions, because anyone who mattered already knew the drill. The questions tended to be: “How long is the wait now?” “What airport will the plane fly into?”

The next step was telling my co-workers. I told my boss that we were applying to adopt from Korea. That was only fair so that we could make plans. At the time, I thought that we would be waiting much longer than we did... more

My husband was worried about how his family would react when we told them about the adoption. His family is big on family roots and he just wasn’t sure if they would embrace it or be wary of it. I was a little worried myself. There was one conversation I had with his parents before we were married. They were talking about my father-in-law’s brother and they kept stressing that he was an adoptive brother.

I thought that was a little odd. When I talk about my sister, I don’t call her my adoptive sister. When I talk about my parents, I leave off the adoptive part as well. They only time I use it is when I am explaining the relationship to curious bystanders. So, why was it important... more

My parents are visiting from Ohio. I feel bad because my son seems to have caught a cold and he really isn’t his normal happy self. They have taken him out for a walk so it’s pretty quiet right now. Translation…I have time to sit down and write this post.

My mother is older (but not old) and certainly wiser (but not that wiser). Hi Mom! She went through two Korean adoptions in two different decades. She had barely walked through the door when she told us not to get too caught up in the current Korean adoption slow down. Don’t... more

Have you ever wished that you had a remote control for life? I’ve had one of those weeks that I wish I could put on fast forward. On the home front, things are going well. My son is making some strides in potty training, we went to the pool for the first time and he loves the water… On the work front, we’ve just had one major issue after the other and we still have one day to go. I don’t think there is one person in my department who is not counting down the minutes until the end of the day.

Believe it or not, it was my week that made... more

So, it’s official. My husband and I talked about our next adoption and we’re changing our time table a little. Having two mortgages for seven months played havoc with our saving schedule and we have many home projects that we were planning on finishing before we started seriously saving for our second adoption. We’ve decided to put aside several of the larger projects in favor of starting to save now.

We’ve been watching the uncertainties in the Korean program and these new rules are making us a little nervous. Even though we are starting to save now, most likely we won’t be ready to start the process until early 2008. My husband keeps reminding me that we have to be prepared... more

Okay, I’ll admit it. I didn’t even know that sending a care package to Korea was an option. So, obviously, I didn’t do it. However, I can see the desire to do it with the wait for travel becoming longer and longer. Anyhow, I’ve been browsing the web and here are some things that people are sending their babies in their care packages:

Disposable cameras Clothes Small toys Family photos

They are also sending small gifts to the foster mothers which I think is a nice touch. My son was only in foster care for one month prior... more

I can give people advice about waiting children, but it really isn’t worth much. I can tell you that everyone who answered my questions is an advocate of adopting waiting children. In fact, many of them answered my questions for the soul reason that they hoped it would help people make the decision to adopt a waiting child. Don’t listen to my advice, listen to theirs. They had the following words of advice to give:

“Review records carefully and don't hesitate to ask questions whoever they are uncertain or find red flag areas they... more

What was the hardest part about making the decision to adopt a waiting child?

Though the people I asked made it sound easy, deciding to adopt a waiting child is a big decision. Whether it’s deciding if you can bond with an older child or deciding if you are able to deal with the medical conditions – it takes a lot of thought.

When my husband and I were filling out our application, I looked at the boxes that I could check. My pen hovered over the special needs boxes and I agonized over the decision. A part of me felt guilty... more