August 28, 2006 – The Application is In!

In record time, we made our way through mounds of paperwork and were able to turn in our application to the agency in just under a week! This even included a trip to the county jail in order to have fingerprints taken. We both felt “slightly out of our element” being in the jail waiting room so when our turn finally came, we made it very clear to the police officer, the man in the orange jumpsuit who appeared to be very interested in us, and everyone else within earshot that we were only there for adoption fingerprints! Now that our application has officially been turned in, the process is out of our hands. At this point the only thing we can do is wait… (The adoption agency asked for a current photo of us to send to Korea. This is the picture of us that is now on its way to Korea!)

August 19, 2006 - Let the Process Begin……

Today we attended our first adoption meeting at Children’s Home Society and Family Services (CHSFS) in St. Paul. We were presented with more information then we could have processed and were inspired by families sharing their own stories of adoption. We learned today that South Korea is in the process of changing their international adoption laws and will be putting these changes into effect January 1, 2007. South Korea has not been very clear with the American agencies as to how these changes are actually going to effect adoptive families. Because of this, we were advised to consider other country programs in case the number of international adoptions from South Korea drastically slows down. After reviewing our options, we’ve decided to do something called “Dual Listing”. This means that we will be placed on two waiting lists-one waiting list for a South Korean baby and one waiting list for a baby from Colombia. We decided to add Colombia to our list based on the care the babies receive before they join their forever families. The Colombian adoption homes provide complete health records and have an extremely low ratio of baby to care givers. We feel confident that a baby coming out of either of these programs will have received top notch care. We will know more in January as to where our baby will be coming from, but until then, we have the difficult task of just remaining patient and knowing that everything happens for a reason.

We both knew that adoption was a long process but neither of us had any “real” idea until the social worker handed us an envelope at least an inch thick full of paperwork- and this was only the initial application! We left the meeting today with a feeling of confirmation for ourselves. We know in our hearts that this is how we are supposed to create a family right now and feel very lucky that we are able to do so. Thank you to everyone who has offered unconditional love, support, and excitement for us as we start down the road to our family!