One step closer!!!

Today in the mail, we received the most wonderful envelope from the US Government.....it was our I600 Approval! WOO HOO!!!!!!!!! This means that the US is completely done with their part of bringing Graham home and all that is left to do is wait for Korea to do their thing. Waiting for Korea is the longest part of this process, but it feels very good to know that there is only one piece of the puzzle missing! COME ON KOREA!!!

On Sunday, Graham turned 6 months old. We know that he is being loved and very well cared for, but we can't help but think about the milestones we're missing as he grows. With each day we know that we are one day closer to bringing our son home, it's just that the days don't always seem to pass quickly enough. We'll just say it again...it's time for Graham to be at home with his Mommy and Daddy, so COME ON KOREA!!!!

Graham's Getting Mail!

Through our agency, we learned that while we wait to go pick up Graham, we are allowed to send him as much as we can fit into a single gallon size ziplock bag. Graham and his foster mother visit the Korean agency once a month around his birthdate for his check-ups. The bag of goodies from us should be waiting for him when he goes in for his 7 month check-up around August 22. It was surprising how much we were actually able to fit into such a small bag. Graham will be receiving 4 summer outfits (hopefully they fit, we had to guess on the size!), two pairs of socks, a stuffed puppy toy, and a soft photo album of our family. We also included a disposable camera with hopes that the foster parents will take pictures of Graham over the next month or so and pass the camera back to us when we arrive in Seoul. We wish we were able to hand deliver these things to Graham but until we're able to get their ourselves, at least he'll soon have something from home!

Project Weekend!

When we moved into our current home two years ago, we left a bedroom empty knowing that it would eventually become a nursery. At first the empty room didn't bother me as there was nothing in it to remind me that there should be a baby occupying that room. Over time though, we received baby gifts, and had a few baby showers, and the room very quickly filled up. That's when it started to bother me. We had almost everything we needed to be ready for a baby....except the baby. This weekend we finally started to turn the room that was being used as baby storage, into a room for Graham. The upper level of our house looks like a tornado hit as everything from Graham's room (and he has a LOT of stuff!) had to be moved out so we could paint. We finished painting on Saturday and we both love how it turned out. Last night we did something we've been waiting for a very long time to do-we assembled the crib! That might not sound like a big deal, but we've had the crib in a box since November, so it was almost symbolic of the fact that we're almost there! After we organize our mountains of baby items over the next day or so, we'll post pictures here of our "in-progress" nursery.

Since when is paperwork emotional???

Yesterday was a big day for us....we met with our agency to sign the "acceptance paperwork" stating that Graham will officially become part of our family. We really can't say enough good things about Children's Home and the individuals we've worked with there. With most agencies around the country, when a family receives a referral, their agency sends them their "acceptance packet" to work through then they return it completed to the agency. The amount of paperwork is actually unbelievable (think stacks of paper similar to buying a home!) but for us it couldn't have been easier. When we got to Children's Home yesterday, EVERYTHING was filled out for us, we just had to sign an initial! Finally, something in this process was easy! Never before has signing our name been emotional. But this time, knowing what we were signing for, was an amazing feeling.

Some of you may be wondering, "So what happens now?" Things are completely out of our hands again, but at least we know what will be happening while we wait. Here's what we're waiting for...
1. Children's Home needs to receive from Korea what are known during a Korean adoption as "legals". In Korea, this is basically known as Graham's family registry. Sometimes this takes weeks to arrive, but, we are LUCKY and already have them! WOO HOO!
2.Children's Home will then submit us for I-600 approval. This is the US side of processing the adoption and is on done on a state level. Luckily Minnesota is fast compared to other states and we were told we should have this in approximately 2 weeks (some states take months to complete this!) WOO HOO!
3. After we have I-600 approval, it is faxed to Korea, so they can begin their part of the processing. We will then wait for "EP" or the emigration permit. This part of the process is what takes the longest and unfortunately the timing can vary greatly. Some cases make it though quickly and others are slow due to paperwork errors. We'll just have to cross our fingers!

Now, it's time to GO GET GRAHAM!!!!!!!!!! After all the processing is completed, Children's Home will be notified. They will call us and let us know that Graham is ready to come home. At that point, we begin the mad scramble to get to Korea as fast as possible and finally have Graham in our arms!

Introducing the newest Olson!

Graham Greer Olson
Born January 22, 2007

After a rough week that started with having to turn down yet another referral, we were looking forward to a relaxing week up at the lake. Friday morning, June 29, we were getting ready to leave and the phone rang. It was THE CALL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The call we had spent the past 7 months and 23 days waiting eagerly for......the call that let us know that we were parents!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We had our social worker on speaker phone as she relayed all the details she had. As we stood in the kitchen listening to her describe our very healthy son, we were both overcome with emotion, were completely choked up, and unable to speak. Even though the official paperwork said that he was healthy, we still had to have the international doctor at the University review the medical files. So, we sent them off not expecting to hear from him for a day or so. Ten minutes later the phone rang again. It was the doctor who said he wanted to congratulate us for "hitting the jackpot" with a very healthy, baby boy! We really do feel like we've hit the jackpot. We feel like the luckiest parents ever right now. Just seeing those adorable cheeks erased the emotional anguish we've been dealing with over the past year. We feel rejuvenated, are excited to shop for baby things (now that we know who we're shopping for) and best of all, to open up the nursery and get it ready for Graham!!!

Yet more bad news..........

This morning we received a referral for a little girl! Yes, you read that correctly, an adorable little girl with lots of hair just screaming for a big pink bow! But, yet again, we were shown a child that is not meant to be ours. It turns out that she has PKU, a very serious condition that effects how her body does or doesn't process proteins. If too much protein is injested, it builds up in the blood and can potentially cause mental retardation. Her condition was caught early which is good, but the dietary management of this condition is just horrendous. An individual with PKU must never ingest any type meat, fish, chicken, beans, nuts, dairy, bread, pasta...the list just goes on and on. We realized that adapting to such a diet would actually be a lifestyle change that we're not sure we're ready to take on. We couldn't imagine sending our little girl to birthday parties only to tell her she's not allowed to eat any of the treats there. We couldn't imagine having to tell her she can't eat most foods when her siblings (we're talking down the road here!) are allowed ice cream, candy, and pizza. We love to travel and often imagine where we'll someday take our children-how would this be possible with such restrictions? So, we find ourselves in the unfortunate position of again having to decline a referral. It's hard to describe the emotions we're experiencing right now. We're numb, devestated, and emotionally drained but at the same time hopeful that we are matched with our child very shortly.

A very rough 6 weeks....

On April 24, we got the call that we had been waiting for. It seemed almost too good to be true, as it appeared we were going to be blessed with a set of identical twin boys! Before we could officially accept the referral though, the boys were going to have one final check-up with the doctor. We assumed this would be a quick process and hoped that everything would be ok. We waited 6 agonizing weeks for news all the while picking up matching "twin things" when we were out shopping. On June 1 we got news that caught us completely off guard. One of the boys has a very serious brain condition. He currently has some degree of brain atrophy, probable cerebral palsy and almost definite cognitive impairment. This news was absolutely devastating to us as we had already started to think of them as our own. We had fallen in love with their pictures and gotten used to the idea that our house would never again be clean because we were going to have two little boys running around. Although we knew rationally that his condition and medical needs were too severe for us to take on, this was the hardest decision that we've ever faced. There truly are no words to express how it felt when reality set in and we realized that those boys weren't meant to be part of our family. The fact that we had to decline a referral when we so desperately want a child in our house was something we never dreamed we would have to do. We don't understand why we had to go through this, and why those boys were only part of our lives for such a short amount of time, but we're holding on to the idea that this is just part of the journey we must take to be matched with our baby.

Thankfully, because of this bump in the road, we haven't lost our place in line on the waiting list. After talking with the agency today, we learned that we are #3 on the girl list, and #2 on the boy list. We were also told that they expected to receive another group of referrals very soon. Tomorrow makes 7 L-O-N-G months of being on the waiting list. That doesn't include the length of time it took us to complete our background checks and homestudy, just the amount of time since we've been officially waiting. As you can imagine, we're ready to be done waiting, and ready to bring our baby home!

COME ON KOREA!!!