!!!!!!!!!!TRAVEL CALL!!!!!!!!!!!!!

When I stop shaking, get organized enough to make travel arrangments, and get my thoughts together, I'll add an update. But, for now, I just wanted to let everyone know that Graham is ready to come home!!!!!!!

New Pictures of Graham aka "Jumbo Baby"!

We received a wonderful surprise today.....a new picture of Graham! Along with this photo, Eastern (our Korean agency) also sent a written report. The report is currently being translated, and we should have it early next week. We're assuming we'll get a weight update (this will make shopping for clothes much easier!) as well as descriptions of his daily routines and milestones reached. We're unable to accurately guess how much he weighs at this point, but we know he's big and definitely still enjoying his food! We were so happy to see that he's still got those adorable squishy cheeks....we can't wait to get our hands on them! And how adorable are those rolls on his arms! Don't lose that baby fat too fast, Graham!

We're still, impatiently, waiting for our travel call. We do know that all we're waiting for at this point is for the US Embassy to issue his visa. Why do governments have to be so slow? There is a little boy in Korea getting way too big, way too fast, and it's time for him to be at home!

When we receive our weight update next week, I'll be sure to update this site. Feel free to leave us a comment and take a guess as to how much our "supersize baby" actually weighs. Someday, it will be fun for Graham to look at this...I'm sure he'd get a good laugh out of all this!

Not prepared...

We were not prepared for how horrible things would feel this late in the game. We were warned by our social worker and various program directors at our agency that the waiting would get very hard. We thought to ourselves, how much worse can it feel than waiting an eternity for a referral? Well, be assured, it got worse. We now realize that no matter what we had been told, there was no way we could have been prepared to deal with such raw emotion. It's killing us to know that Graham is living on the other side of the world. We're envious, and probably even jealous, of the fact that his foster mother gets to hug and kiss him each night, wake up to him each morning, and fill her days with everything baby. We, on the other hand, are here, wondering what all that is like. Please keep Graham in your thoughts and prayers. We know he is loved over in Korea, but we also know that he needs to come home to his Mom and Dad.

We're getting VERY impatient here.......

Waiting in general is not fun. Waiting to be allowed to bring your son home from the other side of the world is close to torture. We're very close to completely running out of things to do in order to keep our minds occupied. We have no more bathrooms to rip down and re-tile, we have no more rooms to redecorate and repaint, no more landscaping that needs to be done, and well....we definitely don't need to eat any more of the goodies I continually seem to be baking. Much to our neighbors amusement, we even resorted to repainting the garage door this weekend. Can you tell we're ready for Graham to be home? We're not allowed to travel to Korea until we know his visa and passport have been issued. At this point in the game though, we're so desperate to be there, that camping out on the streets of Seoul is starting to sound like an appealing, although probably illegal, option. :) So here's as much as we know right now. Graham does not currently have his visa and we're not sure about his passport. The agency in Korea needs his passport in hand before the embassy will issue his visa. Issuing the visa is very quick, normally completed in less than 24 hours. So, although we've been saying this for a while now, we're sooo close. Every day this gets harder. But, every day we know we're one day closer to having Graham in our arms.

7 months old today...

Today Graham turns 7 months old....7 months that he's been living on the other side of the world without his Mommy and Daddy. We think, and we're sure you'd agree, that it's time to get him home!!!! We're beyond anxious to meet him, learn about his personality, and most importantly finally get him into our arms! We think about him constantly. We wonder if he's getting enough hugs and kisses, does he get stories read to him, what he's doing at any given moment, what his bedtime routine is, what he likes to eat, what he doesn't like to eat, favorite toys, does he like baths or doesn't he, is he starting to crawl, what does his little voice sound like, and what helps to make him happy when he's sad. Our list of questions could go on and on. This may seem strange, being that we've never met him, but we really miss him and would give anything to have him with us right now.

Graham's Room!

We can officially say we are ready for Graham to come home! Of course, we've been "ready" for a very long time, but now he has a nice room waiting for him at home! We've worked really hard on it, and are happy with the way it turned out. We're still working on accessorizing the shelves, and we're waiting for a lamp and big soft rug to be delivered, but other than that, all the room needs is our little boy! So, as soon as the call comes (PLEASE, PLEASE, make it be soon!) we'll be ready!

We are sooooooooo close!

We've heard through the grapevine (confirmed through our agency) that travel calls are coming pretty fast from Korea right now. Families are waiting on average just seven weeks to receive travel clearance as compared to the 8-14 weeks it was taking at this time last year. That means, that we could be due for our call as soon as next week! WOW!!!!! It's back to jumping every time the phone rings!!! COME ON KOREA!!!!!!!!!!!!!