December 25, 2006-Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to everyone! Today was a little bittersweet for us. It weighed on our minds constantly that there is a very good chance that our baby has already been born and is celebrating Christmas with a foster family on the other side of the world. If this is the case, our only hope is that he is being loved and cared for as we would do for him here. It is exciting to know that next year, though, he will be safe at home with his Mom and Dad. Thank you to everyone who thought of our baby for Christmas. It was so much fun for us to open baby gifts that were picked out with Graham in mind. It is overwhelming and emotional to know how much he is loved before he is even placed into our arms. We know that we are adopting from Korea because our baby is waiting for us there, we just need to bring him home.

December 23, 2006

Today we picked up all of the nursery furniture! Talk about making it seem real!!! We’re HOPING for a referral anytime now, so soon we’ll begin painting the room and making it a cozy home for baby Graham. (This picture is of us trying out a baby carrier....when we got to the baby store Jeff decided to model the Baby Bjorn complete with teddy bear!)

December 18, 2006

We were shocked and very surprised to open the mailbox today and find a fat envelope from USCIS. The envelope was opened slowly with a bit of hesitation as we wondered “What could be wrong?” or “What piece of paper are they missing to complete our background checks?” We were shocked and relieved to see that absolutely nothing was wrong, but rather we received our government approval to bring a baby home! We were told to expect this to take 90 days, but it came in just 16-that has to be some sort of record! Hopefully things keep moving as smoothly as they have up until this point!

December 2, 2006-More fingerprinting...

Today we had our appointment at USCIS (immigration office) for our official fingerprinting and background check. This appointment marked the absolute last thing that we need to do other than wait for our referral. We can receive a referral at any point in time, but without the government clearing we are unable to go pick the baby up. We were told that official approval can take up to 90 days. So….again we just need to be patient.

November 16, 2006-#10!!!

Ever since our homestudy has been officially completed, we’ve been curious as to what the waiting list for a Korean baby actually looks like with our agency. Neither one of us wanted to ask though- we just “knew” we were at the very bottom of a list a mile long. Well, today curiousity got the best of us, and an email was sent to Jill, the Korea Program Coordinator. Her response came back in under 2 minutes which was a surprise to say the least. The news inside the email was just as much of a surprise. WE ARE #10 ON THE LIST!!!!! Last month CHSFS received a total of 7 referrals and we were told that yesterday alone they received 3! We don’t know the health of the babies in the most recent batches of referrals, or even if they are boys or girls, but the numbers look very positive to both of us. This is becoming so real for us, we can hardly stand it! Since we started this process we’ve been moving through it in record speed. A completed homestudy in under a week is unheard of, a returned email in 2 minutes, a crib that arrives in 2 weeks after being told it would be 3 months…..there seems to be a pattern of record speed occurances. Hopefully those things are a sign of good things to come!

November 14, 2006 NAMES, NAMES, NAMES!

After much debate, we have decided on names and are very excited to be able to share them! If the baby is a boy like we have been told to expect, he will be named Graham Greer Olson. If the baby ends up being a girl (VERY, VERY unlikely), she will be named Amelia Paige Olson. We are happy to have names picked out and be able to refer to the baby with an actual name. It makes the process seem much more real for both of us!

November 6, 2006 Homestudy Approved!!!

WE ARE SO EXCITED to finally be able to say we are officially on the waiting list to be matched with our baby!!! Mary, our social worker came over this morning and we finished up the home study. We had a LONG talk with Annie this morning, letting her know that she would be in SERIOUS trouble if she acted like her usual crazy self while Mary was here. We don’t know what came over that dog, but she was an angel. She didn’t bark, jump, run, lick….unbelievable. For those of you that know Annie, you know that this is truly amazing! Now the waiting really begins. For the first time since we started this process, there is honestly nothing left for us to do. It is completely out of our hands. We just need to trust that things will work out when and how they are supposed to…we have the feeling this is much easier said than done.