All our bags are packed, we're ready to go....

It's 11:30 Sunday night, and I can't go to sleep, I can not believe that when I get up in the morning we will be leaving for Korea, to bring home Noah. I have dreamt of this day for a long time...well and the day we come home.

Tonight is our last night in our home as a family of 3. I hope Madison adjusts ok to having a brother. I know she will be a great helper, but it is definitely going to be rough on her especially in the beginning. She has been the center of our attention for 6 years! I am sure she will still be, most of the time, we will just have to have two centers. =)

I was able to pack ALL of mine and Jamie's clothes into one suitcase, and we have a suitcase for Madison, and a LARGE suitcase full of gifts, and my carrier, and Noah's diaper bag, it will be empty once we get to Korea, which will allow us to fill it up with lots of goodies to bring home as well as anything we receive from Noah's foster mom.

Pray for us tomorrow, and this week, and mostly pray for Noah and his foster family. As wonderful of a time this is, it is going to be the hardest time for them.

Deuteronomy 32:11-12a

"So He spread His wings to take them up, and carried them safely. The Lord alone guided them."

Our Itinerary

We will be leaving on Monday June 30 at 1:30pm and arriving Tuesday July 1 at 5:00pm, and returning on Monday July 7 at 11:30am!

I can't believe that our wait is almost over. We will see Noah for the first time on Wednesday July 2, and most likely will have him forever on July 7! I am going to ask if we can have him on Friday, but normally the agency doesn't like for you to until you leave for the airport. They see it as getting one last good nights rest before the LONG plane ride home! I guess we will see what happens.

I just emailed our missionary friends who are in Korea, and we hope to see them on the weekend, and attend their church! What a great experience that will be!

I think Madison is a little sad that we will be in Korea for her birthday (the 5th) but we said we would do a party when we got settled back in at home. While we are in Korea we will probably have ice cream or something for her with the other family who RECEIVED THEIR CALL TODAY TOO!!! They also have a 6 year old daughter, and we feel very blessed that we will meet in Korea. God's timing is always perfect!

We are tenatively staying at Eastern's guesthouse, which will be great! We didn't think it would be available, but it turns out it is!

I plan to update this blog with thoughts and pictures, so please continue to check it out!

Please continue to keep us in your prayers this weekend and the next week as we travel and meet Noah YeongMin

Isaiah 24:15
"Therefore in the east give glory to the LORD; exalt the name of the LORD, the God of Israel, in the islands of the sea."

Isaiah 25:1
"O LORD, you are my God; I will exalt you and praise your name, for in perfect faithfulness you have done marvelous things, things planned long ago."

Psalm 136:1
"O give thanks to the Lord for He is good, His faithful love endures forever"

LEAVING ON A JET PLANE......

OUR AGENCY CALLED AT 7:03 THIS MORNING!! SHE SAID YOUR WAIT IS FINALLY OVER!!

I WILL UPDATE MORE WHEN I TALK TO OUR TRAVEL AGENT!!

All we are waiting on is a phone call.....

Noah YeongMin's VISA was issued today 6/25 (actually yesterday Korea time). All we are waiting on is a phone call to tell us we can come pick him up! Everything is approved, all i's are dotted and t's crossed, and no more hoops to go through! NORMALLY the phone call comes 1-2 days after the Visa is issued, sometimes it can take a little longer. I feel that such a HUGE weight has been lifted from my shoulders, as of right now I am ok. Now if the call doesn' t come in a few days it might get hard again, but I definitely know this is the last stretch. It's like my water has broke and now the labor pains are starting, and the end result is a beautiful little boy!

I am going to change our flights for tomorrow in the morning regardless, there is NO WAY I would have been ready to travel tomorrow anyway I still have so much left to do. However, IF we get a call tonight or tommorow morning I am going to reschedule it for Saturday, and we will still come home on the 3rd. If we don't have a call, I will probably schedule it for later next week, just to be on the safe side.

I will keep you updated. Still keep us in your prayers!

The verse that will get me thru.....

Hebrews 11:1

Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not yet seen.

This has been my favorite Bible verse our whole adoption process. Everytime I start to worry about something, God somehow shows this verse to me, to remind me to keep the faith.

A new week is about to begin, and still no travel call. On Friday I was hoping for good news when I called DC, but was told the same thing "P3 has been out since 6/3 and has not been returned". Another family did receive good news and has a visa interview Monday! I am so excited for them and know I could not be too far behind, but THIS weekend has been extremely hard on me.

On faith, I purchased plane tickets for Thursday, that's right, JUNE 26, in 5 days. They are direct flights, and the price was a few hundred dollars cheaper than the flights with layovers. Our travel agent had reserved the tickets 2 times, and the ticketing was due by Friday or we would have lost the seats. This is there peak season and any seats are pretty scarce. I did this also because of it being a direct flight, and since none of us has ever been in an airport, let alone fly, it would be the easiest on our family, and one less thing to worry about.

On faith, I am hoping for a visa interview or actual visa issuing on Monday, and then a travel call by Wednesday morning. If that doesn't happen I will change our flights to a later date, just not sure when. If there is no visa on Monday I can call and our travel agent will void the tickets, without a change fee.

Please keep us in your prayers the rest of the weekend, and this coming week, and pray that if it's God's will that we will be able to leave as planned on Thursday!

STILL WAITING...(NOT SO) PATIENTLY....

Just a quick update that we are still here in the US, STILL waiting on Noah's Visa Interview....It is driving us crazy. We so wanted to be there already. I know it is coming, and I know it is coming soon. I feel better today, than I have all week. I know that Noah is being taken care of, and is loved, and it's just a few extra days, maybe a week, it's not like it will be months longer.

And one thing I will never be able to give him is Korea. Sure I can take him back to visit one day, but it's not like he will grow up there. The time he is spending there now, even though he won't remember, is PRECIOUS. I hope his Foster family can remain a part of his life as well.

It will be a sad day for his family when he leaves. As much as I am looking forward to having him in my life forever, it will also be one of the hardest days I will go thru. I can't imagine how hard it will be for his foster mom.

Ecclesiastes 3:11

He hath made every thing beautiful in his time: also he hath set the world in their heart, so that no man can find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end.

3 months....

Today it has been 3 months since I first saw Noah YeongMin's sweet little face. I know I shouldn't complain, our adoption has fortunately went very smoothly, and quickly, I never thought we would be waiting to get our travel call at this point, back at the beginning of our process. At that time they were saying a 6-9 month wait for a referral, so I "should" still be waiting. Thank God I am not. I guess Noah was ready before I was. I think I was too stubborn in the beginning, and wanted to do our adoption MY way. Once I started letting God take control, He has made it clear that He know's what He is doing! I wish it was easier for me to sit back and not worry so much about when and how we will get Noah home. I keep looking up travel flights, putting in different dates, trying to find the best deal. Then I step back and remind myself that along with starting the process, getting our referral, and now our travel call. God knows all the dates. He already knows the date that Noah will join our family forever. He know's and has planned out our whole situation. Long before I ever did. So God, I am trying my best to give it all to you, and like everything else, know that YOU will work it out.

Jeremiah 29:11 "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."

"God uses even the obstacles to bring you together with the child He has chosen at just the right moment in time."

We love you Noah YeongMin...We're coming soon!

The same set back x2....

Well, I woke up this morning and thought let me just check my email real quick, and sure enough I receive an email from the lady at our agency saying she just received the email confirmation I sent her yesterday that it went into her spam filter. AND SHE NEVER RECEIVED THE FAX!! I was sooooo upset. I sent her a reply that I was on my way to REFAX them. So now she does have them, and she FWD them to Korea, who I am praying they are working on our file as I am typing. Since they are 14 hours ahead of us, it is about noon Friday. MAYBE just MAYBE they are taking it to the Embassy today so they can give Noah his Visa, so he can finally come home.

On a more positive note, the other lady I talked about yesterday got the stuff she needed and our agency sent hers to Korea last night, so they have it and hopefully it will satisfy the Embassy, and she too will get her daughters Visa.

PLEASE keep us in your prayers!

Small Set back =(

I received an email early this morning, and unfortunately it wasn't our travel call. The lady at our agency said she received a notice that Korea needs our 2007 tax returns. When we sent our acceptance papers we hadn't filed our taxes for this year yet, so we just sent 2004-2006. Of course NOW they decide they need them. It's just one more hoop for us to go thru. I did fax them over right away so hopefully it won't be too much of a set back. On a positive note, it does mean they are working on our file. As I was doing a little research they need the tax forms for when they get Noah's Visa....SO if Korea receives them soon (I don't know if they can just fax them or email or if they have to send a hard copy) it shouldn't be long.

There is another family who we are praying we get to travel with who has a 6 year old daughter also, received the same notice today. Their tax situation is a little different, but please pray that it gets sorted out quickly also. We really want to travel together!

It doesn't look good though for a travel call this week, which might make it a little easier for me to deal with if I am not expecting it, so I am just going to get everything done this weekend and pack and be ready for a call next week.

Please continue to keep us in your thoughts and prayers, this wait is getting really tough. Also Jamie is a little under the weather, please pray that he gets well soon. He is having a hard time with this wait as well.

I will continue to keep everyone updated.

Week 10

Well we are in week 10 of our wait. This week has been extremely hard. I have been very emotional all week. On Saturday, I was listening to a song in Korean (actually the one listed on this blog) and it hit me that my little Noah is over in Korea, and doesn't have a clue that his life as he knows it is about to be turned completely upside down. He doesn't know that his foster family is temporary. He thinks he is in his FOREVER already. I was feeling torn with are we doing the right thing, taking him out of his birth country. That is something I will never be able to give him, I can try to expose him to his culture but it will not be the same. I think of what his foster mom is thinking these last few weeks, and how hard it will be for her to let him go, and his birth mom, does she even know that her son will be leaving Korea? I want him home so bad, my heart is (as another mom waiting for travel put it) is literally being ripped out of my chest and pulled around the world. It is aching for him, and yet breaking at what all he is going to go through. It saddens me to know that he will grieve so hard in the beginning and I won't be able to comfort him. He won't even be able to understand when I try to soothe him.

Then there is Madison, my tears were also for her. Her life too is about to change completely. It will be a hard transition for her, it would and is for most children who have been an only child for 6 years! I know she loves Noah, but I don't think she will like sharing the attention (especially from her daddy) She will be a great big sister though and we will try to make sure that she doesn't feel left out.

Noah is 8 1/2 months old today. That is 8 1/2 months that I have missed. That is 8 1/2 months that I will never get back. Sure I will have forever with him, but those months are special too. I hope his foster mom will be able to share as much as she can about his time with her.

There's still a chance to get our TC this week, but as the week progresses the chances don't seem as high. Still hoping for the end of the week, if not it will probably be the longest weekend of my life and pray that it will come the following week.

Regardless I know it will happen, the only question is when?!?!

P3 has left the Embassy!

Not that anyone really knows what that means....Our agency even says it doesn't exist. But whatever doesn't exist (called P3 or packet 3) has left the Embassy in Seoul and is on it's way to our agency in Korea (Eastern) Once they receive it they compile all Noah's stuff with the Packet 3 and send it back, then Noah receives his Visa, and they let us know he is ready to come home. The rest of this process could be as little as 7 days or up to a few weeks. I am thinking about 10 days, but that could just be me being hopeful! All I know is I am 99.9% certain that *THIS* is our month! We have 2 tentative flight arrangements one is on the 13th which I don't think we will be able to use, and the other is on the 21st. Which is a definate possibility. We haven't purchased them they are just holding the seats for the time being. Apparently the week of the 15th is a VERY popular time to fly to Seoul, who would have guessed it.

Well we will keep you updated, and please continue to keep us in your thoughts and prayers, especially for the needed funds, (Jamie has a potential buyer for his bike, we will know tomorrow)

Noah---We are coming soon!!