January 2019

The weather has been extreme.  We've had extremely cold days - so cold school was closed.  We've also had unseasonably warm days that have felt like spring.  It's hard to know how to plan for the weather.  The kids have had fun despite the weather.  Liam participated in an Ellis Island Day at school.  He immigrated from Germany and had to go through all the steps on Ellis Island to become an immigrant.  Dave helped as one of the officers.  During the days off school the kids had many adventures and played really well together.  Once it was warm enough to go outside, we enjoyed all the snow!

Our new friends took us to an authentic Korean restaurant and helped us order some dishes to try.

Liam trying seaweed

Lilly loved the food!

Bee-Bim Bop

Thanks to the Brockman's that are over in Kenya right now, we got an updated picture of our sponsor daughter Mitchell Cathy.

We got together with the Bolts and the kids made this creation!

We sent a care package to Luke and included a note for the foster mother.  A Central parents (who was born in Korea) translated the card for us).

we sent a recordable book - Liam read some of the pages too

Liam assembled on of Luke's new toys

Ellis Island - Immigration Day

Lilly opened her beauty salon again and Liam was a costumer

getting ready for Chinese New Year by making sugar cookies

the floor was lava!

Our piano came!

not sure what's going on here

Liam asked for a Slytherin scarf - so I made him one

National Lutheran Schools Week - Decade Day

Doc Brown and Marty McFly

Liam's Heritage Project

Liam has been working on a heritage assignment for school. The assignment was to learn about the background of his family, interview family members, and write down family stories.  This project will culminate in a unit about Ellis Island, the Statue of Liberty and immigration.  Liam decided to make his project a 2 topic assignment.  He included a section for his Biological Heritage and his Family Heritage, since both parts make up who he is.  Because we have limited information from his birth family, we had him complete a DNA kit for his biological section.  His results were not that surprising.  He is mostly German, French and English.  He has a touch of Scandinavian and Baltic and a very small trace from the areas of Poland and the Ukraine.

For his Family Heritage, he decided to interview Grandpa Herman.  We also toured parts of New Haven that have Herman Family memories in them.  We went the church cemetery and found Valentine Herman's grave (he was the one to build the family homestead).  We also went the Herman Family farm, which is now a subdivision, but the house is still standing.  We also got a copy of the Family Tree.  It has been an interesting assignment.  We have learned a lot from it.  It is neat to have so many family connections in our church and school.  

Adoption Update... Still Waiting

Waiting is torture!  This adoption process has been similar to Liam's in that we've had to hurry up and wait.  So much is out of our control.  With Lilly's adoption, so much depended on our promptness with forms, etc.  I was super fast with forms and we adopted her in record time - 15 months from start to finish.  With Korea, we must wait on their court system.  So, here we are... waiting.

Here's what we do know -

Step #1 EP Submission

We are waiting for our EP Submission - Holt will submit our Case to the Ministry.  They only submit a limited number of cases a month. The length of time fluctuates greatly.  Some couples get the EP submission in 90 days from their DTK (Dossier to Korea). Some wait more like 210 days from DTK.  We have waited 154 days as of today, so I am praying we are close.

Step #2 EP Approval

It will take approximately 30-70 days for the EP to be approved.  Again, a very vague timeframe is given.

Step #3 Submitted to Court

After the EP Approval our case will be submitted to court (about a 2 week timeframe from EP Approval).

Step #4 Notified of Court

Next, we will wait between 30-60 days to be notified for court.

Step #5 Start Packing your bags!

Finally, we will be given our court date, which will likely be 20-30 days after that.  The first trip (which is 7 days long) takes place after that notice. 

Step #6 Go get that baby!

The final trip to get custody is about 4 weeks later.  That trip is a 4 day trip.

To sum it all up - we are praying to get EP Submission as soon as possible!  We are looking at the following timelines if all goes well -

From EP Submission to Court Date (first trip) is anywhere from 3.5 - 7.5 months.  We could go to Korea for our first trip as early as April or as late as August.  We could bring our son home anytime between May and September.  We think a spring trip would be lovely!

New Year... New Look

Nesting and organizing has set in.  We went through every cupboard and closet over Christmas Break.  Everything in the house is organized!  The attic and garage are another story.  We will get to those when it gets warmer, or we have to get down the baby stuff, whichever comes first.

I finally finished decorating the toy room, like I've been meaning to.

This artwork was made by one of the ladies in Kenya.  My mom framed it for my birthday.  It's perfect in the toy room.

The kids already had all these stuffed animals.

My friend Casey made the big pillows.

My mom made the curtain when we moved in.  She also bought the giant giraffe.  We found the giraffe painting at Hobby Lobby on sale.

The Legos are now in the basement, sorted by color!

Happy First Birthday! - New Years Eve

Our son turned 1 on December 31st.  We thought about him a lot on the day.  Liam wanted to make him a cake, so he could look back and know how much we love him already.  It was really sweet!

Then, we spent time organizing and sorting the Legos and baby toys. so our little man does not choke on baby toys when he gets home.

Lilly couldn't stay up to watch the ball drop, but Liam did.  We played games and watched movie while we waited for midnight.