April 2019

The main highlights of this month were our trip to Hawaii and Liam's birthday, which are in their own posts.  In addition to that... we enjoyed Easter, the first signs of spring, and a visitor to the neighborhood.

Lilly found her headband I made her when she was a baby (back when she had no hair).

Our friends, the Morrises, adopted another baby - the kids were excited to meet her.

A giant snapping turtle was traveling from the farm field to the pond and crossed our neighbor's yard in the process.

Dave and I each had a table at Grandparents Day.

Easter at Grandma Kusch's

Easter Sunday

Lilly was so excited to get her own tape dispenser. I was thrilled she no longer has to use mine.

The entrance to our school is so pretty this time of year!

We planted a variety pack of daffodils a couple years ago.  We are so thrilled with the variety.

Adoption Update

The title of this post is deceiving.  We don't really have an update... we are still waiting, which seems to be the theme of this adoption.  Here's the recap of what has happened so far in our adoption journey -

* From the time we brought Lilly home from China, Liam started praying for his brother.  He has been convinced that we were not done adopting and that God had a brother for him.

* In October of 2017 we met with Bethany Christian Services and said we were ready to adopt again.  By the time we drove home from Indianapolis, we had decided that we were going to adopt from South Korea.  We then started the Homestudy process.

* In March of 2018 our Homestudy was completed and sent to South Korea.  We started the wait of being matched with a child.  We worked on our I-600A paperwork, which was completed in May.

* In July of 2018 we accepted a referral.  Our son was born on 12.31.17.  We then started receiving his clinic paperwork each time he went in to the doctor and pictures.  Our Dossier was sent to South Korea in August.  Next started the LONGEST wait (190 days to be exact). 

* In February of 2019 we were submitted to the Korean Ministry for review (called EP Submission).  They only allow a certain number of adoptive couples to enter this phase every year.  We were also told that this phase can take between 4-12 weeks.  As of today, we have waited 70 days!  We are praying we hear we have been approved soon.

What's next? -
After we receive EP Approval we will be submitted to Court.  We will then wait again for a court case number, judge assignment, and a court date.  We have been told that couples "typically" travel to Korea for court 8-12 weeks after EP Approval.  

Trip 1 will be the court trip and will last 7 days.  We will get to meet our son and his foster mother and ask her questions.  We then have our court appointment.

Trip 2 (about 4 weeks later) will be our custody trip.  We will go to get our son, have his Visa appointment and then come home.

It's looking like those two trips "could" happen this summer.  We are getting weary with the wait.  Please pray that we hear news soon, that the last stages move smoothly and quickly and that our son's heart is being prepared to meet us.