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.

December 2018

Christmas news is in a separate post, however, there were many other events this month leading up to Christmas!

Lilly danced in the Nutcracker and did a beautiful job.

The kids made gingerbread houses with Grandma Kusch

The kids also decorated sugar cookies.  I pulled them away from their mission long enough to get the frosting done.

Liam had a Christmas Program

Liam also had a Christmas Concert

Grandma & Grandpa Herman came and enjoyed the concert too

Liam had a weird allergic reaction that made his eye swell and get red.  That didn't stop him from partying with his class.  I got to help.

Miss Hockemeyer gave everyone a sweet ornament to remind them of their baptism.

She loved her book from the class - a travel book of the best places to visit in the world.

Emily's Wedding

One of my former students was in the wedding party.  I can't be that old!!!