A little towards Korea

I know that Make a Wish is real and I know that our meeting with them was real, but now that it's 2 months since Cole's Wish Granters, Sarah and Juneall, it really seems like it was this distant memory sort of dream.  Almost like it only happened in my head one night.  I know it's real, but it's sort of an argument with myself.  Cole is asking too.  Almost like he thinks we could possibly know something he doesn't.  I want to believe it's just because they're trying to make Korea happen and it's a very tall order, but I guess just as easily they could be trying hard to make his #2 come true for the shopping spree.  Maybe it's just as hard?  I don't know.

In the meantime, the saving towards Korea has not stopped by any means.  We have no idea if it's possible through MAW, so we're continuing on our 6 year journey of saving for us to all go together.  One of the things we came up with was to tell our 2002 pick up and get something not quite as nice, since he only uses it for hunting and fishing.  Remember we bought that truck 3 years ago thinking we needed the 4 doors so we could all ride together easier.  THEN....came Jaemin 2 months after we bought it and we could no longer all fit in it.  Brian's only driven it 7,000 miles in 3 years and that's just crazy to even have it.  I realize it's not a nice fancy truck to a lot of people, but it was to us.  We sold it last night and ended up finding a 1996 Chevy 4x4 to replace it.  Can't beat it for under $3,000, a few more miles, but it's the same year and make of truck we traded for our Ford 3 years ago.  BUT, it has a vinyl floor instead of carpet because it's a knock down, which is totally awesome!  The kids' dad, that we bought it from is a transmission guy and just replaced it, so we're praying we have many years of driving it.  It's a little rough, but not too bad.  After all was said and done and we did the math, we were able to put $6,000 towards Korea.  That's a massive chunk!  We're pretty much at our goal of where we need to be since we sold the truck and we're praying hard for no major, unexpected, expenses that would drain it again. 

I've been so excited that we might get to go, that I bought the bigger 3 kids passport carriers for the plane ride, so they can just keep them around their necks as we travel.  They even got to pick the colors and they were only $5.  I bought myself a pink one so I can carry my passport and Jaemins.  Brian will use the black carrier my grandma bought me before we went in 2009 for Jaemin.  He can carry Chelsi's passport and his own. 

 

I even called a travel agent, in Chicago, that someone on one of our adoption Facebook groups recommended.  The lady said she could get a pretty good discount if we went their preferred airlines.  I asked her what the going rates for this May were so I can have a better idea.  She said about $1500 for adults and $1300 for kids.  I asked her who the preferred airlines were and she said KAL or Asiana.  Whooohoooo....my preferred too!  I asked her when we should call and she said by January because by March they'll be pretty much full and with 7 of us to keep together, the earlier the better.  So excited to think that I can possibly start calling in December after Cole's heart check.  I will be so over the moon when Korea is real. 

Making a list...

Along with a list of things we want to buy in Korea, a list of things to bring to Korea and a list of things we should try to, slowly, buy over the next year to bring to Korea.  For now, most of that list is coming down to things to make the trip pleasurable for Jaemin and, in turn, for all of us.  I've been perusing other blogs and educational sites reading about inexpensive, non-noisemaking ideas for activities for kids on planes.  But, I'm mostly interested in sensory activities.  This is hard because he seems sensory seeking and most of those activities are ones where he would need to be up and around.  This is tough...can't do that on a plane.

I'm going to make a big ziplock bag of crafty things that I don't care about like those fuzz ball things, yarn and beads.  I'm planning to bring floam in a taped ziplock for a fidget toys, maybe a stress ball or two.....found some at the $1 store, but if I can get some free, I'm going to start watching for them.  I also saw these great I Spy lap bags that people are making on Etsy.  I can't afford $20 + shipping, so when I googled how to make one myself I came across a lady who took a pencil case and made one.  So, I'm thinking I'll make 3.  I can stitch them together, then 1 lays across his lap and the other two would weigh that one down on either side.  I could fill each one with different types of items for him to find making it a weighted lap bag, fidget toy and game all in one.  In my head this makes sense, but we'll see.  First I have to find tiny little toys and items to put inside with the rice and beads.

I put sugarless gummies on my list for this week.  Cole says they're nasty, but Jaemin will eat just about anything.  Supposedly, chewing something like gum (which just isn't possible for Jaemin) is good for a sensory 'work out'.  I'm trying to keep the sugar level for Jaemin down as there seems to be a pretty direct correlation to some of his stimming and this.  While Jaemin's been in bed for an hour now he is calmer tonight.  We're implementing a no tv, no iPod 1 hour before bedtime.  It stimulates him much too much.  We're making it part of his Korea social story so that, hopefully, when we fly we can say 'one hour before Jaemin sleeps Jaemin can't play iPod or watch tv'.

If the flight doesn't go well next year I wish the other passengers could know just how hard we tried to prepare.  Our trip to TX is our little trial run. Yikes!

Our new additions

Last week I posted the kids waiting for a new addition.  There were 4 kittens born to Cuddles in several hours.  When we went to bed there were only two kittens and by morning there were 4.  We ended up with 3 calicos (one was tortoiseshell) and 1 white kitten with brown spots just like momma.

Unfortunately, one of the beagle pups got out of his kennel while we were at work and got our tortoiseshell kitten.  We were going to keep that one for Chelsi, so we're a little bummed and now the pups have to be closely supervised while out or they can't come out.  Needless to say for the rest of that day he got sent to his room.  Chelsi picked out the kitten that looks just like Cuddles, so that's the one she'll get.  And the other two calico females, we'll have to find homes for and then get Cuddles fixed this summer so there will be no more kittens.  They are pretty cute and starting to move around a lot more now and their bellies ARE fat!  Momma takes good care of them and if you hold one and it cries she comes running and gives you a dirty look until you put it back in the house.  They still haven't opened their eyes, but should soon.

Just a couple days old....you should see them now.

Crafty weekend preparing for trips

It's been a rainy weekend and Chelsi needed new shoes, so we went shopping and then spent some time at Hobby Lobby so we could do some projects over the weekend.

Today we made tshirts for the girls.  We bought those iron on jewels and needless to say I was starting to wonder what we were doing.  Unfortunately, the directions for the jewels were not as good as the iron on patches, but we were trying the jewels first.  I gave up after several attempts at ironing them and them lifting right off.  We went to the preset jewels that were on plastic.  They stuck right away.  So, I finally decided to follow those directions for the individual jewels and voila!  The girls picked out the words and they, naturally, fit their personalities.  Chelsi selected 'sweet pea' while Kaelin selected 'wild child'.  So fitting for both.

We put their Korean names in Hangul on the shirts which I was having a difficult time trying to align the jewels to form the characters, but we got them.  Then, the girls each picked out patches for another shirt.  Kaelin picked 'diva' and we put 3 hearts of jewels on the back of the neck.  Chelsi picked 'cutie' and we put a jeweled flower on the back of the neck and one jeweled flower on each sleeve.  They're not perfect, but they're one of a kind and cute and the girls like them.

We also decided to get some nylon and supplies to make a child leash.  It started out as just wanting to make one, but Chelsi said she wanted one too.  She doesn't think she can stay with us when we go to TX next month and is worried she'll get lost in a crowd or when we go to Korea.  Chelsi picked out pink and we got blue for Jaemin.  Basically it's just a loop for the parent and one for the child with a buckle in between so we can separate if we need to.  It seems to work, but we'll try it out next month.  Mainly, it's an alternative if Jaemin insists on walking, but accidentally lets go of our hand, which he frequently does. This way he can't get too far and get hurt.  Brian's very much against me getting one of those child harnesses, so this was the best thing I could think of.  It took me a couple of hours to hand-sew all the velcro on, but we got it.

He said it, I didn't

I had Cole drive Chelsi and I to gymnastics tonight so he could get some night driving time in. Chase decided to tag along too. It was very boring for them, but oh well.

We were watching Chelsi with her instructor and I made a comment that she could do it, if she could just keep her legs straight. Seriously, it would look pretty good then, a cartwheel and roundoff that is. So Cole says they're not that hard. I said 'oh, so you can do one'. He says 'it doesn't take a genius'. I said 'well, Chelsi can't seem to do it'. Then, I caught myself and said 'oh, that's why you can do it and she can't....a genius can't do it'. Cole just laughed. I said 'you said it, not me'. He said, 'I know'. :) It was pretty funny. Maybe you just had to be there.

3rd Graders have WAY too much energy

I went on my daughter's 3rd grade field trip to the science center. I only had her and another girl, so it wasn't too bad. Luckily there were a lot of parents that tagged along. Kaelin definitely had a good time hanging out with her friends and since she never asks me to go on field trips and I invited myself I asked her if I embarrassed her at all and she said no. YAY!

Open Honesty to Help Others

I know how much reading other blogs or talking to people you know really has helped me over the years. Without talking about your problems or goals you don't realize you're not alone. You don't realize you can do something you didn't think you could. You don't realize that something really might be within reach and you might just give up on something or not start and lose sight of something you feel could be important; all due to fear.

Fear is strong. Trust me. I know. I am OCD, Type A and it consumes me on money and it's a point of contention for me. Since we decided that we were going to set a tentative date of going to Korea for next May or June (after school's out) it's time to really buckle down to see where the budget is and watch the costs of going to Korea and check into them more accurately.

 Doing so I can really see where my budget for Korea is. My high budget for all 7 of us to go to Korea is $22,000. WOW! Are your eyes popping out? Mine sorta do, but not really because I've thought about this for so long.  We've been saving for a long time.  Kaelin and I actually started talking about it when she was 3.  So, most definitely for over 6 years.  And I know $22,000 sounds like we're trying to go on this 1st class trip, but not really.  I'll cut it down here:  $2,000/plane ticket x 7 (economy class on the high side, hopefully), $90/parking at the airport, $70 bus to Seoul, $2,600/about 11 nights in Seoul, $715 to take the train and stay a night in Gwangju (Jaemin and Chelsi's birth city), $1,656 to fly to Jeju and stay 2 nights (Kaelin's birth city/island), $70 to take the bus back to the airport, $1,200 for 12 days of food for 7 people and 3 meals (should be on the high side), $200 for subway (not sure how accurate I am on this), $1,000 for souvenirs and incidentals (my catch all just in case).   Total is $21,601!

So, here's where we stand right now.  We will be getting our tax refund soon and we should end up with $14,630 in the Korea account.  Many refunds, Discover Card rewards, rebates, you name it we put the extra money in there.  We should get another tax refund next year and save some to put in another $6,000.  Great right!  BUT, I have a $2,000 estimate in my budget to pay for our septic field tweak we need.  The guy today says it should only be about $500, but I'm leaving my budget as is, just in case.  I also have Cole now getting braces.  I haven't reimbursed ourselves from our HSA plan for Chase yet, so I'll be able to use his HSA money and still have to come up with $500.  This leave us at $18,130 by next March or April.  This leaves me needing to come up with $3,471 by then.  That's a lot!  Not really sure it can be done, but we're going to keep on trying.

There's no way to know that Make a Wish will have the capability to grant Cole such an enormous wish, so we're going through with our plans for our family before Cole doesn't get the chance to do it before his surgery.  This is a real picture of how much a large family CAN save.  We don't make a lot of money, so I think it's pretty amazing.  But, we also know a lot can come up still and prevent us from going.  Not just the $3,471.  Anything can happen and start making that total rise.

Encourage yourself if you have a dream.  This is OUR dream for our whole family.  We are trying very hard to make it a reality and in the end at least we can't fault ourselves for not trying at all.  I realized that all things were possible after we adopted our 3 younger kids.  And after Cole has exceeded expectations for his heart.  Keep that in mind and go for it, no matter what.  Have no regrets.  That's what life is about.