Don't forget

My posts are still on US time, so while it says the first post was 5/24, that was in the US.  It's 5/25 here.

Lisa

We're in Korea!

I know, I never said we'd even left yet.  It's been crazy.  We had a vague idea Thursday afternoon and by the time I left the kids' awards assembly Friday I had a voicemail from the agency saying we had travel clearance and could leave Saturday.  So at 3:30 am we left home and by 4:00 am the next day we were in Korea....of course in Korea it was that afternoon...late.  That really throws you off when you miss a day like that.

Anyways, I'll try to post here and there about our travel so far, but not exactly sure how that will turn out.  I just happen to be up at 2:00 am Korea time and couldn't sleep so I got my pictures off the camera and thought I might post a little.

The first flight was exactly on time and then we had about 3 ½ hours to get back through security before the next flight, which was way plenty time.  Then, Lois went on MANY walks through that area with the girls.  By then, it was 8 hours after we’d left home and they had done really well.  But, on the first flight Kae ended up with a window seat and she REALLY enjoyed getting to see the ground beneath us and slowly going away.  She was pretty amazed by that.  It was actually pretty funny on the way to the airport too.  The girls both fell asleep and had been asleep for quite sometime when we arrived.  They both woke up right as we were pulling in to park and Kaelin got so excited (she was woohooin' the whole time to park) to find out we were already there and Chelsi promptly told us she almost fell asleep.  ;)

The first little flight was just an hour long.  It was American and Kaelin thought it was great just because it was a new experience.  But, when we got on the Korean Air flight she really thought it was awesome.  They love eating on the airplane, picking out movies to watch and listening to their pick of Korean kids songs.  Chelsi ate a hamburger and some other kids stuff for lunch, but Kaelin and I had bibimbop.  Lois had the pasta.  She was too hungry to try something new at that time.  All the girls did was talk about how much they loved the airplane.  They obviously don't remember their crabbiness after they had been awake for almost 24 hours and FINALLY fell asleep the last few of the trip.  We barely woke Chelsi up enough to get off the plane and get through the airport.

Incheon International was very easy to navigate.  We were out of there in about 1/2 hour even with collecting our luggage, going through immigration and customs and exchanging our money.  I guess people felt sorry for us and people were asking us as we got close to the doors where we were going so they could help.  We knew which bus line, so that helped and Korean Air got us on their limo bus and we took the 85 minute ride to NEAR the hotel and walked another 2-3 blocks to the hotel.  with two kids, two large suitcases and 4 backpacks, we decided we were taking a taxi back to the airport.  I don't care....I'm not dragging poor Jaemin through that.  Chelsi unfortunately thought we were seeing him right away.  It was nice to be able to tell her this morning it's tomorrow now.

We're staying at the Fraser Place Central serviced residences.  It's very nice.  Our reservations didn't go through from the agent, so we were worried for a bit.  But, it was on my eticket so the guy at the front desk gave us a little bigger room for the same price (160,000 won)...about $127/night including two adult breakfasts.  Really cheap for Seoul.  The room is very large.  We have a separate bedroom with a queen and single.  Chelsi and I slept in the queen, Kaelin slept on the couch and Lois slept on the single.  We have tons of shelves and closets everywhere!  Tons of places to keep everything.  We even got two bathrooms.  The floors are hardwood and we really like that.  We have a kitchen, so we're grocery shopping for some things today...just some basics to avoid some meals if we don't have time to stop and eat somewhere.  We'll probably still eat out a lot because we all like Korean (except Chelsi) and I heard it's very inexpensive here in comparison to eating American here.

It's getting closer to breakfast time and then we'll pack what we need to venture out.  Today is just shopping, so we're hitting the markets.

Some pictures of our trip so far are below.  Please continue to pray for our safety while here and the safety of our loved ones still at home.  I'm SO glad we decided to have a friend come with instead of Brian and I bringing all 4 kids.  We were exhausted with the 4 of us.

The trip from Chicago to Korea.  We flew Korean air from Chicago to Incheon (outside of Seoul).  It was a great flight.  I mean as great as a 13 hour flight can be.  The food was good.  There were tvs in the seats, so the girls could watch whatever they want or listen to music or track the flight.  I, sort of, watched 3 movies on the way.  I don't think the girls really watched any, but they watched some Korean kid shows like Pororo.  They listened to some kids music and Chelsi got really loud when she heard the Three Bears song start.  She started singing along.  It was great!



















In Korea!!!









View from the room.

Now she's chanting

Chelsi has begun chanting/singing for her brother.  She was walking around tonight singing "bring home Jaemin, I want my brother home".  Oh, baby, me too!

Lisa

Memorial Day Weekend=Staycation

for us anyways.

Since I'm about 95% sure we're not getting our call this week to leave this weekend, we're going to enjoy ourselves.  Hopefully, the weather holds up and the kids will be able to swim.  Praying for 80s and no rain!  Then we can watch movies in the evening, eat out and other such luxuries.  While we're still prayin' for that 5% call (especially the boys so we're gone for a 3 day weekend while they fish the whole time), it's not likely and we're going to make the best out of this long weekend.  Shouldn't complain, it's one less day to work, but generally, if I'm at work a travel call is possible.  Double edged sword there, huh?  :)

Lisa

Another one of THOSE posts....

I'm ready.  I'm still ready.  I'm more ready.

Fingernails and toenails cut on two little girls.  ALL clothes packed.  Medicine packed.  Camera charged and packed.  Leapsters and batteries packed.  The only thing left to pack is one thing of my allergy meds that I can't pack until that day and this laptop...if it comes for sure.

As a back up plan the boys and I cleaned the pool up.  We rigged the pump to work as a vacuum on the floor of the pool and it's slowly warming up.  It's supposed to be pretty warm this week, so if we have a nice weekend, we'll be able to swim all weekend.  We're having a vacation weekend.  We're having a vacation at home.  If I'm not in Korea, I'm taking it easy and all of us are going to enjoy ourselves thoroughly, 'cause God knows if that call doesn't come I'm going to be upset.  So we'll have to make the weekend as fun as we can.

Lord, please, please send us that call early this week so we can leave this weekend.

Lisa

Dear God,

I know our son will come home in your perfect time and only you know exactly when that is, but please let that time be soon.  We're so ready for our son and we are praying hard that we get our call next week and can leave next weekend to hold him.

Please hear our prayer.

(Lois, thanks for lighting the candle.)

Lisa

Whine Whine Whine

Maybe I need a glass.  :0 )  Seriously...may soon.

I know we haven't been waiting long.  Not long at all in the world of waiting for a travel call for adoption, but now that everything's ready for Jaemin, I'm done and want him home.  It wouldn't be so bad if there were other travel calls going on, but there really aren't.  None that are close to ours to give us the idea ours might be coming soon.  Back in April when our I600 was approved the agency said Social Welfare Services (SWS) have been running about 3-5 weeks for travel.  This is week 4.  At this point, I don't even foresee next week getting a call.

Alright.  I give up!

Lisa

Happy Birthday Chase!!

Chase is 9 today.  He was my Mother's Day gift 9 years ago today.  I didn't give birth on Mother's Day, but we brought him home from the hospital that day.  He was pretty happy on his birthday.  I made him a breakfast casserole last Saturday.  He's been aching for that.  Then, last night I baked the cake and put green icing on like he wanted.  And luckily the store had strawberries on sale, so he got strawberry shakes for dinner plus strawberries with the ice cream and cake.

Happy birthday baby!
Mom

Happy Mother's Day

to all the mothers out there and to-be.

I'm getting to sit and finish a movie I started....."No Reservations".  Good movie.  Brian is out with the kids so I can finish in peace.   He's going to get the garage cleaned up and lawn mowed today.  That's my present, which is fine with me.  He got a card for the kids to give me.  It's the sweetest card.  Not what the card came printed with, but what was written in no so easy to read handwriting.  Chelsi signed her name, as did Kaelin.  Cole and Chase each wrote their own message.   Brian said he did not tell them a thing.  They had to just sign it and they wrote something.  Chase simply wrote for me to have a good Mother's Day.  He and I have almost always shared this weekend since I brought him home from the hospital on this day.  I love that about this day.  Cole wrote the sweetest thing any mother could read from her son.  He wrote "Mom thank you for being there when I need you and making things fun."

This is why having 5 kids doesn't scare me so much.  I know with a lot of hard work they might get it from time-to-time.  They might get just how much we love them.

Lisa

New Rooms Done!

Both rooms are done.  We still need some little things for Jaemin's room, but what's necessary to live is there.  The boys room is complete.  They've moved in and hung all their stuff back up.  KOREA, WE'RE READY FOR OUR BABY NOW!!!





Here's what I painted on the bulletin board attached to the mirror on the dresser.



And the big boys' room.

Another step down/P3

In the adoption world P3 means Packet 3.  It's a packet that gets sent from the embassy to the agency.  This packet contains what the agency needs to get a child's immigration visa.  So, now, everything is done on the US side.  There is nothing left.  Now we wait for the agency to get the visa and passport in order and he's ready.  Some people get a call two days after P3 and some wait up to 3 weeks.  It depends.  The agency can basically do what they want now.  If you're escorting and they don't have an escort lined up they don't need to be in a hurry to return it and schedule the visa interview.  If the passport isn't done yet they can't apply for the visa anyways.  Since we're not waiting on an escort, that will not be a problem.  We're probably waiting on passport though.  It's too early in the wait not to be.  So my guess, is we'll be somewhere in the middle to later end of the P3 wait to travel call.  I'm still hoping for the week of the 18th, but who knows.

Then, when we get the call we can leave anytime we want.  We must be at the agency on a Monday and cannot leave until at least Thursday that same week.  We hope to leave on a Saturday, but we'll see what fares are like and what day of the week the call comes.  No one knows.

Lisa

Finally, the girls have passports!

After a full month, they have their passports.  I've made copies and packed them in our bags.  Now, I can say we're READY!  No, the boys haven't moved into their new room, but should this weekend.  We did manage to get both rooms painted and Brian's busting his %$$ to get the trim and closets complete before carpet Friday.  It will be so awesome to go get the baby bed, move the boys into their new room and get Jaemin's really set up.  I can't wait!  Funny thing from the weekend too.  Brian and I were in the boys' new room painting when I hear voices and turn to see Chase and neighbor boy Hayden's faces plastered to the screen of the open window.  I keep painting and then I hear Chase tell Hayden that for a whole week the girls are allowed downstairs.  You should have heard the happiness in his voice.  :)  Pure evil.  :)  Truth is, we moved the boys AND all their furniture into the living room down.  It's so crowded now that we just don't want to worry about things getting worse, so for a few days they're staying upstairs to play, etc.  Not as bad as it sounds, but it sure makes the boys happy.

And, Korea?  Well, they can go ahead and send the Visa packet to SWS so we can get that travel call this month.
Hey a girl can hope!
Lisa

Bad mommy

Chase was supposed to play baseball this weekend, but due to the rain it's been cancelled.  I was silently, and sometimes not so silently, happy.  Bad mommy.  :)

Next Friday we get carpet for the new room we've been adding to our basement for the big boys and at the same time they're going to recarpet the boys' old room (Jaemin's new room).  So, before then we have to repaint.  We could ONLY paint this weekend.  Brian just finished spraying the texture on the drywall this week.  He already started priming it tonight and tomorrow we will move the boys out of the their room and go hot and heavy on the painting all weekend until it's done.  Then after Friday they'll have carpet and we should be able to move them into their new room.  I know some things will have to be pieced together, but surely by the time Jaemin comes home we'll be done.  We should have at least 2 more weeks to get the trim up, the sills on, the built in shelves up, etc.  I think he already has it stained, so it will look so nice in a couple of weeks.

So I'm not completely bad, just needed to get Jaemin's room done so we can go get the crib out of mom's attic and borrow the mattress, etc.  It will be nice to actually set up his room finally.

Lisa

Passports and Visas and Emigration Permits

Okay, so the passports are ours and the Visa is just an approval so Jaemin can receive his Visa in Korea.

We all received our passports two Mondays ago, except the girls'.  So I called for a couple of days to check on the status and then finally asked to have someone call back.  The lady who processed our other 4 passports called back Friday.  But, by then I had already received the denial I was expecting asking for the girls' adoption decrees to prove they were US citizens.  The lady admitting our paperwork at USPS at the beginning of April refused to take the documents.  So I ran to get the documents mailed that night and sent a check to expedite their passports so we didn't run into any other snags.  But, I did write a note to cancel the checks if they could since it was not our fault.

When the lady called me Friday I told her I had already mailed them to her attention and told her what happened.  She said she would call when everything arrived so I could rest easy.  She just called yesterday to let us know that she had everything and was sending them out to be printed and we would have them in about a week.  AND she voided our checks!  Federal government being nice?  That was awesome!  Saved us $120.

Now for Visas.  As you know we were approved by USCIS for our I600 on 4/20, which is really quick!  NVC (National Visa Center) received the approval on 4/27 and by 4/29 we were logged out of NVC and it was sent to the embassy in Korea.  All this is is an approval saying we're okay from the US' side and telling the embassy that as soon as the Korean agency applies his Visa can be issued to come home.  This doesn't mean we're done.  First a packet is sent from the embassy to the Korean agency to make them aware we're done on this side.  Then, if our son has his passport or approval (emigration permit) the agency can schedule a Visa interview and submit the packet back, get his passport and send him home.  Sounds easy, but it still takes sometime.

I watch other family's posted timelines and for this SWS (our Korean agency) we shouldn't have longer than 2 1/2 weeks left, BUT our home study just left for Korea this week, so I don't know if this will hold us up or not.  The placing agency in NY didn't know either.  She didn't think more than a week, but really didn't know.  Those darn EPs (emigration permits) are a huge mystery to all adoptive families.  So, regardless of the fact that our agency told us travel calls are usually about 4-6 weeks from I600 approval, but have been running 4 weeks, we will just have to wait and see.  I'm still holding out for the 4!  :)

So pray for us.  Hope we can leave that last week of May so Kaelin doesn't have to miss school or summer school to go.  That would be perfect timing in my perfect little world.  :)

Lisa

Still working on passports

We finally got the girls' denials for passports.  It's been so frustrating.  We applied on 4/4 and I brought their adoption decrees and Korean passports because I knew I was supposed to.  I insisted they go with the applications, but the lady working passports at USPS that day refused to at least humor me because she knew better.  Well, now I had to pay $14 to send that stuff plus I'm paying $60 each to expedite.  They do not know what they're doing.  The info line decided to let our USPS know that they were wrong so they'll know how to process these from now on.  I'm glad someone else won't have to deal with this headache!

So, if you have an adopted child, out of country, and want to get their passports, insist the proper documentation go no matter what!

Lisa

I600 Approval

So we know have another step down.  USCIS approved our I600 application.  This means the state side is just about done.  Our agency is applying for the interstate compact this week too.  That the last state side deal.  That shouldn't take very long, maybe a couple of weeks.  The Korean side still has a lot to do.  They have to issue his passport and visa.  They cannot even begin his visa until our approval arrives in Korea through the National Visa Center.  That should be next weeks sometime.  It's hard to estimate the amount of time Korea will take for their portion yet, but we're fairly sure he'll be home before my birthday at the end of June.  We're hoping for a call in May, but it's iffy.   We'll see if we can be one of those super speedy process people like a few people get lucky enough to be.  :)

Lisa

I'm sooooo tired

Kaelin and I have been shopping all day.  We were looking for chairs to go in the kitchen that we could match up to add to our table for Jaemin and a dresser for his room.  I finally found a dresser for a reasonable price and the chairs weren't bad either.  Once we get the boys moved we'll get a mattress for the big bed that will go in his room.

I finally let my guard down enough to really buy him some stuff.  I've been buying right around 9 month.  Thinking he should fit in there pretty well.  We got him a Cardinal's romper to start him off right.  Lois, you'll love it.  I got him a sleeper to wear on the plane and a few other things in case he has some accidents on the plane.  We don't have near enough clothes yet, but we have another month or so.  Only other thing, besides clothes, is diapers, wipes and formula to buy.

I've been starting to pack today a little bit.  It's such a big trip and so much to think about when you're bringing little ones.  So, after Kaelin and I bought the gifts for the foster family and workers at the agency we came home and bagged them up and organized gift bags, etc. so we can easily get them ready once we're in Korea.  I now know I AM going to overpack.  That's me by nature.

Oh well.  Done for now and probably until we get the call or at least a room to spread this stuff into.
Lisa

Introducing...

Jaemin William.

Our papers have all gone to Korea now, so we can show him off.  We've done our thing with immigration and now we just wait for both countries to issue a visa and passport.  Sounds easy, but it does take some time.  The agency is saying, on the long side, June/July, so we're hoping May/June.  Of course, late May.  We're not done with the bedrooms yet.  :)  Anyone want to come over and help us paint two bedrooms soon?

These are my favorites of Jae.

Another step taken

Our agency has Jae's legals.  So now they will file our I600 with immigration.  Problem is we haven't even filed our I600A and been fingerprinted.  So we're going to try to carefully coordinate this.  We already had an appointment to do our part and will do that this week.  They will, meanwhile, fed ex their portion and we'll try to see someone to put the two pieces together so they don't get confused down the road.

Approval could take 30-60 days...according to USCIS.  Generally, our offices is a couple of weeks or so, but I'll be happy with a month.  This keeps us in the realm of possibility of June.  I'd even settle for late June.  ;)
Lisa

So proud of myself

I starting getting allergy shots...AGAIN... in January.  Once I was done with build up a girl at work agreed to give them to me since she' s a nurse.  I knew she wasn't going to be at work some days last week, so she'd been teaching me how to do it myself since March.  Beside, I need to learn just in case.  She said instead of my arms I could do the fat in my thighs...there's plenty there to grab onto.  :)  So tonight I got all of my stuff out and did exactly like she said and it didn't even sting!  That was much easier than I ever expected.  I feel much better about doing them myself now.  YAY me!

Lisa

I just loved this picture so much

I couldn't resist.  We, obviously didn't plan it this way,  but the yellow in her hair and on her dress was so cute next to Grandma's daffodils while egg hunting.

Happy Easter!!

Another Easter gone.  It was a good day...not overly nice outside, but good.  Church was nice.  They had different music that I really enjoyed.  For some reason, I got kind of overwhelmed at some point in mass.  I can't remember if it was the music or just something Father was saying at the time.  I just kind of felt very blessed....VERY blessed...all at once thinking about last year at Easter and Brian was barely walking again and this year we're waiting for our 5th blessing.  God truly is amazing.  I never, in a million years, saw my life this way.  Not in a million.

Here are some pictures of the kids from today.

Baby, baby, baby

Nothing like a labor that's very short.  Problem is you don't know how long it will actually be, so what do you do?

So far, I've spent the last month, since finding out we have a son, doing plenty of paperwork.  Signatures, notaries, copies of birth certificates, you name it, we've done it!  Tomorrow, I'm sending our official acceptance Fed Ex, back to the agency.  It won't leave for Korea until 4/20 due to their schedule, but this will give them plenty of time to check it for errors.  I got it all scanned and copies tonight, which felt really good.  After we go to immigration next week, we should have no more paperwork.  We will have officially done about 3-4 months of paperwork in 1 month!  This paperwork ends up being about 3 inches thick when you're through with it.  Really amazing when you get through it all.

As far as getting ready for Jaemin, we're getting there.  We're still working on the big boy's new room.  We're going to have to pay to get some help so we can get it done in time.  Only so much you can do when you both work and have 4 kids.  We have the basics of what we need, so we'll be okay.  Our friends are letting us borrow their crib mattress.  We still, amazingly, have the crib.  I was just about to sell it at this month's rummage sale.  I left a booster with tray at mom's, so we're getting that back until Brian can make a bench to go with the table we have.  We're slowly getting some clothes.  I have a whole rough tote now.  I went rummage saling for some and some girls at work have brought in some.  He has PLENTY of toys!  Another girl at work is having her son bring home some clothes from her niece's 2 year old in May.  Someone else at work bought us a diaper bag.  It was actually the one I'd been eyeing at Kmart, so that was pretty cool.  She filled it with receiving blankets, socks, bottles and nipples.  We have enough to get by now.  I think the only thing I'll have to, eventually, get is clothes that will fit at this age, more socks, diapers, wipes, blah, blah, blah.  :)

Once we get the boys moved out, paint and carpet Jaemin's room and buy a dresser or chest for Jae we can get the clothes out and figure out what we still need.  We should have around 2-3 months to do this.

We'll get it done......eventually.

Lisa

We have a referral!

It's the official referral.  They expected it by 5/1, so this was great news!  We're getting everything taken care of this week, hopefully.  Then the paperwork will be off to Korea.  Once we get his legals and can finish up with immigration we'll really be on our way.  Could be as early as June or as late as September.  We're hoping for July!

We got a picture too and he's too cute!  I'll post that after we get our acceptance off to Korea.

Thanks to one of the local bank employees (who's staying late), we're getting our papers notarized quickly.  Hopefully, I have enough time after work to really go through the paperwork and get things in order and ready before we get notarized.

We're getting closer Jaemin!!

BTW, you know what's super funny is I called my mil for something and also told her we had his referral and I was in the middle of packing things up to send to him when I told her what we'd gotten him.  We'd gotten him a little blanket animal and then I bought a 2nd to keep at home in case his foster mother didn't send this one back with him.  She told me how she'd already gotten him and then was telling me about it.  We bought the exact same one.  So now Jaemin has 3!  One for Korea, one to bring home and one to keep at daycare.

Mom

Exhausted....

I think that speaks for both of us.  Brian's been home all week with Kaelin.  She started running a temp last Saturday.  Monday he brought her to the doctor because her kindergarten class has been running Influenza B through the class and we wanted her tested.  The nurse practioner didn't seem to think it was necesary and didn't do it.  So, now, today, Kaelin is still sick after 5 days and Chelsi has it.  We got her in and made them run the test and she tested positive.  So we now have meds for Chelsi, Cole and Chase so hopefully Chelsi's won't last as long and the boys won't get it at all.  I'm FURIOUS at that nurse for thinking she could charge us $25 to tell us it was a virus....REALLY, no kidding?!  The flu generally is!  We wanted to protect the other 3.  We didn't need Chelsi getting it for sure.  With the high temps Kae was running Chelsi would risk another febrile seizure.  So, now we're having to medicate her 'round the clock to keep her from spiking to fast.  I picked the girls up from Brian around 4:30 after he took them to the doctor.  He then went after the meds.  He came home at 8:00 pm!  Waited in line at one pharmacy for an hour to be told they were out and then went to another and had to wait over an hour to fill.  Luckily, while he's been home with sick little Kae, he's been able to work on the boys' room, but he's now at a point he has to wait on others in order to go any further.

We also found out we can't file our I600A without home study.  So we had to cancel our appointment.  And the worker who's been processing that office's I600's for years (and was quite great at it/quick) passed away last week.  I'd just received an email from her two days before she died.  So sad.  She was quite young.  So who knows how slow and delayed that office will be without her.

It's going to be a long, long process!

Lisa

We're getting closer to the money to finish the adoption.

We have been trying our best to come up with every way to pay for this adoption without putting our family at risk. We know we're probably in better shape than some families, but we had not planned on a fifth child or third adoption. And, of course, we'll do anything to bring our son home. We have some money in savings today, we're getting more out of our home by refinancing and cashing out what we responsibly can.  Today we received some additional assistance from someone.

We had already hoped to go to Korea when the girls were older, just the girls and I. Now that someone has to go anyways to get JaeMin we felt this would be our one and only trip to Korea. We cannot leave the girls behind. They've had their hearts set on Korea for a long time. After we decided to go, we realized we couldn't leave the boys behind either. This alone will cost approximately $10,000 if we can get inexpensive tickets and some rooms at SWS' guest house. We expect the adoption to cost almost $41,000 with everything, including finalization afterward. Some money has to be spent to build a small bedroom in our basement garage for the older boys and JaeMin will have a room of his own; the girls share a room as well.  Some money we'll need because I don't have enough leave time to take what I need with JaeMin and will need money to cover the leave without pay I'll take for him.  The adoption alone, will deplete our savings, monetary gift we received and equity out of our home with nothing left.

Even with this...nothing left....we know there have been too many signs for this to be wrong.  I tried to ignore them the first couple of days or so, but everytime I thought there was no way we could God showed me differently.  It was me who had to be shown.  Brian believed all along.  God really did work in this.  We can both see it.  And now we're just a couple thousand $$ short of being able to do everything we need.  That's amazing!

Lisa

More Baby Stuff and Paperwork Fury

Today Chelsi and I went rummage saling.  We found a lot of clothes for Jaemin.  We still don't really have any summer stuff, but that's harder to buy until he gets home because that's what he'll wear right away.  Of course, we got him a Cardinals shirt at one!  He's got some shoes to grow into too.  Chelsi picked out a bunch of Baby Einstein and Usborne toys and books.  They were all .25 and in great condition!  So excited, but we missed out on the crib mattress we really needed.

After that Chelsi, Kaelin and I put together the little scrapbook we have to send to our agency with pictures of us and our life.  The girls colored it and designed the pages.  It looks great.  I have done at least two months of paperwork in the last week.  Fast and furious we're preparing as quickly as we can and anticipating what pictures, forms, letters, etc. anyone may need and getting them ahead so we can get our son here.

Lisa

Let the papers fly!

I have spent the VAST majority of the week filling out papers, scanning them, copying them, you name it.  Working with two different agencies is so much harder.  The coordination alone is hard, but then you also have to fill out twice the papers.   But, after a lot of paperwork and calls we are well on our way.  We should be beginning our home study update this weekend and she hopes to finish next week, maybe the week after.  If that happens it will be the quickest home study in history.  :)  This week we have fingerprinting appointments and physicals.  As soon as that is done and our references return their questionnaires the homestudy can be turned into the placing agency.  At that point, we just wait for the official referral to arrive from Korea.  Once that arrives we can accept our son's placement and Korea will begin moving him through their process to get him a Visa and Passport and permit to arrive.  Once Korea sends his legals (praying they come with his referral), we can file our papers with the United States government.  When all of this is complete we will get the call he can come home.  No sooner than June could this possibly happen and hopefully not long after either.

We're still working on money.  We've turned in the preapplication for one grant.  We have to follow up with our new home study once it's complete in order to be considered, but we didn't want to miss their deadline since we're kind of in a special situation.  We have another we need to finish applying for, but we're waiting on our placing agency to send us a letter to send with our application confirming we're in the process for our son.  We need a good $7-10,000 to be okay.  I was really amazed once I sat down to look at the cost, how much it's gone up since our last two.  It's almost $10,000 more than the other two combined.  Crazy, huh?  Some of the expense is travel.  This agency requires at least one of us travel to Korea.  I can't go and leave the girls.  They're wanting to see Korea so bad.  Since the three of us are definitely going we really don't want to be split up as a family and not receive our Jaemin together, so we're praying we can get enough in grants for all of us to go.

Please pray with us on this.

Lisa

Surprise Adoption

If you get pregnant and don't plan it they call it an accidental pregnancy.  I guess, with adoption, you could call it an accidental adoption, but I don't feel it is an accident.  A surprise felt like a better word and way of describing it.

This recently happened to some acquaintances of ours.  They told us in December that they received a call that their daughter had a brother born in Korea and they decided to bring him home.  As the 5 Korean adoptive families sat at the table on Lunar New Year shocked one of our own had this happen, I reinforced to Brian that this is rare.  It seemed so extremely rare.  We discussed what would happen if it happened to us, but it was a very short conversation.  I said yes and he said no and I thought what's the point of any argument since this is rare and wouldn't happen to us anyways.  That night we left it at; we would discuss it.  Enough said.

So here we are 1 1/2 months after that conversation having the conversation again because it happened to us.  We got a sibling call.  One of our daughters has a baby brother in Korea and we have the choice to adopt him too.  I don't think I expected the shock and feelings and concerns and thoughts that came after that call.  We got it on a Thursday and both took off to go home and discuss so we wouldn't have the kids to preoccupy us and make the discussion any more complicated.  We both went back and forth.  We made a pro and cons list, discussed, cried, discussed some more and finally just quit talking out of exhaustion.  That Friday morning we didn't talk about it at all.  I think we were still both tired and still both very much processing our choices and possible decision.

On the way home that evening I thought about how he didn't think he'd want a fifth, so I decided that if he said no that night, that would be it.  Since I seemed to feel no definite direction, either way, I felt it best to go with Brian.  I had already told him that in no way would I be upset if he said no.  I would grieve for sure.  But, I would not be upset with him, just the situation.  But, when I walked in the door that night he said "okay".  I wasn't sure exactly what he was talking about, but he said we needed to bring him home.  He didn't think either of us could live with the regret of not having him in our lives too.  He's never reacted like that at the thought of another child with any of the first 4.  I felt that as a sign too, since I was still processing myself.  We called the agency to tell them that depending on the medical information we wanted him here.  We both knew that if the baby had any medical conditions or indicators of future problems we just couldn't do it.  We know anything's a possibility at anytime, but if we knowingly go into a more difficult situation on top of 4 kids already we just didn't feel prepared enough for that.  We have discussed how we will add a room to the garage for the older boys and the baby will get his own room by ours.  We realized how we cannot fit even 1 parent and all 5 kids in Brian's car, so we will have to adjust the way we do things such as picking them up after school and daycare.  His mom has an opening in daycare so our son will be able to go with Chelsi to daycare everyday, which is great!  I even went to talk to our priest last Sunday and he made me feel much better.  This time it was me dragging my feet a bit.

Korea responded to my email this past week answering my questions about birth circumstances and health.  They also gave us his birth date and name, which made him more real.  There was nothing there to give us a reason to say no, so we gave them a definite yes.  I felt much more ready after reading the email.  Of course, we still have to wait on Korea to approve us due to Brian's accident last year, but I"m told it shouldn't be a problem since he healed so well and we have a surgeon's letter to back us up.  I'm just the type of planning person that needs a little adjustment time for major life changes...of course rarely do major life changes give you that luxury.

Is the money a concern...yep!  It's just every time we felt so far away from coming up with the money for the fees God sent us an answer.  Now we're close enough that it's not going to be easy, but it's possible.  So, we can refinance the house and cash out some, clear out savings and get a small loan for the rest.  We're praying hard for grants right now.  This will be our answer to paying off the loan quickly.  With 5 kids, we really need to keep a savings account.  We're trusting God and going forward in faith.  We believe He will help us as He always has.  The day-to-day of raising of our son doesn't scare me.  We've done this before and we can do it again.  It's on the fees, so come on grants....we need some!!!

Lisa

Happy Gotcha Day Girls!

Today is Kaelin's 6th Gotcha Day and Chelsi's 3rd is Sunday.  I really can't believe it's been 6 years already for Kae.  Amazing!  I absolutely cannot imagine a second without either of them.  I vividly remember both of those days and how we felt and how they each sounded and reacted.

We had parent/teacher conferences and we're busy this weekend so we picked up McDonalds to celebrate.  They even got to get meals for once...no $ menu!  They thought that was pretty cool!

We love you girls!

Mom and dad

PS...Happy birthday M.  We all love you!  Have a great 24th!

Today's Art

The kids have spent all day playing with the neighbor kids outside.  But, they eventually had to go home.  Chase and Kaelin decided to finally use some of the sidewalk chalk I bought last year and do up some big time artwork.  Here's their masterpieces.

My 3 year old...

She reads some sight words and sings songs like no one.  This isn't the best example, but she's really awesome.  Some of the words on the computer screen were words she'd not seen before, so she was trying to sound them out.  Which, is pretty incredible for a 3 year old.  She loves to tell us what letter, every word we say, starts with.  She's very good at it.  Just a little off with Sh and Ch.  She can sing so many more songs, however, she picked a Christmas/Winter song.  It's still an really sweet little voice she has.

You have to admit, my baby is **CUTE**!!

Leapster Junkies

These are my two.  Kaelin likes hers too, but these two are using there a lot to draw and write.  Well, worth the money Santa invested.  ;)



Deep concentration.

Happy Birthday to my oldest baby

Wow....one year from official teenager.  Not that he doesn't act like it already, sometimes...anyways.  All-in-all, we're blessed because he's a pretty great kid that seems to be growing up nicely.

Happy 12th Cole!!



The cleaning of the candles.

The littlest worker

Chelsi loves to help out so much.  I was washing windows after I unloaded the towels out of the dryer.  I went back to my bedroom to fold them and she was just about done.  :)

Lost and Found

Our Lucky left us and is in puppy heaven.  He died, unexpectedly on Sunday morning.  Chase went to his kennel to find him lying by the gate.  The boys took it so badly.  Cole, as usual, took it the hardest.  He's generally the pet caretaker of the house, so he gets very close.  We will all miss Lucky.

Cole had been begging us since about October or November for a beagle pup.  Apparently, his bus driver raises them and had pups at the time.  We kept telling him no because our two dogs were enough.  Well, now that Lucky is gone and his birthday is next week, we felt it was okay to go ahead and let him have one.  So I called them up and apparently they're trying to get out of the business and get rid of all the dogs and pups they have.  So, Chase and Cole, both now have a beagle each.  They're not pups, but the little sisters are 2 1/2 years old, but small.  I think he said they were miniature??  They're cute and seem pretty well behaved so far and the boys are getting them for their birthdays, so they were happy.  The guy raising them likes the boys and felt the dogs would have a good home with fun boys to play with another beagle to teach them to really hunt, so he gave them to us.  They seem like happy little girls, so hopefully, our nights are too loud.  The boys well know it's their responsibility to shut them up at night, so they'll be getting up to yell at them.  :)  This ought to be interesting.  :)

Here are the girls. 

Two Sweet Valentines

I picked up a couple of tshirts right before Valentines, this year, for the girls.  They wanted to go ahead and wear them to church and they were so cute, I had to take a pic.

Positives of being shy

I was always a shy child.  I remember hiding behind my mom's legs even as my aunts and uncles would talk to me.  These were aunts and uncles that I saw often, not just once a year or something.  I never made friends easily.  I don't have any idea why I was afraid to talk to people, I just was.  I kind of followed other girls around if they seemed to be friendly to me.  That, I guess, meant "friend" to me?  I don't know.  Who knows what a child thinks.  Even in high school, I was terribly shy.  To my closer friends I could talk, but I never really spoke my mind, that I can remember.  You know, when you actually feel free to say what your opinion is instead of worrying if it's the popular opinion or not.  Or share your troubles and know you can all really talk about them openly and support each other and vice versa.

As I got older I came out of my shell a bit, but now I think I'm starting to realize a benefit to my prior shyness.  It kept me from getting hurt in some ways.  I know on some adoption boards I used to frequent I wasn't "popular" so my posts were 95% of the time just plain overlooked.  Even at work, I don't speak loudly enough, so my opinion is left aside.  I guess, it seems that it's best to either be really loud and get your voice heard, which I just can't do  OR, be quiet, sit back and don't say much and don't get your feelings hurt.  If you don't say much, then it just seems harder to get hurt.  I've been going through a hard time lately, where every facet of my life has been this way and for the past week I've drawn myself in...except at home.  It really does seem to be helping.  It seems kind of silly really, but we all have our own way of doing things in life and dealing with things. 

I just always thought that it seemed so many people were close to their families and were able to go out and have a good time with friends....lots of circles of friends and keep up with it all, happily.  I have realized that I don't have the energy to do all of that, so my family comes first.  Not that I was ever a partier. :)  I was just trying to branch out more and push myself to be more social, when possible.  I like it the way it was.  Going home and staying home with my family.  Especially, as the kids get older and there is so much to do with and for them.  I have my best friend living with me.  I have kids that I can talk to all the time and they're fun to be around, so really why would you have to have fun anywhere else? 

Lisa

Birth Families and Adoptees Everywhere

http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=6819597

Hopefully this link works.  It's a Good Morning America link to a story of a man that was just past toddler years when his Korean mother had to place him for adoption, after his father passed away.  He then came to live in the US.  He had the opportunity to meet his birthmother and it was so emotional.  Seeing how much older this woman was and getting to meet her son just broke my heart.  I can't begin to imagine how my daughters' birth mothers feel.  Do they miss their baby girls terribly?  I can't imagine they don't.  Will they forgive themselves for their selfless act for their baby girls?  I hope so. 

I pray that, one day, if my daughters want to and choose to search for their birth families, they get to meet their birth families.  I pray, if they want to, they're able to locate them.  I pray all of these hearts, with a missing piece, are made whole again.  I know I can't fix them if they feel a piece missing.  I can just support them to do what they may feel the need to do.

Please pray for all the birthmothers throughout the world who are missing the children they so lovingly placed into adoption.  Please pray these children are loved unconditionally by their adoptive families and given the opportunity to do what they need to to be the person they need to be.

Lisa

TF Issue Resolved

I received a message from Tracfone today in regards to my complaint filed with the AG's office.  They wanted to transfer my double for life card to my current cell, per my complaint.  I told them that was fine, but I also wanted the minutes I didn't get the day I added them.  She finally accepted that request as I told her I would not drop the AG's complaint with out it.  I also informed them that when shopping on their site, this little disclosure about the double life only applying to the life of the phone should be with that item when purchasing.  She said it's at the bottom of the page at the bottom of the list of all of the options to buy and you have to read a disclosure to see it.  So basically, you'd have to fish for it.  I told her that since nothing else has a limitation like that it would be more noticable to be with the item you're purchasing.  Then maybe, she wouldn't have people like me filing complaints with the AG's offices around the US.  ;)  She agreed, but who knows if the powers that be will really be smart enough to head off some headaches they're causing themselves.

Lisa

Is it just me or do you really wonder about the world we live in?

Am I cynical, judgemental, etc.?  I just can't help but wonder what people are thinking.  Is it just more in our face than years ago because of media hype and multi-media avenues to convey hot subjects?  I mean you can read headlines at any given time in the week and see a headline on places like AOL news or Yahoo news and see things like a mother who gives birth to octoplets because she didn't want to waste embryos?  Okay?  She already had 6 kids ages 7 and under, is single and is adding 8 more?  It's probably just me, but it screams I want money like everyone else who has large families and appears on tv (aka Jon and Kate Plus 8 and, 17 Kids and Counting, etc.)  I guess really, TLC and shows of the sort are somewhat to blame.  They enable people to believe if they do something similar they will inherit the riches strewn upon families like the Gosselins.  Granted, the show started out with a great premise of it being hard to raise 8 children as a normal family.  Normal they are not.  Only to not work, have a nanny and buy whatever you need, including a 6200 square foot house on a large acreage.  Seriously!  I think this woman having the octoplets saw this and thought, "yep, that's my piece of the pie".

Then you've got this horrible economy.  You have banks getting bailouts from who.....us!  Then the execs still spend this money....ours.....freely!  As stupidly as they got us into this predicament, they're continuing in the same ridiculous habits with no accountability whatsoever.  I mean seriously, lavish vacations, jets and bonus'...please...GET REAL!  What about Macy's.  What did they do?  Layoff their workforce and give the execs bonuses.  And when those workers that they laid off and other people who could normally afford to shop at Macy's can no longer....bye bye bonuses and bye bye exec jobs 'cause Macy's will go under.  Who do they think is shopping there.  It's not them.  That would be below them.  They're shopping Nieman's, etc.  Come on!

People need to get their heads out of the sand (because this is a family blog :)  ) and start being less selfish.  We're all in this together.  We can get through it together or fall divided.  That is a very true statement.  What was so bad about years ago?  Yes, in some ways our culture has improved.  In some ways it has gotten a whole lot worse!

Lisa

Sports and Grades (kids stuff)

We've struggled, somewhat, with grades for Cole for awhile.  I know most parents are completely thrilled with B averages, but he's SO very capable of more.  We're now about midway through the 3rd quarter of this year and his grades have vastly improved.  Each quarter has gotten better.  1st quarter consisted of mostly B's and the rest A's.  Then 2nd quarter was about split A's and B's.  This quarter, so far of course, is 1 B (an 88 though) and the rest A's.  SO GOOD!  Chase got a  nasty little 89 the first quarter and it threw him onto the B honor roll the first quarter.  He was VERY disappointed when he found out he would get the money.  Then the 2nd quarter was all A's with an A average for the semester too.  We've always tried really hard to encourage the kids and we've always paid Cole a little for his good grades (B's and better), but with Chase in the mix this year and sports to play we upped the anty a little.  They agreed with our new policy and wanted it over the prior policy for grade pay.  Prior to this, we paid $1/A and $.50/B and nothing lower.  If you got straight A's you got $20 for the quarter.  This year we informed Cole that since he wanted to play basketball and it coincides with the school year, unlike summer baseball, he had to have an 83% or higher in order for us to let him stay on the team.  He agreed and has worked very hard to keep this.  That combined with our new pay policy seems to have encouraged him.  I hope he stays that way.  We're now only paying for straight A's.  They get $40/semester for straight A's and if they keep them the entire year they get an extra $100.  They can spend half.  This has really been enticing for them and Chase managed it, so he's really aiming for the year now. 

We figured parents buy their kids stuff when they go to Walmart all the time or pay allowances and what not.  What's a better investment than working hard for good grades and getting money for your accomplishment.  No better way to spend money, in our minds.  Then they have to save too.  The portion they can spend we help them talk over how to spend and the best way to do so.  It teaches them to be a little frugal and wait for things they really want, but don't have the money for. 

Now, they're also learning to allocate their time wisely.  We've told them before we don't expect to be able to let them play more than 2 sports.  Having 4 kids means a sacrifice of time to go to the games/events and we want to be there for them all, as parents.  Not to mention how expensive it could get.  Cole has decided to let baseball go.  He does not want to play this Spring and we're behind him.  If he should decide, next year, that he missed it and wants to sign up again, that's fine too.  He may find other intestests...who knows.  He seemed to really like playing basketball, so we told him to put his energy into it and get better at that activity.  Chase still wants to do it all.  But, he's slimmed his two down to baseball and eventually football.  Yeah, not his mother's pick, but....  Kaelin is all about soccer still.  She seems to have no interest in anything else and she's pretty darn good at it.  She's got some natural athletic ability like Chase....even as ackwardly as she walks sometimes.  Get that girl out there to play soccer and she's a different person.  Who knows about Chelsi yet.  She says she wants to cheer like momma, but I think she'll try a year at soccer this fall to see if she likes it.  Wow...I hadn't thought about that 'til now.  My baby's old enough to play soccer.  Good Lord, where has the time gone with my baby? 

Lisa

Superbowl Sunday...Sunday....Sunday

Did you hear the echoe?  I'm REALLY not into football.  I don't hate it, just can take it or leave it.  Now if there were in-person tickets...yeah.  Every sport is greater in-person.  Maybe with the exception of golf and bowling.  :)

Anyways, the feast is going.  We don't usually get together and have a party.  It's really not like that.  Brian has a couple of good friends who like football, so they usually come over, not always, and watch the game.  We make snacks no matter what.  The boys like watching the games with snacks.  So, Cole and I made a chocolate cheesecake and deer/pork bulgogi this morning.  Tonight we'll make a chili/cream cheese dip and Brian is making  a pot of chili.  We've tasted the bulgogi already (a traditional Korean dish) and the deer....is okay, not my favorite, but the pork tastes yummy and just like the restaurant.   Here's the recipe - http://whatscooking.jdpages.com/denises_famous_bulgogi_crockpot.html  We'll be making some sticky rice tonight to go with the bulgogi...definitely the kids' favorite.

Can't wait for time to eat...who cares about game time.  :)

새해복많으받으세요

Happy Sol Nal!  We were able to get together with a few other families this year to celebrate.  We were supposed to try last year, but... 

We had a great time with everyone.  The kids really had a good time since they were able to run around in the room we had reserved.  We truly never get to see everyone often enough.

My girls.



 

The group.



Chelsi and Cale

Tracfone....be careful

Double Minutes for Life

That's a laugh and a half!  It's not for life.  There's no fine print either.  I have my receipt and it says "Double Minutes for Life"...not life of the phone.  But, if you call their customer service they'll inform you that you should just know this.  The phone number and minutes transfer when you upgrade your phone, but not this plan that costs an additional $50.  Wrote the Attorney General's office on this.  It's out and out fraudulent practices.  I really hope they get on them like they usually do everyone else.  That's one thing our state's AG's office does do well.

Lisa

It's been one year tonight

I got the call that Brian had fallen playing basketball...almost at this exact time.  I was told to come to the gym, but not to be too worried.  Luckily, Jay's pretty calming.  :)  So I drug four kids with me to the gym where Jay sat with them in the van while I went inside.  I remember so well our friend Kevin saying he thought it was just a stinger like in football and he'd start moving soon.  Then the paramedics arrived and within minutes said he had to be flown to the hospital.  That started the tears.  I was terrified.  Lifeflight is never good. 

We spent the rest of the night filling out paperwork and waiting for MRI's and xrays to come back.  I remember an orthopaed coming in and explaining a bit of what he thought, but I had to wait 'til the next day for the official word.  I distinctly remember my dad and Nancy taking me to his house at 11:00 pm after visiting hours were over and crying so hard when he pulled into his garage.  I had family with me and everyone was still in my life, but I'd never felt so alone that night.  I had no husband and no children.  I think in the first 3 months of his accident I'd never gone through such a vast range of emotions in my entire life.  That was harder on me than anything.  I don't think our bodies are really set up for that.

In a way, with it being the one year anniversary I feel this weight lifted.  Like our bad year is officially over because of that.  Sounds silly, I know, but after his accident everything seemed to keep happening and adding to the stress.  I'm glad we're one year post now.  He's doing great for a year post.  It could be so much worse and we're all here.

Just can't believe it's been a year.

Lisa

UCK! More shots!

You'd think I'd be done.  You'd think I'd be cured.   Nope....apparently not.

Slowly, over time, my allergies have gotten to be too much for my body to handle.  I think it might actually be worse than what it was before.  I finally couldn't take having so much trouble breathing anymore, so I went to the ENT.  He gave me 3 weeks of Levaquin for the infection and asked that I get allergy tested again.  Almost 15 years ago he did my first sinus surgery and told me to get allergy tested to help with that.  I got tested with someone else since back then he didn't do that part.  I had shots for 8 years and they told me I was as good as it was going to get, so I was done.

The last couple of years or so I've been getting sinus infections that eventually turn into pneumonia or, if I'm lucky, bronchitis.  Just in the fall.  This Winter has been hard for me to breath, so I went to him because that's not normal for me.  This is usually my reprieve, mild Winter or not.  So today, they informed me I need MORE shots....every five days!  How in the heck do you make time for that.  Once I'm done with my build up, I can do them myself, but until then I have to go to his office for them.  The nurse was shocked they were so bad considering my previous shots...over 6 years ago.  But, she said it's done completely different now.  They're also running out of allergy meds that work for me.  Very few work anymore...except the expensive ones.  Go figure.  So, I guess, when they get my serum mixed I'll have to start.  I'm finally getting over my current infection, so they think it's best to go ahead and start.

My new routine will be steroid nose spray and Ocean spray daily.  Those are my usuals now.  Then, I'll also be taking this new stuff they want me to try for the allergies themselves.  She also said if this stuff doesn't work I can try Singulair AND Zyrtec or Allegra.  Either way, it's all expensive since Singular and the new stuff are in the highest copay brackets for me.  But, it's that or not breath well.  Maybe I won't need my inhaler as much then.  That would be great!  Even Brian said for me to do whatever will work.  I think he's realizing just how much trouble I have breathing sometimes.  It has to be better now.

On a good note, we are finally getting Chelsi's Korea records back from the doctor.  I naively gave her ped everything Korea gave us when she arrived.  I didn't know they would completely take ownership and never give them back, including her chest xray from Korea.  I've been working for almost a year just to get that stuff transferred to our new family doctor.  They were holding it for awhile and told me they couldn't release since it wasn't their records....are you kidding me?  They said I could come get them for $.42/page.  They finally sent everything to the new doctor after me pestering them week after week.  The new doctor released copies to me, no problem!   FINALLY!

Lisa

Korean Weekend

We had our student stay with us for the weekend.  She was 16 (Korean years), 14 (American years).  She went by Grace, but her name is JinJoo.  She was VERY quiet.  Though, I think when I wasn't around and it was just her and the girls, she talked more.  The girls loved having her.  Chelsi attached herself very quickly, which was very much not like her.  They were a little sad to see her go yesterday, but she had to get back.  It was definitely a great opportunity for us....and I think we both had lots of laughs with a little bit of a language gap.  :0)

Potty for Webkinz

WARNING:  This post is a little graphic.  Not for young readers.  :) :)

Not quite what it sounds like, but we're seeing if Chelsi will potty for a Webkinz.  I told her the other night that if she quit peeing in her diaper, long enough to wear underwear, she could play games with us instead of watching.  I tried to tell her big girls that wear underwear can play big kid games. 

We're at the point we've tried everything for her to go potty.  Sometimes she does and sometimes she doesn't.  It's not really that she can't, I don't think.  She's just too busy and honestly, doesn't care.  Everytime she says she's already wet she smiles kinda like "what's the big deal".  We've tried offering money, candy, privileges, setting a timer, whatever.  The timer has helped the most, but not worked completely.  She, at least, goes willingly now.  She rarely complains about interrupting whatever she's doing to go now. 

Shortly after I told her she could play big kids if she gets into underwear she informed me that she wants a Webkinz like big sister if she wears underwear.  I told her that was fine.  She went on and on how she could take care of her Webkinz on the computer and sleep with it at night.  She also told me she wanted an elephant like the one she sleeps with now.  So, I made sure there was one and sure enough.  For the last two days, she's been rarin' to go for that darn elephant.  Tonight, I posted this picture above her potty, by her bed, on the fridge and one for grandma's house. 

[caption id="attachment_294" align="aligncenter" width="250" caption="I need Chelsi!"][/caption]

 

She's working hard for this little guy and finally, even, went poop on the potty at grandma's.  She's gone before, but only if we catch her and she finishes there.  She went on her own yesterday, which, I believe, is a first!  Go Chelsi go!!

Our Korean student is coming Friday!!

How fun!  We don't know her name, yet, or anything about her.  We know she's around 14 years old and from a rural part of Korea, but where exactly, we will find out.  She only stays through Sunday, but it will be interesting and fun.  We're hoping to learn a little more Korean and Kaelin's so excited she can hardly stand it.  She asked me last night "what [she] should teach her".  :)  She wants to be able to teach her English so bad, but she may already know it quite well.  I've been told their English language skills vary quite a bit.  We're just supposed to do what we normally do and she will participate as a family member, so nothing exciting.  But doing ordinary things with a new member in your house has to be interesting.  And hopefully, we make a new friend. 

Can't wait!!  Now, I need to continue teaching the kids how to say anyeonghasaeyo.