Another Step Closer!

Just found out we received our EP (Emigration Permit) approval on January 25th! Although there are several more things that need to take place before we can bring Bethany home, this totally opens up the flood gates. Woo hoo!

What's Bethany Doing this Month?

One of the many things I appreciate about our adoption agency is that we receive Well Baby Clinics (WBC) every month. We received Bethany's nine month WBC today and it's the fifth one we've received since her referral.

As per the latest WBC, Bethany is 17.6 pounds and 26.6 inches. Poor baby is wheezing though because she has bronchiolitis (again). She is 9 months old but was assessed developmentally as 8 months. I'm not too concerned about that since I know everyone develops at different rates, especially at this age. In fact, Austin was always a late bloomer but look at him now. :)

Here's what Bethany's been doing lately:

• rolls over
• crawls
• sits briefly
• reaches out for and grasps large objects
• transfers objects from hand to hand
• rakes at raisin
• prefers foster mother
• responds to sound of her name
• plays peek-a-boo
• says single syllables
• imitates speech sound

I wish I were there to witness all of these things for myself, but for now I am thankful to have a small glimpse into her life every month.

Our stroller and car seats arrived yesterday. Our poor UPS man had to lug all of that in the pouring rain. This pattern was not my first choice but you couldn't beat the price. These were more than a hundred dollars cheaper than the ones I wanted so this time frugalness won out over fashion. Our little girl will be surrounded by pink but I guess I'm just making up for all those years of going without pink.

So while Bethany is developing steadily, this is what her big brother has been up to. I was folding laundry and heard Austin repeating "More weight, more weight." I walked over and this is what I found.

He was doing push ups with two backpacks on and wanted me to add on more weight. Why? "I'm doing basic training". :) Oh Bethany, you are going to love your big brother!!!

Getting Closer....

This afternoon I received some great news. Our adoption agency sent an email letting us know that our EP (Emigration Permit) had been submitted on January 5th! Once it is approved, it will only be a matter of time before Bethany comes home. I am so thankful to God for this little piece of good news - especially after so many recent disappointments in the adoption process. I am so very excited for what's to come and praise God for his great faithfulness!

I spent most of the morning washing Bethany's 12-18 months clothes and couldn't help but get a little emotional as I was folding each one. More than half of these are hand me downs (thank you megan) and others are gifts and clothes I've bought over the past few years. I had no idea our adoption would take this long, so I literally have things that have been sitting in my closet for about five years. Thank goodness baby clothes don't go out of style. :) 

One of my favorites by far is the "baby sister" two piece (thank you auntie ann s.). It holds a special place in my heart because I am so excited that Austin will finally have a little sister! He has always wanted a sibling and although we would've liked to have one sooner, we know God's timing is always perfect. I've also been looking for one of those "big brother" t-shirts for Austin to wear. I know he will wear it with pride. :)

Getting Ready

Last night was a big night. We finally set up Bethany's crib and bit the bullet and ordered two car seats and a stroller online. Why is baby gear is so expensive?!?

It took nearly 5 years, but Austin's crib made it back into the house. Big brother Austin was a huge help.

Austin loves to help build things and he especially loves using power tools.

Such a ham!

 

Exhausted from all the hard work.

Only kidding. Austin wanted to test out the crib and wanted a picture of himself pretending to sleep. :)

Here's the finished product!

A friend was kind enough to let me borrow her daughter's old bedding.

With the exception of a few pink things here and there, all the furniture and most of the books are Austin's old things. The rest of the room is slowly coming along and I won't really start decorating until all the furniture and basics are set up. There is still a long laundry list of things to take care of, but hopefully everything will be done soon as we're expecting Bethany to come home in the next few weeks. Please pray for her speedy and safe arrival!

Ew, gross!

If you know me well enough, you'll know I am a very sentimental person and tend to keep certain memorabilia to remind me of special moments and people in my life. Much to my husband's delight, I have learned to let go of things over the years and not keep nearly as many mementos as I used to. (In my defense though, he will be the first to admit that he appreciates my sentimentality.)

All this to say, I was organizing Austin's closet yesterday and came across his keepsake box from when he was a baby. I opened it to find a box full of precious memories from my pregnancy up until his first few days of life. Safely tucked away in a ziploc bag, I came upon what is admittedly my most unusual and shocking item - the stump of Austin's umbilical cord. Ew, gross! I know, I know..... it was quite a sight to see and I'm not sure what I was thinking at the time. But obviously, seven years ago for whatever reason, I was compelled to keep it. Looking back now, it doesn't seem like it was such a good idea. :)

With all that said, who knows what type of memorabilia I will decide to keep once Bethany arrives. Hopefully it won't be anything that will cause me to say, "Ew, gross!" :)

Speaking of Bethany, we are one step closer to bringing her home. Our paperwork is making its way to the U.S. Embassy in Korea. Hopefully things will move very quickly and we will have her in our arms soon.

Happy New Year! 2010

I'm not so much a New Year's resolution type of girl, but one thing I hope to do in 2010 is return to the world of blogging. Sadly it's been over a year since I've blogged on Xanga and I have Facebook to blame for it . All I can say is, "Facebook, I shake my fist at you!" ;)

Having learned the error of my ways, I've decided to go for a brand new look on a brand new site. I'm looking forward to recording our many life adventures here and hope my blog will be happy in its new home.

And now, let the adventures begin!

We celebrated the start of 2010 with friends from church and woke up early the next morning to go see the Rose Parade. Every year our family has gone to see either the building of the floats or the post parade viewing but this was the first time we went to see the parade. It was a lot of fun and I think something definitely worth doing.

Ringing in the new year with the breakfast of champions - donuts!

 

Who knew LAUSD had a marching band?

After the parade we went to my parents' house and as per tradition, did seh beh and ate dduk gook. In the evening, we also went to Sam's side of the family and had our second helping of dduk gook. Yum!

 

Austin has gotten quite good at doing seh beh and is happy to report that the current recession did not affect his seh beh earnings. Cha ching! ;)