Who'd a thought. . . .

I remember hearing stories of how people said their home study took longer than expected and thinking, "If I follow all of this advice and get all the paperwork done quickly, that won't happen to us." WRONG!!! It is a little bit amusing to me now. (maybe not a week or two or three ago. . . )

I sort of lost the excitement of the process this past week. I think I was tired of the hopeful expectation of moving forward and being disappointed over and over. Once again, when I gave up the desire to rush, things slowly began to move. So, Joe's background check has been received and the official home study really should be done this week. From my understanding, Korea doesn't have much paperwork for the dossier as many other countries. PRAISE GOD!!!
I guess we find out when our agency reviews the home study and gets back in touch with us. Because most of it was already done, they have already received the rough draft and (I think) approved us to move forward already. YAY!!!

We start raising support soon. We have decided to make a prayer support-team e-mail or Facebook list. We can include more personal needs and prayer requests that way. I am going to try to figure out how to post our support letter on this blog somehow so that those who are interested can read it. We sang a song in church today that said, "If our God is for us, then who can stand against us?" It was such a great reminder of why I need to stop worrying, but also why prayer support is so important. Financial support is going to help us with paying for the adoption, but prayer support is going to get us and our child through the battle.

Thank you to those who have already been praying! Keep it up! God is definitely working in all of our lives already.

Just a few more days?

Something went wrong with the fingerprinting system we were using and Joe's prints got lost. Crazy! We have been ready to wrap up this home study for weeks now. This is the last piece.
Thankfully, the home study agency is offering an alternative for the time being. Joe had to go to the closest police station and request a GBI check. We have to wait a few days before we can pick it up and send it to the home study agency. The home study is waiting for that and then will be finished. Our adoption agency has already read through it, so hopefully things will move on. I can't believe it is mid-May already. I guess God is teaching me some patience right now.

Mother's Day

This Mother's Day I didn't feel as sad as the last few. Even though I don't have my baby here with me or even know anything about him/her, I know that God has one being prepared for me. I can take comfort in knowing that He knows where and what our child is doing and that He can take care of him/her. I am being shown, once again, the lack of control I really have and really need to have. God is not just making a difference in this child's life, but doing a work in us already.

Keep praying for our baby, the birth mother, and the foster care parents. Also, that Joe's prints will be accepted so that we can move forward.

God bless you and Happy Mother's Day to all official and unofficial mothers!

Still Waiting

These are pictures of my halmoni (grandmother) and some of her children, grandchildren, and a couple of great-grandchildren. There are actually more family members not present that day!

As far as the adoption process goes, everything is in and complete, except Joe's prints. He had to go 2 times already and it looks like there may be a third time. UGH! So, we are waiting. As I said earlier, this does give us time to focus on the other things we have to do this season. I have been staying at work late, or bringing work home since this is one of the busiest months of the year. God is probably helping us to not be overly-stressed right now. . . at least that is what I choose to believe. HA!

Speaking of God knowing what is best for us, I had a clear message brought to me on Sunday. I was driving home from my parent's house listening to the radio. It was a pastor, I don't remember who, talking about obedience to God. The focus was on when Jesus told the disciples to cast their nets out after not being able to catch anything all day. It didn't make sense to do it, it was more work and time that could be wasted, and they were tired. But the fish was there in abundance! God provides when we step out in faith.

So, I get home and decide to watch Adrian Rogers. He is talking about the same topic. After him, was Charles Stanley. He spoke on the same topic as well. Charles Stanley even talked about how God sometimes only shows us what we need to see when we need to see it. Meaning, we are given bits of information step by step. Not knowing the future is part of what helps us cling to Him. He said something along the lines of; If God calls you out, even though it doesn't make sense, He has already worked it out for you. You don't need to worry. That doesn't mean there won't be bumps in the road or trials. But it does mean that He takes care of His children. We are not alone and don't have to work everything out. Ofcourse, it also doesn't mean that we are to sit and do nothing. We have a part to play. The important thing is to seek Him and follow His lead.

That is so encouraging!! I find myself worrying about how we are going to afford all sorts of things and whether I am going to keep teaching or not. I don't have an answer yet, so I am going to focus on what He has for me today. It is like the song, " I don't know about tomorrow. I just live from day to day. I don't borrow from it's sunshine, for it's skies may turn to gray. I don't worry over the future, for I know what Jesus said. And today I'll walk beside Him, for He knows what is ahead. Many things about tomorrow, I don't seem to understand. But I know who holds tomorrow, and I know who holds my hand."

I hope that this encourages you as well.

Promise686

http://www.promise686.org/
This is the link to Promise 686's website.

We met with a couple today that explained a little more about the ministry of Promise 686, including the grant process. We will be surrounded by other parents who are either going through, or have already completed the adoption process. We will also have support in almost every way possible. The community has been so nice and helpful already. We will have a non-profit account set up for any donations and they will manage it for us, without any administration fees. Not only that, they offer a grant matching any donations up to $4,000. We are so incredibly blessed!!!

Promise 686 helps those who are adopting or fostering. They are part of Perimeter Church's Community Outreach, but do not only serve Perimeter members. So, if you are in the Atlanta area and plan to adopt of foster, I highly recommend you check them out.

Final Home Visit

Yay! We are almost finished with the home study process!!!

Joe ended up having to go back and redo his fingerprints. We thought it was because of his sweaty hands, but the guy there said it was because Joe works so much with his hands that the lines are hard to read. If everything is turned in by others soon and the prints are good enough, our home study should be complete by the end of next week!

We are meeting with Promise686 this weekend, hopefully. We are excited to get plugged in and also start fund-raising. God has really worked on my heart about pride. I am seeing the blessing that others get when we let them help. We both enjoy the blessing when we help others, so I don't know why it was so hard to receive. I guess I don't want anyone to feel pressured. So, if you would like to get a fund raising letter, let me know. We definitely need prayer warriors. So don't feel bad if that is what you can contribute. Prayers are very valuable!!!

The next step is to work on the dossier. I'm still not sure of what all that entails, but it looks like there are at least 2 forms we have to fill out. One of them is for immigration. We will have to get our finger prints done again, only this time in Atlanta. The cost of the form is $670 and $80 a print. It is pre-approval to be able to bring our baby back to the states with us. The other form is for the US. In their words, "This form is required for most family-based immigrants and some employment-based immigrants to show that they have adequate means of financial support and that they are not likely to become a public charge." This form looks long and complicated. But, there are LOTS of pages breaking it down. I wish they had a Turbo tax-like program for it. HA!

I guess I'll find out more once the home study is complete and we can officially start working with the adoption agency. So, Joe and I get a little break before another phase of paperwork and meetings come along. This is actually great timing, because Joe needs to focus on seminary more, and I am getting to the point of the school year, where I have a LOT of assessments and paperwork to do with my students. Even though this time of year for us teachers is crazy busy, I actually LOVE the time I have with my students. Once the assessments are done, we can slow down and enjoy each other more before they leave me and move up to another grade. It is bitter-sweet.

Interviews and then more Korean cooking!

It has been a long but good day. I stayed late at work so that we could meet with our social worker there. Since Joe also works in the same building and it is MUCH closer to the social worker than our house, we thought it would be better. So, we started at about 3:45pm. I had my interview first. I was asked questions about my childhood, schooling, my relationship with my parents then and now, my relationship with my brother then and now, my relationship with Joe's family, and what color underwear I was wearing. For those of you who were not asleep, the last one was a joke. I really can't remember what else, but there was so much that we finished a little before 5pm. Then, it was Joe's turn. We finally finished and left work at around 6pm. (If that doesn't sound late to you, remember that we get to work at 6:45am.)

Then, we got to drive home in traffic. Actually, it wasn't as bad as I was anticipating. But then again, Joe was driving. HA! I had planned on cooking another Korean dish not thinking about how much time it would take to chop everything up. I don't use a food processor and prefer to do it by hand probably because that is how my mom always does it. There is a picture of it at the top. This is called chopche. It is clear noodles with a soy sauce base and yummy veggies such as carrots, Korean spinach, onions, and green peppers. It also has some beef called bulgogi. I made the bulgogi yesterday. And yes, I did marinate it myself. I guess all of those lessons my omah(mommy) gave me stuck! And Joe is happy to enjoy the results.

So,our final home visit is Wednesday! After that, we are only waiting on Joe's fingerprints to be processed and a medical form from his doctor before our social worker can finish up all the paper.