In less than 48 hours, it will all be over....

To be exact, in 38.5 hours our home study begins and I won't have the time to be nervous anymore. Instead, I'll be focused on what ever it is our social worker wishes to speak with us about for close to 3 hours. 3 hours is a long time to talk with anyone, and since she already knows us and our entire story, I'm just not sure what sorts of questions she'll have for us this time around. Have I mentioned that I'm very nervous? I'm completely preoccupied, can think of nothing else, and I don't think I'm very much fun to be around right now. I've tried to rationalize with myself-we've been through this before, we know our social worker, everything will be ok... But, the reality of the situation is that it's still a home study, and it really is a big deal. Perhaps I feel like I know too much about the process this time around. I know exactly what is at stake, which is a LOT. Perhaps I'm anxious because Monday will start our roller coaster ride and the length and craziness of the ride is uncertain to us. Perhaps I'm anxious from the ice cream sugar high I've been on all evening. "Ben and Jerry" have become two of my best friends this weekend. I don't think we've been so close since I was riding the roller coaster of Graham's adoption and it's good to have them back in my life. I'm confident that come Monday evening, I will laugh at myself for being so worried about this step in the process. Heck, I'll probably invite "Ben and Jerry" out of the freezer again to help me celebrate! But until then, I'm nervous. After all, we're having a woman licensed by the state come into our home, watch our parenting styles, check out our house, talk about the relationships in our lives, discuss our finances, and generally make sure we're fit to add another child to our family. Wouldn't that make you nervous???

Efficiency at it's finest!

According to the voicemail we received when we got back in town last night, we should be hearing from our social worker at some point this week. I was hoping to hear from her in the first half of the week, but I certainly wasn't expecting to hear from her in the first part of the day today. She is one efficient lady and we sure are glad to have her working for us! Mary, our social worker, needs to come over and talk with us and check out the house and will be doing so on Monday the 23rd. That means that more than likely in less than a week, we'll actually be on the waiting list-WOW!!! Having already been through this, I really didn't expect to be nervous, but I am! I really don't know where these feelings are coming from-we know our social worker, she's already been to our house, we've already had many meetings with her for Graham's adoption, so I really wish I could kick these feelings of nervousness. I think the reality of the situation has finally hit me. We really are, in every sense of the word, expecting a baby!

Tonight, We Celebrate!

We learned the first time around, that during an adoption process, it's important for us to celebrate the small victories. Celebrating adoption milestones might seem a bit strange to some- we don't have the opportunity to celebrate ultrasound pictures, heartbeats, and the eventual departure of morning sickness. But, we do have the opportunity to celebrate the government confirming that we are not criminals (fun!), the completion of a second home study (more fun!), and having our fingerprints taken multiple times (most fun!).

On the drive home from the lake today I was telling Jeff that I wanted to call Children's Home this week and find out what was going on with our background checks. We were told it would take at least 30 days from when they were submitted (May 22) to get them back and today is only June 15, but what can I say...I'm impatient. So, imagine our surprise when we walked into the house tonight and heard the message on our machine from CHS telling us that our background checks were in and our file was complete! Judging by the cheers and "high fives" between Jeff and I you'd think we had just won the lottery or something! I guess in a way we are on our way to winning our own personal lottery as tonight's message brought us one step closer to our little girl. This week we should be touching base with our Mary, our social worker, and then the real waiting begins...the long, long wait...

But, tonight we're celebrating!

Pink, Pink, Pink!!!

I think we've finally resolved Jeff's improper left turn issue. The resolution involved Jeff making a trip to the police station today and paying for a notarized letter that stated (surprise, surprise!) he doesn't have a criminal past. Now that we've got documentation on a local level, the trick is to get all branches of government involved in our adoption on the same page. Hopefully, with one more letter documenting my lovely conversation with the county court last, everything should be taken care of. So, in honor of this mini-milestone, I thought I'd share the very first gift that Princess Olson received! Grandma and Grandpa Greer picked out a sweet pink outfit and matching blanket and I'm already anxious to have out little bundle all snuggled up in it. I honestly get a high thinking about dressing her up in pink. Not that I don't enjoy shopping for Graham, because I do, but there is something so fantastic about being able to buy pink! Pink polka dots, pink with ruffles, pink plaid, pink gingham...the possibilities are absolutely endless! It's too early for me to enter pleas of "Come home soon!" to our princess because she hasn't been born yet, so I'll just say "Grow big and strong because your family is waiting to see your sweet face!".

Grrrrrrrrrrr...........

It's amazing how quickly the headache of government paperwork has come back to haunt us. Why can't anything be easy!?!?!?!?!?! And all this headache is because of an improper left turn that Jeff made back in 2003. WHY????? The United States Immigration Services (USCIS) requires written documentation of any "legal infractions" other than parking and speeding tickets. Since "improper left turn" doesn't fall into either of those categories I've been going in circles with the local police station that issued the ticket, and also the County Court that processed the ticket. I finally made progress with the police station and they're now willing to supply a notarized letter stating that Jeff doesn't have a criminal record. I've had it with the County Court though. I was told by a very unfriendly Becky (I feel badly for anyone that has to deal with this woman!!!) that they are unwilling to supply such a letter. We went in circles for quite a while with me explaining to her that her office did provide documentation two years ago so why can't they do it again. This very kind lady, basically called me a liar and told me that they never provided such a thing. She then went on to tell me that I have the right to send in a written request for a letter and they'll see what they can do but it might take several months. MONTHS??? We're talking about an adoption here, there is no way we're waiting MONTHS for a letter confirming that my non-criminal husband isn't a criminal. Needless to say I was pretty upset after that phone call and decided to call our adoption agency and figure out what to do. Thank goodness for CHS! Apparently the county I've been dealing with is notorious for giving people a hard time and instead of fighting with them any longer, I should just document the conversation I had with my new friend Becky and send that into USCIS. I guess the moral of my little story is to not make improper left turns into grocery store parking lots....they come back to haunt you!!! End of vent.....

We're expecting a baby!!!!

Yes, it's true....we've jumped back on the emotional roller coaster of adoption and we're ready to share our exciting news with the world!!! Our official paperwork is now in the right hands which means the process is out of our control at this point. Now the waiting begins. It really seems like just yesterday that we were waiting and waiting and waiting for Graham's referral. Then, we waited and waited and waited for his visa so we could bring him home. Now, we find ourselves waiting and waiting and waiting again-this time we're waiting for our little girl, our daughter and Graham's sister, to make herself known to us.

Here's what we know right now. The wait for a little girl is LONG! We've been told it could be a year before we receive our referral. I guess that means my "pregnancy" will be approximately 12 months long! It really does seem like an eternity, but we learned during our first adoption process that good, no GREAT, things really do come to those that wait. So, we wait.

I feel like I have a different perspective heading into the process this time. We know the "ins and outs" of the system, we know the right questions to ask and where to direct them, and most importantly we know that ice cream is the best fix on days when the process is emotionally draining. We experienced the lowest of lows and the highest of highs while waiting for Graham, and we've got our fingers crossed that the process is a bit smoother this time. Thankfully, the adoption laws have recently changed in Korea and won't be changing again anytime soon, so there shouldn't be any major delays in the process like we previously experienced. With any luck, next year about this time we should be able to announce that Graham is a big brother!

Welcome to our journey and hold on for the ride!!!

Children's Home Society and Family Services in St. Paul, MN....where the magic happens!!!

Paperwork Sunday!

In order to get our process moving along, we made the decision a few weeks ago that today was paperwork day. Unfortunately, our stack of paperwork isn't any shorter this time around, so we knew we needed several hours to just sit down and get it done. It doesn't get any better than sitting inside on a beautiful spring day answering questions (for the second time) relating to culture and our parenting styles! We've got a weight lifted off our shoulders now though, because our application is done, done, done! WOO HOO!!! Perhaps you even heard our shouts of joy from Eden Prairie about 4:00 this afternoon! As part of our application all three of us are required to have physicals. Jeff and Graham have already had their appointments but for some reason my doctor was backed up, so we've got to wait 2 more weeks for my appointment before we can officially hand everything in. I'm still in shock-we're going to have a baby!!!!