Thank You Homeland Security

The Department of Homeland Security sent us a wonderful package yesterday. The cover letter began:

NOTICE OF FAVORABLE DETERMINATION CONCERNING

APPLICATION FOR ADVANCE PROCESSING OF ORPHAN PETITION

It has been determined that you are able to furnish proper care to an orphan(s) as defined in Section 1010(B)(1)(F) of the Immigration and Nationality Act.


Our I-600A application and fingerprints are approved! That means we are all set to bring the little guy home (legally). While we were not worried about gaining approval, this is the final "big" paperwork step in getting things set up for the adoption. Some families run into issues when applying for approval (past criminal history, including a DWI; discrepancies in your paperwork or with your birth/marriage certificates; or other unexpected items can cause delays in the processing of the application).


We have now received approval to become parents from a variety of people and places: our families (as they've been endlessly supportive); our primary care doctors; the State of Minnesota; our agency, Children's Home Society, and our social worker, Laura; the Korean agency Eastern Social Welfare Society; and now the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
Here is the official certificate of approval:

(Name blurred to protect our little guy's identity)

So, we are now nearly done with the hoop jumping -- one more full day course is required. We will take that in July and, at that time, will finally have met all of the requirements to adopt. Whew. At this point it is hard to imagine becoming a mom without having to prove myself worthy over and over again. I can't say I feel much more prepared than I did when we were trying the old fashioned way, but it's kind of cool to have the U.S. and Korean governments backing us up! :)

Fingerprinted

I am happy to report that The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services office, a division of Homeland Security, now has our fingerprints. Today at 8:00 a.m. Tony and I appeared at the local USCIS office to have our fingerprints taken (again...we already did this for the state of Minnesota) as part of our I-600A application. Assuming there are no issues with our fingerprints, we should be seeing our I-600A approval soon. This will allow us to bring our little guy home (legally). This also wraps up all of our paperwork until we need to begin renewing things next year. Yeah! (I wanted to photograph us getting fingerprinted but there were signs all over saying no cameras, no phones, etc. They even verbally told us we had to have our phones full shut down.)

New FAQ Answers

I just added these to the FAQ page because I've been asked both quite a bit and thought it might be good to put the answers out there:

Question: After you complete this adoption, do you plan on having a biological child?

Nope. Adoption is the means we are using to grow our family. 

Question: Now that you're waiting for #1 (and it's a long wait), have you started the process for #2?

Yes, I am adding this to the FAQ page because, well, it's become a frequently asked question! Right now Tony and I are remaining focused on our Little Guy and have decided to wait until after we bring him home to make a decision about adding to our family again. We aren't sure what will be involved with his transition into our family, nor do we know how it will for us as new parents. Plus, the adoption process is lengthly, difficult, time consuming, expensive, invasive and uncertain. We aren't even sure if Korea will be allowing international adoptions in a couple of years. Finally, we are not allowed to be actively working on another adoption while in the process of this one. In fact, we are not allowed to begin the process of adopting from Korea for a second time until the first adoption is completely final, which happens 5 months after we return from Korea.

Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to all! Mother's Day...a happy day for some, a sad day for others. A day to celebrate the women who have raised us and shaped us into who we are today (be they our mother, grandmother, aunt or someone else who loved and cared for us). A day to pamper the tireless mothers who never seem to get a break. But also a day for many to reflect on losses -- the death of a child (born or unborn), the death of a mom or grandmother, infertility, a loss of the opportunity to become a mom, etc.

This year is my first year celebrating as a "sort-of" Mom; also meaning that I didn't silently cry my way through the church service today. Tony surprised me with a beautiful necklace and matching earrings with rubies -- our Little Guy's birthstone. How thoughtful!

Truthfully, it's a bit of an odd Mother's Day for me. As I told Tony, I'm not really a mom yet. I don't do the kind of work moms do, and I don't have anyone to mother! His response was perhaps one of the funniest descriptions of where we are at in the crazy roller coaster of a wait. He said, "You are a mother, your child is just on layaway!" So true.

I sure love Tony...and our Little Guy. My prayer today is that his foster mother is feeling loved, cherished and honored by her family (including our little one). I pray that he is a blessing to her and that she gets to be pampered a bit today by the men in her life (our little guy, her son and husband).

Enjoy your day!

International Adoption - An Article

I came across an article in today's paper talking about the overall decrease in international adoption. It's written by an Associated Press writer, Margie Mason. She gets into a variety of issues including the Hague Adoption Convention (note that Korea is not part of the Hague Convention), fraud and countries shifting their domestic policies in order to reduce or eliminate international adoption. If you have a minute, it's an interesting read: click here for the text.

The First Care Package

Care Package #1

This weekend Tony and I went on a little shopping trip to pick up a few things for our very first care package. The items have to fit in a one gallon zip lock bag; no liquids allowed. We wanted to get him something soft and cuddly, so we found this cute cuddly bear-blanket he can carry around. We also found a fun mirrored lion teether and a soft squishy stuffed bear. Finally, we are including a framed picture of Tony and I. And, the bag is full!

We had a lot of fun shopping together for it, though we also realized that we have a lot to learn about little kids' stuff. We plan to bring it with us on Saturday when we go to the waiting families seminar at Children's Home. I can't wait for him to receive it!