October 28

October 28th. Did you know it is National Chocolate Day? It is, honestly (so go enjoy a piece of halloween candy)! It’s also one day after Tony’s birthday (happy first birthday as a Dad!). 

October 28, 2013 was also the beginning of the end of our wait to meet Oliver. Last year on October 28 we received an email with the subject: 
Court Date Assigned!

The email contained some of the most wonderful news we could have asked for:

Dear Anthony and Tonya, 

The Court Appearance date has been set for your case. The Court has communicated to ESWS that the Court Appearance date for the adoptive parents of ChaeHa is on Friday, November 22, 2013 at 10:30 am.   

The Appearance will be held in Korean Family Court. You will come to ESWS on the day of the Court Appearance and travel to Court with ESWS staff/translator.  

The Korean agency will provide transportation to the Court on this day. Please plan to be in Korea 3-5 business days prior to the Court Appearance to allow for time to have the pre-Appearance meeting with ChaeHa. 

Goodness…just re-reading this email is making me cry. During our rather long wait, it was hard to feel as though the whole thing was “real”. We would see photos of a child we had never met (or even heard speak or cry). We would get updates of his measurements and progress. But it usually didn’t feel real. It was hard to see how it would ever turn into anything beyond the paperwork (and wait).

This email helped me move from the abstract to the tangible as we prepared to finally meet Oliver (which was eventually scheduled for November 18) and present ourselves to the Korean Court. It of course threw us into a state of craziness as we worked to schedule our travel, buy gifts, get the house closer to being ready, and more. It made for a few very stressful weeks. But it was finally real!

What a wonderful day last October 28, 2013 was. However, on this October 28 I am truly and deeply blessed with the opportunity to hug, kiss and cuddle with Oliver. To have him here, a part of our family. I have a feeling that these next two months of first anniversaries will bring more tears and more reflection. For now, however, I just need to stop crying!

Campfire

Last night Tony and I hosted our small group, so Oliver got to spend some time with Oma and Opa. They have a fire pit in their backyard and they decided to make the most of the beautiful fall day. For dinner they roasted hot dogs over the fire, and dessert was (of course) s'mores. Oma and Opa sure know how to have a fun evening!

I'm sorry to have missed this first, but happy he is so loved and cared for. And that he had a fun night!

Today we got a lot of yard work done, again with the help of my in-laws. This afternoon we showed Oliver his early-waited for Halloween costume, and I am now sitting next to a very cute and happy fire fighter. Here's a sneak peak:

Panels, Apple "Picking", St. Louis & Surprise

The last couple of weeks have been busy and full at the Meyers' house. Once again my post is a little more delayed than I would have liked, though this time I have a very good excuse (see Surprises). 

Panels
On Friday, October 10th our family participated on two panel discussions at Children's Home Society / Lutheran Social Services (the agency we are working with on the adoption). As part of the adoption process, there are several required classes -- and at the end of each class, the "highlight" is a panel discussion with families who are on the other side of the adoption process. I absolutely love this type of thing and find it to be highly valuable.

Both panels focused on our experiences during the wait and once we were home. It was a good opportunity for us to reflect on taking custody and the first few hours / days / months as a family of three (and to hear about other families’ experiences). Oh, how far we have come! And how happy I am to be a complete family this October instead of a family-in-waiting last October. 

Apple Picking
On Saturday, October 11th we headed toward Stillwater for apple picking. As you may have read on this blog in the past, apple picking is one of those activities for which I have longed to do with our child. I have dreamed of the day when we could wander through the rows of trees, laughing and picking apples together. Our day didn’t go quite that way, of course. I was under the weather (see Surprises for more) and not at the top of my game, mentally or physically. And, when we arrived they had posted signs that pick your own was over the season — some how we missed the apple picking window! 

None the less, Oliver had fun playing on the equipment, riding in the barrel behind the tractor, running through the kid’s hay maze, and helping us pick apples out of the bin in the farm’s store. We enjoyed lunch at the orchard and had a great time, even if it wasn’t what I had initially planned for. Next year we will need to work on getting to orchard earlier in the season!

St. Louis
Last weekend the three of us flew to St. Louis to visit family. Oliver did an excellent job traveling and our time in St. Louis was terrific! We were able to see lots of family, visit the zoo, have an ice cream treat, hang out with our niece and nephew — and Tony and I had a chance to go out with friends…without a toddler in tow. All in all it was a fantastic weekend! Tony has a few good photos of my dad with Oliver (which I hope he will send me soon), but here are some others we took during our trip:

Oliver got to be the guest conductor on the zoo train!

Brushing the goats with his cousin

Nana kept him safe from the scary banjo-playing skeletons!

Tuckered out and just relaxing

Surprises

Life is full of surprises, though not all of them are good. Just before we went to be on the panel discussions, the three of us went in for our flu mist (which was recommended to us by a nurse as it would be better for Oliver). Tony and I both had the flu mist last year and didn’t have any issues with it, and neither of us enjoy shots. By the end of the evening I was starting to feel run down, and Saturday morning I felt downright awful. I tried to power through the day at the apple orchard and running errands, expecting that the effects of the flu mist would wear off at any moment. On Sunday I was even sicker, had a fever and felt miserable. I made a doctor’s appointment for early Monday morning. Turns out that I essentially caught the flu from the flu mist, since it has a little bit of live virus in it. WHAT?! Unbelievable. But yet all of my symptoms matched the flu — chills/sweats, fever, nausea, coughing (and wheezing), aches, etc. 

Naturally Tony left town for work Monday morning, returning late Wednesday. So I stocked up on the prescription meds the doctor gave me, hoped for the best, and was blessed with a lot of extra help from my in-laws (they stepped in to help in a big way and made such a difference!). I ended up having a very bad reaction to Tamiflu, which is supposed to ease flu symptoms but instead made me incredibly sick. So sick, in fact, that the doctor had to call in another prescription for me to ease the nausea. By Wednesday my fever had broken and I felt a sliver of hope that I would eventually recover. I was able to work from home Thursday and was well enough to travel on Friday. What a string of bad health luck! First to get the flu from the thing that was meant to prevent it, then to have such a bad reaction to the drug that was supposed to make the flu better. I’m ready for some positive surprises after all of that!

Favorite Words and Phrases
Here are a few of Oliver’s favorite words and phrases as of late: super tall (when he wants something to be big), too big for me (he means I am too big for that), little bit older (meaning when he’s a little bit older or that something is for older kids), buy that / need that, maybe later, I do it.

He is so wonderful and amazing! We have our first parent-teacher conference tomorrow, so I am very curious to learn how he’s doing in school. And next week is Tony’s birthday and Halloween (he will be a firefighter), so it will be a fun week!

A Saturday, a Kid and His Emergency Vehicles

I had the pleasure of spending all of Saturday with Oliver. What a terrific kiddo he can be! The day started with some jammie time, lounging about before Tony had to leave for his golf tournament. Then Oliver and I lounged a bit more before heading out to the grocery store. He was happy to get to ride in the car cart (and I was happy to not take out any end cap displays as I tried to maneuver that monstrosity around the store). Back home we had a quick lunch and then headed up for a special treat: the Brooklyn Park Fire Station Open House.

The open house began at noon and they advertised that the first 50 kids under 6 years old would get a t-shirt and helmet. We arrived on the scene at 12:10…and missed out! He did get a helmet, but the shirts were already gone. Needless to say, it was a zoo. Oliver was so excited, though, and didn’t even realize he missed out.

I’m not sure how Oliver’s interest in emergency vehicles began, but he’s been into them as long as we’ve known him. The BPFD was great, allowing the kids to get into and onto nearly everything. He played in the ambulance, crawled around two fire trucks, checked out the old-school SWAT vehicle and newer SWAT van, SWAT-related items such as automatic weapons and body armor, looked at the police boat, and played in the Paw Patrol Bouncy House. WOW! Inside the station they had Sparky the Fire Dog, photo ops, dress up clothes, ice cream and cookies. Oliver was in heaven!

 The fire station was great, and then we headed out for some fall clothes shopping. To end our day we made english muffin pizzas – Oliver got to make his own and he did a great job! He was so precise about how he put the mini pepperoni on each slice of muffin, and he used the perfect amount of cheese. He loves to make and mix things, so it was a fun way to prepare dinner together.

Oliver is such a blessing. I was wiped out by the end of the day, but glad to have gotten to do some fun things with Oliver (and accomplish a bit as well).