Thursday, October 31, 2013

Two Months and Counting

Two months have passed since our Acceptance went To Korea (ATK) and many more to come.  The only nice thing about the even numbered months is that we get to send a care package to Korea for Violet.  The rules have changed quite a bit since we adopted Jae.  While we were waiting for him we were only able to send 2 packages, but now with the longer waits our agency allows one every two months.

So here is what our sweet Violet will be receiving:  a couple of soft books, red glittery shoes with Minnie Mouse on them, soft Snow While doll, pink hair bow (thanks Rachel) and a teddy bear that is wearing a shirt with our picture on it.  And for the record, I know the below picture is side-ways.  No idea how to fix it.  :)


Happy Halloween and starting tomorrow morning, Happy National Adoption Month!  For those families in the Owatonna area, take a look at Saturday's People's Press!



Love,
Jae and Violet's Mom

Saturday, September 28, 2013

Misc Pictures

Keeping in mind that we have known about Violet MinJee for quite sometime, we celebrated her 1st birthday on July 12th before we formally accepted her referral.  Here are some pictures of our quiet little celebration as well as what we sent over in her care package.

Love,
Jae and Violet's Mom








 

Tuesday, September 24, 2013

Loooong Overdue Post

I am apparently very bad at blogging this go round.

However not too much is new since my last post, which is kind-of the way this adoption thing works.  Slow, slow, slow...then all of the sudden fast!  Paul and I did accomplish getting a preliminary approval to bring Violet MinJee into the US.  And I must say it was the most efficient US Government Office visit in the history of our country.  Our biometrics appointment (aka-fingerprints) was scheduled for noon, we walked into the building at 11:55 and walked out at 12:03!  The nice gentleman at the front counter said they better slow things down or they are going to give people the wrong impression.  Cute!

But mostly we wait  And to be honest, just when Paul and I were getting hopeful that Violet would be home a little earlier than originally expected, the Korean Foreign Ministry kicked us right back to reality today.  They announced that they will be moving their office to a new town that is 2 hours away from their current location in Seoul.  And the Ministry will undergo staffing changes in the process.  A setback of at least a month or two.  But being the glass 1/2 full kind-of gal I am, maybe the staffing change will be a good thing?  Maybe they will get someone(s) in there that will take charge and get these waiting children home?  Doubtful, but a mother can hope.

Love,
Jae and Violet's Mom

Sunday, July 28, 2013

Welcome Back!

Only big news could bring me back to the blog...and there is big news!  Jae has a little sister waiting for us in Korea!  But let's back up a little bit:

Paul and I decided back in October that we were ready to start the adoption process again.  It was almost too easy.  A simple phone call to Children's Home Society and Family Services (CHSFS) and the ball started rolling.  The necessary paperwork arrived in them mail a few days later and before we knew it, we were adopting again.  However, we drug our feet a bit with completing the paperwork as we knew that we were moving to a new home early in 2013.  Rather than complete all paperwork and home studies only to re-do them a month later when we moved, we just waited.  But as soon as the ink on the mortgage was dry, we were signing the adoption paperwork.  Our home study visit was completed with boxes scattered all over our new house!  Good think L (our social worker) understood our situation and knew we would have plenty of time to get things cleaned up.

We were officially on the Korean wait list February 20, 2013.  Now this is where is gets fun!  Paul and I decided long ago that we would not specify a boy or girl.  Biological parents don't get to choose gender so it felt natural to do the same.  However, we were both very confident it would be a boy as most girls that are placed for adoption in Korea are adopted domestically.  And there are a few family with CHSFS that are waiting exclusively for a girl so long story short, it was maybe a 1 in 100 chance that we would be referred a girl.  And also important to this story is that our adoption agency estimates the average wait time for a girl is 20 months (for reasons listed previously)!  So imagine our surprise when on March 12, 2013 (after being on the wait list for only 3 short weeks) L called with a referral!  I (Angela) was the one who received the call and was so shocked that I made L repeat "It's a girl" multiple times.  After hearing the basic information from L, I called Paul and we both rushed home to view the referral. 

Standard with most adoptions, our agency encouraged us to have a doctor that specializes in international adoption review the information before formally accepting the referral.  To simplify, this took a few back and forths between our doctor(s) here in the US and MinJee's doctors in Korea.  We asked a few questions to each party and well, this just took some time.

Finally on July 26, we had enough information that we were ready to move forward and accept!  We started signing paperwork to formally back MinJee a Herzog!  Now, you might have noticed that the title above says "Violet."  After much discussion, we decided to make MinJee's birth name her middle name.  So once the adoption is finalized, we will change her name to Violet MinJee Herzog. 

So that is where we are at.  Finishing paperwork so we can get on the travel wait list.  But here are a few other random fact that will help everyone know where we are at:

*Violet is not Jae's biological sister.  They do not share a birthmother nor birthfather
*Violet MinJee is a peanut!  She is in the bottom 10% for height in weight by Korean standards
*Yes, it will be a long wait to travel.  Most likely a year from now we will travel...hopefully by her 2nd birthday.  Which, by the way, is July 12.
*We quietly celebrated Violet's 1st birthday on July 12.  Paul had never see so much pink frosting on a cake.  I guess I got a little carried away.  :)
*The day before we got the call about Violet, Jae told his pre-school teachers that he was getting a little sister!  Our 3 year old is psychic!

And now pictures!







 
 
 
 
Love,

Jae AND Violet's Mom