Tuesday, November 11, 2014

74 Days of Waiting

We drew the short stick, hypothetically of course.  There are 4 judges in Korea that work with adoption cases, and one of the four is known to be ridiculously slow.  Crazy slow.  And as luck would have it, that judge picked up the Herzog file.  Boo. 


It is kind-of hard to explain, but with the adoption process you move as a group.  Files are prepped together.  Files go into the Ministry together.  Leave the Ministry together.  Submitted to Court together.  Together up until this point when you are assigned to different judges.  Families in our group that got "faster" judges have already received court dates.  Many have already appeared in court and received Preliminary approval.  Some are probably on the verge of final approval and  custody of their child.  We don't even have a court date yet. It is hard to watch so many families move forward with the process and we are at a standstill.


However, it does make it a little easier to get up every morning when the alarm goes off.  The first thing that pops in my head every morning at 4:45 is "Maybe today is the day."  Unfortunately my optimism usually fades pretty quickly around 10:00AM - -or has for the past 74 days.  Maybe day 75 will be our lucky one?


Love,
Jae and Violet's Mom

Sunday, October 12, 2014

Ready For a Court Date

Still waiting to be assigned a court date.  Every morning we are very optimistic as the call should be coming any day.  The list of people waiting for a court assignment keeps slowly getting shorter and shorter, just a matter of when our number gets called.  Stay tuned.


Love,
Jae and Violet's Mom

Wednesday, August 20, 2014

Random Photos From the last Few Months

EP Approved

Just about a week ago we got the crazy news that Violet's EP was approved after only 15 short days!  It is normal for this to take 4 to 8 weeks so we were blown away when we got the email from our Korean Adoption specialist that Violet had been approved.  If you look at the timeline on the right, you will see Jae's EP approval took basically 3 months.  Not 3 weeks, 3 months.  Blown away that she was approved (as well as the rest of the group) in only 15 days!


From what happens here on out is new to us.  The laws in Korea changed right after Jae came home.  So again looking at the timeline on the right, the only step for Jae after EP approval was a quick US Visa appointment and then the travel call.  Well the new law states we must appear in Korean court to finalize the adoption.  Which is exactly what we are waiting for now, a court date.  Violet's paper work should be submitted to Court any day now (which really means her file is basically being handed over to the judicial system) and then we will be assigned a court date.  Once we have the court date we can start making travel plans for our first trip.  But we are at the mercy judge that is assigned our case or more specifically, his or her schedule.  What else he or she has scheduled, vacation, etc. 


In the meantime we stay busy with project with our new (old) house.  Painting touch ups, fixing/winterizing the pool, replacing light fixtures and fans, etc.  As well as doing our best to spend good quality one on one time with Jae. 


Love,
Jae and Violet's Mom

Wednesday, August 6, 2014

Begining of the End

Time to hop back on the blog!  Thing are rolling for the our little Miss Violet over in Korea so it is time to keep everyone informed of what is going on.


One week ago today Violet's paperwork was submitted to the Korean Foreign Ministry for the purpose of Emigration Permission (AKA - permission to leave the country).  This is a huge step and basically the bottleneck of the adoption process.  We were over the moon to get this news last week!  Big, huge, gigantic step forward!  Now we wait for the approval of her Emigration Permission (EP) which can take anywhere from 4 to 8 weeks. There is a chance that we are on the lower end of that spectrum because it appears to be a small group that was submitted to the government.   Without going into a lot of details, you go into the government as a group and you leave as a group.  So once you know you made the cut, you want it (for purely selfish reasons) to be as small of a group as possible in hopes they can process things faster.  Time will tell.


Once we have EP approval we will be assigned a court date and will travel!  It really is the beginning of the end.  But unlike Jae's adoption, we will take 2 different trips due to some Korean law changes.  The first being the court appearance that I just mentioned, and then the next trip will be anywhere from 3-6 weeks later to go get Violet and bring her home.


I will try and post weekly and get some updated pictures up here.  And the times we actually do travel, I will try and post daily. 


Excited to finally become a family of four!!


Love,
Jae and Violet's Mom

Friday, January 24, 2014

EPs of 2014

Indirect exciting news today:  The first group EPs (Emigration Permissions...AKA Exit Visa) of 2014 were submitted for approval in Korea.  Last year the first batch wasn't submitted until May, so this is a huge improvement!

In layman's terms:  Violet is basically in line to get a government issued document to leave Korea and come to America.  Right now the kids that are in the front of the line are one that were referred and accepted to their family back in Dec 2012 and Jan 1013.  We accepted Violet's referral in August 2013 so we are a few months down the line.  But the fact the Korean Ministry started right back up in the new year with EPs is a great sign.  Hopefully the wait to travel really did peak at 17/18 month and is coming down. I sure hope so because the idea that we wouldn't travel until 2015 is inconceivable.

Love,
Jae and Violet's Mom

Tuesday, January 14, 2014

5 Months and Counting

Apparently I am not very good at blogging this second go around.  Last time, it was just Paul and I at home in the evening so there was plenty of time to share my thoughts and progress with Jae's adoption.  Well, now it is obvious what takes up my time...Mr. Jae.

Five months ago today our acceptance of Violet's referral went to Korea.  Crazy that it has already been 5 month since acceptance and over 9 months since we first saw her picture.  As each day in 2014 passes, I am more and more convinced that Violet will not be home for her 2nd birthday.  Which breaks my heart.  Violet is 18 months right now, which was the age Jae was when we brought him home. 

But, we are starting to get ready for her arrival, even though it may be months away.  I did some serious clothes shopping this past week.  Lots of ruffles, bows, pink and purple now fill her dresser drawers.  Plus I purchased some outfits to send to her right now.  I live for sending those precious care packages to Korea.  I bet I have enough stuff up in Violet's room to fill at least 4 more 1 gallon zip lock bags (the max we can send at one time).  Dolls, clothes, hair bows, photo books, regular toddler books, blocks, etc.

There really isn't much else to report.  Paul and I are headed back to the Steele County Detention Center this week to update our fingerprints.  Our Adam Walsh background check expires after one year, and since we are months away from getting Violet, we are required to have it re-run.  Hence the need for new fingerprints.  Otherwise we still just wait.  There are families that accepted referrals in Dec 2012 that are still waiting for the travel call.  We accepted in August 2013 so no telling how much longer.

The one good piece of news today was new pictures!  She is getting big!  And the littlest Herzog has started a career in modeling.  Apparently she is the face of February for our Korean agency's 2014 calendar...which is adorable!


And here she is holding one of our care packages.  If you look at my previous blog, you will recognize the items in her hand as well as the ones that are off to her left.  Love.  Love.  Love.


Love,
Jae and Violet's Mom