It's Finally Here!

We have been waiting and waiting and waiting for a phone call from our agency that the time had come to travel to get Anderson in Korea.  But after a week of sitting around the house, we were going nuts!  We decided that was not going to work for us.  We headed to Holden Beach, then to Lake Lure, and finally down to Ocracoke Island, OBX.  (Will post a couple more details about these mini-adventures soon.)

Along the way, on Andy’s birthday actually (July 5^th), we got a call from our agency but not the call we were expecting.  We were told that travel to Korea had been pushed back and we shouldn’t expect to travel to Korea until after August 1^st.  That was a BAD day.  I could not stop crying.  We were down on Ocracoke with Andy’s parents when we got another unexpected call from our agency.  I was in another room when I heard Andy say, “Hey Darlene… You got it.”  I went running into the living room and jump into Andy’s arms.  We were approved for travel to go get our little men- just 3 days after we were told it would probably be weeks until we would get to travel.  We knew that God had heard and answered the prayers of family, friends, and us who were pleading to God to move the obstacles that had been placed in our path. 

We work up at 4AM on Thursday morning to go to the airport in Charlotte to catch our flight to Chicago and then on to Seoul, Korea. Now usually Andy and I are not morning people, but I have to say we both got out of bed with a little extra spring in our step because we knew what was wait at the other end of this flight. 

The thirteen-hour flight from Chicago to Seoul was long to say the least, but Korean Air was great.  The flight attendants looked like they were straight out of 1952.  Andy was able to grab a couple winks of sleep here and there, but I have never been able to sleep on a plane.  We ended up going 29 hours without sleeping.  Yuck!  After 2 flights, 1 bus ride, and a short hike from the bus drop off to the guest house we were finally here.  We had a little trouble finding the SWS guest house, so we trekked through the streets of downtown Seoul lugging 50lb suitcases for about 30mins before we found it.  I’m sure we didn’t stick out to the locals.

We went out to grab a bite to eat.  Seoul is a massive city.  There were so many people out on the street.  The traffic was nuts.  We were amazed by the sea of people surrounding us.  We found a Starbucks and grabbed a quick sandwich.  Then it was back to the room to shower and crawl in bed (at 8:38 PM).  

Since we went to bed at 8:30PM by 5:30AM we had gotten 9 hours of sleep.  We had made prior plans to meet Elizabeth Shin, an international student at Davidson College that Megan and Trey hosted last year.  She has graciously agreed to show us around Seoul on Saturday and Sunday.  The weather does not look great, but since we have time we are going to face the day head on. 

We’ll try to post as often as we can so stay tuned!

~Andy & Kate

The Last Wait

It’s been a long road. When we started our adoption process we knew there would be ups and downs, good days and bad days. One of the reasons we chose to adopt from Korea was its stability and reliability, but along the way we ran into a few unexpected bumps. After a getting our “packet” sent to Korea early, we were very optimistic about getting our baby even sooner than we had thought. Then we started getting news that Korea was slowing down their process. The hardest part of those months was not knowing what or when things were going to happen. No one knew, and that was frustrating. We originally thought we would be getting an 8-10 month old baby, but that changed to a 15-18 month old toddler. There were a few tough days as we adjusted to the idea that we wouldn’t get to see him take his first steps or say his first words. But…then we got his picture. All the bad days were instantly forgotten, and we knew that everything happened exactly like it was supposed to. We are completely and totally in love with this little boy.

Our back porch now has a jogging stroller and a tricycle.  The living room has a toy box filled with planes, boats, and cars.   His bedroom has a crib with stuffed animals, a dresser full of clothes, and a changing table loaded with diapers and wipes.  But there is one important thing missing… him. 

We are in the last stage of waiting- that period between getting the referral and traveling to bring our child home.  This time has been a bit surreal actually.  We had been waiting for months for our referral.  During that time, we said over and over again, “If we only had a picture.”  Then out of the blue on a Monday afternoon, we opened an email and there it was- a picture of him, our baby.  Instantly, a picture was no longer enough.  Now our arms ache to feel the weight of him in our embrace.  We want to know his smell, to tickle toes, and coax a smile from his lips.  

For us this time has been about dreaming about the possibilities of what might be.    Will he enjoy playing in the sandbox we built for him?  Will he love the beach like we do, or will he be scared of the waves? 

But it has also been about the realities of preparing our lives for a new baby.  We have filled out maternity leave paperwork, and kitchen drawers have been toddler-proofed.   

It is hard knowing that he is there and we are here, and that we can’t be together as one family yet.  While we wait for our travel date to arrive, we were thrilled to learn that we could send him a care package.   We loved finding the perfect items to send him to let him know our love.  In addition to a few toys and articles of clothing, we sent him a recordable storybook so that he could listen to the sound of our voices, a CD of our favorite lullabies, and a DVD of us reading him bedtime stories.  We felt really blessed that our agency helped us bridge the gap during this time by allowing us to send the package.

We are anxious to meet him and to get him here.  We are always willing to share his photo with anyone who asked about how things are going with our adoption.  We have even been known to share his photo with a stranger or two.  We can’t help it; we are such proud parents.  So right now we wait, but we know it won’t be for long.  And occasionally we turn on the nightlight in his room before bedtime- a little reminder that he will be here soon. 

Andy & Kate

Summer Plans

Since we are more than likely traveling to Korea in June to get our baby, we are going to have to cancel our trip to Honduras.  It's a little bittersweet for us.  We were really excited to spend time with Mama Tara's kids, but we have to trust in God's timing.

~Andy & Kate

Adoption Update

Ok.  So we haven't been great about updating our blog lately.  Here's where we are with our adoption.  We have gotten our referral!!!  He is a beautiful 13 month baby boy.  We hope to travel to Korea to get him in June.  We'll keep you updated on that process once we start to travel for sure.  For now, here is a picture of our little guy.  Prepare for the cuteness!

~Andy & Kate

Adoption Update

So it has been a long time since we have posted anything to our blog. Thanks to the overwhelming support from family and friends we are close to raising all the money we need for our adoption. It has been such a blessing to watch how God has provided for our needs. If you are still interested in piggy banks we are still painting them. We are already talking about where we will be adopting child number two from. :)

Updates about our adoption:

• We should be getting our photo referral in the next 4 weeks. We are anxiously awaiting the first moment we see our little one's face.
• We do know that it will be a boy. He could be anywhere from 14 months to 22 months when we fly to get him.
• We did state on our application that we would accept twins (however that is very unlikely).
• Once we get our photo referral, we could fly to Korea to pick him up as quickly as 2 months or as long as 7 months.
• We have decided on a boy name: Anderson James (nickname: AJ).

Once our eyes were opened to the needs of orphans around the world, it has begun to reshape our lives. While we are waiting to go to Korea to pick up Anderson, we can't put our lives on hold. So this June and July we will be going to Honduras for 3 weeks to volunteer at an orphanage that our church is adopting. Andy is going to lead soccer camps and Kate is going to lead art camps. We know we can adopt every orphan around the world but we can lead lives that demonstrate our love for them.

This Summer's Adventure

This summer our adventure is going to be a little different than it has been in the past, but we're just as excited. This year, we are heading down to Puerta Limpera, Honduras to visit the orphanage we help sponsor. The orphanage is named Mama Tara's after the amazing woman that has dedicated her life to caring for over 20 Honduran orphans. Our church sent a group there over Christmas break, and they came back with a fire for doing God's work down there that we are hoping will spread to our entire church. We're planning on spending about 2 and a half weeks in Honduras towards the end of June and beginning of July. Kate is going to do art activities and I am going to try to build a soccer field a play soccer with the kids. More than anything we are just going to spend time loving on the kids and showing them that there are "gringos" who do care about them. The only thing that could put a hitch in our plans is our adoption. It is possible that we could travel to Korea before we travel to Honduras, and that would cause us to have to stay home. But, www know God has got it handled and we just need to be prepared to go wher and when He calls us. Our good friend Adam Cline put together this video of their time at Mama Tara's. It will make you laugh and cry at the same time, so be ready! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ysgYjP3Kk8k&feature=youtu.be We'll have more info soon! Yours in Christ, Andy & Kate

Adoption Update

So here we are, February 2012 with no baby yet. Things in South Korea have been bogged down for a while, so we still don't have a referral yet. Our agency told us that referrals are expected to resume this month and that we are 8th in line for one. As far as timing goes, we really have no idea when the referral will come in, but when it does, there will be anywhe from 2-7 months before we travel. The baby is going to be a little older than we had anticipated, too. Originally he was going to be around 11-12 months when we got him, but now they are telling us he could be anywhere from 14-22 months when we get him. It all keeps changing pretty regularly, so it's fairly frustrating. We know that it is already planned out, but the not knowing is driving us a bit bonkers. Hopefully we'll have some news in a month or so as to where we stand. In Christ, Andy & Kate