okay – to fill the rest of the world who hasn’t been following this saga on facebook – Our son arrived at Phoenix Skyharbor Airport at 7:15 Thursday night, Sept 24, 2009.  There was a mix up on where to meet Marsha our social worker, so Steve and I took off to meet her as she walked back from a different security gate.  A couple of friends followed, including one new friend who videoed the whole event.  Thanks Kourtney!

All I can tell you is that seeing that beautiful (I know I’m prejudiced – but he is!!!) little boy, every other thought went out of my head!  I saw Marsha pushing him and I ran to meet them – as I ran up, Jae put his arms up as if he knew I was him mommy! (I’m crying even now as I think about it)!  I got him out of the stroller and I knew I would never want to put him down again!

We walked back to the area where everyone else was waiting – there were around 30 people or so!  We got there and Jae was so calm and collected, like he had this happen every day!  He’s such a happy, joyful little boy!

Well, soon we headed for home – we got Jae settled in, gave him a bottle, played with him in his room and put him to sleep – he went straight out.  Unfortunately, mama didn’t – I didn’t really sleep at all that night.  For many of you new moms out there – I imagine you experienced these same emotions.  My stomach was in knots (for all of the last 36 hours or so), I was alternately happy, scared, joyous,freaked out, elated, and nauseous (from stress).  Fortunately, I’ve been told that what I’m feeling is perfectly natural and it will go away in time (at least the nasty stress I’m feeling).

Yesterday, was also stressful because Jae had his first Doctor’s appointment and that meant 3 vaccines, a TB test and he got cathed for a urine sample – poor little boy had a really bad morning, and mama wasn’t much better.  I’m usually the strong one when it comes to medical stuff, just because of my background … but when it’s your own son, I lost it and cried with him!  I couldn’t stand to see those tears and sobs!

Jae is mostly a very happy baby, he’s got a mischievous grin that tells you he’s going to do something funny!  He’s really curious and loves to look out windows.  He is just as happy playing pat hands as he is playing with his toys!  And the best news, he’s bonding equally to Steve and me – a lot of Korean children don’t really bond to their fathers, because that’s just not done in Korea, but Jae loves being held by either Steve or me!

As I’m sitting here, I’m listening to the monitor, I got a good nights sleep, Steve stayed up with the baby and I went to bed last night at 8:30 with a sleeping pill.  Steve had a few problems but nothing we couldn’t handle, and now I’m letting him sleep and sitting here catching up on my last couple of days!  All I can say is that God is GREAT!  Every time yesterday, that I was doubting myself, every time I was scared or worried or fearful, God had someone reach out to me!  Thank you all who called, texted, emailed etc.  I even went to Sprouts yesterday to get some ginger for my poor tummy, and the woman who was working there reminded me that God has plans for me, plans to prosper me and not to harm me!  And that fear is about the unknown in a negative way, that God negates that just by His love!  All I can say is that this is going to be a crazy ride, but I’m so glad that God is there driving!

More to come soon!

Our son will be home in a few hours – and I’m sitting here thinking about what his life is going to be like … the first couple of days at home – he’ll be shell-shocked for sure … but he’ll be exploring his new environment.  We’ve been told that the babies do well during the day, but that at night they mourn for their foster moms.  I know he has to go through the grieving period, but at the same time, it breaks my heart to know how much he’s going to be hurting.  So his first couple of weeks at home are really going to be about allowing him to grieve and working on creating a new bond with him.  I already love this little boy and I haven’t even met him yet, but I know he is OUR little boy and he will be treasured and loved.

After the first couple of weeks, it will mostly be about new experiences and meeting new people, he’s also going to be learning English, since he’s spent the first 10 months only hearing Korean.  It’s a good thing I’m an ESL teacher LOLLLL I should be able to help him with his language learning.

I’m excited about the coming days and weeks, just to see what his personality will be like, what his likes and dislikes will be and what catches his fancy.  He’s going to have so much happening and yet at the same time I have to help shelter him from too much of an overload and that will be hard when I want to show him off to the whole world saying,  ”THIS IS MY SON!!!”  I already have a ton of playdates to set, and activities to do with him, and yet, I’m looking forward to watching him sleep, holding him while he eats, and playing with him and his new toys.  Well, world, look out here we come!!!

I know it’s been a while – but it was really hard for me to write about anything – I was so discouraged about the wait time for Jae to come home.

But now I am over the moon – Jae’s going to be home Thursday, September 24 at 7:15 PM – we’re getting a huge crowd of people to come and meet him for the first time at the airport.  I can’t wait to see him and hold him for the first time!  I know I’m going to be crying and laughing and in an emotional uproar.  Between now and when he arrives – I’ve got a lot to do – I’m going to make curtains for his room – and we’re going to hang new curtains in the kitchen too.  Other than that – I want to paint the Lion King emblem (the one that Rafiki drew in the movie) on the wall in Jae’s room!  There’s just so much to do – everyone keeps teasing me that I’m nesting – Really – me nesting????  Nah!

I’m also in the process of re-cleaning the house and Steve’s helping me with getting all the chores done – the really good news is Steve will be off of work from Friday through next week Thursday so we can spend that time bonding with Jae – then he’s going to work half days from home for another week or two.

We have a lot ahead of us – but the journey is going to be wonderful!  And I’ll be updating regularly with pictures and new posts about Jae!

Well – life has been a roller coaster for the last couple of months. Steve and I have been trying to get the house ready for Jae’s arrival.  In the midst of all of that – we had the baby shower (thanks to my life groupies – you are awesome).  And we discovered that with the addition we did to the house – we can fit in about 50 people without too much trouble now.  

After the baby shower – we found out that all of the paperwork in Korea was invalidated, so we had to re-sign and re-send the paperwork, then we found out last week that Jae’s visa paperwork has been lost and had to be re-sent over to the embassy in Seoul.  We’re hoping it gets there this week.  We’re still looking at sometime in September as when Jae will arrive – but we can always hope that he’ll be here before that.

I’ve been really busy in the meantime, I’ve been helping a friend with getting her new house painted, and I’ve been working out with some great friends.  Also Steve and I have been still working on the house – there’s a lot we want to get done before Jae arrives … so wish us luck while we wait!

It’s been a while – but I got busy with living life.

So here’s the update – Jae’s visa paperwork is finished and approved by the US Govt.  It’s in Korea at the US Embassy now – so that’s the good news … now the not so good news – our paperwork in Korea seems to be stalled for now.  Our social worker is amazing and she’s been keeping us informed on how Jae’s doing.  The video of Jae was amazing and the new photos we got have been wonderful to look through.  I keep dreaming about what it’s going to be like when he arrives.  I’ve been nesting like mad.  I’ve got Jae’s room cleaned out and am in the process of setting it up.  We also have the baby shower coming this weekend and I’m really looking forward to it.

In terms of school, I’m glad to be done with teaching for now.  I was really burned out by the end of the school year, and to help me get over that, I had the chance to go to Kids’ Camp with our church.  I had 5 really awesome young women in my cabin and we had a blast – they were wonderful to talk with and to see how thirsty they are to know Christ better.  That really helped me recover from the end of the year.

Other than that – Steve and I have been working on our house – we’ve finished laying the floor and we’re finished with the painting the new room we added.  I still have to paint Jae’s room and we have some work to do on some of the new (used) furniture we got.  I’m not working right now – but I’ll probably start looking for an online part-time job next week.  Any ideas – let me know.

A friend’s blog just reminded me of the joys of watching your child as they still enjoy being a child.  She was writing in her blog about how her daughter was enjoying the story of Jack and the Beanstalk.  She reminded me that there are so many joys ahead of me.

Lately, I’ve been hearing a lot of horror stories for lack of a better term about parenting and adopting and all the problems of having a child.  I started to lose track of the joy that we will also be experiencing.  I want to think about when our son sees the Christmas tree for the first time and when he opens his birthday presents.  How he will look as he’s falling asleep but struggling to stay awake like a big boy.

I’m looking forward to watching him learn to walk, to eat new foods for the first time.  His smile as he plays with our dog in the backyard.  His giggle when he gets tickled by his dad.

There are so many joys ahead of me as a mom, yes, I know that there are also the struggles and the pain, but really what do we really remember – that bad or the good?  I think that defines the relationship you have with your kids – and as for me – I want to remember the good and stay focused on that!

So thank you Andi for sharing the joy of your daughter’s reactions to your story – that really helped me remember why I’m doing all this!  It’s all about the JOY!

my new son … J, he should be arriving this summer and we can’t wait for him to get here! He’s 5-1/2 months old and he’s beautiful!

my beautiful son

We’re now officially eligible to adopt! We just finished our home study and we can now receive our referral. So the next step is to find out who our baby is and when he/she will be home!!! Yahoo!!!!!!

Hey all – I know it’s been a while since I’ve blogged – but when you are teaching full time in an autism classroom – well … you don’t have a lot of energy after you finish the day.

The last week has been interesting – last Saturday, Steve and I had our CPR and First Aid certification classes. Because I’m working with autistic students, I asked about dealing with seizures. It’s a good thing I did – one of my students suffered a grand mal seizure yesterday and I was the only adult with him at the time. I got help very quickly, but I gotta admit – I’m really glad I had that training.

This whole weekend is going to be spent cleaning house because … we have our home visit on Monday for the adoption!!!!!!! Please be praying for us – this is the final step before the homestudy is done. Anyway – that’s what’s been going on in my life – I’ll get more out in my next blog when I have a moment to breathe!

I’m getting an education right now. I took a long term teaching job working with autistic children. I’ll be working with 8 autistic kids through the end of the school year. If you’ve never worked with autistic children – you might think that autism is the same for each child. It’s not – I’m learning about the spectrum of this disorder. I have a real spectrum in my class and I’m learning all about how to relate to each one of the students.

I’m really enjoying the kids – I’m learning what works and what doesn’t. So as much as I’m teaching my students, I’m learning from them too. I’m also learning from my aides who are very compassionate and well-versed in the behaviors of each one of the students.

Along with what I’m doing at school, I’m also learning about what it means to become a prospective adoptive parent. We’re in the middle of the homestudy and I’m learning that I really need to think about what adopting means. I can’t wait to learn about our baby.

So I’m in a major learning stage of my life … and I’m really enjoying it right now!