Posts

Showing posts from August, 2008
Image
Sam and his new haircut and his scabbed nose
http://www.youtube.com/get_player
http://www.youtube.com/get_player
Yesterday was a pretty uneventful day. We all slept in so that was nice and then the kids and I just hung around the house most of the morning. The kids took a little nap and then our friend watched the kids so I could go exercise. I had another sleepless night. I was so tired but I just could not fall asleep. I had a million things running through my head. Most of things involved three little Koreans:)I have also been a little anxious about our finances, mainly getting Chloe's adoption paid off. We have several grant applications out to organizations but you just never know if they will be able to help. We will be OK, but I just do not like this much debt hanging over our head. Well, I finally drifted off to sleep and Emma woke up crying or should I say screaming. I went in her room and laid down with her hoping she would go back to sleep but she was mad that I did not pick her up. She kept crying and then she heard her daddy in the other room say, "Just bring her in here...
Image
<
Well I have decided that I can no longer take naps on Sunday afternoons. I took a great nap yesterday, but I think I slept 3 hours last night. I tossed and turned until about 2 am and I was just about to doze off and our bedroom door flung open (scaring me to death) and Sam announces he has to go to the bathroom. Emma realizes she is now in the bed by herself and starts crying. So, Sam and I went to their bed and Emma and Jeremy were in our bed. I then went back to sleep and had to get up at 5:30 to get to work. It was pouring down rain and so I had everyone covered up, two bags and my purse, and Emma in my arms. We are about to go out the door and Sam drops his cup on the floor spilling juice all over the dining room floor. I had to put everything down and clean it up. I got the kids to Gran and Papa's house and then got stuck in traffic on my way to work. Not exactly a great start to the week. I worked all day and then I met Jeremy and the kids at Wendy's for supper and Sam a...
We had a busy day yesterday. We left the house early. I actually left the kids in their pajamas when I took them to Gran and Papa's house. I worked all day and was pretty exhausted when I got home. We decided to go to Old Chicago Pizza for supper. We then came home and all of us ended up falling asleep in the living room. Jeremy was on the long couch and the kids and I were asleep on the love seat. I did wake up after about 45 minutes and we all went to our beds. I had to work again today so I got up and went to work and Jeremy and the kids went to the mall to Old Navy because they were having this sale on jeans. Jeremy said it was so crazy and he did not even stay in the store. He said the lines were ridiculous.  I just got home a few minutes ago and now I am starting my second job. I will be cleaning my own house. Well Jeremy checked our Fedex account and Chloe's papers were sent to Immigration on Thursday and were scheduled to be delivered yesterday. I did not think it would...
http://www.youtube.com/get_player
Well we got our I600A approval today in the mail. I faxed it to our agency this morning and I am hoping that they sent the paperwork to the Immigration office in Memphis. We then came home and we took a nap. I have not been sleeping well that past few days. I am so exhausted but when I go to bed I cannot go to sleep. Well I posted a video of Emma but I have a better one of her but it will not post tonight for some reason. I will try tomorrow. Well we are all off to bed. We all have to leave early in the morning
http://www.youtube.com/get_player

Welcome to the Roller Coaster Ride

Well I actually have some GOOD news today. I e-mailed the Immigration office in Memphis last night hoping to get some information on if they had all our paperwork and to maybe get a time frame on when we would get our approval. I was not expecting much information from them because they were not helpful during our ordeal with Emma and were very vague on all information. Jeremy had the computer today so I did not check my e-mail until this evening and I had an e-mail from Memphis saying that our I600A was approved on August 7th and were surprised that we had not received it yet. They then sent me a second e-mail saying that they just discovered that our approval had actually been returned to them on Friday because they mislabeled the envelope and our address was wrong. They were very apologetic and said they corrected the problem and it was sent back in the mail today. I think it is pretty crazy that they already messed up on mailing something but I am glad that it approved and we will ...
Image

Disappointing News

Well I have some disappointing news about the time frame of when Chloe will be home. I got a call from our social worker TODAY saying that we need our I600A approval before our I600 form approving Chloe to come home can be sent to Memphis. Now do not get me wrong, I am not upset at the process. I understand that there is certain steps and certain papers that need to be filed and such BUT I am pretty upset that we have spent all week thinking that Chloe's papers had been sent to Memphis and they have not been sent. I am frustrated that we were not asked the day of the referral if we had our I600A approval or why we did not get a call last Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday. or Thursday about this issue. We sat in the agency that day of the referral and were told that it would be sent to Immigration. So, here is the new scenario. Our papers were sent to Immigration on July 22nd for the I600A and they say it could take 8 weeks so we are only on week three. After we get the approval we then ca...
Image
I forgot to mention that our precious Emma came home 6 months ago today. It is hard to believe that it has been that long. We are so thankful that we have been chosen to be her parents. Here are a few pictures of our first days with Emma.
I cannot believe that is already Saturday evening again. Last week was like a whirlwind.  My friend Jennifer had her little boy Thursday afternoon so we went to the hospital around 7:00 that night. Sam was so sweet with the baby. He wanted to kiss and love on him and we was very interested in everything the nurses were doing to him. Jennifer's daughter are Olivia who is in 1st grade and Sarah who is the same age as Samuel. Well, Sarah has been talking the past few months that she has two boyfriends, Samuel and a little boy that lives next door to them. So Thursday at the hospital Olivia and Sam were playing together and Olivia had her hand on Sam's arm and Sarah marched over to her sister and said, "Hey, he's MY boyfriend!" We laughed so hard. Samuel was oblivious to what she was talking about, it was pretty cute (well it's cute right now). Friday I got up early and went to Curves. I was pretty proud of myself. My alarm went off at 5:20 AM and I got up and res...
Image
Sam at the park
Image
Emma at the park
Image
Emma getting caught with her hands in the goldfish bag
We have a busy day ahead of us today. We got up about an hour ago. We have all eaten breakfast and  are all getting ready to head out the door. I have a few errands to run so I am taking the kids to our dear friend's house to play. I am also going to go exercise while I am out. I was going to exercise after Jeremy got home from school but my friend Jennifer is having her baby today so we are going to the hospital this evening to see her baby boy Eli. Jennifer and her husband Frank work with Jeremy and I at the church with the youth group. They have two girls and now a boy and I have the boy and two girls. A few weeks ago we were somewhere together with our kids and Jennifer reminded me that we would have 6 kids between us. We both laughed at how crazy that will be. We will need a church van if we all want to go some place together. I keep forgetting to post that Emma has learned how to say "thank you" in sign language. They were watching Blue's Clues a few weeks ago a...
Image
Yesterday was pretty uneventful. We stayed in most of the day. The kids and I got out yesterday for a little bit. We went for a walk in a neighborhood about 10 minutes from our house. I took their wagon and I walked about 30 minutes. I usually walk in our neighborhood but it is so hilly and it is very hard work pulling 50 pounds in a wagon. It is a good workout but it is not very fun. The kids played really nice together and we had a very relaxing day. Today I went to work and the kids went to Gran and Papa's for the day. Emma is so sweet. She is calling me momma all the time now and it just melts my heart. When I went to pick them up after work they were both asleep so I went in the room and she slowly opened her eyes and sweetly said "momma".  It is crazy to think that we were in Korea six months ago this week. Thursday after we got Chloe's referral I was thinking that the past six months have flown by and it is strange to think about what our lives will be like six...
We had a pretty good weekend. We actually all slept a lot. Saturday we got up and went to Sam's Club for a few things, mainly diapers and wipes. It actually makes my stomach hurt a little when I think about how many diapers I will be going through when I have two in diapers. We went to eat lunch and then we all came home and took a nap. We all slept three hours. We then just hung around the house the rest of the afternoon. I tried to get caught up on my laundry. Tried is the key word. After church we went to Jeremy's parents for lunch and then we all took a nap Sunday afternoon. Unfortunately Jeremy and I did not sleep good last night. I finally went sleep sometime after 12:30 and I am not sure what time Jeremy went to sleep. The kids cried our at 4:45 and then I got up at 5:20 and went to Curves. Jeremy had his first official day of school. I think he had a good day. He had a few rowdy kids but he said most of the kids are really sweet. One student already got in trouble toda...
Image

MORE PICTURES OF CHLOE

Image
Chloe is 13 months old today. It is weird that we kept thinking all of July that she was 12 months old and just like that she is already 13 months old. Today it has sunk in that I am going to have three children. Everyone always makes comments about how young I look and I told my sister today if these three kids do not age me I guess I will look like a teenager forever. I also have been very excited today thinking that this precious little girl will be apart of our family. I did not expect to be this excited the third time but I am. We are just trying to sit tight for the next few months and pray that everything goes smoothly. It is interesting that it was a year ago today that Emma's paperwork was sent to the Immigration office in Memphis. A lot of people say things about how much we are missing and how much we have missed but I actually just miss her. It is a strange feeling missing someone you never met, but that is how it is. Well I worked all day and Jeremy had his last day of...
Chloe Mee Riggs (HA Meeyoung ) was born July 8, 2007 and weighed about 7 pounds. In June she weighed 20 pounds and was 29 inches long. She is about the same size as Emma. She is developing very well. She is very mild and loves to laugh and play. She has been living with her foster family since November. She was hospitalized in June for something called Cellulites or something like that. It was a big confusing. Everything got kinda mixed up in the translation. She was treated with medicine and it seems like everything is OK. I will be calling our doctor tomorrow to let him look over her paperwork. We were surprised to see that the letter from Korea sent to our agency about Chloe's condition already had us named as the parents. We were also happy to know that her legals from Korea were already in the referral papers. This means that are wait time has been reduced by about a month. Our paperwork will be sent to Memphis (Immigration Office) on Monday. The Memphis office is stating th...
Image
Image

THE REFERRAL HAS ARRIVED!!

I just got a call from our social worker and Chloe's paperwork has finally arrived at their office. I will post ALL the details tonight!
Image
Image
Disappointed is the word today. We got a call at 1:30 saying that our paperwork had not been received at our adoption agency. Our social worker said that even if the referral came in this afternoon they would not have time to go through it and do what they need to do this evening. So we made plans to go tomorrow afternoon. Our social worker said she would call if the papers came in today. Well I got a call at 2:30 from our social worker saying that she talked to AIAA and they did not even send the referral yesterday like they said they did. WHAT? They did say that the papers were sent today and are scheduled to be delivered at our agency at 10:00 tomorrow morning. So, we should be good for tomorrow but who knows. Jeremy had a change a plan today at his school. He is now teaching the fourth grade instead of first grade. The fourth grade teacher took a different position so the grade became open. I know Jeremy would have done great teaching 1st grade but it was going to be difficult and ...
I just thought of something about posting Chloe's pictures tomorrow night. I guess it will depend on when we get out of our meeting with the social worker. We will have to get the pictures scanned and uploaded to a disk at Wal-Mart but since we have church tomorrow night we may not get the pictures on the disk. So, if the pictures are not up tomorrow they will up Thursday but hopefully tomorrow.
We are supposed to meet tomorrow at 3:30 to get our referral. Our agency in Michigan sent it this morning. I hope the meeting will happen this time. Well we had a very tiring day. We were at Jeremy's school ALL day again. The kids were really good and we actually got a lot done. It is still pretty overwhelming for him, but I think he is getting a handle on his room. We just got home a few minutes ago and I am now making supper. Emma just got in trouble (from her daddy) for hitting Sam in the head with a train. Well the kids slept good last night. Sam woke up once to go to the bathroom so Emma woke up for a few minutes but they both went back to sleep in their bed. The pictures posted are from this weekend. I tried to post them last night but it would not let me. Check back tomorrow night and hopefully there will be pictures of our precious Chloe.
Image
Image
Well I am pretty frustrated. We have no idea what is going on with Chloe's referral. We were told that we would know when our agency in Michigan was going to mail the papers and still nothing today. Jeremy called our social worker here and she e-mailed Michigan but she never got a response. So I am doubting that we will be meeting tomorrow at 2:00 like we planned. You would think that the third time around would not be this complicated. This is already crazy and we have not even started the hard part of this journey. I guess it is possible that the referral has been mailed and will arrive tomorrow but I am not counting on it. We are all going back up to Jeremy's school tomorrow to work on his room. He starts in service on Wednesday so he wants to get most of his room done tomorrow. Well our sleeping situation is not going great but it is better than it was. Sam and Emma have been falling asleep in their bed but Emma has been waking up at 2:30 every morning. Jeremy will go in to...
We had a crazy day. I was going to exercise this morning but I was too tired. It is weird. When I know that I already have to get up early I do not mind getting up earlier to go exercise but when I know I can sleep in a little I cannot get motivated. So we all got up at 8 and we got ready and went to Jeremy's new school to work on his room. We were there ALL day and still there is a lot to do. It was a little difficult because Sam and Emma were with us and they just kept making a mess. They drug everything out. Emma also had a few tantrums. I cannot remember the whole little poem but my Grandma used to say this thing about a little girl with a curl in the middle of her forehead. And when she was good she was very very good, but when she was bad she was horrid. That may seem mean but that is my little Emma. She does not seem to have an in between in her moods. Thankfully she is sweet more that she is horrid. When she gets upset she just screams for a few minutes and cannot be consol...
Image
Image
Sam and Emma in their new bed