Thursday, February 14, 2013- Happy Valentine's Day

In 2007 Jeremy and I decided it was time to add a new member to our family of three. In February 2007 we had a meeting with our social worker at our house to start the process of adopting a little girl. We had originally planned on adopting from Guatemala :), but with the talk of some major changes and problems with Guatemala adoptions we changed our mind and changed our country to Korea. We got all of our paper work submitted and then started the LONG wait for referral. Referral using takes up to 9 months and sometimes a year, but we knew once the referral it would only be a few months before we would be bringing our daughter home. It was a June day in 2007. Our youth group was in Bowling Green, KY with several other churches (one being my sister's church) for a mission trip. Kristy and I had headed back to Pleasant View (which was a few hours or less away) to pick up Samuel and take him back to Bowling Green for the rest of the week. While I was picking Sam up from Gran and Papa's house I had missed a call from our adoption agency. There was a message from the director asking me to call her back. My heart stopped because with it only being 4 months since our paper work started there was no way this was good news. I could not reach her right away, but I had stopped by the bank to deposit a check when my phone rang. Our precious adoption lady, Sandy, had glories news! They had a baby girl who was 7 months old and thought we would be the perfect match for her. I could not believe this amazing news! It had all happened so much quicker than I ever dreamed! I called Jeremy and told him the unbelievable news. Kristy and I headed back to Bowling Green and our agency said they would send a picture of the little girl the next day. The next day we headed out on our various mission sites and I waited on pins and needles. It was finally time to head back to the church so we could check our email (totally pre email on the phones) and a huge storm came up and all the traffic lights were out and it took forever to get back to the church. I still remember sitting in the church about to burst! We finally got back to the church and the Internet was down. Jeremy and I hopped in the church van and headed to the nearest place that had WiFi. We saw the picture of our Emma Byul in the parking lot at the Drury Inn in Bowling Green, KY and we knew from the minute she would be special little girl.

We headed home and started making plans. This was all happening much faster than we had planned. We got her room ready and just waited for the phone to ring. We gave it a few months, but when September rolled around we got a little worried that we had not received all the clearance to bring her home. October came and we were still waiting on paperwork for her Visa clearance which was held up in Memphis, TN. At the end of October we got some new pictures of our changing girl and my heart was broken. I was missing day after day of my daughter and all Memphis had for me was "Still not processed". November 10th came, her 1 first birthday and she was still not home. Memphis was saying "any day now", so we continued to wait. Thanksgiving game and we had some good news that her paper work had been sent on to Korea. We just knew she would be home by Christmas. We stalked the National Visa Center, but they kept saying that the paperwork had been sent so it was now we waited on Korea. Christmas came and went and those who were around me knew that toll it was taking on me physically, emotionally, and spiritually. Around New Years we were on another mission trip and my sister held me as I wept through the night because of the uncertainty of our situation. Somewhere along the way the wrong paper work had been submitted and nobody would take responsibility and it felt like a hopeless situation. We got our local Congressman involved. We called the Korean Embassy (which we were not supposed to do), I finally asked all of our family and friends to flood the Memphis Visa Center with emails pleading for them to help. I think after about 15 emails, I got a direct call from the Visa Center (which they never do, and do not give out phone numbers where you can reach a live person) and we finally were on the road to bring Emma home.

The first week of February 2008, we finally got the call that we could go get our Emma. Jeremy and I left a few days later for Korea. On February 14, 2008 , we woke up super early because we were so nervous and excited. We got dressed and as we were heading out the door to go to the agency we got a phone call from our US agency in MI. My first fear was that Emma was still not ready to come home, but it was actually about the other baby (Chloe). Something had come up and we were not sure we would get to adopt Chloe. We went to the agency and we shared our heart for the other baby. We left that day not knowing if we would get her or not, but we knew for certain that their was a little girl waiting for us. We headed to Emma's foster mothers house and we finally saw this baby with our own eyes. I got to hold her in my arms and kiss her sweet cheeks. I would say that was the best Valentine's Day I have ever spent!

Well, I slept great last night and even woke up before my alarm this morning. I had a juice od pineapple, oranges, and a pear. It is so yummy! I even had some more at lunch. I also added a banana and some strawberries for lunch. I actually felt really good today :) The kids got so many Valentine's and fun little toys. Sam got an extra note from a girl in his class that said, "Dear Sam- You are funny. I like funny. :)' Not too sure about that :0 I got some cute Valentine gifts from the sweet kids in my class, too. The girls had a 100 day project to work on tonight. It just about sent me over the edge! Chloe got hers done, but we are going to have to ask for an extension for Emma's project. Little Miss Do It Myself did not want to listen to mommy and tried to do it all herself, did not work out so well for her. Well I need to get every one to bed. I hope you all had a great Valentine's Day and remembered all the ones in your life that love you and that you love.

IMG_6350 IMG_6352 IMG_6355

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Monday, February 3, 2025

Saturday, September 2, 2023

Wednesday, October 26, 2011- You are cordially invited...to my pity party