TRAVEL CALL ! ! ! ! !

Yes you heard me...lol  

   

  

  

I GOTTA FEELING...  

THAT MY LIFE'S GONNA BE A GOOD LIFE!!!

   

     

And they lived Happily Ever After!  

   

Visa Interview ...CHECK

   



   

   

Do I really need to say more?

  

Best Monday Ever ! ! !

 

EP's Approved!

 

After 378 days (or just over 12 months) of waiting since receiving our referral, I am please to report that the Ministry of Health & Welfare finally approved our son's Exit Permit giving him permission to legally leave Korea and begin  his new life in the United States.   Yay!!!

 

 

And with the March 5th EP batch now approved, the wait is on for the final step:  our notice to travel! 

 

 

Sometime in the next few weeks we will receive a call that Kwon's paperwork has been reviewed and approved by the US Embassy in Seoul, and he has made his requsit appearance at the Embassy for his Visa Interview, and is now finally ready to travel from Korea, and begin his new life with his Forever Family!   So we jump into high gear and get ready:

 

• We change the ring-tones on our cell phones (this is one call we don't want to miss!)
• And we begin washing the baby clothes that has been in storage for months.
• And we start the mad dash to get all the baby gates up.
• And we head out to stock up on baby food...
• And Diapers...And Puffs...And Melts...Oh My...   :o)

  

And we get ready for a call from our social worker who (I just know) will shout the two words we've been waiting (it seems) a lifetime to hear:

 
 

TRAVEL  CALL ! ! !

   

Thank you Jesus - EP Approved!

  


PSALM  34
 
1. I will bless the Lord at all times;
His praise shall continually be in my mouth.

2. My soul shall make its boast in the Lord;
The humble shall hear of it and be glad.

3. Oh, magnify the Lord with me,
And let us exalt His name together.

4. I sought the Lord, and He heard me,
And delivered me from all my fears.

5. They looked to Him and were radiant,
And their faces were not ashamed.

6. This poor man cried out, and the Lord heard him,
And saved him out of all his troubles.

7. The angels of the Lord encamps all around
those who fear Him, And delivers them.

8. Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good;
Blessed is the man who trusts in Him!


       


Hallelujah...  Kwon is coming home!!!!

   

Why you can't come over to see my newly adopted baby... at least not yet

  
 

As we prepare to travel to get our son I came across this amazing perspective from a newly adoptive mom (Jen Hatmaker) on the need to keep life simple and children sequestered when first home.   In my experience parents of biological children do not get this concept, and sometimes take offense when adoptive parents don't follow their advice; but the one take away message here is this:  an adopted child (unless adopted as a new born) does not share the same basic psychology as a parent's biological child (experiencing loss, abandonment and distrust), therefore greater efforts must be made to help these children reform trust and family bonds.  Its a great article...  and even though we've heard all of this before (from adoption workshops, books about parenting adopted children, etc.), I never felt so moved by someone who has actually gone through it.  So please take time to read the excerpt below (and make peace with the concept), as our family will be adhering to very similar guidelines once our son is home.   ;-)

This morning, I got a panicked email from my dear friend who just had the fast-forward button pressed on her adoption. They are now throwing jackets and socks and toys and granola bars into suitcases and paying through the nose for tickets to Ethiopia to go fetch their two new daughters.

 

What hair products do I bring?

What food should I have in the freezer?

How are we going to talk to each other??

Am I going to be able to pull this off?

Please, please tell me this is going to be okay.

 

We are only six months home with our two Ethiopians, ages 8 and 6. So we’re clearly experts (sarcasm). All at once, it seems our panicked overseas trip was a million years ago and one nanosecond ago. In preparation, I read all the books and joined the online groups and went to the conferences and logged in to the podcasts. I obsessed over all the things I was supposed to obsess over: their names, their hair, their language, their food, their shoe sizes, their bedding. I read blogs and articles and became fake BFF’s with Dr. Karyn Purvis (in my head). I drove everyone mad with my myopic perspective, which was:  

“We’re adopting. There is nothing else.” We theoretically readied the house and everyone who lived in it.

 

Then we actually got them and brought them home.

 

Whoa, Nelly.

 

I mean, WHOA, NELLY.

 

Remember when you were pregnant with your first baby, and you registered for ten-thousand pieces of baby paraphernalia you read about in Consumer Digest, and then you birthed the actual baby and realized the “wipe warmer” dried out your wipes, the Diaper Genie was actually a complicated piece of crap, all those 0-3 month dresses were useless because she hardly made it out of her filthy onesie, and she actually had visceral hatred for the $150 baby swing? And what you really needed to know was how can I get this dadgum baby to sleep and can someone help me understand what is happening to my nipples, for the love of Moses??

 

This phenomenon applies to adoption as well, folks.
 

Sure, you need to direct some energy to the details...  but dear one, it is not the shoes and skin and hair and food you need to devote the most energy toward: It is their heart. 
  
Your child will come to you scared and alone and ashamed and insecure. At best. Our darlings were loved and held and nursed when they were babies, Jesus be praised, so they learned healthy attachment when it mattered. The pathways were formed, and we are finding them again together, day by day. We are learning to tap into the deposits of trust and security they once enjoyed, though they were so brutally interrupted.

But even with this potential for healthy attachment, our first two months home were difficult beyond words. Our kids were terrified. And who could blame them? They found themselves in a foreign land speaking a foreign language with foreign people who ate a lot of cheese (note: dairy products = no). They were sad and scared and overwhelmed and lost. We kind of all were.

 

Here are some tips that helped pull us through the mire. These things matter:
 

Stay home. I mean it. Stay the heck home. Cancel your calendars. Pull out of everything you’re involved in. Temporarily quit your small group and your Bible study and your volunteer position at church on Wednesdays and your gym classes. Katy, bar the door. Circle the wagons with your little family and hunker down. Do not take your newbie to Target. Do not drag them to public places. Do not spend two hours in the car running errands with them. Keep the moving parts to an absolute minimum.

 

Keep visitors at bay for awhile. Your child doesn’t know you yet. A lot of revolving faces simply reinforces the notion that people come and go, and he is alone. Yes, these people love you and love your child. They are thrilled he is home and care so deeply. You know that. He doesn’t. Tons of smiling, oversized, touchy strangers constantly in and out make for a nervous, insecure child. Our friends left dinner on our porch and texted us. Our parents chomped at the bit waiting, while we worked our way through the early storm of transition. God bless them.

 

To that end, prepare your family and friends in advance for this very important attachment plan: No one touches, kisses, holds, or meets the needs of your new one except you and your spouse. No one. Tell them in advance and explain why. Your child needs to learn right away that you are his mother and father. YOU ARE. You will meet his needs. You will hold him when he cries. He belongs to you, and you are forever. He is coming from a multiple-caregiver situation, so if twenty strangers hold and kiss and feed him and rock him in his new environment, nothing has changed at all. He will struggle to attach to you because you are not his sole caregiver. This principle is not permanent, but it is so necessary at first. Tell your family and friends to give him a “high five” and that’s about the end of it for a bit.

 

Know this: Those first few weeks and months will more than likely be difficult. They might be downright disastrous. You will struggle through feelings and emotions you didn’t know you were capable of. You will cry. They will cry. They may absolutely spaz out actually. You will wonder if your life is ruined or if happiness will ever return to your home. Beloved, IT WILL. It so will. They are grieving and processing and transitioning. It’s just hard – on them, on you, on the bio kids if you have them. There is no magic formula that will skirt your family around this chaos.

 

But you will emerge.

 

Your child will learn to trust you. God will begin to mend the broken pieces. He can do this. He is big enough to put a heart back together. You will discover love bubbling up in the cracks, transforming you from this clunky, awkward, uncertain group of people to a family. You’ll watch as her real self emerges, peeking out from behind the fear and loss. You may even realize that like an idiot, you though she was shy, and she is actually a firecracker (Jen raises hand). Your son will start to sing again, and he may become the adorable soccer star you’ve always dreamed of (Jen raises hand).

  

Then one day, you have this day; it’s just a day. The kids, all five of them – the three bio kids and the two newest Hatmakers – all go to school and come home competing for space to talk about how fun Dr. Suess Day was and the Million Minute Read project they are doing so their librarian, Mr. McCarthy, will shave his head, and they walk in and dump their backpacks where I told them not to and grab a snack, teasing each other. Then ten minutes later, their friends start knocking on the door like they always do, racing to the trampoline and inventing some sort of Dodge Ball Trampoline Game that will make at least two kids cry, but I’ll ignore it because I told them no crying if you’re going to roughhouse. Then I say homework and they are all aw, man, but in they come, sitting at the table, doing math and reading English words and writing English sentences and saying, “I know about to and two and too now, Mom. Is easy for me.” And we eat dinner, seven of us around the table, playing “high/low”, talking about our days, and the new eight-year old says his low was when his big brother got hurt, and that makes me melt just a bit. Then an hour later, I’m tucking them in with kisses and snuggles and the little one, with an arm snaked around my neck, prays Dear God, tank you for my mom. She’s a cute mom. She’s my best mom. And for all my family. And for Texas. Dear God, amen. And the brown brother prays Tank you for my friends and dis good food. Tank you for mom who cooks dis good food. Help us be kind. Amen. And they drop right to sleep, safe in their beds, no nightmares for months now. And I come downstairs and look at my husband and think:

 

We’re doing it. We’re a family. God made us into a family.
  

You’ll get there too, dear one. God will make a family out of you yet. Stay the course. May God continue to bring beauty from ashes in our stories, giving the world a picture of grace and redemption and healing.

   

All His mercy and goodness to you today.

http://give1save1.com/2012/03/05/guest-post-by-jen-hatmaker/

 

And this is pretty much why you can't come over to see my newly adopted baby when we get home... at least not yet.   You know what, don't think of it as a Stop sign... think of it more as a Go Slow, Speed Bump Ahead sign.  Give us a few weeks and we'll be sure to have an awesome meet and greet, with finger food, sangria, a piñata, and all.  Hey... its not like he's going anywhere.  Believe me, you'll get your turn at bat when it comes to babysitting the little tyke sooner or later.  ...And probably much sooner than later.   :o)

 

525,600 Minutes!

Five Hundred Twenty-Five Thousand

Six Hundred Minutes...

  Five hundred twenty-five thousand six hundred minutes,
Five hundred twenty-five thousand moments so dear....
Five hundred twenty-five thousand six hundred minutes
How do you measure, measure a year?

In daylights, in sunsets, in midnights, in cups of coffee
In inches, in miles, in laughter, in strife.
In five hundred twenty-five thousand six hundred minutes
How do you measure a year in your life?

How about love?  Measure in love!

 

One Year Ago Today...  at 10 in the morning, in the middle of me conducting a very important meeting, I received 3 back to back phone calls from my social worker, and one very excited 911 text (gotta love her!).  

 

  

We Have A Boy!!!!!  

 

 

And I opened my email (after running to the nearest bathroom for privacy...lol) and saw the most adorable face staring back at me from 4 gorgeous photos!   And my life changed FOREVER!  

 

 

Its been 365 days since our referral, 17 months since our acceptance into the Korea program, and 2 years since our initial application.  A very long and emotional road that was only supposed to last 4 months but eventually stretched to 12, waiting for an incredibly special, very happy little boy...  A road that (I hope) will end in a few weeks with my son in my arms!!!      

 

 

We definitely choose to "Measure in love"  and thank all the friends and family members who supported us throughout this (many times) tumultuous journey.   Love you guys!

 

   

Everything's Perfect !

After 11 Months and 3 weeks waiting.... 

 Everything's Perfect!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

 

 

 

Yes...   Our son has finally been submitted for his Exit Permit.   

Special thanks to everyone who showed support, held my hand, wiped my tears, and was a friend through this long wait.   I love you all!

 

  

THE END

 

Usually things end... uhhh, well… at the end. This adoption blog however, has the unfortunate privilege of ending smack dab in the middle.
 
All documents filed...
 
All monies paid...
 
Every check-box checked (on our end anyway).
 
But no EP, no TC... and no post placement.   Because after 11 and a 1/2 months of waiting with no baby in sight, and a recent agency update stating that they confirmed no EPs will be filed during the next few weeks through mid-March, well... I have to ask myself "why bother?"
 
This blog was a way to chronologically document the wonderful and amazing journey to bring home our baby boy - I was going to turn it into a book!  But as of today I have spent many more months writing about pain, and longing, and stress, and disappointment, and worry, than anything joyous at all.  Who wants that on their coffee table?   For that matter, the use of the word "baby" is a bit of a joke since the "baby" in question, who was 7 months old at referral, is now a walking, talking, solid food eating, almost 2 years old boy, who for all I know, may also be able to do long division and drive a car.
 
No, now that we know for sure our wait will bleed into (and well past) the One Year marker highlighting the 1st anniversary of our referral; that this landmark will present itself long before we would even be submitted for EP; that No One can (or is willing to) confirm when it will all end; I think its high time to begin regaining control of my life: to stop neglecting my assistants and my clients, to actively seek new business, and to take my world off of the "pause" button its been on since receiving our March 2011 referral.   And in case you're wondering, I do not know what we'll do about the fact that 'growing' our still-to-be-started family has been placed on extended hold with little regard on the impact this extended hold will have on our future, but I plan to start a discussion about it with my husband sometime today.  I must also accept that EP will only come if and when the government allows - the same with my son, and since I have zero control over that I must instead focus on what I can control... my life, my home, my job, or risk being stuck in this never ending downward spiral of dark depressing negative emotion.
    
Its sad because never in a million years did I think when I started, that this was how my blog would end. Please… I thought that sometime during June or July of 2011 (yes, that would be last year), I would have filled these pages with pictures and videos of two nervous 1st time parents in Seoul with one chubby cutie-pie baby boy. Unfortunately God had other plans… And who knows, maybe if and when things ever picked back up I may end up writing an ending to this very long, frustrating story... but right now I doubt it. Because the sad truth is that we (all of us frontrunners currently waiting) may not travel until after the laws change in August (if at all), and by then (after what could well be over 18 months of waiting) I am certain no one would voluntarily want to read any of the words I’d have to say.  Am I being cynical?  Yes!  But I'm also being a realist.  People may say don't be so negative, but the truth is that my potential travel date has moved from June/July 2011 to August 2011, to October 2011, to January/February 2012, to March 2012, to now April/May 2012...  you see the pattern?   I'd be insane not to plan for August.
 
Does that make me bitter?  Maybe.  Does it make me angry?  Yes!   To keep lifting a person's hopes and expectations, month after month after month, only to dash them to pieces time and again at two week intervals, is nothing short of cruel. And to expect any parent to retain a happy perky forgiving "kumbaya" attitude is incomprehensible.   The most disgusting part of it all is how often it feels as though our parenting skills are judged based on how many sucker punches we can take without flinching or complaining, so one feels compelled to "suffer in silence" so to speak, or risk being harshly judged or ratted out to the "authorities" who may very well have the power to place our entire adoption in jeopardy should they choose.  It seems very unfair.
     
And as I start online shopping for yet another care package, I begin to wonder, once my son makes it home, if I would change my feelings on the need for an adption processing overhaul:  like a pregnant woman after delivery who forgets her labor pains once her child is in her arms.  Who knows?  But from where I sit today, I doubt it. Even if news of EP submissions came tomorrow, I doubt it. Even if I were miraculously granted travel before the end of the month, I doubt it.   The veil has been lifted, my eyes opened.  There may be many good people out there trying to do good works, but when its wrapped up in miles of red tape its leaves countless loose ends on which far to many of us get hung out to dry.   Maybe I'll do very basic updates...  that way someone may still benefit from my timeline.

So, for those who found this blog hoping for more insight into the world of International Adoption, well, there you have it.  This is also what International Adoption can be like… the good, the bad, and the very ugly.   I know there are a few APs out there who are never grumpy or angry, who would probably be appalled at my writings, but I say unless you've walked a mile in my shoes...
       
If you are a reader considering international adoption and still have unanswered questions you'd like me to address feel free to email me at your convenience.   It's not all bad, but its not all sunshine and roses either.
 
Take care my friends!

Human

 
Truly I am only human. I know there are many who sometimes see me with a cape on my back because I try to be forever positive, or because I never like to admit defeat.... either way its not the truth. I am not super-human, I'm just human. And as a human I can admit defeat, which is what I feel today....defeated. Defeated and without much hope. There, I said it.
  
I have never place my life on hold for anything. Shoot, it is quite normal for me to have 4 or 5 (or even 6) projects going at one time, while successfully keeping them all in order and on target. But this complete lack of control that I feel in a seemingly out of control process called International Adoption has done me in. And after 3 years of research, 23 months since initial application, and 11 and 1/2 months waiting since referral (yes, it's been almost A YEAR since we recieved our referral and were told we'd travel in about 4 months), all the while watching friends who adopted domestically bring their babies home, begin a 2nd adoption, and bring those babies home... I am very ready to admit defeat and throw in the towel. 
  
There is little else to say. I do not know anyone who would pay so handsomely to be put through this particular form of torture... but that is how I feel, as though I paid someone very generously to repeatedly torture me.
  
This blog is nearing its end…. as is my strength, my peace, and my patience. I can feel it.


  
   

Call 2 Prayer

Hope

"Man can live forty days without food, three days without water, eight minutes without air, but only for a second without hope" — Anonymous

Well the work day is about to begin at the Korean Ministry, this 2nd Monday of the month, and with it we see the tentative hopes and dreams of countless adoptive parents rising like the morning sun.  Dare we hope that the 1st batch of names will be submitted for EP sometime today, or this week?  For some it would mean EP was around the corner, for others it would simply mean movement, which in itself is good news; but after all the heartache and disappointment we have all already faced these past few months....  some more than others...   Dare we continue to hope?   

You know what?  I think we dare!!!  For without hope life begins to lose its meaning.  

So for one more day we hold our breath and sit by the phone and keep refreshing our email and checking our BBMs and iPhone text messages and log on and off of Facebook and log on and off the message boards and check each other Tweets....  and hope against hope that someone somewhere shouts out their good news of EP submission!   And give us all a reason to celebrate!!!

At least we hope...

Happy 19 Months

Lots of love kiddo!   :-)

 

EXHALE (VP Notice)

So who knew I was waiting to exhale?  I certainly didn't.   But when I saw that email with the second 2 most beautiful letters in the world - V.P. (second only to the letters E.P.), well I nearly fainted!   Or more like I hyper ventilated!   I think I stared at the subject portion of the email for a full 60 seconds before I began yelling at the top of my lungs for my husband.  You would think an alligator just broke into my home and was standing guard at my refrigerator the noise I was making.   Needless to say he came running into to room to make sure no one was killing me, or making off with his 59" TV.

I was so sure that the email was a mirage that I didn't want to risk reading it for fear it would disappear, so I had my husband read it to me.   And sure enough, it was our notice that Kwon had been scheduled for his VP (visa physical).    

Hallelujah!!!!   

Four days ago:  10 months, 1 week, and 5 days of waiting since receiving our referral, we finally began to see a glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel.  

Now being scheduled for his VP does not in any way mean that this race is done.  Kwon still needs to have his EP (exit permit) submitted and approved by the Korean government before he would be allowed to leave Korea for his new home; but this VP appointment is definitely a step in the right direction.   

With EP submissions stalled since last October we (my fellow AP moms-in-waiting and myself) have been on edge with nervous anticipation, waiting on news of the first set of EP submissions for the year.  January was tough.  We all truly expected EPs to resume sometime during the first week of the new year, and when they didn't it was heartbreaking...  heart shattering!   Our new hope is that EP submissions resume this February (as in the next few days)  …Fingers crossed.  

So here's to many more VP's, and a whole lot of EP's this coming week!!! 

BTW...  Even though I still haven't been able to read that email, I did let out a huge sigh of relief.

      

New WBC & Pics

 

Wow... so after all the downs over the last few weeks it was REALLY great to finally have an "up".    We received a wonderful WBC today with great updates on our son.  In addition to that, we also received two beautiful new pictures of him.  It was amazing to see how much he's grown... like a weed.  But even more than him growing was how much his face and features seem to be maturing.   All the 'chubby baby goodness' is being aged right out of him, and in its place is blossoming the most adorable little boy.

I am sad to see that little baby face leave.  Especially since I never had the chance to caress it or kiss it or pat it dry after a fall leaves it covered in tears.   But I am also filled with joy and pride at watching my little man emerge... booming personality and all.   :o)

So, without any further delay, here is a brief update on how our son is learning, growing and discovering toddlerhood in Korea:

• He walks... yes, but we already knew this one.   :)
• He runs!  
• He picks up small objects and throws them.  As long as its not food.
• He kicks and throws ball overhead.   Hmm... sounds a bit like Pele... or David Beckham!!!
• Likes to jump!  Really? On something in particular?  Or just "around"?  Like Kriss-Kross.
• Walks backwards.   So cool.  My boy can moonwalk!!!
• Holds on to railing to walk up stairs.  Nice!  (note to self:  buy more gates!)
• Scribbles, or as his auntie the writer said:  budding writer!
• Stacks 4 cubes, or as his uncle the engineer said: budding engineer!  (really people?!)
• Uses spoon & fork!  Yay!   Wait...  Together???  Now that would be something to see...lol
• Waves bye bye.  Awww....
• Drinks from a cup (hopefully a sippy cup and not a margarita glass)
• Has increased his vocabulary and knows how to string two words together.  Awesome!
• Washes hands!  Good for you kiddo, because we all know grandma's rule about the kitchen.
• Brushes teeth.   Nice!  Good boy.
• Helps around the house.  Now THAT is a neat trick.  My husband hopes it means he shovels snow.

 
  

NB:  The pics have been placed in my album on Facebook. 

Please view them there.  Thanks!  :)

     

SCREAM

 

  AAAAHHHHHH!!!!

   

"With such confusion...

Don't it make you wanna scream!!!"

  

...more and more and more bad news.  
 
drowning in bad news. 

         

Unofficially Official

So apparently the 'unofficial' official word (a.k.a. the rumor mill) is in:

THERE WILL BE NO EPs SUBMITTED IN JANUARY.

Yes, you heard me correctly.


The Korean Government has stated (somewhere to someone) that there will be no EP processing in January.   No word yet (officially or unofficially) about February.


Okay, truth be told I've know for a few days.  I just did not know how to put the words running around in my head into coherent and legible English suitable for a quasi-public adoption blog that not only my 13 year old cousin could read, but that could also one day be turned into a PG13 family-style book suitable for placement on my coffee table.   Unfortunately the only words that I could visualize were very angry, abrasive, blaring ones, like harsh neon signs, that were also utterly inappropriate, though totally understandable, and probably forgivable under the circumstances.

I also knew that, had I put pen to paper, those same harsh words would have probably brought about a slew of sympathy, which (at that time) I was just not ready to hear.  Because in that moment, a flood of sympathy (although well meaning) would have sounded like misplaced orchestra music on a bad horror movie soundtrack, meant to add value and substance to the moment, but really only serving to amplifying an already uncomfortable, painful, desperate situation; shining a bright spotlight on the new timeline of my ever increasing wait -- something I wasn't ready to deal with.

So I said nothing.


Now, days later, I'm a lot calmer, or maybe I've simply become numb.   Who knows really?  Either way, those bad words with Nikes that were running around in my head at 100 miles an hour seemed to have gone off on vacation, or maybe they have all taken a "mental day", because in the last day or so my jumbled thoughts on this EP mess have become suspiciously still.

Which is why, into the now very quiet echoing chambers of that portion of my mind put aside solely for "adoption purposes", I have begun pouring lots of positive scripture.  I guess my point is that I can sulk or I can pray.  I can cry or I can pray (or at least cry AND pray).   I can mope or I Can Pray.    And since I've never been one to stay moody for too long (might be some kind of ADHD issue, who knows), I have decided...  you guessed it...   to focus on prayer.    And praise.    And family.    And friends.

Oh yes, and shopping.   ...for my son that is.

Fighting to not allow this nightmare, which I have no control over, to take control of me.

 

18 Month Old

  

My darling son, today you're 18 months old...   
  

And I still don't know if you're ever coming home.

Tragic.

Things are just static 

I feel like I'm caught up in some crazy voodoo magic:

Some dark force that's keeping us apart.

But I must trust God and follow my heart.

Believing that His timing is perfect,

Cause if prayer is gonna work 

Then baby we've gotta trust it.

Knowing that He's the King of Kings 

And He's got His hand in everything;

So I gotta give God the glory

For all that He's given me.

Including you, my boy, who

Although greatly overdue

Is eventually,

Definitely,

Unconditionally,

And forever will be,

A part of me.

~love Mommy

     

    

Silence

Today makes it 9 months, 3 weeks, and 3 days since we first saw our son.

I remember soon after our mid-March referral a rep from our agency telling us jokingly: "I can't say for sure but I'll bet the farm you'll be traveling before it gets too warm."   :o)

Well, it got warm...  and I remember my son's birthday cake melting in the open air of our backyard during his early July birthday party (minus one birthday boy).  

And then it got hot. Very hot.  103 degrees to be exact.  But we kept our spirits high with the knowledge that we were next; that we would definitely have him in our arms before it got cool again.

Except it did get cool.....fast.  So much so it snowed in October... no, really.  Who would have thought?  But there was no movement... we still didn’t have him yet.  

It was okay though, because we kept telling ourselves that we were next; that for sure we’d have him in time for the holidays!   Now that would be something!

Except that’s not what happened.

Word finally came that we were not next. That we would not travel as expected.... that we would not have him in time for the holidays...

...And then it got cold.

And, by golly, it just keeps getting colder.

Because silence is cold.  

And that is all we have for now  --  silence.
  
  

Happy New Year!

  


Happy New Year Everyone!

Wishing you and your family the very best for the new year!  May our Father in Heaven bestow upon you love, peace, wisdom, and prosperity, and may you experience joy abundantly!