This years MUST SEE MOVIE will be out soon!

Here is a sample of "Finding Drew"

Korea Part of Trip Day 2

Day 2 -
We met with Dr. Kim at Eastern. She is a lovely woman and we enjoyed spending time with her. After that, we received a tour of Eastern's nursery, which we didn't get last time. So many adorable babies there. We all offered to come rock them if they need us. After a great lunch of bibimbap with 2 adult adoptees from Australia, we got ready to visit foster mom.

We arrived right on time and Mrs. Oh was already there, along with her husband - he took the day off work to see us and their beloved EunJae (Olivia). We got to spend about an hour with them, which was amazing. We traded some gifts - Olivia & I made Mrs. Oh a silver stamped necklace that says love - and they brought us a new hanbok for Olivia, her favorite snacks, and markers and drawing paper. We had sent them a drawing Olivia did for them, and they wanted to encourage her love of drawing - they were wonderful! There were lots of hugs and tears for this meeting - and it's amazing to see how loved she is.

Only 16,000 miles to go!

What a Merry Christmas it was!

"Party of 7 for China please!" 

Soon we will embark on a journey to bring our beloved baby Drew home. I added it up today and it's about a 16K mile round trip! Along with us, both sets of grandparents.  It's really starting to hit me...soon we will have another little girl running around the house, wow! 

During our travels we are taking the opportunity to stop in S Korea for a few days.  We fell in love with Seoul on our previous 2 trips and are excited to visit again. We also can't wait to share it with Nana, Papa, Grammie and Grand-daddy. We want Olivia to always remember her heritage, and to never forget Korea or her foster mom.  

Growing up so fast!

Since we are in the region, this is a great time to lay down ground work to return to Korea later in her life. (Plan the same from Drew and China) It also may happen to be that we won't get the chance to go back to Asia again in the near (or far) future, as we plan.  You never know what the future will bring.  I believe that life is short and you shouldn't miss any opportunity that comes your way.  So we area taking advantage of this opportunity while we can. Hey, we have to fly over Korea any-way! We just found out today we will get to visit foster mommy!  We feel that Olivia is ready for what is sure to be an emotional experience for all of us.  

Olivia and Nana in the kitchen.
Such a great little cook!

This might not be the thing for every kid but she is so strong and mature for her young age of only three. (going on 13)  Seeing foster mommy is something we talk about a lot; she has bonded very well to both of us (and the rest of the family) and we are so grateful (and blessed) for that. 

We also get to stay the the Eastern Family Welfare Guest House.  This will be a different experience than we have ever had in staying at hotels. Can't wait!

After that, its off to China to get Drew.  It's going to be a crazy start to the New Year for all of us.  Adding a sister is sure to be a challenge for mommy, daddy and big sister, but the joy that Olivia has brought into our lives makes me so excited to get to know little Drew and see what she has in store for us.   

Happy New Year everyone! - Dave 

FYI - Its not too late to buy an Adoption Rocks t-shirt and help us raise a few bucks, or Chrisa has some wonderful jewelry on her Chrisa West Jewelry Design Facebook page, proceeds go to help in bringing home "baby sister".

I800 Approval Received - Getting Closer to Travel

We received our I800 approval on November 20, and got the official letter in the mail November 24.  Now we await the National Visa Center (NVC) to do something, then cable that to China.  Once we have a letter saying they have done that, our agency will email the letter to China for our Article 5 to be dropped off with the US Consulate in China.  It takes 2 weeks for that to be completed, then our paperwork is delivered to the China side and we await travel approval.  It's getting so close!

As we wait, we're trying to raise some money to help offset our costs for travel and unpaid time off (for me) once we get home.  Since Olivia is going with us, and Drew will likely be 2 when we bring her home, that will be 3 tickets over and 4 home.  Plus hotel for 2 weeks in China, and we want to leave a few days early to stop in South Korea to show our families where Olivia is from.  I've tried to estimate costs, but um...

If anyone can, we have a fundraising site on Adoption Bug - they have some awesome t-shirts and we get a percentage of the sales from our site.  I'm also selling jewelry that I've designed (and some donated by my friend Teresa - those items are posted on Facebook at Chrisa West Jewelry.  It all goes to help us travel and/or stay home.  Thanks!

Waiting on I800 Approval

Our I800 was received last week at USCIS, now we just wait for approval.  Hopefully this week we will hear that it's approved and on our way to the National Visa Center.

I've emailed with our contact in in China so that we can start planning our trip.  Getting excited!

What! More Pictures

I checked my email and much to my surprise I got 7 new pictures of Drew!  Our agency was in China last week and delivered a package we sent and Christie got to meet Drew - we are so excited about this!  And we're going to get a video - yay, video!

We've learned that Drew is shy and very attached to her foster mom.  That sounds like Olivia when we met her - so pray for us when we go to China - it could be a rough transition for her.

Here is what we sent to Drew - all in a gallon-sized ziploc:

And here is Drew receiving our care package - she is just so beautiful!

LOA

LOA, LOA, LOA!!!

Our LOA arrived Thursday, November 1 and we signed on Friday, November 2 - Happy National Adoption Day to us!