Computers and catch up

I bet you all thought I had forgotten about you! Our computer died and, after many hours on the phone with tech support it has finally been determined the our computer is beyond phone help and a computer tech will need to come out to our house to fix it! Frustrating because it is only 8 months old!

Brandon is doing well and it becoming more comfortable day by day! Last night he shocked us by sleeping from 10:30pm until 10:30am only waking once for a bottle and diaper change! We were very happy but don't want to assume the same will happen tonight! We can hope though.

He eats anything we give him but will only sit in his high chair occasionally (and only if we do not buckle him). Don't worry, we don't walk away while he is in it. He loves to take walks in his stroller (we took 3 today-good exercise for me too!). He still hates his baths and diaper changes but will sort of hold still while screaming like we are hurting him. I feel so bad but it is a necessity so I just try to talk to him through it.

We have had some visitors and Brandon has done so well, mostly staying close to me or Patrick. Our good friends Megan and Sean came over last night we their daughter Hannah (who is 3 months older than B). The kids did pretty well playing but I think Brandon scared Hannah at the end by grabbing at her.

I would post pics but I need to get our old computer up and running while we wait for the new one to get fixed. Our old one is on its last leg but at least it has a leg (more than I can say for the new computer)! Hopefully I can find some time to get that going tomorrow but, happily, my time has been spent doing much more fun things lately!

More later!

Monday

I am still here...sorry for being quiet yesterday! It is so hard to get down to the computer (hmmm I wonder why)?!?! :)

Last night was a lot better then the first two but I'm not sure it will continue tonight. Little man slept from 11:30 until 2:00 and then again from 4:00 until 11:00. He slept in bed with us and that seemed to work for all of us.

He is outside doing yard work with Daddy and Mommy is skyping with Nonna and trying to get a blog post up.

Ok, I'm out of words for now...here are some pictures (that's what you care about anyway right)?

Papa holding Brandon for the first time

Us with our escorts (Lisa and Jenna)

Brandon with Papa

And one more video from our first night:

Our little man

Well, we are home and (sort of) rested. Brandon had a rough night but is now sleeping (and has been since 8:30am). It was really hard for us to see him so scared and sad. To know that there was nothing that we could do to take away his pain, all we could do was just be with him. This morning when we got up he was playing peek-a-boo and smiling so that made me happy.

What I know so far...

**He HATES getting his diaper changed (I cannot stress enough how much he hates it)

**He will pretty much eat anything we give him. So far he's had rice, a french fry from Chick-fil-a, cereal, cheerios and sweet potato puffs (Gerber).

**He will not let us put him down when he is sleeping. I held him from 8:30 to 12:30 and Patrick relieved me and still has him.

**His foster mother and family LOVED him a lot; tons of pictures and an awesome diary that she kept for him. It's in Korean so we will have to get it translated some day!

**He is just the most amazing baby I have ever seen in my entire life. I still can't believe I get to be his momma, I am the luckiest woman in the world!

Here is a video from last night:

Gotcha Day

8:30am -- Woke up after a not so great night of sleep. Checked flytecomm and saw that Brandon's plane is directly over Nebraska! Should land in Chicago in about an hour!

10:06am -- Korean Air flight 37 has landed at Chicago O'Hare Airport!

12:00pm -- Just left the house! On our way to Des Moines. I am excited and scared, still doesn't seem 100% real. We packed too much but that's ok, we are prepared.

12:49pm -- Entering Iowa

3:00pm -- At the airport. Waiting... 1.5 hours until his flight is scheduled to arrive. Still doesn't seem real but I'm excited.

3:33pm -- Brandon's plane takes off from Chicago!

3:45pm -- Greeter (Trish) arrives with son, sign some papers and wait!

4:32pm -- Flight 7161 from Chicago arrives!

Gotcha Video

Adoption Timeline

2008
9/29 - Submitted app to Holt
10/17 - Fingerprinted by State
10/21 - Sent 1st set of HS paperwork
11/10 - Sent 2nd set of HS paperwork
12/1 - 1st call from our SW Bonnie
12/9 - 1st home visit
12/11 - 2nd home visit
12/22 - HS approved; sent to HQ

2009
1/6 - HS rcvd by HQ; officially waiting
1/9 - PIP I & II classes
1/10 - PIP III & IV classes
1/12 - I-600A sent to USCIS
2/26 - I-600A re-sent to USCIS
3/5 - Referral through WC!!!!
3/9 - Official match date
3/17 - Mailed acceptance paperwork
3/31 - Legals received
4/1 - I-600 sent to USCIS
4/13 - EP submitted in Korea
4/18 - PIP V
4/24 - EP granted
5/4 - Fingerprinted by USCIS
5/14 - I-600 approval
5/18 - NVC In
5/20 - NVC Out
5/22 - P3 sent to Holt-Korea
6/19 - Visa Physical [date listed in paperwork, not known at the time]
6/26 - Visa Interview
7/7 - Received travel call
7/10 - Gotcha day!
8/12 - 1st Post-placement visit
10/14 - 2nd Post-placement visit

2010
1/13 - 3rd Post-placement visit
2/17 - Recieved Consent to Adopt paperwork
3/4 - Lawyer filed paperwork with Saunders Co Court
3/5 - Recieved court date - April 12th
4/12 - Court appearance [Brandon is legally our son and a US citizen!]

Brandon is coming home!

We got our Travel Call today (9:32am to be exact)!!!

Brandon will arrive in the US at 10:35am on Friday (7/10) in Chicago. Then he will catch a flight to Des Moines, IA at 3:35pm and arrive at 4:39pm!!!

He will not be flying into Omaha like we had hoped but Des Moines is only 2.5 hours away so it won't be too bad (I hope)!

We are both so excited and still in a state of disbelief that this is actually happening! We cannot wait to meet him!

Praying for safe travels for our little man!

Brandon's Room **updated video**

I thought it would just be easier to make a video of Brandon's room so, here you go!

Enjoy!



Video courtesy of Anna Gottschalk

ps - since I know you want to know, no travel call yet...

Blog Hop

Welcome to my blog! After 2 unsuccessful tries at starting a blog, it appears I have finally succeeded! This blogs started as a way to document my life as a pastors wife (failed), then to document my life as an expectant mom (failed - details to come) and finally a way to document all the steps we had to go through to adopt our son from South Korea!

I am married to a Presbyterian pastor and we live in a small town in Nebraska. When we got married, we both knew it was part of our family plan to adopt but we tried to start our family the good old fashion way first. In 2006 we lost our daughter due to complications from a rare disorder 14 hours after her birth. We had no idea she was sick and were just devastated. After another unsuccessful pregnancy (different problem this time) we decided to stop trying for a while and sought to adopt from South Korea.

God is good! He not only cleared the way for us to adopt but he brought us our son just 2 months after our home study was completed. We are just days away from the long awaited call with news of our sons arrival in the US!

Thanks for checking out my blog, I hope you will stay awhile and get to know us!

Jen