New Pictures of Brandon (7 months old)

I got a surprise in my inbox today...7 new pictures of Brandon! These were taken on his 7 month birthday or the day after, look how big he is getting. Isn't he cute?

Here he is in a little furry suit:





And here are some pictures of his left arm (the one that had been broken and in a cast).

What a great early birthday present to me! I am SO in love with this little boy!

Last trip home before Brandon arrives!

Today is Brandon's 7 month birthday! Happy birthday little man, I hope you had a great day! We got donuts tonight and sang happy birthday to you.

Patrick and I arrived in PA to visit friends and family for 2 weeks. Well, I will be here for 2 weeks but Patrick has to go back in just 1. On the way here I was thinking about how different it will be the next time we fly here, with our little man!

Tuesday morning I mailed off all the acceptance paperwork to Holt so they will hopefully get it tomorrow or Friday. I'm not sure of the next steps but I know that they will let us know. Mary with Holt is just awesome. She is so quick at responding to email and gets into the office so early! She called me last week at 8:30am my time which is only 6:30 in Oregon! Yikes!

We had to fill out the official adoption form, I864 and I864A forms, provides copies of our tax returns from 2007 and 2008, fill out duplicate and triplicate copies of various other forms. Some of these documents had to be notarized so it's a good thing that I work with a notary!

Serious Life Magazine and Paperwork

I am knee deep in paper work to accept Brandon's referral. We are still waiting for the paperwork that will be mailed to us from Holt, hopefully tomorrow. My goal is to get everything filled in, copied and notarized before the weekend. If I could mail things out on Friday that would be amazing!

I also wanted you to know about this publication I am a part of called Serious Life Magazine. I blogged about it in February and they just published the March issue today, and I am in their Featured Blog Directory. It is a very high quality magazine… you’ll really like it.

The magazine includes a lot of great content from bloggers you’ll appreciate, as well as great features, photos and other content. The magazine is owned and published by a family who have seven kids, three adopted and one who has Leukemia (http://www.riggsfamilyblog.com/). The magazine gives away a bunch of ads to charities and ministries. Besides great articles on interesting people, there is a lot about family, adoption, personal finance, spiritual life, humor… all sorts of “life” topics.

Please take a couple minutes and check it out,www.seriouslifemagazine.com !

Thanks!

Introducing Brandon Hye-seong Marshall

I just got word that we are OFFICIALLY matched with our little man. It is my pleasure to introduce you to my son, Brandon Hye-seong!

He was born August 18, 2008 so he is almost 7 months old (I love his birth date 08-18-08 but then again I am a dorky numbers person)! We are still in shock as we weren't expecting a referral until the fall of this year. The reason we got matched so early is because we were open to babies with minor medical conditions, Holt calls this the Waiting Child Program. He was exposed to tobacco use in the womb and, at some point, got a broken left arm. The arm is the only remaining issue for him as he still has some range of motion limitations as well as weakness in that arm since his cast has been taken off.

Our doctor, Dr. Kolb at Boys Town, says that he may need physical therapy to regain full use of his arm. He also said that, if the growth plate is involved, Brandon may have some permanent weakness in his arm and possible differences in length between his left and right arm.

So, now we start the long wait for our travel call. We will not be traveling so Brandon will be escorted to the USA, hopefully to the Omaha airport! We don't know exactly when this will be but it should be 3-6 months from now, we are hoping it will be before his 1st birthday. That would mean he would come home sometime between June and September. We weren't even expecting our referral until October so that is just amazing!

God is awesome!

Thank you all for supporting us on the journey, we appreciate all your prayers and comments!

It's a boy!!!

It isn't completely final yet but we have a baby boy from Korea! We are still in shock! :-). He was a Waiting Child but he is perfectly healthy!

God is awesome!!

More details later!

We need your help

The current tax credit is set to expire in December 2010. This is a credit that has helped many families afford to adopt. It is a credit that will help us adopt, we hope!

Could you please take a few minutes of your time to call, write or email your Senator or Representative about H.R. 213.

We have to take action to allow families, like us, to afford the expenses of adoption. These children need us!

This could affect many families who have a desire to adopt in the future. Click on the button above to find links to find out how you can contact your representatives!

Thank you!

I600A trouble

Yesterday we got our I600A application back in the mail. The day after I sent it in the bank called to let me know that, instead of an $830 check, they gave me an $850 check. I figured it would not be a big deal, USCIS could just keep the extra $20. Well, I figured wrong!

Patrick got a new check today (for the correct amount) and I mailed out the forms. The Nebraska USCIS office takes about 6 weeks after they get your application to invite you in for finger printing. After they get them it takes about 6 more weeks to get approved. So we should get our I600A approval by the beginning of May.

This shouldn't be a big deal as we are not expecting a referral until later this year although we are praying for a faster referral. If you could, please continue to pray for patience for us, it is a long wait and we are so ready to be parents.

Please also continue to pray for baby Joel and his family, they have been on such a roller coaster since he was born and they really need our prayers.

Dilated pupils + a very sunny day = OUCH!

I had an appointment with the eye doctor today and he dilated my eyes. I had walked to my appointment since it was a beautiful sunny day, notice I said sunny day. On the walk home, even with sun glasses on, I couldn't see anything! If I saw you on my way home and didn't acknowledge you, I'm sorry. I got home and had to lay down in my darkened bedroom and felt much better. I also got to take a little nap too! :)

I talked with the Waiting Child program today at Holt. This is the program for children with some sort of health problem that can't go through the normal adoption process. We are open to some health conditions as some are fixable or not too severe. The WC person said that, since we are home study ready (i.e. our home study is complete), they will call us when there are children available who meet our criteria. So, we will see if anything comes from that.

On a side note, we are planning a vacation to Florida! Patrick's good friend JM is getting married on Saint George Island in May and we are traveling down for it. Our awesome friends, the Erde's, live near Tallahassee and we will get to see them while we are there! I need to call Tamra to work out the details but cannot wait to see all of them again. They were our next door neighbors at seminary and are an amazing family! We really miss living close by and haven't seen them since January of 2006. Tamra flew all the way here for Madelyn's memorial service and is just an amazing woman of God!

I haven't updated about them in a while but our friends Nick and Janell had baby Joel on January 30th. Joel is very sick and had heart surgery today. The updates we have recieved have been good so we just ask for continued prayers for baby Joel and for his parents, doctors nurses and all caregivers. We just ask for Gods blessing upon baby Joel, that He would strenghten Joel and heal him.

Look how cute!

I recently found the cutest artwork for the babies room.

Look!

Before we had Madelyn we had the room almost ready but had nothing on the brand new, dry-walled, Pooh Bear Yellow painted walls. I found these at Target and just fell in love. I can't wait to hang them in the room!

Check out the adoption timeline on the right side bar!

Serious Life Magazine

I wanted you to know about this publication I am a part of called Serious Life Magazine. They just published the February issue today, and I am in their Featured Blog Directory. It is a very high quality magazine… you’ll really like it.

The magazine includes a lot of great content from bloggers you’ll appreciate, as well as great features, photos and other content. The magazine is owned and published by a family who have seven kids, three adopted and one who has Leukemia (http://www.riggsfamilyblog.com/). The magazine gives away a bunch of ads to charities and ministries. Besides great articles on interesting people, there is a lot about family, adoption, personal finance, spiritual life, humor… all sorts of “life” topics.

Again, the subscription is free, and I know you’ll enjoy the magazine, so take a minute to check it out and sign up to get future issues. http://www.seriouslifemagazine.com/

There's no place like home

Well, I finally made it back home on Thursday night! I worked yesterday and my boss was very happy I was back. Last night Patrick and I went to Sam's club and we found this awesome deal on car seats so we bought 2! Yes, that is right, we bought car seats about a year ahead of time...what can I say, I like to be prepared! :) It makes me happy to start buying things for this baby, although part of me worries that other people will think I am crazy!

I plan on posting a timeline of events thus far but I am sick today and have no energy. This always happens when I fly back to PA. I think part of it is the airplane and all the germs and the other part is that I don't get a lot of rest while I am there. I woke up today and just felt horrible. I am still in my PJ's and I plan to stay in them for a while.

Snowed in!

UPDATE: Baby Harper is off of her respirator and is eating from a bottle!!!!! Praise God!!!! If you want to follow her story, click on the "Praying for Harper" on the left.

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I should be waiting to board my flight at Philadelphia International Airport but, instead, I am sitting in my parents dining room writing a blog entry. I woke up this morning, all packed and ready to go, only to discover that my flight was cancelled. When I called, the guy on the other end of the line informed me that the 2 remaining flights for the day were uncertain and it would probably be in my best interest to re-book for tomorrow. So we will try to do this again tomorrow. Stupid snow and ice! It is nice to get one more day with my mom but I miss my husband and my kitty cats. Plus I was supposed to work tomorrow.

Oh well, since I cannot control the weather I will just go with it and enjoy!

Since I have been home I have been talking about the adoption a lot, filing in everyone on our progress...they should just read my blog but that is OK! I am so excited to find out who this little baby is that God has picked out for us! I am so excited to be a mom. I found these cute little books for the baby and I bought them. They are called God's Little Zoo and teach about manners, morals, etc. I couldn't help myself, I can't wait to read and snuggle with my little one!

Please pray today for all those out on the icy roads, for my baby and his/her birth mother, patience for Patrick and me as we wait to be matched, safe travels for me tomorrow and still prayers for baby Harper. She is doing so much better but still needs our prayers!

On the wait strip

I booked my flight to go home for Dyana's funeral. I fly out tomorrow and arrive in Philly at 8:40pm. In order to get a good price on a ticket back here I will have to stay until Wednesday. My mom paid for my ticket, thanks mom!!

On the adoption front we have made great progress! I am waiting on the letter from Holt and then Patrick will mail in the supporting documentation for the grant from Shaohannah. All the paperwork needs to be in by Tuesday, 1/27 so hopefully the letter will come in the mail tomorrow!

And, as of January 6, 2009 we are OFFICIALLY on the wait list. Our home study will stay at headquarters in Oregon until Holt Korea asks for it. I have made two "friends" on a board for Adoption, Nancy and Christina. They both live in NJ and are adopting from Korea through Holt. Christina's log in date is about 4 months ahead of ours and Nancy's date is one week after our. So, since they usually match one month at a time, Nancy and I should get our referrals at the same time!

I am now signed up to get the Holt updates by email and so I should be getting more information about dates they are working on currently. I like that I will be able to tell when we are getting closer!

I am starting to look into fundraisers to help subsidize the cost of the adoption. If any of you have any suggestions I would love to hear them!

Prayer requests this week: for my safe travels to and from PA, for our little baby and his/her birth mother, for Harper a 4 day old little baby with pneumonia, for the family and friends of Dyana, for my husband as he stays home alone for the next week.

Please pray for a dear friend

I know I don't have a very big following on my blog yet but, for those of you reading this, please pray for the family of Dyana (Sanders) Roberts. Dyana passed away Monday night at the age of 31. She leaves behind an 11-year old daughter (Marina), her husband (Joel), her parents, her sister and so many friends who just thought the world of her. Please pray for all of her friends and family during this difficult time.

From her husband, Joel:

Dyana had complications with her surgery and was not able to get enough oxygen. They put her on oxygen, but she was struggling to breathe. Yesterday they put her on a ventilator to help her breathe.

She had fluid around her heart and they attempted to remove 150 CCs of fluid. Dyana went into cardiac arrest and was revived 3 times. Her heart kept stopping and they did everything they could for an hour to bring her back, but her lungs and heart were just too strained. There was nothing else that they could do and Dyana passed away around 7 pm Monday night, 1/19. We are all really a mess right now, but have a lot of friends and family giving us support.

We are having a memorial service for Dyana at:
Founds Funeral Home
229 S High St
West Chester, PA
At 2:30pm on Friday 1/23

Please pray for our friends!

Our friends, Nick and Janelle, are expecting their second son, Joel. Joel has been diagnosed with many health problems and Nick and Janelle have been told that these problems are pretty bad. They will be traveling soon from Pensacola up to Atlanta, GA where Janelle will deliver baby Joel. Please pray that God would heal Joel, that He would be with Nick, Janelle and their whole family during this difficult time, and that they would travel safely to Atlanta. I am devastated for them and pray that they would feel God's peace during this time.

PIP I, II, III and IV

Patrick and I completed 4 of the 5 PIP (Parenting in Progress) classes we need to take before we are matched with our baby. The classes were supposed to be yesterday and today from 9:00am to 3:00pm in Omaha. (For those who know me well, 9:00am on a Saturday morning HURTS!) I say supposed to because we got done at 2 yesterday and at noon today. All in all, it was a good class. We talked a lot about our baby and the adjustments that they will have to make when they come here. We learned the importance of talking with our baby about their Korean heritage and watched videos of kids who have been adopted. It gave me some things to think about and gave us some good references to go forward with.

I pray that God would give us the right words to say and things to do to help our baby be well adjusted and have a good sense of self. I also pray that God would shield our baby and us from all the "well-meaning" people who may say hurtful things about/to us, our baby or the adoption. Before anyone asks, no, we haven't gotten any yet but just want to be prepared for the future.

We were in the class with 2 other couples so it was a small class. I was hoping to meet another couple that was adopting from Korea, but we didn't. The one couple is doing China's Child of Promise program and the other is adopting from Ethiopia.

Yesterday I was so tired after the class that I took at 3.5 hour nap when we got home. I was sure that would mess me up at night but I was able to go to sleep last night with no problems. Guess I just needed a little extra rest.

I still need to get the I600A paper work in the mail and get some supporting documents to a grant organization I applied to, we plan to do most of that tomorrow. So, hopefully early to mid next week I will have some more adoption milestones completed!

My friends Sharon and Aric are also in the process of adopting a baby in the US. If you could, I would just ask for prayers for them during this time. That they would find things to occupy their time as they wait for an expectant mother to pick them to be the parents of her baby.

Thank you all for caring about us and for being with us on this journey.

Dear Holt Family

That is how the letter we received in the mail today began. It went on to say that they are pleased to inform us that our home study has been approved and sent to Holt headquarters today! After it is reviewed there, it will then be sent to Korea and we will be placed on the list of families waiting for a match!!!! I am beyond excited!!!!!

This is so much earlier than I had thought it would be. God is good! The last I had heard, the home study wouldn't be complete until after we took the classes January 9th and 10th but now, it was sent today and will hopefully get to Korea at the beginning of the year! I just know that God's hand is on this and that the timing is all His doing because of the special little baby He has picked out for us! I can't wait to see how this all works out, all for His glory!

I am not very good at expressing my thoughts and feelings. I read a lot of other blogs and they write so eloquently and beautifully and I feel that my blog just pales in comparison. I know I shouldn't compare myself to them but...that's what I do best.

So, the next step is to complete the I-600A, Application for Advance Processing of Orphan Petition and send it to the Department of Homeland Security (US Citizenship and Immigration Services). After they get all our paperwork (copies of birth certificates and marriage license) then we need to go in for another set of fingerprints.

After this set of paperwork is in the mail, I will then start to pursue the adoption grants that are out there. The Holt website has list of them and a lot of them are Christian based. There is also an organization that offers interest free loans so I think I will try to secure that in case we need it. I know God will give us what we need to get through this time, physically, emotionally and financially! He always gives us what we need when we need it.

So for tonight I am beyond excited that this is moving forward and we are one step closer to getting matched with our baby! This is a great Christmas present! Although it's a long shot, maybe I can hope to be holding my little one in my arms next Christmas (like I said it is a VERY long shot but all things are possible with God!)

Merry Christmas!!!

One step forward...

The second home visit went well yesterday. Bonnie actually got a rough draft of the home study done so we were able to review that and it looked great. We have to fill out a few forms about medical conditions we would accept and then send them in to Holt. We will need to wait until we take the PIP classes in January (9th and 10th) and then she can send in our home study. I am a little disappointed by the wait but I have to keep reminding myself that God has a plan here and, I have to trust His timing.

If you want to know where to focus your thoughts and prayers it would be for me to have more patience and also that God would send us boy/girl twins! :)

One step closer

We had our first home visit with our social worker, Bonnie, today. It went well and only lasted 2 hours. She basically just sat down with us in the living room and went over the 16 pages of questions each of us had to fill out and clarify some information and go over the process. She will come back on Thursday because she is require to do 2 home visits and at that point we will go over some more information and give her a tour of the house.

Then, over the next couple of weeks we will be in contact via phone if she has any more questions as she writes out the home study. We get to review the rough draft before she sends it on to Korea. After it is submitted we get in line and WAIT! As we get closer to being matched we can have Bonnie check on our place in line and, once we get matched it will still be another 4-6 months before all the paper work is ready and our baby can fly here. She said that we will get the travel call and then it is only a matter of days before our baby is on a plane and in our waiting arms. It will be a year (or more) until that happens, so we need to find things to occupy our time (inexpensive things that is)!

Once our home study is complete then I can start applying for grants and loans to help pay for the adoption. I am hoping to qualify for at least one other grant besides the one that Patrick's work will give us. We do get a refund from the IRS but cannot file for it until the tax year that the adoption is complete. So most likely by April of 2011 we will get the refund. That seems like FOREVER from now! As always I appreciate your prayers and thank you for following along with us on the journey.

I know some of my blog readers but would love to know who is popping in from time to time. Leave me a message and let me know! OK, I am going to head towards my bed in the hopes of a good night of sleep!

I'm not perfect...

...and neither is my house. But it does look cute and organized! I am tired and have been working for hours to get the house ready for the 1st home visit tomorrow. My 10 year old neighbor, Anna, came over and helped me decorate the house for Christmas. She is such an amazingly mature 10 year old. It is snowing outside but we aren't supposed to get too much accumulation so hopefully everything will still be on for tomorrow. OK, I just wanted to update you on my progress. I will post more after the visit tomorrow.