Surviving Crazy Town and Happy 2nd Birthday to Charles HyeonWoo!!

As I write this I am exhausted! Please excuse crazy random thoughts and grammatical errors :) Brent and I with the help of our family and friends have now accomplished so much in the past two weeks. My parents and family hosted Charlie's second birthday party as a fundraiser to help with our final adoption expenses we had a wonderful time and had over 100 of our family and friends to come and celebrate our Charlie! We received news three days later June 16, 2015 that our file had been submitted to the ministry for the purposes of Charlie's emigration permission (EP)!!!  This is a huge step forward in the adoption process however still more steps ahead.  We were then notified soon after this news that our home study needed to be updated as it has been approximately one year since our initial home study.

We were unaware that Korea expects the home study up to date within 1 year prior to court review even though in terms of NC did not expire until December of 2015. So within one week we were able to gather all documents necessary to update our home study including doctors appointments, fingerprints (yes that makes the 6th time R-I-D-I C-U-L-O-U-S), contacting our awesome references who all returned their forms in a record time THANK YOU guys so much, and several other forms/paperwork to complete.  This whole home study process is conducted in your home, makes sense right? Well, that's another thing we sold our house and purchased another within the past 6 weeks as well : )  We were so grateful that our social worker was able to come out on short notice to update everything as we are in a rush now that our file has been submitted to the government in Korea.  Once we get settled in our new house our social worker will come out again for a home inspection only and write an addendum to our updated home study and this should all work out before hearing when we have a court date and travel to meet Charlie!

It has been crazy town for us but looking back we are so grateful for the Lord's timing in all of this. For Brent and I both to be able to deal with and stay strong and positive with life and the adoption process over the past 2.5 to 3 years is a true testament in trusting and having faith in Christ.  Not just in hopes that everything will work out but that even if it doesn't we still trust and understand that He is sovereign over all things.  You cannot find peace and joy in this life without knowing and trusting Jesus, believe me I know from experience,  I have tried.  Our marriage has been strengthened in times where it could have very well been distressed or even destroyed.  We have learned so much about ourselves, our weaknesses and strengths exposed.   We take absolutely no credit in the ability to persevere, to remain positive, and patient in this process. We give all praise and glory to Christ our Savior.

Charlie will now come home to a house where we are not having to move, we can focus on our family as we begin the process of attachment.  With selling our home this will free us up more financially for paying off some of our adoption expenses and also for me to be able to stay at home with Charlie more during our transition.  We actually moved out of our house this weekend and hoping to move in our new home in the next few weeks!

Two weeks ago my parents hosted Charlie's second birthday party at their home with the help of our entire family.  We asked our guest in lieu of gifts to make a donation toward our adoption expenses.    We had a great turn out with our awesome friends, family, and tons of precious kids!  Charlie will have so many buddies, we are so grateful for this and so ready to see him play with all of our nieces, nephews, and our friends kids!  We thank you all so much for coming and contributing!  You have no idea how much your giving has helped in bringing Charlie home.  There is no way we could have made it through this entire adoption process without your love and support.  We are truly thankful!

We began this blog to keep others informed and share in our journey of adoption, but we also want to journal these details for Charlie to read someday.  Today is Charlie's second birthday!! It has been a busy day for us but a good day.  We (ironically) closed on our house this morning and could not have sold our house to nicer family.  They were aware of our adoption and we were able to share with all parties involved realtors, lawyers, etc that it was Charlie's birthday.  Everyone was so supportive and just congratulating us and wishing us the best, it was just fun to be able to be proud parents today and tell complete strangers of our son's birthday :)  Of course our hearts are sad that we have missed being with him yet again on his second birthday but we are so happy that he is growing and thriving in the loving care of his foster family. We will be forever grateful for this family who has cared so well and loved our son so much. We know the transition from his foster family to us is going to be so hard and so sad, but we continue to pray for all of our hearts in the difficult times we know lie ahead.

We all survived moving this weekend! We are grateful to Brent's parents letting us stay until we can close on our new house. 

Having a little sad moment walking through one last time in our home. 

Last photo in front of our house. 

Happy 2nd Birthday to our sweet Charles HyeonWoo! We hope your day is full of extra hugs, kisses, and fun! We look forward to celebrating with you on your 3rd birthday!! Oh what a wonderful day that will be. We Love You!

Happy Referral Day!

Well, it has been exactly one year 4/14/2014 since Brent and I said yes to our adoption agency to the referral of our sweet brown eyed baby boy! In many ways it seems like the time has flown by yet it also seems so very long ago.  The first time we saw Charlie's face was sometime in early March of 2014 as we began to start a second adoption and pursued his file through a waiting child's list.  I will never forget the day when Brent and I saw his sweet face!  It is crazy how much you become attached to a child that you have never even laid hands on but have only seen through pictures. If you think about it, it's almost a little strange but it is what it is, and we are so in love with our little guy!  This is our referral picture and we estimate Charlie was around 6 months old in this picture :)

Seriously, those cheeks!

Once we reviewed his file, had our home study reviewed by the agency to ensure we are suitable parents, and had a physician familiar with international adoption cases review his medical information (this is actually required) we said yes, yes, and yes!  Again with the agencies all communication is primarily through email, so our adoption agency emails us back and says, "ok congratulations, he is your child."  Yep that was it, pretty crazy huh?  Our adoption agency has a tradition that when a child from the waiting child's list is matched they ring a cow bell in celebration of a waiting child finding their forever family.  So we received an email with a picture of a worker from the agency with a big smile on her face ringing a cow bell in our families honor!  Brent and I just sat together and were honestly in a little shock thinking, is that it? So we have a son? I remember Brent saying "Are they sure, I mean did they write that down that he is ours? There are cow bells ringing and all, but I want to know he is ours." So in the next few hours and days to come yes there was legal paper work given to us and it was a done deal! So apparently they did write it down :)

Charlie seems to be doing very well.  We continue to get updates every month from the agency.  Here are a few fun facts about Charlie.  

• Some of his favorite foods are (basically he eats everything) including fish, fruits, rice.  You name it our kid is eating it :) 
• His favorite toys are blocks, cars, and trucks. 
• He can say about 20 words (all in Korean of course). 
• He weighs about 28 lbs and is a 35 inches tall! 

We are incredibly thankful for these updates as it helps tremendously during the wait.  

So we continue to wait to be submitted to the government for the purpose of Charlie's emigration permission.  It has been a very slow past two months for Brent and I.  We really try hard to stay positive but it's getting more difficult as the time continues to pass. We remain hopeful he will be home with us before the end of this year. We know and trust the time is coming that we will meet and hold Charlie.  We pray it comes soon.  

Happy Referral Day Charlie!  We are so thankful for this day. 

Love, 

Brent and Beth

Next Step

I am really not good at keeping up with this blogging thing, but the waiting phase of adoption is overall not that exciting.  We did receive an email from our agency February 2, 2015 that the Korean agency (ESWS) has requested our file so preparations can be made to be moved to the ministry (Korean Ministry of Health and Welfare) for the purpose of Charlie's emigration permission (EP). The ministry is a branch of the South Korean government that oversees when and how many EP's are given. Sounds complicated but basically we are waiting on that day for Charlie's EP to be given so we can appear in court (1st trip) and then 4-6 weeks later take custody (2nd trip) of our son and bring him home!

So we continue to wait to be submitted to receive an EP, but having our file being "prepared" is a good step forward.  Timelines are not consistent when compared to other families but we have been able to narrow the time frame down somewhat that it's *possible*to travel and meet Charlie before the end of 2015 which is sooner than we originally thought.  Of course we are excited but you find your self being guarded and even nervous to even narrow timelines down because adoption regardless of domestic or international is so out of your control.  So we keep trucking along with life staying busy with work, church, and with our family and friends.

During our wait we did participate and formed "Team Hardin" in the Charlotte Chosen 10-Mile race in October of 2014 as a fundraiser.  We had an awesome turn out from friends and family who helped us in raising $5,076.25 toward our adoption expenses.  We are so very grateful for everyone who signed up to support us.  We cannot thank you enough, this was a tremendous blessing!

Missing a few but for the most part "Team Hardin".  You guys are the best, thank you so much!

Jen my co-worker and good friend who held me accountable with training for the race! So much fun hanging out and "trying to talk" while running after work.  Proud of us!

So fun to do this race together.  So proud of my man!

Megan and Melanie two awesome ladies who run competitively.  You girls did awesome! Thanks for being a part. 

Joy my best friend since second grade! There is not a large enough caption for what a loyal friend this girl is.   Truly thankful!

Kids fun run!

My sweet college friend Wendy who also likes to sign up for races and torture herself :) We did a 1/2 marathon a few years back together and I could barely walk afterwards! Wendy we should just get coffee next time!

Our awesome friends, the Robinson's who have supported us from the beginning and have written multiple reference letters for us!  

The "We Love Charlie" shirts were a surprise as we crossed the finish line from our awesome family! We love you all!

Our good friends Sarah and Taylor after the race (who I failed to get a picture with) :) Had to include you guys!

Also during the wait we get to send Charlie a care package every other month.  It's really fun to be able to pick things out to send him.  We get to include pictures of us and also write letters to his foster family. We also receive monthly pictures of him and occasionally we get to see him opening items from his care package which has been really special and fun!  It really does help with getting through this crazy wait.  

Care Package 2

Care Package 3

Care Package 4

 Our house continues to remain on the market but over the holidays we decided to prepare Charlie a room.  It started out with us deciding just to paint and well now it's fully finished! What can I say, it was therapeutic, and fun! :)

Until we have custody of Charlie we cannot post any pictures online of his sweet little face.  But trust me he is one little cutie, with sweet chubby cheeks and he is getting so big!  Thank you again for those of you have joined Brent and I in this journey whether it is through your prayers and words of encouragement, writing reference letters, or participating in fundraisers. We are truly thankful for you in our lives and your support.

Charlie at 18 months opening his care package :)