Another month older

Jordan turns 11 months old this week, and he is still in Korea! It's hard knowing that we have missed out on almost his entire first year of life. How is it possible for us to feel so much love for someone we have never met? At least we are comforted knowing that he is being loved and cared for by his foster mother. We are expecting travel clearance to come any day, so my phone is glued to my side! I am hoping, hoping that we receive good news this week!!

In the meantime, Luke and I continue to keep ourselves as busy as possible in order to keep our minds off the wait. Even though there are a little over 5 weeks until the first day of school, my classroom is set to go- bulletin boards are up, copies are made, lesson plans are written. I have never been this ahead of the game! The only thing left to do is meet with the sub who will be taking my place during my 12 week leave, and then I won't have to go back in when we come home from Korea.

Luke and I may be eagerly anticipating the day when we can bring Jordan home, but the kittens are definitely in for a rude awakening! They have ruled the roost for over 3 years, and I don't think they will appreciate someone new taking their place. Our neighbor's baby came over for about 20 minutes last week. He started crawling towards Sushi and immediately her tail grew bushy, she gave a little hiss, and then she ran upstairs to hide. I think they will be spending a lot of time hiding under the bed during the first weeks Jordan is home!

Passport!

The good news keeps coming! We found out this morning that Jordan now has his Korean passport. This is big news. The next phone call we receive from Dillon will be the news that we can leave to bring him home. The only thing left is for his visa to be issued which should happen in the next 2-4 weeks and then we will be able to head off for Korea! I thought that I was very organized and prepared, but now that the end is almost here I'm realizing all the little things I still have to do before we leave. At least all the final preparations will keep me occupied and my mind off the wait. Before we know it Jordan will be in our arms!

Emmigration Permission!

We found out this morning that Jordan has emmigration permission! This is the permission granted by the Korean government that we have been waiting months for. We are so happy that things are moving forward. The next step is for Jordan to receive his Korean passport which should be issued within 1-2 weeks. After that we will wait 2-4 more weeks until we have clearance to travel. That means that in 3-6 weeks we will be on our way to Korea to meet our precious baby!

We also received a written update on Jordan's development last week. He is now able to stand while holding on to furniture and to move sideways while holding on to furniture. The update also stated that he loves songs and falls asleep while the foster mother sings him a lullaby. We can't wait to meet our little sweetheart!

10 months old!

Although time seems to pass slowly as we wait to bring our son home, Jordan seems to be growing up so quickly! It's hard to believe that he will be 10 months old tomorrow. We did receive some disappointing news this week. Apparently our application for emmigration permission was submitted later than it should have been, so it appears like we are in for a longer wait than we first anticipated. Although we know that we will most likely wait for several more weeks before we travel, I keep hoping my phone will ring with news that we can leave to bring Jordan home!

We received this recent picture of Jordan this morning. He looks very healthy and well cared for, but badly in need of a haircut!

Still Waiting

There is not much to report other than the fact that we are still waiting to hear news from Korea. Right now we are waiting for Emmigration Permission (EP) and Passport. We hope to hear that Jordan has received those any day. However, we have been thinking it would be any day since mid-April and the weeks continue to pass by with no word. In the meantime Luke and I are trying to stay busy to keep our minds off of the wait. We've had a few baby showers during the past couple of months and almost have everything ready for Jordan's arrival. School is out for me, but I am spending this week cleaning and organizing my classroom so that things are as organized as possible when I start school in the fall. We continue to pray that things will progress quickly and that we will be on our way to Korea in no time!

Working on the nursery...

We don't have any news to report with the progress of the adoption, but we have been busy preparing the nursery for Jordan's arrival. After my dad installed a chair rail, we worked on painting the room. We tried many paint samples before finally deciding on the green and tan. Last weekend Luke's sister and her husband selflessly drove many hours from Minneapolis just to drop off a crib, changing table, car seats, high chair, clothes, toys, and much, much more! We are so grateful to them for their extreme generosity.

Transforming the ugly red wall...

to a much more soothing green and tan!

Hurry home, Jordan! We are ready for you!

I- 600 approval!

Luke and I were excited to receive the approval of our I-600 in the mail today! This is an important step towards the issue of Jordan' s visa. After waiting 8 weeks for this form we were becoming a bit concerned because several other Dillon families had been receiving their approvals in only 3 weeks or less. So we were greatly relieved when we opened the mailbox today and saw the letter from immigration stating the approval. Next Jordan needs to receive EP (emmigration permission) and his passport. We hope to hear word that he has EP and his passport soon. Once those two items have been issued we may only need to wait 2-4 weeks until we receive clearance to travel!