Last Day of June

Waiting. Well, today is the last day of June and we are still waiting on Beau to come home. If you had asked me a month ago when he would be home, I would have said June! In fact I remember telling lots of people that I was "sure" he would be home for the 4th of July. There was no question in my mind. The days leading up to Beau's birthday were really not that hard. I focused on what type of cake to bake, the type of toy to buy him, etc. The day of his birthday was great too. We sang happy birthday and celebrated. But...the days after his birthday have been harder. Everyday is one day that he is getting older and learning new things. I want to watch him learn new things. I wake up each day thankful for a new day, because it is a new day that I might get an email about Beau coming home. But by about 4:30 each afternoon, I feel a little sting of disappointment because it is another day with no news.

I know that Beau will come home. I know that tears of joy will soon replace the tears caused by the waiting. I will continue to pray for God's peace during the remainder of the wait. Sometimes I feel guilty for even being sad about the wait, because so many others adopting from South Korea will have even longer waits due to the EP situation that I blogged about a few days ago.

Raleigh is so great and always reminds me of the blessing of this time that we have...just the 2 of us. And I am thankful for it, I really am. But mostly I am ready for our sweet Beau to come home. Hoping and praying that July is our month!

Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail.
They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. I say to myself,

“The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.”

The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him;
it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.
It is good for a man to bear the yoke while he is young.

Lamentations 3:22-27

My Nephew Alex

A few weeks ago, my nephew Alex came to visit! We enjoyed making brownies, going to Scott's Antique Market, and lunch at Chik-fil-A! Thanks for visiting Alex!

Silly Rabbits!!!

As I was walking in from getting the mail today, I noticed that the flower pots on my front porch looked different. Upon further investigation, I noticed that the sweet potato vines are GONE from both pots!!! The vines were so pretty and really made the pots looked finished. Now all that's left are little bitty stems where the vines once were!

I guess there are some very satisfied rabbits somewhere!! Ugh! I'm not going to replant new vines, because the rabbits will probably just come back for more!

Before (above) See the pretty sweet potato vine flowing from the side?

After (above) Look, the sweet potato vine has been eaten all the way down to the little stems!!!

Happy Birthday Beau!!

We hope that Beau got to experience his tol in Korea for his birthday! I know that some families have received pictures from the foster family of this special day.

While Beau was celebrating in Korea, Raleigh and I celebrated here! I baked a sour cream pound cake this morning. Unfortunately it stuck in the pan just a little, but it still tastes good!!

We also took a trip to Toys R Us to buy Beau his birthday present. We went with the intent of buying a wagon, but I just couldn't decide which one was right. We decided to wait on the wagon until Beau is home and we have a better idea of his size and mobility. Then we can choose the one that is just right for him!

We decided on a set of blocks and one can of Play-Doh. We also chose a funny card...well actually Raleigh chose the card. It has a whooppee cushion inside! Boy humor is so different than girl humor! Ha Ha!

The plates and napkins we chose are pirates! Every little boy needs at least one pirate party!

Happy First Birthday Beau! We love you to Korea and back!

June Well Baby Check

Just when we least expected it...we got a June well baby check today! I mean I'm not sure why I wasn't expecting it, but I wasn't!

This is his 12 month appointment because he will turn one on Sunday. Technically his birthday will start Saturday night in the US since Korea is 13 hours ahead of Atlanta.

Here are Beau's current stats:

Height: 28.5 inches (He was 28.3 inches in May)

Weight: 18.5 pounds (He was 18.1 pounds in May)

It still says he is under 3 % in height and weight, but I think he will catch right up once he is home. :)

As far as the developmental milestones, he can pull up and he walks holding onto furniture. It also says that he waves bye-bye. He has never had this checked before, so this is a new skill that he has acquired. :)

He also says single syllables and imitates speech sounds. Finally, it is noted that he says umma, which is mom in Korean. Obviously he is referring to his foster mom when he says this.

It is hard to explain if you haven't been through an adoption, but there are lots of emotions that are associated with it. I want Beau home so much, but it also breaks my heart to think of him leaving the foster family that he has known for the past year. I want to kiss his chubby cheeks and squeeze his cute little toes. Raleigh and I have been preparing for him for years. The Lord put adoption on our hearts in the Spring of 2008. So it has been 3 years of preparation for us. (We attended our first meeting at our adoption agency on June 26th 2008...Beau's birthday! Beau was born June 26, 2010.) But for Beau, all he knows is his foster family. I know they love him very much and I'm sure he loves them very much too. He has no idea that his little world is about to change. I will be forever grateful to Beau's foster mom for taking such good care of him and loving him so well for the first year of his life.

Raleigh and I pray every single night for the Lord to be preparing Beau's heart. I am so happy to know that Beau's first word is umma, mom. It is a special part of his story and I am thankful that he has a strong attachment to his foster family. In time, this will help him attach to us, his forever family.

I am so thankful that we received a June WBC. Our social worker also confirmed that our Class B Waiver will arrive in Korea on Monday.

Prayers Please for all of My Friends Adopting from Korea

I'm calling all prayer warriors to intercede on behalf of the adoptive families waiting to bring their little treasures home from Korea. It is kind of a complicated situation, but I will do my best to explain it.

First I will say that Raleigh and I are SO blessed to not be impacted by this problem, because Beau already has his emigration permit from Korea.

Ok...so basically the Korean government wants to reduce the number of international adoptions each year and increase the number of babies that are adopted domestically. Although I can see the benefits of children remaining in their birth country, at this time, the rate of domestic adoptions within Korea is not increasing that much. This means that there are lots of little treasures still needing families and lots of treasures that have been matched with families and are waiting to come home.

There are MANY steps that have to happen in order for the babies to come home. Some of the steps happen on the US side and some happen on the Korea side. One of the most important steps in Korea, is for the baby to be submitted to the Ministry for an emigration permit and then 4-10 weeks later approved for the emigration permit. The emigration permit (EP) allows the child to leave the country and come home to his or her forever family. Without the EP, the baby must remain in Korea.

Within the last 48 hours, lots of families found out that the Ministry in Korea will not be submitting or approving any EPs in the month of June. They will resume submitting and approving approvals in late July. In addition to this, there are only a handful of EPs left for the year. Several agencies have announced that they anticipate running out of EPs in September...could be later or could be earlier. That means that there will only be a few more batches of EPs for the year. The result is that some babies that have already been matched with families will not receive an EP this year will not come home until 2012.

I'm sure you can relate to the shock and sadness that this brings to adoptive families that were planning to have their babies home this year. No one knows for sure (at this point) which families will receive the remaining EPs and which families will have to wait until 2012. It is a blessing that the babies are living in loving foster homes while they wait, but it is still hard on the forever families.

I can hardly stand the wait for Beau to come home and I know that he should be home in a matter of weeks or at the very most a month or so. It would be devastating to learn that he will not come home until 2012.

So...this is where you come in. Please pray for God to be glorified through this situation. Pray for a miracle for all of the babies that are already matched with their families. Just like Jesus multiplied the fish and the bread, pray that God multiplies the the number of remaining EPs for the year so that all the babies that have already been matched come home this year. Pray for the families that are impacted by this situation. Pray that God will give them peace during the uncertainty.

Thank you for interceding for for my friends in the adoption community.

Class B Waiver and New Picture

We are one small step closer to Beau. Yesterday we received his Class B Waiver. This is basically a piece of paper that says Beau has hydronephrosis of the kidney. Raleigh and I signed the form, had it notarized, and mailed it back to our agency's corporate office.

Once the corporate office receives our signed documents they will send them back to Korea.

The next step is for Beau's Visa Interview (VI) to be scheduled. The "travel call" can come the same day as VI or a few days later.

Also, we got a new picture!!! We can't wait to put a smile on this cute little face!!! We love you Beau!!

I am not allowed to show Beau's foster mom on a public blog, so I had to remove her face. The items in front of Beau are things that we sent in our last care package.

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day to my dad, Raleigh's dad, and Raleigh!

Thanks dad for being the best dad a girl could ask for! You are self-less and have always done for others in big ways. You never made me order off of the kids menu when I was a little girl and I really liked that! Thanks for always driving me to school, picking me up from school and taking all my friends home too! You probably spent more in gas money taking me to work when I was 15 than I actually made, but it was fun to get tater tots everyday at Sonic! Also, thanks for driving to Samford countless times to pick me up and take me home to Nashville for holidays because I didn't like driving. Well....let's be honest, I still don't like driving, but now Raleigh has the "pleasure" of driving me around! You are so brave and you never complain. You've kicked lupus and cancer in the butt and I know that your best years are still to come! I see lots of years of beach vacations in our future! Beau is going to love playing with you and finding treasures in the garage. Happy Father's Day dad!

My mom and dad in the 80's!

Helping dad open a new sweater for Christmas!

Daytona Beach with my dad and my sister Angie!

September 2010 from my mom's surprise birthday party that my dad planned.

Raleigh's dad is the best father-in-law a girl could ask for. Raleigh and I are so blessed to have you in our lives! You are always supportive as we journey through the crazy adventure of life. We can't wait for you to get to Atlanta in a few days! Hopefully Beau will be here then, but if not we'll still have fun! :) Happy Father's Day!

About 18 years ago in Mexico!

Another one of Beth, Isaac, Brandon, Raleigh, and some of their friends while living in Mexico.

This one was taken a couple of years ago in Birmingham.

November 2010 at the Thrashers vs. Red Wings hockey game

Dear sweet husband...Thank you for working so hard to take care of me. My dad always took care of me and my mom (well, he still does:) and we knew it would be hard for me to find a husband that would happily treat me the way I was used to being treated by my dad. My mom knew you were "the one" when you helped me move rooms at Samford. You wearing those red tennis shoes and you made us all laugh with your witty sense of humor. Thank you for allowing me to take a year off of teaching to stay home with Beau. I never dreamed it would be possible, but we are going to make it work. I can't wait to see you with Beau. I will definitely be outnumbered with two boys in the house!! I see mud pies, boy scouts, and baseball in my future. I so love you and Beau is going to love having you as his dad. He might not know it at first, but his love will grow over time. I'm excited to journey through parenthood with you. We won't always get it right, but we have an inheritance from the Lord of growing up in Christian homes with parents that love each other very much. Where we fall short, the Lord will fill in the gaps. Happy Father's Day Raleigh!

Genesis 31:49

The Lord reminded me of this great verse tonight...

"May the Lord keep watch between me and thee, while we are absent one from another."

Genesis 31:49

What a great reminder!! The Lord is watching over sweet Beau, even though he is miles and miles away from us right now.

P.S. I memorized this verse in college and typed it out exactly as I remember, but I'm not sure which translation of the Bible it is from.

A Beautiful Shower

I am so thankful to be surrounded by so many people that support me, love me, laugh with me, cry with me, and simply walk through life with me.

Three of my dear friends (Cara, Katie, and Shea) gave me a beautiful baby shower. I am so thankful for all of the love that has carried me through the adoption journey.

The picture above is Stacey (my sister-in-law), my mom, and me.

There was lots of delicious food...muffins, cheese grits, quiche, fruit, and petit fours.

Adoptive mom group! (from left to right: Maggie, Karen, me, Amy, and Kathy)

Unfortunately I forgot to get a good picture with the three hostesses, but here they are doing the dishes at the end of the party. (left to right: Katie, Shea, and Cara)

Visa Physical is Scheduled!!

We got an email this morning from our social worker letting us know that Beau's visa physical is scheduled for Thursday, June 16th.

We are getting closer!!!

Welcome Baby Landon!!

A few weeks ago, we had a baby shower for my cousin Courtney. It was so much fun to celebrate and prepare for Landon's arrival.


Landon was due June 30th, but he was ready to make his grand entrance and came a few days early. He was born Friday, June 10th weighing in at 5 pounds 14 ounces. We are so excited to have Landon join our family!! Congratulations Courtney and Michael! We can't wait to meet sweet baby Landon!

When will Beau be home?

Inquiring minds want to know when our sweet Beau will be home. Well, we are down to the final few steps of the process, but we still don't know exactly when he will be here.

We are waiting on his Embassy Appearance, Visa Physical, Visa Interview, and then Travel Call!

We are hoping he will be home at the end of June or early July, but for now we are trying to be patient because there are still unknowns with the timeline.

It's Memorial Day in Korea!

Today is Memorial Day in Korea, so we probably won't get any adoption updates today.

Raleigh and I have lots of fun events to attend in the next few weeks (wedding showers, baby showers, birthday parties, etc) so today I'm going to try to shop for the gifts for all of these fun parties!

Maybe tomorrow will bring news that Beau's visa physical has been scheduled!

One more word about Katie's post

If you haven't had a chance, I highly encourage you to take a minute and read Katie's blog post here or you can read it below in my previous post.

So many of her words in this post struck me deeply, but I want to mention one more paragraph that has profound meaning.

Taken from www.kissesfromkatie.blogspot.com written by Katie Davis

Our family sits on the street corner down town sharing ice cream and laughter. My daughter bends low to offer a homeless man her popsicle and as he cries that no one cares about him she looks straight into his face. “We will be your family,” she asserts, and she means it. We kneel on the pavement and we pray and people stop to look but we hardly notice because we were made for this.

We bend.

When I read this paragraph, so many thoughts swirled through my mind, but the main implication that I thought about is this...if we want our children to have the character of God, we have to model those behaviors for them. Katie's daughter has seen her mom welcome countless strangers into their family and home for seasons of time. She is learning from the Godly example of her mother. Isn't it true that we learn so much by watching others, not just by hearing what they teach.

I always felt a profound responsibility to my students. As a kindergarten teacher, my students arrived in my classroom at 7:30 and left at 2:30. That is 7 hours together everyday for 181 days. I knew that my students would learn so much just by watching me. (the respect I show them, the way I talk to other teachers, the way I handle problems that arise, etc, etc) What a bold challenge we have as adults. The next generation is watching us. Whether we have children or not, almost every adult I know has children in their sphere of influence....a friend's child, a neighbor, a niece or nephew, a cousin, a student, or your own child.

As Raleigh and I are preparing our hearts for Beau, I pray that my actions will speak loudly for the glory of God. I pray that Beau will grow up watching us love each other well, so that he will know how to love well in the context of marriage one day. I pray that Beau sees us love others well too so that he will learn from example about how to love others well!

Now...hop on over to Katie's blog and check it out!

Have you read Katie's blog?

Katie lives in Uganda. She is from my hometown Brentwood, TN. She lives to serve the Lord.

Her most recent post is so moving. If you have never read Katie's blog, take time to read this post. It is so engaging from the very first line, "Around here, we live bent low." Check it out here or you can read it below. The Lord is using sweet Katie and her daughters to impact His kingdom. Many, many, many of her posts describe the sweet presence of our Heavenly Father...a Father that shows up in Uganda just like He shows up in Atlanta...in your home and in my home.

The post below is from http://kissesfromkatie.blogspot.com/

Written by Katie Davis

Around here, we live bent low.

Tuesday morning ladies from Masese stream through my front door. We have moved our weekly meeting from the slum of Masese to my living room because I have been up all night with new foster baby and can’t imagine getting all 14 of these little people out of the house. Excited about a change of pace and my sweet friends in my home, I enlist the help of darling Tamara and 13 eager little girls to give these ladies pedicures. We wash and we rub and we paint. I rub lotion into old scarred feet and think of the journeys they have traveled. I whisper thanks for the ways they have blessed me and the things they have taught me, and here in a puddle on the hard tile floor, Joy overflows.

It is on this same cold, smooth tile that I kneel hours later, face inches away from the burn on Makerere’s calf. The stench doesn’t even bother me anymore. And while it looks horrific to outside eyes, I remember what it looked like months ago and ever so slowly, I can see the healing. I can see the healing in the blood red life that spills out as I bandage and in the smiling eyes that tell me stories as I work. Laying on my belly with a surgical blade I scrape out the dead and do my best to preserve the new pink tissue that is starting to form around the edges. He laughs and says, “I have told you now all the stories I have! It must be your turn.” And I tell him a story of a Heavenly King born as a pauper and of a Body broken for me and for him and for each one of us. And I don’t even realize but there are tears on the tile and I sit astonished that messy, inadequate, ungraceful me would get to share such a story.

We sit in the dirt, not worried about the red stains and serve 400 plates of food to sponsored children on Saturday. I look into these faces and remember them nearly 4 years ago, destitute and hopeless and starving. Afraid of my funny white skin. We feed them lunch and we feed them God’s Word and we watch them transform. We feel like family now, no one noticing these skin differences. The suns rays beat down the glory of God and covered in mud and chicken broth I know that this is contentment.

Our family sits on the street corner down town sharing ice cream and laughter. My daughter bends low to offer a homeless man her popsicle and as he cries that no one cares about him she looks straight into his face. “We will be your family,” she asserts, and she means it. We kneel on the pavement and we pray and people stop to look but we hardly notice because we were made for this.

We bend.

I bend to sweep crumbs and I bend to wipe vomit and I bend to pick up little ones and wipe away tears. I bend over a big pot of stew and I bend to fold endless laundry and I bend over math books and spelling sentences and history quiz corrections. And at the end of these days I bend next to the bed and I ask only that I could bend more, bend lower.

Because I serve a Savior who came to be a servant. He lived bent low. And bent down here is where I see His face.

He lived, only to die.

Could I?

Die to self and just break open for love.

This Savior, His one purpose to spend Himself on behalf of messy us. Will I spend myself on behalf of those in front of me?

And people say, “Don’t you get tired?” and yes, I do. But I’m face to face with Jesus in the dirt, and the more I bend the harder and better and fuller this life gets. And sure, we are tired, but oh we are happy. Because bent down low is where we find fullness of Joy.

Praying for you as you bend today for whoever is in front of you. He will meet you there.

Well Baby Check

We got a new WBC!

Beau's check-up was dated May 23rd. Beau now walks holding onto furniture! Looks like he will be walking soon!

Weight: 18.1 pounds (He gained 3 oz since last month! Hey...any weight gain is good, right?!)

Height: 28.3 inches (He was 27.9 inches in April)

Congratulations Sarah!

Raleigh and I spent the weekend in Nashville celebrating my cousin Sarah's high school graduation. We are so proud of you Sarah!! She will be attending Belmont University in the fall.

Showered with Love

Last week, the sweet kindergarten teachers at my school gave me a wonderful shower for baby Beau. All of the teachers were invited and it was held at Twisted Taco in Buckhead. It was a fabulous afternoon filled with love!

Thank you....Mandy, Kenny, Christina, Lana, Shea, Dara, Sarah, and Nicole for such a special shower!!

There were G's on the back of all of the chairs! (our last name starts with a G)

These beautiful arrangements were on all of the tables!

Nicole and Emily (Nicole and I had classrooms right next to each other at school! Emily taught first grade this year but next year she will teach kindergarten.)

This is a group shot of all the kindergarten teachers.

Shea and Sarah

A Big Day

It has been quite the day! Lots of excitement!!!

-Raleigh and I are celebrating our 5th wedding anniversary today!

-Sweet Beau turns 11 months old today!

-Today was my last day of school!

-We got an email from our social worker that our EP was approved!!!

I am off to celebrate!! So much good news for one day! Thank you Jesus for the blessing of my wonderful husband, the completion of another year of teaching, and for bringing us one step closer to our son!

Congratulations Kaitlin!

Over the weekend we celebrated my cousin Kaitlin's college graduation. She graduated from Belmont University in Nashville! We are so proud of you Kaitlin!!

In our seats waiting for the big event! (Kaitlin's boyfriend Kevin, Erica's fiance Matt, and my cousin Erica)

We got a new picture!

Today when I came home from work, I had an email with 3 new pictures of Beau! We definitely were not expecting any new pictures, so this was a huge blessing!! Beau usually goes in for his WBC (well baby check) closer to the end of the month, so I'm not sure if he had a visit to the doctor today or not. Either way, we are thrilled to have the new photos. Beau is about 10 1/2 months old in the picture. He will be 11 months old on May 26th.

We love you Beau!

So...what is next?

Our friends and family are so excited to help us welcome Beau home and often ask what is left in the process. I thought I would try my best to give an update on the remaining steps of this journey. For all of you adoptive moms that have already done this part, please correct me if I miss anything.

Steps to Bring Beau Home

• I 600 needs to be approved. I spoke to USCIS yesterday and the lady I spoke with said that we should be assigned an officer this Thursday or Friday. Once you have an officer, some people are approved that day while other families wait a week or two more for approval.
• EP (emigration permit) needs approval. Next week will mark 3 weeks of waiting for approval. The last few batches of EPs were approved in 3-5 weeks, so we could get approval next week or at least by the end of May.
• After EP approval, Beau will make an appearance at the embassy in Seoul. (EA=embassy appearance) During his EA, Beau will have his picture taken for his Visa. (From what I know, the Visa is actually a small stamp/picture that goes inside the passport.)
• Next, Beau will have a visa physical (VP).
• If the doctor that checks out Beau for his VP notices a special need, he may need a Class B Waiver. A Class B Waiver is basically a form that states that you aware of your child's special need. You sign the form and have it notarized and send it back. This can add about a week to the process. You never really know if you will need a Class B, so we will just wait and see.
• Then...Beau will have a visa interview (VI). Obviously it is not much of an "interview" since Beau can't talk, but it is still a part of the process. :)
• Finally, after VI we will wait for our travel call (TC).
• Since we have decided that Beau will be escorted home, it may be a few days or weeks after our TC before Beau actually comes home because the adoption agency will need to find an escort and arrange flights.

So...that is pretty much it....I600 approval, EP approval, EA, VP, possible Class B waiver, VI, and then TC.

How much time will all of this take? If I knew, I would be sure to tell you, but I don't know!

Family Shower

On Saturday, I was given a beautiful shower! It was a shower with all of my sweet family! The hostesses were my sister Angie and my cousin Erica. Everything was so special.

Look at those cute booties!

(from left to right) my cousin Courtney, my cousin Erica, me, my cousin Sarah, my cousin Kaitlin, my sister Angie (Courtney's baby Landon is due on June 30, so our boys will be about one year apart! So fun!)