I got back from lunch today to an e-mail from Dan at work. Subject line? "Travel Approval!" Guess who's goin' to Korea NEXT WEEK?!
We (as in me, Dan, Ned, my sister Lisa and her son Josiah) leave for Seoul on 4/14 at 1:00am, so essentially Wednesday night for practical purposes. Holy macaroni! That's a week from tomorrow! We'll be there through 4/22, arriving home with Kamron that same night because of the time change.
That was FAST! Ohmygoodness, ohmygoodness. Someone hand me a paper bag! :)
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
Thursday, March 24, 2011
I600 (Immigration) Approval and 3 WEEKS?!?!
Today I made a phone call to our assigned immigration officer to inquire about our file status. Guess what? Our I600 was approved on March 21! And guess what? Our 171 (the official approval notice) came in the mail today!
Now for the real news. I e-mailed our agency with this update, as they need to communicate our approval date to the Korean agency to continue our processing. I got this e-mail back from the Korea program manager:
Heads are spinning here tonight! (In a good sort of panic-induced way, of course.)
Now for the real news. I e-mailed our agency with this update, as they need to communicate our approval date to the Korean agency to continue our processing. I got this e-mail back from the Korea program manager:
I've been looking at my files and it seems that the families who have been notified they can travel had their acceptance paperwork sent to Korea right around the same time as you and received I-600 approval about 2 weeks before you did. If travel keeps up like this you may be traveling closer to mid April.Did you catch that last line? Mid-April. MID-APRIL. As in, 3 weeks from now. So if things continue as they have been in our agency's recent experience, we should get our travel call in about two weeks. And then we'll need to be in Korea within two weeks of that call.
Heads are spinning here tonight! (In a good sort of panic-induced way, of course.)
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
the non-update update
I know, I know. Bad, bad blogger.
You'd think that if I am too busy to update the blog that I'd have lots of exciting things to report on the blog. Ummmmm, yeah...not so much.
On the Kamron front: no news. Nothing but a few pieces of paper from immigration saying they received our paperwork and are "processing" it. Hmmmmm, processing, eh? So I called them. Turns out we've been assigned an immigration officer as of today. I will say this for the non-Hague adoption processing unit, they do answer the phone. So my call gets transferred to our assigned officer who tells me, based on our case number, "Oh, you're part of this huge pile I got assigned today. Ugh. This stack is huge. Like 40 families. I'm sooooo behind."
Reassuring, right?
So I turn on my Jen charm. (Incidentally, if you've never before witnessed said charm, it is...how do I say this humbly...powerful. Think Jedi mind tricks. Yeah, like that.)
It goes something like this: "Ohhhhhh, bummer. I know you probably don't hear 'thank you' enough, but there is not much better than getting that approval in the mail. Seriously, I know the paperwork end of your job must be so frustrating, but it's so cool that you are directly involved in so many families coming together. Not many people can say that at the end of a day. So, for what it's worth, 'thanks!' I'm just so excited to go get our little guy."
And she says: "Wow, that's so nice of you to say. Well, I think I can get to you this week or early next. Why don't you call me mid-week next week and I'll give you an update on where I'm at. Hopefully you'll be all done. You can just call me directly."
So we'll see how long it takes to get that immigration approval...fingers crossed.
Besides that, we're waiting on a photo and narrative update and will hopefully have that within the next week or two. We sent a letter, photos and a Nedy original to our agency for forwarding to Kamron's foster mother. Nedy was so cute--when she found out I was writing a letter she said, "Ooooh, I have a GWEAT idea! I will send Kamwon's foster mudder a picture dat I draw myself!" and she returned a while later with a colorful masterpiece of random floating people holding balloons and walking floating dogs. Good stuff.
As for travel, we are still thinking early Mayish. Right now, in addition to the immigration processing here in the U.S., the Korean government is engaged in their process that will result in the issuance of Kamron's emigration permit and visa. We will only get a week or two of notice, so it will be frantic preparation time when the 'you can go now' call comes.
In the words of Nedy, "Oooooh, it's getting warmer outside! Dat means it's almost yitto brudder time!"
You'd think that if I am too busy to update the blog that I'd have lots of exciting things to report on the blog. Ummmmm, yeah...not so much.
On the Kamron front: no news. Nothing but a few pieces of paper from immigration saying they received our paperwork and are "processing" it. Hmmmmm, processing, eh? So I called them. Turns out we've been assigned an immigration officer as of today. I will say this for the non-Hague adoption processing unit, they do answer the phone. So my call gets transferred to our assigned officer who tells me, based on our case number, "Oh, you're part of this huge pile I got assigned today. Ugh. This stack is huge. Like 40 families. I'm sooooo behind."
Reassuring, right?
So I turn on my Jen charm. (Incidentally, if you've never before witnessed said charm, it is...how do I say this humbly...powerful. Think Jedi mind tricks. Yeah, like that.)
It goes something like this: "Ohhhhhh, bummer. I know you probably don't hear 'thank you' enough, but there is not much better than getting that approval in the mail. Seriously, I know the paperwork end of your job must be so frustrating, but it's so cool that you are directly involved in so many families coming together. Not many people can say that at the end of a day. So, for what it's worth, 'thanks!' I'm just so excited to go get our little guy."
And she says: "Wow, that's so nice of you to say. Well, I think I can get to you this week or early next. Why don't you call me mid-week next week and I'll give you an update on where I'm at. Hopefully you'll be all done. You can just call me directly."
So we'll see how long it takes to get that immigration approval...fingers crossed.
Besides that, we're waiting on a photo and narrative update and will hopefully have that within the next week or two. We sent a letter, photos and a Nedy original to our agency for forwarding to Kamron's foster mother. Nedy was so cute--when she found out I was writing a letter she said, "Ooooh, I have a GWEAT idea! I will send Kamwon's foster mudder a picture dat I draw myself!" and she returned a while later with a colorful masterpiece of random floating people holding balloons and walking floating dogs. Good stuff.
As for travel, we are still thinking early Mayish. Right now, in addition to the immigration processing here in the U.S., the Korean government is engaged in their process that will result in the issuance of Kamron's emigration permit and visa. We will only get a week or two of notice, so it will be frantic preparation time when the 'you can go now' call comes.
In the words of Nedy, "Oooooh, it's getting warmer outside! Dat means it's almost yitto brudder time!"
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Two years.
Two years ago today a terrified little girl of 15 months was placed into the arms of some lady she had never before met. "Mama" they told her.
They got to know each other. They fell in love. And before they knew it, a year went by.
And then another. And they couldn't remember a time when they weren't each other's sunrise.
I love you my sweet, sassy, smart, strong-willed, curious, amazing little firecracker. I am so blessed to be your Mama.
They got to know each other. They fell in love. And before they knew it, a year went by.
And then another. And they couldn't remember a time when they weren't each other's sunrise.
I love you my sweet, sassy, smart, strong-willed, curious, amazing little firecracker. I am so blessed to be your Mama.
Monday, February 14, 2011
Thursday, February 3, 2011
Blizzard Block Party
Late last week, the weather people starting forecasting a "blizzard" on track to arrive in our area mid-week. I, of course, responded how I usually do when watching the news: "They are such sensationalizing fools. I mean, seriously, what's up with all the Stormageddon talk all the time? As if we even get good snow anymore. I mean, really, watch. Another 4 inches at best."
But then the weather people kept showing this photo of the storm as seen from outer space. And it pretty much covered up two-thirds of the continental U.S. And then I began to wonder if this time, just this once, they weren't being but half the sensationalizing fools they usually are. Perhaps we would see half the amount they predicted, a respectable 10-12 inches?
Enter BLIZZARD. Oh blizzard, I should not have doubted your massive ways. Indeed, you were a blizzard of historic proportions. The wind, blowing the light and fluffy snow with such force it was hard to tell if it was snowing or blowing or both. The howling, 30-50 mile per hour gusts causing the water in our toilets to ripple. And lightning and thunder...with a snow storm?!?! Snow piling up at 2-3 inches per hour. Oh, blizzard, to think I ever doubted you. You were, dare I say it, sensational.
So we woke up Wednesday morning to a TV screen full of some 1700 closures and strict warnings to stay off the roads. SNOW DAY! (As an FYI, snow days are just as exciting to me now as they were in 3rd grade.) So, we got 18-20 inches. And Dan spent the good part of Wednesday, a good 6 hours, snow-blowing us and several neighbors out. Small city lots and tremendous amounts of snow make for some enormously tall mountains.
So as Dan and the other neighbors worked to clear us out, they got to talking. And our neighbor Rob, an enthusiastic and fun fellow to say the least, thought since we were all stuck at home we should have a block party. Outside. In the snow. With a bonfire. In the city. (Needless to say, Nedy was all for it and charged out of the house like...well, like a bolt of snow thunder.)
And so it was. All day long. From 11:00am until 5:00pm, the bonfire burned, the neighbors chatted and caught up, drank hot cider (among other things...), ate chili (plugged in outside, mind you) and generally played the 20 degree day away.
Nedy and the other kids decided blizzards make for good sledding, and the dads were quick to work together forming fast runs off the huge piles.
Good times. Seriously good times.
But then the weather people kept showing this photo of the storm as seen from outer space. And it pretty much covered up two-thirds of the continental U.S. And then I began to wonder if this time, just this once, they weren't being but half the sensationalizing fools they usually are. Perhaps we would see half the amount they predicted, a respectable 10-12 inches?
Enter BLIZZARD. Oh blizzard, I should not have doubted your massive ways. Indeed, you were a blizzard of historic proportions. The wind, blowing the light and fluffy snow with such force it was hard to tell if it was snowing or blowing or both. The howling, 30-50 mile per hour gusts causing the water in our toilets to ripple. And lightning and thunder...with a snow storm?!?! Snow piling up at 2-3 inches per hour. Oh, blizzard, to think I ever doubted you. You were, dare I say it, sensational.
So we woke up Wednesday morning to a TV screen full of some 1700 closures and strict warnings to stay off the roads. SNOW DAY! (As an FYI, snow days are just as exciting to me now as they were in 3rd grade.) So, we got 18-20 inches. And Dan spent the good part of Wednesday, a good 6 hours, snow-blowing us and several neighbors out. Small city lots and tremendous amounts of snow make for some enormously tall mountains.
So as Dan and the other neighbors worked to clear us out, they got to talking. And our neighbor Rob, an enthusiastic and fun fellow to say the least, thought since we were all stuck at home we should have a block party. Outside. In the snow. With a bonfire. In the city. (Needless to say, Nedy was all for it and charged out of the house like...well, like a bolt of snow thunder.)
And so it was. All day long. From 11:00am until 5:00pm, the bonfire burned, the neighbors chatted and caught up, drank hot cider (among other things...), ate chili (plugged in outside, mind you) and generally played the 20 degree day away.
Nedy and the other kids decided blizzards make for good sledding, and the dads were quick to work together forming fast runs off the huge piles. 
Good times. Seriously good times.
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