My Little Star

On Christmas Eve we attended a service at a church called "The Following" in Orange County with my side of the family. During the service one of the pastors asked for all the children in the service to come up. They all sat on the stage and he began to ask the children questions. Immediately we knew Luke would be the one answering them. He likes being on stage, has not problem being the center of attention, and likes being the first one to answer... We have learned over the years that if there is a chance for him to be on stage he will often be the first one to sprint up. Maybe this started when he was only 2 years old and on stage at a YL camp in front on 700 high school students that cheered like crazy for him. Anyway, the pastor asked what everyone wanted for Christmas. Luke shouted his answer first and was invited to sit on the pastors lap and speak into the micro phone. He listed off things that he wanted Santa to bring him and then sat back down. The next question was asked and again he shouted out his answer first. He was again sat on the pastors lap and stole the show with a series of cute answers. Then he was asked why Jesus came down to live on earth. His answer made me a little teary eyed. He said, "So that Jesus could live in all our hearts". It was so sweet! Love my little guy. Then the pastor asked Luke if he know what adopted means, which was ironic... and asked if he could adopt him. Luke said sure, but too bad he's all mine! The way he doesn't mind the spot light and easily captures and audiences attention makes me wonder what he will do when he grows up. He has the potential of being a charismatic leader for sure. I wonder how God will use his gifts. He asks me all the time if he can be on TV. My answer is always no, but I have no doubt he would be good at it if I was willing to drive to L.A. for auditions, don't hold your breath, not going to happen anytime soon. I am just want to let him be a kid.

Merry Christmas!

We had a really wonderful Christmas. I am so thankful for all of our friends and family and the time we got to spend together! Hard to believe that another Christmas has come and gone. Time really flies! Nothing really new with adoption stuff. We haven't even began the mound of home study paper work yet because of how quickly the process is and how little we have to pay the fees as of right now. I was hoping that we would get that started in Jan., but not sure how that is going to happen. I do have faith that if it is meant to be God will provide. He did last time!

We did get some exciting news though! Ryan passed his Captain's test! I am so proud of him! This was the first time he took the test and he decided pretty late to take it and start studying. He has another round of testing in the end of January which will rank him as far as hiring for the position goes. So, it looks like for now he will stay in the training department (his Mon- Fri schedule) so he can continue to work towards taking the required classes to promote in a reasonable amount of time. Excited to see what God has in store for Ryan in his career. I think he will make an amazing Captain. We should know more in the next few months.

Faith Like a Child

Luke wants to be a baby brachiosaurus when he grows up (he use to want to be a reality TV star on Wipeout). Today he said "Mommy, when I grow up I REALLY want to be a baby brachiosaurus, I am going to pray and ask God." I said, "Ok". He began to pray, "God, when I grow up, please make me a baby brachiosaurus, Jesus, I love you, amen." Then he said, "Mommy, now it will happen because I asked God to do it." I thought about bursting his bubble and telling him that dinosaurs are extinct, or that it would be impossible to turn into one later on in his life, I decided not to. The words "faith like a child" crossed my mind and so I let him believe and for a moment became envious of his faith. I know one day he will learn that God wont give him everything he asks for, usually for his own good, but today I am just going to let him be a four year old.

Just Love Coffee

We officially have a Just Love Coffee Store where you can purchase coffee to help us pay for our adoption fees. There is a link to the right, click on it and make an order :)

$5.00 from each lb of coffee you purchase will go towards the cost of our adoption. Thanks for shopping!

Welcome (Back) phone call with Holt

Today at 3:00 we had our "welcome phone call" with Holt. I was much less nervous than I was the first time :). She basically explained how the process has changed since we last adopted. Also, since we last adopted I have been diagnosed with Hashimotos (hypothyroid), so I need to get a letter from my Dr. explaining my diagnosis and that my life expectancy is normal. She said it is possible this will be a problem with Korea, but if it is, it just means we have to adopt through the waiting child program (wcp). Not a big deal at all since we adopted Luke through the wcp. Thats about it! Guess we are on our way!

Cost of Adoption

Last time we were in the process, and now that we are starting again, a question that is frequently asked is "how much does it cost?" First I would like to make it clear that you are not paying for a baby, or a child. Fees are for an adoption to take place and there are a lot of things that come into play to complete an adoption. Here is a simple break down of adoption costs/ fees:

Application- $300 This includes background check, looking over taxes and finances, sending out reference packets to our references and "Welcome Interview".

Home Study- $2500-$2900 This fee pays for meetings with social worker, him/her writing up home study & home study being sent to Korea.

Medical Physical- $25 to complete our home study we have to get an adoption physical.

USCIS- $720 this is the immigration paperwork needed for us to get approved on the US side to adopt.

Fingerprints/ Biometrics- $85

(Holt) US Processing Fee- $3000 this is described as a "facilitating fee" between US government & adoption agencies with foreign government & adoption agency. I don't remember paying this fee last time, I think it is new, but I could be wrong.

Program Fee (Holt Korea)- $19,365 This is the big portion that we pay when we accept our referral. It includes so many different things including background check/ medical history of child/ birth parents. You also have to remember that in Korea a child has been in foster care which has also been paid for. Our child will have received regular (and very thorough) medical exams. There is so much legal paperwork that needs to be ready in order for a child to be adoptable and officially an orphan as well as paperwork to allow a child to be adopted internationally. Holt does an amazing job working with birth moms, and counseling them to make sure there are no other options before they place a child for international adoption. Part of this fee also goes to social services and government offices on the Korea side of things. Lastly, part of it may go to child welfare projects within Korea.

Travel Fee- $500 a fee we pay directly to Holt to arrange meetings and travel for us while we are in Korea.

Travel- (varies) Plane tickets to Korea last time cost $2400 including Luke's ticket on the way home. Last time we spend around $600 on food (Korea is more expensive than here). Thankfully my Dad used his Marriott points to cover our Hotel, otherwise that would have been another couple thousand dollars.

Post Placement Fee- $1200- $2800 This fee includes meeting with our social worker once we are home with our child, and paper work needed to finalize adoption.

Misc Fees- $700 Last time we spent around $700- $1000 on certified mail, notarizations etc...

Total- $30,795-32795 (not including hotel)

YES, this is a lot of money, and NO we don't have an extra $30,000 lying around anywhere :) One thing that our last adoption taught us, and also working with YL, is that if God wants something to happen, He will provide the money. That doesn't mean that we wont have to work for it of make some sacrifices, but if this adoption is God's will, we believe He will help us pay for it.

Here are some ways we plan to pay for this:

Sell Ryan's car

Garage Sales

Sell Ryan's Motorcycle (sorry Ryan :))

I have been making adoption baby blankets and selling the on Etsy

Possibly rent out our motor home (need to figure out how exactly to do this)

Recycling water bottles- anyone want to help us collect?

Coupon cutting (getting pretty good at this!)

And, I have a few other good fundraising ideas in mind... TBA

We can account for approximately $10,000- $11,000 from some of the above. So it seems like we need to figure out about $19,000 more. Would you pray along with us that this money would be provided? Also, would love to have any other great ideas for fundraising that anyone may have! Thanks!

It's official!

We notarized and sent in the rest of our application to Holt last night and have our interview scheduled for Monday at 3:00 (conference call). Then we will start to work on our paperwork for our home study. The next part of the process we could probably get done relatively fast, but we need time to raise & save money to help pay for the process. I am thinking we wont actually start meeting with our social worker for another 4 to 6 months. At that time I hope to have most of our money saved/ raised for our referral (which is the largest chunk of the process).

And so it begins!

Last Monday was our four year anniversary of the day that Luke was in our arms forever and we became a family of four. Our little man has brought us so much joy, and we feel so blessed to be able to be his parents! With his anniversary came feelings of wanting to grow our family through adoption one more time. Again we prayed, and felt like God answered with a yes! We have a long road ahead of us and we are not sure once again how this will be paid for, but we know God provided last time and have faith that He will again! Here are a few Bible verses and quotes that proved as confirmation that adoption is something we NEED to pursue one more time. We believe that adoption is a calling and we are blessed to be able to be apart of something that gives us a glimpse of God's love for us. We ourselves have been "adopted" into God's family (Eph 1:5).

No I will not abandon you as orphans, I will come to you. -John 14:18

Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you. -James 1:27

I am only one, but still I am one. I cannot do everything, but I can still do something; and because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do something that I can do. - Helen Keller

I am definitely not saying that everyone should adopt! Some people can read those verses and quotes and feel moved, we read them and feel compelled to act.

Thanks for praying along with us as we start this journey again! We are both excited and nervous, and looking forward to seeing the face of our child! We will be using Holt again and adopting from S. Korea. We feel like it will be beneficial for Luke, and the baby to have the connection of being from the same birth country with similar stories. We love Holt and that they are committed to finding homes for children and not the opposite. The process has changed a bit since brought Luke home, I will explain further in another post.

We sent in our application November 10th and need to schedule our "Welcome Interview" over the phone sometime during the week, which is difficult with Ryan's new work schedule, but we hope to do that sometime next week. We also need to sign our agreement paperwork and have it notarized which we can do this coming weekend. Thats about it for now!