We got it!!!

We got "THE" call we have been waiting on.  We got our referral!  We have a son!!  It is being sent to us in the mail, so we will have our hands on it later today.  All we know so far is that his birthday is May 24, 2010.

Halloween

Ava dressed up in 3 costumes this year.  She had a ball!  The first picture she is with her cousins, Audrey & Jacob at Potato Creek State Park.  The second picture she is with her friend Raymie for Boo in Bluffton.  And Ava wore her sombrero and serape to school for her party.

Ava did 2 pumpkins this year.  She thought it was exciting!

Ava is allowed to dress up for her Halloween Party at school, so this is what she is going to wear.  For Halloween, Ava is going to be a bumble bee, but that costume is too fragile for her to wear to school.  Ava wore her poncho and sombrero outside playing last night in the yard for 2 hours.  It was hilarious.

Paperwork

All of our immigration paperwork has been approved, and it was forwarded to the Embassy in Seoul!  Now we continue to wait for our referral....at minimum another 2 months.

National Visa Center

We got a letter in the mail today saying that our orphan petition (I-600A) has been reviewed and in 3-5 business days it will be forwarded to the visa center in Seoul.  Whew, no problems with that!!

South Korea Photos -- National Geographic

South Korea Photos -- National Geographic

Fingerprinting

Our appointment at Homeland Security was 8 am this morning, in Indy.  We left 45 minutes extra early just to ensure we would not be late and miss our appointment.  Well, once we hit Fishers, traffic krept along all the way down to Meridian St.  We pulled into the lot, ran upstairs, went through security and signed in at 8am on the nose!  Whew!  Of all the times we've been there, this was our quickest trip.  We were done by 8:30 am.  Craig and I are not feeling well, so we turned around and drove back home.  We were going to go to the Children's museum and meet up with an old friend for dinner, but we just didn't feel up to it.  We will reschedule.

This just in...

We found out today that we will not get our baby until the day we depart Seoul.  This is how Korea does it.  During our 3+ day stay, we will be going to the foster family's house to meet and visit with them and the baby.  Then the next day we will meet the baby again for a little while at the agency.  The third day we will recieve the baby and we are free to leave.  But, we will be staying an extra 1 or 2 days to sightsee.

Preschool

This is Ava's first day of preschool.  She goes 3 mornings a week.  Last year she went 2 mornings a week.  She walked into her classroom, hung up her backpack, gave me a hug and then went to the book shelf, grabbed a book and sat down.  She loves school!

U.S. Embassy/Consulate

Our agency just told us that we will not have to go to the U.S. Embassy/Consulate in Seoul.  We are ONLY traveling to South Korea to bring the baby home.  Our agency will give us all the necessary paperwork we need instead of having to go to the Consulate.  When we got Ava we had to go there in order to apply for her Visa and then go back 2 days later and pick it up.

Reid's room

Reid's room is near completion.  Craig put molding up and I painted the room.  Dark tan walls with white molding.  Our 'theme' is brown and green.  Our accent colors in the valance, blankets, wall decor and changing table are white, chocolate brown, dark tan, and sage green.  And we will have a couple of monkey's here and there.  But, we are not doing a monkey themed room.  Feels good to have the room done and ready to go.  Now we just have to wait on the squirt to come home.

Day Trip

The Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) is the strip of land running across the Korean Peninsula that serves as a buffer zone between North and South Korea.  This is the most heavily guarded area in the world.  This area is 1 hour from Seoul.  Up until today, I thought no one was allowed to go there.  I thought you would be shot or captured by the North Koreans. 

Well, we watched a Globe Trekker DVD tonight on South Korea and you can actually take tours of the DMZ!  School kids take field trips there and everyone is allowed to go.  But, you have to go with a specific tour...you can't just go on your own.  You get to see all the soldiers from both sides, and go into some of the buildings. 

One building that you can go into actually has a line drawn on the floor and it goes up over the table and down the other side.  This is the actual border line that seperates the North from the South.  This is the only place that you can safely cross over and enter North Korea.  Craig works with a guy who has adopted 3 kids from South Korea and he took this tour and is encouraging us to do it.  We are taking the tour!  It's a once in a lifetime opportunity to say that you've actually been in North Korea!

Travel Notice

Our agency just informed us that when it is time to travel to Seoul, most families get 2 weeks notice to be there.  We are hoping for 2 weeks notice instead of just 1 week like we had for Guatemala.  The cost of airfare is much lower if we can have 2 weeks notice...and that will save a couple thousand dollars!

Name

We've announced it before, but for those of you who do not know, this is the name we've chosen for the baby...Reid Louis Cavanaugh     
Louis is a family name on Craig's side, and Reid is simply a name we like.   

Early in the process

We began the process of adopting from Korea in October of 2009.  We went through 4 different home study agencies before finding one that Korea would approve of.  Once we found an approved agency, we began our home study in April 2010.  Here is our timeline so far.  (I didn't do this with Ava's adoption, I wish I would have).

04/16/10:  first home study meeting in Indy
05/01/10:  home study in our house 
07/21/10:  home study update complete
07/21/10:  I-600A sent to Immigration
07/28/10:  home study sent to Seoul, South Korea
08/26/10:  I-600A fingerprinting at Homeland Security in Indy
08/30/10:  got our I-171H
09/15/10:  I-600A accepted and sent to Embassy in Seoul

So, we do nothing now.  We simply wait for our referral.  We were told 4-6 months and we pray that is the case.  Our referral will be a minimum of 5 months old b/c Korean babies are not put up for Int'l adoption until they are 5 months old.  The Korean gov't wants Korean people to adopt their babies, so they get first dibs.  And then after we accept our referral, we will travel to Seoul 3 months later.  We only need to stay for 3 days, but we will stay a couple extra days to sightsee.