We are home!

From leaving the hotel in Seoul to pulling into our driveway, we were in transit for 31 hours!  That was a lot to handle.  I have never gotten the feeling of having motion sickness until now...until the long flight over the Pacific!  Ugh.  Seoul was cold, and I didn't have my winter coat.  I didn't care for the food and lost weight.  Starbucks just wasn't enough to keep the pounds packed on.  lol!

From the moment we got Reid, he has been screaming.  He screams nearly 20 hours a day.  He has been good about eating for us.  He likes strawberries, kiwi, and banannas for fruit and he's tried a jar of turkey and rice and cinnamon granola.  I've started switching his formula over from the SWS formula to Similac.  For this week, he gets just 1 scoop of Similac.  Will increase it each week.  Reid only wants my husband to hold him.  He is the only one who can somewhat passify him.

We are not sure what name the foster mom called him.  Reid does NOT respond at all to his Korean name of Insung Lee.

So, so glad we were in Seoul and the same hotel as our new friends...Daniel and Elisabeth.  We have NO idea what we would have done without them.  Seoul would not have been enjoyable.  So happy to have people to talk to, to eat meals with and to sight see with.  What a blessing!

Couple items of advice for upcoming people going to Seoul:
-check the weather very good before you leave...so see if you need warmer clothes like gloves or a coat
-take lots and lots of snacks with you...there are no chips of any kind there that resemble chips from the U.S.
-do not travel to Seoul Tower at night by Taxi without knowing how to get back to your hotel
-do not mention to any Korean people, other than the hotel, that you are adopting.  They are very ashamed that we are 'taking' their babies...I got some weird looks and silence
-be prepared to have Koreans cut in line in front of you, push you, and pretty much anything else they want to do...the younger generation is more mannerly, but the elders think they have the right of way in every situation.  I was holding Reid, who had a very dirty diaper, waiting in line to use the bathroom on the airplane and this old Korean lady tries to go in ahead of me.  She came out of no where.  She was no waiting in line.  After a week of dealing with rude people (mostly on the subway), I was at my limit.  So I pushed her aside and went in!
-you do not have to dress as formal as your agency makes it appear when you have to go to SWS and FF house.  Dockers are fine!

Travel Call!!!!!!!

We got our travel call today.  Late today.  My agency was supposed to CALL my social worker when the travel notice came in.  My social worker had her phone glued to her all day.  And then she thought she'd better check her email.  And there it was...our travel notice!  UGH.  When you say you're going to call, then you'd better call!

We are leaving Indy tomorrow morning at 7 am!  We are taking United Airlines for part of the flight and then taking Asiana for the 2nd half of the flight.  We are staying at a Ramada in Central Seoul.  This was an amazing feat as all hotels are sold out in this area!  We are staying 1 week.

Reid, here we come!

Ugh.

No travel call, no response from our agency, and can't get ahold of the Dept. of State.    Blah!!

P3!!

I called the U.S. Dept. of State Visa Office in Washington D.C. this morning and got good news.  They said yesterday, 3/16/11, our P3 packet was sent from the Embassy in Seoul to SWS.  Travel is near, very near!! Any time now!  :)

NVC OUT!!

Holy smokes!  We are NCV out!  I called the National Visa Center tonight and they informed me that they had forwarded Reid's paperwork to the Embassy in Seoul!  We are literally waiting for the phone to ring now with our travel call!!!  It could be any day now.

NVC IN!!

I called the NVC (National Visa Center) tonight.  They are open until midnight.  That's insane, but good for all of us who are waiting! They said our paperwork was logged in sometime between 9:30 pm and midnight last night.  I am hopeful that by Monday we will be NVC OUT!  This means when we are "out" that Reid's Visa is sent to Seoul and our travel call is SOON to follow!!

I-171

We got our "Official" I-600 approval today.  USCIS approved our I-600 on Friday March 4, and we got our I-171 letter in the mail on Monday March 7!  WOW!!!  Hurry up travel call!!!!

WE'RE APPROVED!

I was supposed to get our I-600 approval letter in the mail by today.  When it didn't show up, I decided to call USCIS.  So glad I did!  I spoke with my officer and she said that our I-600 was approved at 11 am today!!!  Yeah!   Our paperwork will be sent to the National Visa Center (NVC) this coming week.  The NVC will issue Reid's visa and then send it to Seoul.  We should be traveling soon.  Maybe in 2-3 weeks!

pbs news hour Guatemala

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/2011/02/preview-picturesque-guatemala-overwhelmed-by-violence-poverty.html