In the mail....send out some prayers!

Here it is....the treasured 1-600. This is it, folks, it starts here. The faster this thing moves, the better. We sent a photo to our local citizenship and immigration office, never hurts to pull on some emotional heartstrings.

Okay, the poor fedex lady. I went up to her and said "can you make sure I filled everything out just perfect...you see, these are the most important documents I will ever send in my life!!"

We're about ready to send it off....Come on, baby Jude!
One thing checked off the list
Micah, seeing Jude's new pics for the first time. Ha. I should've waited but honestly, it totally did not cross my mind that I might need to wait. As soon as I saw that the pics were in my inbox.bam. I opened it. No waiting for this one, baby!

That's our boy!!!

We got some really, really fabulous news today from our case worker. She just got back to Korea and she came back with some happy news. She got to see our little Jude. She just laughed when she was describing him and she said "Sunny, his hair is CRAZY." She described him as "Mr.Personality" and said that his foster mother really, really loves him (Praise the Lord.) Not only did she get to kiss him from head to toe but she said that she told him that his mommy and daddy love him very much and can't wait to get him home. It's like Christmas around here with all the good news: She got PICTURES, she got VIDEO, and she got a written update. Man, this is a great day. 

How much good news can one "waiting parent" have in one day....apparently a LOT! She said that she also received our LEGALS today. That is a super duper good thing. This is our very first step in getting Jude home. It could still be about 2.5-5.5 months, depending. Keep praying, friends, keep praying. 

I'll add more pics tomorrow!!! (won't get the video until later)

Shout out to my friend Janelle who worked really super fast to do this collage print for me so we can send it with some of our paperwork. View her awesome photography and designs here.

What is all this hull-a-baloo? and Say a little prayer

If you can, say a little prayer for each of these things that I have bolded

Watch out...this post is dry and informative. This is just to answer the question "What in the world are we waiting for?" and "Why can't you just go get Jude NOW?"

Good question....here's what has to happen prior to Jude coming home...

1.Legals. This is all the legal documents for our child....basically the facts that get the "ball rolling". We got these today. Praise the Lord. Our agency says that this can take 4-12 weeks after assignment. For us, it was exactly two weeks. God is good.  (Please praise God for the timely arrival of our legals.)

2. I-600 (we are sending this form tomorrow) and hoping for approval in about a month. The approval will be sent to the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (CIS). This begins the visa process. This approval is called the I-171.  (Please pray for the "US Citizenship and Immigration" officer that will be handling our approval. Please pray that his/her heart will be softened and that they will work very hard to get our approval asap)

3.The approval will be sent by CIS to the National Visa Center (NVC). (Please pray for those in the National Visa Center that will be working to help issue the visa. Pray for a quick response from them.) 

4.The NVC then sends the approval to the US Embassy in Seoul (the time it takes for the approval date on our I-171 to the time it arrives at the Embassy can be 2-4 weeks). This approval has to be at the Embassy BEFORE the visa can be issued. Before the visa can be issued, Jude has to also have a passport. (Please pray multiple times over for the officers in the US Embassy in Seoul, South Korea. Pray for Jude's visa to be issued quickly by that specific officer. Please pray for Jude's passport to be touched by hands that will move quickly to get him home.)

5. I-864 This document is being done now and it shows the Embassy in Seoul that our income meets the required minimum for adopting a child. Our agency's sister agency in Korea takes these to the US Embassy when they apply for a Visa. (Pray for the Embassy to process this paperwork quickly, making us one step closer to Jude being home. Also, please pray for our agency and our sister agency in Korea to work diligently and let the hands that work on his paperwork be determined and quick.)

6. TC: Once our agency knows that Jude's passport is issued and the visa cable is at the Embassy in Seoul, Jude should get "Travel Clearance" withink 2-4 weeks. Our sister agency takes Jude's passport and the I864 to the Embassy.  Once the visa is issued, that is celebration time friends!!!! Since we are traveling to Korea, our agency will notify us when we have "travel clearance"!!!! (Please pray for God's timing in the travel clearance. I know that I have a plan for this but pray that I would be reminded of God's perfect timing. I desire God's timing to be perfected and for Him to use people to bring Him glory.)

Thanks for your prayers and thanks to God for "every good and perfect gift is from above." James 1:17

Baby "K" Revealed!!!!!!

Hallelujah.

Hebrews 10:22 "Let us hold unswervingly to the hope that we profess. For HE WHO PROMISED IS FAITHFUL." Amen.

It is with an unexplainable Joy that we introduce you to our new SON......

Jude Han 

Born: April 11, 2008

in South Korea

What an answer to prayer! We give all glory, honor, and praise to Jesus Christ.

We want to share more details about all the excitement soon (ie: receiving the "call", the emotions, the love, the prayers, the excitement, and the praising!) That will all happen soon enough. 

Right now, we are beside ourselves and can't pull our eyes away from his photos to write any more.

***A favor to our friends and family (and any yet unidentified "blog stalkers" :)

Please, everyone who has watched our journey to Jude comment on this post. Something simple is fine. You can post anonymously (meaning you don't have to have a blog or gmail account) but PLEASE MAKE SURE YOU SIGN YOUR NAME AT THE END of your message. We really want you to comment so we can put them in Jude's scrapbook so he can know how many people already love and care for him.

This post originally posted on 10/1/2008 at 11:14 am. I am editing the post date so that I can put all my subsequent posts under this one so that this post is always the first one people see.

To do

Things to do before Judy Poot comes home....

1. Get house baby-proofed

2. Set up baby bed in our room (fyi: he probably will not ever sleep in it, the little toot!)

3. Get baby bedding (for decoration!)

4. Get new kitchen table (no room for Jude to sit)

5. Spend lots of quality time with Reesers (aka Rinn)

6. Spend lots of quality time with Creed

7. Get a stroller that will fit Rinn and Jude

8. Make room in closet for Jude's stuff

9. Paint dresser and attach to wall so that Jude won't climb on it and fall

10. Get rid of EVERYTHING in our house that we aren't using

11. Save some more money

12. Lose 15 pounds....seriously, come on...this has been a goal for like 2 years.

13. Finish Adoption Courses/ Take CPR

14. Finish our will

15. Order/ Send out birth announcements

16. Do all my Christmas Shopping (done prior to Dec. 1)

17. Eat at home more often

18. Be a better friend to my awesome friends

19. Do lots of schooling so that we can take a LONG break when Judey comes home

20. Buy Diapers

21. Get out toys/highchair, etc.

22. Start Jude's scrapbook

23. Clean out both sheds and fix ride on lawn mower

24. Make sure we are all caught up on MJ's knee surgery bills (yikes)

25. Make and Freeze meals enough for 30 days after Jude comes home

26. Slow down my life

27. Buy some bottles and different nipples for him to try when he gets home

28. Make/Freeze some baby food

29. Figure out how to make some of the food items he will be used to eating.

30. Make some more Korean friends

31. Journal more letters to Jude

32. Finish planning this years schooling so that I don't have to do it when Jude is home

I'll keep adding to the list, I'm sure. This is the most boring post you have ever read, I know. But, bear with me....if I don't write these things down they will never be accomplished. 

Hot Shot coming your way

Creed is loving this season of soccer. It is amazing to see the changes in him from 2 and 1/2 years ago until now. He's a pretty good player. Agile, little, speedy, tricky. Kinda like him in real life, I guess. He's playing with the Hot Shots and he loves all his little teammates. It's super cute. 

(I am not going to mention their record... remember: it's not about how many wins they have :)...let's just say it is a "defeated" season.)

Pure Delight....

I don't want to ever miss a moment of their lives. I love them so much. 

Outside fun the other day. Finally got our tractor up and running. Fun times. More later...just wanted to share. 

Keep praying for our "legals" to come soon. This is the first step we have to cross before Judey-Poot comes home.