Adoption Update: April 25, 2010

April 25, 2010, marks the one-month anniversary of our official referral acceptance. So ... to commemorate this special occasion ... I will give you an update on our adoption process. While we received our referral on March 12, our acceptance wasn't official until the 25th, which is the earliest date we could submit the proper paperwork. In our program, the estimated time from acceptance to travel is three to six months. From what I have gathered, three months is pretty rare these days--and there is no guarantee that Isaac could be home even in six months. It all depends on how smoothly and quickly the paper chase goes. We are really hoping that he will be home before his first birthday in September. But we have to remember that God is in control--and in the end, the timing is really out of our hands.

Right now, we are waiting on "legals," the next round of paperwork which we have to receive before we can submit the I-600. Our home study update also needs to be complete before we can proceed with the I-600. The home visit for our update is set for this Wednesday (April 28)--and it can take up to a week after that before the update is complete and the report is written, etc. I was really, really hoping that this could have been done sooner, but it is what it is.

In other news, I continue to read some of the adoption books I have bought over the last several months, and I am a part of a few adoption message boards. I have learned a lot from these resources, and I look forward to learning even more. One thing I just learned from one of the message boards is that apparently the children receive checkups about once a month up until they are around 1 year old. (They continue to receive checkups after that, of course, perhaps just not as often.) That means that we could receive a well-baby checkup (WBC) report and new photos soon. Apparently, this same time (checkup appointments and such) is when the foster families pick up their care packages, seeing as they are there at the Holt offices. (Holt is the agency which partners with Bethany for the Korea program.) Anyway, I hope that Isaac and his foster family like what we sent--and I hope we receive some sort of update soon. These little things are so encouraging and really do help with the waiting.

Kate is so cute. We have been talking to her about Isaac being her baby brother and how he will be living with us soon, etc. I am not sure how much she truly understands, but she knows who he is. She will point to his photos and say, very enthusiastically, "Brother Isaac!" It is so sweet. She also prays for him during her bedtime prayers.

I have been working on our adoption timeline and want to post it. I need to look up a few more dates and then hopefully can share it soon.