registry and timeline update

Greetings everyone!  
We are just a few hours away from 2012, hallelujah!  Back in 2010 I secretly declared that to be the year of a baby.  Obviously that didn't happen, but I have a good feeling for 2012.  Gia will prayerfully be coming home in the next few months!  How do I know?  Well, just look at the fortune cookie message I got last night.

See?  You can't ignore the power of the fortune cookie.




In order for me to get a good feel of our timeline, I emailed our agency to see what paperwork we were waiting on.  I learned...
1. our daughter's legals will be the next step
2. I600
3. I600 approval
4. wait for Korea to finalize her paperwork in Korea so she can travel


Sounds simple, huh?  Here's hoping.  


With her potentially coming home soon, we are anxious to get her room ready.  Call it nesting, if you will.  Some dear friends of ours are hosting an Ikea shower for us next month, so our first step in this nesting stage was to make a little registry of our Ikea likes.  We found the most precious bed that we cannot wait to get set up!  We did buy one thing while we were there.

Kevin found this sweet purpley-pink rug on sale.  We had to get it for fear it would be gone by next month!  Plus, our shower is in Atlanta and we were at the Ohio Ikea, so we didn't even know if ATL would have it.  
Side note:  We were in Ohio visiting our new little niece, Florence.  PRECIOUS!  Out of respect for my sister and BIL, I won't post her pic unless they give me permission.  Trust me though, Italian beauty. :)


With all this shower talk, my sister encouraged me to finish our scrawny little registry that we started a few weeks ago.  I literally think we had 10 things on the registry, ha!  So, Kevin and I spent about 3 hours yesterday beefing it up.  It was....fun.  Actually, it was overwhelming and stressful, but fun sounds better.  Regardless, the registry is finished.  I have no plans to add to it, though we may need to edit it a little in the next couple weeks.  

This is me picking out about 183 Baby Einstein books, DVDs, and CDs.  I know she won't be a baby when we get her but she will be Korean.  Thus, she will need to learn English starting with the basics.  This was my favorite part of the registry adventure.  Kevin caught me in a very pensive moment, which explains why I'm lipless.

  
We found diaper bags.  That was fun.  And expensive.

And then Kevin found a Beatles stroller and the world almost came to an end.  Our daughter will not be getting this, but I did think it was cute to take a picture with him enjoying the moment.


I hope everyone has an enjoyable New Year's Eve tonight.  Be safe and have fun!  


Sending Hugs

tis the season

Hello everyone!

At this time of year I cannot say that without thinking about Aunt Bethany when she arrives at the Griswald's in all her glory.

"Aunt Bethany, why don't you go into the living room and say hello to everyone."

"Hello everyone?  I should say it?"

Yes, please.

So today is Christmas Eve and Santa is on his way tonight for most of the world, but he has already visited the Huguley home.  Two days ago Kevin and I received a great present.

Something, real nice, Clark.  Sorry, had to.  :)

We have an updated picture of Gia!  

Did you see that she's holding our photo album and the Frosty book?  Sweet!  Kevin quickly noted that she has "her daddy's haircut."  Ha!

If that wasn't enough, Gia has gotten Christmas presents from family too.  I was completely not expecting that, but it was sweet that she was being thought of even though she wasn't with us this Christmas.  It warms my soul to know next Christmas that child will be tearing through boxes and wrapping paper with us. 

Gia will be 1 year old next month, so Kevin and I wanted to send her another care package.  This time we are sending some snacks for her, inspired from a blog I saw a couple weeks ago.  

Kevin has named this outfit "going out for coffee."  Apparently it's very hipster. 

I have some things I'd like you to join us in praying for...

EP approval

Since being matched with Gia in October, the number one question we've gotten is When is she coming home?  We have gladly answered this to the best of our ability, but the answer has always been the same: We don't know.   I am happy to say that starting in January the EP (emigration permits) will reset and children will be released to their families again!  From my understanding, the EP quota was met in March or April of this year, so the EPs will resume with the April families.  We are a November matched family.  This doesn't necessarily move in chronological, but it does seem we will be pretty far down the EP list.  I'm not discouraged by that because I know that eventually she WILL come home.  I just want that travel call/EP approval to come before summertime.

Money

We still have $16,000 left to raise before we can bring her home.  I know that God has even in His hands too, but I can feel myself getting more and more stressed about it.  

• We are still planning a 5K race for March, but the progress is slower than I'd like.  
• We also applied for a grant through Steven Curtis Chapman's ShowHope organization.  We will know January 15th if they are giving any money to us.  I've been praying for $5,000.  

If the 5K does well and we are granted the ShowHope money, I will feel so much better.  Regardless, we still have a long way to go.

Speaking of raising money...

Our dear friend Andrea has offered to sell burp cloths and bibs for Gia.  They are $20 for a set.  Please consider buy some for a little one in your life.  Just let me know if you're interested and I'll make sure you get in touch with Andrea.  

Transition

Please please please pray for Gia's transitioning time.  When we saw the updated picture of her holding our gifts, we couldn't help but think that she loves her foster mom and will not want to leave.  I know we will face attachment issues and bumps in the transitioning process, but we are praying that God would start to soften her heart to this big move.  We are ready, and I want her to be too!

I hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas! 

Sending Hugs

well baby checkup

Tonight we received the December well baby checkup (WBC) for Gia.  She's doing so well!  When we first "met" her, she was at a 6 month developmental level even though she was 9 months old.  That isn't so terrible, but it's still a delay that we knew we'd  probably have to deal with once she was home.  I'm happy to say that she's now at a 10 month level and she's 11 months old.  Saturday was her "birthday" and we anxiously awaited info on her WBC.  I've learned that we get these reports about the same time each month, and they typically come after her "birthday."  Unfortunately, we still haven't gotten an updated picture, so this Momma is holding strong to this sweet face...

I just can't get enough of those perfect lips!  And those ears are screaming to be pinched.  Come on home, girl!

Ok, so in the last post I mentioned that we sent her a video in her care package.  I debated on sharing it or not, but I think I'd like to.  Enjoy.

Now that I have access to my camera cord, I can share more pictures from the care package we sent.

This is the outfit Kevin calls her "going out" outfit.  So funny!

I love this precious little onesie.  Kevin named this one her "relaxing around the house" outfit.  

Here's the whole kit and kaboodle.  Hope she gets it soon!

Sending Hugs

care package #1

My apologies for no pictures....yet.  You see, my camera hooker-upper cord (probably known as a USB cable to you) is MIA.  I have searched high and low and sideways.  I think I have an idea of where it's hiding, but I can't access that spot for another few days.  Regardless, I didn't want that to stop me from sharing with you all.

We bought Gia's gifts the day after we were matched, Oct 21.  So we've had these items for over a month. How in the world I've kept them here without sending them sooner is beyond me!  Clearly, I've been busy, to say the least.  Busy. You have no idea.  I finally found a spare minute to search through my emails and retrieve her mailing address.  Well, it isn't her address, but the Holt office in Korea.  Off the package went on Tuesday, yay!

We sent her...
1.  a voice recordable Frosty the Snowman book with us reading it
2.  a onesie that had a cute little "peas in a pod" graphic
3.  a pink super soft sleeper outfit that said "daddy's girl"
4.  a black matching pants and top outfit with neon flowers.  Kevin calls this her "going out" outfit.  Cracks me up!
5.  a photobook with lots of pics of me, Kevin, and Belle
6.  pink teddy bear
7.  and my favorite....a DVD of us sending our love, playing with Belle, and a picture slideshow with Rush of Fools' "No Other Love" playing in the background

My prayer is that the book with our voices plus the DVD will get her acquainted with how we look and sound so that we aren't complete strangers when we meet for the first time.

It was so fun getting it all together.  I wish I had access to her likes and dislikes so we could send her more personal stuff, but for now we will send things that let her get to know us.  I read on another blog that a family sent those puff snacks for toddlers.  What a good idea for introducing more American-type foods.  Or do they have those in Korea too?  Oh me, I'm too naive.

I promise to post pictures once I can get them.  Until then...

Sending Hugs