EP is submitted

Gia's EP was submitted today!  

We got the email today.  I was at church working and I took a quick break to check my email and Twitter and FB....all the necessities, ya know.  Anyway, I saw that a Holt email had come through, which was odd because they normally update on Mondays.  Plus, I've been under the impression that we wouldn't have more updates until at least September.  Well, surprise surprise, Korea submitted another batch of EPs TODAY, and we were in it!   

I just stood there in the church hallway tearing up and trying to call Kevin.  It doesn't matter how long we wait, those big moments always catch me off guard.  Even though we know the news is coming, there's something surreal about actually reading it.  I'm sure the travel call will be the same, whenever that may happen.  

Which brings me to the FAQ section...

• What does "EP submission" mean?
• The EP is her emigration permit.  It's basically her permission to leave the country.    
• How long does the submission take?
• All we know is approval takes about a month.  Beyond that, who knows how long it will take.  
• When will we travel?
• It will be at least a month because her EP will have to be approved.  From what I understand, the travel call can happen anytime from approval to the end of the year.  My personal assumption is about 8 weeks, but it will likely be longer. 
• What else are we waiting on besides the EP approval?  What takes so long to get the travel call?
• After her EP is approved (about a month), we still have to wait on her travel certificate, visa physical, P3 packet, and visa interview.  We are not responsible for any of those things, so we're at the mercy of Holt, Holt-Korea, or the foster family to make sure those things are completed in a timely manner.  

Please continue, more than ever, to pray for Gia's transition.  This has been such a biggie to me in the last few months, and I continue to pray that God would prepare her for all the craziness that's about to happen in her little world.  We covet your prayers for our transition as well, obviously.  

Sending Hugs (sooner than later!)

cherry blossom choices

You know, girls always seem to have that certain high maintenance taste.  This fundraiser is no different.  Apparently there are no cherry blossom puzzles that meet all my requirements, so I'm ordering a custom one.  It ends up being about the same amount of money though, no big deal.  The fun part is that I get to choose the picture we use now!

Korea is home to the world's largest amount of flowering cherry blossom trees and they host several festivals in the spring celebrating its beauty.   (You can read more here.)  So naturally I found tons of great pictures from the Korean festivals, and now I can't choose which one to use.

This is where you come in.  Which picture should we use for the puzzle?

I'm going to order this by the end of the week, so send your vote in quickly.

And if you haven't sponsored a puzzle piece yet, it's not too late!  We have already had about 20 people sponsor!


Sending Hugs

puzzle preparation

Happy independence week!  I hope everyone found lots of bbq and watermelon...yum!  

Alright, here's the latest details in our journey to Gia.  It seems that all the families through Oct 2011 have now been processed.  We sent our paperwork to Korea in November.  If everything falls into place (ha!) then we *could* be traveling as soon as October to get our sweet daughter.  Yay!  

While we are SUPER excited that our wait is coming to a close in the coming months, we are still facing an $8300 mountain.  This seems like a lot, I know.  As we look back over the last 9 months-ish it is so cool to see what God has done with the fundraising, so we can't really complain.  It is a lot to raise within just a few months, but we've come so far so fast that I just don't feel overwhelmed by it.  

With that said, I do want to launch one last fundraiser in an attempt to get this last bit taken care of.  I know we have lots of friends around the country (and some around the world!) that have followed our journey, and I think this is the PERFECT opportunity to incorporate those people especially.  

We are purchasing a 500 piece jigsaw puzzle to hang in Gia's room.  It will be of cherry blossoms because that has been such a sweet symbol for us throughout this journey.  Plus, we got this picture recently that just made us melt.  

See the cherry blossoms in the background?  

Doesn't she look like a little model??

So, the puzzle will be put together only when a piece is sponsored.  That's where you come in.  For $10 you can sponsor a puzzle piece and we will write your name on it as a reminder of who God used to bring her to us.  I cannot wait to pray a prayer of thanks over each piece as they are sponsored!  500 pieces at $10 a piece will get us pretty darn close to finished...hallelujah!

You can sponsor a piece via the PayPal "donate" button or you can message me for an address, if you'd rather donate that way.  Make sure you hit the "donate" button and not "buy now" or you'll be buying a shirt.  We do still have plenty of those too, but puzzle pieces are a good option for those of you that aren't t-shirt people.  

Please pass the word!

Sending Hugs

bummed

Another batch of EPs was sent out today, but we were not on the list.  Sad day.  Who knows what this means, but it looks like it could be January once the EPs reset again before we are contacted. There is a slim possibility that we could still hear something by the end of the year, but it isn't looking promising.  

Also, we applied for a grant a few months ago that I'm fairly certain we didn't get.  I checked the website today and saw the deadline for notification was June 15.  Their site made it sound like they would notify families with a yes or no.  We got nothing.  So I emailed them to see what was going on and why we hadn't heard anything.  

Double whammy today...

Sending Hugs

maybe possibly???

Please pray with us this week as another batch of EPs is hopefully submitted.  We want to be in that group!

pop goes the 90s

We had so much fun at Pop Goes the 90s last week!  

Kevin and lots of our friends graciously donated their talents to make this happen. It was incredible!  I heard many people say it was better than they expected. 

God was good to make this a profitable fundraiser, and I'm so grateful for that.  I just mailed the check off today, hallelujah!  I want to take a brief moment to say THANK YOU to each and every one of you that made this happen.  I am humbled and blessed to call you friends, and I cannot wait for Gia to be home and start meeting and loving all the people that helped us bring her home.  So exciting!

If you weren't able to attend, here's sampling of what you missed.  Don't be too sad; they've already been contacted to play a "gig" at a local university.  We'll see...  :)

Sending Hugs

new pictures

Today I got a grand surprise.  323 pictures of GIA!
About a month ago I asked our agency to schedule a candid photo shoot that we would gladly pay for, but we were told it couldn't happen.
So it was extra wonderful when I checked the mail today and found a disc with 323 pictures (4 of them videos)!

Here's one of my faves.  :)

Sending Hugs