And We're Waiting Again...

Thank you for all the nice comments, emails, and phone calls!  We were even surprised with a bright blue cake and a giant balloon! Referral day will always be such a wonderful memory for us!  We were so surprised to get that phone call - its been sort of a whirlwhind since then.  

Once we learned about Alexander we told our social worker "Yes!" and celebrated by having dinner at the Cheesecake Factory.  After that, we came down from cloud 9 long enough to begin all the paperwork needed to officially accept the referral. After lots of drafts, proofreading, copying, notarizing and two trips to Fed Ex, we overnighted the paperwork to our agency and were notified today that its on the way to Korea.  

The 3-5 month wait begins now... there will be more steps along the way, approvals, etc.  We'll keep you updated.  In the meantime, we have plastered Alexanders photo all over the house! I've started looking through all that baby stuff that's been tucked away in the basement for 4 years and am wondering where we will put the trains once the "train room" becomes the baby's room!  Lots to do!  

Below is Adam and his "Its a Boy!" balloon (Thanks, Susan).  Adam refers to Alexander as "his baby" and will tell anyone who will listen that he's going to be a big brother.  What fun.  

Ulsan, South Korea

Here's some information about Ulsan, South Korea - the city where Jong-guk was born.  Ulsan is a metropolitan port city located at the southeastern part of South Korea, facing the East Sea. It is an industrial area that is home to some of the world’s biggest shipping companies.

Go to the site below for more information and photos: 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ulsan

The Excited Big Brother

I just finished with a mountain of paperwork (whew!).  Here is a photo from today - right after we told Adam about his new little brother.  Its safe to say that he's VERY excited - although I dont think he realizes that there will be a bit of a wait before baby comes home.  Thank you so much for all the well wishes!  

Our New Baby!

We received our referral today!  

Alexander James 

Born 11/11/08 in Ulsan City South Korea 

His Korean name is Jong-Guk Gim  

Born 8lbs. 2 ounces. 

At about 4.5 months he weighed 19.6 lbs.  

We will go to Korea to escort him home in approximately 3-5 months!  We told Adam that he was going to have a little brother, and he smiled and said "Today?!".  We are all thrilled.  More details to follow! 

We are in Korea!... sort of.

Hello blog followers.  We received an update today that our homestudy file (along with many, many others) has been sent to Korea.  Until now, our file has been patiently waiting at the Holt headquarters in Eugene, OR.   They hold on to the files until closer to referral time to decrease backlog.  But as of today, ours has been sent away!  We may still be waiting for a few months for our referral, but at least our information is on the correct continent now!