Still Here...Still Waiting.

Friends, January is almost over and we feel blessed to know that we are getting closer to making our family complete. We haven't received any word on progress with Morgan's adoption, but we have faith that things are moving along. On our end, Steve and I have completed our Infant CPR course required by our agency and we've finished two of the three books we are reading this time for our education requirements. Next, we will tackle 3-4 online adoption courses, finish the other book relating to toddler adoption and we should be golden!

Each month that goes by, the more impatient we become. Please pray that the remainder of our wait is peaceful and productive as we prepare our hearts and home for Morgan's homecoming.

It's been a rough month in terms of illness spreading amongst our little family and I'll be grateful when all of the doctors appointments come to an end. Sophie is feeling better, but had to have one of the tubes in her ears removed as it was ineffective. That means that she will endure another surgery to put the tubes back in her little ears on February 17th. Factor in all of the pre-admission appointments and follow-up appointments for us all and we have another 2 weeks of waiting in the waiting rooms. Sigh. I often wonder if I should have been keeping track of just how many hours of our lives are spent waiting for doctors appointments...then I think that I really don't want to know.

This weekend should be a great little get-away for us as we are taking a roadtrip to visit our dear friends, the Westons. Sophie is super-excited about playing with Jacob and Abby and I am looking forward to getting away and visiting with one of my best friends. Here's hoping that February will be full of blessed news for everyone!

Happy Lunar New Year!

- The New Year's greeting is "say hay boke-mahn he pah du say oh" (www.clickasia.co.kr)


- 2009 is the year of the Ox. (photo from flickr.com)


- Cute kiddos all dressed up ready to celebrate Lunar New Year (www.clickasia.co.kr)

Let's Review.

Because our computer has been on the fritz, I was unable to get online for the past week or so. However, thanks to my computer-savvy hubby, we are back up and running. I've emptied my camera's memory card and thought I'd just show you what's been happening in our world for the past couple of weeks.

Sophie in the midst of her pneumonia and sinus infection...

The girl is getting so much better!! Posing with her new PURPLE walls...

Her big girl room is purple...

Awww...I'll always remember "de coupe"...
Steve's last picture with his beloved car that he's had for over 10 years...

Who you callin' a soccer mom?!

Say what you will, but I LOVE my new mini-van! Ha!
Sophie with her pals all ready for her first night in her big girl bed!


Waking up after her first nap in her big girl bed...

Inauguration Day 2009...

President Obama taking the oath...

Sweet Sophie witnessing history...

Where does she get it?! ;-)

An excuse to make cookies!

Sophie liked the blue ones...

A whole ten months old!

We are missing baby girl Morgan so badly today as she celebrates being a whole ten months old! Sophie sang a little rendition of "happy birthday" to her this morning and I must admit that we've been staring at her pictures even more than ever. Of course, we wonder about all of the fun things she is learning to do and we ache to get our arms around her - we don't want to miss a thing! We are blessed to know that she is in the loving care of her dear foster mother and for her, we are forever grateful. We sent Morgan's foster mom a card and a picture of our family in the hopes that she knows just how much we appreciate her. We also hope that she'll show Morgan the picture we sent and tell her that we all love her to pieces!

Happy 10 month birthday, my sweetness! Mama, Daddy and Sis are thinking of you and loving you like crazy!

One month.

Well, it's been exactly one month since we received Morgan's referral call. (We officially accepted on 12.15.08.) Our lives have been turned upside down since learning of our new daughter! With the holidays, traveling to be with family and illness, this month has just flown by! I must admit I'm a bit numb when I think that it's already been a month. We have so much to do between now and that blessed travel clearance - we are sure to be super-busy for the next couple of months. Task #1 - paint and prepare Sophie's big girl room as we look to transition her into her big-girl bed so that Morgan can take over the nursery. The paint color has been selected and we have the new bedding...we just have to clear that room out and somehow convince Sophie to sleep in a bed and not occupy herself with her toys until the wee hours of the morning. Yikes!

Sophie-update: She really came into herself last night! There was singing. There was dancing. There was even resisting Mama again. We are so excited to have her back! We continue to use the nebulizer and run the full course of antibiotics, but she has made remarkable strides in getting better. We were even able to attend her annual cleft palate clinic today at the hospital, which is a great thing since it's hard to get that appointment and we really didn't want to postpone it as we have other things to do in bringing Morgan home! Sophie did an excellent job of letting all of the doctors and specialists examine her and we are pleased that she is progressing right on target. Her surgeon doesn't see the need for another surgery until she's 6 years old, barring any unknowns. That's terrific news! We do need one follow-up with her ENT as apparently, the tubes in her ears are completely clogged and need to be attended to...that sounds like no fun.

This Mama is happy that it's finally the weekend. Maybe we can all get some much-needed rest and perhaps, we can really begin to "nest" for baby Morgan!

I-171!

Yippee! In this otherwise bleak week of trying to overcome Sophie's illness, a bright light appeared in our mailbox yesterday...our I-600 was approved by our local Citizenship and Immigration Office and is on its way to Korea! It appears that they received our application on 12.29.08 and approved us on 1.05.09, which is pretty gosh-darn fast, folks!

We are so happy to have this taken care of as it's something else we can check off of our "waiting to travel" list. Here's hoping that the Korea-side completes their paperwork just as quickly...we want our baby girl home!

Also, an update...Sophie has just begun to perk up around here. Finally, after 2-3 days of being lethargic and really not even responding to us, she began to sing, "Where is Thumbkin," once again...it's music to our ears! Little by little, we are getting our Sophie back. Excellent timing as we are scheduled for her annual cleft palate clinic tomorrow...would love to be able to keep that appointment if at all possible!

Sophie is just not herself...

Unfortunately, our Sophie-girl has pneumonia and a full-blown sinus infection that has caused her eyes to swell up. We discovered all of this after visiting the urgent care doctor - who gave us no answers and sent us to the emergency room - still no answers and finally at our pediatrician's follow-up appointment yesterday, the x-rays told us what was wrong. While we are not happy that she has become so ill, we are grateful that at least now we know why she's been so lethargic and sick AND now, we know how to treat it. We are the proud owners of a nebulizer and she'll be receiving medication through it every 4 hours on top of 3 other antibiotics to help clear this gunk out!

My poor girl - she has been such a trooper, having had her urine drawn, blood drawn, IV stuck in her after about 3 attempts, x-rays and now, breathing machines. It's true, she is a warrior.

Prayers for a speedy and complete recovery would be greatly appreciated.

I leave you with a picture of Sophie at happier, healthier times - just last week, while she was playing dress-up with all of her FABULOUS accessories. Hope you feel like having fun again really soon, sweet girl!

Happy New Year!

This was a surprise new picture of Morgan! 2009 is going to be FANTASTIC year!