We had some bad news on Thursday from our agency. Korea has been trying to phase out its international adoption program, and they have been decreasing the number of exit permits they assign by 10% for several years.
We knew that other agencies had been affected by this, but so far our agency was OK. Until Thursday, we had been told that we would have Anna Kate home by July or August.
Thursday we received a letter from AIAA telling us that we may or may not be able to bring her home this year. SWS, the Korean agency working with AIAA, has run out of exit permits for the year. SWS is waiting on a list from them to see which families will be able to travel and which families will have to wait until 2012.
Please pray for us. We are praying for a miracle right now. We know that nothing is impossible with God, and we know that He loves ALL these babies and wants to see them with their families as soon as possible.
We are praying with all our hearts that Anna Kate will be granted one of these exit permits and that she will be able to come home to us VERY SOON! If we have to wait until January, she will be 16-17 months old. I will admit that we have been sick with worry this weekend. We are trying to leave it with God and trust Him. That is what we know we must do. All along his hand has been with us in this adoption. We know that he is taking care of Anna Kate and that he will continue to do so. But we are aching to hold her in her arms. And it will be so much harder for her to transition if she is that much older when she has to move away from the only family she has ever known.
Hopefully we will find something out very soon. The not knowing is the worst. We will post something as soon as we hear.
Monday, May 30, 2011
Saturday, May 14, 2011
WE HAVE A DAUGHTER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Wow, it felt really good to write that title! We are so happy to announce that we have a daughter. Anna Kate Han was born August 22, 2010. She is so beautiful! We are thrilled beyond words to finally see her face. God has been so good to us and has brought us through the time of waiting to get to this point. There have been many struggles along the way, but He has never let go of us in this process. We know that He has never let go of her, either.
What a miracle that we have been matched with this beautiful, perfect, precious baby girl. We were fortunate to receive lots of pictures and a video. The video is such a treasure, as we have watched her smile, interact with her foster mother, play with toys, and even eat some baby cookies! Watching the video is tough, though. It makes us want to jump on a plane TODAY and bring her home. Unfortunately, as many of you know, it doesn't quite work that way. The next steps involve lots of paperwork and more WAITING. But please pray with us that things will go smoothly so that we can get this baby home as soon as possible. It looks like we will travel in July or August. We are praying for July, of course.
We want to thank each and every one of you who have prayed with us up to this point for our sweet girl. We have really felt those prayers.
Here's a little back-story on the referral day:
We got "the call" on a Friday. For those of you who are experienced in adoption-land, you know that this is almost unheard of. Most agencies are closed on Fridays, and calls usually come at the beginning of the week. So, needless to say, I was shocked. I came home to hear the words I had been waiting so long for on our answering machine, "Kelly, this is Sally at Catholic Charities. You have a referral!" What an amazing moment. I must say it was a big-time adrenaline rush. I was shaking, couldn't focus at all on the details she was giving me about the baby, and was in danger of dropping the phone on the spot. Luckily, I held myself together enough to jot down the important info. I had to drive to a city about 45 minutes away to meet her to get the package. The longest 45 minutes of my life! Jake was at work, so he got to experience all this secondhand. He may have been glad of that- my manic state was a bit scary! Thankfully, I made it there and back in one piece.
Looking at Han's sweet face for the first time was so wonderful. I cried, and I felt a connection right away. I was told by other adoptive moms that it doesn't always happen that way and not to worry if it didn't for me, but it did. I felt, deep within my heart, that this baby was meant to be our child.
Our God is such an awesome God. The way that He has brought us together, across the world, is unbelievable. I do not doubt for an instant that His hand has been right there, guiding us to this baby girl. We are so thankful and will be praying daily for her safety as we wait to take the final step toward bringing her home.
Because we are now going to want to post LOTS of PICTURES of this sweet girl (not to mention of our trip to Korea), our blog has to go private. Our agency requires this until the baby is legally adopted. With Korean adoption, this doesn't happen until the baby has been in our custody for at least six months. So... if you would like to view this blog, please send us a message with your email address and we will try to figure out how to make it private. You guys know I am technologically challenged, so it may take me a while to get this figured out and then to post her precious pictures.
What a miracle that we have been matched with this beautiful, perfect, precious baby girl. We were fortunate to receive lots of pictures and a video. The video is such a treasure, as we have watched her smile, interact with her foster mother, play with toys, and even eat some baby cookies! Watching the video is tough, though. It makes us want to jump on a plane TODAY and bring her home. Unfortunately, as many of you know, it doesn't quite work that way. The next steps involve lots of paperwork and more WAITING. But please pray with us that things will go smoothly so that we can get this baby home as soon as possible. It looks like we will travel in July or August. We are praying for July, of course.
We want to thank each and every one of you who have prayed with us up to this point for our sweet girl. We have really felt those prayers.
Here's a little back-story on the referral day:
We got "the call" on a Friday. For those of you who are experienced in adoption-land, you know that this is almost unheard of. Most agencies are closed on Fridays, and calls usually come at the beginning of the week. So, needless to say, I was shocked. I came home to hear the words I had been waiting so long for on our answering machine, "Kelly, this is Sally at Catholic Charities. You have a referral!" What an amazing moment. I must say it was a big-time adrenaline rush. I was shaking, couldn't focus at all on the details she was giving me about the baby, and was in danger of dropping the phone on the spot. Luckily, I held myself together enough to jot down the important info. I had to drive to a city about 45 minutes away to meet her to get the package. The longest 45 minutes of my life! Jake was at work, so he got to experience all this secondhand. He may have been glad of that- my manic state was a bit scary! Thankfully, I made it there and back in one piece.
Looking at Han's sweet face for the first time was so wonderful. I cried, and I felt a connection right away. I was told by other adoptive moms that it doesn't always happen that way and not to worry if it didn't for me, but it did. I felt, deep within my heart, that this baby was meant to be our child.
Our God is such an awesome God. The way that He has brought us together, across the world, is unbelievable. I do not doubt for an instant that His hand has been right there, guiding us to this baby girl. We are so thankful and will be praying daily for her safety as we wait to take the final step toward bringing her home.
Because we are now going to want to post LOTS of PICTURES of this sweet girl (not to mention of our trip to Korea), our blog has to go private. Our agency requires this until the baby is legally adopted. With Korean adoption, this doesn't happen until the baby has been in our custody for at least six months. So... if you would like to view this blog, please send us a message with your email address and we will try to figure out how to make it private. You guys know I am technologically challenged, so it may take me a while to get this figured out and then to post her precious pictures.
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