15 months after we first saw your face . . . Part One

We truly "saw" your face. 

Let me back up a minute . . .

After a full and enjoyable day, we slept well on Wednesday night.   Praise the Lord! 
We woke up Thursday morning knowing that this was THE day.  The day we had been waiting for since first we had seen Lyv's face almost 15 months before.  The day we would meet our beautiful daughter and finally claim her as our own forever. 

We got cleaned up, ate and skyped with the bigs.  Then we spent the rest of our morning getting our hearts and our minds prepared for the enormity of what we were about to experience.  I am always amazed and grateful for the Holy Spirit's use of God's powerful Word in my heart.  God has been so faithful to me. 

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This week in Korea and this day in particular were a real test for my frail kind of heart.  I KNOW my heart and life belong to the God of the universe and I am a member of His worry-free, already victorious Kingdom through faith in His Son's death alone BUT my self-focused heart screams an allegiance to the kingdom of this world to what is temporary to what I think I can control. 
SO . . . I struggle with anxiety at times. I fear things and worry about things that do not deserve my fear or my sinful worry.  BUT GOD . . . always answers me when I humbly lay my weak, sinful self at His gracious and merciful feet.  He always forgives.  He always strengthens.  He always provides for my spirit when I ask (read beg) for His sustanence.  For me it really is a daily, even hourly, discipline to surrender my weakness to His strength. . . My pseudo control to His sovereign control. . . My worry to His almighty, trustworthy plan.
And this day, this moment and the weeks since have provided non-stop opportunities to either fear and worry or trust and rest. 

I posted this section here for a couple of reasons. 
1.  Keeping it real folks.  Sometimes people think that someone else certainly has it all together.  No one really has it all together.  I think, The people who have it together the most are those who realize how untogether they really have it and rest on the Grace of God to sustain and grow them today and over their spiritual journey that takes a lifetime.

2.  Maybe worry and fear are battles you face, too.  The two Bible-based books that have been the most helpful to me in this area are Running Scared by Ed Welch and  Overcoming Fear, Worry and Anxiety by Elyse Fitzpatrick. 
   
We now return you to your regularly scheduled "Family Day" post.

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In Korea, gift-giving is a treasured tradition.  Our agency encourages its families to give gifts to the foster family, the social worker and the medical and office staff at Holt Korea.  It was a daunting task to consider and buy meaningful gifts for the people in Korea who have done so much to help our daughter become our daughter.  But we did it, over time, mind you.  We did it. 

We had planned to buy flowers for our social worker and for the doctor who had done Alyvia's bi-monthly well baby checkups.  We found a flower shop around the corner from our hotel and it seemed to be open all the time.  So, we had just planned to go to that shop on the morning of our family day and buy the flowers we needed for these two special ladies. 

As luck would have it =), we went to that flowershop a little before noon and IT WAS CLOSED!!! Ugh!  We even knocked on the window.  I have no idea the cultural implications of knocking on the window of a closed business, but we were desperate.  Still no one came. 

We decided to go get our chocolate milk treat for our first meeting with Alyvia then come back and hope the shop was open by then.  We prayed on our way that God would please let the flowershop be open when we came back.  We verbally yielded to His will in this matter. 
15 minutes later with chocolate milk (which she hated BTW) in hand, we returned to the flowershop.  And it was OPEN. Whew and WAAAAAAAAAAAAAHOOOOOOOOOOO! 

We lost a little in translation, but ended up with some beautiful flowers for two beautiful women.  =)

We needed to leave for Holt by 12:45 and when we got back with the flowers it was 12:35.  No time to worry now.  We needed to grab our stuff and head to Holt. 

And guess what??  I'm out of blogging time. . . I guess this will be a two parter. 

 

 

 

Happy Saturday, All!

I hope you spend your Sunday with your church family corporately worshiping the Great God of the Bible, being equipped for every good work and as always simply grateful for the adoption as first born sons He offered to you through the death of His Son, Jesus Christ. 

Breath-Taking!

Ok, so where did I leave off?  Ahh, yes, Wednesday evening . . .  Post RC sock fiasco.

We got back to our hotel and waited only a short moment to meet two new friends.  YAY.  Please, see God's loving hand of provision in the people we met in Korea.  We met some A.Mazing peeps there and He was in it all. 

We met our friends at our hotel lobby (thanks, ladies).  We took a 3 minute walk to the all-American Subway restaurant.  Man, they get it right every.time.  AND they had a bread choice we do not have in the US.  Uh huh.  I'd like to say we heard a lot from our new friends about their lives and ministries in Korea, But when it was time to leave Subway, I was the one carrying my sandwich out the door.  Apparently I was doing most of the talking.  =)  Actually, I remember talking some but I was mostly asking Merilee and Mylinda lots of questions.  Really.  You gotta believe me.  =)  

We grabbed a cab.  Actually, they grabbed a cab.  We don't grab cabs in the heartland.  =)

And we were off to an adventure of breath-taking proportions.  It was dark and we were headed straight to the Seoul Tower.  YAY!
The North Seoul Tower is as you would guess, A tower in Seoul.  I really have no idea how tall it is.  Ya'll could google it.  

Anyway, There are two special things about the Tower.
 One the view is truly amazing.   I am so glad we went at night.  The lights of the city were so beautiful.  Really, nothing can describe it.  So, you'll just have to go yourself someday. 

Please, note two OTHER things. 
1.  Our new friends were so much fun to be with.  We GOT to ride in a much too full swinging cable car to the base of the tower (YIKES).  Then we GOT to hike some serious steps to the tower itself.  Neither of our friends LOL when I nearly needed an inhaler to make it to the top.    Kindness came flowing out of them in many ways that night.  We really enjoyed our time with them. 

2.  Oh and do you remember the film crew we met at our traditional Korean meal on Monday?  Did I even blog about that?? Anyway, We saw them again at the top of the Seoul Tower.  How unlikely is that?  In a city of 10 million.  Funny and unlikely.

Ok, 2 paragraphs ago I mentioned the two special things about the Seoul Tower.  One is the view.  The second is the "Locks of  Love" that lovers and more recently adoptive families Lock to the tower signifying their never ending love for each other.   We bought a lock for Alyvia and locked it to the second tree on the tower path.  We picked the second tree because she was turning two one week from that day we locked our lock of love to the tree. 

We grabbed the next swinging, not quite as packed, cable car down from the tower.  And the girls grabbed us a cab and dropped us off safely back at our hotel.  Are we totally spoiled or what???
 

Our Wednesday in Korea did not include our desired trip to Ilsan but God did give us the perfect Wednesday in Seoul.  In fact, EVERY DAY in Seoul, we would end our day thanking God and saying outloud, "could this day have been any better?"  We were then and continue to be simply grateful for our life-changing trip to Sweet Seoul, South Korea. 

We interrupt our Korea Blog Posts . . .

To bring you 14 things we know about our Alyvia Huimanga after 14 days.

1.  She is very, very smart.
2.  When she is relaxed, she talks (in Hangul) a lot.  I wish we knew what she was saying.
3.  She likes to sing and dance. The three bears song is her fave.
4.  She is extremely cute.  She knows how to flash her million dollar smile at just the right time.
5.  She adores her siblings and is extremely fond of her Appa (daddy), too.
6.  She may eventually make friends with our family pet.  Right now they are kind of scared of each other.  As it should be, I suppose. 
7.  She already signs "more" and "please" at appropriate times.  I told you she was smart.  =)
8.  She will try any food you ask her too and while she eats almost anything, Rice, seaweed and  hard  boiled eggs are her faves.  She also really likes candy corn. =)
9.  She is great on the steps.  Praise be!
10.  She is sleeping like a champ.  She has slept from Midnight to 10AM for 3 or 4 nights in a    row. MORE Praise be!

11. She misses her foster family.  They loved her very very much and she returned that love for them.
12.  She loves legos, drawing and coloring.
13.  She is very very brave.
14.  She is a huge blessing to our family.  We will love her as our cherished daughter forever. 

Simply grateful to God for the gift of another daughter  . . .
 

Wednesday . . . sweet Wednesday

No Ilsan . . .

Let me say first that our hopes for our Wednesday in Korea included a trip to Holt's Facility in Ilsan.  It is a combination Care facility, School and Vocational center for perfect Image-bearers (most of whom have developmental and/or physical disabilities).  There is also a museum there detailing the Holt family's pioneering work in international adoption and the Holts are buried on the property. 

If you know me well, you know that I have a huge spot in my heart for people with disabilities.  And in my heart, I really wanted to meet and love on some of the special people at Ilsan.  We had purchased some donations for the kids and adults that live there and were pretty sad when our agency said our trip there could not be worked out for our Wednesday in Korea or anyday for that matter.  =(

But God . . .

He knew that our Wednesday in Korea would be the perfect day for us. . .

Our morning started our with breakfast and skyping with the Bigs.  We were blessed to be at a hotel with a WONDERFUL buffet breakfast included daily and We were blessed to be able to Skype with the Bigs almost daily.  So great to see them and talk with them and air hug them while we were gone.

After breakfast we headed back to Insadong to continue knocking out our shopping list.  Thanks to our many cyber adoptive friends and their advice, we had a well established list of special things we wanted to bring home from Korea.  We did well to stick to our list and find the things we wanted at a decent price.  Having this extra morning to shop really did make our time in Korea more relaxing.  Who would complain about an extra morning to shop?????  Please, note the shopping also included Starbucks which tends to make everything a little sweeter.

We got an email from our US agency that we would get to do one of the 3 special things we hoped to do in Korea. . . Visit the Holt Reception Center in Seoul.   The Reception Center is a group home for Babies for whom there is no foster home available or who need a little extra medical care.  There are usually 10 babies at the RC and usually 6 caregivers for the babies on each shift.  These babies get tons of loving.  They are extra well- fed, clean, loved and developing well for their age.  AND THEY ARE VERY VERY CUTE.  More about that in a minute.
We needed to be at the Holt office at 5PM on Wednesday so we spent our early afternoon organizing our donations and gifts and chilling (just a little). 

Our first glimpse of Holt and the RC . . .

Around 4:15 we grabbed a cab and headed to the brand new Holt office.  We must have looked the part because when we got in the cab with our bags of donations and gifts, the cab driver said "Holt?".
Apparently, we Holtees have a unique look and often come from a certain hotel.  In a city of 10 million people, it was odd (funny actually) to be accurately identified as adoptive parents. 
Anyway, the address we had with us was to the old Holt office which is where our cab driver took us.  Fortunately, the new building is in sight of the old office so we just pointed and said, "new Holt."  He smiled and took us the extra block and a half.  =)

We got to the Holt office thinking we were waiting for our social worker.  We were told she would meet us in the lobby so we waited about 10 minutes then went looking for her.  She actually was unable to take us to the RC at 5PM as she had another meeting come up.  We went upstairs and finally found the very helpful man who explained DJ's absence and that he would gladly guide us to the RC and give us the tour of that building.  (DJ asked the next day how we liked her boss, the man that took us to the RC.  We did not know he was her boss.)  He was a kind and humble, helpful man and we were glad to have met him. 

Anyway, he offered us H2O in the Holt office and thanked us for the things we brought as donations for Holt, Ilsan and our daughter's first foster family in Daegu.  Then we walked a very short walk maybe two blocks or less to the Holt building that includes the RC.  This building also includes a floor for education, counseling and family preservation ministries and another floor that is the Holt Guesthouse. 

If the details are too much, forgive please.  I'm writing this for Alyvia trying to remember every little thing I can about our incredible trip to her Korea.

Anyway, as we arrived at the RC we were greeted with slippers for inside the building--that's when it dawned on me--every day in Korea I had worn socks.  Every single day  . . . except today.  I was mortified.  I knew that I would need socks to go into the baby rooms.  ugh. . .

That being said, we had purchased "thank you" gifts for the RC staff women that were on that day.  The gifts were my favorite chapstick and soft socks.  I seriously considered grabbing a pair out of our gift bag and putting them on, But I knew I only had 6 . . . just enough for the day's workers.  boo.

We went first (barefooted, mega ugh) to the older baby room.  These babies (all beautiful boys) were between the ages of 9-15 months.  They were so cute.  I melted at the sight of them.  We had brought them one new toy.  That stackable donut one, you know it, I'm sure.  They were surrounded by toys in their stimulating environment, but when that new toy came out, ALL FIVE of them went straight for it.  Each one grabbed a piece of it and they were in heaven.  I loved that sight.  One simple toy made them all so happy.  We were permitted to take photos of the boys.  We hugged them all and kissed them all.  And squeezed their chubby little thighs.  Oy vey.  I love chubby baby thighs. =) 

Anyway, I asked if any of the boys had been matched with forever families.  The staff said two of the five.  So I went to both of those little boys and told them their mamas loved them and that their mamas would come as soon as they possibly could.  Now, I have NO IDEA who their mamas are, mind you.  I just know that their mamas love them and that their mamas will move heaven and earth to get to Korea ASAP to bring their boys home.  It's what mamas do. 

The staff was so kind to us.  We asked questions, translated through our guide, and they answered helpfully and demonstrated a great concern for the babies in their care. 

We went then to the littler baby room and met the other 5 guys currently residing at the RC.  There were four 6 week old babies,  two of whom were special needs and two of whom were developing typically for their age.  Two of the littles were sleeping in their cribs and the other three babies were being tended to, held and or cuddled by the three staff members in the room. 
The 5th baby was an adorable 7 month old baby that I learned later that night is the son of one of my "cyber" acquaintences.  He was so very lovable, he was strong and appeared bright and healthy.  As is often my custom, I leaned over him and whispered, "Jesus loves you, little man." Boy does He love you.  Can't wait to see this little guy home with his forever family. 
Without taking a picture in this room, we left it.  It seemed to quiet and sacred for photos.  I'm not even sure what I mean by that exactly . . . but thats how I felt in that moment.

We finished our Tour of the RC and made the quick walk back to the new Holt office.  Our host used that time to tell us how Holt came to have the new office building and how God provided it debt free for Holt.  It really is a story of God's provision and blessing on this incredible organization.  We thanked our host and grabbed a cab headed back to our hotel.

You'd think our Wednesday would have been complete but as fast as we got back to our hotel, we connected with two more sisters in Christ (now friends) and had quite an adventurous Wednesday evening.  Unfortunately for our eager blog readers, It's 1AM on Wednesday night two weeks later and I need to get to bed.  If you want to know the details that made our Wednesday night in Seoul Sweet and Memorable, you'll have to ck back (hopefully soon, but no promises) and find out.

Until then . . .  I hope you find your heart simply grateful for the strength God gave you to make it through today and the Hui-mang (bright Hope) He always promises on the morrow. 

Night . . . from the Heartland!

Daegu Dream . . .

For the benefit of our sweet girl, we had dreamed of and asked to travel to her birth city and meet her first foster family.  We wanted to thank them and give them gifts to show our gratitude for caring for Alyvia Huimang for the first 9 months of her precious life.  Those first months are so long and hard and rewarding and we are grateful for their care of Alyvia during this important time in her life.

The meeting with the foster family could not be arranged, but we still wanted to travel to Daegu, enjoy a meal and take some photos of Lyv's birth city.  AND WE DID! 

We met our lovely Korean guide, now friend, near 10AM on Tuesday.  She came to our hotel to meet us which was very kind as we had yet to attempt the Seoul Subway system.  We left our hotel and headed by subway (an interesting adventure) to the Seoul Station so we could catch the next bullet train to Daegu.   We were too late to sneek onto the 11AM train, so we shopped a bit and visited with our new friend while we waited for the noon train to Daegu. 

The trip from Seoul to Daegu on the bullet train/KTX takes about two hours with speeds of up to 150 miles per hour.  It was a beautiful day for this trip that cuts South Korea in half diagonally leaving from Seoul in the NW and ending in Daegu in the SE. 

South Korea is a beautiful country.  It really is covered by short mountains with little plains/valleys for planting in between.  We saw a lot of rice and soybeans growing on our trip and even a little corn.  It seemed like the bigger cities and smaller villages kind of ran together with not a lot of undeveloped or unfarmed areas.  The trip to Daegu would have been COMPLETELY worth the time and money had we only seen the beautiful countryside and turned back to Seoul on the next train north. 

When we got to Daegu the first thing we did was purchase our return tickets to Seoul.  We would be on the 6:12 train.  So we had 4 sweet hours to spend in Lyv's birth city.  Second on the Daegu agenda was lunch.  =)  Our friend had googled "best traditional Korean restaurants in Daegu" which lead us eventually to a unique, small, Korean restaurant with perfect food.  It took a few phone calls from our cab driver to the restaurant in order for us to find it, but we made it. (The taxi cab was the nicest one I'll ever ride in.  Leather EVERYTHING.)  We were so very hungry and we were quickly served the most delicious Bi Bim Bap we will likely ever eat.

While the delicacies were certainly scrumptious,  the discussion over the meal was even better.  Our tour guide/friend is also a sister in Christ and we enjoyed our conversation topics including her testimony of faith in Christ, theology, practical Christian living and Christian growth.   God used Ji Yeon to help make our dream of visiting Daegu a memorable reality and we will forever be grateful to Him and to her for this special day.

After Lunch, Ji Yeon asked what else we hoped to do.  We said just walk the city and take pics.  Our dreams of meeting Lyv's foster family not being a reality, our aims weren't that high.  
We ran quickly into a Hello Kitty Diner.  How cute was that!  Ji Yeon said that Hello Kitty is a Japanese thing (as I recall), but it is huge in Korea.  Next, we hapt across a shop with adult Hanboks for sale.  Hanboks are traditional Korean outfits worn for special days like birthdays and weddings.  We really hoped to get Alyvia a Hanbok from Korea, So in that moment it hit me . . . Find Lyv's Hanbok in Daegu.  Get her Hanbok from her birth city!!! Now we had a mission.  Find the perfect Hanbok for our daughter in Daegu. 

At this point, we had about 2 and a half hours left before our train headed back to Seoul, so we needed to get tracking.  Ji Yeon asked in a shop or two where we might find Hanboks in Daegu and the consensus was that there was a "mall" where you could find various vendors selling LOTS of Hanboks.  The mall wasn't really close but not too far either, so we hoofed it and found it.  We had to walk down a traditional Korean shopping district to find the mall and it was amazing.  The atmosphere, the smell, the people. . .  Amazing.  This mall was really like an old Sears store with 3 or 4 stories, one floor of which was JAMMED (think two foot aisles, short ceilings, your basic clausterphobia central) with vendors selling Hanboks and other fabric (think bolts and bolts of fabric).  With Ji Yeon's help (bargaining for prices and telling me when to walk away), we finally found the perfect Hanbok for Lyv.  And we were stoked. 

Side note, we had left John outside the mall and had he tried to find us inside, we would have been seperated FOR.EVER.  It was like a maze of fabric and sellers and o my!

We did make it back outside, we even found the same door.  Whew! 
On the edge of the shopping district, we found our first Pororo stuff.  We bought stuffed toys for the bigs and Super nanny then headed to a safe place to hail a cab back to the train station.  This cab was not as nice and the driver was definitely not the safest man I've ever ridden with.  He used his horn A.Lot!  Just sayin.

We took the very fast and enjoyable trip back to Seoul on the KTX.  We enjoyed more conversations with Ji Yeon.  We really hoped to be an encouragement to her as she was to us.  We even got shushed by the attendant on the train.  I think we were enjoying our trip too much. 

Anywho, Sweet Ji Yeon dropped us safely at our hotel and took the subway 30-45 minutes back to her apartment around 9PM. 

Please, See God's hand of provision all over this day.  Please, praise Him with us for guiding and protecting us. . .  for going before us and using Ji Yeon to help us so very much.  A guide and sister  . .  . now friend.    God was very very good to us on our Tuesday in Korea and we went to bed simply grateful for His continued grace and provision for our every need . . .

City Tour Day!

The words "City Tour" just don't cover what an amazing day we just had.

First up, we got to meet some cyber friends IRL.  That was fantastic!  Laurie and Mark are from the DM area.  We've known each other online for months and to hug them (read her) IRL was such a gift.  We also met the best folks ever from the KC area.  These two couples are adopting with our agency and we enjoyed our day with them more than we can put into words.  They were both just so nice and encouraging and  . . .

Our tour guide was the best gift of the day.  Chae was A.mazing!   She is a Seoul native thru and thru but spent the past 7 years in the states so  . . . she was the perfect tour guide.  She was so beautiful and down to earth and helpful.  We just fell in love with her.  I will be so proud and grateful if our new daughter  is very much like Chae when she is a young woman.  

We had an

 enjoyable time visiting the Gyeong Bok Gung Palace.  The weather was perfect and the colors of the palace were vivid.  WE had lunch  at a traditional  Korean restaurant.  It  will likely be one of my favorite experiences in Korea.  We shopped til we dropped this afternoon, getting a beat on some great deals for Wednesday.

Anyway, this brief summary doesn't do this day justice.  But it will have to suffice for now .  We are hoping to head to Alyvia's birth city tomorrow.  That will be a BIG day for sure.  

From the Air!!

Hello from the Air!

God has hand His kind hand all over our little =) travel day.  At 4AM we loaded up our Bigs and the SN (Super Nanny) and headed to Omaha for the first leg of our flight.    We checked in rapidly and pleasantly at the AA counter and we had over an hour to spare. While waiting for our original flight,  We enjoyed (Fresh from my sister/friend Heather's oven) sweet rolls together for the last time as a family of 6. Woo Hoo for homemade sweet rolls and a growing family!!!  Our goodbyes with the Bigs and SN were a little teary--only 12 hours later my heart already longs to hole them all again.  But those 5 special peeps are gonna do better without us this week than we will without them. 

Ok, So I haven't had the privilege of flying the friendly skies (as I recall) since 2002.  Ya'll know what that means. . . me and the T*A agents haven't met "personally".  Odd at best.  I'll leave it there. . .

   

 Aboard our first flight, We were Providentially seated next to an Air force hero.  Our title for him not his.  He is coming home today from his , Get this, 22nd  deployment to the Middle E*st (each being 60-150 days). 

We had an incredibly enjoyable 2 hour visit with him discussing everything from the trivial fact that we  attended  7th grade 30 minutes from each other in MN to critical spiritual facts about his and our relationships with God and how the Bible says human souls are able to get to heaven.  

We are grateful for our military service members.  You are top notch.   

America is so very blessed to have women and men like our new friend Mark working and sacrificing so much to protect and defend her. 

Ahh! Dallas.  What a pleasant Airport.  Figuring we needed the exercise (no comments please), we chose not to take the cool monorail train and hiked our way to our KA flight gate.  

We only had about an hour in between flights. So, by the time we snagged a yummy pretzel from Auntie Somebodies and some DC from Mc Ds (the only place they serve Diet Coke in the whole airport, What's up with that?) We spoke ever so briefly with the Chuck E Cheese hung over Bigs (Thanks SN) And it was time to board the Big Blue Bird to sweet Seoul.  

On the gangway to board, I realized we had so little time I forgot to take the now classic photo of the Big Blue Bird for our trip picture library.   Hope I remember on the way home.  I'll be a little busier then with our beautiful, newest daughter.  

Who can believe its finally time?  Who can? Such a long wait is coming to a beautiful, albeit bittersweet, conclusion.  

We love you, Alyvia!  We'll be there tomorrow and we couldn't be happier or more blessed to have you as our new daughter.   Simply grateful almost sums it up . . . 

O my word!! I almost forgot! You know what our military friend Mark is in the Airforce?  He is a Hangul/Korean Linguist.  Not! Even! Kidding!!!

Only God . . .=)

SO MUCH MORE!!!

O my word!!! In my post last weekend, I asked ya'll to pray specifically for some things regarding our paperwork and the embassy.  And many of you did.  I know.  You told me.  AND GUESS WHAT????  GOD TOTALLY DID IT AND SO MUCH MORE!!!!!

Everything we asked came to be AND WE GOT OUR TRAVEL CALL.  Our agency called yesterday and said "Alyvia is ready to travel." 

I do not believe that the God of the Bible is a genie in a bottle waiting to give us our 3 wishes.  No, not it the least. But He is a loving, powerful Father and He always answers the humble prayers of His children perfectly . . . everytime.  He promised He would. 

So here's the plan--Lyv's dad and I are heading to Seoul on Saturday.  YES, THIS STINKING SOON SATURDAY!!! We'll be touring and shopping for 3 days.  Trying to make our time in Korea count for our newest Daughter and for our LORD.  Thursday the 13th will be our Gotcha/Family Day.  And we can't wait!!!

I am hoping to blog at least a little from Korea--But If I don't or Can't, most of you are friends IRL or on FB or both.  So I'll try to keep in touch there.  God's will . . .

" . . . if I journey to the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, YOUR RIGHT HAND WILL HOLD ME FAST."  Psalm 139~


Simply Grateful for answered prayer, for a new daughter and for the holding fast of the right hand of the Creator God.



She saw her!!!!!!!!!!!

One of the major blessings for our family this week was news from a friend that while she was picking up her perfect P in Seoul this past weekend, SHE SAW ALYVIA!!!!
Here is what my friend messaged me after accidently/Providentially meeting our daughter.

I SAW HER!!! And she is PERFECT! We were getting ready to leave the building, and the elevator opened and she was standing right there!! I literally dropped to my knees and started talking to her and taking pictures!! I told her you were coming and you loved her oh so much.... finally a security guard came and said we had to move because we were holdin everyone up!lol! She is the sweetest thing. Tiny and tall. So pretty. Smart eyes. Wasn't scared of me at all, but was looking me all over.


In one moment, M took more photos of  Lyv than we have received in our entire wait to travel. 
Most of you already saw this and know that this was a huge gift to us during a very hard time. 
But wanted to let the rest of you know that God provided this wonderful encouragement at just the right time.  Isn't that just like Him?! =)

Two more weeks . . .

Most of you know me well enough to know that I HAVE NEVER RUN A MARATHON.  So it begs the question . . . Is the last mile of a marathon the longest and the hardest of all?  I don't know. 

I never will =)! 

However, I can assure you that for our family,in this adoption marathon,

 the last mile has been the longest and the hardest. 

 

These last two months have been so unpredictable. . . unbelievable actually.  

Shocking and disappointing. 

Surprising and Amazing. 

Followed by more shocking and disappointing.

 

If I spoke with you in person this summer, You probably heard the words, "Alyvia should almost certainly be home by the end of August.  I can't believe she won't be." 

While I spoke often of having her home before her birthday on September 19th,

In my heart, I REALLY THOUGHT she'd be home in August. 

 

With Emigration Permit in hand, July was a month to sit and wait.  Our Korean SW was on vacation at the beginning of the month and the last half of July our Korean agency actually moved locations-- so

no news 

no progress

 in July. 

 

August is when it all went south so to speak.  First (as elaborated on in my last post),

our I600 was lost . . . missing.   When Alyvia's paperwork was headed to the Embassy for her VI at the beginning of August, A critical piece of paperwork was missing . . .

 

Then, middle of August, without a visa b/c of lost paperwork,

our Home Study expired and needed to be updated. 

Cough up the cash

Clean the House

Get it Done

or your baby can't come home.

 

 

And since last we "spoke", at the end of August, 

Alyvia's I600 was found~

 GOOD NEWS!

Alyvia was scheduled for her Visa Interview on Monday, August 27th~ 

Really GOOD NEWS!

When she got to her interview, the US embassy decided they wanted more paperwork from us, hard-copies . . . originals . . . on the ground . . . in Korea~ 

 BAD NEWS! 

Following the "request for more info" came news from our agency in Korea

"TRAVEL WILL BE DELAYED"~

Really BAD NEWS.

 

So on Tuesday, this past week, we cranked out over 20, new, fresh pieces of paperwork for the US Embassy in Seoul.  We overnighted them to our Agency in Oregon (Hello Fed ex, Bye Bye $50)who turned them around on Wednesday and sent them overnight to Korea--

which takes about 3 business days.   

 

We are praying for our paperwork to arrive in Korea on Monday,

For our agency's visa worker to take them to the embassy on Tuesday and

For the embassy to process this new paperwork and approve Alyvia's visa on Tuesday.

We do need favor with the embassy workers. 

While not legally necessary, they could ask us for more paperwork which would delay us at the very least another week.  So, prayerfully, the Embassy workers will see our new paperwork and approve it and approve Lyv's visa super, duper fast. 

Please, pray with us to this end.

Because after Alyvia's visa is approved, our agency will call and we can go bring our girl home. 

 

 

 

At the beginning of this post I used the word unpredictable--this is not how international adoption journies in the Korea program usually end.  Once you have your Emigration Permit (the golden ticket), it is usually smooth sailing to your Travel Call. 

No one would predict 3 DELAYS AFTER EP. 

That would be crazy. . . unbelievable.

 

When the unpredictable and unbelievable happens to you even repeatedly what do you do?

Where to do you run?

Who do you trust?

 

If you know me at all, you know this post if void (to this point) of any mention of God-- 

He cannot be and will not be left out of this post. 

Because without Him there is no post.

There is no Paperwork. 

There is no Adoption.

There is no Family. 

Because He is . . . this is. 

 

I love my parents.  Truly and completely.  They taught my 4 sisters and me so very many things that have carried us well through lives that at times have been less than simple.

The greatest gift my parents gave me/us was the knowledge of the God of the Bible-

Who He is

What He has done

What He is doing

And What He will do

With the knowledge of the One, True God comes confidence. And this confidence is what carries me through unpredictible and unbelievable times in my life. 

 

This confidence is not in myself. Ha! 

I fail daily, sometimes hourly.

 

This confidence is in GOD. 

It is an active Trust that I have in Him. 

I believe His Word when He says

I love you

I know what is best for you

I will meet your needs

I will NEVER LEAVE YOU

I Am in control

Nothing happens in your life that I did not ordain for your

Good/Christ-likeness

Nothing happens in your life that I did not ordain for My glory

 

Does that mean that when I600's are lost

and Home studies expire

and I864's must be updated AFTER THE VI

That the God of the Bible is all over it . . .

That He not only allowed it through His loving hand

BUT That He purposely intended it

For my Christlikeness

And for His glory??

 

YES,

It does

!!!!

 

And I trust Him.

 

There have been plenty times this past month, where I was EXTREMELY

(read super major and completely) frustrated with the people who have lost, not noticed what needed done and not prioritized Lyv's paperwork.  I even fussed a bit more about it than I wish I had. 

 

BUT Most of the time, that confidence (that God built deep in me through my growing up years and that He continues to develop in me tonight), that trust kept my heart peaceful. 

 

Waiting . . . believing

that EVEN these unpredictable delays would eventually work out for God's glory

and for my Good/Christlikeness.

 

In moments of fear and frustration, when I run to the Word and cling to the Rock,

the peace does come. 

 

One of my favorite Bible verses in recent years comes from the book of Isaiah

You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in You

all whose thoughts are fixed on You.  Trust in the LORD always, for the LORD God is The eternal Rock.

Isaiah 26:3-4

 

 

Okay, one hour later . . .

 

Just trying to paint the whole picture--The whole truth is that while Lyv's stuff was lost and expired and needing redone, God was in it.  He loves her and us and He is walking with us through this holding us up, meeting our needs and when we are done with this, we will look more like Him, He will get more Glory and our beautiful orphaned-no-more daughter will have a forever family where she will never lack love or a place to belong again. 

 

 

So pray for us, will you pray for the Embassy to prioritize Lyv's Visa on Tuesday.

Pray for Lyv's last few weeks with her foster family whom she loves very much.

Pray for us that we would wait graciously and patiently that we would learn what we need to in order to best reflect the image of Jesus Christ and bring Him the most glory. 

 

Noah is desperate for my help outside so  . . . TTFN

no final edit --  risky

 and TGBTG

 

We remain as always,

 

Simply grateful for God's continued grace in our lives. . .

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

we're gonna start week 6 of the 9 weeks to travel for Lyv and her 79 friends.